Zhulan coughed, and Li Shi’s heart trembled. She felt even more wronged. Her mother-in-law didn’t like her anymore. She said dryly, “Sǎozi doesn’t have much money. This is a token of my appreciation. Don’t despise it.”

Dong Shi wasn’t offended; she had no expectations. Therefore, receiving a meeting gift was already an unexpected delight. The box was open, revealing a hairpin from a jewelry shop in the town. It was from the south and cost two taels of silver. Considering what she knew about Li Shi, it was a rare and appreciated meeting gift.

Dong Shi accepted it with a smile, “I like it very much. This is for my eldest sǎozi. I don’t know what my eldest sǎozi likes. Don’t despise it, eldest sǎozi.”

Li Shi didn’t expect there would be a return gift. Only then did she notice that there were a few small boxes and purses on the tray brought by Dong Shi. She happily took it. It was okay as long as she didn’t lose money. “Don’t despise it, don’t despise it.”

She opened it and saw a silver hairpin. She smiled even more foolishly.

Chang Lian knew it would be like this, so he took Dong Shi to meet his second brother and his second sǎozi.

Zhao Shi gifted a fan, saying, “Dìmèi, I’m good at embroidery, so I made this fan myself. I hope you don’t mind.”

Dong Shi also had a lot of fans from Jiangnan. She knew that Zhao Shi’s embroidery was good, but she didn’t expect it to be so good. She smiled and said, “I like it very much. I also like needlework. I will bother you more in the future.”

Zhao Shi lowered her head and said, “You are welcome at any time.”

Dong Shi returned the gift and also gave a silver hairpin.

Next, she was introduced to everyone in turn. Xuehan, who had a close relationship with Dong Shi, received jade earrings. Yushuang and Yulu each received a pair of silver earrings. Mingyun, Mingteng, and Mingrui all received pouches, each containing two taels of silver.

After the recognition was over, everyone dispersed.

Zhulan called Li Shi and Zhao Shi, “You two wait a moment.”

Dong Shi looked back, and Zhulan said, “Dong Shi, stay too!”

Zhulan got up, went into the house, and quickly took out two red cloth bags. She opened one of the red cloth bags and motioned Li Shi to come forward. Zhulan reached out and took Li Shi’s hand, then paused. Her wrist was too fat to carry it in. Zhulan silently let go of Li Shi’s hand and handed the red cloth bag to Li Shi, “Before the establishment of the new dynasty, mother did not dare to be high-profile, and never gave you good things. This is for you, but you don’t seem to be able to wear it.”

Li Shi, “.”

Her excitement and gratitude were instantly extinguished; her mother might not say another word in the future.

Dong Shi pressed the corner of her mouth. The mother-in-law hurt her sǎozi too much.

Ignoring Li Shi’s look as if she was bullying her again, Zhulan opened another bag and gave it to Zhao Shi. “When you entered our family, there was no betrothal gift and no matchmaker. You were really wronged. In the future, you will have what your dàsǎo and your younger dìmèi have. Mother has chosen a date to match your horoscopes with the second son and write the marriage certificate. It will be in three days, two days after your younger dìmèi returns home.”

After Zhulan finished speaking, she said to Li Shi, “Count how much meat is left at home later to see if it’s enough to prepare a few tables of delicious dishes. If not, you can go buy it.”

When Li Shi first saw Zhao Shi, she wasn’t sobbing with her face covered; instead, she was crying with her head held high. Li Shi didn’t find the sight of a beautiful woman in tears captivating; she only felt that her dìmèi had it really tough. To protect herself, at that time, she sold herself as a wife. Her dìmèi had endured so much hardship. “Mother, leave the cooking to me. I will make sure to bring out my best skills to celebrate for my dìmèi.”

Zhao Shi couldn’t help it and threw herself into her mother-in-law’s arms and cried. As a woman, who doesn’t want to marry in a formal way, who doesn’t want to hold the marriage certificate and match the horoscopes to be recognized by the husband’s family.

She had no choice. She had to protect herself while fleeing the famine and exchange herself for food, but she lost her qualifications at that time.

This was still because the Zhou family was kind-hearted and her husband protected her. Otherwise, a wife who was swapped in—nicely put, she was a wife, but bluntly, she was just a laborer in exchange. If she was really sold, no one would care.

In Zhoujia Village, there were other wives who had been swapped in. Their mothers-in-law and husbands either beat or scolded them. They ate little and worked a lot. On one hand, they had no natal family to rely on; on the other hand, they had no matchmaker or marriage certificate, which made their in-laws look down on them.

She has given birth to two children. Her mother-in-law and husband treated her well. She also managed the monthly expenses of the family. She lived in a big house, wore clothes without patches, had new clothes every quarter, wore jewelry, and could save money every month. She was very satisfied.

She didn’t expect that her mother-in-law would make up her marriage certificate and match her horoscope. In addition to her mother and husband, her mother-in-law is the third person who treated her so well

Zhulan felt sad when Zhao Shi cried. This was different from Zhao Shi’s previous sobbing. This was the first time Zhao Shi cried loudly. It was not easy for Zhao Shi. She had to learn to protect herself at a young age. She also experienced her family selling her mother. The mother who protected her was gone. She could only live on her own. She didn’t want to be sold to a dirty brothel. She was afraid and could only endure it. She had to be on guard against anyone at all times. She had been holding it in her heart and didn’t dare to vent. Even when facing Changyi, Zhao Shi had always been very strong.

Her actions today touched the weakest part of Zhao Shi’s heart.

Zhulan touched Zhao Shi’s hair, “Cry, it will be better if you cry.”

Dong Shi came back to her senses from her second sǎo’s face and was stunned. She had seen beauties before. There were beauties in the county. There were many beautiful ladies in the merchant families, but she had never seen such a beautiful one as her second sǎo. No wonder her second sǎo was weird and kept her head down and didn’t dare to look up to see people.

Li Shi wiped her tears and, seeing Dong Shi looking at Zhao Shi, thought of Dong Shi’s background. Blocking her line of sight, she glared with her not-so-big eyes, “This is our family’s secret. Now that you are part of our family, you must not speak of it outside, or I’ll be furious with you.”

Dong Shi was stunned. When she was eating, she saw her eldest sǎo complaining about her second sǎo. Now she was protecting her. Although she did not understand her eldest sǎo’s thoughts, she was moved, and her eyes softened. “Dàsǎo, I won’t tell anyone.”

Li Shi was worried, “You are not allowed to tell your parents either.”

Dong Shi smiled lightly. She knew what to say and what not to say. The second sǎo was one of those things that she shouldn’t say. Her mother had told her a long time ago that as a daughter-in-law, she shouldn’t tell everything in her parents’ home. Moreover, she had been educated with more vision than her eldest sǎo since she was a child. Indeed, matters concerning the second sǎo should not be spoken of, at least not easily, as it could bring trouble if it reached the public. “I won’t tell.”

After hearing this, Zhao Shi stopped crying. With teary eyes, she looked at her elder sǎo. She never expected her elder sǎo to protect her like this. Although her elder sǎo sometimes played tricks on her, she was a good person, and she could forgive her.

Li Shi covered her chest and said, “Dìmèi, please don’t look at me. I, a woman, can’t stand it. Mother, I’ll go see how much meat is left.”

Zhulan, “.”

It was a very touching moment, but the atmosphere was gone as soon as Li Shi spoke.

Zhao Shi stopped crying. Zhulan didn’t plan to take out the second gift. She planned to give it to Zhao Shi three days later. If Zhao Shi wanted to cry for the second time, she should go back to her own yard.

Zhao Shi and Dong Shi left together. Zhulan went back to the room to change clothes. Zhao Shi was really good at crying. Her clothes were all wet.

Zhou Shuren lay on his side, watching Zhulan change clothes with a raised mouth. His eyes were gentle. Zhulan’s heart was kind and soft. Zhulan kept the whole family in her heart. She remembered everyone’s birthday in the family. Although the children of the Zhou family shared Zhulan’s heart, he liked the kind-hearted Zhulan. He had a good eye!

It was a pity that he couldn’t go back to the modern era. If he could go back to the modern era, it would be better without these annoying people in the Zhou family. He still disliked too many annoying people.

Zhulan changed her clothes and was about to sew when she heard a knock on the door. “Mom, I have something to talk to you about.”

(End of this chapter)

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