Su Qingyu turned her head and saw that her second gūsū Su Baozhu was shopping with her daughter Zhao Yanran. There was also a mother and daughter next to them, they should be together.

Su Qingyu stood up to greet them. 

Zhao Yanran glanced at her and then looked away, somewhat disdainfully. If relatives couldn’t bring honor and instead lowered her status, it was better not to acknowledge them.

Su Qingyu didn’t care about her attitude. She would treat others the way they treated her. If you ignored her, she could naturally ignore you.

Qingyu, why are you drinking tea here alone? Where is your man? You have only been married for a few days, why don’t you stay at home?” Second gūsū ^[1]father’s sister Su asked repeatedly, with quite a disapproval in her words.

The woman next to her was looking at her, and after hearing what Second gūsū Su said, she said: “Oh, she is your niecezhínǚ ^[2]brother’s daughter who married into Lu’s?”

Su Qingyu nodded and smiled at her, the other party glanced at her lightly, and then looked her up and down.

She said, “Where is your mother-in-law? Is she at home? Why don’t you ask your mother-in-law to come out for a walk together? Your mother-in-law gets along very well with us. She has a gentle temper and is easy to talk to. You’ve married into a blessed home by marrying here. You had to work day and night at your parents’ home, but now that you’re married here you have time to come out for tea, and the family has hired helpers, so you don’t have to do anything. You’re really enjoying a blessing. You have to thank your second gūsū.”

Second gūsū Su smiled and agreed, “It was just the opposite. When I told my sǎozi about this marriage at the beginning, she was not happy with it. She thought the boy from the Lu family would be conscripted.”

The woman raised her eyebrows and said loudly, “Well, there are many families in our town who have been conscripted this year. Doesn’t everyone have to live? And if you didn’t marry here and married into the village, could you have the good life you have now?”

Su Qingyu didn’t say anything but smiled with her head down.

Second gūsū Su echoed the woman for a few words, then waved her hand and called Zhao Yanran: “You and Ruyue take your biǎojiě to the town to walk around and get to know the way.”

Zhao Yanran looked disdainful: “Ruyue and I have to go to the jewelry store to look at jewelry, and we have to go to listen to storytelling later. My biǎojiě should go back to cook, and we can’t get together.”

Su Qingyu glanced at her, smiled, and said: “I am a new bride, and I have to go back to work. I can’t compare with you. You go and have fun.”

“You child.” Second gūsū Su pretended to scold Zhao Yanran.

Seeing Yanran and Qian Ruyue running away hand in hand, she shook her head with a helpless expression and said to Su Qingyu: “When you have time, go to the oil shop of the second aunt to get to know the door. Your mother-in-law often goes to my shop to buy oil.” 

Su Qing’an smiled and nodded.

Second gūsū Su said a few more words to her, which were nothing more than how a new bride should act like a new bride, stay at home well, and go out less alone.

Su Qingyu didn’t refute, just listened quietly.

“In the future, don’t go out alone. If you want to go out, go with your mother-in-law and xiǎogūzi ^[3]husband’s younger sister. You just got married, and you’re hanging out alone, and drinking tea alone in a place with so many people. It’s not good. Your mother didn’t tell you. You can’t do whatever you want after you get married. You can’t just run out without saying a word just because your mother-in-law is soft-tempered…”

“My wife, can do whatever she wants, no need to ask for permission!”

Su Qingyu heard the voice, turned her head, and saw Lu Bocheng striding over from the other end of the road.

Second gūsū Su looked embarrassed. When that Qian family woman saw him, she teased, “You rascal, you’ve gotten married and now you know how to cherish your wife?”

Lu Bocheng smiled and said, “Of course, a wife is naturally to be cherished once she’s married. Doesn’t your shopkeeper cherish you dearly as well? Yesterday, when I passed by your shop, I wanted to invite him for a drink, but he shook his head so vigorously, saying he was afraid you would scold him.”

The woman laughed, “How could I say anything if he went to drink with you? I’m just afraid that he would secretly go to a brothel to drink.”

“How dare shopkeeper Qian do that? He’s not afraid that you will break his legs when he goes back! He is a rare example of a good man in our town.” Lu Bocheng praised with a thumbs up.

The woman was coaxed by Lu Bocheng and laughed heartily. When she recovered, she said to Su Qingyu, “You married a good man and married into a happy nest.”

Su Qingyu smiled at her. Lu Bocheng greeted Second gūsū Su again, and the two exchanged a few words before going their separate ways.

“Does that woman also own a shop in town?” Su Qing’an asked, feeling somewhat touched by his protection.

Lu Bocheng nodded. “Her family runs a fabric shop on West Street. They’ve had several daughters but no sons, and they’ve been eagerly hoping for a son. They’re considering bringing in a son-in-law. She keeps a close watch on Shopkeeper Qian, afraid he’ll go out and fool around.”

Su Qing’an smiled. If a man wanted to go out and have affairs, no matter how carefully a woman guarded against him, she could not stop him.

Thinking of what they had just said about Wu Shi, she was a little confused: “Why does Wu Shi seem to have a good image in other people’s mouths? She is gentle and good-tempered? Easy to get along with others?”

Lu Bocheng sneered twice: “You just got married, and you don’t know how powerful Wu Shi is. She is the best at hiding a needle in a cotton ball. She looks delicate and weak on the surface, but she is cruel inside! She is also cunning and calculating. After I leave, you have to be more careful with her and don’t be fooled by her.”

Su Qingyu rolled her eyes at him. Was she so easy to fool?

Seeing that she didn’t take it to heart, Lu Bocheng said: “Don’t be careless. Wu Shi is two-faced. She has been in the town for more than ten years. People in the town still think she is gentle and a good person. Bah, she is the most hypocritical. Such people are the most terrible.”

Su Qingyu smiled: “It seems that she has left a big shadow on you.”

“Don’t laugh, remember what I said, be more careful with Wu Shi.”

Su Qingyu looked at him seriously and nodded.

The two walked side by side for a while. Lu Bocheng turned his head to look at her, looked her up and down, and didn’t see any purse, so he said, “Are you bragging? Didn’t you say that you would make some money today? Huh, is money so easy to make? If it was so easy, why did I only save a dozen taels in more than ten years?”

Su Qingyu looked at him with a look of disappointment: “With your brain, you only remember fighting moves and where the wine is delicious. What can you understand about making money?”

Lu Bocheng grinned: “You, always trying to argue with me. You don’t even look like someone who’s made money.”

Su Qingyu rolled her eyes at him and patted her chest.

Lu Bocheng opened his eyes wide: “Did you really make money? How did you make it? Tell me now!”

“No. Did you tell me how you spent that ingot of gold?”

Lu Bocheng touched his nose and muttered softly: “I didn’t spend it recklessly, I spent it properly…”

Seeing Su Qingyu looking at him, he thought for a moment and said: “Well, then I’ll tell you tonight.”

Su Qingyu raised the corner of her mouth.

She asked him again: “Do you know which blacksmith shop makes the best things?”

“Blacksmith shop? Do you want to make something? What to make? Zhang Dachui in North Street makes the best things, and he doesn’t cut corners.”

“Then let’s go to North Street.”

“Why are you going? What do you want to make?”

(End of this chapter)