In a blink of an eye it was midwinter again.
Now Su Family's girls no longer jog along the river embankment. The guard leader left by Xiao Family led them to learn some attack moves for half an hour every morning. One, for self-defense. Second, for physical fitness. Originally, Mrs. Su felt distressed for the youngest. So Su Kang didn't practice martial arts. But since autumn, Su Kang not only had to attend classes every day, but also practiced martial arts. Although it was tiring, the daily half an hour was quite effective after a number of months. Initially, when the seasons changed and they weren't careful, his little body would suffer from illness. This year, he had entered the winter safely.
Over the past few months, Mrs. Su had watched her son's changes. If she said she was unhappy, it would be a lie. Although she didn't want to admit that she raised her son wrongly before, Mrs. Su knew that the current way was good for her son.
"Eldest Sister, I'm going to study." Su Kang bowed his head respectfully and bidded goodbye to You Jin. Now Su Kang's daily schedule can be said to be full: get up in the morning to practice for half an hour. Then he had to arrive in the study room for two hours in the morning and in the afternoon to learn from Teacher Chen. The Su Family's girls were the same as Su Kang in the morning, but in the afternoon they learned qin, chess, calligraphy and painting with Yu Lan in the backyard. Although Yu Lan's qualification in the collection of classics and history wasn't as good as Teacher Chen, she was raised as a talented girl since young age. She can show off her qin-playing, chess, calligraphy and painting. In line with the idea that having too many skills won't be a disadvantage, You Jin naturally arranged it for her younger sisters.
You Jin nodded: "Before you go, change your clothes and drink some hot ginger soup to drive away the cold."
Although Younger Brother's body was better than before, he still needed to take care of it. Since the beginning of winter, the kitchen had prepared ginger soup every day. After the master finished their exercises and washed up, it happened to be 80% hot. Shortly after drinking it, the whole body can warm up.
"Understood. Eldest Sister, I'll go then." Su Kang nodded. Afterward, he walked back in small steps from the backyard where the martial arts was practiced to the front yard. Children were forgetful and it was easy to correct any bad habits. Seeing her younger brother's chubby body disappearing around the corner, You Jin heaved a heavy sigh of relief. Better late than never. If she waited until Younger Brother was a few years older, she might have to spend a lot of effort to correct these things.
After freshening up, she wore a pink floral brocade dress with a white rabbit fur jacket. It further enhanced You Jin's ruddy appearance. Because she hadn't come to age yet, her cloud-like strands were tied into two buns and adorned with a peach red ribbon. The young girl's delicate appearance fell into the eyes of the maid who waited upon her. The maid mentally remarked: Eldest Miss is truly powerful. She is good-looking and can make money. Don't know which family's gentleman or young master will be lucky enough to marry Eldest Missl in the future.
"When we come out of the West Market, we will go to Elder Sister You He's house first. Then we will go to Yunweixuan." Today, You Jin had an appointment with a merchant in the West Market to negotiate a deal and remembered the matter Third Master Huang mentioned last time.
This year's harvest was good. The people in Luohe Prefecture have enough to eat and got some spare cash in their hands. In addition, the inland waterway transportation was very convenient now. After winter, there will be no shortage of people in Luohe Prefecture.
Now outside the South City Gate from Wuliqiao to Luohe Prefecture, there were many merchants and farmers along the coast because the pier of the Luohe Prefecture route was located there. Before entering the city, You Jin can hear the lively shouts and bargaining outside from within the mule cart. There was also the aroma of fresh meat wontons leaking through the cracks of the mule cart. All of these indicated the earth-shaking changes that had taken place in the last two-three years.
The wasteland that Su Family bought two years ago before the canal digging had now been built with shops along the street. Although it wasn't as prosperous as the city, the string of four-five stores meant rent collection. After Su Family's storefronts were built, Mrs. Zhao of Lizheng family was the first to rent one of them. Now she sells some food every day. It was better than getting food from the ground.
Because of this incident, He Family and Su Family became closer. In addition, He Xuan Hai's marriage was also settled. With the niece of his academy's teacher. She just turned fifteen this year. She was pretty and literate. Her character and temperament were not bad. He Hao and Mrs. Zhao were very satisfied with this future daughter-in-law. The two families had brought it into the open. The marriage was scheduled for April next year. In order to save money for their son to marry a wife, He Hao and his wife went all out. They opened the shop every day from dawn to dusk. Because the taste was good and the portions were plentiful, the business was quite decent; a few hundred coins came in every day.
The mule cart noisily moved. It passed the South City gate and headed straight to the merchant's shop in the West Market.
It wasn't the first time that the merchant had done business with this young miss from Su Family. Although Su Family's miss asked him to bring back some weird things every time, Su Family's girl was willing to spend the money. He accepted her money and was working for her. There was nothing to say. This time he had helped Miss Su bring things back. Knowing that the customer would come to pick them up today, he waited for her arrival early in the morning. Seeing a familiar mule cart stop at the door, he rushed out to greet the young girl who was getting out of the mule cart after drawing the curtain: "Miss Su, it's so cold. Come in and drink some hot tea."
"Shopkeeper Chen, how did this trip go?" You Jin jollily nodded, and followed surnamed Chen into the shop. Shopkeeper Chen had grown older in the past two years. The work of going out as a merchant had been handed over to his son. Now he only watched the shop in Luohe Prefecture to do business. Whatever the customers wanted, his sons who traveled the south and the north will either bring them back by themselves or entrust the armed escorts to bring it back.
Shopkeeper Chen chuckled in response: "Thanks to Miss Su, everything is going well."
First, he served her some tea. Then he got the shop assistants to bring up the things she wanted: "Miss Su, look! Is it this kind of millet?" Shopkeeper Chen found the glutinous rice seeds that You Jin had been searching for for a long time this time. Although Shopkeeper Chen didn't know what the glutinous rice could be used for and assumed it was just food, the customer was the king since Su Family's miss had money.
Shopkeeper Chen's son asked an acquaintance merchant to bring back a few bags of glutinous rice. After the assistants carried the glutinous rice seeds out, he cleverly untied the hemp rope that bound the sack without asking before retreating.
You Jin stepped forward, grabbed a handful of golden glutinous rice seeds, held them in her hands, and examined them carefully for a while. Then she picked one up and put it in her mouth without caring if it was dirty, bit open the shell of the seeds, and tasted it carefully. After confirming that it tasted like raw glutinous rice, she nodded with satisfaction: "Yes, this is what I want."
After settling the final payment with Shopkeeper Chen, the assistants carried the few bags of grains requested by the guests to the mule cart. Shopkeeper Chen happily sent away Su Family's miss who had placed another order.
***
"The weather is getting colder and colder. Elder Sister You He is heavily pregnant. Let the family members worry about things in the shop. It's better for Elder Sister You He to take care of yourself." You Jin held a cup of steaming red date tea in her hand and took a sip. Smiling, she chatted with You He: "A few days ago, I got some hides. Mother specially told me to send some to Elder Sister. You should get someone to make two jackets tomorrow. Elder Sister, you're someone with two bodies. You must pay attention. If Liu Family dares to make Elder Sister aggrieved, don't hide it from us."
"Girl, your mouth is getting sharper and sharper. Look at me. My face has rounded up since entering winter. How can I be aggrieved? My parent-in-laws and younger sister-in-laws are very kind to me. Everyday, the soup and water never stops. Now, I don't need to worry about the shop's matter anymore. Mother-in-law handled it all. In good weather, I stroll over to check it. Everything is fine!" You He sat on the kang that was warm from the fire burning. A soft pillow was placed around the waist to share the weight. Her face was like a peach blossom. It was very apparent that she was living a very comfortable life: "While this hide. Aunt gave me a lot when I got married in the middle of the year. Now you give it to me again. How could I possibly accept?"
Today, You Jin gave two gray rabbit hides, two white rabbit hides, and another mink hide with excellent coat color. The rabbit skin was alright. While one can tell the mink hide was worth a lot of money at first glance. After arriving in Luohe Prefecture, she had been relying on Aunt's family's big tree to enjoy the shade. Even her dowry list was prepared by Aunt's family. She had always been grateful to Su Family. Now she was a married woman and was on a different branch from Su Family's younger sisters, this younger cousin sister still gave her things. How could she have the nerve to accept it?
Although You He was previously a bit weak-tempered, her bones revealed the generosity and reason taught by her clear-minded mother, Mrs. Han. Many things that have happened in the past year have sharpened her temper a little bit stronger. Now, her relationship with everyone in Su Family was becoming more and more harmonious. You Jin truly liked this elder cousin sister and was very willing to take care of her who was far away from her maternal family. Since the two sisters both wanted to be friendly with each other, their relationship would naturally be harmonious.
Returning from his classes in the academy, Liu Zhuo Ting heard that his wife's paternal younger cousin sister was here today. He also went to the main room to exchange a few words with this very powerful cousin. Then he left space for his wife and her cousin and hurried to the kitchen to have a drink before going back to the room to study.
"The beginning of the new year is the spring exam. Your elder brother-in-law is anxious, so don't mind him." You He smilingly explained her husband's behavior of running away after saying a few words: "After the spring exam, there is less than a year's time before the provincial examination. If he fails, he will have to wait for three years. Right now, the family is afraid of disturbing him. He doesn't sense anything; just buries his head in studying hard every day."
You Jin cheerfully responded: "Elder Sister, you don't have to say so much. I can understand. If Elder Brother-in-law was here, I don't know what to say!"
After finishing speaking, she winked at You He and made You He hold her stomach and directly laugh. In the East Wing, Liu Zhuo Ting, who was holding a book and studying hard, heard his wife's silver bell-like laughter coming from the main room. Unconsciously, a smile slightly hung on the corner of his mouth. However, his focus never wandered.
The two sisters whispered for a long time. Before leaving, You Jin stuffed another ten liang silver into You He's hand: "Elder Sister take it. Just treat it as me buying snacks for my little nephew."
"You Jin, what are you doing?" You He refused to accept the money: "I have a lot of dowry silver. I don't lack money, so you should take it back quickly."
As if the ingots of silver were like a hot potato, she refused to accept them no matter what.
"Elder Sister is heavily pregnant now. The whole family's food cost money. You can't have no money around you and reach your hand to your parents-in-law to ask for silver, right?" You Jin pressed the silver ingot tightly in You He's hand: "Elder Sister If you really treat me as a younger sister, just accept it!"
Seeing that You Jin's words have come to this point, You He had no choice. She only nagged a bit: "You girl!"
Still, her heart felt like it was padded warm. Because she knew that You Jin truly regarded herself as a family member. After seeing off younger sister, You He moved all the things that You Jin sent today back to the East Wing. She recounted the money stuffing matter to Liu Zhuo Ting, who took the opportunity to relax for a while: "This sly kid. Always trying her best to subsidize me like this. While me, the elder sister, who keeps benefitting, I'm really ashamed!"