Chapter 100 The Gao Family’s Thoughts
Mrs. Cui nodded and thought about it.
"Then I'll go to town tomorrow and buy you a piece of fine cotton cloth to make you a dress."
"What about fine cotton? Mother, please make me a silk or cotton dress."
"What? Silk and cotton? That's so expensive. A set of clothes would probably cost two taels of silver." Mrs. Cui felt pained.
Gao Conghui hurriedly advised: "Mother, if I can catch Mr. Zhu's eye, when I marry him, I'm afraid I can give you two hundred taels of silver, so what is this two taels of silver?"
Mrs. Cui thought about it and felt that her daughter was right. You can't catch a wolf without sacrificing a child.
"But I just paid your second brother half a year's tuition, plus the recent mess, and spent a lot of money. Now the family only has four taels of silver left. Your second brother will have an exam next month, so he needs some money. Why not make him a set of woolen and cotton clothes? It will only cost one tael if you want."
Gao Conghui had no choice but to nod: "It's fine if it's velvet and cotton. Can you buy me a silver hairpin? I can't wear a wooden hairpin to meet people."
Mother Cui patted her hands and said, "What's the big deal? Your second sister-in-law has a few hairpins. She got such good gouache thanks to you. That box of gouache costs several taels of silver. It's only right for her to give you a hairpin. Let her teach you some etiquette and poetry these few days, so that Master Zhu can see that the sister of a student is not an ignorant village woman."
Gao Conghui showed a happy expression on her face: "Thank you, mother. Don't worry, when I am favored by Master Zhu, I will definitely treat you well."
Mrs. Cui also imagined how glorious it would be to be the mother-in-law of an official's son.
As the mother and daughter were talking, Gao Zhiyuan came back. Mrs. Cui immediately called him into the main room and told her what had happened.
Gao Zhiyuan looked at Gao Conghui in shock: "Xiaohui, are you serious?"
"Really? If you don't believe me, ask my sister-in-law. Then look at these rouge and powder."
Although Gao Zhiyuan didn't understand these things, he had seen the rouge used by Liu Ruyun. The appearance of the bottles of these rouges alone was more advanced than the one used by Liu Ruyun.
His heart suddenly became excited. If he was really the son of the county magistrate as his mother said, then his future would be secure.
Mrs. Cui said, "Yuan'er, you have many classmates. Ask someone to find out about this young master Zhu's family."
"Don't worry, mother. This is about my sister's lifelong event. I will go and find out. But since that person gave such an expensive gift right away, and the staff of Yuerongzhai were so polite to him, I don't think he is a liar."
"That's good, that's good. Yuan, that young master has invited Xiaohui to the temple fair in the county. You can ask your wife to give her a hairpin. If Xiaohui is dressed more decently, she will be more likely to be favored by Master Zhu."
Gao Zhiyuan thought about it and nodded in agreement, then went back to his room to find Liu Ruyun.
When Liu Ruyun heard this, she was immediately unhappy: "My husband, you also know that I only have three silver hairpins in total. They are my dowry. How can I give them to my younger sister? If my younger sister wants to show off, then let mother buy her one."
Gao Zhiyuan advised: "Yunniang, if I am favored by Young Master Zhu, do you think the betrothal gift will be too little? Not to mention the silver hairpin, I will also give you a gold hairpin. I will also be grateful to you. Will you be left out of the benefits?"
Liu Ruyun lowered her eyes. Yes, if she really caught the young master's eye, the benefits she would gain would be far more than a silver hairpin could ever compare to. She had to be nicer to her sister-in-law during this period of time.
She nodded and said, "Okay then, you must give me a gold hairpin in the future."
"Okay, I'll give you one. One is not enough. My lady is so considerate and sensible. Ten or a hundred gold hairpins are what you deserve."
Gao Zhiyuan smiled and rubbed her face.
Liu Ruyun was also immersed in the beautiful dream of wearing gold and silver in the future. Suddenly, she thought of Li Wanyue's words. She sat up and said, "Husband, I met Li Wanyue in Yuerongzhai today. She told you to pay back the money within three days, otherwise she will go to the academy to make trouble. What do you think we should do?"
Gao Zhiyuan frowned. He would have forgotten about this matter if no one mentioned it.
He glanced at Liu Ruyun and negotiated, "Yunniang, you know I sold all my books and I have an exam next month. I don't have much money right now. Can you... give me some of your dowry? I promise I will double it in the future."
Liu Ruyun's face looked unhappy. It had only been a short time since she got married, but she was already thinking about her dowry.
She said in embarrassment, "My husband, it's not that I don't want to give it to you, but it will be bad for your reputation if people know that you spent my dowry. My mother took my two bottles of rouge and lip balm, so why not let her sell them? They are things from Yuerongzhai and are worth a lot of money."
Gao Zhiyuan thought so when he heard that. He heard that the bottle was only worth five taels of silver, and the two bottles could be sold for ten taels of silver. He could use that money to return Li Wanyue's money so that she wouldn't bother him anymore.
"Okay, you take a rest first, I'll go talk to mom about this."
In the main room, when Mrs. Cui heard this, she started by scolding Li Wanyue.
"This unlucky girl, instead of keeping her tail between her legs after the divorce, she went to the county town to hang around. Now she even has the nerve to ask for money. She is really obsessed with money. Fortunately, I divorced her."
Then he said, "Yuan'er, these rouges are all of the best quality. Let's save them for Xiaohui. She needs to dress up now. We didn't have them at home before, but now we have them. How can we sell them?"
"Mother, Li Wanyue is capable of anything. If she goes to the academy to cause trouble, my son's future will be ruined. Besides, doesn't Xiaohui have three bottles? These things can be used for a long time. We can just sell the two bottles you took away. When we sell them for ten taels of silver, we can pay off the debt and keep five taels of silver for our family."
Mrs. Cui rubbed her hands on her legs and sighed, "Okay, I'll get it for you right away, and you can take it to town to sell it tomorrow."
Only then did Gao Zhiyuan breathe a sigh of relief.
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On the other side, after Li Wanyue and her brother came out of Yuerongzhai, they bought ten strings of candied haws and went straight back to the village.
When I got home and saw the tied ox cart, I knew that Li Erhu's family had returned from visiting relatives.
She shouted, "Children, come out quickly, your aunt has brought you some delicious food."
Xiaolan, Xiaotao and several other children ran out from the yard behind the house.
"Aunt and Uncle San are back."
"Well, I brought you some candied haws. Go and eat them."
"Thank you, aunt and uncle." Xiaolan happily took the oil paper bag.
Li Wanyue saw that Xiao He was in a bad mood, so she asked, "What's wrong with Xiao He?"
Xiaolan walked up to her and whispered, "Xiaohe cried at her grandmother's house today because her cousin stole her silk flowers."
Li Wanyue looked at the silk flower on her head and found it was somewhat deformed.
Xiao He raised her head and said with grievance: "My aunt told me to give the silk flower to my cousin, but I didn't want to. My mother said I was ignorant. Fortunately, my brother and father spoke for me and protected me."
Li Wanyue was speechless about this second sister-in-law. She looked at Li Kang with appreciation and then comforted him, "Xiao He did a great job protecting her things. In the future, if you don't want to do something, you should speak up and dare to refuse. Don't just tolerate it. Others won't think that you are sensible for being tolerant, but will think that you are easy to bully, and then they will bully you even more. So you must know how to refuse and make yourself stronger so that others won't dare to bully you."
"I understand, aunt."
The other children listened with sparkling eyes.
"Go and play." Li Wanyue smiled and told them to go and play.
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