As New Year’s Day approached, the business of the shops in the town had obviously improved a lot.

The streets were crowded with people who came to the town to prepare New Year’s goods. After a year of hard work, it was the end of the year. Whether you had money or not, you always had to prepare some New Year’s goods for your family to add to the New Year’s atmosphere.

The flow of people in Su Qingyu’s shop had also doubled. The cooked meat business was in short supply. Usually, people were reluctant to buy meat, and they bought it in small quantities. At this time, it was bought whole.

Fruits were sold out as soon as they were put on the shelves, and there was no time to restock. They were just moved out of the cellar in the backyard and were snatched away before they could be put on the shelves. The winter wind was cold, and only Su Qingyu’s shop had fresh fruits for sale. There were many varieties, and they were not wilted at all. They looked just like fresh fruits just picked from the trees. Even if she sold in limited quantities, the fruits on the shelves were sold out every day.

She made a lot of money from fruits.

Everyone is very motivated. Thinking of the generous reward that Su Qingyu promised before closing the shop before the New Year, everyone scrambled for work.

Before the New Year, Uncle Lu sent the last batch of vegetables over. Su Qingyu asked Father Su to treat him to a good meal at a restaurant and also asked Lu Shengcai to sit with him.

Because Lu Boxiang’s study was not successful in the end because of Wu Shi, Lu Shengcai felt sorry for his brother’s family. He had promised it in the beginning. Fortunately, Uncle Lu didn’t take it to heart. He knew his own situation. No one in the two families who stayed in the countryside went to school, and he didn’t have any expectations, so he thought it was a joke from Lu Shengcai. Every time Aunt Lu talked about it, he would speak well of Lu Shengcai, saying that it was not easy for him to support a family.

Before Uncle Lu left, Su Qingyu asked him to take back the New Year gifts she had prepared for the Lu family, big and small and also prepared the New Year silver for Lu Bocheng’s grandparents.

The eldest grandson got married, and it was his duty to support the old man with a salary. Although he was not around, as his wife, she had to take on this responsibility for them. Moreover, she was ill this year and could not go back. She could not go home to worship the ancestors in the first year of her marriage, so she specially prepared more gifts.

Uncle Lu declined for a while and then accepted.

Lu Shengcai did not expect Su Qingyu to be so thoughtful. Seeing that he had not prepared anything, he was a little at a loss. He paid Uncle Lu to prepare New Year’s goods, saying that the gifts would be brought back after the New Year.

After sending Uncle Lu away, Father Su came back and told Su Qingyu about the matter, but she did not care. What Wu Shi did was her business, and she, as a daughter-in-law, could not interfere. She just had to do it with a clear conscience.

In fact, Lu Shengcai was really angry with Wu Shi, blaming her for not being as thoughtful as Su Qingyu, the grandson’s daughter-in-law. Wu Shi was very angry.

“She decided without asking me or discussing it with me. What if what I prepared is more than what she prepared?”

“What do you mean more? Are you prepared?”

Wu Shi was so angry: “I am the mother-in-law; I am so busy. Since she thought of it, why didn’t she come home and remind me? She wants me, as the mother-in-law, to accommodate her? She becomes good in front of your brothers and their families, which makes me look stingy! Did she do it on purpose?”

You, a daughter-in-law, didn’t make any preparations at all, didn’t even think about it, and still need someone to remind you? Lu Shengcai was holding his breath and was about to defend Su Qingyu but was interrupted by Wu Shi: “Besides, Bo Zu just had his engagement, and most of the family wealth has been emptied. There will be expenses for the wedding next year, and he will have to take the exam next year and continue to study. So Bo Zong will need money everywhere. Is it wrong for me to be frugal? I have worked hard for this family, but I am not as good as her?”

Lu Shengcai choked.

For the first time, was it not appropriate to let his son marry into a rich family? Finding a girl from a small family, even if they were of equal status, would not hurt the family.

If Bo Zu did well in the exam next year and went to study in the girl’s clan school, wouldn’t he need to arrange things everywhere? Otherwise, won’t the girl look down on him? It will be another fortune then.

Just thinking about it, Lu Shengcai felt a headache.

“I said at the beginning that there was no need to pay too much betrothal silver. The other party doesn’t know what our family situation is? Why are you pretending to be rich?”

“Oh, you blame me now? When I was looking for a suitable betrothal gift, didn’t you keep silent? If my son didn’t look like me and had a handsome face, do you think he would be favored? If the betrothal gift was not a little higher, would his in-laws devote all their efforts to training your son? You are dreaming about changing your family without paying anything!”

When Lu Shengcai heard about changing his family, he wilted.

He was a small merchant who had been oppressed for many years and wanted to change his family.

“Fortunately, you transferred the store to my name a few years ago. The other day, my in-laws asked about it specifically because they were afraid that Bo Zu would not be able to pass the exam as a merchant. It can be seen that most educated people look down on those who do business.”

Lu Shengcai snorted, “Do you think there are fewer businessmen in those big and official families? Otherwise, where would they get the money to spend?”

Wu Shi didn’t argue with him. Thinking about the money the family had saved for many years and how most of it would be gone once her son got engaged, she felt very sad. Thinking about the recent days when she saw people coming and going in Su Qingyu’s shop and how prosperous it was, she felt anxious.

Except for Father Su, Qingyang, and Qingxing, no one else in the shop was in a hurry to go home for the New Year. Grandma Zhou was in town, Su Dahu was a bachelor, and Su Qingliu planned to return to the village the day before New Year’s Eve. So all the surrounding shops were closed, and Su Qingyu’s shop was still open.

It was not until the 26th that Father Su took the twins back to Qiaotou Village while everyone else continued to work.

When Father Su went back, Su Qingyu also prepared New Year gifts for her family. She couldn’t go anywhere this year, and she couldn’t go back on the second day of the New Year ^[1]when traditionally married women return to the parental home, so she prepared the festival gifts in advance for Father Su to take back.

Qingyang and Qingxing were reluctant to leave and held her tightly. Since Qingyang’s Private School was closed for the holidays, the twins had been playing with Xie Qiyou in the town for several days, enjoying themselves to the fullest. When they heard that the two were going back to their hometown for the New Year, Xie Qiyou held their hands with tears in his eyes and was reluctant to let them go.

This was completely different from the Xie Qiyou who pretended to be a little adult that Su Qingyu saw at the beginning, which surprised her. In the end, the twins followed Father Su back, looking back every three steps.

After Father Su left, the shop was open for two more days. The people in the town also needed food and drink. Although most people stocked up vegetables at home, Su Qingyu’s shop was still open until the 28th before the holiday.

After giving everyone thick red envelopes and New Year’s goods, Grandma Zhou and her grandchildren were happily taken back by Aunt Zhou.

The next day, Su Qingmei and Qingliu took Yaya to see Madam Ma and then let Su Dahu send her and her daughter back in a bullock cart.

Although her Jiefu was not there and the family was divided, the Cui family grandparents were still there. So as a granddaughter-in-law, she still had to go back to her husband’s house for the New Year.

In the past six months, the Cui family had been controlled by Old Man Cui, and no one had come to the town to disturb Su Qingliu and her daughter, which had made her live a very comfortable life. The monthly salary was also taken back by someone, and when the New Year came, she also prepared large and small packages to take back, so no one could say anything.

After Su Dahu sent Su Qingliu away, he helped Su Qingyu close the shop before returning to Qiaotou Village.

Author’s Note: It is a holiday, and the Mid-Autumn Festival again. I am a poor migrant worker in a foreign land, and I can only miss the food at home alone. Every New Year, I crave the food at home. Many people don’t like to eat moon cakes now, but I still like to eat them. When I was a child, my family was not well off and there were many people. A moon cake had to be cut into four pieces, and each person ate one piece, which resulted in me not being able to eat more than one moon cake during a festival. Later, when I had the conditions, I liked to eat it. I would cut it into four pieces and eat it by myself. I would eat several pieces from one section as if I wanted to make up for the loss.

(End of this chapter)