Splendid peasant girl busy farming

Chapter 12073

"Don't worry, Madam, I will definitely continue to assist Miss and help her manage the inner courtyard."

As for the businesses outside, Madam will have Ping An go with her. Ping An has already participated in the acquisition of businesses when he went to Huguang County, and Rong Gu is aware of this.

……

"Has Madam woken up?" Luo Fengtang's voice came from outside the house, clearly asking Rong Gu.

Yang Ruoqing turned her head: "Tang Yazi, I've been awake for a while, come in!"

Rong Gu put down the comb, quietly withdrew, and took Yang Ruoqing's clothes that she had changed out of to wash them.

When Luo Fengtang arrived at the bedroom, he saw Yang Ruoqing, who had woken up, sitting in front of the dressing table, turning her head to smile at him.

Her complexion has completely recovered.

Her eyes were bright and clear, her lips were like peach blossoms, and her smile was sweet.

This invigorated Luo Fengtang, who was feeling dizzy and lightheaded after a busy afternoon. He leaned over from behind, hugged her, and gently kissed the top of her head, which smelled of peach blossoms.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked, pressing his cheek against hers, his warm breath tickling her neck.

"That's great, thank you for letting Aunt Rong protect me." Yang Ruoqing played a game of playful teasing with his cheek.

The two played to their hearts' content, and Luo Fengtang felt much better. It was as if there was an invisible energy in her that could replenish his almost depleted energy bar.

"I've almost finished preparing everything on my end. All that's left is to ask Dazhi to write a funeral couplet tomorrow, and then everything will be complete," Luo Fengtang said, wrapping his arm around her from behind.

"Yeah, my Tang Ya is really good at getting things done. She got it all done in just one afternoon. She's efficient and awesome!"

Seeing Yang Ruoqing give him a thumbs up, Luo Fengtang couldn't help but smile again. He grabbed that fair thumb, put it to his lips, and kissed it.

Yang Ruoqing blushed. Why was this guy acting like that today? He was like a little puppy, but his appearance and temperament were clearly those of a big wolfhound!
However, the stark contrast only made him more interesting to her.

“I slept too long this afternoon. Where are the children? Where are they?” Yang Ruoqing asked again.

She realized she had to change the subject, because she noticed that whenever Luo Fengtang was physically or mentally tired, he especially liked to cuddle with her.

Being affectionate is a good thing; she likes it too.

But the timing wasn't right; she was afraid that if she let him continue to be clingy, he would do even more.

Therefore, we need to change the subject to distract him, and we can continue our affectionate behavior when he goes to bed at night.

“Jinling and Wuyou have been helping me with the arrangements. They should have taken the two children to their grandma’s house next door early,” Luo Fengtang said. “By the way, when I came here earlier, I ran into my sister-in-law He Lian’er. She came over to invite us to dinner.”

"Okay, I've got everything ready here. Go wash your face and change your clothes, then we'll head over."

Yang Ruoqing pushed Luo Fengtang into the bathhouse and threw him a set of clothes at the same time.

That night, everyone had dinner at Yang Huazhong's house. At the dinner table, Yang Huazhong called over Yang Huaming, Yang Huazhou, Yang Yongjin, and Yang Yongzhi, and they discussed the Zhou family's affairs while eating.

Yang Huaming said, "The renovation of the east room is almost finished. Everyone should stop working for a day the day after tomorrow to help the Luo family with their business."

Yang Yongjin and the others nodded in agreement.

Luo Fengtang picked up his wine cup and toasted everyone: "Thank you, everything is in the wine, I'll drink to that first!"

Yang Ruoqing sat beside Luo Fengtang, following her husband's lead.

……

During the casual conversation, Madam Sun suddenly asked Yang Yongjin, "Yongjin, why haven't I seen Eighth Sister bring Yongxiao and the others over to play these past few days? Are they busy? Or did they go to visit relatives at Xiuxiu's place in town?"

Yang Yongjin put down his chopsticks and said to Sun Shi, "Third Aunt, you were right. Eighth Sister has been busy these past few days, but it has nothing to do with Xiuxiu. She's mainly busy with Er Yatou's affairs."

"Oh? Are Xiu Hong and the others going to town to do business?"

"No, the business is still in the preparation stage. It will open after the first month of the lunar calendar," Yang Yongjin said. "But... Er Yatou and Sixi's new house is ready to move into. These past few days, Ba Mei has been taking Xiao Sanzi and Yongxiao to the village every day to help tidy up Er Yatou and Sixi's new house!"

"Oh, I see. That's wonderful!" Mrs. Sun nodded repeatedly. "By the way, don't you also need to send a New Year's gift?"

Xiuhong and Sixi started cooking in their new house, as the bride's family was going to send a "warm stove gift".

However, Old Yang and Tan's new kitchen did not require gifts.

The reason is simple: Xiu Hong and Sixi have clearly separated from Sixi's original family, and their small family has started anew.

For such a hopeful young family, like a brand-new ship that has just been polished and is ready to set sail, it is certainly important to treat it with care and send blessings from relatives and friends by giving them a traditional New Year's gift.

As for Old Yang and Tan's little kitchen, it's like an old ship that's been used for decades, now patched up and placed on shallow water, ready to be pushed out when needed...

Therefore, there is no need to do something as troublesome and wasteful as giving gifts.

"Has the date been set?" Mrs. Sun asked again.

Before answering Sun's question, Yang Yongjin glanced at Yang Ruoqing and Luo Fengtang before saying, "Originally, it was planned for the 24th of the first lunar month, but then we said it was a bit rushed and we wanted to be more relaxed, so we moved it to the 28th of the first lunar month."

"Oh, that'll be soon, just three to five days!" said Mrs. Sun.

Yang Yongjin smiled and nodded, not continuing the topic.

Yang Ruoqing, however, guessed something from the change in the date he gave and from that look in his eyes earlier.

The most likely date is the 24th day of the first lunar month, which is the day after tomorrow.

As it turned out, the Zhou family had a funeral to attend, which involved the Luo family's condolences.

The Luo family needs manpower to attend the funeral, and they will definitely be prioritized to be drawn from the Yang family.

So Yang Yongjin and Cao Bamei discussed it and decided that it wouldn't be good if the two dates were too close together—one a funeral, the other a housewarming party. They decided to let them be; after all, when it comes to funerals and weddings, let's just say that if the two groups happened to meet on the road...

If one party is having a funeral procession and the other is getting married, then the bride should definitely move aside to let the funeral procession pass first.

This is a customary rule.

……

At this moment, in the kitchen of the small two-room house across the main road.

Tonight, Xiuhong will stay at her parents' house for dinner, while Sixi will stay at his own home and eat with his whole family.

Yongxiao went to stay at the Wang family's house in town with Xiuxiu, and Xiaosanzi also went to play. Yang Yongjin came to the third house for dinner, so at this moment only Cao Bamei and Xiuhong, mother and daughter, were eating in the kitchen.

The mother and daughter ate simply. Cao Bamei cut a piece of cured pork that had been cured in the twelfth lunar month, about the size of her palm, soaked it in water for a while, and then cut it into thin slices of pork belly.

I chopped two more lettuce stalks from the small vegetable garden behind the yard, and took a few pickled chili peppers from the old jar. A big bowl of sour and spicy stir-fried lettuce with cured pork was ready.

After cooking sweet potatoes and white rice, the dishes were placed on the stove. The mother and daughter held large bowls of rice, with the rice topped with the dishes. Cao Bamei sat on a small stool near the kitchen door, while Xiu Hong sat on the rolling stone at the stove opening. The mother and daughter shoveled the delicious food into their mouths while chatting about everyday things.

The conversations mostly revolved around the new house they were about to move into.

After all, compared to setting up a stall to sell rice balls, what attracted Xiu Hong and Cao Ba Mei the most right now was the exciting news that the new house had been completely dried out and they could move into their new home.

"Mother, Sixi and I have discussed it carefully. After we move in, we'll clean up the west wing and put bedding on it."

"Whenever you, my sister, and Xiao Sanzi and Yongxiao come to visit us, you can stay overnight in the west room."

"Now that Sixi and I have our own house, we can make our own decisions. You can stay here as long as you want. My parents-in-law can't interfere, and my sisters-in-law can't complain!" Xiuhong said excitedly while shoveling food into her mouth.

Cao Bamei could understand her daughter's feelings very well. Before getting married, she lived at her parents' home. In the month or so since the wedding, she had been living under the same roof with more than a dozen members of her husband's family. Every day, there were no shortage of bumps and bruises.

I completely understand the excitement of finally moving out and starting anew, where you can make all the decisions yourself.

“You can clean up that room, but we probably won’t sleep there, unless it’s Yongxiao and Xiaosanzi,” Cao Bamei said.

“Keep that room for your children in the future. Your sister and I have lived there before, and it’s not good. Yongxiao and Xiaosanzi are different; they are boys,” Cao Bamei continued.

The mention of the word "children" made Xiu Hong's cheeks flush slightly.

“Mom, really, you’re saying all that so early on, when nothing’s even remotely happening!” she said.

"Besides, I don't look down on you and my sister at all. What are you to me? Don't you even think about it?" Xiu Hong added.

No matter how big the world is, your family is the most important!
Cao Bamei smiled reassuringly, "Your attitude is enough to satisfy your sister and me. There's really no need for us to sleep at your place. Our home is right here, it's close by."

Xiu Hong pouted. "If you don't want to sleep here, then don't. I won't force you."

"By the way, Second Sister, speaking of which, I'm just asking a question." Cao Bamei raised her head, her gaze sweeping over Xiu Hong's waist as if she were measuring something.

“Mother, I’m scared by the look in your eyes. Please don’t ask anything!” Xiu Hong quickly said.

The sight of her mother's blatant gaze made her feel flustered and guilty. If she were still a young girl, she would have been half-understanding.

But now, she understands everything, both what she should and shouldn't understand.

Cao Bamei just smiled and said, "Alright, then Mother won't ask anymore."

Xiu Hong breathed a sigh of relief. As she got up to get more rice, she heard Cao Ba Mei's voice again: "However, I still have to remind you that if you and Sixi have been focused on making money in the past two years, then don't have a baby yet. Otherwise, it will be very tiring for you to go out to set up your stall while you are heavily pregnant, and you won't be able to take care of both of them."

Xiu Hong's face flushed red instantly. She kept her head down, adding rice without looking into Cao Ba Mei's eyes, but gently hummed in agreement: "We know what we're doing, so Mother doesn't need to worry about it."

She and Sixi have been married for a month, and they do marital things almost every day!
However, they each have their own methods. They dare not say that they will not consider having children for two or three years, but at least in the first year of their marriage.

All her possessions consisted of the dowry her family had given her when she got married.

The dowry mainly consists of furniture, bedding, clothes, fabrics, and other items placed in the house.

Therefore, you must make money; you can't just sit around and do nothing. You can take out the silver and jewelry you've saved up at the bottom of your chest and use them as capital for doing business.

But those dowry items and belongings can't be taken out and sold; what would that look like? Wouldn't that make them like Li Wei and his mother from Li Family Village back then? Living off the dowry their sister brought over, the whole family sitting at home enjoying their life...

Xiu Hong was determined not to do that. She and Sixi were ambitious, so they had to get their business up and running in the first year of their marriage and find a way to make money. Once they found a way, it would be easier to get started later, and they would have the confidence to have a baby.

"Mother, is Father going to deliver wreaths to the Luo family the day after tomorrow?" Xiu Hong took a sip of rice porridge and turned to ask Cao Bamei.

Cao Bamei nodded: "Yes, it just so happens that there was a funeral in Zhoujia Village. Otherwise, you could have moved into your new house on the 24th. Now you and Sixi's whole family will have to live together again."

Xiu Hong smiled and shook her head, saying, "I've stayed here for a month already, what's a few more days?"

“Oh, Er Yatou, I’ll feel at ease if you move out,” Cao Bamei said. “Right now, it’s only you who can come to see me. It’s inconvenient for me to go to your in-laws’ house. Your mother-in-law and I must have been enemies in a past life!”

Cao Bamei could only smile wryly at this. One day in the first month of the lunar calendar, she and Yang Yongjin, along with the children and Wang Wei and his wife, went to Xiu Hong's house to pay New Year's greetings.

At least everyone else maintained a polite demeanor, addressing each other as "in-laws" and "parents-in-law."

Only Sixi's mother stayed in the kitchen the entire time. The only time she appeared was when they entered; she greeted them briefly from behind. After that, she hardly showed herself again...

What kind of behavior is this? They're already in-laws, and they're still acting like this!
When her mother-in-law was mentioned, Xiu Hong's smile turned much colder.

"I've seen through her. She's incredibly selfish, petty, short-sighted, lacks a sense of the bigger picture, and isn't smart!"

In Xiu Hong's evaluation, not a single word was positive.

But even these few comments were not enough to express the deep-seated disgust Xiu Hong felt for her mother-in-law.

"Take the matter of Sisi and I planning to set up a stall in town at the end of the month, for example. My whole family, my father-in-law, my brothers, and my sisters-in-law are all very considerate of us. Daxi and Sanxi even said that if anyone dares to cause trouble, they will stand up for us. Brothers fight tigers together, and fathers and sons go to war together!"

"But my mother-in-law kept pouring cold water on it, saying that Sixi had been influenced by certain people's pillow talk to become a lazy farmer, that a farmer who had thrown away his hoe and was now running around making a living on the streets was not respectable and would starve to death sooner or later..."