The end of the year finally arrived. On the night of New Year’s Eve, the Xiao family stayed up together to celebrate the New Year.
A large round table was filled with people. This year, there were five new members in the family, and the family was growing bigger. Of course, the New Year's Eve dinner could not have less than eighteen dishes. All the servants in the Xiao Mansion also received generous New Year's money as a reward.
Moreover, they can also go out and have fun at the lantern festival on the street tonight, which is a privilege that is absolutely not available in other mansions.
Once slaves entered the mansion and did rough work, it meant that they could only stay in the backyard for the rest of their lives and could not go out, unless you were a first-class slave who could serve your master closely and could follow your master out when he went out.
It was not yet completely dark outside, and Xiao's mother stood up with a glass of fruit wine and spoke.
"This year is our second year in Jeju, and we have a few new members in our family. Look, everyone has a rosy face. It's so lively and festive!
I hope that every year in the future, our family can gather together like this, in peace and happiness, with laughter and joy. As a mother, I am not well-educated and can't say many nice words that can be put on the stage, so I won't say any more nonsense. Let's eat the New Year's Eve dinner first, then give out lucky money, and then we will go to the street together to watch the lantern festival!"
After Xiao's mother finished speaking, everyone stood up and clinked their glasses. The men drank it all in one gulp, while the women drank casually. The children drank the milk tea made by Fourth Aunt. It was so delicious that one could not stop drinking it once.
Lan Lan urged Father Xiao to say something, but Father Xiao didn't know what to say. He stood up and thought for a long time before finally saying:
"I don't know what to say, so I'll just wish everyone a happy new year!"
Seeing his expression, everyone started laughing and wished each other Happy New Year.
In the second half of the year, because there were no major expenses, the total revenue of the two Xiaoji shops had exceeded a thousand taels of silver. Xiao's mother used Jiang Sui's private account to cover the expenses, and still had seven or eight hundred taels of silver in her hands.
Now I just want to save it up well so that when Lanlan gets married next year, I can prepare a generous dowry for her.
By then, the betrothal gift from the Su family will certainly not be small, so their family can't be too stingy, right?
After dinner, Xiao's mother gave New Year's money to all the younger generations. It was much more than last year's, after all, she had earned some money this year.
Tonight, Zhou also planned to go out to see the lantern festival, and the two little ones would be left to be taken care of by Aunt Jinxiu and the wet nurse. Ever since the two little ones were born, she had been devoted to the children wholeheartedly, and she had not stepped out of the house every day. That was not a solution.
The Jeju Lantern Festival is such a grand spectacle that you should definitely go out and see it and join in the fun.
Just before leaving, Xiao Hechuan pulled Jiang Sui back to the room and said that he had something to give him, acting very mysterious.
He took out an exquisite wooden box from under the bed. Jiang Sui had to open it himself to find out what was inside.
"Where did you get that good stuff? Why are you being so secretive?"
Jiang Sui took the box and asked him with a smile, this guy would attend poetry gatherings from time to time and always get some special prizes, mostly gold and silver jewelry, jade and antiques, all of which were given to him. Jiang Sui didn't know how much he had received.
"Just open it and you'll know!" Xiao Hechuan raised his eyebrows and motioned for her to take a look for herself.
Jiang Sui opened the box, and inside lay a pair of exquisite mandarin duck pendants. They were a pair, made of top-quality purple jade with a translucent color. If they were put up for sale, they would surely be worth a lot.
She could see its value at a glance and was attracted by its appearance:
"This mandarin duck pendant is not cheap, right? Tell me how much did it cost? You are really something. You have given me so many gifts that I can't even wear them all!"
Xiao Hechuan knew she would say that. He knew her very well now. Sometimes he couldn't get used to it if she didn't chatter in his ear!
"I didn't buy it with money. Do you still remember the first poetry gathering I attended before entering Baiyun Academy, the Xie Family Poetry Gathering? There was a piece of uncut jade in the prize at that time, but I hid it, so you didn't know about it!"
Of course Jiang Sui remembered that it was the first poetry meeting Xiao Hechuan attended in Jeju. It was also thanks to this poetry meeting that he successfully became a disciple of Mr. Zhong Yun and became famous!
"At the time, I thought that you had suffered a lot in our family and had given a lot, and I had nothing to give you, so I kept this piece of beautiful jade. Over the past year, I carved this pair of mandarin duck pendants with my own hands as a token of our love!"
"Did you carve it yourself?"
When Jiang Sui heard that this pair of exquisite mandarin duck pendants were actually carved by him personally, he covered his mouth in shock.
No, isn’t this the charm of the characters in the book who are impeccable?
"Why, you don't believe it?"
Seeing his wife's face full of disbelief, Xiao Hechuan seemed a little aggrieved.
"It's not that I don't believe you. I'm just wondering, how many surprises do you have that I don't know about? You know too many things, right?"
Is this really the ability that Xiao Hechuan possesses during this period?
"That's a lot. My wife will slowly learn about it in the future."
As Xiao Hechuan spoke, he took out one of the mandarin duck pendants engraved with Jiang Sui's name and tied it around her waist. He tied the other one around his own waist.
This is a token of their love.
"If there is an afterlife, I hope you and I can still be husband and wife!" He held her hand and looked at her tenderly.
Jiang Sui nodded, stood on tiptoe and kissed the corner of his lips. Xiao Hechuan then put his arm around her waist and wanted to kiss him, but she blocked him:
"Not now, Lanlan and the others are still waiting for us to go out. She has been looking forward to this lantern festival for a long time. Don't let her wait anxiously!"
Since she said so, Xiao Hechuan had no choice but to give up.
After leaving the yard, Jiang Sui mentioned that he wanted to open a specialty restaurant on South Street, and also expressed his distress:
"I want to open a specialty restaurant on South Street and serve exquisite dishes as my own private property. I have the money ready. Not long ago, Wan Ning sent me a dividend of 5,000 taels of silver notes. I think it should be enough."
She had never mentioned this to Xiao Hechuan, so he didn't know.
"Of course, our family has saved so much money every year without making any noise. How can we be so low-key?"
If it were an ordinary person, they would be extremely excited to suddenly receive a huge sum of five thousand taels of silver. However, she was able to keep a low profile and spoke in a calm tone.
"This is just the beginning. It needs to be at least ten times more!" Five thousand taels was indeed not a lot for Jiang Sui.
When it comes to making money, of course the more the better.
"My wife has great ambitions, and I admire you very much, so I believe in you. Whatever you want to do, you will be able to accomplish it, and make it bigger and stronger!"
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