Chapter 113 A wife is meant to be cherished.
Butcher Zhang has no brothers, but he has three or four sisters.
At this moment, the Zhang family's house was full of people, and a dozen children were running around outside, picking up firecrackers that hadn't exploded on the ground.
The entire courtyard was filled with noise, and the air was filled with a joyful atmosphere.
As Sheng An and his two companions entered the main room, several of Zhang's aunts greeted Xu Jinnian and his son warmly.
They didn't know Sheng An, but guessed that she was Xu Jinnian's wife, so they couldn't help but glance at her a few more times.
Sheng An didn't show any timidity. Under Xu Cuilian's introduction, she followed the three Zhang brothers' titles and called them "eldest aunt," "second aunt," "third aunt," and "fourth aunt."
Aunt Zhang showered Xu Cuilian with praise: "Your niece-in-law is really great. She's beautiful and has a good personality. She and Jin Nian are a perfect match."
"My eldest sister has such sharp eyes! My niece-in-law is truly exceptional!"
When her niece-in-law was praised, Xu Cuilian felt proud and her loud voice rang out even more clearly:
"She's so young and a young wife, without a mother-in-law to help her, yet she manages the household and everything else so well. It's a blessing that Jin Nian was able to marry such a good wife!"
Sheng An pretended to be embarrassed by the praise, and sat behind Xu Cuilian with her head slightly lowered, secretly smiling.
Xu Jinnian looked at her upturned lips, a hint of a smile flashing in his eyes.
Unexpectedly, a sour remark rang out: "She's just a country girl. It's a great honor for her to marry into the city and become a scholar's wife. Of course, she has to show some real ability. Otherwise, what's the use of marrying a wife like that?"
Sheng An looked toward the speaker and saw Zhang Sangu glaring at him with disdain and dissatisfaction.
Disdain is easy to understand, but what about dissatisfaction?
She didn't dig up the woman's in-laws' ancestral graves!
Sheng An wouldn't suffer in silence, and was about to retort when Xu Jinnian stood up and blocked her way, his expression unchanged, his voice clear and emotionless:
“A wife is meant to be cherished. I never knew that my third aunt had to show her true abilities to win over her husband and his family. She has suffered so much over the years; no wonder she looks so haggard.”
Xu Jinnian ignored Zhang Sangu's face, which was as black as the bottom of a pot, and looked at Zhang Sangu's husband sitting opposite her: "Third Aunt has had a hard time these years, which is why she is jealous of my wife, a junior. Third Uncle should be more understanding of Third Aunt."
Zhang San's uncle blushed and said with an embarrassed smile, "My mother is in good health. She does all the housework. Your aunt just complains a little, but she doesn't mean any harm."
After saying that, she glared at Zhang Sangu with displeasure: "What nonsense are you spouting on such a joyous occasion? Hurry up and apologize to Jin Nian's wife."
Being humiliated in public by her own man, Zhang Sangu's face was ashen, and she sat motionless in her chair.
The atmosphere in the room immediately became awkward. Aunt Zhang and Aunt Zhang wanted to ease the tension, but due to Xu Jinnian's status as a scholar, they didn't know whether they should speak up.
Xu Cuilian cursed Zhang Sangu inwardly, saying she was a heartless person who liked to find fault and nitpick all day long.
Before she got married, she would find fault with her sister-in-law, and now she's finding fault with her niece-in-law. She's been like this for over ten years.
With that in mind, Xu Cuilian pretended to be deaf and dumb, showing no intention of speaking up for Zhang Sangu.
Seeing her aunt's face, which looked like she'd just eaten shit, Sheng An couldn't help but feel a surge of secret pleasure. She reached out and tugged at Xu Jinnian's sleeve, deliberately raising her voice a few notches:
"My aunt doesn't understand me, that's why she's like this. How can we, as the younger generation, be so ignorant as to argue with our elders?"
After saying that, Sheng An smiled and said to Zhang Sangu, "Today is the day of Da Kui's engagement. I believe that your mistake was unintentional, so there is no need for an apology."
Aunt Zhang Dagu, Aunt Zhang Ergu, and Aunt Zhang Sigu heard it clearly, and their gazes toward Sheng An were exceptionally kind.
What a sensible child! The third sister (third sister) actually offended someone without considering the occasion. Fortunately, this child is kind-hearted and doesn't stoop to her level.
Otherwise, if she disrupts Da Kui's engagement banquet, her sister-in-law (or brother's wife) might not even be allowed to enter the Zhang family's house in the future.
Under the disapproving gazes of the crowd, Zhang Sangu felt ashamed and indignant, her dissatisfaction with Sheng An reaching its peak. She stubbornly refused to say anything conciliatory.
Sheng An shook his head inwardly, too lazy to pay any more attention to her.
People who refuse to back down even when offered a way out are either inherently stubborn or stupid, and will never have a comfortable life.
I just don't know where Zhang Sangu's dissatisfaction with her comes from. Could it be related to this guy in front of her?
Sheng An stared suspiciously at Xu Jinnian's back, silently calculating the ages of Zhang Sangu's children in his mind, and a bold guess was about to emerge.
With the deliberate efforts of Aunt Zhang and others to ease the tension, the atmosphere in the room became lively again.
Sheng An listened to the gossip with great interest, marveling at the gossip-loving abilities of the women in the room, as if he were listening from under their bed.
Xu Cuilian took a moment to pull Sheng An into the room and took out a large red paper from the drawer: "This is the betrothal gift list for Zhao Di. It will be sent to the Zhang family later. Can you help your aunt check if the betrothal gifts on it are enough?"
Sheng An reached out and took the list, reading it down item by item:
"Thirty taels of silver for the betrothal gifts, a pair of solid gold bracelets, a pair of gold earrings, a pair of gold hairpins, half a pork cutlet, a whole mutton, six bolts of fine cotton cloth, ten jars of wine, and ten packets of sweets and pastries..."
As Sheng An read it aloud, he clicked his tongue in amazement. This betrothal gift was quite generous, with the dowry alone amounting to thirty taels, comparable to what a small landlord's family would give for their daughter-in-law.
After reading the last item, Sheng An said confidently, "Aunt, these betrothal gifts are enough. Zhao Di and Uncle Zhang and Aunt Zhang will definitely feel your and Uncle's sincerity."
Xu Cuilian breathed a sigh of relief, her face beaming with joy: "If you think it's enough, then it is. Your uncle and I have had a lot of headaches these past few days over the betrothal gifts."
Her family was doing well, especially this year when sausages sold very well, and her temporary workshop earned nearly forty taels of silver.
However, since Er Kui and Xiao Kui are turning sixteen this year, and the brothers' marriages need to be arranged, she is a little worried that if she gives Zhao Di too much in betrothal gifts, she won't be able to prepare equal betrothal gifts for the two younger brothers later.
If the dowries for the three daughters-in-law are different, won't the family be in chaos every day?
We still need to treat everyone fairly.
"Auntie, you are a good mother-in-law."
Sheng An was genuinely moved and happy for her best friend.
"Haha, whether it's good or not isn't up to me to decide. When I get old, if I have a daughter-in-law serving me tea and water by my bedside, then I won't be considered a bad mother-in-law."
Xu Cuilian smiled happily, her face full of joy at becoming a mother-in-law:
“Zhao Di is the daughter-in-law I’ve chosen. I’m sure we’ll get along. Da Kui is the eldest son. In the future, your aunt’s husband and I will have to rely on this young couple to take care of us.”
Based on this alone, she would never mistreat her eldest daughter-in-law, Zhaodi.
When the young couple has a child in the future, she, as the grandmother, will help take care of it, just like her mother-in-law treated her back then.
The two chatted about the betrothal gifts for a few minutes. Sheng An glanced at the door and asked in a low voice, "Auntie, Third Aunt seems to have a problem with me. Do you know what's going on?"
Xu Cuilian's smile froze, and she mumbled:
"She's a troublemaker, and her relationship with me, her sister-in-law, hasn't been great over the years. She probably can't stand me praising you, so she deliberately said those unpleasant things."
Sheng An didn't believe it at all, and clung to Xu Cuilian's arm, shaking it back and forth: "Auntie, just tell the truth, otherwise I definitely won't be able to sleep tonight, and I might even pick a fight with your nephew."
Xu Cuilian was speechless. To say it so bluntly meant they really didn't treat her like an outsider.
Unable to escape Sheng An's persistent pestering, Xu Cuilian had no choice but to tell the truth:
“His third aunt’s eldest daughter is the same age as you. She had her eye on Jin Nian before and asked me to matchmake her eldest daughter with Jin Nian. At that time, Jin Nian hadn’t even met you yet, so I asked Jin Nian for her opinion. Jin Nian refused without even meeting her.”
At this point, Xu Cuilian sighed: "Jin Nian originally refused, and his third aunt didn't say anything. It's just that her eldest daughter married a scoundrel at the beginning of the year. He beat her so badly on the second day of the wedding that she couldn't get out of bed..."
Zhang Sangu was heartbroken that her beloved eldest daughter had married the wrong person.
She went to her son-in-law's house to demand an explanation, but in front of the whole village, he said that her eldest daughter didn't know how to serve a man, leaving her with no recourse.
A married daughter is like water spilled from a cup; Zhang Sangu cannot allow her daughter to leave her husband's family and return to her parents' home. Otherwise, the marriage prospects of the family's unmarried children would become a major problem.
Aunt Zhang was holding her breath. When she saw Sheng An, who was dressed smartly and looked great, clearly enjoying herself at her husband's family home, she naturally thought of her own suffering eldest daughter.
This connection led Aunt Zhang to believe that Sheng An had snatched away the excellent marriage opportunity from the Xu family. She thought that if her eldest daughter had married into the Xu family, her life would have been just as smooth and joyful.
After hearing the whole story, Sheng An felt sympathy for Zhang Sangu's eldest daughter, who had suffered greatly from domestic violence, and scoffed at Zhang Sangu's actions.
Instead of dealing with that awful son-in-law, she's pointing the finger at me, an innocent person. Isn't that just bullying the weak and fearing the strong, thinking I'm easy to bully?
"Jin Nian wasn't taken from her daughter by me, so what right does she have to be dissatisfied with me? I only let it go because she's Da Kui's third aunt; otherwise, I would have embarrassed her just now."
Xu Cuilian knew her niece-in-law's temperament well, so she quickly said a few conciliatory words: "She was wrong in this matter. I'll have your uncle give her a good talking to later, and I promise it won't happen again."
Sheng An waved his hand: "Forget it, we're not really related. We only see each other about twice a year. There's no need to make things difficult for my uncle."
Xu Cuilian patted the back of her hand: "You're too sensible. She's lived to this age and she's not as wise as you."
There were still a room full of guests in the main room, so Xu Cuilian didn't want to stay in the room any longer and came out with Sheng An.
When the auspicious time arrived, Zhang Daikui, under Xu Cuilian's repeated instructions, went to Huai Shu Village with the people carrying the betrothal gifts, making a lot of noise along the way.
The betrothal gifts were packed in heavy boxes, enough to fill eight loads, which made the surrounding neighbors envious, wishing that these betrothal gifts were their own daughters.
Some busybodies approached Xu Cuilian and asked what betrothal gifts she had given. Xu Cuilian said that the thirty taels of betrothal money was actually ten taels, and she told them the actual amount of the other betrothal gifts.
Even so, the neighbors were shocked and gasped, and even Aunt Zhang's eyes widened.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com