"Come out! Did you hear me clearly?" Lanqin said with a smile, calling out to Cui Niang inside.
Cui Niang's ears were so red they could bleed, but she was too afraid to go out and see Li Wei. Xi Cha and Si Hua pulled Cui Niang out.
Li Wei hadn't expected that Cui Niang was hiding inside, and that they had heard what he said. So he blushed and lowered his head, not daring to look at Cui Niang.
"Cui Niang, did you hear that clearly? He has already expressed his feelings. You all heard it too," Lan Qin said, looking at Cui Niang with a meaningful expression.
With a blush, Cui Niang looked at Lan Qin gratefully and stammered, "I heard you clearly!" It turned out that Lan Qin had specially called Li Wei over to put her mind at ease and to let him tell her what was on her mind.
“Li Wei, listen to me. If what you say today is still not what you truly believe, and you marry Cui Niang but don’t treat her well, I, your concubine, will absolutely not let you off the hook. Do you understand? If you regret it now, you can still do so. Cui Niang will only be sad for a moment at most. But if you marry her, she will be sad for the rest of her life.” Lan Qin suppressed her smile and stared at Li Wei sternly.
Li Wei secretly marveled at Lan Qin's shrewdness; she wanted him to lay his heart bare in front of the girl.
"If what I, Li Wei, have said today is not true, may I be struck by lightning!" Li Wei said.
"Stop!" When Cui Niang saw Li Wei swearing an oath in front of her, she quickly turned around to stop him from continuing.
"Oh dear, look at you, a daughter is gone when she grows up, even my Cui Niang feels sorry for you." Lanqin was very happy to see how affectionate they were.
Both Li Wei and Cui Niang blushed, and everyone in the room looked at them and laughed.
"Li Wei, may I lend you some money? I'll lend you five thousand taels. You can use three thousand taels to furnish a courtyard, and you mustn't mistreat Cui Niang. With the remaining two thousand taels, you can buy furnishings for the house, hire a few maids and servants, and prepare for the wedding. Don't refuse. This money isn't a gift from me, it's a loan. You must repay me five hundred taels every day. You must repay it all within ten years!" Lanqin said.
Li Wei's expression turned serious. He only earned a little over two hundred taels a year. How could he possibly afford that? Cui Niang's annual income was only one hundred taels, so even combined, they only earned four hundred taels. How could they possibly repay this amount?
“If you feel you can’t repay it, you can repay one hundred taels a year, but that will take fifty years. Think about it yourself and decide how much to repay each year. There’s no rush. This money must be repaid,” Lanqin said.
After a moment's thought, Li Wei exchanged a few glances with Cui Niang, then cupped his hands and said to Lan Qin, "Reporting to Consort, I will borrow three thousand taels from you. There's no need to hire any maids; I can handle the household chores and will certainly not let Miss Cui suffer any injustice. I will repay you three hundred taels every year for ten years."
It turned out that those few glances had already discussed everything. Cui Niang quickly nodded in agreement.
Seeing how devoted they were to each other, Lanqin was truly happy for Cui Niang and said, "Alright, we'll do as you say. There's no more delay. The money will be given to you immediately, and we'll start looking for a better courtyard right away. If you keep dawdling, it'll be too late once I find someone better for Cui Niang."
As the saying goes, money makes things easier. Li Wei quickly found a two-courtyard house not far from the Fourth Prince's residence. The owners were merchants who did business in the capital, so the house wasn't old, and it was fully furnished, saving Li Wei the expense of buying new furniture. He quickly took a liking to it and immediately invited Cui Niang to come out and see it. Lan Qin was keeping a close eye on their affairs, and as soon as she heard that Li Wei had invited Cui Niang to see the house, she immediately let her go and even had a carriage prepared to take them there.
This was the first time Li Wei and Cui Niang had met alone. Although they had met before, it was always when there were other people around. They had never met like this before, just the two of them, and in a closed carriage.
"How old is Aunt Li this year?" Seeing the awkwardness between the two, Cui Niang took the initiative to ask.
“My mother is fifty-two this year. She’s still farming in our hometown. My younger brother has been mentally unstable ever since he was kidnapped and taken to that cave to mine. Now he can only stay at home and help my mother farm,” Li Wei said.
“Well, we can bring your mother and brother to Kyoto so it’s easier to take care of them,” Cui Niang said, blushing and looking down.
Li Wei's heart skipped a beat, and he said excitedly, "People say that it's hard to get along with your mother-in-law and sister-in-law, aren't you afraid?" Actually, Li Wei hadn't planned to bring his mother and younger brother over yet, but he didn't expect that Cui Niang would bring it up first.
“Cui Niang is also from a peasant family, so she might even be able to farm with Aunt Li. We’re all from the same family, how can we not take care of our younger brother?” Cui Niang’s face turned bright red as she said this.
Hearing this, Li Wei felt a warmth in his heart and couldn't help but reach out and take Cui Niang's hand, saying, "It is my great fortune to be able to marry Miss Cui."
The two arrived at the courtyard chosen by Li Wei, and Cui Niang fell in love with it as soon as she stepped inside. Because the seller was in a hurry to sell, the price of 2,500 taels of silver was considered cheap. Everything inside, from the rooms to the furnishings, was about 80% new, so there was basically no need to add anything.
“Li Lang, we can cultivate a small vegetable garden here for Aunt Li to grow crops and exercise,” Cui Niang said. “In the future, we can hire a cook and another person to do the daily chores to help with the household. Li Lang will be serving by the Fourth Master’s side, and I will also be serving by the side of the concubine.”
"Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking," Li Wei said with a grin, standing behind Cui Niang.
The house was settled. The transaction was very simple. Both parties went to the place in the Qing Dynasty that managed land sales contracts, changed the names, and paid the money on the spot, and that was it.
Li Wei specially asked Lan Qin to pick an auspicious day for him, then went to the Cui family to propose marriage, and then wrote a letter back home, asking Aunt Li and the Li brothers to come to the capital.
Lanqin planned that after Cui Niang's wedding, Nianxue and Xicha would follow. These two maids were originally hired by Lingzhu from poor families. They also had relatives in the capital and would return home to await their marriages. Their parents were naturally delighted to hear that the concubine had arranged their marriages. Furthermore, Cui Da and Cui Er had houses in the capital, and the two brothers had a good relationship. Nianxue and Xicha were already like sisters, and now that they were sisters-in-law, they would be even more harmonious and like one big family.
As the wedding day drew closer, Cui Niang grew increasingly melancholy. She feared that once she was married, she would no longer be able to wholeheartedly care for Lanqin. Although Lanqin had promised to let her remain the head housekeeper in her quarters.
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