He is, after all, the second prince. Although he is not valued, he will inevitably be discovered over time. After observing him for the past few days, I think he is quite good. He is ambitious, not stupid, and treats others with gentleness and politeness.
When he leaves, they'll inquire again to see if he has any capable people and how many people support him. As long as he's a good person and doesn't cheat the people, they can put him on the throne. Of course, the day before yesterday, he was clever and quick-witted.
Xia Hua shook her head. "I don't think he wants to go back at all. He hasn't been in a hurry these past few days. He spends his days in the village, eating and drinking. He seems to be very at ease about the palace affairs, which is why he can be so leisurely."
The kid's injury is now mainly to his leg; he can only walk on one leg. At first, he would hop around the village every day, but later he had Changye make him a crutch. Taking advantage of the fact that no one could spot him, he would wander around the village every day.
She's always more eager than anyone else to eat, arriving early at the cafeteria and eating until she's stuffed. In just a few days, she looks even fatter than before, and her face is much rounder.
"Don't worry, he'll leave in a few days. After all, a stand-in can't stay in the palace forever." With that, she closed her eyes and went to sleep.
The two got up early the next day. The bride was coming to serve tea to them, so they couldn't get up too late. They got ready, changed into new clothes, and then left the room.
As soon as I opened the gate to the courtyard, there were already people standing outside.
"Sisters-in-law, you're up. We were just about to call you," said Tang, An Shuyi's sister-in-law, along with several other women outside, as they saw the door open.
Today is the day the bride serves tea. Besides coming to watch the fun, they also want to wake up the two sisters-in-law. After all, the two sisters-in-law like to sleep in, and if they are too late, the bride might think that they are dissatisfied with her and that's why they are putting her down.
An Shuyi nodded, "I just finished washing up, come in." She then let the others in.
Perhaps it's because people can earn money just by staying in the village every day, making everyone very idle, that they even want to come and watch the lively scene of their daughter-in-law serving tea.
They had only been inside for a short while when their other sons and daughters-in-law arrived. They all found places to sit down, and then the third son brought over Su Yurou, who looked shy. Liu brought over the tea she had prepared, and the third son pulled Su Yurou to kneel down.
Su Yurou picked up the teacup and held it out, saying, "Mother, please have some tea."
Seeing that the third one was standing nearby, she also handed over a cup and said, "Mother, have some tea."
An Shuyi picked up the tea, took a sip, and said, "From now on, you two should live in harmony and talk things out. Don't quarrel." After saying that, she took a box from the table and handed it to them.
She bought this yesterday: a set of gold jewelry. The betrothal gifts are one thing, but this is for the tea ceremony to mark the change of address, so it has to be a good one. The third son's gift is a jade pendant.
"Thank you, Mother." Su Yurou took the cup and handed it to the third son. She then picked up another cup. "Auntie, please have some tea." The third son followed her.
When she was getting married yesterday, she knew that besides her mother-in-law sitting in the hall, Aunt Xia would also be there. Although it was strange, no one in the village was curious, and even her husband didn't say anything.
When she saw the two cups of tea, she knew that in addition to serving tea to her mother-in-law, she also had to serve tea to Aunt Xia. It was just one more cup of tea, nothing special.
Xia Hua took the tea and drank a sip. "From now on, you two must support each other as husband and wife and grow old together in love." After saying that, she took out a box and handed it over, then handed a jade pendant to Sanwa.
The same headdress and jade pendant, just different styles. In ancient times, men wore jade pendants at their waists, but only wealthy families wore them.
"Thank you, Auntie." Su Yurou took the things and was then helped up by the third brother. After that, she greeted the other uncles and sisters-in-law. Everyone knew that she had married into the family alone and it was only natural that she didn't have any gifts.
After the tea ceremony, everyone went back to the canteen for breakfast. When they returned, An Shuyi called her daughters-in-law and Xia Hua's daughter-in-law to their house.
“Yesterday was the third son’s wedding day, and I paid for all the expenses. I know you may feel uncomfortable about it, but you have to accept it.”
"When you married into the family, we didn't spend too much money, but we gave you the best. In the future, when the fourth, fifth, and sixth children get married, they will need even more money. I'm telling you this now so you can be prepared." Don't let things get ugly for everyone later.
Zhao stepped forward and said, "Mother, don't worry, we won't. We can earn money ourselves now, and we can buy whatever we want. We don't care about you."
She works in the workshop and received her share of the silver a few days ago. Not only does she have some, but her husband also entrusted her with all the silver for safekeeping. She no longer lives with her mother-in-law and is now in charge of the household affairs.
So she didn't care much about the money her brother-in-law would spend on his wedding; she'd rather earn it herself.
"Mother, don't worry, I won't either," Wu Shi said. After more than a year, she was finally no longer as timid as before. Although she was not magnanimous enough, she was at least a little better.
Madam Su remained silent. After all, she was the one who had just gotten married, while her younger brothers-in-law were getting married some time away. Even if they spent a lot of money, it was her mother-in-law's money, not hers, and she had no reason to covet it.
An Shuyi nodded, "I just wanted to let you know about this. On this table, there are two boxes and two jade pendants that your Aunt Xia and I bought yesterday. Consider them as a supplement to your betrothal gifts, but there won't be any more after that."
Yesterday, when she and Huahua bought the dowry, they bought several sets to warn their daughters-in-law. It's fine now, but as they accumulate more wealth, the dowry will naturally increase. They don't want their daughters-in-law to cause trouble later.
"Mother, keep these for yourself. You don't need to give them to us. If we want them, we can buy them ourselves," Zhao said.
Madam Song chimed in, "That's right, Auntie, you and my mother should put things away. We have money; if you want to buy something, you can go and buy it yourself." However, she hadn't expected her to be involved.
Xia Hua, who was reading the book, wanted to politely ask them to accept it, but said impatiently, "Hurry up and take it yourself. Go back and put it away properly. We still have to go to the workshop to work. You're just wasting time here."
"Mrs. Su, just stay in the village for the next few days. We'll arrange for someone to take you to Qingyan City in a few days." Since we're not sure about Mrs. Su's situation, we can't send her to the workshop yet.
Moreover, her health is too poor. She hasn't had a proper meal in a month, and she's so hungry that she has no energy and looks terrible. She needs to rest and recuperate some more.
Mrs. Su nodded, "I understand, Auntie."
Zhao and the others obediently stepped forward and took the boxes. "Thank you, Mother and Aunt. We'll go and get back to our work now."
An Shuyi nodded, "Go ahead, Su Shi should go back and rest too." Seeing her like this, she knew that she hadn't slept well last night either. But she would have to endure it for a couple of days. Soon, the third son would be going to join the army, and no one would bother her.
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