Ever since the marriage of Lao Er had been settled, Mother Zhou had been feeling especially dignified whenever she went out these past few days.
Idle villagers loved to gossip about household matters, and they paid even more attention when it came to families with sons and daughters of marriageable age.
In recent years, very few girls from the village had managed to marry into town.
For a time, the Zhou Family was in the limelight. Many people wanted to use Zhou Qingcha as a connection to build ties with people in town. Families with daughters of marriageable age had been visiting the Zhou Family nonstop these past few days.
Even Zhou Qingling’s status had risen with the tide. She could clearly sense that the way some aunts and older women looked at her had changed.
Some women tried to casually probe Mother Zhou about Zhou Qingling’s marriage matters. Fortunately, she was still young, and Mother Zhou was in an especially good mood these days.
The little girl was still too young; she did not want to settle her marriage so early. Perhaps she could also marry into town like Lao Er!
If a daughter married well, she could naturally bring benefit to her younger brothers.
When Mother Zhou returned from the fields, villagers greeted her with smiles and congratulations, but how many of them were sincere remained unknown.
Among them were naturally those who disliked the Zhou Family. Their hearts churned with jealousy, though the surrounding villagers could see it clearly. Human nature was like this—when everyone was equal, it was all harmony. But once the balance was broken, who could remain comfortable?
One of them was Wang Hehua, who had been compared with Mother Zhou since childhood.
In their youth, they compared food and clothing. After marriage, they compared husbands. After having children, they compared children. Now that their children were about to marry, they compared their juniors’ marriages. Perhaps in a while, they would even compare grandchildren.
Yet no matter what they compared, Wang Hehua always came up short compared to Mother Zhou.
They were from the same village with similar conditions, but Mother Zhou had four older brothers and was the only girl in her family.
As for Wang Hehua’s family, there were four daughters ahead of a younger brother. Although girls were not valued much in the household, the difference in treatment was still obvious.
When they grew up, both married into Yangliu Village. Both were quite capable, and their first child was a son. But not long after, the Zhou Family split into a separate household and began managing their own affairs, living quite comfortably.
As for Wang Hehua, she was still living with her mother-in-law. In that regard, she was once again a step behind.
As for the men, although Father Zhou was the head of the household, most family matters were decided by Mother Zhou. Since their marriage, although they had argued before, Father Zhou had never once laid a hand on her—much better than Wang Hehua’s husband. In Wang Hehua’s household, if the mother-in-law was displeased, her husband would resort to violence. Again, she fell short.
This time, after hearing that the Zhou daughter was marrying into town, Wang Hehua became bitter with jealousy.
When she saw Mother Zhou approaching, she pulled a nearby woman aside and said loudly: “Hey! What’s so great about marrying into town? Even if it’s the same town marriage, the eldest daughter of Wang Shoucai’s family got five taels of silver as betrothal gift. A higher bride price just shows how much the groom values her. Otherwise, she’ll just suffer after marrying in.”
Upon hearing this, Mother Zhou immediately shot back.
“Pah! Our family doesn’t sell daughters. We value the son-in-law’s character and family background. My Lao Er marrying in will enjoy a great blessing. Some people are just jealous because they’re useless themselves. There’s nothing they can do about it. Everyone has different fate. That high branch is right there, but some people just can’t climb it. It’s their poor destiny.”
After speaking, Mother Zhou swayed her waist and walked away, not even giving the other party a chance to continue the argument, leaving Wang Hehua hopping mad.
That day, Zhou Qingling seized an opportunity to go to town and sold a lingzhi mushroom for 60 taels of silver.
She asked for silver coins instead of banknotes. Although banknotes were more convenient to carry, she had a storage space, so she had somewhere safe to keep them.
Besides, silver felt more solid and reassuring than paper notes. In case of war or chaos, banknotes would be no different from waste paper.
Now that she had money, it was time to purchase some necessities.
Zhou Qingling first went to a general store and bought a clay pot so she could cook in her storage space. This body needed nourishment; otherwise, her future health would be affected.
She also bought oil, salt, bowls, and chopsticks. Each person in the household had a fixed set of bowls, and if anyone accidentally broke one, there would be nothing left to use.
Salt in this era was extremely expensive—50 wen per jin. No wonder at home they only added salt every few days; they could not afford to use it regularly.
Most importantly, she bought toilet paper. At home, they used bamboo strips as toilet tools—scraped wooden sticks that were even reused. It was truly hard to describe.
Afterward, she went to the grain shop. Now that she had better conditions, especially for private meals, fine rice and white flour were necessary.
She bought 20 jin of rice and 10 jin of white flour, carrying them away under the shop assistant’s astonished gaze.
The shop assistant looked somewhat confused, not expecting this seemingly poor girl to afford refined grains.
Zhou Qingling, pressed for time, did not care about anyone’s expressions. She found an empty alley and stored everything into her storage space.
Since she was already out, she also bought two jin of pork belly and stored it away for later cooking.
She had discovered that food placed inside her storage space would not spoil. The wild vegetables she had dug up earlier and stored inside had not shriveled at all. So she planned to stock up on food there, ensuring she would not go hungry so often.
At a steamed bun shop, she bought ten meat buns and ten plain buns. Like a little squirrel, she slowly hoarded supplies.
Because of limited time, she still felt unsatisfied, but had no choice but to stop. She would buy the remaining items next time if there was an opportunity.
As for selling candles, she thought it over. Since she had snuck out, she did not have time to set up a stall, and she also feared that the source and method of making the candles would attract attention. She would need to disguise herself to avoid disaster.
That was it for today.
On the way back, Zhou Qingling calculated in her mind that this trip had cost half a tael of silver—equivalent to half a month’s wages for an adult.
She could not help but sigh. From ancient times to the present, money was never easy to spend.