Chapter 13 – Marriage
Carpenter Zhao didn’t know Wei Cheng’s family, so he was looking for someone to inquire about them.
With Carpenter Zhao sending furniture to the door, Wei Cheng was still surprised by his speed.
“Cheng-er, I rushed to work yesterday to finish your custom-made furniture. Today I waited for you in the store all morning and I didn’t see you go to pick it up. I guessed that you must be busy with marriage matters and have no time to go. I’ll just deliver it to you to save yourself a trip.”
Carpenter Zhao’s face was full of joy and also enthusiastic, Wei Cheng raised his eyebrows lightly, thinking about certain matters.
It seems that not only did Carpenter Zhao get the order from the Jin family, but the result of the negotiation was much better than he had imagined.
“Uncle Zhao, I’m sorry for troubling you to deliver them yourself.” Wei Cheng originally wanted to arrange things at home and then go pick things up, but he moved the bed quilt and clothes to the vacant room.
“Cheng-er, you are too out of touch like this. You call me Uncle Zhao so as an uncle, I should help you deliver the furniture to your door.” Carpenter Zhao changed the subject, “Besides, the drawings you drew helped uncle- I am very busy now, your uncle has to thank you very much.”
“Uncle Zhao, looking at your happy face today, the Jin family’s order is yours?” Wei Cheng asked.
“It’s more than that. I’ll draw the blueprint you gave me into a book and took it to the Jin family’s house. Mr. Jin not only took a fancy to all the samples you drew but also ordered all the furniture for his daughter’s dowry. He ordered thousands of hangers, Master Jin wants to engrave a fine design into it, and will pay forty wen for each hanger.”
Hangers can also be made from waste materials, which can save material costs, he’ll only need to pay labor costs, and the rest is profit.
For the Jin family’s custom-made furniture, the choice of wood is all high-end wood, this big order is worth more than half a year’s profit for the store, how can Carpenter Zhao be unhappy?
Wei Cheng heard that the hangers were sold to the Jin family for 40 wen each. After all, he didn’t understand the price in ancient times, and he didn’t think much about it. Now it’s not the age of machines, and it’s basically all done by hand.
“Congratulations to Uncle Zhao for getting the order from the Jin family.”
“Well, it’s all thanks to you, Cheng-er.” Carpenter Zhao pointed to a few workers and said, “Cheng-er, tell them where the furniture should be placed, and they will help to arrange it.”
The old wooden bed and the old table in Wei Cheng’s room were not removed.
“Uncle Zhao, sit down first, the old furniture in the room hasn’t been vacated yet, I’ll find someone to move it.”
“How can it be so troublesome, just order the porter!”
Wei Cheng did not shirk, and arranged for workers to move the old furniture to the corner of the yard, which could be chopped up and used as firewood, and then told them the arrangement of the furniture. The work of moving the old furniture and moving the new furniture was left to the workers.
Wei Cheng sat down opposite Carpenter Zhao, and it was only then that Carpenter Zhao had a chance to ask about buying the blueprints.
“Cheng-er, how much can you sell to Uncle Zhao for the price of the blueprint?”
Wei Cheng didn’t even play around the topic, and said directly, “Uncle Zhao, I don’t know much about carpentry, and the price of the blueprint can be the same as last time. If you offer a suitable price, I can trust you.”
Carpenter Zhao laughed, “Cheng-er, yes, you have courage in doing things!”
He took the blueprints back and discussed with his two sons about buying the blueprints, and the sons agreed to buy the furniture blueprints. The fashionable style would surely attract many customers. There is no need for the clothes hanger, it is too simple, and it can be given away as an extra. Carpenter Zhao scolded his son for his short-sightedness. The hanger is profitable, but the risk is also high, and they don’t know what price to offer.
He had many to consider when buying the hangers blueprint, first of all, these are Wei Cheng’s blueprints, if he asked Wei Cheng to give it to him, it would be that he, Carpenter Zhao, was not sincere and he was hesitant at first. Later, when the Jin family made a big order, he saw clearly the profits with the clothes hangers in the market, and he had an idea in his heart.
Carpenter Zhao wanted to buy the blueprints, but he was afraid that Wei Cheng’s price would be too high. If Wei Cheng could give the blueprints to him, he must know the cost and profit of furniture and clothes hangers.
He is still struggling with the price of benefits but Wei Cheng casually gave up setting the price, that kind of bearing is really scary for young people!
The furniture in Wei Cheng’s family is made of common and practical wood with simple carving patterns, and the three pieces of furniture cost ten taels of silver. Carpenter Zhao bought all the drawings and gave him thirty taels, which also included Wei Cheng’s previous ideas.
Both parties are satisfied with the price!
After sending Carpenter Zhao away, the family’s income increased by another twenty taels. Excluding recent expenses, Wei Cheng had more than twenty taels in his hands.
In the countryside, this is the wealth of a small rich household.
From a poor and broken household to a small wealthy household, Yuan Yuan of his family can live a good life.
If this is handed in, he doesn’t know what kind of stunned expression his family’s Yuan Yuan will show.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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On the day of marriage.
Wei Cheng got up before the sun rose, and rushed to make a red date thousand-layer cake. The ingredients were prepared yesterday. He only needed to boil the red dates, mix them into the pre-prepared powder, and cook them layer by layer.
The process takes some time, and the cooking can be completed in less than an hour.
Wei Cheng ordered Wei Yuan to let him and Aunt Lu come earlier. He had to cook breakfast for several people. The white porridge had been boiling on the stove. Hot oil was spread on the pancakes.
For breakfast, there is porridge, ten pancakes, served with dried radish, fried cucumbers marinated overnight, and a plate of small green vegetables, and breakfast is ready.
Before the agreed-upon time, Aunt Lu, Wei Yuan, and Wei Lei also came.
“Aunt Lu, Yuan-zi, Lei-zi, you are here, you haven’t eaten breakfast yet, I just made breakfast.” There are tables and chairs for eating in the yard, and Wei Cheng invited them to sit down.
Wei Cheng basically ate in the courtyard, the room was dark, but he still liked the bright light outside.
“Don’t call us to eat, Auntie didn’t come here to eat.” Aunt Lu doesn’t want to eat, she is here to help with work, so how can she have breakfast already?!
Wei Yuan was familiar with Wei Cheng, he thought she’d be polite, but his mother refused directly, so he could only mutter in his heart, after their breakfast he ate half of a hard bun on the way, and when he walked to the outskirts of the county, he has almost digested it.
Wei Yuan didn’t dare to refute his mother’s words, otherwise, he would be beaten on the forehead.
Wei Lei doesn’t talk much, he follows Wei Yuan, if he wants to work, he waits until the work is arranged and done before resting, and he didn’t eat breakfast early in the morning. His family keeps swearing and shouting, breakfast hasn’t been cooked yet so he came on an empty stomach.
“Aunt Lu, I’ve prepared breakfast for you, you must eat it.” After Wei Cheng finished speaking, he called Wei Yuan and Wei Lei to help him with breakfast. Before Aunt Lu refused, he went into the kitchen and brought out the food.
Wei Cheng had entered the kitchen before Aunt speak, he went into the kitchen with Wei Lei to serve breakfast.
Wei Yuan’s saliva drools at the sight of the food rich table.
Wei Lei’s expressionless face also showed a little more expression, he was even more hungry!
Aunt Lu looked at the breakfast table and said in surprise, “Cheng-zi, you got up early in the morning to be busy, today you are the groom, how can I let you do this work, what do you want to do now, tell auntie, auntie will do it.” She could tell that the food took a lot of work to be prepared.
Aunt Lu rolled up her sleeves and was about to get busy.
Wei Cheng stopped him, “Auntie, don’t be in a rush to be busy, everyone has to have breakfast first.”
Aunt Lu still wanted to refuse. In fact, it was the first time she had seen such a rich breakfast, and she was also moved by it, but she took the wages to help. In fact, she didn’t want to be paid to help but Wei Cheng said he’ll just asked someone else and she finally had to take it. She didn’t have the nerve to eat breakfast made by others when she was already getting paid.
It could be seen that Aunt Lu was going to refuse to eat, and Wei Yuan didn’t know how to take the initiative, so Wei Lei will refuse to eat, could it be that he was to finish the whole table by himself?
“Aunt Lu, if you don’t eat, I can’t finish it by myself. If I can’t finish it, I’ll give it to passers-by.”
“Hey, this…”
“Aunt Lu, sit down and eat, I’m ashamed to eat alone if you don’t eat.”
Aunt Lu couldn’t refuse anymore, so she sat down and ate. Wei Yuan and Wei Lei started eating after sitting down after her. They ate a mouthful of pancakes and soft white porridge, and they were full of praise.
Cheng-zi’s craftsmanship, when was it so good?
The four of them finished a table of breakfast and were satisfied.
The pancake is fragrant and chewy, and the white porridge and rice are thick and fragrant. It is even more delicious when accompanied by dried radish, pickled cucumber, and small green vegetables!
Wei Yuan ate the most, with a bulging stomach, sitting in a lying posture, and couldn’t help saying, “Cheng-zi, your cooking skills are great, this is so delicious!”
Even Wei Lei didn’t seek delicious food, as long as he could fill his stomach then it was good enough, he felt for the first time that the food could be so delicious.
Aunt Lu was the one who ate the least, and this meal was the best she had ever eaten, even when compared to the food at a restaurant.
After breakfast, Aunt Lu will speak now, and she has to work first.
Wei Cheng took her to the kitchen and asked Aunt Lu to take care of the mille-feuille cakes, divide them into plates according to the shapes he had cut with a knife, put them back on the kitchen cabinet, and take care of them.
When Mother Wei and the others coming over, he was worried. His sister-in-law would definitely go into the kitchen to look around. Before that, he specially made the kitchen cabinets, which could be locked, but he didn’t want his sister-in-law to go to the kitchen to look.
The kitchen cabinet contains rice, flour, meat, and vegetables.
Today he has to work on getting married, so he definitely won’t be able to take care of the kitchen, so he will leave it to Aunt Lu.
It was the first time for Aunt Lu to see a transparent pastry with so many layers, she couldn’t help exclaiming that she would do whatever Wei Cheng told her to do.
As for the other jobs, there is nothing else. When the time comes, Aunt Lu does not know whether to laugh or cry when she looks at the arrangement. This is the most relaxing job she has been busy with.
Not long after, the ingredients needed for the banquet were also delivered in batches. The helpers for the banquet came, and they were all from the same village as Wei Cheng.
Mother Wei and his sister-in-law also came.
The other thing, Wei Cheng doesn’t need to worry about it.
As expected, his sister-in-law went into the kitchen to look around and came out muttering when she saw the kitchen cabinet was locked. She wanted to go to the new house, but it was Wei Cheng’s room after all, so it was not good for her to go in.
There were candies and peanuts and melon seeds placed in the living room. His nephew still didn’t greet him when he saw him, but put a lot of candies, peanuts, and melon seeds in his pocket in the living room.
Wei Cheng didn’t see it- the interior of the new house was different from the outside, there were peanuts, red dates, and pastries for the guests. And the new house was also being looked over by Aunt Lu, and no one was allowed to enter the new house. Before he went to pick up his relatives, she kept the keys in the house. When he came back to pick up his relatives, she will help open the door in advance.
The departure time is approaching.
Wei Cheng was dressed in a red wedding dress, with a tall figure and a radiant look.
An ox cart is used to pick up the bride. The ox cart is covered with red cloth and cushions are placed at the door. Then they will drive the rented ox cart, followed by the people who will greet the incoming relative, and so, a group of people set off for Qinghe Village.
………
On the Zhou’s End.
The ger about to get married puts on make-up, which is done by an aunt in the village, also known as Xi Niang.
Zhou Yuan was dressed in a bright red wedding dress, his hair was partly pulled up in a bun, the jade hairpin was inserted obliquely, and a thin layer of foundation powder was applied to his face. The aunt who combed his hair wanted to apply thick blush on his cheeks but he raised his hand to block it.
“Auntie, you don’t need to apply blush, it’s fine!”
Zhou Yuan didn’t like rouge and gouache, he could accept a thin layer of rouge when he was married, but he would rather not have a thick layer of red on his cheeks.
“Zhou-ger, what can you do? You are getting married today, which is your big day. You must put on some blush to look like a married couple, and it will look better.”
Zhou Yuan stood up, fixed his eyes, smiled, and said, “No, I think this is very good, thank you, auntie!”
“This is not in line with the rules…” Without a blush, the face is not red enough.
The auntie wanted to continue persuading, but Mother Zhou came in, “Aunt Xi, Yuan Yuan said it’s ok, so there’s no need for it.”
Even Mother Zhou spoke up, and Aunt Xi didn’t force him anymore. She said a few nice words and went out too.
Zhou Qiu and Zhou Muzi stayed with Zhou Yuan in the room all the time, they just sat quietly and watched Zhou Yuan get dressed, they waited for a long time and after Zhou Yuan put on makeup, he was finally able to talk.
Zhou Qiu smiled and said, “Yuan Yuan, you look so good today, Muzi and I are dumbfounded, with this red wedding dress, with makeup on, it is no worse than a village flower.”
Zhou Muzi enviously said, “Yuan Yuan, you look good, I don’t know if I will look better than now when I get married.”
Zhou Yuan was dressed in a red wedding dress with a cinched waist, with light makeup, his cheeks were naturally pink, and his eyebrows flowed, elegant and slender.
Zhou Yuan smiled slightly, “Muzi, you are also very pretty!”
Mother Zhou also smiled and looked at her ger, Yuan Yuan was about to get married, her eyes turned red immediately, and she felt very sad!
“My family’s Yuan Yuan is so beautiful, ah, Mother is really reluctant to see you get married.”
“Mother…”
Zhou Yuan didn’t hold back his emotions, his eyes were slightly red.
Mother Zhou asked, “Yuan Yuan, you are marrying into your husband’s family but you are not from a different family, you are still from ours. In the future, you must work hard and listen to your husband.”
“Mom, I will.”
“Yuan Yuan, your second uncle is here, just outside, do you want to see him?”
Mother Zhou’s natal family also asked someone to come on the day of her ger’s marriage, they said someone from her natal family would come over, but no one else from her natal family came, only Zhou Yuan’s second uncle came alone. Before, when Zhou Yuan’s elder brothers got married, one of the three uncles came, and Zhou Yuan’s aunt would also be brought along.
“Mother, the second uncle is here!” The uncle is good to him and his brothers in the family, it is rare for the uncle to come, Zhou Yuan is very happy, and as a junior, he must see him.
Mother Zhou went to call someone into the house.
With his uncle coming, Zhou Qiu and Zhou Muzi went out, and the two went outside the courtyard to wait for someone to pick up the bride.
Zhou Yuan’s second uncle, wearing a long cotton gown, looks about forty years old, his sons are also tall, and his facial features are somewhat similar to Mother Zhou.
“Hello, Second Uncle.”
“I haven’t seen you much this year but Yuan-ger has already grown up and is about to get married. Uncle is here to give gifts to you this time. This is from the wishes of your three uncles, and the other is from your grandmother and grandfather. For your peace and safety.” Zhou Yuan’s uncle took out two wooden gift boxes.
Zhou Yuan didn’t know whether he should take it so Mother Zhou smiled and took it for her ger, “Thank your uncles and grandparents.”
“Thank you, uncles, thank you, grandfather and grandmother!”
It’s rare for Mother Zhou to see her natal family, and she also wants to chat with her second brother more and ask her about natal family, about her mother and father’s health.
“Second brother, why don’t you stay one more night this time and go back tomorrow morning.”
He thought about it for a while, and agreed to Mother Zhou to stay one more night, “Okay, sister, I’ll go out first, you and Yuan-ger have a good talk.”
He left behind his things and went out.
Mother Zhou tidied up her ger’s clothes and opened the gift that Uncle Zhou Yuan had given him. There was a gold bracelet on each box, the pattern was simple, and the width of the bracelet was half a centimeter. The one Wei Cheng bought was as big as these ones.
Mother Zhou saw that her ger was not wearing anything on his fair wrist, so she asked, “Yuan Yuan, Wei Cheng bought you a gold bracelet, why don’t you put it on?”
“Mother, will it be too much to wear…” The wooden box containing the gold bracelet was placed on the table, Zhou Yuan didn’t want to wear it, it would be too eye-catching.
Mother Zhou smiled and said, “Silly boy, today is your big day. It should be beautiful and bright. What’s there to cover up? You put on the bracelet, and the one your uncle brought for you.” He wore three bracelets, one on the left and two on the right.
Zhou Yuan also let Mother Zhou help put it on.
Mother Zhou looked at it and was finally satisfied!
The bustle outside became even louder!
Matchmaker Zhang’s festive voice also came into the room, Matchmaker Zhang shouted.
—The groom is coming to pick him up!
T/N: bonus chapters are available on ko-fi, thanks as always for your support!
🙏🙏🙏Thank you for this chapter! A happy occasion🥰❤️💜
Thank you for the chapters!!
The wedding is here, I’m so excited 🤩
Ahh so happy!! The wedding is starting!! 😆💖
Thanks for the chapter! All ready in time! Yay!
They’re getting married! Thanks for the chapter!
Happy marriage!!!!
They are here!
Thank You for the new chapter (´∩｡• ᵕ •｡∩`) ♡
Congratulations 💐