Splendid peasant girl busy farming

Chapter 11812

Manager Wang sat at the Luo family's place for about half an hour before leaving. Yang Ruoqing got up and saw the father and son to the door of the main room.

After leaving the Luo family, Manager Wang's son quietly asked his father, "Father, what did you and the master talk about just now?"

Manager Wang stopped in his tracks, glared fiercely at his son, and slapped him across the face.

"What are you asking? Is this the place for interrogations? Keep your mouth shut!"

His son didn't dare rub his head; he could only hunch his shoulders and force a smile.

The Wang family father and son stayed for lunch in the second room. Yang Yongjin not only invited all the men from each branch of the Yang family to come and keep them company, but also invited the women from each branch to come and help with the cooking.

No sooner had the Wang family father and son left than Yang Yongjin came over, specifically to invite Luo the blacksmith to sit down.

A short while later, Cao Bamei rushed over again, inviting Wang Cuilian, Yang Ruoqing, Xiao Qiao, and several children to have lunch in the small room.

Yang Ruoqing said to Cao Bamei, "My second brother came over earlier to invite my uncle to a banquet, and he also invited us."

“I said the same thing to my second brother. I said if my uncle and aunt were willing to go, they could bring Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan to join in the fun.”

"Xiao Qiao, Nini, and I won't go. Nini is still too young for crowded places, and Xiao Qiao is also quiet. We'll stay at home."

Cao Bamei invited her a few more times, but seeing Yang Ruoqing's firm attitude, Cao Bamei didn't press the matter further.

"I'm extremely busy today and need to hurry back to take care of things in the kitchen, so I won't talk to you any longer. I'll come and talk to you again after I'm done with the guests this afternoon."

"No rush, Second Sister-in-law, you go ahead with your work."

For most of the day, everyone from the Yang family, the Sun family, and the Luo family gathered at the second room.

The news that Xiuxiu was engaged to the only son of Wang, the shopkeeper in town who ran a plant and flower business, spread throughout Changping Village that very day.

"I know about that Wang shopkeeper's family. They have a huge garden on the outskirts of town, full of flowers, trees, and all sorts of beautiful potted plants. I heard that they can easily make dozens of coins just by selling one potted plant!"

“Those families who can afford potted plants wouldn’t just buy one, they would buy ten or eight at a time. The Wang family earns several hundred coins a day. If they also buy other flowers, plants, trees and saplings, they can earn several taels of silver from a single order.”

"If you get two or three orders like this a year, you won't have to worry about food, clothing, or other necessities for the whole year, right?"

"The key is that he's an only child. His two older sisters are already married. Once Xiuxiu marries into the family, she'll be a ready-made young mistress. Her life will be so much better than it was in Li Wei's family in Li Family Village!"

"I really didn't expect that Xiuxiu would be so lucky. She remarried with a son, and the marriage was even better than the first one. Sigh!"

"It's not that Xiuxiu is lucky; it's that the Yang family is powerful and influential. They were helped by the General and his wife in the past, and now the Yang family has produced a governor..."

"Don't even mention remarrying with a son, even if she remarries three or four times, there are plenty of men who want to marry her."

"Once the marriage is arranged, think about it. The Wang family's business will have found a backer. It doesn't matter who you marry. If you marry a poor, unmarried young woman, you'll still live a simple life and have children. If you marry a divorced woman named Xiuxiu, treat Yongxiao like your own son, and Xiuxiu will have a few more children for you, you'll still live a simple life, but a very prosperous one. You can take two beautiful concubines. If Xiuxiu finds them an eyesore, you can keep a mistress outside and never see each other again. If all else fails, you can go to a brothel to drink and have fun. As long as you have money and your business grows, you can live a carefree and happy life wherever you go!"

"Do you think the sons-in-law and grandsons-in-law of the Yang family would dare to do that? Unless they are like Luo Fengtang, who is already in a high position and has great power, which of the other sons-in-law and grandsons-in-law would dare to do such a thing? Wouldn't they be skinned alive?"

"Do it secretly, who would know?" "Hey, you guys are going too far. Besides, you people can't say a single nice thing. It's just a wedding, so don't say such sarcastic and mean things!"

"That's right. If she were to marry your son, I guarantee you'd treat her like a goddess. But she wouldn't even look at your son!"

"Our son wants to marry a decent, innocent girl; we don't care about that!"

"You really don't care? Think it over before you speak..."

"Hey, hey, what are you guys talking about?"

After finishing the banquet, Liu wandered around and started gossiping. She ended up under an old maple tree and happened to bump into a group of women chatting idly.

"He didn't say anything." Some people didn't want to chat with Liu's family.

Liu said, "I heard everything. You were gossiping behind our backs and saying bad things about our second wife."

“It’s not bad talk, it’s good talk,” the women quickly explained.

A woman nearby immediately contradicted them: "Ha, who was it that said they wouldn't want a woman who had remarried and had a son, even if she were offered to be their daughter-in-law?"

Liu made a gesture of covering her ears and said, "Whether or not to do this is not up to you. It depends on the fate arranged by the God of Marriage. The two children have to fall in love with each other."

“Take the second branch of the Yang family as an example. Yongjin has prepared eighteen loads of dowry for Xiuxiu, as well as 30 taels of silver as a last resort.”

“Our Xiuxiu didn’t take a liking to that boy. Even if he came to propose to her, if Xiuxiu didn’t agree, Yongjin wouldn’t be able to give away all the dowry he prepared!”

"What? Yongjin is preparing such a large dowry for Xiuxiu again? This is a second marriage, and she's even bringing a child with her!"

"The dowry I just mentioned was all re-prepared by Yongjin for Xiuxiu. It doesn't include the dowry items that were brought back from the Li family before and haven't been unpacked yet!"

"If you include that, it'll probably be close to thirty loads of dowry. They'll all go to the Wang family with Xiuxiu and Yongxiao!"

"Oh, by the way, at the engagement dinner today, the Sun family brought out a land deed from the town, for six acres of land, saying it was a dowry gift from Da Jie, the cousin, to Xiu Xiu, the cousin."

"My God, the Sun family actually offered 6 mu of land?" The women under the old maple tree were all shocked, speechless with astonishment.

Six mu of land must be top-quality farmland, or at the very least, second-quality farmland.

Such fields are enough to feed and clothe a family of six.

"What about your Yang family? Do you still give them the most precious things?" someone else asked Liu.

Liu wasn't one to spill everything. Her eyes darted around as she said, "It's still early, I don't know, and it's hard to say. But think about it, for such a big event as Xiuxiu's marriage, do you think the other branches of the Yang family would actually send her off with their eyes wide open? That would be inappropriate, wouldn't it?"

For a moment, the women under the old maple tree were nothing but shocked.

Especially those women who were so stubborn before, they weren't so stubborn anymore. If their son could marry Xiuxiu, the whole family would never have to worry about food and drink for the rest of their lives...

Alas, it's a pity we weren't meant to be. Even though she was remarried with children, such good fortune never seemed to come our way. We can only accept our fate...