"Sixth Brother, if there’s sothing you need, I’m with a guest," Wang Youheng said without moving. Among the brothers of Wang Family who shared the sa ancestor, Wang Youhuai ranked sixth, while Wang Youheng ranked seventh.
Wang Youhuai looked at Wang Youheng curiously, then turned his head to give Lian Manman and the others another look.
"Oh..." Wang Youhuai drew out his response, smiled, and then whispered sothing into Wang Youheng’s ear.
Wang Youheng’s brows furrowed slightly.
"Please go in and have a seat, Sixth Brother. I will join you shortly," Wang Youheng had Shopkeeper Wang lead Wang Youhuai into the house first.
Wang Youheng then turned back to Lian Manman and apologized, "There’s so family matter, I’m afraid I can’t join you all now."
Lian Manman had noticed the change in Wang Youheng’s expression just now and guessed it might be sothing important. Besides, Wang Youhuai had co to find him; it wasn’t right to leave Wang Youhuai and go to dinner with them.
"Brother Youheng, you go attend to your matters. We’ll make a note of this al and invite you out another ti," Lian Manman said.
"Good, I was afraid there wouldn’t be another chance once we leave this village. I’ll definitely rember it," Wang Youheng said with a laugh.
Everyone then laughed together.
...
After leaving the Jisheng Hall of Wang Family, the mother and daughters decided there was no hurry to go back since Lian Shouxin had brought quite a few farming tools that needed repairing, which would take at least half a day. Since they had ti, they decided to take a stroll around the town.
Lian Manman was still looking at every shop, inquiring about the price of nearly everything.
"Mother, should we buy so things?" Lian Manman asked Lady Zhang and then turned to Lian Zhizhi and the others, "Sister, brother, Xiao Qi, do you want anything?"
"Second Sister, I want to eat another at bun," Xiao Qi replied the quickest.
"You’ll definitely get to eat buns, but see if there’s anything else you want," Lian Manman said with a smile.
Xiao Qi was then at a loss for words. He was used to living in a materially deprived environnt and wasn’t accustod to spending money. Apart from the limited food, he couldn’t think of anything else he wanted.
"Take your ti to look around and tell if there’s anything you want," Lian Manman said. Although she said this, she knew that Xiao Qi was sensible and would never ask for anything expensive.
As the mother and children walked slowly, they saw a crowd gathered in front of a shop. When they got closer, they found it was a fabric store selling scraps of cloth from the remnants of the fabric they usually sold at a low price. Although they were just scraps, they were all fine fabrics, suitable for making kerchiefs or shoe uppers.
"We just need to buy material for your grandmother’s shoe uppers," said Lady Zhang as she began to sift through the fabrics.
"Shouldn’t we get a couple of pairs of socks too?" Lian Manman suddenly rembered and discussed it with Lian Zhizhi, "Sister, we should also buy so fine cloth to make a couple of new undergarnts."
"Manman, fabric can be a bit expensive," Lian Zhizhi said.
In the whole of Jinyang County, there were very few who grew cotton, spun, and wove their own fabric, and no one raised silkworms. All fabric had to be bought from the south, thus making it pricier than other commodities.
"We need to buy them regardless of the cost, otherwise what would we wear?" Lian Manman said as she and Lian Zhizhi squeezed into the crowd to pick and choose.
As Lian Manman selected the fabric, she was calculating in her mind. The first was the white cotton fine cloth; she needed to buy extra of this to make sure everyone at ho had at least a set of underclothes, plus two pairs of socks. Lady Zhang and Lian Zhizhi could both cut patterns, sew, and embroider. Once they bought the fabric, they could sew it themselves at ho. After so thought, she decided to start with twelve feet.
Oh, these silks, satins, and brocades are truly beautiful. Lian Manman picked up two pieces of satin that were just the right size to make kerchiefs.
"Sister, let’s pick a few good ones to make kerchiefs," Lian Manman said to Lian Zhizhi.
Lian Manman chose a piece of pea green and a piece of goose yellow fine gauze silk, along with a piece of plain silver-red satin, while Lian Zhizhi picked a piece of bright red fine gauze silk and a piece of treasure blue plain satin. After thinking it over, Lian Manman also chose a piece of moon-white Luchou, a piece of indigo Luchou, and two pieces of light blue Luchou.
"Isn’t that a bit much, Manman?" Lian Zhizhi laughed. She too was used to being frugal, but seeing all these colorful fabrics, she couldn’t help liking them, "But they will definitely look good made into kerchiefs. I can finish the edges and even embroider them."
"Then we’ll go buy so colored threads later," Lian Manman said. She was currently in the stage of saving money, and these weren’t necessities, but there was no helping it; she was a woman after all, and could not resist such temptations. She had already shown great restraint by not going after those entire rolls of fabric, which were even more beautiful.
At this mont, Lady Zhang had also picked out her fabric. She chose two large pieces of stone-green satin and two pieces of silver-red satin.
"Mother, what are you going to make with these?" Lian Manman asked.
"These two stone-green ones, I’m making two pairs of shoe uppers for your grandmother, and these two smaller pieces of silver-red are for your old aunt, also to make a pair of shoes. And this large piece should be enough to make an undergarnt; your old aunt loves these bright colors," Lady Zhang said, "Manman, you’ve also picked out so much. How are you going to pay for it?"
Lian Manman rolled her eyes and handed the fabrics Lady Zhang had picked out to the shopkeeper, asking how much they cost.
"You truly have an eye for quality! These two pieces of stone-green are engraved silk with a hidden pattern, among the most expensive fabrics in our store. These cuts are much cheaper though - these two pieces will cost you sixty wen, and these two pieces of silver-red are forty wen, making a total of one hundred wen," the shopkeeper explained.
"Mother, how much money do you have?" Lian Manman asked Lady Zhang.
Lady Zhang took out a cloth bag from her bosom, opened it, and inside was a small piece of silver.
"This is almost one qian of silver. The last ti I pawned my hairpin to buy dicine for you and your grandmother, this was all that was left," Lady Zhang said.
"Mother, how much did you get for pawning the hairpin, and my dicine couldn’t have been that expensive – Imperial Doctor Wang didn’t even charge a consultation fee," Lian Manman said.
"The hairpin was pawned for more than one liang of silver; your dicine cost a little over one qian, and the Yangrong Pills your grandmother wanted, which they say contain ginseng, were quite expensive," Lady Zhang explained.
Lian Manman had heard from Lady Zhang about the hairpin being pawned for her and Lady Zhou’s dicine before but had not paid much attention. Today was the first ti she had heard how the money had been spent, and she couldn’t help but laugh in exasperation.
"Yangrong Pills, huh? We farmstead folk have never heard of such a thing in our lives," Lian Manman said indignantly.
"When your grandfather used to be the Store Manager in Jinyang County, your grandmother had a few years of enjoying the good life; she has eaten and seen everything," Lady Zhang replied.
Lady Zhang had completely missed the point. Lian Manman felt a sense of frustration. That ti, Lady Zhou was not really sick – she was just being difficult. She refused to pay for Lian Manman’s dicine but, hearing that Lady Zhang was going to pawn her hairpin, claid she wanted Yangrong Pills, which supposedly contained ginseng. She was taking advantage of Lady Zhang and Lian Shouxin’s honesty and filial piety.
Lian Manman snatched the small piece of silver from Lady Zhang’s hand and held it tightly in her own. Lady Zhang was too weak-willed and foolishly filial. This money – she had to confiscate it.
"Manman, what are you doing?" Lady Zhang exclaid, startled.
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