Lin Fengyao's face immediately lit up with a smile, and the group sat down at a simple table and chairs by the roadside to enjoy drinking tofu pudding.
Ningdu County is neither in the south nor the north, so it has both salty and sweet flavors, allowing everyone to choose. All three of them liked sweet food, so they all chose to add sugar, but not much sugar.
Lin Fengyao, his mouth covered in tofu dregs, blinked his big eyes and said:
"Mom, can I go buy the kind of pastries that Uncle brought us last time? I already told my little brother Dongzi that I'd share some with him when we get back."
Song Anxin gently wiped the crumbs from the corner of his mouth with a handkerchief and smiled:
"Of course you can, Fengyao, eat slowly, no one will take it from you. Look at how much food you're making with your little mouth."
Song Mei covered her mouth and laughed, "When Fourth Brother sees food, he completely forgets the rules that Mother usually teaches him. But Fourth Brother is still young, so Mother, please don't blame him."
Lin Fengyao felt embarrassed and started eating in small bites; he couldn't resist the delicious food.
Song Anxin certainly wouldn't really blame Lin Fengyao. Although the food at home had improved since she arrived, the boys were still terrified of hunger and couldn't shake their habit of wolfing down their food. It took Song Anxin several reminders before they improved.
When Uncle Bai first came to our house for dinner, we just thought they were eating quickly.
Song Mei continued, "Mother, let's go to the cloth shop later. Everyone in the family needs to have thicker autumn clothes made."
Song Anxin nodded and said okay. Seeing that the weather was gradually getting cooler, it was time to start making autumn clothes.
So the group went to the county government to remove Zhang Mei from her slave status, and then went back to stroll around. Song Anxin bought whatever she liked or needed without hesitation. She bought several bags of pastries at Suxinzhai and went to the cloth shop to buy fabric to make clothes. Now Song Anxin's family bought only cotton fabric, and of course, she also bought some for her mother and Song Anbang.
It's not that his family can't afford silk clothes, but since everyone in the village has to work, they feel most comfortable wearing cloth clothes.
As the group left the cloth shop, they ran into Lin Fengnian, Feng He, and Song Anbang, who had come looking for them. All of them were carrying some reading supplies, and Lin Fengnian was also holding a book, which he treasured and held close to his chest.
Then she carefully took something out of her chest. Upon closer inspection, Song Anxin saw that it was a wooden hairpin. Although it was made of wood, it was carved with a plum blossom, and it looked quite exquisite.
Lin Fengnian looked a little awkward, scratched his head and said, "Meizi, I saw this on the road and thought it would suit you, so I bought it for you."
Song Anxin: "......" What a load of dog food!
Zhang Mei was overjoyed to see the hairpin. Seeing her mother, uncles Feng He and Feng Yao all looking at them, she said shyly:
“We’re a married couple now, why would we buy this? But I really like it.”
Lin Fengnian's face immediately lit up, and he said with a simple smile, "I knew you would like it, Meizi. I'll put it on you right now."
Song Anxin felt that the couple no longer cared about them. Sigh, they've forgotten their mothers after getting married. The ancients were right.
Just as Song Anxin was sighing, a wooden hairpin suddenly appeared in front of her, with a lifelike peony carved on it.
Lin Fenghe smiled at her with her beautiful eyes and said, "Mom, I bought you one too. Do you like it?"
Lin Fengyao clapped his hands happily and said, "Mom, this looks good. You'll definitely look even better wearing it."
Song Anxin felt her heart melt instantly. She wondered what it was like to have a handsome and heartwarming son. She felt she could have another one, but it seemed like no one would have one with him.
She squatted down slightly and said, "Mother likes it very much. Fenghe has such good taste."
Lin Fenghe lowered her head, a little embarrassed: "We bought them all, including my uncle, who bought them for my grandmother."
Song Anxin looked at Song Anbang and noticed that Song Anbang was also holding a wooden hairpin, but that hairpin was more simple and elegant, more suitable for the elderly to wear.
This was probably the first time Song Anbang had done something like this, and he gripped the hairpin tightly in his hand. When Lin Fenghe told him what had happened, he looked quite uncomfortable.
Okay, these three guys will give me some money to do wholesale, but they're really willing to do it.
At this moment, Lin Fengyao looked at Song Mei, who had already put on the hairpin, and said, "Sister-in-law, you look so beautiful in it. Mother, let me help you put it on too."
So Song Anxin and Zhang Mei continued shopping, each wearing a wooden hairpin. Although the hairpins were made of wood, they added some charm to their appearance, especially for Song Anxin, whose fair skin and beautiful features made some passersby mistake her for Zhang Mei's sister.
Song Anbang and Lin Fenghe are both good-looking, Lin Fengnian has a dignified and manly appearance, and Lin Fengyao is even more adorable.
The family walked down the street, attracting frequent attention from passersby who thought the whole family was very good-looking.
At this moment, two carriages drove up, and Song Anxin and her group made way for them. Both carriages were very luxurious, especially the one in front.
Little Lin Fengyao exclaimed, "Wow, that carriage is so beautiful!"
Song Anxin and the others nodded in agreement, noting that the carriage at the front was almost better than the county magistrate's.
Song Anbang explained from the side, "That's the Liu family, the richest man in the county. Those two carriages probably contain his wives, concubines, and children."
Master Liu? Song Anxin, why does that name sound so familiar?
At this moment, Lin Fengnian hurriedly spoke up: "That's my little aunt inside, Mother, it's my little aunt!"
Song Anxin then remembered that the Lin family had a younger daughter named Lin Taohua, who married a wealthy man in the county as a concubine at the age of sixteen. It seemed that the wealthy man's surname was Liu.
Logically speaking, a kind-hearted family like the Lin family would never marry their daughter off to another family as a concubine. However, at that time, the elderly mother of the Lin family was devastated by the death of her husband and fell ill. Later, her condition worsened, and with so many people in the family waiting to be fed, it was difficult to afford even a full meal, let alone medical expenses.
So, to pay for her mother's medical expenses and to feed her family, the younger sister-in-law, Lin Taohua, reluctantly married a man as a concubine. However, Lin's elderly mother ultimately couldn't hold on and passed away not long after her marriage.
However, the family that the younger sister-in-law married into was quite good. For the first two years after Lin Taohua got married, she would come to visit them from time to time to help support the family. But in the third year, for some reason, Lin Taohua didn't go home even though it was almost New Year's.
Brother Lin went to the county to inquire, worried that something might have happened to his sister. The news he received seemed to be that Master Liu's first wife had passed away and a new mistress had been brought in.
The new mistress was very strict. Lin Taohua asked someone to bring out all her valuables and give them to the eldest brother of the Lin family. She also said that she could no longer come out at will, that she was doing well inside, and that the eldest brother of the Lin family could not worry.
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