Dazhu was taken aback: "Proposing marriage?"

Wan Shu narrowed her eyes at his expression: "Don't tell me you haven't thought about proposing marriage?"

Wan Shu didn't want her son to be a scumbag, so she lectured him, "Although Da Niu has agreed to marry you, as a man, you must not mistreat her because of this. The betrothal gifts and the banquet are all essential."

"If you dare to shortchange me, I'll teach you a lesson!"

Seeing that Wan Shu had misunderstood, Da Zhu quickly explained, "Mother, no, I never thought about not proposing marriage! I just planned to use my own money to buy the betrothal gifts..."

Since starting her business, Wan Shu has been giving them a considerable amount of pocket money every two weeks, based on their monthly turnover.

Dazhu is frugal and doesn't like to spend money. In the past six months, he has saved up nine taels of silver.

Originally, I planned to wait a few days until Wan Shu gave out pocket money again, and then save up ten taels of silver to buy a gold hairpin for my daughter.

Unexpectedly, before he could even go to buy them, Wan Shu had already prepared everything.

Moreover, the abundance of his gifts made his gold hairpin appear exceptionally shabby.

It turns out my son didn't intend to be a scumbag.

Wan Shu was quite pleased with Da Zhu's explanation and patted Da Zhu on the shoulder.

“It’s alright. A hairpin may not be much, but it represents your heartfelt sentiment. I believe that for Da Niu, your sentiment is more important than anything else. Don’t worry that your mother will outdo you.”

Dazhu looked embarrassed: "Mother, that's not what I meant. I just felt... that the betrothal gifts you prepared were too much... After all, this is everyone's money in the family, how could I possibly use so much..."

Upon hearing this, Wan Shu finally understood what Da Zhu was truly worried about.

This is because she was afraid that her wedding would cost her family too much money, and she would feel guilty, not to mention that it might cause dissatisfaction among her four younger siblings.

She glanced at the other four kids and noticed that they didn't show any dissatisfaction or resentment on their faces. Instead, they had expressions that said, "Big brother, what nonsense are you talking about?"

However, relationships always require nurturing.

Moreover, she has five children. Even having so many biological children can easily cause disputes, let alone the three children who are not her biological children.

To avoid any future disagreements between them, Wan Shu made a special statement.

"The money for the betrothal gifts was all from my own savings. This is my way of showing my love for you. No matter which of you gets married in the future, I will give you an equally generous gift."

Dazhu heard that everyone received one, and that it was a token of their mother's affection, so he accepted it with embarrassment.

This shopping spree took quite a while, and Wan Shu returned to Qingshui Village after noon.

As soon as she entered the room, she saw Meng Wenyuan sitting in front of the stove rolling hay, his face filled with resentment and sorrow.

She put down her things, somewhat amused: "You're so hungry just because you came back a little late?"

"Your younger brother just brought me some food. I wasn't hungry, I was just angry!"

Meng Wenyuan put down the bundle of hay in his hand and said through gritted teeth, "Meng Zhenshou actually came to Qingshui Village! Can you believe how infuriating this is!"

Wan Shu was somewhat surprised: "Meng Zhenshou is quite capable, isn't he? He found you here so quickly?"

"He's amazing my foot!" Meng Wenyuan rolled his eyes. "He didn't come to see me; he came to take a concubine from you!"

After asking carefully, Wan Shu finally understood what had happened.

It turned out that when Wan Feng came to deliver food to Meng Wenyuan, he casually mentioned some village gossip.

"I just heard a loud commotion at the entrance of the village. I thought something big had happened. When I went over to take a look, I found out that it was a young master from the county town who came to our village to propose marriage to Li Cuilan."

"I heard his surname is Meng, and his given name is something like Meng Beast. I'm not educated, and I just can't understand why a perfectly normal person would be called a beast."

"But apart from his strange name, he's strange in every other way. He came to propose marriage in a carriage and brought a huge amount of betrothal gifts. With such a grand procession, I thought he was going to get married."

"When I went there to ask, I found out that he just wanted to take a concubine."

Meng Wenyuan looked at him with disdain: "When my father was alive, he always pretended to be a good man, a gentleman who didn't touch women. But only a few days after my father left, he couldn't wait to take a concubine."

"Pah! What a shameless scoundrel!"

Wan Shu became interested in what he was hearing.

She had only ever heard Meng Wenyuan speak ill of Meng Zhenshou, but had never actually met Meng Zhenshou in person.

I can't understand how Meng Zhenshou and Li Cuilan, two completely unrelated people, got together.

This is a great opportunity to satisfy her curiosity and watch the excitement; she absolutely cannot miss it!

Wan Shu remembered that Li Cuilan's house was right next to Uncle Erniu's house.

She immediately used the excuse of settling the oxcart fare with Uncle Erniu to openly go and watch the excitement with Dazhu and Siya.

They brought Dazhu along because he was the one who rode the oxcart every day, and only Dazhu knew the details of the bills.

Siya, like Wan Shu, simply wanted to watch the excitement.

"Hehehe, I've never seen a rich family take a concubine before in my entire life. I'm really learning something new today!"

Si Ya was bouncing around, looking even more gossipy than Wan Shu.

Unfortunately, when we arrived at Uncle Erniu's house, we didn't see the excitement we had expected.

The quarantined Li Cuilan's house was quiet; there was no one there.

Siya pouted unhappily and asked, "Uncle Erniu, didn't I hear that someone from the county town came to propose marriage to Li Cuilan today? Why hasn't there been any news about it?"

Uncle Erniu looked a little embarrassed: "Well... about fifteen minutes ago, they said they were going to hand out wedding candy to everyone, so they went to the village entrance."

Wan Shu was completely confused.

She didn't understand why they had to go to the village specifically to distribute wedding candy, and she couldn't understand why Uncle Erniu's expression was so strange.

Not only did he look embarrassed, but he also seemed hesitant and stammering, as if he didn't want her to know.

Wan Shu sensed something was amiss and quickly pulled Da Zhu and Er Ya to the village entrance.

As soon as she arrived at the village entrance, she saw Lin and Li Cuilan leading a large group of people gathered outside Da Niu's courtyard.

Lin's shrill voice revealed a hint of smugness.

"Come on, Da Niu, Da Niu's mother, have some wedding candy. My son-in-law specially bought this from the city!"

"Oh dear, speaking of which, your eldest daughter is already engaged, so why isn't the wealthy bride handing out wedding candy to everyone?"

"And what about the betrothal gifts? I've never heard her mention them. Could it be that they weren't given?"

Before Da Niu and Sun Shi could answer, Lin Shi covered her mouth and laughed.

"Oh my, I never expected that a wealthy daughter-in-law could afford to build a big brick house but still not have money for a betrothal gift. Indeed, not everyone can be as generous and rich as my son-in-law!"