But what's the use of understanding? If you don't understand, you still don't understand. Yu Tang remembered what Pei Yan said, if you don't understand the text, ask your father. No, she decided to figure it out slowly by herself. If she doesn't understand, she will look up the book "Explanation of Characters" at home, and then write down the accumulated questions on a piece of paper. When the weather is not so hot, she will go back to the farm and ask those old people who know how to farm.
Without Yu Tang's objection, Yu Wen's investment in Jiang Chao's business went very smoothly.
Not only did he take Master Wu to meet Jiang Chao, but he also went to Ningbo Prefecture with Master Wu. After returning, Master Wu, like Yu Wen, was ready to add another 500 taels of capital, but was stopped by Yu Yuan's persuasion.
Afterwards, when Yu Yuan came to Yu Tang's house for dinner, he couldn't help but talk about this matter: "Master Jiang is really amazing. Anyone who has dealt with him will be influenced by him. In this regard, I have to learn from him."
Yu Tang also felt it.
She put the freshly picked yellow iris in a small bamboo box and handed it to Yu Yuan: "This is for my aunt and sister-in-law. I won't go there. Please help bring it to my aunt and sister-in-law."
Yu Tang's family does not have any yellow magnolia trees.
Yu Yuan was surprised and asked, "Where did these flowers come from? What have you been doing these days? Why haven't I seen you go home to play?"
He has been in the shop all this time.
Summer is the season when lacquerware shops are busy with work. One of the techniques for lacquering is to apply lacquer repeatedly. The number of times it is applied affects both the lifespan and the appearance of the finished product, so no carelessness can be taken. Usually, the Yu family will be in the shop personally watching over the process at this time.
Yu Tang said, "Huang Gelan was sent by Madam Zhang. Wasn't she going to give birth these days? My mother and I went to see her specially."
As for what she had been doing in the room these days, she was too embarrassed to tell Yu Yuan.
The main reason was that she found that even with the book "Jie Zi", she still found it difficult to read the books that Pei Yan gave her.
Perhaps this is because she is not as smart as Pei Yan.
When Yu Yuan heard what Yu Tang said, his face turned red and hesitant to speak.
Yu Tang was very surprised, but Chen asked her to help Mrs. Chen go to the warehouse to move the wine to Yu Wen and Mr. Wu who were drinking in front. She didn't have time to ask in detail. When she remembered it again, Yu Yuan had already helped the slightly drunk Mr. Wu leave.
She was curious and wanted to find a chance to ask Yu Yuan. But early the next morning, the Zhang family came to tell them that Ma Xiuniang had given birth to a daughter in the middle of the night.
Chen was overjoyed. While packing up the small clothes and quilts prepared for Ma Xiuniang's child, she chattered to Yu Tang: "Xiuniang is so lucky. You had a daughter first and a son second, which makes up the word 'good'. I don't know when you will get married. I don't know either, but your father said there is no rush. You are sixteen this year, and you will be seventeen next year."
Yu Tang dared not say anything.
After the New Year, several families came to matchmake for her, but neither Chen nor Yu Wen was satisfied. Yu Wen always remembered Shen Shanyan's words, and felt that Yu Tang was capable and opinionated, and it would be a pity to just marry her off, so he simply said, "Our family is looking for a son-in-law, not marrying a daughter, so are you afraid that you will be delayed because of your age? Especially for someone like Atang, who is older, he needs to be more stable. If there is no good one, just take your time to choose, don't be in a hurry. Isn't there an old saying that goes, a girl three years older than you will bring you a golden brick? If that doesn't work, look for a younger one."
Chen was extremely anxious.
I was thinking of talking to Ma Xiuniang when I went to see her, and asking her to help look for a suitable candidate and arrange a marriage for Yu Tang.
Yu Tang felt that what her father said made sense.
She doesn't want to get married at all now. Instead of looking for someone to start a family, she might as well wait for the right person.
But she could understand Chen's feelings, so whenever Chen talked about these things, she would smile, for fear of making her mother sad.
The two hired two sedan chairs and went to Zhang's house.
Mrs. Ma and several of her sisters-in-law had arrived earlier and were sitting around Ma Xiuniang, who had a headband tied around her forehead, asking her questions. Seeing the Chen mother and daughter coming over, Mrs. Ma hurriedly stood up and told Xi Que to pour some brown sugar water, and Mrs. Ma's sisters-in-law also hurriedly made room for the Chen mother and daughter to sit.
Chen took Ma Xiuniang's hand and asked about the birth last night.
Seeing that Ma Xiuniang had a rosy complexion and looked energetic, Yu Tang thought that even if she had suffered during childbirth, she had recovered to this state overnight, so she must be in good health. So he did not pay much attention to her and his attention was all focused on the newborn baby.
The pink and green swaddling clothes wrapped a little person who was an arm's length long. The little person had a red face, tightly closed eyes, and a mouth smaller than a cherry, which was slightly open. The well-behaved look made Yu Tang feel warm in his heart.
In her previous life, she held her breath and carried Li Jun's tablet into the Li family to become a widow. After that, she experienced those long and lonely days. Only then did she truly realize how difficult it was to be a widow. When she reached the age of Hua Xin, she looked at Gu Xi's children and thought that she would never have her own children in this life. She felt sad and bitter in her heart. She would laugh unconsciously when she saw other people's children. Especially Gu Xi's two children. Even when she was having the most unpleasant quarrels with Gu Xi, she would occasionally take out the most delicious things when she met the two children.
When she saw Ma Xiuniang's daughter, who was also her good friend's daughter, her heart melted at once and she couldn't help but bend over to hug the child.
"What nonsense!" Chen grabbed Yu Tang and said with a smile, "The child is still young, you can't play with her like this, you just watch her, don't pick her up casually, be careful not to hurt her waist and arms."
Mrs. Ma just smiled and said, "It's okay, it's okay. If she wants to hold the baby, she can hold it. Just tell her how to hold it." After that, she joked, "Maybe in the future, our Xiuniang will still look forward to Atang coming over to help her hold the baby!"
Chen said politely: "It's her turn somewhere!"
Yu Tang was about to try, but was slapped in the face by Chen again.
Everyone burst into laughter.
Magpie came in and invited everyone to the living room to eat sugar-coated eggs.
Everybody got up and went to the hall.
Yu Tang volunteered to stay with Ma Xiuniang, and after some effort, he finally learned how to hold a baby.
But as soon as the child started to play, she couldn't help but sneer slightly.
Ma Xiuniang was a mother for the first time. Thinking that her mother had held her brother like this when he was a child, she didn't care. She let Yu Tang hold him and chatted with him: "...I gave him a lot of nicknames before. Names like Ah Fu, Ah Bao, and Ah Zhu are so unfashionable. Tell me, your brother-in-law is a scholar after all, why did he spend so much effort on naming him? In my opinion, the child has seizures in the evening, so it would be better to call him Wanxia or Wanqing!"
Yu Tang was extremely envious. He listened to Ma Xiuniang's words with a smile on his face. When he returned home in the evening, he suddenly found that he could not even lift his arms.
Chen smiled and said, "You deserve it! I told you not to hold the child all the time, but you didn't listen. Now you know how terrible it is!"
Yu Tang laughed and couldn't help but go to Zhang's house to see the child the next day. She didn't even have the heart to read the books Pei Yan gave her. On the day of the baby's baptism, she even urged her mother to throw a piece of silver - unmarried girls were not allowed to bring gifts when they attended the baptism.
Mrs. Ma hugged Yu Tang affectionately and said to the women who came to attend the baptism ceremony with a smile: "Look at what our aunt Tang has done. When Qing'er grows up, he must remember to respect his aunt!"
Ma Xiuniang named her child Zhang Qing, and her nickname was Qing'er. Ma Xiuniang complained to Yu Tang about this: "Your brother-in-law said he was afraid that if he called her too many names, the child would get confused, so he asked me to call her that."
Yu Tang laughed out loud.
Zhang Qing was different every day, which surprised her.
After running away from the Zhang family for half a decade, the bad consequences came to light.
Zhang Qing would not sleep unless someone held her. Zhang Qing's wet nurse, Xi Que, and Ma Xiuniang took turns holding the baby. Zhang Hui had dark circles under her eyes every day as she prepared for the baby's full-month banquet. Ma Xiuniang was so angry that she gritted her teeth and called Yu Tang to say, "From today on, you will sleep at our house and hold Qing'er for an hour every day so that we can have a rest."
Yu Tang laughed and ran away in a flash. When he got back, he asked Chen: "Could it be that I really caused this trouble?"
"If not you, then who else?" Chen Shi knew not whether to laugh or cry. She tapped her daughter's forehead fiercely, and then said with emotion, "Mr. Zhang is really good. He even helps Xiuniang take care of the children. If your future husband is half as good as Mr. Zhang, I will be satisfied."
Yu Tang pouted and said, "Don't worry, my future husband will definitely be a hundred times better than Master Zhang."
"You're just bragging to me!" Chen snorted, "Look at how your father has treated you."
Yu Tang laughed and went to massage Chen's shoulders.
Yu Wen's voice came from outside the door: "Atang, come out quickly. The sea buckthorn seedlings I asked Mr. Shen to get for you are back."
Yu Tang was overjoyed and ran out.
Chen chased after him and said, "Slow down, watch your step."
"I know, I know!" Yu Tang responded with a smile as he walked to the front yard.
The silver bell-like laughter echoed in the courtyard with the wind, making Chen, who was standing under the porch looking at her daughter's back, smile.
Yu Tang saw from a distance that a truck and saplings were parked in front of their house. Besides Yu Wen, there stood a sturdy man in his twenties with tanned skin.
She uttered "Huh".
Yu Wen waved at her and said, "This is the tree planter Mr. Shen found for us. His name is Wang Si. I have already told Ah Tiao to take Wang Si to find the fifth uncle and plant the trees first. I will go back with you tomorrow morning."
Yu Tang hummed and looked at the saplings on the car.
The saplings were about three feet tall, with their roots wrapped in thick soil and cloth, piled high. There were about a dozen of them.
No wonder it's so expensive.
It was sent from the northwest in this condition. Not to mention other things, just the expenses for this man and the mule pulling the cart would cost a lot of money.
She asked Wang Si: "Where are you from?"
Wang Si spoke in a rather ambiguous tone, and Yu Tang had to listen to it several times before he realized that it was "Xi'an".
Yu Tang asked, "Didn't you say you were from Gansu?"
Wang Si smiled and said nothing.
Yu Wen coughed twice and explained, "A batch of saplings died on the road, so Mr. Shen asked the Ministry of Revenue to do it. It happened that someone from the Shaanxi Provincial Government went to the Ministry of Revenue to handle some business. When he heard about this, he took the initiative to take on the job..."
This is not just about a few trees.
I owe you a favor for this tree.
What will she do if she can't make the preserved fruit?