Chapter 533: Chapter 532: Daughters Should Be Raised with Wealth

Hearing that they wanted to make two bowls of egg sugar water, Lin Yin, the eldest sister-in-law Xu, couldn’t help but open her mouth, but upon thinking of the generous gifts just brought into the house, she closed her mouth and swallowed her words.

This second sister-in-law is different from the impoverished sister-in-law’s family who came yesterday. She needs to be treated differently.

Looking at the appearance of the second brother-in-law, he seems to be someone who really cherishes his wife. It looks like this marriage is quite a good match. They should interact more in the future.

Egg sugar water is the highest form of hospitality in rural homes. Although it’s called sugar water, in reality, a bowl contains, at most, one or two sugar clumps. Sugar is so expensive!

So when Lin Mengxing’s family took out a pound of unheard-of high-grade brown sugar as part of the betrothal gift, all the onlookers from the Yin family were stunned.

Such extravagant betrothal gifts were something the villagers had never seen in their lifetime. Even brides married off to the town weren’t given such a grand send-off.

A few pieces of this sugar were later hammered into smaller pieces, and each distinguished elder and the clan leader in the clan were given a piece to try. Lin Yin’s parents each kept one piece and also broke them up to share with respectable relatives.

The rest of the high-grade sugar, Yin Daqiang sold through the Wang family peddler who collected mountain goods from the village to the Chen gentleman’s family in town, in exchange for thirty bolts of silk, ten strings of coins, ten jars of cloudy wine, and one stone of rough rice—enough to marry off their youngest son ten times.

Of course, marrying ten times is impossible. With this wealth, Yin Daqiang immediately renovated his house, building the first brick courtyard home with nine rooms in the village!

Not to mention a new marital room for the youngest son, even the eldest grandson’s future marital room was arranged!

Having spent the sudden wealth on building a house, the seventh aunts and eighth aunts, along with the covetous relatives in the clan, couldn’t come to borrow money.

Despite how silly Yin Daqiang seemed, he was quite astute (naturally, the decision to build the house was actually suggested by the real authority in the family—Yin Daqiang’s wife, Liu, which need not be explained to outsiders).

Anyway, on the surface, of course, it was the face of Yin Daqiang as the head of the household.

Later, when the Yin family found out the high-grade sugar sent by Lin Mengxing’s family had slipped from the hands of the Village Lady from Le’an just before they left, they were filled with emotion, realizing this second daughter had married well!

Such a lavish betrothal gift, no other farming family within a hundred miles would have it.

When the Lin Mengxing family later came to officially welcome the bride, Yin Daqiang’s family’s muddy grass house had turned into a brick courtyard, stunning them with the surprise that they had married a noble lady!

Not until after the return visit banquet did the family find out the reason—the house was exchanged for with the gifts they sent.

Upon learning that the brown sugar given by Lin Wanwan could be exchanged for so much silk and money, the Lin Mengxing family was anxious for a long time but had nothing to repay Lin Wanwan with.

That New Year, they took the Golden Cod Fish Roe they had been saving for their youngest son’s marriage as a New Year’s gift for Lin Wanwan.

Lin Wanwan also later heard about this incident from the Lin clan leader, and after that, she didn’t dare to send modern candy for future engagements within the clan, switching to half a pound of red sugar instead.

Even though it was only half a pound of red sugar, it was a rarity in the Great Tang, considered an exquisite and high-end good, still quite a grand gesture.

But compared to hard candies, the value of the fine red sugar was clearer to everyone, so it wasn’t easily given away as a betrothal gift.

Lin Wanwan originally gifted the Alpine hard candy just on a whim when they were about to head out for the engagement.

This made Lin Mengxing’s family and the clan leader present at the time unaware of the true value of this candy.

Seeing that it wasn’t the fine red sugar, treating it as something similar to malt sugar, they sent it all to the Yin family.

For Lin Mengxing’s family at the time, it was just candy traded for with Golden Cod Fish Roe, probably more valuable than the roe, but never imagined it could be so much.

Who would believe a pound of sugar could exchange for thirty bolts of silk, ten strings of coins, ten jars of cloudy wine, and one stone of rough rice? Even Wang Huolang, the intermediary, got a fee of five bolts of silk!

As the first to suffer a loss, Lin Mengxing’s family couldn’t speak up even after they learned the actual value of the hard candy, swallowing their pride instead. Who told them to be ignorant?

Having already given it away, there was no way they could express resentment, doing so would be futile and invite ridicule, possibly nullifying the gesture altogether.

Such a counterproductive act of getting neither gains nor benefits, how could the Lin Mengxing family make such a mistake!

So their whole family never mentioned anything about gifting the wrong present in front of the eldest daughter-in-law, Lin Yin’s wife, merely saying they valued her, giving her this luxurious gift to make face as the eldest daughter-in-law.

Lin Yin was naturally grateful, burying her head in weaving at home, and later, diligently learning and working hard at the cotton workshop, never uttering a complaint even when experiencing early pregnancy reactions.

Both Lin Mengxing and his mother-in-law repeatedly told her not to work at the workshop and to rest and nurture the fetus at home, but she insisted she was fine and could manage.

Her own eldest sister-in-law was still working in the fields up until the day before giving birth. How could she rest just because she was newly pregnant!

If the family hadn’t insisted on her needing two months of bed rest, she probably would have continued working.

For the Lin Mengxing family and the whole of Lin Family Manor, adding members was the most important thing. After all, it had been a long time since there was a new wife or a newborn in Lin Family Manor.

The Lin Mengxing family was the first to welcome a bride and the first to have a pregnancy, an impressive efficiency. Even if they weren’t one’s own family, fellow clan members were happy for them.

Lin Yin sat in the main hall of her parents’ home drinking egg sugar water, watching her beaming father, older brother, and younger brother drink with her groom, tears glistening in her eyes.

Everyone was living in brick houses and having a good life; it was truly a blessing.

That evening, leaving her parental home to return to Lin Family Manor, the entire Yin family, from old to young, accompanied the young couple to the village entrance, and after numerous protests, watched them leave with a cartful of homegrown vegetables.

Yin Daqiang nodded with satisfaction, watching his second daughter waving at him from the cart. Who said daughters are inferior to sons!

His second daughter had exchanged a four-sided courtyard for them, directly elevating their standard of living by a huge margin, far surpassing the son who brought only worry for the aged parents!

The Lin lad not only had a dignified appearance and a good family background but also respected his in-laws and cared for his wife. He was really a good son-in-law! He had raised and married off his second daughter well!

Thanks to his elder wife’s refusal to let their daughter work in the fields and ruin her hands, she could marry so well!

Watching his ten-year-old little daughter, Yin Daqiang’s eyes were full of fondness. This daughter was also beautiful; she mustn’t do any rough work either and should marry into Lin Family Manor!

Yes, from now on, all the daughters and granddaughters in the family shouldn’t do rough work and should be raised finely. Any one of them making a good match can bring considerable help to the family.

The eldest daughter-in-law of the Yin family watched the son-in-law take something out of his pocket and give it to the second sister-in-law, causing her to laugh, and felt an intense envy.

Why couldn’t she meet such a good husband! Pregnancy or not, who hasn’t been pregnant before? She had to work in the fields when she was pregnant, but this second sister-in-law had her husband even do the tea-serving!

Never mind the family conditions, just his thoughtfulness made people envious! And today, the second brother-in-law even said it didn’t matter if they had a boy or a girl, they would attend the school in the clan!

Listen to that, in Lin Family Manor, even girls could attend school! By the age of two and a half, they could start preschool!

“Sigh!” Xu looked at her five-year-old son playing in the dirt and sighed endlessly.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep