TATLC Chapter 55

While the Lu family was still basking in the afterglow of celebration, Lu Lin received several visitors.

After Qin Yi recovered his health, he went down from the mountain and brought a deer as a gift for Chen Xiaomi. Chen Xiaomi tried to refuse, but he couldn’t decline such a generous present. In return, Lu Lin invited the three of them for a meal.

Qin Yi felt somewhat embarrassed but still stayed.

Lu Lin prepared sliced bamboo shoots with cured pork, braised fish, three vegetable dishes, and a large pot of bone soup.

The Qin brothers lived in the mountains where conditions were poor and the food was terrible. After their mother passed away, the meals eaten by the father and sons became even coarser. It was rare for them to enjoy such delicious food, and although the brothers tried to be restrained at first, they quickly became enthusiastic.

No matter how many meaningful glances Qin Yi directed at his two sons, they continued to wolf down their food. Eventually, Qin Yi gave up. The dishes at Chen Xiaomi’s home were just too delicious, and before long, even Qin Yi’s own eating grew more enthusiastic.

Chen Xiaomai was delighted to see strangers. Having more people at the table really livened up the atmosphere.

“Chen-xiaoge[mfn]小哥 (xiǎo gē) – Literally ‘little older brother’, but it’s commonly used as a casual, friendly way to address a young man, like ‘buddy,’ ‘pal,’ or ‘young man’. It can also simply be someone calling another ‘ge’ (brother) with the affectionate prefix “xiao.” The prefix ’小’ softens the more formal ‘哥,’ which makes it more laid-back and friendly, but not overly intimate.[/mfn], your life is getting better and better!” Qin Yi couldn’t help feeling a hint of envy. As a mountain dweller, Qin Yi had always wanted to move down from the mountains and settle down in the plains, but his life had been full of obstacles and he simply didn’t have the money. When he first saw Chen Xiaomi, a small Shuang’er making his way in the mountains, he had felt some sympathy. He never imagined that Chen Xiaomi would not only survive but thrive so well.

Chen Xiaomi scratched his head and said, “I’ve been lucky recently and made some money.” In Chen Xiaomi’s eyes, Qin Yi was a senior figure, and he maintained a respectful attitude toward him.

Qin Yi quickly emptied his bowl, and Lu Lin served him another.

“The food here is simply too delicious,” Qin Yi remarked.

Chen Xiaomi smiled and said, “Lu Lin is a great cook.”

After staying a while longer, Qin Yi left with his two sons. Qin Lang and Qin Ming seemed to have been won over by the meal and were reluctant to leave.

Lu Lin gave the two children a bag of flatbread. Qin Yi was very embarrassed but accepted it anyway.

Qin Lang held the bag of flatbread with excitement. At first, he was reluctant to part with a deer that could fetch a high price, but after that meal, all his regrets vanished into thin air.

“Dad, Chen Xiaomi’s food was just too delicious. When can we go back for another meal?” Qin Ming asked, licking his lips.

Qin Yi glared at his younger son and said irritably, “All you think about is food.”

Qin Ming scratched his head and replied, “Dad, you ate a lot too!”

Exposed by his son, Qin Yi couldn’t help feeling embarrassed. He wondered how the Chen family cooked their food. Even the vegetables were so delicious they made you want to swallow your tongue.

At Chen Xiaomi’s home

Lu Lin looked at the antlers on the stag’s head with interest and said, “Qin-xiaoge is such a sincere person!”

Chen Xiaomi nodded and said, “Yes! Uncle Qin is a good man.”

The Qin family wasn’t well-off either, yet they sent over a live deer. Deer antlers were valuable. Selling them to a pharmacy would fetch seven or eight taels of silver without question, and the deer itself was worth over one tael.

For Qin Yi to send over something so precious without asking for anything in return, just to repay their earlier kindness in saving his life, made Lu Lin reflect. Sure, there were plenty of unpleasant people in this world, but there were also many who were genuinely kind-hearted.

Lu Lin cut off the deer antlers and stored them in the convenience store, planning to keep the deer blood and meat for consumption.

Quality deer antlers were easy to sell but difficult to buy back. Since Lu Lin wasn’t particularly short on money, he simply decided to keep the antlers stored in the convenience store.

The villagers gossiped about Lu Chengyu’s marriage for quite some time.

“Wasn’t he supposed to marry the Chief Clerk’s daughter? Why didn’t the Chief Clerk even show up?”

“That’s wrong. It’s not the Chief Clerk’s daughter. He’s still young, and his daughter is only seven. The Chief Clerk is that girl’s brother-in-law.”

“Oh, just a brother-in-law!”

“That’s quite a difference. If she were really the Chief Clerk’s daughter, how could he not show up?”

“Even as a brother-in-law, he should have at least made an appearance!”

“Does the Chief Clerk look down on country folk?”

“But Lu Chengyu’s a scholar. Shouldn’t that count for something?”

“So what if he’s a scholar? The town is full of educated men. What’s so special about him?”

“The Lu family spent a fortune to marry this girl. Who knows how much she brought with her?”

“That old woman in the Lu family is especially stingy! They’re not poor, yet she sent her own son off to war just to save money. Now they’re making such a fuss over marrying a young girl. I think the girl’s family doesn’t take the Lu family seriously either!”

“That’s true!”

While Chen Xiaomi and Lu Lin’s lives kept improving, the marriage situation in the Lu family wasn’t as good as they had hoped.

Tang had expected the bride to bring back gifts offsetting the betrothal presents they’d sent. However, Li Fangyue only brought back a small portion of it. Being young, Li Fangyue let slip after some indirect questioning from Tang.

The Lu family had prepared thirty taels of silver as betrothal gifts, along with several pieces of gold and silver jewelry. But Li Fangyue only brought back five taels of silver, and her dowry consisted of some inexpensive cotton quilts, which were worth far less than what the Lu family had given.

With most of the family’s money spent on the wedding, Lin Xiu’er was very unhappy.

These past few days, the meals prepared at home had become noticeably plainer.

Li Fangyue, who was used to being pampered, couldn’t tolerate such bland food and started making a fuss. When she complained, the already displeased Grandma Lu scolded her harshly.

Li Fangyue wasn’t one to be trifled with. After being scolded by the old woman, she threatened to return to her parents’ home and have her family intervene. Although the Lu family was dissatisfied with their new daughter-in-law, they were afraid of her causing a scene at her parents’ home and leave a bad impression on the Chief Clerk, so they had to put up with it.

Tang complained bitterly, “Your brother didn’t bring back a wife. He brought back an ancestor to worship!”

Lu Tong ignored Tang’s complaints. In her opinion, if the new sister-in-law was an “ancestor,” her parents had willingly invited her into their home.

Li Fangyue wasn’t much to look at. Whenever Lu Tong saw her, she felt it was really unfair that she herself was to marry a widower. Li Fangyue was far uglier than her, but received a betrothal gift of thirty taels, while someone as pretty as Lu Tong was being wasted on a nobody.

Recently, Lu Tong had been focusing more on her own marriage. The family spent a fortune, and even sold land, for her elder brother’s wedding, there couldn’t be much left.

Just look at Li Fangyue. Once a daughter was married off, she was like spilled water. No matter how powerful her natal family was, if she didn’t bring much dowry herself, life would still be difficult.

Watching Li Fangyue, Lu Tong couldn’t help but worry for herself. Before Li Fangyue entered the family, her mother and grandmother thought this new daughter-in-law was perfect in every way. Yet now that she was here, they found fault with everything. At least Li Fangyue had a brother-in-law who was a Chief Clerk. Lu Tong had no such advantage.

Lu Tong had once admired Lu Chengyu, but lately she felt her brother was just a Tongsheng who had spent years leaching off the family’s money.

At the Lu home, Lin Xiu’er returned to the bedroom and looked at Lu An, complaining indignantly, “The new wife Chengyu married really acts like a young mistress. She doesn’t do anything.”

She thought bitterly, Lu Tong is lazy too, but at least if you nag her enough, she’ll help even if she complains. But this new bride? She acts like she’s some noble lady married into a wealthy family! The moment you ask her to work, she starts going on about how her sister, and how her sister lived this way or that. As if that excuses her from working.

Li Ru had married an Chief Clerk, but if Li Fangyue had any real ability, she wouldn’t have needed to marry into their family.

With so much work to do and no one willing to help, how were they supposed to manage? Lin Xiu’er couldn’t help but miss when the second branch of the family was still around. She suddenly felt that with the second branch completely gone, their fourth branch would be next.

“Now that Chengyu’s marriage is settled, should we quickly arrange for Lu Tong’s matter as well?” Lu An nodded and said, “Yes, we can’t delay any longer.” Lu Tong’s marriage needed to be arranged quickly, or they would have to pay taxes.

Lin Xiu’er grumbled, “Is that girl Chengyu married really from an official’s family? She doesn’t seem like it.”

Lu An frowned and said, “Her sister is the Chief Clerk’s wife, so the connection is quite close.”

Lin Xiu’er continued sullenly, “Even if the Chief Clerk was too busy to show up, why didn’t her sister show up?”

Tang bragged to everyone that Lu Chengyu was marrying into an official’s family, which led many villagers at the wedding feast to pester them, asking which of the guests were from the official’s family. Lin Xiu’er didn’t even know how to answer them.

Lu An shook his head and said, “I don’t know either. Maybe they were busy.”

Lin Xiu’er sighed, “No matter how busy they are, how could they not show up for such an important event as a wedding?”

What was the point of all their grand preparations if the bride’s family couldn’t even be bothered to show them basic respect?

The only relative from Li Fangyue’s side she’d seen was her brother, who had looked down his nose at them the entire time, sneering and calling them “country bumpkins” at every turn.

Lu An gritted his teeth. If the other side didn’t take them seriously, there was nothing they could do but see how things went in the future.

The entire Lu family was dissatisfied with their new daughter-in-law.

Lu Chengyu himself was somewhat disappointed with this marriage arrangement. Li Fangyue was average-looking, and he had always dreamed of achieving high office. He hoped to marry a beautiful, delicate wife. He married Li Fangyue for her connections, but who would’ve thought the Chief Clerk wouldn’t even show his face on the wedding day?

Being proud and arrogant, Lu Chengyu was deeply humiliated by the bride’s family’s dismissive attitude.

She had watched coldly as her family sold land and scrambled to arrange her brother’s lavish wedding. Lu Tong felt hidden jealousy and resentment toward her new sister-in-law.

If it weren’t for her, maybe my family wouldn’t be forcing me to marry some lowly widower.

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