Xiao Yunying turned over and murmured, "I wonder how my third sister is doing now. I'll ask Mother tomorrow."

As I was thinking, I yawned and slowly fell asleep.

The next day, Xiao Yunying was awakened by a slight commotion in the courtyard.

She sat bolt upright: "Did I oversleep?!"

Luo Xin sat quietly on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) playing with building blocks: "Mom, you're awake."

Xiao Yunying scratched her messy hair: "When did Xin'er wake up? Why didn't she call for her mother?"

"Grandma told me through the crack in the door not to call for Mom, and to let Mom sleep peacefully."

It's nice to sleep until I naturally wake up, but I feel guilty about it.

"Come here, Xin'er, let me dress you."

After tidying up the little girl and himself, he unlatched the door and went out.

Zhang was drawing water from the well, and Wang was carrying firewood to the kitchen. When she saw her come out, she said, "Yunying is awake. Did I disturb you?"

Xiao Yunying blushed and said, "I woke up late."

It was already quite bright outside, probably around eight o'clock.

The children were all awake and playing quietly in the yard.

Good heavens, this is the latest she's ever gotten up!

"Sleep when you want to. Third Master said that injured or sick people love to sleep, and that's how it is when the body is recovering."

Zhang came over carrying a bucket of water and said, "The vegetables have already been taken away, and there's nothing for you to do. I just told you to go to sleep and not to wake you."

Xiao Yunying blushed and asked, "What is my sister-in-law busy with?"

Zhang said, "Are you still half asleep? Didn't you say the day before yesterday that you were going to slaughter a sheep today?"

Xiao Yunying remembered: "Oh, right, right, I was still groggy after waking up, I forgot."

The two brothers, Luo Chen and Luo Yang, brought over two buckets of warm water, each half-filled: "Mom, the water is ready for you. Go wash up."

Thanks.

After Xiao Yunying helped Luo Xin wash up and eat the breakfast her mother had made for her, she handed the task of clearing the table to the child and went to the place outside the gate where the table was set up to slaughter the sheep to ask her mother, "Mother, where are Father, my eldest brother, and my second brother?"

"I'm sharpening my knife and straightening my rope at home. I'll be over in a bit."

"I'd like to go to the city today, could you ask my brother to take me there in an oxcart?"

What brings you there?

"I want to send some New Year's goods to Sister Cheng Yue and Yuan Cheng, and then go to the market to see if I can buy a couple of ducks or geese. Aunt Yang treated me to stewed goose in an iron pot last night, and it was so delicious. I want to buy a few so Dad can kill them for me today. Is there anything else going on at home today?"

"It's nothing, just go home and call your older brother."

"Okay."

While no one was in the kitchen, Xiao Yunying took a few baskets inside and put in wine that had been changed from jars, homemade sweet and sour hawthorn preserves, honey grapefruit tea and dried apricots, dried sausages and cured meat.

With the greenhouse providing shelter, a lot of melons were placed inside, and strawberries were placed in small baskets lined with cotton cloth.

She filled four baskets to the brim with wood ear mushrooms for Chen Yuancheng's portion and fresh vegetables for Cheng Yue's portion. She covered them with a cloth and went to her parents' house to call her elder brother to bring over an oxcart.

Xiao Yunsong, carrying a basket, asked, "Little sister, what's in there that's so heavy?"

"It's just some sausages, cured meat, and homemade food and vegetables."

She didn't mention that there were all sorts of jars inside; no wonder it was so heavy.

A cotton quilt was placed over the basket and secured with rope. Xiao Yunying sat at the front of the oxcart, said goodbye to her parents, and set off for the city.

I gave Cheng Yue and Chen Yuancheng New Year's gifts one after the other, explaining what was inside, how to eat it, which items could be stored, and which needed to be eaten quickly.

Cheng Yue had prepared a copy for her as well, saying that she had planned to send it to her tomorrow, but since it was here today, she just let her take it with her.

She didn't see Chen Yuancheng. After the servant at the back gate informed her that he had gone out and hadn't returned, Xiao Yunying handed him over to the head of the Chen family's kitchen.

After explaining what the New Year's gifts were, Xiao Yunying bid farewell to the steward: "Big brother, let's go to the market."

"Okay, hold on tight."

When they passed by the Chen family's jewelry shop, Xiao Yunying asked her older brother to stop the car: "Wait for me, brother, I'm going to get something."

Upon entering the jewelry shop, the shop assistants immediately recognized the wooden hairpin Xiao Yunying used to hold her hair. One came up to serve her, while the other quickly went upstairs.

"Miss Xiao, are you here to pick up the custom-made silver jewelry?"

"You recognize me?"

I don't think she mentioned her name when she came to buy the gold hairpin last time.

Moreover, she only recently learned that this jewelry shop belonged to the Chen family. She had passed by with Chen Yuancheng, and after glancing inside, Chen Yuancheng told her that the shop belonged to his family and that she was welcome to buy jewelry there, as he would give her a discount.

She didn't go in that day, so the people in the shop shouldn't recognize her. Could it be that Chen Yuancheng drew a portrait of her and showed it to them?

The waiter respectfully explained, "Young Master Ling Qi showed us a picture of the hairpin in the young lady's hair, saying that the one wearing this hairpin is the young master's close friend, Miss Xiao Yunying. We recognized the young lady by the hairpin."

Xiao Yunying touched the hairpin on the back of her head: "You only glanced at it briefly, how can you be sure that this is the hairpin?"

"This is a wooden hairpin that our young master personally carved and polished. It is the only one of its kind in the world, and we are certain that we are not mistaken."

Xiao Yunying was taken aback: "Personally carved and polished? Yuan Cheng told me that he drew the design and had the master craftsman at the jewelry shop make it."

The waiter paused for a moment, then lowered his head and said, "Then I must have remembered wrong. It was the young master who drew the design."

Xiao Yunying found the shopkeeper's attitude a bit strange: "There are plenty of wooden hairpins that look similar, how can you be so sure you won't mistake them?"

The shop assistant honestly replied, "The styles are similar, but the materials are vastly different. We people who work in jewelry shops have that kind of eye for detail. The wood of this hairpin in the young lady's hair..."

"Miss Xiao has arrived. I am so sorry for not welcoming you properly."

The jewelry shop owner hurriedly came downstairs and said to his assistant, "You can go now. I will personally attend to Miss Xiao."

Xiao Yunying: ...Shopkeeper, don't you think your way of getting rid of people is too obvious?

Xiao Yunying didn't let him fool her and asked directly, "Shopkeeper, is there anything special about the material of this wooden hairpin in my hair?"

"Nothing special, just an ordinary wooden hairpin."

Xiao Yunying's face darkened: "You think I'm easy to fool, huh? If you don't want to talk about it, let that guy from earlier do it, or I'll go ask Chen Yuancheng myself."

"Miss Xiao, don't be impatient. I'll tell you, okay?"

The shopkeeper rubbed his hands together, looking conflicted, and whispered, "The sparkling stone inlaid in the flower stamen of the wooden hairpin that the young lady is wearing is not ordinary jade. It is a pink diamond that was purchased from overseas at a high price. There are only a few of these in the entire Yi Kingdom. We recognized the young lady by the diamond."