The Old Su household was filled with laughter and bustling with excitement.
Every member of the Su family was so thrilled their cheeks were flushed red, their spirits high.
Even Qian Yuemei, who was usually somewhat sharp-tongued and harsh, looked full of joy and spoke without her usual sarcastic, passive-aggressive tone.
“Mother, Father’s luck is truly amazing,” Qian Yuemei said with a smile. “This wild boar can be sold for quite a bit of silver. Erpan’s clothes have gotten too small…”
Before Qian Yuemei could finish her sentence, Old Lady Su already understood what she was driving at.
“Once we have the silver, you don’t think your father and I would mistreat our own grandson, do you?”
Old Lady Su uttered a firm yet calm reply.
“Mother, look at what you’re saying! Of course I know you and Father dote on your grandson,” Qian Yuemei said with a forced, placating smile.
Yet her eyes couldn’t help but dart toward Little Tangbao nestled in Old Lady Su’s arms.
If it weren’t for this little sister-in-law, she naturally wouldn’t worry.
But now, the old couple clearly regarded this little girl as their precious treasure.
There was no guarantee they wouldn’t save all the silver just to spend it on her.
Little Tangbao, of course, could sense the malice coming from her second sister-in-law.
Sneaking around to make petty complaints was something she was naturally above doing.
However—
“WAHH… WAHH…”
Little Tangbao stared straight at Qian Yuemei and began dry-sobbing out loud.
She wouldn’t make a secret complaint—she’d file an open one!
The moment Little Tangbao started crying, Old Lady Su began to panic.
“What’s wrong? Mommy’s sweet darling?”
There was no helping it; ever since she wet her pants last time, Little Tangbao hadn’t cried once.
From the bottom of her heart, Old Lady Su felt her little daughter was extraordinarily clever.
Now that her little daughter was crying, something had to be wrong.
What could it be?
She hadn’t wet her diaper, nor did she want to nurse—she was simply staring at Second Brother’s wife and dry-sobbing.
“Second Brother’s wife, you go outside first,” Old Lady Su commanded.
Qian Yuemei secretly curled her lip, but put on a worried look on her face.
“Mother, what’s wrong with Little Sister? She wouldn’t happen to be sick, would she?”
The anger in Old Lady Su’s heart flared up instantly.
“Crow’s mouth! If you don’t know how to speak properly, keep your mouth shut!” Old Lady Su scolded sharply. “Get out!”
Qian Yuemei couldn’t keep face any longer.
Ever since she married into the Old Su family, though her mother-in-law wasn’t particularly gentle, she had never reprimanded her daughters-in-law without good reason.
But now—
She wasn’t leaving her a single shred of dignity at all.
Fuming with anger, Qian Yuemei flung her sleeves and stomped out.
As soon as she walked out, Little Tangbao immediately stopped crying.
Old Lady Su looked at her little daughter in her arms and said helplessly, “You clever little rascal, all thunder and no rain—who on earth do you take after?”
With that, a trace of deep thought flashed across her eyes.
Little Tangbao felt a sudden pang of guilt.
She wondered: Did her mother see through her little scheme?
“Yi-yi, ya-ya…”
Little Tangbao flapped her tiny arms, flashing a silly smile at Old Lady Su.
Her bright, big eyes were filled with pure innocence.
Old Lady Su: “…”
Perhaps she was overthinking it.
A mere baby could probably just sense good and bad intent by instinct.
Out in the yard, Old Man Su called his two eldest sons over to slaughter the pig.
Some strong young men from the village also stepped forward to help.
Looking at the crowd in the courtyard, Old Man Su announced loudly with utter satisfaction: “Fellow villagers and elders, tomorrow is my baby daughter’s full-month milestone! Don’t forget to come over for a cup of celebratory wine—we’ll be stewing meat in big pots, and the aroma is guaranteed to drift ten miles with the wind!”
As soon as Old Man Su finished saying this, everyone in the yard was astonished.
No one had ever heard of a family giving birth to a daughter and throwing a lavish banquet for her full-month celebration.
The Old Su family had given birth to so many sons and grandsons, yet had never hosted a full-month banquet for any of them.
Now they were hosting one for their daughter—it seemed they truly regarded this little girl as a golden nugget.
Having been treated as a golden nugget, Little Tangbao felt her mood brighten after secretly giving Qian Yuemei a dose of her own medicine and successfully fooling her mother.
Facing Old Lady Su, she cooed “yi-yi, ya-ya” to practice her vocalizations.
Under the dim oil lamp, the members of the Su family gathered closely together, their pairs of eyes shining even brighter than the lamp flame.
Glaringly bright.
“Mother, is this silver?!” Su Liuhu was the first to let out an exclamation of awe.
Looking at the silver ingot on the table, his face was full of curiosity and amazement.
Su Erhu shot a mocking glance at his younger brother.
“Nonsense! Never seen it before, have you? Today I’ll let you broaden your horizons!”
Su Erhu put on the air of someone who had seen the world.
Even though he himself had only learned what a silver ingot looked like today.
A ten-tael silver ingot was enough to cover the whole family’s living expenses for more than half a year.
Huggable in Old Lady Su’s arms, Little Tangbao blinked her big eyes, equally full of curiosity.
So this is what an ancient silver ingot looks like.
Alright, she was a country bumpkin too, seeing one for the very first time.
“Yi-yi, ya-ya…”
Little Tangbao flapped her tiny arms, drooling at the sight of the silver ingot.
“Mommy’s little darling, you know silver is a good thing too, don’t you?” Old Lady Su said with a gentle, beaming face.
“Yi-yi, ya-ya…”
Mm-hmm, I know, I know.
Su Liuhu chuckled and picked up the silver ingot from the table, popping it straight into his mouth.
“Liuhu, what are you doing?” Su Erhu immediately called out.
“Testing it with my teeth, of course! Everyone says you have to bite silver to know if it’s real or fake… Ouch!”
Before Su Liuhu could finish his sentence, he let out a cry, spitting out the silver ingot—and a loose tooth along with it.
He happened to be at the age where he was losing his baby teeth, and with that hard bite, he ended up knocking one right out.
“Mother, my tooth came out,” Su Liuhu looked toward Old Lady Su, caught between tears and laughter.
Partly exasperated and partly amused, Old Lady Su said, “Let’s see if you’ll still go putting everything into your mouth after this!”
Everyone in the room burst out laughing at Su Liuhu.
Little Tangbao laughed especially loud and clear.
Seeing his little sister laugh, Su Liuhu felt that losing a tooth wasn’t such a big deal after all.
“Little Sister, Sixth Brother will go hunt wild boars in the future too, so I can exchange them for silver and buy you candy!”
Su Liuhu pledged solemnly, trying his best to curry favor with his sister.
“Yi-yi, ya-ya…”
Thank you, Sixth Brother! Sixth Brother is the best.
Su Dahu was more steady and composed. Pointing to the silver ingot, two pieces of broken silver, and several strings of copper coins on the table, he began reporting the account to Old Lady Su.
“Mother, the wild boar meat sold for eighteen taels and two mace of silver in total. Then we bought fifty catties of cornmeal, fifty catties of coarse rice, and ten catties of white flour… In the end, what’s left here is fifteen taels of silver, plus eight hundred and thirty-two large coins.”
The household’s money was entirely managed by Old Lady Su, and Old Man Su never interfered, so Su Dahu reported directly to her.
“How did it fetch so much money?” Old Lady Su asked in surprise.
One had to keep in mind that Dahu and Erhu had only taken half of the wild boar to sell.
The family had kept the other half for tomorrow’s banquet.
Su Dahu explained: “Mother, because no one has dared to go up the mountain to hunt over the past few years, the price of game meat has more than doubled.”
Old Lady Su nodded in understanding.
Promptly handing Little Tangbao over to Old Man Su to hold, she personally split eight hundred large coins into two equal portions.
She gave one portion to her eldest daughter-in-law and the other to her second daughter-in-law.
“These are for you two. Whether you want to buy things for yourselves or save them up as private allowance, either is fine.”
Zhao Chunhua looked pleasantly surprised, “Thank you, Mother!”