Sheng An remained unaware of the neighbors’ wild speculations. The moment she stepped off the carriage, she rushed forward to embrace Grandma Sheng, unable to contain her excitement as she chattered in the elderly woman’s ear:
“Grandma, your granddaughter has made something of herself! I’ve earned quite a bit of money! From now on I can buy meat every day to honor you – aren’t you happy?”
Though the hundred taels of Fine Silver hadn’t materialized, the carriage packed full of gifts behind her was undeniably real.
Sheng An hadn’t examined them closely at the Ding residence, but given the Ding family’s wealth, she knew these presents must be valuable.
Grandma Sheng paid no attention to her granddaughter’s ramblings, instead pulling her away to scrutinize her from head to toe. Only after confirming Sheng An hadn’t lost a single hair did she lightly swat the girl’s shoulder:
“Why did you come back so late? Your old grandmother nearly worried herself to death!”
Sheng An chuckled and quickly soothed the old woman: “The journey took longer than expected. Let me cook you a special lunch to make it up to you, alright?”
Watching her granddaughter’s playful antics, Grandma Sheng couldn’t help bursting into laughter: “Alright, alright, I won’t scold you anymore. Come inside and rest.”
As she spoke, she noticed the two large carriages behind Sheng An and warmly invited the coachmen inside for tea.
The two coachmen politely declined, instead approaching Sheng An respectfully to ask: “Sheng Niang Zi, where should we unload the items from the carriage?”
Sheng An turned to answer but suddenly noticed the circle of neighbors gathered around the carriage, giving her quite a start.
An inquisitive old woman asked eagerly: “Madam Xu, what’s with these carriages? Are they from your maternal family?”
The Xu father and son had lived here for over a decade, yet never had such luxurious carriages visited their home.
Being unfamiliar with these neighbors, Sheng An had no intention of mentioning the Ding family. She politely replied: “They’re not from my maternal family. I helped someone with a matter, and they kindly sent me home by carriage.”
The crowd’s faces fell with disappointment upon hearing this.
Then curiosity arose about which wealthy family in the city it was and what kind of help Sheng An had provided.
However, seeing Sheng An’s reluctance to elaborate, they refrained from pressing further. They watched as the rear carriage door opened, revealing it packed full of thank-you gifts.
All these presents were stored in high-quality rosewood boxes, making their contents impossible to discern visually.
Seeing how the two coachmen strained while carrying them together, the onlookers guessed the items inside must be quite valuable.
Moreover, with so many packages, even if they contained bulk goods like rice, flour, or oil, their combined value would amount to several taels of silver.
The two coachmen carried the carriage-load of gifts into the main hall and, without even stopping for water, bid farewell to Sheng An before driving the carriages away.
Grandma Sheng, leveraging her age and seniority, dismissed the neighbors who wanted to peek inside with a few perfunctory words. She then closed the courtyard gate, shutting out those envious and jealous stares.
Sheng An wasn’t in a hurry to open the boxes. She went to Xu Chenglin’s room and briefly explained why Master Ding had invited her to the Ding residence.
Xu Chenglin suddenly understood: “So it really was that Ding family from the shipyard! When your grandmother mentioned it earlier, I thought it might be another family with the same surname.”
Sheng An asked curiously: “Father, you know the Ding family?”
Xu Chenglin nodded: “Back when I worked at the docks managing shipments for the timber yard, that timber yard belonged to the Ding family’s shipyard. The Ding family was essentially my employer.”
Sheng An smiled: “What a coincidence.”
Xu Chenglin also smiled: “What a coincidence. I’d heard earlier that Young Master Ding was in poor health, with Master Ding seeking doctors and medicines everywhere, but I never expected it to be anorexia, not the rumored lovesickness.”
Lovesickness?
Sheng An’s eyes lit up, her gossipy curiosity burning fiercely as she quickly asked her father-in-law: “How did this rumor about lovesickness spread?”
Xu Chenglin felt somewhat embarrassed to speak of it, but seeing his daughter-in-law staring at him eagerly, he couldn’t bear to leave the story half-told. Clearing his throat, he explained:
“The rumor says Young Master Ding fell for a girl, but she publicly mocked him for being fat, saying she’d rather marry a pig than him. Since then, he’s lost all appetite and grown thinner by the day.”
This rumor spread widely with vivid details, and most people believed it, secretly laughing at Young Master Ding behind his back.
“Was Young Master Ding very fat before?”
Sheng An was surprised, as the emaciated Ding Tianci now showed no trace of obesity.
Xu Chenglin nodded: “He once visited the lumberyard, and I saw him from a distance. His build was exactly like Master Ding’s.”
He added: “I heard Master Ding’s son is the same.”
Sheng An understood.
So all three generations of the Ding family had a predisposition to obesity—that Buddha-like physique was purely hereditary.
The rumor about Ding Tianci’s lovesickness seemed unrelated to anorexia at first glance, but upon closer thought, they were connected.
Probably stimulated by his crush’s words, Ding Tianci couldn’t face his own body and resolved to lose weight.
But he overdid it and developed anorexia, which gradually worsened until he became the skeletal figure he was today.
Present-day Ding Tianci likely no longer cared about romance—after all, compared to one’s life, so-called love meant nothing.
After hearing the gossip about Ding Tianci, Sheng An had no intention of using it for anything. She cheerfully went to the main hall to open her mystery boxes.
Grandma Sheng helped nearby.
When the first rosewood box was opened, it revealed a full chest of fabrics in various colors, all looking expensive at first glance.
“Th-these are all silks and satins!”
Grandma Sheng stepped back in shock, not daring to touch them for fear her calloused hands might snag the precious materials.
Sheng An had no such fear, carefully feeling the silk’s cool smoothness with the back of her hand.
Tsk tsk, these were all real silk. In her previous life, a single bolt would have cost at least ten thousand.
Sheng An counted eight bolts total, with colors suitable for all three generations in the household.
Her favorite was the dazzling Yellow Dan colored one.
After admiring the silks, Sheng An opened the second chest to find uniformly shaped jars and tins.
A faint tea fragrance wafted out—they contained tea leaves.
Since the Ding family dealt in tea, they naturally had no shortage of fine teas.
There were over ten canisters, far more than their small household could consume, but they’d make respectable gifts.
Subsequent boxes revealed dried seafood, aged liquor, quality leather, dried fruits, pastries and more.
The two most valuable gifts were a substantial pure gold hair ornament set and a fragrant set of wenfang sibao (four treasures of the study).
Sheng An could tell the stationery set was expensive by comparing it to Xu Jinnian’s commonly used set.
The cartload of gratitude gifts from Master Ding was definitely worth over a hundred taels of Fine Silver.
This realization made Sheng An somewhat nervous.
She needed to save up capital to open a small restaurant. Since Master Ding wouldn’t give her shiny silver coins and used these items as compensation instead, she’d have to sell them off, right?
Sheng An calculated in her mind—it seemed selling that set of pure gold hair accessories would be enough.
She had to manage the restaurant and do the cooking herself. Wearing gold and silver would only get in the way. Selling them was fine; she never liked wearing them anyway.
Instantly in high spirits, Sheng An lovingly stroked the gold hair ornaments: “Wait patiently, I’ll soon exchange you for real gold and silver.”
Hearing her granddaughter muttering to herself, Grandma Sheng urged while organizing the gifts: “Jinnian will be back soon, hurry up and prepare the meal.”
Sheng An’s face fell, looking at her grandmother with resentment: “Grandma, you don’t love me anymore.”
Now it was Grandma Sheng’s turn to coax her: “Jinnian’s cooking isn’t as good as yours! Grandma only loves the food you make!”
Sheng An was speechless. Was she a three-year-old child?
It was true that the old lady enjoyed her cooking, but it was equally true that she wanted her to become a virtuous wife and mother.
It wasn’t that Grandma didn’t care for her—it was just how women of this era thought.
They considered being a virtuous wife and mother the highest pursuit, and expected the same from other women in the family.
Sighing inwardly, Sheng An went to the kitchen to prepare lunch.
When Xu Jinnian returned home and saw the busy figure in the kitchen, he changed direction and strode in.
“You’re back.”
Sheng An greeted him and pointed toward the main room: “Go help Grandma figure out how to arrange those things. Having them piled in the main room is too conspicuous.”
Thinking she had gone on a shopping spree today, Xu Jinnian instinctively said: “I’ve finished copying those books. I’ll take them to the bookstore this afternoon and give you all the earnings.”
Sheng An was baffled: “Why give them to me? Keep your own money.”
Xu Jinnian’s expression darkened as he silently watched her.
His uncle always gave his earnings to his aunt.
If his uncle ever forgot, his aunt would chase after him for the money.
All the other married couples he knew were the same.
Only his Niangzi never asked about household finances.
The only time she actively requested money was the day after their wedding to buy things—and even then, it was for the household.
The remaining money she spent entirely on equipment for her street stall.
Now that he was voluntarily handing over his book-copying earnings, she was actually refusing them!
This was also Sheng An’s first time being someone’s wife. She completely understood neither the ways of marital life nor Xu Jinnian’s subtle thoughts.
Seeing Xu Jinnian staring intently at her, she began to suspect something was wrong with him: “Even if you stare until you go blind, flowers won’t grow on my face. Hurry and help Grandma in the main room before she strains her back.”
Xu Jinnian: “…”
Perhaps An An’s mind worked differently from normal people’s.
Should he try a different approach in dealing with An An?
At this moment, the couple’s thoughts miraculously synchronized.
Indeed, both thought there was something wrong with the other’s mind.
When Xu Jinnian entered the main room and saw the rosewood chests occupying more than half the space, he fell silent.
Had An An used all her street stall earnings to buy chests?
Just as Xu Jinnian was again pondering Sheng An’s thought process, Grandma Sheng emerged from the guest room: “Jinnian, come quickly and move these chests inside. They look quite sturdy—we could sell them for good money as clothing storage.”
Hearing this, Xu Jinnian realized his misunderstanding and hurriedly asked about the origin of these chests.
Grandma Sheng chuckled and said, “These are all gifts from the Ding family. An An went to the Ding residence to cook a meal for the ailing Ding Shao Ye, and they sent over so many thank-you gifts in return…”
As Grandma Sheng recounted the story, Xu Jinnian finally learned what great feat his wife had accomplished in just one short morning.
He had, of course, heard of the Ding family before.
Last year, Master Ding had posted a generous reward seeking a master chef with exceptional culinary skills, which sparked widespread rumors and discussions about the Ding family.
He thought the matter had long been settled, never expecting that one day it would somehow involve his own wife.