Looking at the furious Liu Cuihua beside her, Su Lan instantly had an idea.
“Mother~”
Liu Cuihua was still sulking.
“What is it?”
Su Lan curved her lips slightly, her tone laced with a hint of hesitation.
“Actually… I didn’t expect the Xiao family to host a banquet for A-He either.”
“Let them host it then, who cares! What a waste of food~”
Liu Cuihua snorted coldly, her expression dismissive, even carrying a touch of schadenfreude as she waited to watch the Xiao family make fools of themselves.
Seeing this, Su Lan pursed her lips, softening her voice even further.
“It’s just that if our Shen family doesn’t host one, won’t the villagers start overthinking things?”
As soon as these words came out, Liu Cuihua didn’t catch her drift right away. “Overthinking?”
Su Lan nodded, putting on a front of entirely looking out for the Shen family.
“Leaving aside the fact that A-He and I came from the same manor, the villagers will inevitably compare us two new brides. On top of that, Brother Feng and Xiao Zheng are both Company Commanders. If the Xiao family throws a feast and we show no reaction whatsoever, then what will outsiders say…”
Su Lan purposely trailed off at this point. This way, her mother-in-law should be able to understand, right?
A person lived to keep their pride. Everyone could go without, but she, Su Lan, absolutely would not tolerate going without a perk that Su He was getting!!
“Oh, right~”
Liu Cuihua finally caught on, her face turning dark.
How had she not thought of this layer just now!
If the Xiao family held a feast while the Shen family had nothing at all, wouldn’t the villagers mock them behind their backs? Saying their Shen family was stingy and didn’t value their daughter-in-law was secondary. Most importantly, no one could say the Shen family was inferior to the Xiao family—that was absolutely unacceptable!
The more Liu Cuihua thought about it, the more suffocated she felt. She slapped her thigh hard.
“This won’t do! Our Shen family can’t let people look down on us!”
A faint smile flashed deep in Su Lan’s eyes, but she quickly masked it, returning to her docile appearance.
“Mother, actually, it doesn’t need to be a grand event. Just a simple setup of two tables, inviting some close acquaintances to sit and gather, so we won’t seem discourteous.”
Liu Cuihua nodded repeatedly as she listened, finding it more and more reasonable the more she thought about it.
“Yes, yes, yes! That’s exactly how it should be!”
“My son is a Company Commander! How can he be outshone by the Xiao family!”
Liu Cuihua instantly found her spirit again.
“Let’s go! Back we go, we’ll discuss this with A-Feng. We have to host a banquet too!”
Wang Guixiang pulled Su He along, heading back to their courtyard in a whirlwind.
As the two reached the gate, they saw Xiao Yue pacing back and forth outside, a look of sheer anxiety on her face.
“Sister-in-law!”
Xiao Yue spotted Su He immediately and let out a huge sigh of relief. She ran over quickly, her voice still carrying a trace of lingering panic.
“Where did you go? I was worried sick!”
“I thought you were resting in your room, so I went ahead to hang the laundry and finish up the chores in the yard. But then the room was completely quiet. I knocked and called out several times, but nobody answered. I thought something had happened to you and was just about to go out and look for you!”
Hearing this, Su He blanked for a moment, her heart warming up. This young girl really treated her as one of her own.
She smiled and comforted her, “I’m sorry for making you worry. I figured staying at home with nothing to do was boring, so I took a stroll up the mountain, thinking I’d see if I could dig up some wild vegetables.”
Xiao Yue’s eyes went wide instantly.
“Sister-in-law, you went into the mountains alone?!”
She was completely unfamiliar with the place; what if she ran into a wild beast?
“Alright, let’s head inside the yard first before talking.”
Wang Guixiang didn’t care to dwell on this right now, quietly urging the two of them into the courtyard.
“Come, let’s take off the backpack. You’ve carried it all this way, don’t tire yourself out.”
Moving nimbly, Wang Guixiang first untied the gray rabbit hanging from Su He’s backpack, stuffed it into an empty bamboo basket in the corner, and casually covered it with an old winnowing pan.
“It’s rare to come across game like this; we can’t let it get away.”
Xiao Yue had sharp eyes and had already clearly seen what was covered up.
“A rabbit!!”
“Sister-in-law, you even caught a rabbit?!”
If she had known, she wouldn’t have gone to the river with Xinghua to wash clothes. Following her sister-in-law up the mountain to catch rabbits sounded much more fun. To think she had missed out just like that!
Su He nodded with a smile. “I just got lucky. I didn’t expect to run into a rabbit either.”
“Sister-in-law, how are you so amazing~”
Xiao Yue’s eyes shone intensely, her face full of admiration.
“This is rabbit meat!”
“Does this mean we can add a solid main course to the banquet tables the day after tomorrow?”
Hearing this, the wrinkles on Wang Guixiang’s face smoothed out completely.
“That goes without saying! This is more respectable than anything else, so we’ll keep this rabbit alive for a couple of days first.”
As she spoke, she quickly urged Su He to take off her bamboo backpack.
“Come, let’s empty out the herbs! While it’s still light out, let’s sort through them first so they don’t get crushed and ruined.”
Xiao Yue immediately ran into the house to fetch a winnowing pan and brought out a small wooden stool.
“Sister-in-law, are all of these medicinal herbs?”
“Yes.”
Xiao Yue was already too struck with admiration to speak.
The mother and daughter squatted down on either side of Su He, crowding around to help her organize the herbs. Su He separated the medicinal ingredients from the backpack one by one.
“This is Bupleurum.”
“This is Codonopsis.”
“These few are milkvetch roots.”
“And these are Baikal skullcap and wild Chinese yam.”
She sorted through them while softly introducing the names of the medicines.
Wang Guixiang listened, completely dazed. Although she had already known this was a basket of herbs when she was defending her daughter-in-law in front of the village, seeing them properly spread out still made her heart race with excitement.
How were these just wild herbal? This was clearly silver! Actual silver!
The group busied themselves for quite a while before finally sorting all the herbs clearly.
There were three Bupleurum plants, four Codonopsis plants, six milkvetch roots, two Baikal skullcap plants, and three wild Chinese yams. There were also a few miscellaneous small medicinal herbs; though few in number, they all looked incredibly vibrant.
Wang Guixiang stared with wide eyes.
“Good heavens~ That’s so many herbs!!”
Squatting nearby, Xiao Yue also grew more excited the more she looked.
“Sister-in-law, can all of these really be sold for money?”
Su He nodded. “They can! Though the quantity isn’t huge, their appearance and quality are excellent. If the town’s pharmacy knows their stuff, they should fetch a few taels of silver.”
As soon as these words came out, Wang Guixiang nearly lost her balance.
A few taels of silver?! That was enough to cover their family’s living expenses for several months!
She couldn’t help but look at Su He, the expression in her eyes completely changing. Her eldest son had truly picked up a treasure! This daughter-in-law had only been in the family for a single day, yet she had already dug up herbs and caught a rabbit; she was clearly a lucky charm. Just who else’s new bride could have this kind of capability?
Right at that moment, footsteps sounded outside the courtyard gate. Following closely, Xiao Jun’s voice rang out.
“Mother, we’re back!”
The courtyard gate pushed open, and Xiao Zheng and Xiao Jun entered the yard one after the other. Both brothers were carrying items in their hands, and Xiao Jun was cradling a jar of wine in his arms.
Just as he set the items down, Xiao Jun noticed the herbs spread out in the yard.
“Huh? What are you all working on?”
Xiao Yue replied excitedly, “They’re all medicinal herbs!”
Xiao Jun quickly moved closer, his eyes going wide. “This many?”
Xiao Zheng’s gaze also fell onto the winnowing pan. A pile of roots, stems, and leaves was laid out neatly, making it obvious at a glance that these were not just random wild herbal pulled from the mountains.