114. A woman adorns herself for the one who appreciates her.

“Daughter? Good heavens! Elena...”

Melissa’s eyes widened in shock. “Rupert wants to marry Elena off to Old William’s family? To Ross?”

“Of course not! How could it be Ross? Not to mention Ross is still so young, even when he grows up, Rupert wouldn’t even consider him. The one he wants his daughter to marry is Old William’s second son...”

“Oh, Grace!” Melissa immediately called out the name of another of Ross’s brothers. “Yesterday, when I went to deliver the oxen, I saw him in the lord’s livestock shed. Grace is already quite adept at tending the cattle! The son-in-law your brother wants is pretty good...”

“Yes, quite good, very good, too good...”

Muttering this, Richard suddenly gave a bitter smile. “The problem is that he’s too good! That makes things troublesome!”

“What’s wrong?” Melissa asked. “What trouble?”

“It’s not just my brother who has his eye on Grace...”

Richard sighed. “Actually, recently, many people in the village have been trying to marry their daughters to Grace.”

Melissa had never heard her husband mention this before, so she hurriedly asked, “Many people? Who exactly?”

“Many. Just from what I know now, there’s Clarence, Archibald, Bartley, and...” Richard listed several names from families of similar standing, then solemnly added the last one: “Dumps.”

“Good heavens! The carter!” Melissa covered her mouth, gasping.

“Yes, the carter.” Richard’s face grew serious. “Melissa, we are truly fortunate!”

Melissa understood exactly what her husband meant by “fortunate.”

Like the herdsman, the carter was a skilled profession. Although the subsidies from the lordship were modest, villagers seeking help or hoping to avoid trouble often had to offer a reward that would bring a smile.

Such advantages made it enviable for ordinary free villagers of Eckley to marry into a craftsman’s family.

Their own family had already arranged a marriage with the current herdsman—the Old William family—two or three years ago, which was incredibly fortunate!

Otherwise, at this time, Idra, the eldest brother of Wu Qingchen, would not be on their radar. He might also have caught the eye of other craftsman families in the village, just like Grace.

Thinking of this, some recent worries made Melissa unable to help but ask, “Richard, do you think anything might happen with Yolanda?”

“Ahem!” Richard coughed heavily. When Melissa snapped back to attention and followed Richard’s gaze, she immediately saw a blood mark on their daughter’s right hand, caused by a needle prick.

“Oh dear!” Melissa hurried over. “Yolanda, are you alright?”

“I’m fine, Mother. I’m alright,” Yolanda said softly, turning her face away and lowering her head.

“Look at you!” Richard glared at his wife and said loudly, “I’ve told you many times! After all these years as neighbors, don’t you understand Old William? I’ll say it again! Old William has told me several times personally: the marriage between Idra and Yolanda will definitely, absolutely, never change!”

“I...” Melissa felt a bit wronged. “I was just worried about Yolanda.”

“What do you have to worry about? What is there to worry about?”

Richard angrily pointed to two clay pots by the wall. “The beans Idra sent a few days ago—how many times have you turned them over? When you do that, don’t you think about what Idra said?”

“Alright, alright, I was wrong! I shouldn’t have asked...”

By then, Melissa had come to her daughter’s side. She held Yolanda’s right hand and wiped the blood mark. “Yolanda, do you remember what Idra said?”

“When the autumn harvest is done, we’ll get married,” Yolanda responded softly.

“When the autumn harvest is done, we’ll get married,” Melissa repeated gently, then patted her daughter’s palm. “I was wrong to ask like that. Yolanda, you can wait for the wedding with peace of mind.”

“Mm,” Yolanda replied quietly.

“I’ll sew it up...”

Melissa released her daughter’s hand and was about to fetch another cloak when she suddenly remembered something crucial. “Oh, Richard, the carter has his eye on Grace. Why didn’t you tell your brother earlier?”

“He...” Richard barely got a sound out before Melissa’s rapid questions overwhelmed him.

“Oh, you wanted your brother to help with the fieldwork, right? And you wanted him to get stung by bees? Richard, we can’t do that! If your brother works for nothing, gets stung by bees, and then finds out we tricked him, he’ll blame us! Besides, with the beans Idra sent and the strong oxen we can borrow from the village regularly, life is already quite good! Richard, don’t do this, go tell your brother! What if...”

“Enough!” “Silence!” “Stop talking!”

Richard shouted several times before finally calming Melissa down.

“Who said I want to take advantage of Rupert?”

Richard’s face was a mix of laughter and exasperation. “Do you think Rupert doesn’t know about this? The carter liking Grace—that was Rupert himself who told me!”

“Is that so? Is your brother really that clear about it?” Melissa doubted. “If that’s true, why does he still exchange fieldwork with us? If there’s a craftsman to marry into, would Old William still choose her daughter?”

“Hmph! The family certainly matters when it comes to marriage, but it’s not just about being a craftsman! The girl herself is the one who really marries!”

“What do you mean?” Melissa didn’t quite understand.

“Melissa, you usually only worry about the household chores; you don’t know much about what’s going on in the village, do you?”

“Isn’t worrying about the household chores a good thing?” Melissa retorted.

“All right, all right…” Richard quickly appeased her, then continued proudly. “My brother’s daughter—your niece, Elena—is a very popular girl in the village!”

“I think I’ve heard a little about her…”

“How could it be just a little? Elena! Don’t you think... her figure, her waist, her hands, her legs... everything about Elena makes people like her at a glance?”

Seeing his wife’s lukewarm response to his niece’s charm, Richard was somewhat dissatisfied and went on:

“It’s summer now! There aren’t many clothes on! I even saw Elena yesterday—tsk tsk, those hands...”

Richard rolled up the sleeve of his outer robe and patted his own arm...