Zhulan stuffed the silver money in her purse to Xuemei again, “This money is not for you. Although the sixty acres of land in our family have been given to the people in Lijia Village to help plant, the twenty acres of land in Zhoujia Village I need you to take care of and hire helpers. There are also a total of eighty acres of land at home, forty acres of paddy fields, and rice seedlings that need to be planted in advance. Planting the seedlings for the forty acres of paddy fields also requires a lot of helpers. These are all the expenses for hiring helpers.”

The seeds were kept by the family. Later, they bought more paddy fields than expected, so they bought more in Zhoujia Village.

Sixty acres of land were to be planted, and the seeds were also provided by Zhulan’s family.

Xuemei poured out the silver in her purse. Although it was not whole ingots, it was all broken silver. At a glance, she knew the approximate amount of silver. “Mother, hiring the farm hands won’t cost more than five or six taels of silver. This is too much.”

Zhulan did want to use the money from helping to support her daughter, but she didn’t say it clearly. “And we also need help for the autumn harvest. Mother told you that it costs a lot of money to hire help. Okay, quickly collect all the silver.”

“Mother.”

Seeing that Xuemei didn’t do anything, Zhulan did it herself, packed the silver, and stuffed it into Xuemei’s pocket, saying, “When Jiang Sheng goes to take the yuànshì, you take the children to Pingzhou, live in Pingzhou for a few days, and get to know your mother’s home in Pingzhou.”

Xuemei was moved. If her mother hadn’t mentioned it, she really hadn’t thought about going to Pingzhou. Now that her mother mentioned it, she wanted to go, not only to get to know her family but also to broaden her horizons and see the world. She didn’t envy her sister for living like a lady. She hoped that her daughter could be like her sister, with vision and courtesy, and not be limited by the village and stare at a small piece of land. “When we live there for a long time, don’t chase me away.”

Zhulan glared, “What nonsense are you talking about? How could a mother chase her own daughter away? You can stay as long as you want.”

Xuemei had her mother’s words, which were enough. After all, she was a married woman. Now her mother had three daughters-in-law. She couldn’t help, so she didn’t want to cause trouble for her mother.

Xuemei cooked the meal at noon. After lunch, Zhulan and Zhou Shuren returned to Lijia Village.

Today, Zhou Shuren drove the ox cart. On the way back, Zhulan leaned on Zhou Shuren and said, “I said I forgot something. What are you going to do with our cow?”

Zhou Shuren drove the ox cart. “The ox cart and the cow are part of Xuemei’s dowry. You have made bracelets for your two daughters-in-law. It is not too much to make up for Xuemei’s dowry with the ox cart and the cow.”

Zhulan really didn’t think about giving the cow. She just thought about preparing more things for Xuemei and some silver. Because she was going to save up for the dowry next year, she didn’t think about making up some in advance.

Zhulan bent her eyes. Zhou Shuren didn’t say anything. He had received more than a year of filial piety from Xuemei. Before leaving, he was worried that his daughter would be bullied!

Zhulan looked at the well-raised cow, smiled, and said, “The cow we raise is good. This year, it will have a calf. A calf is worth a lot of money. This dowry is good.”

Zhou Shuren also felt good. He chuckled and he felt like a father.

The day before leaving, Xuemei’s family came home to see them off. Zhulan and Zhou Shuren packed everything they needed to pack and entrusted everything they needed to entrust. The next morning, the carriage for Pingzhou arrived.

Xuemei waited for her parents to get on the carriage before she felt something was wrong. It didn’t look like her parents were going to take the cow and the cart to Pingzhou. Looking at her eldest saozi’s family, it didn’t look like they were going to entrust them to the Li family.

Xuemei hurried forward, “Mom, aren’t you going to take the cow and the cart?”

Zhulan opened the curtain of the carriage and said with a smile, “I wanted to wait until we set off to tell you, but now that you’ve figured it out, I’m not waiting to set off. The cow and the cart, this is your father and I giving you a dowry.”

Xuemei’s eyes widened. She really didn’t expect her parents to give her the cow and the cart as a dowry. Even if her parents were getting better and better, there would be people who would be jealous of her and instigate her, saying that her family bought a big house and land, but didn’t say anything about giving her anything.

She knew in her heart that these people were jealous and wanted to hurt her, but she knew that her parents had been giving her money all year long, and she had several pieces of jewelry. She had always been a contented person, and she also had her own thoughts. She actually didn’t want her parents to give her money.

Because she understood that only when she was the weaker one in the family would her parents pay more attention to her and think more about Jiang Du and Jiang Miao. It was good enough that her parents-in-law didn’t hold her back, but it was impossible to expect them to help her. Her son and daughter would still rely on their wàigōng and wàipó in the future, and her only little thoughts were for their children.

So she was really not jealous, nor did she envy them. She didn’t expect that her parents would give her the cow and the cart. She wanted to say no, but they were all the people who saw her off, and she couldn’t refute her mother in front of outsiders. Moreover, if she refused, she was afraid that people would think that she wanted more, so she had to accept it.

Zhulan waved at Xuemei, “Take care of yourself.”

Xuemei, “.”

She saw the pride in her mother’s eyes. Her mother knew that she would not want it, so she waited until she left to give her the cow and cart!

The carriage started, and Zhulan lowered the curtain. There were not only Zhulan and Zhou Shuren in the carriage but also Xuehan. Although the luggage was sent to Pingzhou first, five carriages were hired. Changzhi took Rongchuan and Mingyun in one, the eldest couple took Mingteng and Yulu in one, Zhao Shi took Yushuang and Mingrui, and the last one was for the newlywed couple. Although there were only the young couple in the carriage, there was not much space. Dong Shi had too many valuables, so most of the carriage was used to carry things.

As for the second son, he had stayed back in Pingzhou to look after the house.

The snow had not melted yet. Because of the heavy snow last year, the road was pressed hard by snow. The road to Pingzhou was much smoother, and Zhulan suffered less.

The carriage was fast and arrived before dark. Second Zhou had been waiting in the front yard. Boss Zhou knocked on the door, and Second Zhou opened the door after a while.

Zhou Shuren got out of the car, and Second Zhou came forward and said, “Dad, I have lit the fire in each room, the rooms are all heated up, and the food is ready. The food is cooked by Grandma Wu.”

Zhou Shuren was very confident in Second Zhou’s work, and said, “Well, you go to the back to help move things.”

Second Zhou, “Ok.”

Zhou Shuren helped Zhulan get out of the car, and Zhulan moved her legs. She would live in Pingzhou in the future. This time, the feeling was very different from the last time she came. After Xuehan got out of the car, Zhulan took Xuehan into the yard first.

This time the family lived in the same yard again, and Zhulan was still a little uncomfortable. She was used to the quietness of Xuehan.

The house was divided a long time ago. Like the old house, each room had its own yard. Changlian and Changzhi went to the front yard to study in the future. There was a special study room in the front yard for studying. Changzhi and Rongchuan did not live in the backyard but moved to the front yard.

There were still a few empty rooms in the front yard, all of which were kept for relatives who would come to take exams in the future.

After a simple tidy-up of each room, they came to the main hall of the main house for dinner. There were two tables of dishes, and Wu Li Shi cooked eight dishes, all of which were Wu Li Shi’s specialties. The most attractive dish on the table was the Chinese cabbage soup.

Second Zhou said, “I went to buy vegetables and meat this morning, and I bought a bunch of Chinese cabbage when I saw it.”

It was too expensive, so he didn’t want to buy more. Just a handful was enough for the soup. If he hadn’t thought that his mother would like it, he wouldn’t have bought it according to his personality.

The Zhou family had no shortage of meat, but vegetables, especially the dry vegetables were out of stock. There were a lot of meat dishes left over from the seven dishes, and the two large pots of Chinese cabbage soup were drunk very cleanly.

Li Shi spread out her clothes and said, “Chinese cabbage is delicious, but it’s too expensive. Mother, let’s grow some in the house.”

A handful of Chinese cabbage with only a few stalks cost twenty coins. It was really a rip-off. The state capital was different. Chinese cabbage was twice as expensive as in the county.

Zhulan was also happy for Li Shi to do some work. Li Shi was unfamiliar with Pingzhou, so she might as well do some work on her own. She didn’t expect Li Shi to grow enough food for the family, just enough to make soup. “Then I’ll leave it to you.”

Li Shi said, “.”

This was not want she wanted, mother. She hoped that the three daughters-in-law would be together, and she also wanted to command her dimei.

(End of this chapter)

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