The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 202 - 191: Play Together

Chapter 202: Chapter 191: Play Together

He said, "The Zhou Family is generous, and we won’t make things difficult for them. The betrothal gift will be three taels of silver. We’ll keep two, and give one tael to Eryuan along with her dowry furniture, and that should be about right."

There’s a saying in the countryside, money or no money, getting a wife makes for a better New Year.

Generous families would marry off their brides before the Winter Solstice, allowing the new bride to have an easier two months before the hectic period after the New Year began.

But sometimes the timing isn’t right—for instance, they didn’t pick an auspicious day, or, like these two families, they negotiated the marriage late—most would rush to wed before the New Year. Although it is now the Little New Year, country folks aren’t picky; as long as the betrothal gift is handed over quickly, wrapping up the wedding feast in three days is normal.

By doing so, there will be an extra pair of hands at home right at the start of the busy spring.

Some families are stingier. Even if the marriage is agreed upon early, they deliberately schedule the wedding around the Little New Year to save some provisions, managing to wed right before the spring rush.

The even stingier families choose to marry after the New Year, in January, so the new bride will start off straight into the spring labor.

Honestly, since their marriage negotiations were late and Zhou SiLang is not young anymore, the Fang Family was really worried that the Zhou Family might choose to wed after the New Year. In that case, Eryuan would have to work in the fields immediately upon entry, while also adjusting to her new life with her in-laws and sisters-in-law.

The Zhou Family’s decision to actively delay the wedding to May showed that they were sincerely considerate of them.

The Zhou Family is generous, and the Fang Family is not unreasonable either. After going back and forth through the matchmaker, the details of the engagement were settled.

Currently, three taels of silver for a dowry is not a small amount, but it’s not a lot either. Given the Fang Family’s situation, only asking for three taels is modest.

Ms. Qian had calculated that besides the dowry, there were also the wedding feast and other necessary wedding expenses. All in all, about five taels would suffice.

Originally, after Zhou SiLang’s gambling, she had anticipated that getting him a good wife would cost between seven to nine taels.

There was no helping it; with the groom being of such poor quality, they had to make up for it with the dowry.

Fortunately, Zhou SiLang hadn’t let the family down in this aspect, and he had managed, thanks to his own face and mouth—no, had found a high-quality bride like Lady Fang.

There was no longer that amount of money in the house, especially after the family had moved into the new house.

Not long after Manbao recovered from her illness, Old Zhou’s carpenter finally finished making the custom furniture and delivered it.

Each room got a bed put into it, Junior Ms. Qian and the others made the bedding with the purchased fabric, stuffed with cotton. Adding the wicker furniture Zhou Erlang had made, once arranged inside, the family picked an auspicious day to move into the new house.

Of course, a feast was held, and Old Zhou collected a wave of gift money. However, the amount collected was just about enough to cover the feast’s expenses, so he neither gained nor lost financially.

So the money box, which originally contained just over two hundred wen, still only had just over two hundred wen.

Therefore, the three taels of dowry money for the Fang Family were borrowed from Zhou Xi, and Ms. Qian also borrowed an additional two taels in preparation for the May wedding feast.

Because she estimated that there wouldn’t be much income for the family until the autumn harvest.

This debt, despite Old Zhou’s insistent demands that Zhou SiLang pay it off himself, was not realistically his to repay.

On the eve of setting the engagement details with the Little New Year, Old Zhou held a family meeting to settle this matter.

"Four is good-for-nothing, losing fifteen taels of silver last year. But he has paid it all back this year, and we have all the money he owed you. It was all spent on building the house," Old Zhou said, "This account should be between me and your mother, and when we have the money in the future, I will pay you back."

No one objected.

Old Zhou continued, "Although I said Four should repay the money for his wedding, when you all got married, the family paid for it, so it isn’t fair he’s the exception. Thus, the five taels borrowed by Xi will also be paid back by your mother and me."

Zhou Xi opened his mouth but, ultimately, didn’t speak.

Old Zhou turned to Zhou SiLang and said, "Getting married means you’re an adult now, and who knows, you might become a father soon. Put some effort into your work and think ahead. If you keep slacking off, I’ll wallop you."

Zhou SiLang muttered a low acknowledgment.

And so the matter was settled.

Because there was little money in the money box, the New Year’s celebration was rather subdued. To conserve funds, Ms. Qian cut many necessary expenses.

For example, meat.

In past years, except for the last year due to Zhou SiLang’s gambling loss, Ms. Qian would buy a batch of meat to make cured meat.

The meat could be consumed at home or given to relatives during visits.

This year was the same as last, with no meat purchased for the house.

However, this year was also different from last. Although still missing many delicacies, everyone was very happy because they moved into a new house.

Especially Manbao and the younger children—they were ecstatic, celebrating every day as if it were a festival.

She moved into her own new room. Though Old Zhou, having taken her money, did not provide her with an extra-large bed, he did make a normally sized one, which was much better than the makeshift small bed she was currently using.

Manbao couldn’t help but roll around twice on her bed before checking out the rest of her room.

Zhou Erlang put in great effort every day to make bamboo crafts. In addition to items like baskets and dustpans to sell at the market, he also made things for home use.

For instance, there was a bamboo screen in Manbao’s room, separating the inner chamber from the study.

Since he knew Manbao liked various plants and flowers, Zhou Erlang had her paint on the bamboo screen, which, after drying, was placed in the room.

Additionally, Old Zhou made her a vanity table and two chairs, one to be placed at the vanity and the other by the desk.

The desk was another piece commissioned from the carpenter by Old Zhou, who had long since announced at a family meeting that these items would be part of Manbao’s dowry.

Manbao’s room could be said to have the highest expenditure, boasting the most complete set of furniture.

Zhou Dalang and Zhou Erlang even used bamboo to make her a three-tier bookshelf next to the desk.

They also crafted two bamboo chests for her to store clothes and various items.

Of course, things made of bamboo couldn’t compare to wooden items. But for a girl still unwed, especially a young one around six or seven, these things were all very precious.

Manbao was simply overjoyed.

So even if they could only eat meat a few times during the New Year, she was cheerful every day,

So cheerful that she forgot all about propriety, running up and down with Bai Shanbao every day, even sticking together on New Year’s Day to make rounds visiting throughout the village, collecting a large number of red envelopes.

Of course, the villagers’ red envelopes mostly contained one copper coin each, but Manbao was happy nevertheless.

Then, in her excitement, she and Bai Shanbao followed Bai Family to pay a New Year visit.

Old Master Bai, of course, didn’t give them mere copper coins; he gave each a delicate embroidered purse, each containing a gold ’jinluo’ coin embossed with the imperial examination insignia.

Manbao hadn’t noticed at the time and just thought the purse was particularly beautiful, inspecting it closely.

Old Master Bai was very fond of Manbao, thinking she was a smart child. Therefore, he made a point to bring over his younger son, handing him over to the two clever children and said, "Take care of your older brother and don’t leave him out."

Although Bai Shanbao and Manbao, having just accepted the gifts, were not particularly keen on playing with this somewhat dim classmate, they nevertheless assured Old Master Bai with a thump on their chests that they would play nicely with him.

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