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141: New Year's Ceremony and the Crying on New Year's Eve

Shen Ziju didn't expect that he would receive a New Year gift. When he saw Su Zhi handing him a small cloth bag with a smile, he quickly bowed his hand to express his gratitude and then took it.

Seeing that Shen Zian and his wife did not spend money this New Year, and gave so many gifts, and also prepared a gift for their son Shan, Shen Youfu's smile deepened, and Shen Zhang's smile became more kind. She said that Su Zhi and his wife were too wasteful, but she thought in her heart that she couldn't even get a ginseng beard when she asked them. Now she seemed to be polite, not the kind of person who would hold on to money. She didn't know what kind of person Su Zhi was.

Shen Zhu sat aside and said with a smile: "Little brother, open it quickly and see what Fourth Brother and Fourth Sister-in-law gave you."

Shen Ziju glanced at Shen Zian and the others, and seeing that they had no objection, he smiled and placed the cloth bag on the edge of the kang, then opened it.

As soon as Shen Ziju opened it, he saw a flat box inside. Under the box was a pile of snow-white paper. When he opened the box, he saw three brushes of different sizes, an inkstone, and three ink sticks. The four treasures of the study were all there. As soon as he saw these things, even if they were not the best, they were of medium to upper quality. For a scholar, these things would be very popular, and the smile on his face deepened.

"Thank you, Fourth Brother and Fourth Sister-in-law."

Shen Ziju bowed again and glanced at Su Zhi's face. He thought that his fourth brother didn't understand these elegant things and that they must have been bought by his fourth sister-in-law.

Su Zhi knew that Shen Zian was not talkative in front of the other members of the Shen family except in front of the first and second wives, so she always spoke more at times like this to keep the atmosphere from getting cold. Now she spoke up and said with a smile, "Fifth brother will take the examination for the scholar in the spring, and will also take the examination for the Jinshi in the future. Fourth brother and sister-in-law can't help you much in terms of learning, so we can only give you this pen, ink, paper and inkstone. I wish fifth brother to realize his ambitions and pass the imperial examination."

Su Zhi's words made all the Shen family members present happy, and the smiles on their faces became sincere. In short, no matter what they felt in their hearts, on the surface, the family seemed to be quite harmonious.

Shen Zhu looked at Shen Ziju as he tied up the cloth bag with a smile, and said coquettishly, "Ah, it's good to be a younger brother. If you are polite, you are a treasure. I, as a younger sister, am just a straw."

Shen Zhu wore a pink top with a rose-red edge today, a rose-red skirt, a silver band and a pink silk flower on her black hair, and her face was lightly powdered, making her look like a delicate peach blossom. Her eyes were charming and coquettish, which added to her beauty.

Su Zhi thought to herself that it was no wonder that Shen Zhu was favored by the old-fashioned Shen Youfu. She was really outstanding. She thought that she had been betrothed to someone, and it seemed that she was extremely dissatisfied with that person. She didn't know if there would be any changes in the future. If there were any changes, Shen Zhu would definitely try to marry someone more powerful. She thought of the honest young man named Dashan and sighed for him. However, she thought that losing a daughter-in-law like Shen Zhu might not be a bad thing for him. Such a daughter-in-law was not something that a farmer's family could support.

Shen Zhu saw Su Zhi staring at her without blinking, and she felt proud, thinking that she was jealous because she thought she looked good. So she was jealous? It was useless to be jealous, because she was still better looking! However, she had already said her words to ask for gifts, and this fourth sister-in-law just looked at her without saying anything. Was she pretending not to hear it or what? She felt a little unhappy again.

Shen Zhang looked at Shen Zhu and said with a smile: "You are such an unruly girl. Why are you asking for things like your sister-in-law? Aren't you afraid of being laughed at?"

Shen Zian said, "My wife has prepared New Year gifts for everyone in the family, and naturally there is one for my younger sister."

"Oh, there really is one." Shen Zhu smiled, and happily came over to hold Su Zhi's arm, shook it gently, and said, "Good sister-in-law, I knew you would remember me. Show me what it is."

Su Zhi rolled her eyes in her heart, thinking that she was in a good mood this year. It was the first year since they separated from the family, and the first year since they became a family in the village. After they became rich, they couldn't let others gossip about them. So she spent a lot of money to prepare simple gifts for the Shen family. Unexpectedly, she prepared the right gifts. If she hadn't prepared, wouldn't she be blocked here by Shen Zhu? That scene would definitely not be very good.

Su Zhi disliked Shen Zhu even more, but she didn't want to break up with her now, so she just wanted to maintain the superficial peace. Every family has a relative who makes people worry. During the New Year, she just had to deal with her with a smile on her face.

"Of course there is a sister's. Wait for me to take it out for you."

Su Zhi took out another thing from the small basket. It was a purse made of cotton cloth with a few simple flowers and plants embroidered on it, but it was also vivid.

Shen Zhu took the purse, thinking it was just a purse, but when she took it and looked at the flowers and plants on it, she realized there was something inside. She poured out the contents and found a pair of gold-plated earrings in the shape of orchids, which were very beautiful.

"Fourth brother, fourth sister-in-law, thank you very much."

Shen Zhu was very happy. She put the earrings back into her purse and looked at Su Zhi with softer eyes.

Su Zhi said she was going to see if anyone was busy in the kitchen, and then she found an excuse to leave the house. She didn't really like chatting with these people, she always felt like they were acting, and she didn't know when they would have a disagreement over something and then they would have a falling out again. After all, it was like this before, and now they were smiling just because it was the New Year, and they were the elders, so they took the initiative to smile. Since they, as the son and daughter-in-law, were coming here to eat, they naturally had to maintain superficial politeness. But it was really uncomfortable to always pretend like this.

When Shen Zian saw his wife say goodbye, he also said he was going to go see his elder brother, second brother and a few nephews, and the couple walked out together.

As soon as Su Zhi came out, she saw Chunlan, who sweetly called her "Fourth Auntie" and said auspicious words. Chunxiang also heard the voice and opened the curtain from inside the house, and happily called "Fourth Uncle, Fourth Auntie". Shen Zifu called them in from inside, and the young couple went in.

Shen Zian saw that Shen Zifu and Shen Zigui were both there, so he sat aside. Su Zhi asked Chunlan to call the three girls from the second room. She also asked the children from the third room to come. Although she didn't like the Sun couple, it was New Year's Day and they couldn't be different from each other, so they had to call them all over.

Six girls stood in a row in front of Su Zhi. From tall to short, they were all pretty but thin. Now it was New Year's Day and they were all wearing new clothes, looking very energetic. It was conceivable that in a few years, the threshold of the Shen family would be kicked down by the marriage proposal.

Five boys stood at the back. They all looked good, but the ones from the third room were not good-looking. They were not as likable as the eldest and second boys. The third boy raised his neck with his eyes rolling around, the fourth boy stared straight at the small basket in Su Zhi's hand, and the fifth boy's snot was about to flow into his mouth, and he was biting his fingers. Su Zhi felt sorry for him.

Su Zhi gave each person a red envelope, and of course the contents were the same for everyone, ten cents per person.

The children all thanked them, and then Chunlan and the others gathered around Suzhi and talked. Chunhua looked at them enviously, but when she saw Sanlang taking Silang and Wulang away, she did not dare to stay and walked away with her head down.

Shen Ziping was also staying in the room chatting. Su Zhi didn't want to listen to him, so she went to the kitchen.

When Sun saw Su Zhi coming, she immediately said, "Fourth sister-in-law, you are here. You cook delicious food. Why don't you cook today? You are still a daughter-in-law, but you have never cooked a day in this old house, and you have never served your parents-in-law a meal. It's not good to say this out. Now I will give you a chance to honor your parents-in-law. Look how thoughtful I am for you, third sister-in-law. Do you think I am right?"

Sun was punished to do housework these days and was almost exhausted. Although it was New Year's Day today and Wang and Li came to help her, all the heavy work still fell on her. She couldn't get angry at these two people and couldn't order them around. Seeing Su Zhi coming, she finally had a reason. She thought that even if she couldn't be more relaxed, she would be happy to let her be tired for a while.

Wang stood aside with a stern face, but she didn't say anything. What Sun said was not without reason. If she objected, wouldn't it mean that Su Zhi was right not to cook for her parents-in-law? Li thought so too. She looked at Su Zhi and really couldn't help her. She could only apologize to her with her eyes.

Su Zhi glanced at Sun Shi and ignored her. She scanned the kitchen and found that it was not as good as the kitchen at home. Although it was not dirty, it just didn't look so nice. But it was not her home, so she didn't care. Seeing that the meat and vegetables were already cut on the table, she thought of the dishes she had eaten here last time. Although they tasted like home-cooked dishes, they were not as delicious as her own.

"Sister-in-law, sister-in-law, today is Chinese New Year, so I will cook. You can take a break and let sister-in-law help me."

Su Zhi said that it was just a meal, she would not mind it, it had to go into her mouth anyway, and besides, if she really didn't do it, she didn't know what Wang would think, she knew that although Wang was nice to her now, she had her own ideas about her before, after all, she wanted to find a wife for Shen Zian, but was rejected. Besides, if Sun found a chance to use this as an excuse to say a few bad words to Shen Youfu and his wife, then this New Year would not be a happy one again.

Su Zhi is a person who, as long as her life is going smoothly, she would never think about going to war.

When Sun heard that she was asked to help while the other two went to rest, she was very unhappy. Just as she was about to speak, she heard crying outside. She wondered which unlucky person was crying on New Year's Day. As she spoke, she cursed.

Wang said coldly: "You gave birth to a good son, what bad luck!"

When Sun heard it, she realized it was really her child. Hearing that it was Silang crying, she immediately ran out in a hurry.