Chapter 228: Busy
The villagers of Xinghua Village felt that Shen Chengzhou and Cui were not like ordinary people, and their appearance and temperament were not like those of villagers.
Some people speculated that they came from wealthy families, while others heard rumors that they were from the capital.
However, these are just hearsay, and no one believes that they are from the capital.
For the villagers, the capital city was a place they dared not even think about. It was where the palaces of the wealthy families were located, and ordinary people could not go there at all.
They felt that if Chen Chengzhou and Cui were from the capital, they would not have to stay in Xinghua Village and work hard on the farm for so many years.
Before, they didn’t have enough food to eat or warm clothes to wear.
So everyone thought that the rumors were just rumors, and the Shen family were just villagers, and at most they were just good-looking.
"That's right. If he had any special status, why would he stay in Xinghua Village? A few years ago, there was a famine in the village and there was nothing to eat. I didn't see the Shen family go out to get anything to eat, so they would have starved too."
"That's right. Only now that their third daughter-in-law's noodle shop is doing well, and they've made money from selling vermicelli, have things gotten better. Cui is now willing to go to town to buy some things. Before, she couldn't even afford to buy new cloth to make new clothes."
"Hey, if the Shen family had any status, how could businessmen like the Xu family look down on the fourth child of the Shen family? The fourth child has outstanding looks and abilities, but his family background is not as good as that of the young lady of the Xu family."
"The wealthy families in the towns look down on people from humble backgrounds."
The women in the village sat together to enjoy the cool air, chatting about things in the village and some gossip.
Even if the Shen family didn't say anything after returning from the Xu family, everyone in the village has relatives, and they can get some clues by finding out in a roundabout way.
After some guesswork, I knew what was going on.
I will discuss it when I have free time.
The villagers don't have any bad intentions, they just like to gossip about their daily lives. If something happens in someone's family, everyone in the village will know about it within a day.
Every time Shen Yueyao came to Xinghua Village, she would hear the villagers of Xinghua Village chatting about some gossip.
She had good hearing, so she could naturally hear what these people said when she passed by them.
Listening to what they were talking about, the corners of Shen Yueyao's mouth twitched.
In fact, she also felt that her parents' background was not simple.
But since her parents didn't say anything, she didn't ask.
But as for Fourth Brother's matter and the grievances she suffered from the Xu family, Shen Yueyao will one day get revenge.
The Xu family shouldn't have humiliated Fourth Brother like that, nor should they have thought of using Fourth Brother to get the lipstick secret recipe from her.
Shen Yueyao is protective by nature and what she hates most is being threatened.
If Miss Xu really loves Fourth Brother, it wouldn't be a big deal if she gave him her lipstick secret recipe as an engagement gift.
Anyway, if she doesn't open a lipstick workshop, she can also open a drugstore cosmetics workshop. She has a lot of business ideas in her mind and doesn't care about these.
But the Xu family happened to use the fourth brother to humiliate him, and Shen Yueyao couldn't tolerate it.
While thinking about these things, Shen Yueyao's ox cart also arrived at the door of her house.
It was evening now, and everyone had finished their dinner and was enjoying the cool air on the street.
They are all people gathered at the entrance of a street.
Shen Chengzhou, Cui, Shen Shaochen, and Ye were all enjoying the coolness under the big tree at the street corner.
Xuanxuan was still young, so he sat obediently in Ye's arms. While Ye listened to everyone talking, she used a palm-leaf fan to fan away mosquitoes to prevent them from biting him.
Cui had a good relationship with her neighbors. They talked about things and laughed together.
"Ms. Cui, the enoki mushrooms you grow are really delicious. They taste great whether you use them in stir-fries or soups. Thank you so much."
Cui smiled and said, "Don't be polite, we are all neighbors. My daughter bought some enoki mushrooms and taught me how to grow them. If you want to grow some, I'll give you some later."
"That's really embarrassing."
"Hey, there's nothing to be embarrassed about. You guys have helped us a lot in the past."
Most of the villagers are honest and help each other when there are any problems between neighbors.
Because we live in the village, everyone understands that it is impossible to live our own lives behind closed doors. It is normal for neighbors to help each other when something happens. If I help you, you will help me next time.
After a while, the relationship between us became pretty good.
"What we did before was nothing. Thank you for letting my Qiu Niang and Chun Lan work in the workshop. Everyone in the village envied us."
The woman was not someone who didn't know what was good for her. It was good for her daughter-in-law and daughter to work for her. Even if she only earned a basic wage of 600 coins a month, if she saved from the age of 14 to 16, that would be at least more than 10 taels of silver.
Not to mention the bonuses.
This way it will be easier to talk to her daughter's in-laws.
And since her daughter-in-law had something to do, life at home got better.
She is in a good mood now. She helps her son and daughter-in-law take care of the children and raise the grandchildren. Her daughter can also make money. Even though she is only fourteen years old, there are people proposing marriage to her, and the conditions are all good.
So the woman was grateful to Cui from the bottom of her heart.
Cui never expected that opening a workshop would directly improve her status in the village.
Everyone used to be very polite to her, but now when she walks around the village, everyone greets her warmly and their eyes become slits from smiling.
In fact, he just wanted to please her, thinking that if she hired anyone else in her workshop, she would hire someone from her family.
Cui also felt a little emotional. Her daughter was right. She opened a workshop and hired villagers to work, and paid them wages. In the future, if there was anything happening in the village, the villagers would actively help.
In fact, she didn't want this, but now everyone in the village is warm and polite to them, and she feels good seeing it.
"It's nothing, actually. These are all ideas from my Yao Niang. Yao Niang taught us how to be fans, and that's how we learned how to be fans."
"Everyone envies you, Miss Cui. Look at you. Your son and daughter-in-law are so good. Your daughter is also very capable. Even after getting married, she still thinks about her parents' family. The key is your son-in-law. He ranked first in the imperial examination and was the first in the case. There are only a few villages nearby that have such a learned person. He will definitely be on the list of the autumn examination and will become a juren."
It is not certain that the entire county will produce a juren.
If you become a juren, you can become an official, or one of the scholars, farmers, merchants, or artisans, so your status is naturally high.
Even when the county magistrate met the relatives of a juren, he had to be polite.
The woman's surname was Chai, and when Chai talked about these things, she also envied Cui.
After this, Cui had a son-in-law who was an official. Not only the people in the village, but even the people in the county had to be polite to him when they saw him.
Perhaps the county magistrate would come to give gifts during the New Year and other festivals.
Moreover, Cui's grandson Xuanxuan also looks smart and good at studying.
I have an uncle who is very knowledgeable. I would benefit a lot from his guidance.
When talking about her daughter, Cui's face was full of smiles and a look of pride. She said, "My daughter and son-in-law are really good. Especially my son-in-law. He not only supports my daughter in her work but also dotes on her. Even her mother-in-law treats her like her own daughter."
"So she can go back to her parents' home whenever she wants, and no one dares to say anything to her. They just say my daughter is very busy running a workshop and doing business."
"Yes, yes. Some time ago, my cousin's sister came to visit me and told me that she is now working in a chili meat sauce workshop in Liuhe Village. She said it was great."
In fact, Chai's cousin was not her biological cousin. There were several levels of relationship between them. The reason she came to see her was simply because she heard that she was a neighbor of the Shen family and wanted to get close to them.
"She also said that her neighbor, Ding Hao, is sixteen years old and lives in a very difficult family. He can't even get enough to eat. He has no parents and only two sisters. His eldest sister died, and he and his second sister depend on each other for survival. His second sister is sick, and they can't even afford medical treatment or medicine. But now his family has built a big house in the village, and they are supporting his second sister and helping her and her husband to divide the family property..."
"I heard that Ding Hao is now selling lipstick with his second sister and brother-in-law. They've made a lot of money, and their style and temperament have changed. No one dares to bully them anymore."
"Sister Cui, your daughter has really helped a lot of people. Ding Hao's second brother-in-law lives with his stepmother. They originally wanted to separate the family, but they disagreed. It was because Ding Hao worked for your daughter, and your son-in-law will be an official in the future, so they didn't dare to offend him. That's why they asked his second sister and brother-in-law to separate the family. All this was said by my cousin's sister..."
In fact, a lot has been said. Many families' lives have improved because of working for Shen Yueyao.
After hearing this, Cui was also touched.
My daughter has really helped a lot of people without realizing it.
Cui was also very proud to have such a daughter.
While they were talking, Shen Yueyao arrived.
From a distance, Dabao and Erbao called out crisply, "Grandma and Grandpa, Third Uncle and Third Aunt, and Brother Xuanxuan."
When Cui heard the voices of Dabao and Erbao, she stopped moving the palm-leaf fan in her hands.
She quickly stood up and saw the ox cart coming over, and Dabao and Erbao on the cart.
Cui said excitedly: "Oh, my grandsons Dabao and Erbao are here."
Cui hadn't seen her daughter and Dabao and Erbao for a long time. When she saw them, she was very excited and hurried forward.
Shen Chengzhou was also excited, and even Shen Shaochen and Ye hurriedly stood up, their bodies moving ahead of their brains, and quickly surrounded the ox cart.
Ye Shi didn't even bother to hold Xuanxuan anymore. She stepped forward and said with a smile, "Sister, we were just talking about you. I was thinking about you because I haven't seen you for a long time. I missed you so much."
Ye was telling the truth.
In theory, the relationship between sister-in-law and sister-in-law is difficult to maintain.
But Ye and Shen Yueyao have a very good relationship. Although the two of them don’t meet often, they get along very well every time.
We can talk to each other.
Even Xuanxuan likes their aunt and his two brothers Dabao and Erbao very much.
Shen Yueyao had previously asked Zhou Tong to make an extra set of building blocks, and brought them to Xuanxuan so that Xuanxuan could play with them.
There are also picture books. Su Xueyi helped copy a few of them. Dabao and Erbao can read them, and Xuanxuan can also learn to read by looking at them.
Shen Chengzhou, Cui Shi, Shen Shaochen and Ye Shi all rushed to hold Dabao and Erbao.
Dabao and Erbao kissed everyone on the face obediently.
Shen Yueyao smiled and said, "Dad, Mom, Third Brother, and Third Sister-in-law, when you miss me, you can stay at my place for a few days. I will also show you the workshop I built over there."
Cui said, "I'm very busy at home right now and don't have time to come to your place. The workshop has just been open for a short time and we don't have enough vermicelli to sell. I guess we'll have to hire more people in a few days."
The family chatted and laughed, and Shen Shaochen helped his sister drive the ox cart into the yard.
The family didn't even bother to enjoy the cool breeze and went inside to talk.
Their laughter and joy could be heard at the door.
The people who were still enjoying the cool air couldn't help but sigh with envy when they saw this scene.
"The Shen family is filial, both sons and daughters."
"That's right. What girl can go back to her parents' home whenever she wants, let alone bring back so many bags and small things. I don't know what good things she brought back."
As they were talking, Chai whispered to a nearby woman, "Just wait and see, Liu Shaolei and Zou are causing trouble again."
"Humph, they only dare to make a scene behind closed doors at their house, but they dare not make a scene in front of Sister Cui. They are no longer a family, so what's the point of making a scene? It will only make the villagers laugh at them."
"They are so stupid. They only thought about taking advantage of others. They never thought that they would have such a background."
"The main reason was that the Shen family wasn't in great shape back then. Ye hadn't opened a noodle shop yet, and Miss Shen's husband had a broken leg. That's why Liu Shaolei and Zou dared to make trouble, relying on the fact that Shen Chengzhou and Cui wouldn't do anything to them. Humph, they ended up losing more than they gained, and now everything in the Shen family has nothing to do with them."
"The eldest brother, Shen Shaoshuo, and Dong are relatively smart. They know how to restrain themselves and also know how to please the Shen family. But no matter what, if the matter is exposed, Shen Chengzhou and Cui will not treat Shen Shaoshuo and Dong the same way as before."
"Otherwise, they are extremely stupid."
What the villagers discussed was indeed the truth.
Zou was enjoying the cool air at her doorstep when she heard the noise. She got up, took her son and Liu Shaolei and went home.
After closing the door, Zou started cursing, "Look, it's all your fault. If it weren't for you, things wouldn't have turned out like this. Not only are you being criticized by the villagers all day long, but you're also being compared to others."
“If we hadn’t made a fuss back then, then Shen Yueyao would have taken some of our things.”
Zou's chest heaved with anger.
She just felt envious when she saw the Shen family's improved conditions and Shen Yueyao bringing home lots of bags.
She thought that if her relationship with the Shen family remained the same as before, she would be able to get some benefits by going there.
Now she can only watch, feeling itchy but unable to get anything. How can she not be angry?
Liu Songmao's eight-year-old child was taught by Zou to take advantage of others.
"Mom, I'll go ask my grandparents for something. They love me the most, so they'll definitely give me something."
In the past, Songmao was taught by his mother to go to the old house to ask for things all the time. Whenever the old house made something delicious, he would go there just by smelling the food.
Getting something to eat is no problem.
But during this period, Song Mao found that every time he went to his grandparents' house, the door would be closed tightly and he could not get in.
He was also very angry.
He made trouble at home several times and was beaten by his parents.
"That's right, those two old guys are soft-hearted. Let Song Mao try to persuade them. They can't be cruel to Song Mao, right? An eight-year-old child, do they really have the nerve to say such rude things?"
Zou began to get stuck in a rut and become obsessed with trivial matters.
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