With Xia Pingan and Ling Xiaoxiao acting as two hidden surveillance cameras, Xia Chunmei was fully aware of Xia Xiumei and Fan Baowen's situation.
Xia Donglai is a smart man, and Xia Chunmei is not worried about him. Fan Baowen is now crippled, and even if he hates her to the bone, he can't cause any big trouble for the time being.
September 28th arrived in the blink of an eye; it was Xia Chunmei and Yaomei's birthday.
Xia Chunmei never expected that she and the original owner of this body would share the same birthday, which was quite a coincidence.
"Chunmei, you've come of age and are now a young lady. Grandma has nothing else to give you, so I'll give you these silver earrings. Please don't dislike them."
"Grandma, this is too precious!" Xia Chunmei was truly flattered.
The pair of silver rings that Xia Mingshi gave away cost at least a hundred coins. No one in the countryside would be willing to give such an expensive gift, not even one's own mother.
In addition to giving Chunmei a pair of earrings, they also made a pair of shoes for Yaomei, and put a ten-coin red envelope inside.
“This is Grandma’s thoughtfulness. Let’s not even talk about how you helped us make money. Ping’er even learned how to make longevity peach buns from you. We should have given her a tuition fee, but we didn’t. So you must accept these little trinkets.”
Since Xia Chunmei started staying at their house, she would share any delicious food she cooked with Xia Ping and Fengshou.
They made money by hosting banquets, and all three members of their family went. They earned dozens of copper coins a day, something they wouldn't have dared to dream of before.
The Xia family was especially grateful to Xia Chunmei.
Xia Chunmei hesitated for a moment, but then, thinking that Xia Ping was getting married at the end of December, she readily accepted the gifts, figuring there would be plenty of opportunities to reciprocate in the future.
"Then I won't stand on ceremony with Grandma. These earrings are so pretty, I have to put them on and show them off."
Just as she put on the earrings, Aunt Pear Blossom and Chen Jinlian arrived.
Chen Jinlian made a pair of shoes for Xia Chunmei and Xia Yaomei, and put a red envelope containing ten coins in each pair of shoes.
Aunt Pear Blossom's gift was a copper hairpin and a piece of cloth.
They're not stingy when it comes to spending.
"You've gone to so much trouble for the child's birthday." Xia Hongfen felt both touched and happy.
Although my niece doesn't have parents or elders on her side, she has so many good neighbors, so I don't need to worry too much when she goes back to Xiaojiaping.
“Hongfen, you’re being too polite. I’ve watched Chunmei grow up. She’s a remarkable child, and her manners are impeccable. Not to mention how good she is to us. If it weren’t for her, we wouldn’t be living such a good life now.”
"That's right, it didn't cost much."
Soon, Xia Xintian and his wife arrived, carrying a basket of eggs, about twenty in total, and gave Xia Chunmei a red envelope.
Xia Xintian is the clan chief, and Xia Chunmei specially invited him to greet the guests. Chen Jinlian's father, Village Chief Chen, will be coming soon, as will Wang Dagui. Xia Chunmei's family has no men, and her uncle and brother-in-law are both honest but not very social, so she invited Xia Xintian instead.
Just as we were talking about them, Village Chief Chen arrived around 9:00 AM with Chen Xiaoyu. Village Chief Chen was carrying a large, fat goose and had also given Xia Chunmei a red envelope.
"Sister Chunmei, these are insoles that my mother embroidered for you and your three younger sisters."
"It's embroidered with plum blossoms! It's so beautiful. Auntie, you're so skillful. Thank you, Xiaoyu, and please thank your mother for me too."
Chen Xiaoyu was happy to see that Xia Chunmei liked it. She, Qiu Mei, and Xia Ping had all hosted banquets together before, so they all went to hang out as soon as they met.
The Wang family also came; Wang Dagui, Wang Fuchun, Xiao Zhangshi, Wang Xiuxiu, and Wang An'an were among them.
Xia Chunmei never expected that five people from the Wang family would come!
Generally speaking, when attending a wedding banquet, if the guests are not very close, at most two people will attend. But the Wang family sent five people!
If the Wang family hadn't been wealthy, the villagers would have assumed they were there to freeload.
Xiao Zhang gave Xia Chunmei four exquisite hair ornaments, a silver hairpin with auspicious cloud patterns, and a set of clothes for Xia Yaomei, which together were worth at least four or five taels of silver.
That's a big spender!
The villagers were incredibly envious of the gift; their eyes practically popped out of their sockets!
Xia Hongfen was also stunned and hurriedly said, "This is too valuable, you can't accept it."
A silver hairpin costs at least three or four taels of silver, and Yaomei's dress, with its cotton wadding, must cost at least three hundred coins. There are also hair ornaments; they just asked in the city yesterday, and each ornament costs more than thirty coins. There are four of them here.
This gift is too expensive.
Madam Zhang laughed and said, "It's nothing. Besides, there are five of us in our family today. With Chunmei's cooking skills, we can eat our fill and get our money's worth."
Even if you eat as much as you want, you can't possibly spend a few taels of silver.
Xia Hongfen still felt it was inappropriate.
While everyone was still basking in the Wang family's congratulatory gifts, a luxurious carriage approached, followed by a mule cart with four carved mahogany boxes on it.
"Sister." Jin Wenyuan rushed over, looked up, and called out sweetly.
"Miss Xia."
"Uncle Jin."
Xia Chunmei found it strange that the man in front of her was not even thirty years old, yet she had to call him "Grandpa".
Immediately afterwards, the servants of the Jin family began to unload the boxes. All four boxes on the mule cart were carried into Xia Chunmei's room.
The villagers were dumbfounded!
Xia Chunmei was also somewhat shocked. Could it be four boxes of gold?
Even if it wasn't gold, but silver or copper coins, it would still be a lot of money. The Jin family truly lives up to its reputation as one of the four great wealthy families; they are incredibly generous.
But it's so much money, I feel a bit embarrassed.
"Uncle Jin, this...you're too kind, so much..."
"It's just a few boxes of clothes and fabric, not worth much money. Please don't be shy, Miss Xia."
Clothes...clothes?
Xia Chunmei's eyes widened, thinking she had misheard.
Then, Lin Xiaojuan, ever the busybody, seized the opportunity to open the box and exclaimed, "It really is clothes! I thought it was money!"
Xia Chunmei was glad she hadn't said anything inappropriate, otherwise she would have been mortified.
"No regrets. Since everyone is so curious about what's inside the boxes, let's open them all."
"yes!"
Wu Huan immediately opened all the boxes, and indeed they were clothes.
One box of fabric, three boxes of clothes.
The fabric is estimated to be six bolts, and the clothes are all made to fit the four Xia Chunmei sisters. They are mostly winter styles with added cotton padding.
The key point is that the clothes and fabrics sent by the Jin family were not the fine silks and satins worn by wealthy young ladies, but rather ordinary, dirt-resistant materials made of short-sleeved clothing suitable for working.
It has to be said that the Jin family really put their heart into it and considered everything very carefully.
"With so much clothing and fabric, how could we possibly wear and use it all?"
"All these things together would probably cost ten or so taels of silver."
"These four carved mahogany boxes alone are worth a lot of money. They're really generous. I wonder where Chunmei met such a wealthy young master."
The villagers were all talking about it, and they couldn't help but drool with envy.
The young women and older women in the village, in particular, were very envious.
"Chunmei, this gentleman isn't here to propose marriage, is he? That's quite a grand gesture. No wonder you were so determined to report this to the authorities and refused to reconcile with the Fan family. So that's why..."
Lin Xiaojuan didn't finish her sentence, but the implication was already clear.
"But I still want to congratulate you. You'll be a concubine in a wealthy family from now on. You'll have to help everyone out in the future."
Isn't this saying that Xia Chunmei insisted on sending the Fan family to prison because of her status as a concubine in a wealthy family?
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