Chapter 79 The Gift

"What are you looking at? You want to climb into my bed too? You country bumpkin, how dare you have such wild dreams?" The head maid scolded Zhao Yuzhi without any restraint when she saw her standing there in a daze.

Zhao Yuzhi kept her head down and didn't say anything until she left, at which point she revealed a thoughtful expression.

"Why haven't you gone back yet?" Xu Qingyan asked, only remembering that he had brought someone back with him when he saw Zhao Yuzhi bringing the food.

“The New Year’s gifts have already been sent back by someone. There are hardly any people in this mansion now, and I was afraid that the young master would have no one to serve him, so I took the liberty of staying here,” Zhao Yuzhi said, still a little nervous, keeping her head down and not daring to look at anyone.

"You're so thoughtful. Go to the accountant to collect your reward later. I've really been troubling you these past few days," Xu Qingyan said, smiling gently at the woman who had become much fairer.

After being bombarded by the villagers, Song Yushu closed his doors to visitors and refused to see anyone.

Rumors gradually began to circulate in the village that Song Yushu was arrogant and looked down on the villagers when it came to marriage. She did not deny it, thinking that this was better than everyone wanting to come and try to curry favor with her.

"Why is someone coming at this time?" Mother Wei asked, noticing a carriage parked outside.

"Excuse me, is this Mr. Wei's house? Someone asked me to deliver New Year's gifts," the coachman called out from outside as he got off the chair.

"Yes, may I ask who delivered it?" Song Yushu asked when he saw that it wasn't someone from the village.

"Boss Wei will know once he sees it," the coachman said, keeping Song Yushu in suspense instead of telling him directly.

"This is too extravagant," said Mother Wei, her eyes wide with amazement as she looked at the things being unloaded from the carriage.

"If I'm not mistaken, this fabric is five taels of silver a bolt, right? And these jars of wine and ham..."

Song Yushu had her answer: the only one willing to spend so much on her was undoubtedly Xue Huai'an.

"Why are there still gifts for us? We're so embarrassed, we don't know what kind of gift to give in return..."

When Wei's mother saw that the room was so full that there was no room to walk, she didn't know what to do.

"Please accept it. It's their kind gesture. We also have some dried meat and cured meat at home. Didn't Mother and Sister-in-law make some mushroom sauce before? It's perfect to bring them along as a return gift."

After Song Yushu finished speaking, he said to the groom who was delivering the gift, "Wait a moment, I'll go get something else."

As he spoke, the man ran back into the house and took out a wooden box, instructing him to return the box along with the New Year's gifts prepared by Wei's mother and others.

Song Yushu went back into the room and took stock of the things Xue Huai'an had brought. After giving one bolt of cloth to each of Wei's mother and the others, there were two bolts left, two sets of ready-made clothes, all made of the finest materials, and of course, a jewelry box. When he opened it, he was almost blinded by its brilliance.

She never expected that when she casually mentioned to Xue Huai'an that she liked gold the most, he would actually send her a gold bracelet, and he didn't even think she was vulgar?

"My God! How come you have a gold bracelet! I've never even touched gold before!" Zhou Chengzhu was originally happily holding her New Year's gift, but now that she saw Song Yushu's box of jewelry, her New Year's gift suddenly didn't seem so appealing anymore.

Song Yushu had a special box for storing these jewelry items. He had just opened it and placed the gold bracelet inside when Zhou Chengzhu spotted it.

The envy in Zhou Chengzhu's eyes was almost tangible.

“I told you I would buy you earrings and hairpins, but you insisted on exchanging them for silver and saving them. You can’t blame me for that.” If Song Yushu had bought them himself, he could have given some to Zhou Chengzhu, but these were all gifts from Xue Huai’an.

"Let me touch it! I just want to look at it!" Zhou Chengzhu touched the gold bracelet again and again, but luckily Song Yushu was watching so she didn't bite it.

"Alright, this thing is too flashy. You can borrow the others to wear," Song Yushu said, not finding anything wrong with her greedy look. Liking gold is better than being love-struck later.

Zhou Chengzhu tried on each piece of jewelry one by one, admired herself in the mirror for a while, and then reluctantly put them away.

"If you like it, Mom will buy it for you later?"

“Then give me the money,” Zhou Chengzhu said without hesitation.

Well, she was just being presumptuous. This girl's greatest love is still money. Song Yushu was speechless.

Xue Huai'an also received the New Year's gifts from the Wei family. After taking the box given by Song Yushu, he handed over the rest to his mother to take care of.

The wooden box was full of things Song Yushu had collected for him: gloves, scarves, and some accessories at the bottom, such as hairpins, hairbands, jade pendants, and several pairs of thick fleece-lined socks. Although none of them were particularly valuable, Xue Huai'an liked them very much.

"Dad, why are your gloves different from mine?" Xue Qingyao was a little envious because she could even wear them to practice calligraphy. The gloves that Song Yushu had prepared for her were fluffy and warm, but they weren't as flexible as Xue Huai'an's.

"If you want it, just ask one of the maids in the manor to make it for you," Xue Huai'an said. He was quite satisfied with the gloves, but the scarf was only needed when going out, so he could only leave it at home for now.

Having no other choice, Xue Qingyao went to her grandmother for help. Fortunately, the maid in the mansion was very good at needlework and made the same thing according to her request.

After the New Year, there were several more incidents in the county where roofs collapsed due to the heavy snow. The ones in the town were okay, but in many remote villages, people were found frozen to death overnight.

Ultimately, they were too poor, and the roof wasn't properly renovated and reinforced, which led to this situation. Although the county sent people to provide assistance, by the time they arrived, the people had already frozen to death.

If heavy snow blocks the mountain passes, each village can only help each other out, as outsiders can't get in and insiders can't get out.

"Thankfully, everyone in our village earned money this year and reinforced their roofs, otherwise we wouldn't be much better off than other villages," the village head said, bringing some news as he came to visit.

"Every winter has its share of deaths. This year is much better than last year; at least we're not short of food."

“Who says otherwise?” The village head still felt a bit scared when he thought about the drought.

"By the way, a batch of vegetable seedlings in the village have grown up, and they asked me to ask your restaurants if they'd accept them," the village head said, getting down to business.

“The restaurants won’t close for a while, and it’s not suitable to open shops in this weather. But Taixing Restaurant should need a lot of food. The village can send someone to deliver it to the town.” Although Song Yushu felt it was a bit of a pity, she didn’t want to go out and suffer at this time. Money can be earned all the time, and there’s no need to make things difficult for herself.

“Alright, I’ll have them collect it and send it over tomorrow,” the village headman said. He didn’t sit down anymore after receiving the reply. He came over to tell Song Yushu because he wanted to give priority to Song Yushu’s restaurant. After all, they were from the same village, and Song Yushu had helped the village a lot before.

This batch of vegetables was a pleasant surprise for Taixing Restaurant. They had thought the second batch of seedlings wouldn't arrive until spring, but it arrived before the New Year was even over, bringing in a lot of income for the restaurant these past few days. Manager Hu was delighted as he looked at the accounts.