The person blocking their way was none other than the man who had been taught a lesson by Xiao Jue last time.
Lin Yan learned about this later.
This man is Li Ba, the youngest son of the town's headman. He has a history of bullying men and women, but people are afraid of his status and, although they have complaints, they dare not resist.
"Hey, what's going on in our town lately? We just had a fairy leave, and now we have a chivalrous woman. Not bad, I like her! Beauty, let me introduce myself. My name is Li Ba, and my father is the village head. Would you mind becoming friends and having a drink at the tavern?"
Perhaps fearing that Lin Yan might possess martial arts skills while driving the carriage alone, Li Ba did not directly seize her by force, but instead planned to try diplomacy first.
Although he knew how capable his daughter was, Lin Zhenghong couldn't help but feel nervous when he heard that the other party was the son of the village head.
After instructing Ye Lan in the carriage to take good care of the children, Lin Zhenghong jumped off the carriage, came to Li Ba, shook hands, and clasped his hands in greeting:
"My daughter is already married, so it's probably not convenient for her to have a drink with Young Master Li."
Lin Zhenghong thought that someone like Li Ba would have no interest in hearing that his daughter was getting married.
But to his surprise, he didn't lose interest at all after hearing that.
Instead, a glint of shrewdness flashed in his eyes!
"Married? That's even better! Miss, would you like to consider coming with me? If you come with me, you can not only eat and drink well, but you also won't have to wear patched clothes anymore. What do you say?"
Under the watchful eyes of everyone.
Lin Yan did not refuse Li Ba's suggestion. Instead, she sat in front of the carriage, swinging her legs leisurely, and looked at him with an innocent expression.
“I would like to as well, but you have to talk to the county magistrate about it. After all, it is the county magistrate who officiates the marriage and arranges for my husband to marry into my family.”
"What? The county magistrate? You're that idiot?"
As the son of a village head, no matter how unsuccessful he was, Li Ba still had a fairly good understanding of the situation in each village.
They also knew that Xie Shizi, who had been exiled from the capital, had been ordered by the county magistrate to marry a foolish girl from Xiaolin Village.
After learning the truth.
Now, faced with a woman who is "foolish," any romantic feelings he might have had before have vanished completely.
No wonder she wasn't afraid of him at all, and was even eager to abandon her family and husband to go with him.
Turns out he was an idiot!
Looking at that pretty face, Li Ba shook his head regretfully and left.
Lin Yan raised an eyebrow, watching the direction he left in. She had thought that she would have to take action to solve the problem, but she hadn't expected that her identity as a silly girl would be so useful.
"Father, Mother, let's go to the cloth shop."
"Daughter, why are you kneading so much cotton? Our family can't possibly use it all."
It wasn't until he sat back in the car that Lin Zhenghong came to his senses and voiced the question that had been bothering him.
Ye Lan, who was inside the carriage, also lifted the curtain at the opportune moment and asked in unison:
"Yes, honey, there are only six people in our family, it's too expensive..."
It wasn't that she thought her daughter was wasting money.
Instead, she felt sorry for her daughter spending money, since every penny her daughter earned was by risking her life deep in the mountains.
“Mother, you’ve forgotten, my uncles and aunts will be living in our garden from now on, so we need to prepare four quilts for them. Our family has six people, so we need eight quilts. We also need to prepare six new quilts for the new house in case someone comes to visit. Seven quilts are for my maternal grandmother’s family, and the remaining ten quilts are for the Xie family’s betrothal gifts. The padded jackets will also be divided among the three families.”
"This... how could your grandmother's house need so many quilts..."
Upon hearing this, Ye Lan's eyes instantly welled up with tears.
Not wanting to embarrass herself in the street, she quickly went into the carriage and wiped away her tears.
No matter what her daughter does, she always thinks of her family. What has she done to deserve such a good daughter?
"Xiaoyan, Xiaoyu, you must remember this: no matter what happens in the future, you must always put your eldest sister first! She is more important than your parents, more important than anyone else, understand?"
"Yes, Mother, we know. Eldest sister will always be the most important!"
The two little ones were in the carriage, making a solemn promise to their mother.
Little did they know that this promise would actually come true one day.
The family arrived at the cloth shop.
Lin Yan bought fifteen bolts of ordinary cotton cloth, nine of which were used as quilt covers and the rest as clothes, which cost her two taels and eight mace of silver.
She had intended to leave, but her gaze was fixed on a pair of black boots that she couldn't look away from, their lining thick with fur.
It looks warm.
"Shopkeeper, how much are these boots?"
“Young lady, you have a good eye. These boots are our best-selling items. They’re 160 coins a pair, or 300 coins for two pairs.”
"So expensive! It's almost as expensive as a bolt of cotton cloth!"
As soon as the shopkeeper finished speaking, Mr. and Mrs. Lin Zhenghong held their breath; the price was far beyond their means.
"Shopkeeper, give me two pairs, one pair according to my father's foot size, and the other pair a little bigger than his."
While the shopkeeper was wrapping boots, Lin Zhenghong quietly pulled Lin Yan aside and whispered:
“Daughter, how can your father wear such expensive boots? If I wear such nice boots, I won’t be able to walk.”
"It's not expensive. I'll buy you something better later. Winter is coming soon, and your feet can't be left unprotected."
Women's boots are much cheaper because they are short.
Lin Yan bought a pair of cotton boots for 120 coins each, and a pair of children's cotton boots for 80 coins each. She arranged for the whole family to have them.
After leaving the fabric shop, she suddenly thought of hot pot and decided to try making her own hot pot broth.
In later generations, most of what they ate was beef tallow hot pot.
However, most of the cattle slaughtered nowadays are for herding, so it is impossible to supply in large quantities. We can only try lard or vegetable oil first, and then buy beef tallow when we come across cattle slaughterhouses.
She first bought thirty catties of pork fat, dried chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns, onions, scallions, cilantro, green onions, ginger, garlic, Erjingtiao peppers, rock sugar, and white wine. Then she went to the pharmacy to buy some spices. Just like that, an ounce of silver was gone...
"Big sister, are we getting to eat dumplings again today?"
Seeing so much pork fat, Lin Muyan and Lin Yu could only think of pork cracklings.
My mouth is watering.
There's been a constant supply of meat at home these days.
But her younger siblings seemed to have a special fondness for pork cracklings, which Lin Yan found amusing, so she couldn't help but pat their heads.
"Of course, we'll have dumplings today!"
"Yay! Big sister is so nice!"
Before leaving, Lin Yan bought a lactating ewe for three taels of silver, and then spent another tael of silver on some melon seeds, snacks, and pears.
This trip to Linyan in the town cost more than ten taels of silver.
Fortunately, there was an empty carriage that could fit a whole sheep, dozens of kilograms of meat, and more than a dozen bolts of cloth.
When the family returned home laden with their purchases, it was already late afternoon.
However, the gate to the yard was open.
Before leaving, Lin Yan had made a point of closing the courtyard gate. Adhering to the principle of caution, she jumped off the carriage first and turned back to say:
"Father, Mother, please wait a moment. I'll go in and see what's going on."
As she cautiously entered, the scene in the courtyard made her furrow her delicate brows...
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
