Chapter 216: Chapter 212: A Harmonious Family Prospers

Seeing that their tone had softened, Lin Guohui and his wife plastered ingratiating smiles on their faces. They diligently helped burn the rest of the joss paper, bowed alongside them, and then politely saw the pair down the mountain.

After coming down the mountain, Brother Yong and Lin Yuezhen went to Lin Changyou’s house and told him about their encounter with Lin Guohui.

“Uncle, they said they want to come to the wedding banquet on the Laba Festival. If they show up looking for you, could you please bring them along?”

Lin Changyou said cheerfully, “Of course!”

Lin Yuezhen smiled. “Uncle, Brother Yong and I are taking the four o’clock bus back, so we can switch places with Little Lan and the others.”

Lin Changyou said, “Since you’re busy, I won’t keep you. Take Qiaohui with you when you go back.”

Lin Yuezhen nodded in agreement. Lin Changyou took her to the brigade office to get a travel permit, and after they returned, they prepared to leave.

Wu Shufen packed up the dried bamboo shoots, dried mushrooms, sweet potato starch, and taro powder that Qiaohui’s family had sent for Lin Lan. She then took out the handmade cloth shoes she had made for Qiaohui and put them in a cloth carry-all.

She then instructed Qiaohui, who was waiting nearby, “Your cousin has a sharp tongue but a soft heart. If there’s anything you don’t understand while you’re working, just ask her. Once you’re in Lexing, don’t go wandering into the city unless your cousin is with you. The cities are a mess.”

Qiaohui nodded obediently. “I understand, Second Aunt. I’ll be sure to work hard.”

Wu Shufen and Qiaohui came out of the main hall. Wu Shufen said to Lin Yuezhen and Brother Yong, “We’ll be troubling you to look after Qiaohui.”

“It’s no trouble at all!” Brother Yong stepped forward and took the carry-all from Wu Shufen. “Uncle Lin, Aunt Wu, we should get going, or we’ll miss our bus.”

“Alright! We’ll see you off!”

Wu Shufen and Lin Changyou closed the courtyard gate and walked the three of them to the mouth of the slope. Qiaohui waved reluctantly to the couple. “Second Aunt, Second Uncle, I’m off now.”

Lin Changyou nodded. “Behave yourself when you get there, and don’t go wandering off.”

“Okay!” Qiaohui answered, then followed Lin Yuezhen and Brother Yong.

After returning home, the old couple, Lin Changyou and his wife, called their sons and daughters-in-law over and told them about the betrothal gifts the Li family was preparing to give.

The two couples stared at Lin Changyou in astonishment. Lin Guoliang asked, “Dad, the Li family doesn’t have any factory workers, so they don’t get industrial coupons. Where are they going to buy all that stuff?”

Zhao Xiaohui pouted. “Exactly! I bet it’s all just talk.” ’The old man called us over specifically to tell us this,’ she grumbled to herself. ’He can’t possibly be thinking of making us pay for Little Lan’s dowry, can he?’

Lin Guodong shot her a glare. “If you can’t say anything nice, then don’t say anything at all!”

Wu Shufen gave a faint smile. “Last time, Xiangyang bought Little Lan a watch and an alarm clock. The watch is so waterproof you can wear it while doing laundry, and it doesn’t even need to be wound. The alarm clock runs for five days on a single wind. I heard Little Lan say that Xiangyang bought them from an acquaintance who’s a runner of private goods.”

Zhang Xiuqing nodded. “When I was cooking lunch, I noticed Yuezhen was wearing a watch, too. It was very beautiful.”

Lin Guoliang sensed the old couple hadn’t called them over just to talk about how much the Li family was offering as a betrothal gift; there had to be another reason. He looked at his father and said, “Dad, since Uncle Li is giving Little Lan such a generous betrothal gift, even though she isn’t short on cash, shouldn’t we prepare something for her dowry as well?”

Lin Changyou glanced at Lin Guoliang and Lin Guodong, then shook his head. “We’re not planning to ask you to prepare anything. Your mother and I have already discussed it. We’re going to write a letter to Guoqiang and Guozhu to tell them about Little Lan’s situation.”

“At the end of the month, after we sell the fattened pig in the pen, we’ll take some money from our dividends and put together a dowry for Little Lan. We wanted to give you a heads-up first, so there won’t be any hard feelings in the family later.”

Hearing that they wouldn’t have to contribute money, Zhao Xiaohui breathed a sigh of relief. But on second thought, she felt a new wave of displeasure. ’Marrying off one sister-in-law is costing our family more than what other people spend on three or four daughters combined. We already bought her a dowry once, and now we’re doing it again. This time it’ll probably cost even more.’

After hearing this, the Lin brothers said, “Dad, Mom, it’s your money. You two can spend it however you see fit. We have no objections.”

“That’s right!” Zhang Xiuqing added. “Dad, Mom, Little Lan’s future father-in-law is buying so much and offering such a generous betrothal gift because he holds her in high esteem. Our Little Lan is a capable girl; she’s worthy of the Li family’s high regard.”

Zhang Xiuqing paused for a moment before continuing, “After Little Lan gets married, we can make her some silk floss quilts. My mother said people in the city really prize them. We can make a few for her next year.”

Upon hearing this, Wu Shufen and Lin Changyou both nodded in satisfaction. ’Our eldest daughter-in-law really knows the right thing to say and do!’

Zhao Xiaohui was taken aback. She inwardly resented Zhang Xiuqing for being a busybody, but she forced a smile and said, “Dad, Mom, I’ll raise silkworms next year too, to make silk floss quilts for Little Lan. My sister-in-law and I can make her a full set for both spring and winter.”

Wu Shufen smiled and nodded. “Thank you both. Little Lan will remember how good her two sisters-in-law have been to her.”

Lin Changyou also looked at them with gratification. “A harmonious family prospers in everything. As long as our whole family pulls together in the same direction, how could the Lin family not thrive? How could we not build our own little Western-style houses!”

Lin Guodong and Lin Guoliang nodded in agreement. “Dad’s right. Little Lan’s Western-style house is really something. Once we’ve made enough money, we’ll build our own.”

Zhang Xiuqing and Zhao Xiaohui laughed. “On the day of Little Lan’s engagement, we have to go see what her Western-style house looks like. Even Dad can’t stop talking about it.”

Lin Changyou smiled and nodded. “Good! You should all go and have a look.” He then turned to the Lin brothers. “The market in East Market is almost finished. Little Lan asked when we’re going to open the specialty goods shop. I told her… well, what do you two think?”

Lin Guoliang thought for a moment. “At home, we still have some fermented tofu, dried mushrooms, tsaoko, and Sichuan peppercorns, but we don’t have much of the other major spices. With just these few items, we’re a long way from the kind of dry goods and specialty shop Little Lan was talking about.”

“From what I gathered from Brother Yong at lunch, now that policies are just starting to loosen up, we should be cautious and try not to stand out too much. Besides, we don’t know the first thing about running a business, and we can barely identify a few of the spices. It would be best to leave it to Little Lan.”

Lin Guodong nodded, agreeing with Lin Guoliang’s point of view. He looked at Lin Changyou and said, “Dad, I think we should wait for Little Lan and Xiangyang to get back so we can all discuss it together. None of us know what we’re doing. We should do what my big brother said and just let Little Lan handle it. We can just take a share of the profits.”

Lin Changyou mulled it over for a moment. “That’s a good idea. Xiangyang knows more about this stuff than anyone. We’ll wait for them to come back and make a final decision after we’ve all discussed it.”

“Speaking of fermented tofu, we’re almost out of jars,” Wu Shufen said, looking at Lin Guoliang. “Eldest, take a trip to the kiln and bring some jars back. On your way, stop by your great-uncle’s house and tell them Little Lan is getting engaged on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month.”

“Alright,” Lin Guoliang said, getting up and heading outside.

Lin Yuezhen and Brother Yong took Qiaohui across the ferry and, upon reaching Dashiqiao Commune, went to the bus station.

Qiaohui curiously followed the two of them onto the coach bus. She sat down stiffly, gazing through the window at the other large buses outside.

Lin Yuezhen glanced at Qiaohui, who was looking all around with eyes full of curiosity, and gave her a gentle smile.

Qiaohui looked at her, both excited and apprehensive. “Cousin Yuezhen, is East Market far?” ’In her memory, her cousin Lin Lan had a rather bad temper and hated it whenever her family came to visit Second Aunt’s house.’

Lin Yuezhen smiled and patted her shoulder reassuringly.

Brother Yong looked up at the sky and muttered to himself, “It’s getting dark. Looks like it’s going to rain.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep