Chapter 133: Housewarming

Ye Erquan took the money and came to the main room with some displeasure.

I saw Old Lady Ye and Mrs. Du sewing shoe soles. Ye Erquan pulled a chair and sat opposite Old Lady Ye.

"Mom, my family is going to hold a housewarming party in a few days. How do you want to decide on the dishes?"

Old Lady Ye asked, "How much money do you plan to spend?"

"I only have five ounces and four cents..."

"Are you going to do it big or small?"

Ye Erquan pondered for a moment and said, "I only build a house once in my life, and it's a blue brick and tile house, so I naturally have to invite all my close relatives to come over."

Old Lady Ye nodded: "There are a lot of relatives. A big family has more than a dozen people, and one table can't accommodate one family. So we have to have at least 25 seats, otherwise there won't be enough seats. If we want to be decent, we have to have at least a five-person wedding."

"Eight dishes, five meat dishes and three vegetarian dishes. As for the vegetarian dishes, we have them in our garden, and if they are not enough, we can go to your second uncle's house to get some. But the oil, salt and rice are not cheap, and there are also drinks! At least one table will cost 300 coins."

Mrs. Du said, "I asked Second Aunt, and she said that she spent 10 taels of silver on the banquet last time. How many tables were there? I think there were 30 tables, and each table cost about 330 wen."

"Second brother, if you host 25 tables, it will be 8 taels at most."

Ye Erquan was furious: "I had enough, but his mother insisted on taking away three taels of silver!"

Old Lady Ye frowned, and finally sighed softly: "Alright, it's not a big deal, there's no need to make a fuss over a few taels. She insisted on saving some money just for your little family."

Ye Erquan listened and nodded: "She said she wanted to save it for Peng'er to marry a wife."

"That's fine. We are all for our sons and daughters. Don't be angry with her. I'll give you three taels first, and you can pay it back when you have more money."

"Thank you, mother." Ye Erquan was delighted. "I'll ask my second uncle to see the menu for their last banquet."

There will be gifts for the reception, and they will be almost paid back when he and Wei receive their wages at the end of the month.

......

Soon it was January 23rd, and Ye Erquan moved to a new house.

All the relatives and friends came, and the whole family was busy, it was very lively.

Ye Hufen is here again.

This time, her face was flushed, and even Yang Xiaoyan looked whiter and fatter.

Ye Caiping, Old Lady Ye, and Second Aunt Ye quickly pulled her over and asked with a gossipy look on their faces, "How is Yang Guangzong now?"

"Don't worry, he's fine! At first he even went to the village chief to complain." Ye Hufen said, "He's so naive!"

"What kind of person is our village chief? He likes to stay out of things that have nothing to do with him. If things really get out of hand, he will try to smooth things over and make big things small or small things disappear."

"The village chief didn't care about him having an illegitimate child with Widow Chen before, so how could he care about it now?"

Aunt Ye heaved a sigh of relief after hearing this and said with a smile, "Did the villagers say anything about you?"

"At first, a few women came over and said I couldn't be so fierce and hit my husband. I told them that since they cared so much about Yang Guangzong, why don't they come in and be his mistress? It would be more fun with more people."

"When they heard that, they all ran away in fear."

"Hahaha!" Aunt Ye and her three daughters-in-law all burst into laughter.

"After that, no one talked about our family's gossip anymore," said Ye Hufen.

Yang Xiaoyan sighed softly: "My mother used to be virtuous and hardworking, and they all looked down on her and laughed at her. Now my mother is fierce and lazy, and does nothing, but they respect her instead. Many women look at my mother with envy."

Ye Caiping thought that the so-called dignity and respect were all earned by oneself.

"Let's go see second brother's house!" Ye Hufen said.

"Walk."

Everyone left Aunt Ye's house and went to see Ye Erquan's house.

The layout of Ye Erquan's house is the same as the old house, but it is bigger. After all, the old house and the vegetable garden only occupy four acres of land.

Ye Erquan's residential land is six mu, and he has built four mu, which is all house and does not include a vegetable garden.

The whole house is made of blue bricks and tiles and is very spacious.

Aunt Ye Er, Ye Hufen and others were all extremely envious.

Ye Erquan and Wei were greeting relatives. When they saw Aunt Ye Er waiting, they hurried out.

"Congratulations, second brother." Ye Hufen gave a gift money.

"This house is really big and bright," said Yang Xiaoyan.

Ye Erquan looked proud: "Fortunately, I listened to my father and younger sister and built a blue brick one. Look how beautiful it is."

Wei smiled, feeling very proud and satisfied, and felt very proud.

Soon it was time for dinner.

The dishes at this banquet were quite standard. I can’t say they were very good, but they were not shabby either. It's quite a face-saving thing.

......

After a busy day, it's finally over.

Ye Erquan and Wei counted the gift money.

The gift money was more than expected. Ye Caiping alone gave 1 tael, Ye Daquan gave 500 wen, Ye Ershu's family gave 100 wen, and Ye Lizheng also gave 200 wen.

The other relatives and villagers contributed a total of more than 600 coins.

Wei was delighted: "It adds up to 2 taels and 4 cents!"

Ye Er picked them all up and said, "I borrowed three taels from my mother. I will return one tael to her tomorrow. My younger sister will also be moving to a new house in a few days, so we should give her one tael as a gift as well."

Wei nodded: "Yes, it has to be 1 tael, otherwise it won't look good."

When giving gifts, you should give the same amount as others give when you do things for them. Don't take advantage of others.

......

Five days later, it was Ye Caiping's housewarming party.

Last time, Ye Erquan’s house had already made the villagers envious, but now when they walked into Ye Caiping’s house, they could only describe it as shocking.

"Why is this house like this? The door is quite big, and there is a wall right after the entrance. The wall is quite beautiful." said Du Zi's wife.

"This is the screen wall." Ye Caiping smiled, "There is an arch on the left."

The villagers followed Ye Caiping into the archway and saw five rooms in a row. The row of houses is upside down and faces the gate.

"Why is the orientation of this row of houses so strange?" Tie Niu's wife said.

"This row is called the back seats. It's not where the owner lives, the inner courtyard is where they live." Ye Caiping said.

I saw that opposite the back seat was a small hall, and next to the small hall was a door.

After passing through the door, you will see a large courtyard.

"This is the second gate, and this is the inner courtyard." Ye Caiping introduced.

There are three large houses on the north side. The middle one is the main room and the inner hall. Ye Caiping lives in the main house on the right, and Old Man Ye and his wife live on the left.

There are four rooms in the east wing on the right and four rooms in the west wing on the left.

Ye Jiner and Ye Huaner lived in the east wing, while the other rooms were empty.

"Why can't I see the kitchen?" Tie Niu's wife asked puzzledly. Normally, the kitchen is located in the west wing.

"The kitchen is on the east side, but not in the yard. There is a side door over there," said Ye Caiping.

The villagers looked at each other in bewilderment; this was the first time they had seen such a layout of the house.

They followed Ye Caiping to the kitchen. The woodshed is next to the kitchen, and there is a vegetable garden behind it, everything is neat and tidy. Not in the yard, but inside the wall.

The best part was the barn, on the west side, inside the wall. Because we were not in the yard, we couldn't smell the smell.

The villagers were stunned. If they could live in this house, it would be worth dying for.

"This is the first time I've seen this layout." Aunt Ye smiled, "How did Cai Ping come up with this?"

"It's not something I came up with. There are a lot of houses like this out there."

Ye Lizheng said, "This is called a second courtyard. It can be found in small towns or counties. The second gate we just walked through is the second gate that you can never go out of."

The villagers looked at Ye Caiping with even more envy. Only rich people could afford to live in a house like this!

"I heard that the rich Zhang from Lijia Village," Mrs. Zhao squeezed over, "is the family home of your ex-husband's current wife. Her family home is the courtyard with two entrances."

"Every time I visit relatives, I always hang out around Zhang's house."

The corner of Ye Caiping's mouth twitched slightly. This old lady Zhao would do anything to get gossip.

"Their house is only about four or five mu of land, but your living yard alone is six mu! It's much bigger than theirs!"

Well, Mrs. Zhao's mouth is quite likable today!