As early as after the Mu family built the new house, they were ready to sell the old house.
But as to why they didn't sell it... naturally it was because the houses in the village were not valuable. When Lao Buyu first came to Shuiyun Village and was preparing to find a place to stay, the Shen family had already inquired about the empty houses in the village, which were new and spacious, and could be rented for only one or two taels of silver for a year.
Houses like the Mu family's old house have been lived in for 10 to 20 years. They are dilapidated, drafty in the winter and rainy in the summer. There is not even any decent furniture. The most they could get from selling them is five taels of silver.
And that was still an ideal situation. The reality was that Mu Cheng asked people he knew earlier, but no one wanted to buy it. So it was left there.
As soon as Chen Cui said she was going to move away, someone offered ten taels of silver to buy her that very day.
Soon the news reached the ears of the village head - his son failed the exam again this year, and as Chen Cui had guessed before, he was planning to rely on connections or pressure to get his son enrolled in Cuiwei.
Now that he knew Cuiwei was going to move away, his previous thoughts were definitely dashed. The headman went home and counted the money, counted out thirty taels of silver, and immediately went to the door to offer an offer.
Chen Cui was not deliberately showing off as those people thought, trying to sell it at a high price.
But she knew in her heart that these people came to buy houses with so much money just for the "feng shui". The so-called "feng shui" is a system enhancement. After she leaves, this place will still be a few shabby tile houses as before.
If it is a wealthy family, they would not mind spending a few dozen taels of silver, and would just do it for the sake of good luck. But those people were either farmers working in the fields or odd jobs in the city, and they could only save a few taels of silver at most throughout the year.
Although Shen Cui was annoyed with these people, she didn't want to cheat them out of their hard-earned money. We must also prevent people from buying at low prices and then engaging in speculative activities to earn the difference.
Secondly, it was said earlier that this old house was divided to Mu Yunchuan, although when the academy was opened here later, Mu Yunchuan said something like "the family has not been divided, and everything depends on my mother."
But if I really sell the house without asking him, I don’t know if he will hold it against me again.
It is better to have less trouble than more, so we will discuss it after he returns from the provincial examination. Anyway, this house will not be moved away if it is left here, and Chen Cui is not that short of money for the time being.
Later, Chen Cui said directly: "I am the oldest in the family now. But Dalang has grown up now. He will be back soon after the provincial examination. I will ask him and make a decision after he comes back."
Although Mu Yunchuan and Wei Shu are both scholars now, in the eyes of the villagers, Mu Yunchuan, who has won the "Little Three Prizes", has a higher status. He is simply the incarnation of Wenquxing. It seems that the fame of a juren is also within his reach. However, no one dares to instigate Chen Cui to bypass Mu Yunchuan and make her own decision.
After finally calming down for a while, it was already August.
In early August, Chen Cui had packed up everything. The Wei family's servants had gone a step ahead and transported the large items to the provincial capital. Later, they could each take a small bag and travel there lightly.
In the past two years, Chen Cui celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival very casually, but this year it will not be the same. After all, after going to the provincial capital, he probably won’t come back unless there is something important in the next few years.
It would take at least three more years for Mu Erpang to get good grades and become successful so that he can bring Mr. Shen and Zheng to his side to take care of them.
The day before the Mid-Autumn Festival, Shen Cui took Mu Erpang back to the Shen family, specially preparing to stay overnight at the Shen family and then celebrate the festival together the next day.
After returning from the provincial capital, Shen Cui brought Mu Erpang here to announce the good news and let Mu Erpang stay at the Shen family for one night.
This time, the mother and son came together. Although Zheng said, "You can just come back on the Mid-Autumn Festival. Why do you come back early and stay overnight? I am so tired that I have to make your bedding.", the smile in her eyes could not lie.
After returning to her parents' home, Shen Cui finally relaxed. Zheng asked Mu Erpang to go play with his two cousins and called Shen Cui into the house. She didn't let her do anything but lie on the kang. She cut a watermelon and handed it to her, then asked her, "Do you really have enough money?"
"Enough, enough." When Chen Cui came last time, she told Zheng about the situation in the city in detail, but she definitely couldn't let her know about things like haunted houses, so she just said that she and Cui Wuniang got along well, so the rent was lower than the market price.
But even though she said that, Zheng still felt uneasy because she hadn't seen it with her own eyes.
A son is a hundred years old, and the worry lasts for ninety-nine years. In Zheng's eyes, her almost thirty-year-old daughter still needs her to worry about her.
"How about when Er Pang comes back to take the county exam, you and Dad can go to the city with us to live for a while?"
Shen Da and Shen Er have formal jobs in the city, so it is not easy for them to move around. Zheng and Old Man Shen are odd workers in the city, so they can take a break whenever they want.
The house in the city was so big that Chen Cui planned to turn the front yard into a school and the back yard into a resting place. In this way, when the servants of the Wei family come in and out, as long as they do not deliberately turn into the front yard, but take a detour, the time gain will not be broken.
There would definitely be room for both Mrs. Zheng and Mr. Shen to live there.
"I haven't been to Qingzhou Prefecture at my age." Zheng narrowed her eyes and smiled, but then shook her head and said, "It's still not possible. It's okay for this family to leave your father, but what will happen if they leave me? The eldest and second daughters are not young anymore, and they should be arranged to get married in the next two years. I can only have some free time after the girls have started their own families and the boys have grown up."
Although Zheng favored Mu Erpang, she also loved her other grandchildren very much.
The two girls she mentioned, Da Ya and Er Ya, were the two daughters born to Chen and Li earlier. If Shuanzi and Zhuzi are two naughty monkeys, then Daya and Erya are as quiet and docile as two little rabbits.
They never interrupted the adults when they were talking. Every time they saw Chen Cui, they would call people to help pour tea and water, and then they would not say anything more, but would just hide aside a little shyly.
Although such well-behaved girls usually have a lower presence, Shen Cui still has a good impression of them.
They are both older than Mu Erpang, one is fifteen and the other fourteen, and were born one after the other.
Families in the village who do not value their daughters may have already married them off and would not keep a girl of this age at home.
Although the Shen family shares the common problem of favoring boys over girls in today's society, they do not treat their daughters as grass.
Da Ya and Er Ya's food, clothing and other expenses in the Shen family are worse than those of the boys, but better than those of other adults in the family. They are not asked to do the daily rough and heavy work, but only help when the adults are working.
As they were talking, sister-in-law Chen knocked on the door and asked if she could come in.
After Zheng let her in, Chen came over holding a large bowl and said with a smile, "This is lotus root powder I got from my mother's family. It's said to be a popular food in the south, but not common here. It has the effect of clearing heat and cooling blood, and it's perfect for summer. I made a bowl for Cuihua to try."
Shen Cui was flattered to take it, thanked her, and then waited quietly for Chen to tell her the purpose of her visit.
But Chen just smiled and didn't say anything more. After delivering the things, she walked out the door directly, saying that she didn't want to disturb the mother and daughter's conversation.
The lotus root powder was mixed just right, forming a pink paste with a handful of osmanthus flowers sprinkled on top. It was very appetizing no matter how you looked at it or smelled it.
But Chen Cui didn't rush to drink. She put the bowl on the table without drinking. She turned around and looked at Zheng to inquire.
Zheng said with a smile: "Don't worry, drink yours. Would she dare to poison you in front of me?"
Chen Cui smiled awkwardly, "I'm not afraid that my sister-in-law will poison me. I'm worried that she will rely on me to do something again. I won't be able to refuse her."
"She had heard earlier that our academy had three successful candidates at once, and her nephew from her mother's side hadn't made any progress with Mr. Huang, so she did have other ideas. But I suppressed them because she was afraid of me. Even after she heard that the three successful candidates had passed the imperial examination, she didn't dare to mention it. Now, of course, she wants to get something out of you, but it's not for anything else, it's just to find a marriage for Daya."
The Shen family has not yet arranged marriages for Da Ya and Er Ya. On the one hand, they want to keep them and don't want them to go to other families to make a living too early. After all, it is easier to be a girl than a wife, and life at home is always the best and most comfortable.
On the other hand, Shen Cui has informed Zheng that Mu Erpang will be finished next year.
Zheng had great confidence in her grandson and felt that he would be able to pass the examination and become a student in one try.
When there is a scholar in the family, Daya and Erya can also be introduced to better families.
She did not hide this from her two daughters-in-law, otherwise, given Chen's personality, she might have been unable to restrain herself and would have promised Daya to some relative from her mother's side.
Chen was counting on this, so she had been extra polite to Shen Cui recently. Li had always been nice to Shen Cui and Mu Erpang, and was no exception today, so it didn't seem as strange as Chen's.
Chen Cui understood and nodded, "They are old enough to get married, but they don't have to get married too early. At fourteen or fifteen years old, their bodies are not fully grown yet, and it will be difficult for them to get pregnant and give birth later."
As a person who had experienced this before, Zheng knew this, so she said, "I have kept them until now to discuss marriage, so I didn't think of marrying them off too soon. Your brothers have all been promoted and their salaries have increased, and our family situation is getting better now, so they don't need to worry about food. Let's settle it in the next two years, and it won't be too late to marry them off after they turn sixteen."
At present, the imperial court stipulates that if a girl is over the age of seventeen and has not married, she will be fined. The Shen family is willing to keep the girl until she is sixteen and then marry her off, which is also the best way to protect them.
Shen Cui nodded, thought for a moment and then said, "Mother, please find a boyfriend for them. Family background is secondary. The most important thing is that the boyfriend has good character. The family relationship should also be simple. The eldest and second daughters are both gentle. I'm afraid they won't come back to complain if they are bullied by their husband's family."
Zheng smiled and tapped her forehead. "I see you've been the head of the mountain for a long time, so you're used to worrying about things. I've eaten more salt than you've eaten rice, and you don't know these things? Don't worry, when they look at a matchmaker, the most important thing is the character of the person. As for family background, of course it's Jin... Jin what's that?"
“The icing on the cake.”
"Oh, yes, it's the icing on the cake." Zheng smiled and lowered her voice and said, "Of course there is another rule. The families that marry into our family must all be honest and easy to control. Otherwise, if our second fat man passes the imperial examination and becomes a scholar, a juren or even an official, these relatives will be very excited... and it will ruin our second fat man's reputation. But I just happened to mention this. As I said, I know everything. You just need to accompany your second fat man to study for the imperial examination. You don't need to worry about it."
Zheng had always been the one who helped Shen Cui deal with matters between relatives, and it had always been a relief for Shen Cui, so she didn't say anything more.
At night, Mu Erpang slept with his cousins as usual. Zheng asked Mr. Shen to squeeze in with the children, and she slept with Shen Cui.
The mother and daughter hadn't slept together for a long time, and they talked heart-to-heart until late at night. The next day, while Chen Cui was still asleep, Zheng had already gotten up to make arrangements for the festival.
Later, when Shen Cui woke up, lunch was almost ready - the table was full of delicious dishes, including chicken and fish, which were no worse than those during Chinese New Year. It was obvious that the Shen family attached great importance to this Mid-Autumn Festival.
Shen Cui was a little embarrassed, "Why didn't you call me, mother? I could have gotten up and helped."
Before Zheng could speak, Chen rushed to say, "Why would I ask you to do any work when you are back home? I don't do any work when I go back home either."
Even Chen, who was the most hostile to Shen Cui, said this, so the other people in the family had no objections.
After the lively Mid-Autumn Festival, it was time for Cuiwei people to move to the provincial capital.
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