The Eldest Daughter of a Rural Family
Chapter 386: Reward Given to the Wrong Person (6)_1

Chapter 386: Chapter 386: Reward Given to the Wrong Person (6)_1

"What’s the use of gold now? Although we can fill our bellies and stay warm, when comparing ourselves to the Qian family, we still lack money! How can we compete with them if we don’t have money?" Pei Qian glared.

"I don’t like gold either! I wish it was something else! Something we can pass down through generations as a family heirloom! Then we could preserve it for posterity!" Pei Yuan longed. That would be an honor!

"We still want the heirloom, but it would be best to have the gold too!" Pei Qian was rather greedy, wanting all the nice things for themselves!

"Enough! Stop dreaming! Let’s just accept whatever comes our way!" Pei Qin stood up.

The others saw she remained the same, yet they noticed how much she cared. They had almost given away sweet potato seedlings to the villagers for free, turning their own sweet potatoes into stubs. She had taught them over and over how to plant and when to overturn the seedlings, reminded them when it was time to harvest, and explained how to eat the sweet potatoes and make sweet potato flour. For the past two years, the eldest sister had poured a lot of effort into growing sweet potatoes.

Mo Heng approached with a table comparing simplified and traditional characters, seeking advice.

After examining it, Pei Qin found it clearer than she remembered, "I don’t know about the rest, you’ll have to create them yourself!" She wasn’t a liberal arts student, and usually typed on a computer, so remembering so many characters was already quite an achievement for her. She could write a whole book of chemical formulas if needed, but alas, that was of no use here!

Mo Heng silently guessed her origins and suddenly asked, "When will the reward for the sweet potatoes come?"

"I don’t know," Pei Qin replied to him, "Shen Songming said that if it’s early, it will arrive before the end of the year; at the latest, it will come after the new year’s printing presses start."

Mo Heng wanted to remind her not to wait any longer, but seeing how much she trusted Shen Songming, he said nothing. She probably wanted to marry Shen Songming, right? But why would she be willing to be the lesser wife...

Looking at her fair and delicate face, Mo Heng felt it was time to leave, but his heart couldn’t bear to. He decided to wait a bit longer, as she still had unresolved troubles.

Pei Qin had come to discuss the printing of the dictionary with pictorial symbols. Landlord Chang had ordered two hundred sets printed, and they were all given away. If the feedback was positive, they would print more after the New Year, and then there would be silver to earn. Since he wasn’t in a hurry to leave, he could wait a little longer. However, he forgot to bring it up and went home after milking the goats.

Mo Heng had already heard about this from Pei Wendong and Chang Yonglin. He watched silently as she milked the goats, took the milk, and left, "Feng Wei! Send the letter out!"

Feng Wei seemed to want to say something, opened his mouth, then closed it, took the letter passed to him, and sent it off on a fast horse.

Fang Hui and Feng Shouxing came with meat and pastries to invite Sister Peiqin and her brother.

Pei Qin hosted them for a meal.

Fang Hui had heard that the workshop received a big supply of cabbage and was almost furious, yet she still had to accept their favor and remember their kindness. Now, she wouldn’t say a word about kimchi.

Pei Qian just had to inquire, "How much kimchi did your family make this year? We accidentally made a bit too much and can only sell it to Fu City and Lin County. We decided not to sell in Taiping Town and left that to you!"

Fang Hui was extremely enraged but still had to thank them with a smile. Once she left, her face soured, and she fumed all the way home.

"Come on, Hui Niang! You weren’t happy when there was no business, and now that you can make kimchi, why are you still upset? We asked for this; they won’t be pleased, of course, but let them talk!" Feng Shouxing thought she was overreacting and that she should say more kind words to maintain good relations with her family.

"Are you blaming me now!? If it weren’t for me, could we be making this kimchi!? I gave it to them, only for them to trip us up behind our backs. What kind of mindset is that!? They shouldn’t have given it in the first place if this was their attitude!" Fang Hui was angry.

Seeing her like this, Feng Shouxing didn’t bother to console her, instead focusing on his son’s marriage arrangements.

All the relatives had been invited and before long, it was Feng Bo’s wedding day.

Sister Peiqin and her brother got up as usual, exercised, had breakfast, and with everything at home taken care of, they brought gifts and drove the donkey cart to the Feng Family Estate.

Fang Liuming hadn’t started his holiday yet, so he joined Sister Peiqin and her brother for a day off and rode with them.

The Feng family were somewhat displeased to see Fang Liuming arrive with Sister Peiqin and her brother.

However, the people of the Feng Family Estate envied Fang Hui’s house; Feng Bo worked at a shop in the county town and was marrying a bride from a good family. With more than twenty acres of land exempt from taxes each year, Pei Qin had even taught them how to make kimchi.

When all the relatives arrived, Feng Bo saw that although Sister Peiqin was smiling, she wasn’t warm, and he, dressed in his bright red groom’s happy robe, rode a donkey to welcome the bride.

Although Sister Peiqin liked lively events, she didn’t want to join in on the Feng family’s festivities. She properly sat with the Fang family members, added food to her plate, ate the banquet, and when some people left, she too took her leave. Chang Yonglin hadn’t come but was at home alone.

Once home, Pei Qian still complained about bringing two pieces of good fabric and that much gift money.

Pei Yuan scolded her a little and took out the fabric for Sun Xiujin, "Even though there’s some time left, when it’s time for adding to the dowry, we should send it earlier, it will be more convenient."

Pei Qin told her to handle it, leaving these matters to her.

As November passed, the days grew colder, and a heavy snow blanketed the ground.

As time slipped by, two letters arrived from Shen Songming, both urging her not to worry and that the reward was being discussed. Pei Qin sensed that this reward was not going to be easy to come by.

Wu Dongsi grew anxious too, and he came over incognito to ask Pei Qin whether she had received any message from Shen Songming about the reward.

Pei Qin told him the truth, to wait.

Wu Dongsi figured that the reward should have been announced by now. If it didn’t come soon, and The Imperial Court sealed the presses, then there would be no hope this year, only next year.

The waiting was hard to endure; days passed, and Old Scholar Fang had inquired twice.

The long-awaited reward finally arrived, but to everyone’s shock, it was not granted to Sister Peiqin and her brother, but to Old Pei’s House.

"Damn it! What’s going on? The reward has gone to the wrong person!" Pei Qin stamped her foot in frustration.