Shen Qinghe lowered her head and remained silent. After a sigh, Madam Gu continued, "Qinghe, you must understand that Qing'an... he is gone. Your sister-in-law will only be seventeen next year. Do you expect her to stay in our family for the rest of her life?"

Today at the dinner table, whenever Meng Zhao spoke to Fang Muyun, Shen Qinghe would try to distract Meng Zhao. He would even get up to toast Meng Dashan when he spoke to Fang Muyun, trying to make a scene and attract everyone's attention. He was not usually the type to show off like this.

It's just that Fang Muyun is a bit dull-witted, otherwise he would have noticed it long ago.

Shen Qinghe knew that what he did today was inappropriate, but he was driven by an inexplicable emotion at the time. Now that he had calmed down, he dared not refute Gu's reprimand.

“Although it is said that the eldest sister-in-law is like a mother, your sister-in-law is only two years older than you and is still a young girl. When she wanted to marry into our family, no one in our family was happy about it, but in the end, it was thanks to her that our family was able to hold on.”

Madam Gu paused, and raised her voice slightly, "Your sister-in-law said a few days ago that she wanted to send Qingze and Qingyu to school after the New Year. You know better than me how much money it costs to study. Even if she is my own daughter and your own sister, it doesn't mean that we have to go to such lengths."

“If you’ve studied for so many years and become one of those pedantic scholars in storytelling, thinking that women shouldn’t remarry and can only have one man in their lifetime, then your mother has truly given birth to you in vain.”

Normally, Madam Gu rarely speaks in such a harsh tone, especially not to Shen Qinghe, whom she cherishes dearly. This shows that she is truly dissatisfied with her son's behavior today.

Shen Qinghe said somewhat anxiously, "Mother, I didn't mean that."

Madam Gu calmed herself down and her tone softened a bit. "It's good that you didn't think that way. I know you're a good child and you would never do something so ungrateful. If you ever meet Fang Muyun again, you must never do that again."

Shen Qinghe sighed slightly, "I just feel that he is not at all like my older brother, so why do other people think he looks like my older brother?"

To others, Fang Muyun was cheerful and likable, but Shen Qinghe saw him as dull and dazed, nowhere near as good as his older brother.

Madam Gu said helplessly, "I know you two brothers have a good relationship. Actually, when I look at him, I also think of Qing'an, and I feel sad. But this day has to come. You can't let your sister-in-law take care of us forever. She also needs someone to be close to her. We can't hold her back."

Shen Qinghe raised his head slightly and said earnestly, "Mother, I know that I will not do such a thing again. I have saved some money at the academy. I will pay for the money to send Qingze and Qingyu to school after the New Year. I will not let my sister-in-law work too hard."

Madam Gu was filled with relief. "Don't worry about Qingze and Qingyu. I get paid, and it's not easy for you at the county school. Just take care of yourself."

Seeing that Shen Qinghe was still unhappy, Gu Shi advised, "In my opinion, your sister-in-law's attitude towards Fang Muyun and you is about the same, and she doesn't show any particular favoritism. Let's not think too much about it."

Shen Qinghe understood that even if it wasn't Fang Muyun, it would be someone else or something else, and his sister-in-law would leave them one day.

After the eve of the Lunar New Year, Meng Zhao's braised pork shop remained open as usual. By the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month, there were very few shops still open on either Xishui Street or Tongfu Street.

Before the Lunar New Year, the streets were full of people buying New Year's goods. But now that the year is almost over, there are fewer people on the streets, and the number of customers in Meng Zhao's shop has also decreased significantly.

Fortunately, the unit price has increased. For example, two catties of smoked sausage in the shop would cost a full eighty coins. If customers add other braised dishes, the purchase would often cost several tens or even hundreds of coins.

Although the wages are now doubled and labor costs have increased considerably, there is still a profit of four or five taels after deducting all costs. However, considering that the wages will be tripled after the 26th, Meng Zhao did not want to delay any longer. Today, he put up a sign to inform customers that the restaurant will be open on the 26th of the twelfth lunar month, the last day of the month.

On the 26th, probably because they heard it was the last day of business, there were even more people than the day before. Before dinner time, all the braised meat was sold out. Meng Zhao said happily:

"The year's hard work is finally over. Everyone has worked hard these past few months. After we finish packing up, let's all go home and have a good reunion with our families to celebrate a lively New Year."

Knowing that it was a holiday today, everyone was especially happy and diligently cleaned the house. Not long after, Xiao Chuan ran in from outside.

"Sister Meng, it's snowing! It's snowing!"

Meng Zhao went outside and saw that snowflakes had indeed begun to fall from the sky. Judging from their density, they were probably quite heavy. So he quickly went back inside and said:

"Aunt Feng'e, you should hurry back with the carriage, lest the snow gets too heavy and you can't leave."

Lin Qiuniang chimed in, "Yes, it looks like it's going to snow even harder when it snows. You live in Shenjia Village, which is a long way away, so you should go back first. We're staying in the county, so it won't hurt us to stay a little longer."

Hearing what they said, Aunt Feng'e didn't stay any longer. Gu Shi from Tongfu Street saw that it was snowing and guessed that Meng Zhao would let the people from Shenjia Village go back first, so she also asked Shen Suyun and Shen Shuhua to go to the city gate in advance to wait for them and go back together by donkey cart.

Meng Zhao quickly led the workers living in the county to speed up the process. Before long, the shop was cleaned up and tidied up. After carefully inspecting the place, he took out his keys with satisfaction and locked each of the doors.

Then, after turning around and telling Lin Qiuniang and the others to be careful on the road, he hurriedly drove the donkey cart back to Tongfu Street.

Snowflakes fell heavily from the sky, and in the short time they had been cleaning up, the snow on the road was already up to their shoes. Their donkey cart was usually used for hauling goods, so it had never been covered. The two of them went back in the snow.

When they arrived home, both of them were covered in a layer of snow. Madam Gu quickly brushed the snow off them and then pulled them inside.

"The roads must be difficult to walk on in this heavy snow. You must be freezing! Come over and warm up."

While warming his hands, Meng Zhao said with a grin, "Mom, you know how kind the snow is to us. It just started falling right after we finished our work and closed the door, as if it had been planned with us beforehand."

"That's right. I was thinking that maybe our family could work hard and keep the shop open for a couple more days. After all, even though there are fewer people on the streets during the Spring Festival, we can still make some money. But who would have thought that the snow would be so heavy? It seems that's not going to work out."

Meng Zhao nodded slightly, "I guess God saw that we've been working hard for more than half a year, and felt sorry for us, so He wanted us to take a break."