Chapter 534 Preparing to go to the capital

The hall fell silent instantly.

The eldest son's wife, being the beneficiary, naturally appeared obedient, while the second and third sons' wives looked indignant and resentful.

Cheng Wanwan sat quietly to the side, drinking tea. She wanted to see how the old lady planned to handle this matter.

"Even if Zhao'er becomes a high-ranking official, he'll still be penniless. How will he support so many of us?" Old Madam Cheng said coldly. "If we all go to the capital, Zhao'er will be under a lot of pressure. What if he goes astray and gets dismissed? Our whole family will have to slink back from the capital, and that would just make us a laughingstock."

Uncle Cheng stammered, "Zhao'er is so sensible, how could she have gone astray..."

"You insist on going to the capital, isn't it because you're afraid the eldest son's family will leave you behind, isn't it because you're afraid of not getting anything in return?" Old Madam Cheng's sharp eyes swept over everyone. "Since you don't trust Zhao'er so much, then let's do this: the two adults from the eldest son's family will go, and the children will stay behind. The adults from the second and third sons' families will also stay behind, and each family will send one child to go with them. Will you feel at ease then?"

Sister-in-law Cheng immediately objected: "How can your own brother and sister-in-law not attend Zhao'er's wedding..."

"You have no right to speak here." Old Madam Cheng glared at her eldest daughter-in-law and continued, "This time, the imperial court has bestowed a total of 1,700 taels of silver. This money is for Zhao'er. As his grandmother, I will repay his second and third uncles in advance on his behalf. Each of you in the second and third branches of the family will receive 50 taels of silver. If you are still not satisfied, then none of you should go to the capital!"

Compared to more than a thousand taels of silver, fifty taels of silver is indeed too little, but if compared with the Cheng family's annual income, fifty taels can be considered a huge sum of money.

Uncle Cheng the Second and Uncle Cheng the Third knew the importance of knowing when to stop while they were ahead. They exchanged a glance, nodded, and said in unison, "Then we'll follow Mother's arrangements."

Grandma Cheng breathed a sigh of relief. If her second and third sons had started making a scene here, the Cheng family would have been utterly disgraced. Fortunately, these two fools knew when to stop.

The old lady turned to look at Cheng Wanwan: "When shall we set off for the capital?"

Cheng Wanwan originally didn't want to travel all the way to the capital, but Zhao'er's marriage was related to her, so she felt she should pay a visit to Old Madam Lin.

Another thing is that San Niu has been away from home for half a year since he went to the capital last year. How could she, as a mother, not miss her son? She wanted to take advantage of the wedding to go to the capital to see him.

She said, "Let's wait for Zhao'er's letter. He'll tell us to set off before we leave. Otherwise, going too early will only cause trouble."

"Yes, yes, yes." Old Mrs. Cheng now believed Cheng Wanwan's words very much. "Send someone to Chengjia Village the day before you leave to tell them that we will go together."

The Cheng family left after sitting for a short while.

Cheng Wanwan calculated the time in her mind. She would set off at the beginning of April and arrive at the end of April in about twenty days. After attending the wedding, she would set off to return in May. In other words, even if there were no delays on the road and she did not stay in the capital for long, she would not be able to return to Dahe Village until June.

I'll be gone for at least two months; there are so many things I need to take care of.

First, there are two workshops. Manager Yan oversees the overall situation, Old Lady Zhao is in charge of personnel and logistics, and Wu Xiaochui manages the accounts. Then, the group leaders of each group control the details of the production process. The management team is gradually maturing as the business develops, and there shouldn't be any major problems.

Secondly, there's the Daheyan Restaurant, managed by Zhao Ergou, with Wu Huiniang in charge of the dishes, and assisted by Zhao Dawang and Chunhua, so there's no need to worry about it.

As for the development of the village's tourism industry and market, the village committee is full of talented people and holds a meeting every two weeks, which is becoming more and more formalized.

As Cheng Wanwan was arranging things, Zhao Sidan sidled up to her and said, "Mom, you're going away for two months this time, that's too long... If something happens to delay you, you might not be back until July or August. I'll be sad if I don't see you for so long."

Zhao Ergou paused and said, "Mother, why don't I go to the capital with you? It'll be a good opportunity to broaden my horizons."

Zhao Sidan immediately chimed in, "Me too, me too."

Zhao Dashan put down what he was holding: "I'll go instead. I'm the eldest son, and it's my responsibility and obligation to stay by my mother's side."

Seeing the reluctance on her three sons' faces, Cheng Wanwan felt comforted.

She began, “Dashan, you’re the eldest son, the pillar of our family. You absolutely cannot leave this family. Besides, Xiaozhu needs you as her father, and Huiniang is pregnant. What will happen to them if you leave? Ergou, it’s the same for you. Chenchen is still young; you have to help take care of him. How can you just leave and go to the capital? As for Sidan…”

Chenchen is the son of Zhao Ergou and Cao Yingying. The name was given to him by Master Yu. His formal name is Zhao Mochen, and his nickname is Chenchen.

At this point, Zhao Sidan quickly interjected, "I'm not married and I don't have any children, so I don't need anyone to take care of. Mother, please take me with you. I miss my third brother, I miss my master, and I miss my cousin and Zheng Ge. I really want to go to the capital. Mother, please, please..."

He tugged at Cheng Wanwan's sleeve and started to act coquettishly.

Cheng Wanwan immediately surrendered: "Okay, okay, let's go, Mom will take you with me."

Zhao Sidan jumped for joy.

Granny Qi cautiously asked from the side, "Shouldn't you arrange for a few servants to go with Madam An to the capital this time?"

Cheng Wanwan nodded: "You can make the arrangements."

The people who received the imperial rewards all came from the capital, but she was completely unfamiliar with the capital, so naturally she had to bring people she knew well with her.

Furthermore, she would be meeting high-ranking officials and nobles in the capital, who would be served by a large entourage. Since she was a sixth-rank concubine, she couldn't be too shabby; she had to have the proper pomp and circumstance.

Finally, after some discussion, Granny Qi, Granny Yang, Ninglan, Cheng Jia, and Wei Xiaohai went together.

Granny Qi was in charge of welcoming and seeing off guests, Granny Yang was skilled in medicine so that she could be treated promptly if Cheng Wanwan suffered from acclimatization problems, Ning Lan would take care of her personally, Cheng Jia was responsible for the safety of the group, and Wei Xiaohai was responsible for running errands and doing odd jobs.

Just as April began, a letter arrived from the capital.

Cheng Zhao wrote three letters: one to Chengjia Village, one to Cheng Wanwan, and the other to Cheng Yuanyuan.

Cheng Yuanyuan was illiterate before. After coming to Dahe Village, Cheng Wanwan gave her many books on planting, and she was forced to start learning to read. The letter was written in neat handwriting and the language was simple, so she could naturally understand it. After reading it, she immediately came to find Cheng Wanwan.

"Zhao'er's wedding date is set for the eighth day of the fifth month. He even invited me to the capital to attend the wedding." Cheng Yuanyuan smiled broadly, holding a letter in one hand and a silver note in the other. "This child also sent me a silver note for one hundred taels of silver, saying it was for my travel expenses... Where did he, a scholar, get so much money? Could he have borrowed it from someone?"

Cheng Wanwan sighed, "I'm afraid he's saved all the travel money I gave him."

Her letter also contained a silver note, worth five hundred taels, but Cheng Zhao made no mention of this money.

But he was a frail scholar who had been preparing for the exams all along, so he had no time to earn extra money. Therefore, the money could only have been saved up.

He must have sent some travel expenses to the Cheng family as well. Considering all that, he didn't actually spend much money in the past six months, from going to the provincial capital to take the provincial examination to going to the capital to take the metropolitan examination. He must have suffered quite a bit in secret...

He hasn't even returned home in glory yet, and he's already starting to repay his family. If he becomes successful in the future, the repayment will only be greater.

Cheng Wanwan felt warm inside, but at the same time, she also felt sorry for her sensible nephew.