Chapter 157 [VIP]

"Marquis Wuping?" Chen Rong looked up in shock.

Lin Qiu was also very surprised. Although the two of them were not very knowledgeable, they knew what kind of status the Marquis was. How could they, as commoners, possibly be worthy of his status?

Cao Kun frowned slightly. "Could it be that this Marquis of Wuping is an old man who wants to marry Sui Di as his second wife?"

Chen Rong was very worried. "The letter didn't explain anything clearly. We don't know what kind of person Marquis Wuping is. What if he treats our Sui'er badly again..."

Seeing her mother on the verge of tears, Lin Qiu quickly comforted her, "Don't worry, let Cao Kun go to the prefectural city to sound them out. My cousin and his wife are reliable people; they wouldn't write to us if this marriage wasn't going well."

Chen Rong wiped her eyes. "I feel sorry for Sui'er. He's had such a hard time these past few years. I'm afraid he'll jump into the mud again after escaping from the fire."

"No, don't worry."

Perhaps sensing that something was wrong with the adults, the second child behind her started wailing loudly. Chen Rong, disregarding her own discomfort, took the child off her and carried her into the house to cook rice porridge.

Lin Qiu looked at Cao Kun and said, "You should set off for the prefectural city tomorrow."

“Okay, I happen to have a shipment to the prefectural city in the next few days, I’ll deliver it myself.”

The couple discussed and decided to pack their luggage. Since it was getting cold, they would bring several warm clothes and plenty of food. Lin Qiu changed his clothes and planned to go to the shop to buy some meat, which he would then cure into jerky for him to take on the road.

Before he had gone very far, he suddenly saw a group of soldiers running towards him, which startled him so much that he quickly moved to the side of the wall to make way.

The soldiers passed him and stopped right in front of his house. Lin Qiu hurriedly ran home, and when he got there, he saw the leading soldier talking to his husband.

Lin Qiu asked nervously, "What are these officials going to do?"

Deputy General Zheng said, "We were sent by Marquis Wuping to take your family to the prefectural city."

"Pick us up?"

Deputy General Zheng nodded, a warm smile on his face. "I suppose you've received the letter from the prefectural city. The Marquis intends to marry your young master Lin, so he specially sent me to fetch you to the prefectural city to discuss it."

Cao Kun and Lin Qiu looked at each other in bewilderment. The letter had just been delivered in the morning, and the soldiers who were supposed to pick them up had arrived in the afternoon. Could it be that Marquis Wuping had conspired with his cousin?

In fact, Li Mu had already read the letter before it was sent out. Seeing that the Chen family did not object to the marriage, he simply sent his men to go with them and bring them to the prefectural city to discuss the marriage.

Now that they had no choice but to go to the prefectural city, Lin Qiu said, "Please wait a moment, sir. Let's pack our luggage first." They couldn't just stay in the prefectural city for two days and then leave; they needed to bring some clean clothes and food.

Deputy General Zheng said, "No rush. The carriages and horses are ready, and there is dry food in the carriages. You only need to bring your clothes and personal belongings."

Lin Qiu and Cao Kun went inside and told Chen Rong what they had heard, which made her very worried. "How about I go by myself? You two wait at home."

"How can I let you go by yourself? I've missed Sui'er too, I haven't seen him in so long. Let's bring Xiaomai and Erbao along and go to the prefectural city to see the world!"

"The child is so young, is it alright?" Chen Rong was still worried. After all, the second child was only three months old, and it would take more than ten days of bumpy travel to reach the prefectural city.

Cao Kun said, "The weather is neither too hot nor too cold right now, so there shouldn't be any problem with traveling. I'll tell the neighbor later and ask him to pass on the message to my mother that we've all gone to the prefectural city."

Chen Rong quickly tidied up the clothes for the adults and children, while Lin Sui took out some of her savings and hid the rest in the stove. After tidying up, she locked the door.

The carriage sent by Marquis Wuping was the one he usually used when traveling. It was not only spacious, but also had a stove inside for cooking, which was convenient for making rice porridge for Erbao.

The family sat nervously in the car and headed towards the prefectural city...

*

The people in the prefectural city were unaware that the Third Aunt's family had arrived. Ever since Lin Sui was burned at the Marquis's residence last time, Li Mu had frequently come to visit under the guise of checking on her.

Actually, the burn wasn't that serious. When Lin Sui looked at it when she got back, it was just a red patch on the outside, and it healed after applying burn ointment for two days.

Li Mu came again today, bringing not only some food but also some high-quality tonics, including ginseng, lingzhi mushrooms, and deer antlers.

Lin Sui looked at the box of precious medicinal herbs and was at a loss. "My lord, my burns have long since healed. There's no need to send me anything more."

Li Mu said, "Take it. You're too thin. You need to eat more to improve your health."

"I'm really sorry to accept such a valuable gift from you for no reason."

"You've taken care of Qing'er for so long, I should thank you. These things were given to my mother by others, and she couldn't finish them, so they went bad. I'm just passing on what I've given her."

Lin Sui couldn't help but smile before accepting it.

"The old lady felt really bad about what happened last time and asked when you would be free to come over again. This time, no one will dare to scald you with tea again."

"I know it wasn't your mother's idea, and I didn't take it to heart."

"To encounter such a thing on my first visit is my fault for not managing my household properly."

Lin Sui shook her head and didn't bring it up again. "Why didn't Qing'er come along?"

"I caught a cold yesterday and felt unwell when I woke up this morning, so I left it at home and didn't bring it with me."

Upon hearing this, Lin Sui asked anxiously, "Have you called a doctor?"

"I called out, but it's nothing serious."

"Then I'll go there tomorrow."

Li Mu raised an eyebrow slightly. Sure enough, Lin Xiaolang cared more about Qing'er than him. That was enough. He wasn't one to be bound by romantic feelings; otherwise, he wouldn't have remained single for so many years.

"I'll have someone come to pick you up tomorrow."

Lin Sui hesitated for a moment before nodding. "Thank you, Lord Marquis."

After Li Mu left, Chen Qingyun quietly came over and patted him on the shoulder, "Everyone's gone, and you're still watching here~"

"Yun'er," Lin Sui called out to her reproachfully.

"Hehe, this brother-in-law is really something, he always brings so much stuff every time he comes."

"Don't talk nonsense, it's not decided yet. But when has your young master Liu ever come empty-handed?"

Chen Qingyun wasn't annoyed. Now that she was more familiar with Liu Changyi, she wasn't as shy as before. She said happily, "I've told him several times not to send me things, but he won't listen. He even said he'd take me to Qionghua Garden to see a play next time. Do you want to come?"

Qionghua Tower was a famous theater in the prefectural city, where they performed Southern operas.

Unlike modern opera, the plays of this era mainly consisted of recitation and singing, and the scripts were simple. The most famous one was "Autumn Moon over the Han Palace". Every performance was sold out, and you had to book a private room half a month in advance, otherwise you couldn't get a seat.

Lin Sui laughed and said, "I'm not going. Let Brother Huai go with you guys instead."

"Oh, come on, come on~" The two entered the courtyard, just as Wang Ying came out carrying Yuanbao.

Lin Sui quickly stepped forward and handed over the box of herbs, saying, "The Marquis just sent these over. I don't need them, so please take them, sister-in-law."

Wang Ying said, "Keep the gift the Marquis gave you, and send it home for your third aunt later."

"Why."

The next day, Lin Sui went to the Marquis's residence again. Qing'er had indeed caught a cold, but she seemed to be in good spirits, so she was relieved.

This time when Lin Sui went to the Marquis's residence, he didn't trouble Wang Ying to accompany him. He felt bad that he always had to trouble his sister-in-law to run around for him.

The old lady was even more agreeable than last time, chatting with her for a long time about everyday things, and even giving her two bolts of silk before she left.

Lin Sui declined, but the old lady said, "I can't wear such bright colors either, and Qing'er has too many clothes to wear. You can have two nice clothes made from them. Young people should wear bright and cheerful clothes to look good. Don't wear such dark colors."

Lin Sui glanced down at the plain-colored robe he was wearing. Ever since he was harassed by Manager Wei, he had gotten used to wearing clothes like this.

He had a bolt of sky-blue fabric and a bolt of apricot-colored fabric. He planned to make a dress for his sister-in-law, a skirt for Qingyun, and use the rest to make clothes for himself.

*

Time flew by and it was already late September.

It had rained a few times in the past few days, and the temperature had dropped considerably. Wang Ying and Chen Qingyan were also busy because Qingyun's wedding was just around the corner.

All the dowry ordered from the carpentry workshop has been brought back: a canopy bed, camphor wood chest, five-drawer chest, dressing table... all kinds of furniture, all of them top-quality, made of rosewood that can last a lifetime.

Besides furniture, there were also bedding, including a thick quilt weighing six pounds, eight of which were made of new cotton.

Fourth Aunt also embroidered a mandarin duck pillow for Qingyun, while Li embroidered a dragon and phoenix double happiness quilt for her daughter. She embroidered the quilt cover for six or seven years, just in time to finish it before Qingyun's wedding.

The Liu family wasn't idle either; they prepared a betrothal gift of one hundred taels of gold and five hundred taels of silver.

Besides these, there was also a basket of dried betrothal cakes and eight kinds of seafood, including abalone, dried oysters, scallops, dried shrimp, squid, sea cucumber, shark fin, and fish maw. All of these were dried seafood, but they were quite expensive, considered the highest grade in the city.

The three sacrificial animals are a pair of geese, a pig, and a sheep.

The Four Fruits of Beijing: dried longan, dried lychee, dried walnut, and peanuts in their shells, are chosen to bless descendants with prosperity, and also to symbolize completeness, good fortune, and endless life.

The four-color candies—rock sugar, candied orange peel, candied winter melon, and candied hawthorn—symbolize sweetness and a long and happy life together.

These items were delivered to the bride's home a few days in advance, and on the day the betrothal gifts were delivered, many onlookers gathered on the street.

Everyone looked at the boxes of goods and started discussing, "The Liu family is really rich!"

"Of course! Don't you even know who Uncle Liu is!"

Some unsuspecting people inquired, "Who is it?"

"A high-ranking official in Kyoto, a favorite of the Emperor."

"No wonder, I wonder which lucky girl is to marry into their family."

"I know, the bride's family is the Wang family's ice shop on Zhengyang Street. I've seen them a few times, and they're quite pretty!" The speaker was the owner of the sesame oil shop, who had already heard about the marriage between the two families.

"Did the Liu family marry a merchant's daughter?"

"No, that ice shop is owned by her husband. The woman's elder and younger brothers are both scholars, and I heard they recently passed the provincial examinations."

"Looking at it this way, the two families are quite well-matched." Everyone watched with envy as the betrothal gifts were carried into the Chen residence.

The eldest and second aunts of the Liu family came together to deliver the betrothal gifts. Both aunts were respectable people, and they kept praising Qingyun to Li Shi.

Wang Ying stayed by their side, taking care of the couple. Everyone happily finished exchanging betrothal gifts and waited for the wedding to take place on the sixth day of the tenth month.

After a busy morning, Wang Ying had just seen her guests off and was about to go back to rest for a while when there was a sudden knock on the door.

The doorman, Xiao Fang, opened the side gate, said a few words, and then quickly called out to Wang Ying.

"My lord, Third Aunt is here!"

Wang Ying was stunned for a moment, thinking to herself, "Liu Changyi only has two aunts, so where did this third aunt come from?"

When she got to the door and saw Chen Rong, she exclaimed in surprise, "Third Aunt, what brings you here!"

A note from the author: