Being close to ho allows one to eat at ho, saving a significant amount of expense compared to living outside.
It seems that people have realized that among the myriad paths one could take, only reading is truly excellent!
The cousins started talking about their clothes, all of them praising how beautiful the Ye family’s sisters looked in their dresses, with the bright colors of pink and red being favorites among the girls.
They also envied the silver hairpins on the sisters’ heads, as they only used leftover cloth from making their own clothes to create hair flowers and were reluctant to spend money on hair ties from the market.
Aside from silver hairpins, the Ye Family’s sisters also had pretty hair flowers bought from outside, which were not purchased by the sisters or their parents themselves.
It was Tang Shunyan who arranged for soone to buy and send them, seeing the beautiful head ornants that the sisters at ho had. He bought a range and not only gave gifts to Ye Shiqi but also beautiful hair ornants to the other sisters of the Ye family.
Shiqi also had unused hair ornants in her "space," all made from beautiful pieces of cloth, not everything Tang Shunyan had given her was completely stored in her room.
She took out a small cloth bag from the pocket of her outer garnt; to others, it looked like she pulled it out of her pocket, but in reality, it ca from her "space."
"Little cousin, what is this?"
Ye Shiqi wanted to give gifts to her cousins but hadn’t ntioned it to her elder sisters, who were just watching at the mont, not daring to speak carelessly.
Words must be chosen with caution, even among relatives, one should not make promises lightly!
When the sisters heard their cousins’ praise for their head ornants, they regretted not having the idea to give them gifts before.
As Shiqi opened the small cloth bag, it imdiately elicited admiring exclamations from the cousins:
"Wow, such beautiful hair ornants!"
The girls couldn’t help but reach out to touch them or pick up an ornant to examine it more closely.
Hearing the girls’ laughter and chatter, even the boys turned their heads to see the hair ornants the girls liked. Even they had to tie up their hair with cloth and would wear new clothes during the New Year, thus they looked on beautiful items with appreciative eyes.
Shiqi’s elder sisters laughed; their own head ornants were beautiful, and the little sister’s items were even more exquisite. Sotis, they too wished for Qing’s things but could only wish for them in their hearts, as they were gifts to her from others.
They could admire and be envious, but they couldn’t take ownership—that was not sothing an elder sister should do.
The hair ornants they were looking at were not expensive; it was just that they seldom visited the county town. So far, the sisters had only been to the county town once, where they hadn’t bought anything, let alone browsed outside stores.
"Pretty, isn’t it?" Shiqi asked her cousins proudly.
"Yes, yes, beautiful!" the girls chorused, nodding vigorously to show they really liked them.
"Would you like one?" Shiqi teased further.
"We’d like to... but..."
"Cousin, we can’t take your things."
The cousins looked on wistfully but knew their manners well; after all, the items belonged to soone else. If that soone didn’t offer, they had to carefully consider whether to accept even if given.
"Hehe, I have plenty of beautiful accessories," Shiqi said generously.
The cousins’ expressions were a mix of joy and anticipation, and they felt shy about accepting the gifts as if it might not be good etiquette to accept gifts without having sothing to give in return.
They looked at Shiqi, too embarrassed to respond.
"Seeing how much you like them, each of you can choose a hair ornant from here. It’s my New Year’s gift to you."
"Really?" Uncle’s eldest daughter asked sowhat uncertainly, afraid that Shiqi might regret giving the gifts and then cry about it later.
"Of course, what’s said is like water that’s been spilled—if you don’t like them, you don’t have to take them!"
With that, the girls couldn’t resist any longer and each selected a hair ornant they liked, feeling as though they loved every single one.
Each hairpin was unique, and they wished they could have them all to wear a different one every day. They secretly harbored this desire, but having one beautiful hair ornant already made them very happy.
After the cousins had each chosen an ornant, there were still a few left, which Shiqi did not continue to give away but rather folded up in the cloth bag and put away.
The cousins joyfully fetched mirrors to tie the gifts they received onto their heads, and seeing the beautiful ornants in their reflections, they laughed even more gleefully.
"Cousin, why did you only give presents to the girls? What about us?"
Uncle’s eldest son, a boy of about twelve or thirteen, said this more in jest, as how could they want gifts ant for girls?
"Hehe, little cousin, give us gifts too!"
Elder aunt’s son, Young Uncle’s eldest son, Uncle’s youngest son all chid in one after another.
"You want gifts? But do you have gifts to give in return?"
With the soul of an adult and the body of a child, Shiqi could clearly see they were only teasing her.
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