Miao Shi couldn’t sit still any longer. “Oh dear, I just remembered I need to pick up some jewelry today. I’ve been sitting here for a while now, and it’s getting late. Sister-in-law, I’ll be going now.”

Hua Shi hurriedly stood up. “I also remembered something, so I’ll take my leave too.”

Zhulan stood up. “I’ll see you off.”

Hua Shi and Miao Shi waved goodbye. “No need, no need; please stay.”

With that, the two women and their servants quickly left.

Li Shi was stunned. ‘Mother, they haven’t even been sitting for half an hour; how did it become ‘a while’? And they don’t seem to have anything to do!”

Zhulan smiled. “Because they’re tired of it.”

Li Shi blinked, recalling her mother’s words. Well, they were all used to it, so they didn’t find it tiring anymore. Back then, she had also found it tiring.

Zhulan’s actions were somewhat deliberate. Yesterday, she had received a stack of invitations; she didn’t want people coming to her door every day to treat her like a monkey. This time, she figured no one would come.

Indeed, as Zhulan said, her words spread like wildfire that very night; sometimes, the families of officials spread the news the fastest.

The next morning, Zhulan received several replies saying they couldn’t come because of family matters.

Seeing her mother-in-law’s happy expression, Li Shi quickly realized that while her mother-in-law was indeed showing off, she was mostly just annoyed. A mother-in-law was a mother-in-law!

At the yamen, Zhou Shuren learned of Zhulan’s brilliant move. He discovered that he was particularly disliked today, especially by He Daren!

With the year-end approaching, the yamen’s accounts were full, and Zhou Shuren didn’t need to worry about next year. Spending the day at the yamen was truly boring.

Zhou Shuren, holding his teacup, asked, “He Daren, have I ever offended you in any way?”

He Daren, thought to himself, “He has offended me in many ways. Unlike Lord Chen, I don’t have deep connections. Chen Daren can resist; can I?” The thought of his wife wearing the same style of casual clothes as him made Lord He want to vomit blood. His wife was beautiful and talented, but her only flaw was her fondness for bright colors; he’d seen bright silks when he returned home yesterday.

He Daren was well aware of his own appearance; while he was reasonably handsome, the problem was his dark complexion. This year, with all his travels, he’d become even darker.

Chen Daren and Zhou Daren had also gotten tanned, but they’d recovered; he hadn’t and was even darker.

He Daren, could already foresee himself becoming the laughingstock of Lizhou City this year!

He Daren chuckled, “Zhou Daren, I truly beg you, sir, could you secretly carve jewelry for your wife in the future?”

Especially not matching jade pendants and hairpins for himself!

Zhou Shuren was practically bursting with laughter. He knew what Lord He was implying; looking at Lord He’s dark face, there was practically no difference between him with and without a dark face!

He Daren pursed his lips. Don’t think he didn’t saw the smile in Zhou Daren’s eyes. That old fox was the worst; he didn’t even need to explain, and the old fox had already guessed his thoughts!

As the year drew to a close, thanks to Zhulan’s actions, things got interesting. Wives always compare themselves to each other; no one wanted to admit their husbands didn’t love them. Jewelry and fabric shops in Lizhou City were booming.

Especially jewelry shops, especially those carving jade pendants. There was no other way; men were the breadwinners, and not all wives had the financial means to make clothes, so they started with jade pendants and hairpins.

As a result, Zhulan’s family received many New Year’s gifts from fabric and jewelry shops. Although these were free gifts, Zhulan reciprocated to avoid criticism.

The Zhou family really received a lot of New Year’s gifts—or rather, so many that Zhulan’s family probably wouldn’t need to steam buns for a long time.

These steamed buns, shaped like zodiac animals and other auspicious symbols, were gifts from the common people.

The Zhou family’s horse nearly broke its legs from running so much. With the New Year approaching, Zhulan bought a lot of meat and had Steward Ding deliver it to the people who had given the buns. The New Year was almost here, and the common people, who hadn’t eaten meat all year, were giving two jin of meat and two jin of flour to each family so they could at least have meat dumplings on New Year’s Eve.

The Chen family’s New Year’s gifts included five kinds of fruit and tea, for a total of six return gifts.

This time, not only was Zhulan amazed by the Chen family’s wealth, but even Li Shi exclaimed, “Mother, what are these three kinds of fruit?”

Zhulan introduced them: “These two bunches are bananas, these two are pineapples, and these six are coconuts.”

She recognized the remaining two, oranges and apples.

Li Shi had never even heard of it, and even Dong Shi, a daughter of an official, looked completely bewildered. Dong Shi realized just how little knowledge she, a daughter of an official, had. Dong Shi sighed, lamenting how scarce the fruits were in the north. She asked, “Mother, how do we eat these fruits?”

Zhulan hadn’t seen any pineapples outside; she’d only eaten bananas. She felt that Hua Shi had deliberately sent pineapples and coconuts not only to show off but also to vent her anger.

Zhulan remembered her own persona—the original owner had never left Northeast China. “Bananas? Changli and Changyi have eaten them. I don’t know about pineapples and coconuts; let me ask.”

Zhulan counted the number of bananas in the two bunches: eleven in one bunch and eight in the other. Some had been cut, indicating that some had been frostbitten and rotten.

Zhulan had wanted to buy them in Jiangnan, but they were expensive and spoiled easily. Jinzhou was full of ripe bananas; she couldn’t find any unripe ones. She had considered buying from merchants on the boats, but those were all pre-ordered goods from the North; selling ripe ones was just to minimize losses.

Zhulan planned to give one of the two bunches of bananas to her parents but skipped the pineapple, as her parents were getting older and their stomachs weren’t as good as before. She’d take two coconuts to try.

The New Year’s gifts from He Daren’s family were clearly prepared by Miao Shi; there was a lot of silk, but the other items weren’t particularly impressive, and Zhulan really couldn’t say anything good about the silk’s color.

The various New Year’s gifts Zhulan’s family received were enough to last until spring!

With the New Year approaching, Lizhou City was no longer like last year, with few people on the streets, almost like a ghost town. This year, the market in Lizhou City was bustling with people selling Spring Festival couplets, candied hawthorns, and red lanterns. The entire market was a sea of ​​red, as if foreshadowing a prosperous new year.

On New Year’s Eve, every household hung red lanterns and pasted couplets. The Zhou family was busy early in the morning.

They had a large yard and bought many red lanterns; hanging them took quite a while. Ming Teng and Ming Rui, being young boys, started clamoring to set off firecrackers before they even had a chance to.

Zhulan readily agreed, but with Boss Zhou watching over things. Even modern technology can sometimes cause accidents, let alone ancient times.

This year was a year of family reunions, and Zhou Shuren was enjoying a rare rest. He didn’t want to move, only wanting to sit and chat with Zhulan.

Unfortunately, they hadn’t chatted for long when Zhou Laoda rushed in. “Father, an official has arrived!”

Zhou Shuren dropped his melon seeds, wondering what the Emperor had done this time.

Zhulan and Zhou Shuren went to the front courtyard. It wasn’t an official, but a messenger from the court, carrying a memorial and a bamboo tube – an urgent message.

For the New Year, Zhulan gave him a generous reward. After the messenger left, Zhulan and Zhou Shuren returned to their room. Zhou Shuren had already read the memorial, while Zhulan opened the bamboo tube. Two written “福” (Fu, meaning good fortune) characters poured out—a gift from the Emperor!

(End of Chapter)

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