Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomi spent 250 taels to buy the house and the business. The landlord was in a hurry to move out, and seeing that Lu Lin paid the money so readily, he gave Lu Lin all the furniture and the remaining goods in the business.
Chen Xiaomi strolled around the courtyard, her face full of excitement. "This house is so big!" In fact, the house only had two courtyards, which was not considered large for a wealthy family. The reason why the house had not been able to be sold before was that although it was exquisite, its size was also a factor.
Like the Yang family, where Chen Xiaomi often delivered game, four generations lived together with many wives and concubines. Not counting servants, there were more than twenty people in the family. The two-courtyard house was simply not enough for them. However, there were only four people in the family, including Xiaomi, Xiaocai, and Xiaomai, which was more than enough for them.
Chen Xiaomi went to the shop in front of the villa. There were still some cloth and grain left in the shop, which were worth eleven taels of silver in total. Chen Xiaomi was very excited.
After buying the business and shops, Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomi discussed it and decided to consider moving at a later time.
Buying such a large house suddenly is too eye-catching. Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomi discussed it and decided that if anyone asked, they would say that the owner of the house had temporarily left and asked the two of them to help look after the house.
The wedding of Lu Chengyu and Li Fangyue has finally arrived.
Many villagers were paying attention to Lu Chengyu's marriage, and everyone was curious about what kind of person Lu Chengyu's carefully chosen wife was.
The Lu family made a grand display; Lu Chengyu specially hired several sedan chair bearers and rented several beautiful sedan chairs.
The Lu family's immense influence aroused great longing among many unmarried young women in the village.
I'm very curious about the relatives who came.
The Tang family had already announced that Lu Chengyu was marrying a woman from an official family, so everyone considered whether Lu Lin would be present at the wedding and decided not to attend.
Firstly, he left with nothing, not even a piece of cloth, so the two sides had essentially severed ties.
Secondly, no one from the Lu family invited him to Lu Chengyu's wedding, and since no one from the Lu family invited him, there was no need for him to rush to give gifts.
It's just that he didn't show up at such an important occasion, which inevitably drew criticism. However, Chen Xiaomi's reputation was already at its worst, so it didn't matter if it got any worse.
The Lu family's wedding was a grand affair, with every household in the village with even a little bit of influence invited.
While Lu Chengyu was busy arranging the wedding, Lu Lin was considering the specifics of the shop.
Lu Lin felt that there was a shortage of manpower in the current situation, and was considering buying a few servants.
Chen Xiaomi looked at Lu Lin and said, "Buy people?"
Lu Lin nodded and said, "Not bad."
Chen Xiaomi frowned and asked, "Do we still have any money?"
Chen Xiaomi blinked. Lately, she had been buying land and shops, and money was flowing in like a tide, which made her feel quite uncomfortable.
Lu Lin nodded and said, "Yes, there are still about fifty taels left. If we sell another batch of wine, we can make another ten taels of silver."
Chen Xiaomi pursed her lips and said, "There are only fifty-odd taels left!" Fifty-odd taels was actually quite a lot, but Chen Xiaomi had previously thought she had a fortune of over three hundred taels. Now that she was back to square one, Chen Xiaomi felt somewhat disappointed.
Lu Lin glanced at Chen Xiaomi and said, "Although there's less silver left, don't we have a shop now?"
Chen Xiaomi nodded and said, "That's true!" However, if the shop doesn't make money, it's useless. Chen Xiaomi's experience was limited, and she still felt that if you couldn't get food in town, you could at least forage for food in the mountains and forests in the countryside.
Lu Lin smiled and said, "It's alright. If you can't make money, you can sell the shop and go back to the countryside."
Chen Xiaomi nodded and said, "That's fine then."
Looking at Chen Xiaomi's expression, Lu Lin blinked and secretly thought that Chen Xiaomi seemed to have never considered that their shop could make money.
Chen Xiaocai skipped in, "Big Brother, Brother Lin."
Where did you go?
Chen Xiaocai scratched his head and said, "The Lu family is having a wedding today, I'm going to watch the fun."
Chen Xiaomi said with great interest, "It must be quite a grand affair."
There's not much entertainment in this era, which is probably why gossip spreads so quickly. The story of Lu Chengyu has become a hot topic, and Chen Xiaomi is also vaguely curious about it.
"The procession is quite grand, but I didn't see the registrar."
Chen Xiaomi rested her chin on her hand, a hint of schadenfreude in her eyes. "Didn't that registrar come?"
Lu Lin smiled and said, "It's normal that he doesn't show himself."
Lu Chengyu married Li Fangyue, making the Registrar Lu Chengyu's brother-in-law. Logically, the Registrar should have made an appearance, but unfortunately, Li Fangyue's sister was merely the Registrar's concubine. Concubines held a very low status; some wealthy young men would even exchange concubines as a refined pursuit.
Although Li Ru was very favored, a concubine was still just a concubine. In the strict and strange society, a concubine could never be considered respectable. It was common for the chief clerk to be unwilling to show his face when his younger sister got married.
Lu Lin smiled and said, "If that's the case, then Lu Chengyu's efforts have been in vain."
The Lu family went to great lengths to establish a connection with the Registrar, but now that the Lu family is getting married, the Registrar won't even show his face. Clearly, this marriage isn't as good as they'd hoped. With this happening, the villagers will probably be gossiping about it for a long time.
Lu Lin squinted and thought to himself: Lu Chengyu is probably going crazy for the sake of passing the imperial examination. This marriage is also a bit rushed. As far as he knows, the Li family has two sons and two daughters. The eldest daughter is the concubine of the registrar. The second son is also a scholar. He is quite arrogant because of his marriage to the registrar. The third daughter is Li Fangyue.
Lu Chengyu gave a betrothal gift of thirty taels of silver, probably hoping that Li Fangyue would bring the money back as dowry. However, if he was not mistaken, the amount of silver Li Fangyue brought back should be limited. The most favored person in the Li family is Li Hong, who also has a lot of expenses. In addition, he also needs to bribe the registrar.
Tang was also a shrewd person, but she was probably intimidated by the title of the registrar, so she hastily arranged Lu Chengyu's wedding. Wang and Tang were huddled in the kitchen, and neither of them looked too good.
Wang said sullenly, "Wasn't it said that the girl's sister was the wife of the registrar? Why didn't the registrar come, and why didn't the girl's sister come either?"
Mrs. Tang said somewhat awkwardly, "I guess I'm just busy."
Wang said somewhat dejectedly, "No matter how busy you are, you shouldn't not even show your face for such an important event as your sister's wedding!" It's not like it's the end of the year or some other special occasion; how busy could you be!
Madam Tang gritted her teeth, feeling somewhat embarrassed. Many of the guests who came today had asked her which one was the Registrar, which made her feel extremely ashamed.
Mrs. Tang sighed and said, "Let's see later."
"What did that girl bring as part of her dowry?" Wang asked.
Madam Tang was also very curious about Li Fangyue's dowry, but since Li Fangyue had only just married into the family, she couldn't immediately probe the new bride's background. Although the registrar's absence disappointed Madam Tang somewhat, she still harbored some apprehension towards this new bride.
"I don't know yet." Tang had heard that when some girls in the town got married, their dowries stretched for miles, a truly magnificent sight. Tang had also hoped that this new bride would bring a lot of money with her.
Tang had heard that some young ladies in town even brought a shop as part of their dowry when they got married, and Tang had secretly fantasized about having a shop herself. Seeing that very few people came from the new bride's family, and that they didn't seem to care much about the marriage, Tang felt quite disappointed.
Madam Wang was somewhat sullen. She doted on her eldest grandson, Lu Chengyu, the most. In her eyes, he was perfect in every way, more than good enough to marry even into the imperial family. This new daughter-in-law, whom she had married at great expense, might not be as good as she had imagined, leaving Madam Wang somewhat resentful.
"That brat Lu Lin didn't come. He really wants to cut ties with this place," Wang said sullenly.
As for Chen Xiaomi, Tang deliberately didn't invite her. As a result, Lu Lin didn't come and didn't bring any gifts, which made Tang feel a bit disgusted. Tang originally thought that Lu Lin would come and bring gifts even if she didn't invite him, so that she could put on airs. However, Lu Lin simply didn't show up.
"After marrying into Chen Xiaomi's family, Lu Lin's behavior has become exactly like that scoundrel Chen Xiaomi's," Tang said sullenly.
"The Lu family's ostentatious display is outrageous! How much money did they spend?!"
"It must have cost a lot of money. I heard that the betrothal gifts alone amounted to thirty taels of silver, which is probably the highest in our village."
"So much silver!"
"Are any people from the woman's family here? Which one is the registrar?"
"Don't bother looking, the registrar isn't here," Zhang Jin said.
Zhang Jin sat in his seat. He was well-liked, and the villagers around him were happy to chat with him.
"Why isn't the registrar here?" a villager asked.
"I never knew the Lu family was so wealthy! I never realized it before. Back when they were conscripting soldiers, the old lady was always complaining that they had no food and that the second son was trying to drive the whole family to their deaths. Isn't this a good thing?" a villager said.
Lu Lao Er was too honest, which is why he lost his life on the battlefield.
A villager looked around and said, "Lu Lin isn't here?"
I didn't see him; I guess he didn't come.
"Lin really cut off all contact with this place! We never realized before." Severing ties with relatives was considered a serious matter by the villagers. The original owner of this body, Lu Lin, was seen as an honest and upright person by the villagers, and none of them expected him to have such a strong temper and actually cut off all contact.
There was nothing he could do about it. His father died in battle, his mother died from exhaustion, and he was married off without any possessions. It was inevitable that he would harbor resentment.
No matter what, they're relatives; blood is thicker than water.
Zhang Jin smiled and said, "When Lu Lin left, he was carried out on a door plank. Now that Lu Chengyu is marrying him in such a grand manner, he probably feels bad."
The villagers looked at each other, and for a moment they all felt that the old man and woman were too biased. They were both grandsons, but the treatment they received was too different.
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