The Lucky Farmgirl

Towards the end of September, Zhou Silang and Xiang Mingxue returned with the caravan.

He took off the dog-skin hat on his head and said to them, "It’s snowing in the north, but the weather here in the capital is good."

It’s suitable to wear padded jackets in the capital at this time.

He went later this year, so he brought back fewer things than in previous years, but he has his regular customers, so the selling, exchanging, and purchasing speed was still quite fast.

If he wasn’t rushing back for Manbao’s wedding, he could have stayed a bit longer.

He looked around and asked, "Why didn’t Big Sister come to the capital? When I headed to the capital, she was quite eager to come."

Manbao replied, "She’s pregnant."

"Oh," Zhou Silang raised his voice, delighted, "That’s great, one child is still a bit lonely, having another one means company."

Manbao said, "Dad and Mom are planning to go home for a visit this year, so you’ll take them back then."

Zhou Silang agreed that it was no problem and asked, "Are Big Brother and Sister-in-law going back?"

"They’re not. Second Brother and Second Sister-in-law will stay to prepare for Liwei’s wedding."

Zhou Liwei got engaged to the eldest daughter of Mr. Lan, the teacher at Zhou Lixue and Zhou Ligu’s school, which was the most satisfying event when Zhou Erlang last visited the capital.

By the time Manbao returned, the engagement was already set, and she learned of it from Zhou Lixue and Zhou Ligu. She had met the young lady twice; she’s about the same age as Manbao, well, just less than a year younger, and appears to be a very shy girl.

But Manbao herself was not shy at all.

It’s said that Mr. Lan initially favored Zhou Lixue since Zhou Lixue was studying in the school, right?

But the girl liked Zhou Liwei, and Zhou Lixue was focused solely on making money by copying books and preparing for the exams, not very inclined to get married, still isn’t now.

So Mr. Lan could only sigh, and with the Zhou Family proposing for Zhou Liwei, he reluctantly agreed.

When Zhou Lichong and the others first entered the school, they were often isolated and bullied for being outsiders and having a Sichuan accent.

However, since they were three who went to school together, they formed their own small group and were busy with many things after school, seldom mingling with their classmates, so those who didn’t like them hardly conflicted with them.

But over time, there were a few instances where they couldn’t hold back, and some boys fought at school. That year Zhou Lichong happened to follow Zhou Silang to the north, leaving Zhou Liwei in charge. When called to the principal’s office, he sneaked past Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang twice and then went regularly.

During lunch, he would bring some food for the three of them or call out to them when passing by occasionally. Those students, who bullied the weak and feared the strong, knew their family ran a restaurant at the other end of the same street, so they didn’t dare to provoke them much.

And sometimes when delivering food, Zhou Liwei would also bring some for the teachers at the academy, occasionally meeting the same lady, Lady Lan, who was delivering meals to Mr. Lan, and they got familiar over time...

Later, Junior Ms. Qian came to the capital. Her steamed meat was delicious, and the restaurant sold steamed meat readily to anyone who came with a basket to buy a few bowls.

Mr. Lan also loved eating it, so Lady Lan frequently went to buy it, and over time, they became closer.

When Mr. Lan showed interest in accepting Zhou Lixue, whose character and knowledge were decent, as a son-in-law, Lady Lan secretly told her mother that while Zhou Lixue was good, she had her eyes on Zhou Lixue’s brother.

Zhou Liwei was not young anymore, so Zhou Erlang thought of settling the marriage this time while in the capital, but the date hadn’t been set yet.

Actually, as visits between the capital and Qili Village became frequent, they felt the two places weren’t that far apart.

Mainly because they now had their own vehicle.

A horse carriage, well, they don’t have that, but they have a mule cart, donkey cart, ox cart, especially the mule cart, which they think isn’t much different from a horse carriage.

Having a cart is very convenient; frequent outings made them feel that staying at inns and traveling was no big deal.

The first couple of times lacked experience, often not reaching their lodging destination, having to sleep outdoors, but by the third time, unless encountering an accident, they could always live at familiar places, making it not hard to endure.

Zhou Silang was now accustomed to traveling; after eating, he wiped his mouth and said, "Oh, by the way, Lord Yang knew about your wedding and asked me to bring back two boxes of gifts, one for you and one for Bai Shan."

Manbao was delighted, "Where are they?"

Zhou Silang led her to see, opened the boxes, inside hers were exquisite fabrics, a set of glass tea ware, a set of jade jewelry.

Manbao exclaimed, "So precious!"

Zhou Silang said, "He said they’re for adding to your trousseau."

Manbao then looked at Bai Shan’s box, wanting to open it for a peek, but since Bai Shan wasn’t around, she restrained herself and decided to wait until he returned from working overtime.

Manbao had Xi Bing and Jiu Lan take the items to her room for safekeeping.

Time passed smoothly, and Manbao and Bai Shan took wedding leave together on the fifth.

Yes, officials in Great Jin have wedding leave, up to nine days.

Manbao and Bai Shan took nine days of leave, including two days of regular rest in between, so they had a total of eleven days off.

Bai Shan’s family moved from the Zhou Residence to Changqing Alley and went to deliver the betrothal gifts on the sixth.

Bai Shan invited Bai Dalang, Bai Erlang, Yin Huo, Liu Huan, and others to serve as accompanying friends for the occasion.

Liu Huan, already on duty, happily took leave to join in the fun, following the drumming and festive procession to deliver the betrothal gifts around the inner city before bringing them to the Zhou Residence.

Many families from Chongyuan Courtyard stood at their doors to watch the festivities, although it was mainly the servants who watched, while the masters waited inside for reports.

Only one or two mischievous ones couldn’t resist peeking over their walls, watching batch after batch of betrothal gifts being delivered to the Zhou Residence, exclaiming, "I saw at least four batches of residences just now. Is the Bai Family this wealthy?"

If the betrothal gifts included a house, they would place a small model of the house on the pole, pressed with the property deed underneath, to be given to the bride’s family, who could choose to keep it or include it as part of the bride’s dowry to send back.

Old Zhou was thoroughly pleased, circling the betrothal gifts, then led others to replace the joy symbols with their Zhou Family mark, leaving some items as a gesture, with the rest recorded on the dowry list, forming Manbao’s dowry.

Old Zhou wandered around, leaving behind two silvers, one for him and one for Ms. Qian, along with two bolts of cloth, each receiving one bolt, which counted as leaving something behind.

Old Zhou sat amid the pile of betrothal and dowry gifts, sighing.

Zhou Dalang and the others took the model of a small house to set up; seeing this, they asked, "Dad, where’s the house deed? You need to press it down, or you’ll forget later."

Old Zhou said, "What’s the rush? We have another day, press it down tomorrow, what if it gets stolen now?"

Zhou Dalang: ... Who would come here to steal the property deed? It would be better to steal silver and cloth."

No, there’s no way anyone will steal anything now, right?