“If that’s the case, then we should hurry up. Limestone will definitely be in high demand soon. I heard the new residents who moved to our village talking about how they’re going to come to your village to get limestone after they’ve cleared this place out and planted the seeds.” Gao Zian knew that building a house was definitely going to happen, but he had just finished the harvest and was also busy with some construction in the village. Things were always one thing after another. Fortunately, he would have some free time after his daughter’s wedding. He would definitely build a house for his son’s future wedding.
“If you really need to carry limestone down the mountain, I can go up the mountain first and carry it down for you, so you can save some effort.” Yun Zhiming thought of the villagers who were helping their relatives carry the limestone down the mountain, and he thought that he would soon join them.
"We can't accept this. It would be too much trouble for you if we went there so often."
"Why are we talking about these things among relatives? I just don't know when the sun will come out. Look at these vegetables, they all look so droopy. Even we've all turned pale because we haven't had any sunshine." Yun Zhiming didn't want to continue with the polite formalities and changed the subject directly.
"That's right. My face has become so pale lately that all the freckles have come out. It's not as pleasing to the eye as when I had darker skin."
"That's right, many people's faces have turned into sesame seed-like faces, which is really hard to get used to."
In the kitchen, the two sisters were frying fish while whispering to each other.
"Didn't they say A-Cheng's mother was back too? Why didn't Ci-An invite them over?"
"He does want to invite her, but it depends on whether I agree." She glanced at the room and saw the four young people with two children packing their things. Then, she lowered her voice and complained to her older sister, "When we first discussed the engagement date, on the way back, he said he was going to detour to Baijia Village to tell his sister. I was furious! He knows what kind of person his sister is now. If he brings her over, who knows how ridiculous Xiaojie's wedding will become. Besides, there's Acheng involved. What if she acts recklessly? Those old fogies in the village will definitely say some nasty things, making Acheng uncomfortable. I told him that if he dared to go, I would immediately turn back and cancel the engagement. Only then did he come back to us dejectedly."
Aunt Gao sympathized with Si Cheng's plight when he was young and treated him like her own child. Now that he has married her niece, their relationship has become even closer. She hopes that none of this messy stuff will get to him, not even her own muddle-headed old man.
"But if we don't call Xiaojie her aunt, won't people talk about it?"
"Sister, haven't I told you so many times? Don't care too much about what others think. If everyone lived under so many rules, how tiring would that be? And don't worry, when Gao Shuzhen went back to her parents' home, she made such a big scene. Many people were scared by her shameless behavior. And many people said that if all married daughters were like her, it would be better not to have such daughters at all. When she was rich, why didn't she come back to see her own brother? She didn't even come back to see her mother off. Not to mention anything else, she even abandoned her own child. Now that she's down on her luck, she only thinks of the relatives she abandoned before." Aunt Gao's face was full of disdain when she talked about her sister-in-law.
"I remember when you first married into the family, she was a bright and cheerful girl. How did she become like this?"
"So you can't judge a person by their appearance. And society is such a powerful corrupting force. Ever since she got married and moved to the city, she's been like a completely different person."
"Is what we've gathered enough? If not, we'll gather some more." Upon hearing Gozi'an's voice from outside the door, both sisters stopped talking.
"It looks about right, let's put it there for now and wash it tomorrow morning." Aunt Gao looked at the basket, estimated it, and thought it was about right.
By the time they finished cleaning the fish, it was getting dark. Si Cheng set up the tent they had left behind again, and Jun Jun and Le Le ran around inside curiously. Yun Qi, worried that snakes might accidentally wander in at night, took out sulfur blocks from his spatial storage and placed them in the corners of the tent.
That evening, everyone gathered in Gao Jie's room, where all the dowry items for the next day were laid out on the kang (a heated brick bed). Especially when Aunt Yun took out the gifts they had brought, Aunt Gao exclaimed that they were too kind and too extravagant.
When Yunqi opened the entire wedding bedding set, Aunt Gao immediately decided that this bedding would be used as part of the dowry the next day.
However, when they opened the gold jewelry set, the Gao family said it was too valuable and asked them to take it back. Yun Qi immediately looked at Si Cheng, signaling him to make the first move.
"This is a gift from your older brother, so my sister can look beautiful when she goes out tomorrow." Si Cheng and the others knew they would try to refuse, so they each accepted a gift, making it harder for them to refuse.
"Yes, and these are the gifts her uncle and I gave as gifts." Taking advantage of this moment, Yun's mother also pushed the compressed bags over.
“This family is even dividing the gifts among several people, isn’t that just letting us take advantage?” Gao Liang said as he opened the valve on top.
As air entered, the bag swelled up. Looking at the bag full of clothes, even Gao Liang couldn't stay calm. These things were no less than the dowry his family gave to his sister.
"This is too much. You should take it back. Who knows when these things will be produced again? We can't let you spend so much." Although Aunt Gao was happy that her sister's family had done her a favor, she still couldn't accept so much stuff.
“We prepared a lot of these beforehand. Since we brought them over, it means we have a good understanding of them at home, so you don’t need to worry about them.” Yun Zhiming knew better than his wife how ruthless his daughter was when she was hoarding supplies. Back then, he and Yun Qi emptied several fabric stores.
Yun's mother simply opened the whole bag and took out the clothes one by one, placing them on the kang (a heated brick bed). As the little baby's clothes appeared, Gao Jie's face turned red.
"Here are four summer outfits, four spring and autumn outfits, and four winter outfits. These are all for Gao Jie. As for the other baby clothes, it's up to you whether you bring them with you as part of her dowry or wait until she's pregnant to send them over." Mother Yun carefully sorted all the clothes.
"Sister, what can I say?" Aunt Gao was so moved that she didn't know what to say. Her sister's family thought about everything more comprehensively than she did, and even cared more about her family than she did.
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