Chapter 184 Gift of Gratitude
Sheng An hired a donkey cart to head to Sheng Garden, where she encountered Shu Qi and others who had come out to look for her.
Only after asking did they learn that her horse had run back to Shengyuan on its own. Shuqi and the others were worried that something might have happened to them on the way, so they hurriedly went out of the city to look for her.
Fortunately, they met on the road and did not miss each other.
Sheng An was surprised that the frightened horse would return home on its own. He was secretly glad that the four hundred taels of silver he had spent on transportation had not been lost, and decided to reward it with some candy when he got back.
The group hurried back to Shengyuan, where all the guests for dinner had already arrived.
Sheng An first apologized to them, then gave each of them a jar of glutinous rice wine, before hurrying to the main kitchen to get busy.
After seeing off the last guest, Sheng An finally had some free time. He called over the calligraphy and painting experts and instructed them, "Help me buy some things and deliver them to Huai Shu Village first thing tomorrow morning."
As he spoke, he took out paper and pen and wrote down the items to be purchased and a long list.
The items purchased were simple: 500 catties of rice, 200 catties of pork, and 100 packets of sweets and pastries.
Huai Shu Village has a total of 51 households. Last night, except for Kong Dazhuang's family, all other 50 households had people participating in the firefighting.
These rice, pork, and pastries were Sheng An's thank-you gift for putting out the fire.
On average, each household received ten catties of rice, four catties of pork, and two packets of pastries. Such a thank-you gift was neither excessive nor small.
Once the ink had dried, Sheng An handed over the calligraphy and painting: "Send it in my family's name, and deliver it to each household according to the list."
Then, she wrote down a list of names, including the village chief and others who had rescued people from the bandits that morning.
Sheng An kept the list for herself. Once Liu Erleng, who had escaped, was apprehended by the authorities, she would return to the village to personally thank the village chief and the others.
After leaving the small building, Sheng An instructed his three elders:
"Liu Erleng is very vengeful. Several of his men have been imprisoned. He might do something desperate. Before he is caught by the authorities, you should stay at home. It won't matter if the shop's business is suspended for a few days."
The three elders were all willing to listen to advice and agreed without hesitation: "Okay, we will stay home for a while and guard against Liu Erleng breaking in and hurting people."
Sheng An also had this concern. After thinking about it, he wrote a letter and gave it to Shu Qi, asking him to go to the Tan residence to borrow a few people from Tan Qingrou.
The guards were naturally the ones they borrowed.
It wasn't until today's events that Sheng An belatedly realized that Shengyuan had too few capable people. He immediately said to Xu Chenglin, "Father, let's hire a few capable guards. You know a lot of people, so the selection of guards is up to you."
Xu Chenglin said with a serious expression: "With such a big courtyard, we should hire a few guards. We'll need guards to accompany us when we go out in the future."
It was his fault, really. He hadn't realized this wasn't the little courtyard where he'd lived for over a decade. His daughter-in-law was making so much money, and he hadn't thought to hire a security guard beforehand.
Sigh, I guess I'm getting old; my mind isn't working as well as it used to.
If we hadn't been able to protect my daughter-in-law today, who knows what might have happened.
Grandpa and Grandma Sheng wholeheartedly supported hiring bodyguards, hoping that Xu Chenglin would hire thirty to fifty more so that their granddaughter would always be protected and never encounter such danger again.
However, thirty or fifty is too much; seven or eight is enough.
Having likely experienced a life-or-death crisis, Sheng An especially missed Xu Jinnian, who had been away from home for several days.
She counted the days on her fingers; the man wouldn't be home for at least five days. A wave of dejection washed over her, making her toss and turn, unable to fall asleep.
Sheng An, who goes to bed late, wakes up exceptionally early. As soon as the rooster crows three times, he comes to the main kitchen to get busy, personally making fifty roast chickens, which he then has Shuhua and Shuli deliver to Huai Shu Village.
The calligraphy and painting masters acted swiftly, hiring two oxcarts on the street to transport rice, pork, pastries, and roast chicken to Huai Shu Village.
The two went straight to the village chief's house, explained their purpose to him, took out a list from their pockets, and asked someone from the village chief's house to lead the way so they could deliver the gifts to these people's homes.
Looking at the rice, pork, and pastries packaged on the oxcart, the village chief and his family couldn't help but calculate in their minds how much money these things would cost.
Upon hearing this, they couldn't help but gasp in shock.
The village chief's family also received a share of these gifts, but he was embarrassed to accept them, saying, "As the village chief, it's my duty to help put out the fire. You don't need the gifts; you can take them back later."
Shuhua smiled and said, "As the village chief, I can't let your family suffer a loss. These gifts were personally sent by my master. If you don't accept them, I won't be able to explain it to my master."
Before the village chief could say anything more, his wife quietly poked his lower back from behind, inwardly cursing the old man for not knowing the value of money when he wasn't in charge of the household.
These are high-quality rice, pork, roast chicken, and snacks; they only eat them a few times a year.
They put in a lot of effort to put out the fire the night before last, and the family brought a thank-you gift to their door. They should accept it without hesitation; it's not like they're taking advantage of An's family.
The daughters-in-law thought the same thing, their eyes fixed longingly on the contents of the oxcart.
The village chief had no choice but to politely say, "Please convey my family's thanks to your master. This old man will shamelessly accept this gift."
Hearing this, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law beamed with joy, already planning how to eat the food.
The village chief had his son accept the gifts of gratitude and then instructed his son to guide the calligraphy and painting enthusiasts to deliver the gifts to the families who had helped put out the fire.
Soon, all fifty families who helped put out the fire received this thank-you gift, enough to make their whole family happy until the end of the year.
"Uncle Sheng and the others are too kind. We just put out a fire and couldn't even save the house, yet they still gave us such a valuable gift as a token of their gratitude."
"Who says otherwise? We're all from the same village, we never thought about receiving any gifts while we were putting out the fire."
"Being able to afford so many nice things, it seems that Uncle Sheng's family is doing well in the city. We should be happy for them; their hard times are finally over."
"Haha, that's true. Even though Uncle Sheng and the others are living a good life, they haven't forgotten to let us have a taste of the good things."
The villagers who received the gifts expressed their gratitude. They felt a mix of envy and bitterness at the fact that Sheng'an's family was living a good life, but that's only human nature.
Everyone in the village received a thank-you gift, but the Liu family was the only one who didn't.
This time, Liu Shitou couldn't take it anymore and threw a tantrum at Kong Dazhuang: "Outsiders all receive so much good food, but I'm her brother and I don't get a single thing! It's all your fault, it's all because you offended her that she refuses to acknowledge me as her brother!"
Kong Dazhuang was already angry, and hearing his son's words only fueled his anger. Without thinking, he slapped him across the face.
"You unfilial son! You blame everything on me! You wanted to eat meat and roast chicken, so why didn't you go put out the fire that night? I didn't stop you!"
Liu Shitou's ears rang from the beating. Regaining his senses, his eyes bloodshot, he lunged at Kong Dazhuang, punching and kicking him.
"If it's not your fault, you cripple, who else is to blame? It's because you were a bad father and abandoned her that she resents our family. She'd rather give the benefits to outsiders than let our family get a share. You're just a burden to the whole family!"
After cursing, Liu Shitou deliberately kicked Kong Dazhuang's lame leg, his eyes showing not a trace of filial piety or respect for his father.
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