Seeing she wasn’t willing to talk, Aunt Cai didn’t press her. In fact, the few of them had privately speculated that the Mo Family was expecting a large number of guests. Not to ntion the newly built houses in the orchard, the three hundred sets of furniture that had been delivered from Mu’s Shop a couple of days ago had nearly made the villagers’ eyes pop out of their heads.
The furniture, made of fine wood, cost at least two taels of silver per set. Even the village families would be proud to use such furniture as dowry for marrying off their daughters. Counting it all up, that was five or six hundred taels of silver!
In reality, all these pieces of furniture had been made in the furniture shop where Mo Yan had a share. They had only spent two hundred taels of silver on wood and had given each of the furniture craftsn a red envelope of three taels of silver, totaling up to rely three hundred taels of silver. Otherwise, fifteen hundred taels of silver would not have been enough to build so many houses and buy so much furniture.
As the group sat together doing their work, chatting and laughing, the atmosphere was lively. Soon soone asked Aunt Cai, "Has the date for your Fat Tou’s wedding been set? Mrs. Wu’s Tie Tou has set his for the twelfth of the twelfth lunar month!"
"Haha, it’s set, it’s set, a few days earlier than Mrs. Wu’s, on the eighth of the month." Aunt Cai was beaming with joy at the ntion of her son’s marriage, "That boy has been clamoring to get married for a while. It’s just that we were too busy with the greenhouses this spring to pay attention. We can’t delay any longer, lest the in-laws think we’re not keen on their daughter-in-law!"
"My, you are so fortunate, Aunt Cai. Kind parents-in-law, harmonious sisters-in-law, and a son who’s done well for himself by finding a virtuous wife—there’s really nothing to pick fault with."
Just by the tone of Aunt Cai, everyone could tell she was very satisfied with her future daughter-in-law. Of course, the girl was from the city, and though her family was ordinary, she was more knowledgeable than peasant girls. It was said that she worked as an embroideress and earned quite a bit each month.
Now the Wang Family had profited from their greenhouses and built a spacious courtyard this year as well. Since the sisters-in-law got along so well, and the Wang brothers were united, they still lived together. The new houses for each grandson were also ready; because of this, the one hundred and a bit taels of silver they had earned were all spent. But it was money well spent, and they were happy even if it was all gone.
"Where, where, everyone’s days will get better and better. If there were conflicts in the family before, wasn’t it all because of poverty? Once we have silver, who would quarrel over trivial matters?" Aunt Cai humbly inserted a few words. Despite her loud voice, she was very considerate. So of those present were not living as comfortably, and if she showed off too much pride in her words, she might offend soone.
Indeed, as soon as she spoke, the won whose lives were less fortunate seed much happier. They didn’t envy Sister-in-law Wang’s good life; rather, they just felt despair about their own. Now, with Aunt Cai’s comforting words, they felt much better.
Mo Yan found all this idle chatter quite fascinating. Don’t think that when won gather they’re only gossiping or speaking ill of others behind their backs—many of them have their own way of dealing with the world.
Though she had lived through two lifetis, Mo Yan had only been twenty-five in her previous life and had lived a very monotonous existence due to her physical condition, leaving her with so shortcomings in managing social relations. Listening to others’ conversations and understanding their ways of the world could teach her a great deal.
But in the next mont, a woman’s words suddenly turned her expression cold...
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