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Little Qiyue sat on the side, her dark eyes darting around, observing them with a smile that seemed to suggest she was either smiling or not smiling at all.
As the night grew deeper, Wan Chunmei and Old Tan ceased their conversation and went to bed with the two children.
The next morning, it started snowing again.
This snow lasted for several days. Fortunately, the Tan family’s new house was already completed, and they took advantage of the snow to move in gradually.
The Tan family had been poor for so many years that they didn’t have many things to move. By the time they finished moving everything, the snow had finally stopped.
Since Wan Chunmei had met Miss Cao at Tan Erqian’s shop, she hadn’t taken Little Qiyue to the county again, mainly due to the heavy snow.
Tan Xiaomei, on the other hand, braved the snow and followed Liu Zhoucheng to the county several times.
Wan Chunmei had originally advised her not to go, but Tan Xiaomei didn’t want to add any burden to Old Tan, so she decided to finish the work at the magistrate’s house.
Today happened to be the last day, and she happily brought a bag of copper coins to Old Tan, handing over everything she had earned these past few days.
“Xiaomei, Xiaomei, how can I accept this? You should keep it for yourself, keep it for yourself!” Old Tan quickly refused.
Tan Xiaomei stubbornly pushed the bag of coins into his arms. “Big Brother, take it. You and Sister-in-law have it hard. There’s not much, but it’s my little token of appreciation.”
Old Tan looked at the bag of coins, sighed deeply, and accepted it, thinking of it as savings for her dowry.
His sister usually appeared like a soft, naïve person, but in fact, she was very thoughtful.
Before their parents passed away, they had warned them to always live harmoniously and look after each other. This advice had stuck with them, and he had passed it on to his own children.
Fortunately, Tan Yiliang and the others had remembered these lessons. The brothers had never quarreled, which made him feel content.
Seeing that Old Tan accepted the coins, Tan Xiaomei immediately changed the topic and began recounting what she had seen and heard at the magistrate’s house.
“Big Brother, Sister-in-law, it seems like the marriage of the Cao magistrate won’t happen. His fiancée is already pregnant with the child of a servant.”
Wan Chunmei sighed when she heard this. “That Cao magistrate is about to get a green hat even before the wedding. How unlucky!”
Tan Xiaomei nodded. “Yes, it’s true.”
While preparing a new quilt, Wan Chunmei continued, “So many things are ready, and now the wedding can’t happen. Won’t it all be wasted?”
Tan Xiaomei smiled. “It won’t be wasted. I heard that the Cao magistrate has already found another woman and plans to marry her at the wedding.”
“But this woman doesn’t seem to have a very good reputation.”
Wan Chunmei couldn’t help but scoff. “That Cao magistrate is truly stingy. In order to avoid wasting the things he prepared for the wedding, he’s just picking any woman to go through with it. What a character!”
Tan Xiaomei nodded. “Yes, fortunately, I was only working there for a few days. Otherwise, I truly couldn’t have tolerated such a master.”
Although Wan Chunmei was interested in the Cao family’s affairs, she was more curious about what Ning Qingyuan and the others were doing in search of people. “Xiaomei, you’ve been going to the county with Liu Shiye these days. Do you know how Lord Ning’s search is going? I haven’t seen them come to Fengping Village.”
Tan Xiaomei paused her actions and quickly replied, “I was about to tell you. It seems they found some clues, but suddenly there was an urgent matter in the capital, so Lord Ning immediately took that young master and rushed back.”
Wan Chunmei’s face fell a little. She had hoped to see who they were looking for, but it seemed they left just like that.
Taking advantage of Wan Chunmei’s distraction, Tan Xiaomei pulled out a small pouch from her pocket and said, “This is the young master’s gift for Little Qiyue.”
Wan Chunmei looked down and saw a small pouch embroidered with white peonies. It was very simple in design, with no special features.
She quickly asked, “Why did this young master give Little Qiyue a pouch?”
Tan Xiaomei immediately responded, “That young master said Little Qiyue looks very much like his sister, and he feels a connection with her. So he gave her this pouch. If she ever needs anything, she can use this pouch to find him in the capital, and he will certainly help her.”
Wan Chunmei’s face brightened. “So this young master is a noble person!”
Tan Xiaomei nodded. “Yes.”
Wan Chunmei carefully put the pouch away and smiled. “Alright, let’s finish tidying up the house. Once it’s done, we’ll need to get busy making pickled vegetables again.”
Tan Xiaomei perked up at the mention of pickled vegetables. “Sister-in-law, you may not know, but when I came back today, I overheard Erqian say that our pickled vegetables are really popular in the capital. He wants us to make more this time and send it to the capital and several surrounding counties to sell.”
“Really?” Wan Chunmei was immediately overjoyed.
Tan Xiaomei nodded repeatedly. “Of course, it’s true. Erqian also said that the capital and those other counties are much wealthier than our Pingyang County, so our pickled vegetables will definitely sell for a higher price!”