When Zheng Shi heard this, she became anxious. She glanced at Third Su quickly and said, “Well, your nǎinǎi bought them for them.”

After saying this, she felt that this was a good reason, and she straightened up unconsciously. Could her mother-in-law still refute her for the girl Qingyu?

She didn’t want to but heard Su Qingyu say to her: “Would you like to let me search your room for coins? If I find copper coins, it will be mine.”

“Why?” Zheng Shi said loudly.

Su Qingyu smiled faintly and immersed herself in eating rice.

However, Zheng Shi reacted on her own and made a big blush. After giving Wang Shi a cautious look, she buried her head in her rice bowl and quickly picked up the rice, not daring to show her face again.

Wang Shi hated that iron could not become steel, so she gave her a fierce look.

Third Su’s wife Feng Shi glanced at Zheng Shi quickly and then looked away.

Even if dàsǎo ^[1]wife of her husband’s elder brother had private money, how much money could she have? The Lu family in town hired Qingyu and gave them fifty taels of silver. Apart from keeping money aside for the marriage of her xiǎoshūzi ^[2]husband’s younger brother, it would be useful for a long time. The big house was destitute, so why bother to make Qingyu unhappy?

Ever since this girl, Qingyu, was captured by her mother-in-law and her biǎozhí ^[3]son of a male cousin via female line, she knew how to resist. But she’s getting married soon. If she’s not properly appeased, why bother provoking her? If Qingyu became agitated and called off the marriage, it would be a mess, and there would be consequences to deal with.

While thinking, she scooped up some vegetables into the bowl next to Xiahe, her daughter. The mother and daughter just focused on eating, ignoring the disputes of Zheng Shi.

Father Su and Mother Su were both honest people. They lived their lives cautiously under their stepmother and stepmother-i-law, and usually, they didn’t do anything less.

Hearing Zheng Shi talking about private money, the couple broke out in a cold sweat. They were worried about being scolded by Wang Shi, but they didn’t expect Qingyu to help them out with just a few words.

The couple breathed a sigh of relief.

Usually, when the salesman came to the village, all his children looked at him eagerly, but he was unable to take out a single coin. The couple saw it and felt a terrible pain in their hearts.

Later, they also learned to hide one or two copper coins.

After so many years of saving, it only amounted to little more than two hundred copper coins. This time Qingyu was getting married and they couldn’t even afford a dowry for their child. Fortunately, his father said he would give him a tael of silver to buy some furniture, otherwise, the child would have to enter the Lu family’s house naked. ^[4]figuratively not literarily!!

The meal satisfied everyone’s stomach.

After eating, everyone went out of the main room together. Before the second room could be tidied up, the yǒu fù and yǒu guì started to share cakes.

In the main room, Feng Shi and Xia He were cleaning up. Mother Su was a sensible person, so she went over to help.

Zheng Shi was sitting idle in the main room, picking her teeth and staring at the cake in Wang Shi’s hand.

While watching, she clicked her tongue in amazement, “This is really generous. This kind of pastry costs twenty wen. Qingyu, you’re quite generous. Your mother must have saved quite a bit of secret money.”

Qingyu couldn’t bear to see her mother busy from morning till night. Whenever she saw Mother Su intending to stay and help, she would bring the twins to the main hall and lend her a hand from time to time.

Hearing Zheng Shi’s words, she was about to refute it, but Xiao Qingxing was angry that most of the pastry was taken away, so she angrily said: “We didn’t buy it, it was given as a gift! Our family has no private money!”

“A gift? Who would be so generous as to give away such expensive cakes?” Zheng Shi snorted, with a look of disbelief.

“Just a gift!”

Qingxing, being cautioned by her sister not to talk about today’s events in town, only repeated this sentence. She didn’t reveal anything about Lü Bocheng.

These days, having secret meetings with men, even if they were engaged, damaged the reputation of a girl.

Zheng Shi still doesn’t believe it.

She thought to herself, it turned out that Zhang Shi ^[5]I am guessing that is the name of Mother Su only looked honest on the surface, this cake was worth more than one tael. Gee, it seemed she made a mistake. Zhang Shi turned out to be a traitor.

Slightly glancing at Zheng Shi, Su Qingyu coldly said, “Third shěn ^[6]wife of father’s brother, do you think I’m willing to spend money on such expensive pastries for the family? If I have that money, shouldn’t I use it to prepare some dowry for myself? Instead, I’m willing to buy cakes for two younger cousins to satisfy their sweet tooth.”

Seeing Zheng Shi stunned by what she said, Su Qingyu turned to Wang Shi again: “Grandma, you collected fifty taels of silver, but not even one tael fell into the hands of my parents. I don’t know what my dowry is. What’s the plan? There are only a few days left. I don’t know if you, grandma, will buy it or give me the money to my parents to buy it?”

After hearing this, Wang Shi immediately widened her eyes and exclaimed, “Didn’t your grandfather say he gave your father one or two silver coins for arrangements? Is that still not enough? When your mother married into this family, she had nothing but two sets of clothes. What more do you want?”

Su Qingyu saw her mother, who was clearing away the dishes, lowering her head in embarrassment and narrowing her eyes. She narrowed her eyes and looked at Wang Shi: “I wonder what grandma brought in when she got married?”

When Wang Shi heard this, she choked.

What dowry could she have?

Her natal family was poorer than Zhang Shi, otherwise, they would not have married her to the Su family who was a widower with two small oil bottles.

Old Su Tou, who was outside the main room, took two long puffs of water pipe and then said: “I told the carpenter Su in the village to buy you some cabinets and boxed for the house. They will be available in two days. Then let your father bring it.”

When Father Su in the yard heard this, he immediately said to Old Su with a grateful face: “Thank you, Dad! Then I’ll take a look tomorrow.”

Su Qingyu glanced outside and saw the look on Father Su’s face. Seeing his happy face, she sighed and said nothing more. She took Qingyang and Qingxing’s hands and returned to the room.

When Mother Su helped the second room pack up and returned to the main room, she couldn’t wait to grab Su Qingyu and ask about what happened in the town today.

Why did she meet Lu Bocheng?

Could it be that Qingyu went to the town specifically to look for him?

Although both she and the child’s father were dissatisfied with the Lü family, letting Qingyu go see him might risk people seeing and spreading unfavorable words, tarnishing Qingyu’s reputation.

The five members of the family gathered in the room where Su Qingyu and the two twins lived.

There were a total of seven people in the big house, and they lived in two rooms in the east wing.

Before her Elder brother left for the army, he shared a room with Youwen and Youwu from the second room. Later, her eldest sister got married, so she slept in the same room with her twins. Fortunately, the twins were still small and very thin, so they could still fit in the same bed.

After asking the question, Father Su and her both turned to look at Su Qingyu together.

The twins in the room were sharing a piece of cake, but they stopped eating now and carefully wrapped them and put them away. There was joy in their eyes, there were so many, one piece a day can last them many days!

The two little ones had smiles on their faces. After listening to Mother Su’s questions, they started chattering and trying to shake off everything that happened in the town today.

After that, he concluded: “Mom, that Ge is not a bad person.”

Xiao Qingxing sat in Mother Su’s arms, holding the corner of Su’s clothes and looking straight at her.

Mother Su nodded her forehead: “Do you know what a good person or a bad person is? If they buy you cakes to eat, they are not a bad person?”

Xiao Qingxing pouted and shook the corner of Mother Su’s clothes.

“He’s not as bad as huābào in the village. He doesn’t look like that.” Xiao Qingyang added.

The huābào Xiao Qingyang was talking about was the only son of a widow in the village. His father died on the battlefield, and his mother never remarried, raising him alone. Every family in the village helped me, so he grew up eating from hundreds of families. ^[7]basically raised by the whole village

But this person didn’t want to be grateful. Today he could catch a chicken from this family, and tomorrow dig up some vegetables from that family. The land was not well cultivated, so he just kept an eye on the crops in someone’s field that was about to mature and quickly went in with a sack to harvest a sack.

Each family reported to the village head countless times, and though he gave pleasing responses, he remained unchanged in his actions.

And he even snatched the children’s snacks.

He also helped those gangsters in the town to ask for protection money from farmers and businessmen who set up stalls. If they didn’t pay, they would threaten them with sticks. He had a ferocious look on his face that even children were afraid of. He was an unwelcome presence in the village.

Father Su was silent for a while and then said: “Dad asked around in the town, and the review of Lu Bocheng was not very bad. They said that he hadn’t studied well since he was a child, and he loved to fight. When he grew up, he would play with cats and dogs. He is nineteen years old, but he doesn’t do anything serious. He drinks and goes to flower houses every day. Moreover, he is about to go to the battlefield. No one knows if he will come back in the future. Like your brother, there is no news at all…”