The male supporting character was actually myself.

"With the matchmaker present, everyone was told to drink the wedding wine. Even if you're not legally married, it doesn't matter."

Seeing that the other party nodded in agreement, the matchmaker felt a great sense of relief. She had already planned how to go back and exaggerate to Qian Shuandi to claim credit for herself, and also to see if she could ask for more matchmaker's gifts.

After saying goodbye and leaving the Zhang family's courtyard, she didn't see He Jiangchen anywhere.

Just as she was worrying that he might cause some trouble or complications, the matchmaker saw him come out of a small shop not far away, carrying a rather plentiful amount of things such as cigarettes, alcohol, rice cakes, and so on.

"Oh, what are you doing?" the matchmaker hurriedly asked. "Why did you suddenly decide to buy these things? The little bit of grain your uncle gave you isn't even enough to eat, is it? Where did you get extra money to buy these things?"

Jiang Chen was too lazy to make an excuse, so he casually said, "I sold the newly harvested wheat for a good price."

As he spoke, he handed over what he was holding with a sincere expression, saying, "Auntie, please help me out."

The matchmaker was taken aback. "Oh my? This is for me? Tell me how you're helping? With your qualifications, just mention anything that can help me, and I won't accept your gift."

He shoved the things over, pointed to the Zhang family not far away, and lowered his voice, saying, "Snatch Liao Yuzhou away for me, and let her marry me."

"That won't do!!" the matchmaker retorted loudly, then quickly lowered her voice, frowned, and shook her head. "No, no, that's not how matchmaking works..."

Before she could finish refusing, Jiang Chen shoved a dollar into her hand.

"Look at you, child, you're making things difficult for me!"

Her tone immediately softened. She looked at the brand-new one-yuan note in her hand and then carefully examined the rather heavy gift in the bag. After a few seconds of contemplation, she sighed, "Actually, I don't want such a good girl to jump into a fire pit either."

He Yongqiang is not good at managing a household, and your uncle and aunt are the same kind of people.

Alright, seeing how sincere you are, I'll try to set you two up. But, it's a match made for He Yongqiang, so if you get involved, we'll have to discuss our story carefully.

"When your aunt makes a scene, we'll have something to say to defend ourselves."

The two walked back while whispering and discussing for a long time. Finally, they decided that the matchmaker would keep He Yongqiang's family in check first, and Jiang Chen would hurry up and prepare for the wedding banquet. Once the marriage certificate was issued and the wedding banquet was held, it would be a done deal, and no matter who made trouble, it would be useless.

Like I said, once you've slept with someone, can you really return or exchange them?

As the sun gradually climbed higher in the sky, the weather became muggy and hot. Around noon, the cicadas chirped incessantly, making people feel irritable.

He Gousheng walked home in a huff, looking annoyed.

I had terrible luck at cards today and lost everything. My wife is probably going to tease and mock me when I get home. Yesterday, she was so happy to win 26 cents that her tail was practically sticking up in the air…

"Ouch, damn it!" He Gousheng was so engrossed in walking and thinking that he didn't notice that he tripped over a tree root and fell flat on his back.

"Pah! What a fucking bad day!"

He cursed, got up from the ground, rubbed his sore ankle, and kicked the tree roots several times in a fit of rage before he could vent his anger.

He casually brushed the dirt off his clothes, and then his stomach started growling.

His lazy wife cooked him a pot of thin porridge early in the morning, and he drank three big bowls of it with pickled vegetables. He played cards in the morning and urinated several times, leaving his stomach empty. The village was poor, and they could only afford to slaughter a pig and have a hearty meal of meat during the New Year. It was common for them to go three to five days without any meat or oil for a treat.

Bad luck and hungry, He Gousheng started craving meat.

He thought of his nephew's yellow dog and the faint aroma of meat he'd smelled that morning. Looking up at the sky, he figured Walnut Gully was over twenty miles round trip, and the boy couldn't possibly be back so early.

Why not take this opportunity to catch that yellow dog, skin it, kill it, and eat its meat? We can also get a piece of dog skin, and if we save up enough, we can make a dog skin rug in the future!

He Gousheng's appetite grew stronger with each thought, and ignoring the burning pain in his ankle, he limped home.

"What are you doing? Did you roll in the ditch? How old are you and you don't even know how to clean yourself up?" Qian Shuandi also came back just then. The couple were each at their own mahjong table and not together. She was very impatient when she saw her husband's disheveled appearance.

But the other person ignored her, ran into the side room and rummaged through the drawers and cabinets for a while before coming out with a pig-slaughtering knife and a bundle of rope. He then turned around and ran out.

Qian Shuandi was stunned for a moment, then quickly followed, "Honey, what are you doing? Don't do anything rash! What are you trying to do with that knife..."

"Stop yelling!" He Gousheng, afraid of being overheard, stopped, turned his face, and scolded in a low voice, "You unlucky woman, why are you shouting so loudly?"

He glanced around cautiously to make sure no one was passing by, then pointed to the neighboring yard and whispered, "Jiang Chen has a dog in his yard that's almost starving. I don't think it has the strength to bite anyone anymore, so let's catch it and stew it while it's not around!"

Upon hearing the words "eat meat," Qian Shuandi couldn't help but drool.

"Is it really okay? There are taboos in the village. Other things are one thing, but you can't touch someone's guard dog or oxen that are used for plowing. That's no different from stealing. If people find out, they'll gossip and curse us behind our backs..."

"Why don't you just keep it from others?"

He Gousheng glared at his wife and said irritably, "Anyway, that silly boy isn't here. As long as he's not caught red-handed by outsiders, he'll be fine. By the time he comes back, the dog meat will already be stewing in the pot. That cowardly bastard who can't even fart after being beaten a few times, what do you think he can do?"

Qian Shuandi thought for a moment and nodded, "That's true. He Jiangchen isn't exactly an outsider to us; he's practically family. If we kill our own dog for meat, who can say anything? Let's go! Let's go catch him and kill him!"

The yellow dog was clearly still a minor, roaming around the already barren mountains in search of food to barely avoid starvation.

But today is truly the luckiest and happiest day of the dog's life. Before, it was chased for a long time in the wild by a few half-grown boys who were running around. It finally escaped being caught and killed for meat. Then it smelled a super delicious aroma.

Fearing it was a trap, it hesitated for a long time before finally deciding to run into the courtyard and wolf down the delicious food, unable to bear the hunger in its stomach.

Then the other party somehow produced a large piece of meat. The yellow dog had never eaten anything so delicious before. It buried its head and ate it like crazy, leaving not a single scrap. It ate until it was so full that it felt a little uncomfortable.

The kind person didn't bully me or kick me out; instead, they made me a warm little nest where I could safely take a nap.

The yellow dog tried very hard to remember his face and smell.

His face was handsome and refined, with a faint smile. He had a very special, faint fragrance about him. When the sunlight shone on his white clothes, he looked like a celestial being, radiant and glowing...

Chapter Thirteen Stealing

"Hmph~" The yellow dog, who had never eaten so much, felt so satisfied and safe, nestled in its warm little bed and made soft humming noises in its sleep, clearly quite comfortable at the moment.

The wooden fence gate was tightly locked, and He Gousheng, holding a knife in one hand and a rope in the other, peered into the yard through the gaps.

"Strange, why can't I see that dog anymore?"

"Could it have run away?"

Apart from a few rows of vegetable seedlings swaying in the wind, the yard was clean and tidy, with nothing superfluous that could be seen at a glance.

Full of anticipation for dog meat, Qian Shuandi was disappointed. She curled her lip and kicked the fence gate. "Pah! What a disappointment! I thought I was going to get some meat. When did you see that dog?"

"When I told Jiang Chen I was going on a blind date this morning," He Gousheng said, still not quite giving up. He peered through the crack in the door, looking up, down, left, and right, as if trying to find some clue to find out where the yellow dog had gone.

Upon hearing this, the other person couldn't help but spit at him, "It's been half a day, where were you all this time?! You must have run far away by now. His family is so poor they have nothing left to eat, how could they possibly have extra food to feed a dog?"

"Impossible. I saw with my own eyes that the dog was so hungry that it couldn't move. It was having trouble even drinking water, so it couldn't have run very far."

"Tell me, where did He Jiangchen get that dog? Is he planning to kill it and cook it when he's starving? Our family may not have much oil or fat, but at least we can eat our fill of white flour and rice. He Jiangchen is a different story!"

What can he do with the little bit of food you give him?

They barely get to eat refined grains a few times a year, relying entirely on coarse grains to barely fill their stomachs. If he got his hands on a dog, he'd definitely want to kill it and eat it!

"Yeah, then...maybe he's already been killed?"

He Gousheng got excited again. As long as he could find that dead dog, drag it back, skin it, and cook it, he would skip the whole process of killing the dog!

The fence gate was too high to pass through, so the couple hurriedly went back home to find a ladder and tried to climb over the two mud walls that were joined together between their two yards.

"Dad, Mom, what are you two doing?" He Yongqiang, wearing a willow wreath on his head and blowing a willow whistle, ran back. Seeing the two of them climbing over the earthen wall that was more than a meter high, he asked curiously, "Which courtyard are you going to? He Jiangchen isn't home?"

Qian Shuandi shuddered in fright and quickly made a shushing gesture. "Shh! Your dad's an idiot, he's been thinking about dog meat since early this morning and only just remembered now. Come and help, if we can find the dog that He Jiangchen hid, we can stew dog meat in no time!"

"Eat meat?" Upon hearing this, He Yongqiang immediately put the willow whistle in his mouth, rolled up his sleeves, and stepped forward to help.

The family of three quickly climbed over into the neighbor's yard.

"Gudong!"

"Gulp, gulp!"

The repeated thuds startled the sleeping yellow dog awake, and its ears twitched and perked up.

It had almost digested its delicious breakfast and had a good long sleep. Now, its eyes were bright and alert as it stood up from its little nest and stared outside.

He Yongqiang, being young, strong, and craving meat, was the quickest to act. He jumped into the yard and immediately rushed to the small, simple kitchen, lifting the lid of the large pot on the earthen stove to peek inside.

"Pah! It's empty!" He scanned the entire shabby little kitchen, making sure there was no dog meat, before shaking his head and saying, "No, are you sure he hid any dog ​​meat? Check the house for any."

Qian Shuandi had already headed towards the west-north room where Jiang Chen lived. Since she couldn't see clearly through the crack in the door, she simply poked a hole in the window paper and exclaimed as soon as she peeked inside, "Oh my! Come and see! Why is his kang (heated brick bed) covered with new bedding? Oh my, those flowers are so beautiful! How much did they cost?"

As soon as she shouted, the father and son both came over to look into the house.

The room was still pitifully simple, with no furniture other than a kang (a heated brick bed), making the neatly folded bedding on the kang seem particularly out of place.

Such exquisite and beautiful bedding should never appear in a room like this.

But it was true, leaving the family of three completely dumbfounded.

“This morning I saw Jiang Chen wearing new clothes. When I asked him, he said he sold the newly harvested wheat to buy them.” He Gousheng remembered the other man’s explanation and copied it directly, “They were probably bought together.”

Qian Shuandi glared at him, "You idiot! Don't you have any idea how much wheat you gave him? What? Is the wheat in He Jiangchen's hands gold? There's not even enough wheat to last three months. If he sold it all, could he afford new clothes and new quilts? Didn't that coward He Jiangchen ever see his old tattered quilt? Is that how it is?!"

This is clearly brand new, inside and out!

"Damn it, this kid must have found some way to make money. He's trying to fool you, you idiot!"

"What kind of ways can he make money?" He Yongqiang peered out the window, then pleaded with his mother in a drawn-out tone, "Mom, I want new bedding too, and I want the same pattern!"

Didn't you say you were going to find me a wife?

When preparing bedding, buy it in this style! It's fashionable, stylish, and looks simple; female students from big cities will definitely like it.

Qian Shuandi sneered and glanced at her husband in a sarcastic tone, "Where did you get this money-making scheme from? He Jiangchen's ancestors were famously wealthy! Haven't you heard people say that when you were allocated a house by a big landlord, you could find some good stuff from the cracks in the walls and the roof every now and then? That was worth a lot of money!"

If his mother had brought some ancestral dowry with her when she got married…

"Impossible," He Gousheng muttered. "After they passed away, I followed your instructions and moved all their belongings out. Even his mother's camphor wood chest, which she brought as part of her dowry, is still on our kang (heated brick bed)."

What could a teenager like him possibly have saved up?

They practically tore down the houses and dumped the land back then.

“Maybe it’s hidden in the wall or buried underground. Otherwise, where would He Jiangchen get the money to buy all this stuff?” Qian Shuandi retorted, not to be outdone. “You’re just incompetent and can’t even control a half-grown boy! Look at the bedding he’s bought now. How much money did it cost to buy such good fabric?”

He definitely has money! Perhaps…

She glanced furtively behind her; it was almost noon, and everyone was busy preparing meals, so no one was passing by. Qian Shuandi gritted her teeth and lowered her voice, saying, "Doesn't Qiangzi like it? We're having another wedding celebration, why don't we just break the lock and move the bedding into our house!"

He Yongqiang paused for a moment, then retorted, "Wouldn't that be stealing? I don't want what he's slept with! I want the brand new one!"

"What could happen if we only slept together for one night? I saw yesterday that there weren't any new bedding yet. I can just wash them for you when we get back. As the saying goes, to catch a thief, you have to catch him red-handed; to catch an adulterer, you have to catch them in the act. We can't just make baseless accusations against He Jiangchen if we haven't caught him."

Besides, with his poor and shabby appearance, who would believe he could afford such nice things if he made such a fuss?

Let's say it's for your wedding; isn't that a better reason than his? Go inside and search again; maybe you'll find the money he hid!

"It's settled then! It'll look good and save us a lot of money." He Gousheng gritted his teeth, turned around, found a whetstone, and started hammering it against the iron lock.

The yellow dog saw this scene through the gap and its ears immediately perked up.