Chapter 638 Social Interactions
After taking a look, Li's mother explained, "It was originally meant to be delivered to our house. I went to see Old Liang at first, and he said to deliver it directly to you and let you decide what to do with it."
My original intention was to send it to Elder Liang for his review, but Elder Liang was impatient with such mundane matters. He said that since you are his disciple and he would be spending the New Year at our house this year, he would have you do it all for him.”
Li San Niang was a little embarrassed. At this moment, the relationship between the master and disciple was even closer than that between parents and children. It was indeed true that "the disciple serves his master's labor." Moreover, Li San Niang had indeed learned a lot from Doctor Liang.
“Master is right. I will count the gifts that my fellow disciples sent and then deliver them to Master separately.”
After I explain things to my master, I'll ask him how I should reciprocate.
Li's mother nodded, agreeing with Li San Niang's words.
The remaining items related to Li San Niang can be divided into two categories: gifts sent to Li San Niang by her disciples and students who were her teachers.
For disciples like Song Fuling (Chapter 292, Accepting a Disciple) and Linglan (Chapter 300, Accepting a Disciple), who had already been offered tea, the gifts they sent were not the usual four or six items.
Instead, it was a personal gift that could only be given in a close relationship. For example, Song Fuling gave Li Sanniang a purse that she had sewn herself, while Linglan gave her shoes that she had made herself.
This is a gift that should not be given to anyone other than a close relative.
"Mother, Poria cocos and lily of the valley made something for me. Look!"
With a hint of showing off, Li San Niang had Qiu Xiang bring out the purse and shoes for Li's mother to see. Li's mother nodded, "Yes, those are your disciples, so naturally they should be treated this way."
You taught them your skills without reservation, enabling them to make a living; they deserve to treat you the same way.
Another group of people who gave gifts to Li San Niang were the students from the Midwifery School, such as Yao Qingqing and Jin Zhenbao. The gifts they gave were all similar, the only difference being that they were of different levels due to their different family backgrounds.
The rest were New Year's gifts sent by Li San Niang because she had saved them and they wanted to maintain a good relationship with her.
Like Yang Shi, the heartbroken man whom Li San Niang saved (Chapter 189), Ying Niang and Shun Zi, who gave birth to twins (Chapter 140), Guo Wu Niang, who escaped from suffering with Li San Niang's help (Chapter 179), and Yin Liu Niang, who invited Li San Niang to her wedding (Chapter 198).
Li San Niang noticed that Guo Wu Niang had included a handwritten letter in the gift list she received, and she quickly opened it to read it.
After reading it, Li San Niang couldn't help but sigh. This sigh puzzled Li's mother and Qiu Xiang, who both looked at Li San Niang.
Seeing the expressions on their faces, Li San Niang held up the several-page letter and said to them, "Guo Wu Niangzi is going back to Chang'an!"
And she's pregnant!
She specially sent me this information in a letter tucked inside the New Year's gift list. The letter said she would invite me to visit her sometime later.
"She's pregnant, how can she possibly travel such a long distance?"
The weather isn't good right now; what if something unexpected happens on the road?
Li's mother remembered Guo Wu Niang, after all, Guo Wu Niang had sent someone to deliver New Year's gifts to Li San Niang last year, and Li's mother had a recollection of it.
When Li's mother heard that Guo Wuniang was going back to Chang'an, she couldn't help but feel worried.
"It wasn't that I deliberately chose to come back at this time. I had planned to come back anyway, but I unexpectedly discovered I was pregnant while I was buying New Year's gifts on my way back to Chang'an."
We can't just stop halfway; we've already covered more than half the distance. There's no other way but to slow down and continue towards Chang'an.
Mother Li nodded, "There's nothing we can do about that. We just hope that Fifth Sister Guo will be safe."
Li San Niang continued to examine the stack of gift lists. Among them, she also found gift lists from Shen Qiu Niang and Tuwa (who appeared in Chapter 31), as well as one from Bai Ziyi (in Chapter 329).
The reason these two families were singled out is because their New Year's gifts were rather special, being local specialties from the Western Regions. Li San Niang was quite surprised to see that one of them was labeled "Ten Strings of Potatoes," and quickly called Qiu Xiang to find it and take a look.
As a result, Li San Niang saw ten mud balls placed in a basket. "This must be a special method for preserving pottery, right?"
Li San Niang gestured to Qiu Xiang to find a stone to smash it open and see if it contained pottery. Qiu Xiang didn't need a stone; she simply reached out, made a fist, picked at a spot on the mud ball, and smashed it open with a little force.
"It really is Puta!"
Seeing that the grapes were slightly dehydrated but still quite plump, Li San Niang said, "Mother, let's open one and share it with everyone after dinner."
After taking inventory of most of the items, it was already past dusk when Li Ersao came in and asked Li's mother if it was time to set the table.
Looking at the piles of uncounted items in the main hall, Li's mother had no choice but to say to Li's second sister-in-law, "Let's eat in the side hall today. We can count the items in the main hall tomorrow."
Of all things under heaven and on earth, eating is the most important.
Li San Niang put down the gift list in her hand, picked up another stack and flipped through it briefly. The Wang family (the family of Lu Zhu'er's biological father, Wang Ziheng), Fang Chengxian and Xu Jingzhen, Xing Yu and Chang Siyuan, as well as Bi Qionglan, also sent gifts.
To Li San Niang's surprise, the two Ding brothers (Ding Anbo and Ding Mingxuan) also delivered things to her door!
"Alright, stop looking. You can come back and take inventory tomorrow when you have time. Hurry up and have dinner."
Seeing that Li San Niang was still looking through the gift list, Li's mother urged her.
Li San Niang responded to her mother's words, but still stood there and finished reading the last few gift lists in her hand.
The last few lists include gift lists from Sun Cuilan's family (Chapter 428), Shen Lizhu's family (Chapter 434), and the Song family, Song Zhenzhu's family (Chapter 502), which left a deep impression on Li Sanniang.
The last item on the gift list was the one that Li San Niang didn't expect at all. It was from Hong Xiu, Lü Yi, and Ying Ge, who came from Jiangnan!
(Chapter 349 plot)
The three men sent the Li family with fabrics and cosmetics from Jiangnan via a caravan, and naturally, a letter was also included in the gift list.
Li Sanniang glanced at the five or six pages and concluded that it was a letter that Hongxiu and the others had someone write on their behalf. It explained that the three of them had followed the matriarch of the Jin family back to their hometown for a funeral. After observing three months of mourning for the Jin family's young master, the matriarch of the Jin family summoned the three of them for a talk.
“He’s already dead. You’re all just teenagers, still young. How can you stay at home with an old woman like me who’s half-buried in the ground?”
Hongxiu, Lüyi, and Yingge quickly knelt down and expressed their stance, saying things like, "Once you enter the Jin family, you are meant to serve the lady, and you will stay in the Jin family to serve her for the rest of your life."
As they talked, perhaps due to uncertainty and fear about the future, the three of them hugged each other and cried in front of the matriarch of the Jin family, their faces streaked with tears.
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