night.
The brothers Lin Zihan and Lin Ziqiu, who were so fond of Lin Diaodiao, had already forced themselves to stay in their older brother's bed.
It was a rare occasion for Lin Weiming and his wife to be alone in a room together.
Night had fallen, but Xuefu pushed Lin Weiming up, and the two lit a lamp.
She took all the money hidden in the box and laid it on the bed. The two of them carefully counted all the money.
Building the house didn't cost much, but making the furniture was a major expense. Whether it was hiring the carpenter and his apprentice or buying the wood, it was a considerable sum.
"It only cost twenty taels in total." Lin Weiming said with a hint of joy after calculating the bill.
"You're still happy?" Xuefu glared at him. "Twenty taels of silver is a huge sum of money. If it were us, we probably wouldn't be able to save up that much in ten years."
Lin Weiming happily pulled his wife into his arms, his voice tinged with excitement as he said, "That's why I'm so happy! It would have taken us ten years to save up this much money, and now not only has the house been built, but we still have so much left! It's enough to pay for our sons' weddings. I think I can finally live like a patriarch now."
Xuefu struggled to get out of his arms, tapping his forehead with her slender fingers: "Nonsense! How could such a small amount of money be enough?"
"How is it not enough?" Lin Weiming said, "I heard that the village head's family only spent ten taels of silver to get married. Our family is not rich or noble, and we don't need to live like those people in the town. Being able to get married like the village head's family is enough. You see, our family has four sons, and it will only cost forty taels of silver at most. Don't you think so?"
However, apart from the gold that Young Master Liu sent, which has remained untouched, their family still has over a hundred taels left from the money earned from selling medicine twice, which is more than enough to cover their expenses.
"You think it's that easy?" Xuefu scoffed.
“But look at our eldest son, he’s a promising student. Even Master Cui praised him for his ambition. This child is smart and hardworking, and we, as his parents, can see that too. Tell me, with all this effort and some money in our hands, how can we not send him to school?”
"..." Lin Weiming fell silent.
Which family doesn't want their child to be successful?
But what kind of child can be considered successful?
It is likely that, regardless of time or place, those who can pass the imperial examinations, become officials, and rise above others are the most desirable in the hearts of parents.
However, the cost involved is enormous.
“Besides the eldest son, you have three other sons. When they get married and have children, will the house really be able to accommodate so many people? Besides, we still need to save up for Wanwan's dowry,” Xuefu continued.
"What?!" Lin Weiming exclaimed, "Wanwan is still so young, what are you talking about dowry!"
"What are you doing? Are you looking for death?" Xuefu reached out and slapped him. "You suddenly shouted like that, you almost scared me to death."
“Wanwan is still young, but her dowry has to be saved up from a young age! Do you really think she’ll grow up in the blink of an eye and you’ll be here clueless?” Xuefu glared at her husband with dissatisfaction.
"Then I won't marry her! My Wanwan is so wonderful, I can't stand any other guy." Lin Weiming decided to just give up.
The thought that his lovely daughter would probably be snatched away by some other man in a few years made Lin Weiming feel extremely uncomfortable.
I really want to beat up all the little brats in the village!
We should beat up the other villages too!
I'm afraid they'll kidnap my lovely little girl.
"Nonsense! Is there any father in the world like you?" Xuefu said with a look of disgust.
"I don't care, we'll talk about the future later. I'll go to sleep tonight." Lin Weiming got angrier and angrier, buried his head in the covers, feeling very unhappy.
Xuefu was so angry at his behavior that she laughed, and could only shake her head helplessly.
When our daughter grows up and falls for a boy, are we not allowed to let her marry him?
Of course, they will definitely have to check it out!
...
The sun was high in the sky, blazing fiercely.
Just a short walk under the sun was enough to make one sweat profusely and turn red in the face from the heat.
"Hey? Aren't you from the village to the north? What are you doing here?" A man from Ning'an Village was taking a break under a tree by the pond, fanning himself with a towel, when he saw several men from the neighboring village approaching. He greeted them curiously and asked.
Several people from the neighboring village recognized him and came over: "Yes, our village hasn't had much rain lately, and the crops in the fields are almost all dead... We have no choice but to go into the mountains to hunt some game, otherwise we really won't be able to pay our taxes this year, and our children are starving to death."
These men had dark skin and were so thin from hunger that they looked unrecognizable, with blue veins showing on their exposed hands and feet.
"When we came over, we saw that your village was much better than the other villages. Oh my, there's even such a big pond here that hasn't dried up yet?" the man from the neighboring village said with envy in his eyes.
The people of Ning'an Village wore smug smiles, but quickly suppressed them.
He nodded reservedly: "Ah, isn't this also a blessing from heaven? It's like a timely rain."
"Tsk... I wish our village could get a few rain showers too." The man's eyes were full of genuine envy, and his chapped lips moved slightly.
When the village head heard that people from other villages had come, he was worried that they would let something slip, so he quickly came over, leaning on his cane, despite his advanced age.
Fortunately, the people of Ning'an Village weren't so foolish as to reveal Lin Wanyue's affair.
"Ahem." The old man from the village head was relieved and said to the people with a smile, "You must be tired from coming all this way. We don't have much to offer you. Why don't you have a meal at my house?"
"No need for a meal," the leading man said politely. "However, when we came here, there wasn't enough water in the village, and we didn't bring much with us... Now that we see you have so much water, we'd like to borrow some to take with us and also to take a bath. I wonder if the old man would be willing to do so?"
The old man from the village saw that their clothes were covered with white salt, dirty and tattered, and they could smell a strong sour stench when you got close.
But this is not because they are unclean; it's just that there is so little water in the village that even the water available for drinking is limited, so where would they find so much extra water to wash clothes and take a bath?
“Of course.” The village head nodded. “There is some water in the stream here, but it’s quite dirty. You can just take a bath. As for drinking water, we’ll have to wait for them to fetch it from the well.”
The well water is sweet, and even without boiling, it tastes much cleaner than the water in the pond.
These people went to the river to bathe and drank their fill of water, looking completely satisfied.
"Old man, we're planning to go up the mountain to hunt a big game this time. Would you like to come with us? Many hands make light work, and we won't treat you unfairly." Having no other way to repay their kindness, they decided to invite the people of Ning'an Village to go hunting in the mountains together.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
