Wei Cheng and Zhou Yuan went to the market together.
There are shops in the market that can make stone mills, and it would take about an hour to finish their order so Wei Cheng took his wife to a jewelry shop to buy silver bracelets.
Most of the jewelry in the jewelry shop in the market are all ordinary ones so the price is not that high.
Zhou Yuan came in and took a look at a small silver bracelet. The small bracelet was polished and round, and the workmanship was fine. It was engraved with small animals with small and exquisite bells woven on it, and the bells rang when they shook.
“Husband, look at this little bracelet, isn’t it cute? Cousin Xiu’s little baby must look cute when wearing this.”
“Then let us buy this.” Wei Cheng asked the shopkeeper, “How much is the pair of small bracelets?”
The shopkeeper smiled and said, “Honored customer, this pair of silver bracelets to be worn by babies is our best seller in Fucheng, the best pair in our store. It originally sold for four taels of silver, if you want it, we will give you a discount of twenty wen.”
Wei Cheng felt that the small bracelets in his wife’s hands were the best ones in the store while the others were either dull in color or rough in workmanship. He was about to ask to buy them but Zhou Yuan felt that the price was too high. An ordinary pair of small bracelets cost only about five or six hundred wen, which is the price of most. If this cost four taels of silver then that must mean that each one cost two taels of silver.
“Husband, this is too expensive, let’s change it to something else.” Although Zhou Yuan likes it very much since it is small and cute, it is too expensive, so he’ll just put it back.
Seeing him reluctantly put back the bracelets, Wei Cheng said, “It’s okay, let’s buy it.” He said to the shopkeeper, “Wrap it up.”
Seeing that his husband agreed to buy it, Zhou Yuan didn’t worry if he could afford it. The price was a bit expensive, but he knew it was worth it.
Wei Cheng proudly proclaimed that he would buy it but after he tried to take out money, he found that he had none. He looked at Zhou Yuan with a pitiful face, “Yuan Yuan, I have no money.”
The shopkeeper was just about to take out the small bracelet that he put into a brocaded bag, however he suddenly heard that the man didn’t have any money. This made him look at the clothes of the two- they were wearing clothes made of the most common cotton cloth. When they first came in, he was distracted by their appearances that he forgot to assess if they could afford to buy the bracelets.
After thinking about it, the waiter slowed down in packing the bracelets- he had been too happy to make the deal just not as it meant that he could get a lot of commision but it seemed like his bubble had burst.
The shopkeeper is not the kind of person who looks down on people, and the man didn’t say that he wouldn’t buy it. If other shop assistants who are arrogant and look down on people met these two, they would have already opened their mouths to ridicule them.
Zhou Yuan laughed out loud when he heard this, his husband really said he’ll buy something even if he had no money. He took out the silver taels, and joked casually, “Husband, how could you say you’ll buy something when you have no money, hey, here you are, remember that when you buy something next time, bring some money, otherwise you won’t have money to buy things.”
Perhaps it was because of Wei Cheng’s actions and words that changed Zhou Yuan’s mood, as he let go of some concepts instilled into him so he dared to tease his husband.
Wei Cheng also felt that his wife’s heart had changed, and was very satisfied, so he sent the payment to the shopkeeper, “The money is here for you, wrap the bracelet well.”
The shopkeeper seemed happy to accept the money, but he murmured to himself, this man must be a husband who married into the ger’s family.
The shopkeeper looked like he was having the wrong thoughts and Zhou Yuan saw it, he didn’t want his husband to be looked down upon by others, so he said to Wei Cheng, “Husband, next time, don’t hand over all the money you earn to me for safekeeping, you should keep some for yourself, and you can use it when you go out. It’s more convenient this way, otherwise you’d be going out without money next time. If I’m not around to pay, how will you buy things then?”
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.
Wei Cheng only used his money to buy and sell ingredients for the stall so he only carried a bit of the money with him, and he never thought about using silver taels when he was resting.
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The shopkeeper handed the things to the couple, and sent them out of the shop warmly and politely.
Wei Cheng and Zhou Yuan walked out of the shop, halfway there, Wei Cheng looked at his wife beside him- he was dressed in plain clothes and the hairpins on his hair were ones bought before they got married.
He has been busy with the stall’s business recently so he forgot to buy gifts for his wife. However, even if the money has been handed over to the wife, he can earn it again and buy more things for his wife.
Moreover, the jewelry in this market was very ordinary. If he wants to buy some jewelry for his wife, he must go to the inner county to buy some.
*
Everything was now ready, Wei Cheng paid Yang Gaolin his wages, and then began to boil brown sugar.
The squeezed sugarcane juice was boiled in a big pot. Thanks to having large pots at home, they’ll only need to do this process once but the cooking process takes some effort and time.
He put the boiled brown sugar into a large basket covered with oiled paper, smooth it out and let it cool before cooling it down, and the brown sugar is ready.
After the cold down process was done the next day, the brown sugar made from more than one hundred sugar canes weighed almost twenty catties.
Zhou Yuan’s eyes widened even more, in disbelief that he actually made brown sugar.
Wei Cheng said, “Yuan Yuan, is it enough to bring four catties of brown sugar to your cousin, and then four catties to my father-in-law’s house, do you want to give some to your two friends in the village?”
Zhou Yuan asked, “Is that ok? Why don’t you take it out and sell it?”
Wei Cheng said with a smile, “This is not for sale, except for a few catties that will be kept at home, all the brown sugar I made this time will be given to your relatives and friends. Well, four catties left at home would be enough, and the rest will be shared. Anyway, if the family finishes their supply, there will still be the wastelands with lots of sugarcane growing there, I’ll just cut some more and make some more.”
“Okay.” Zhou Yuan smiled, “I’ll give Muzi and Xiaoqiu two catties each, and sister Xiu and my mother will be given the amounts that my husband told me.” If there are good things, he should share them at home, and he also wants to bring these things to his family and friends.
Wei Cheng thought for a while, “There are about four catties left, I will give two catties to Yuan-zi’s family, Lei-zi will definitely not want it, so there are still two catties…”
Zhou Yuan asked him, “Don’t you want to give some to your parents?” Although he knew that his mother-in-law was not good to his husband, he was still a member of the family so he had to give some.
Wei Cheng cannot truly just ignore them, after all, in this life, they are his parents.
“The remaining two catties will be taken to the market shop in another day for my elder brother to give to my parents.”
There was brown sugar to bring to visit his father-in-law, and Wei Cheng wanted to buy some more things to bring. Zhou Yuan reminded him not to be too eye-catching, Wei Cheng still listened to his wife when dealing with people in the village, so he didn’t buy any more.
Wei Cheng was waiting to go to Qinghe Village with his wife tomorrow, but he suddenly received an invitation from Tai Fu Luo, asking him to go to Tai Fu Luo tomorrow morning.
Since they asked him to go the next morning then it seemed that they knew he was on vacation and the stall was closed.
He couldn’t go to Qinghe Village with his wife, and he was worried that it would be unsafe for her to go there alone. Wei Cheng wanted to change the contract, but if he changed the contract, the cooperation would definitely come to naught.
“Wife…” The voice was aggrieved.
Zhou Yuan smiled and said, “Okay, I’ll go alone tomorrow. There are ox carts in the market for going back to the village. It would be safer for me to go back by ox cart.”
Wei Cheng was reluctant but they could only do so.
*
The next day.
Wei Cheng still accompanied his wife to the ox carts. Uncle Li who owned the cart knew Zhou Yuan. Seeing Zhou Yuan’s husband sending him over to ride the ox cart, he knew that the couple had a very good relationship. This is because it seemed that Zhou Yuan was going back to his natal home with a lot of things with him- he thought to himself that the ger had really married well as his husband was kind to him.
Uncle Li in the ox cart also thought about his daughter who was already married and lived in her husband’s house. Although his daughter’s husband’s family would not treat his daughter badly, they were not generous. Every time his daughter returned to her mother’s house, she brought nothing with her but brought things back from home.
In the past, it was said that it would be hard for Zhou-ger to find someone decent when he was too old, but now it seems that Zhou-ger is very lucky.
Wei Cheng was still exhorting others.
“Uncle Li, please take care of my Yuan Yuan.”
“Sure.”
“Uncle Li’s ox cart is one wen per person. If I give two wen, can you make room for my family’s Yuan Yuan to put things in?”
“…Okay!” Since he was giving the money, how can Uncle Li not agree to it? Anyways, there are no more people riding in ox carts at this point, and he can still make some extra money.
Wei Cheng discussed this with Uncle Li who owned the ox cart and then thoughtfully asked his wife to sit down before putting the things beside him.
“Yuan Yuan, then I’ll go back first, and I’ll pick you up in the afternoon.”
“Okay, you go back first, don’t be late.”
Wei Cheng made an appointment at Tai Fu Luo, so he must arrive early, and after their goodbyes, Wei Cheng reluctantly went back.
As soon as Wei Cheng left, Uncle Li’s ox cart was suddenly full of people.
Originally, the bullock cart was not full, and there were still two vacant seats, but then a mother and daughter came. They should not be from Qinghe Village, and they also had a lot of things in their hands, so the seats were just enough. But this meant that they had no place to put their things, and they hated carrying them on their bodies. They waved the handkerchiefs in their hands to fan themselves of the heat as they shouted that the weather was hot, and then they had objections when they saw Zhou Yuan put his things beside him.
“Why are you so rude, brother, occupying a place by yourself and using another place to store your things. Didn’t you see that we had a lot of things in our hands, so you should move them, just carry those things on your body.”
Zhou Yuan also carried about ten catties of brown sugar. It seemed that there were not as many radishes and vegetables in the baskets that the mother and daughter were holding but it was still a solid weight. Although this weight was very light for Zhou Yuan, who was used to farm work, it was his husband’s love and care that he paid for the vacant place. So he was not at all sorry for occupying that place with his things, if it were that there was no space, he would’ve been fine with carrying those things.
“Sorry, I paid for this seat so I put things here, and there is nothing wrong with it.”
The mother and daughter were taken aback when they heard this, and then they looked very dissatisfied, but they couldn’t say anything.
Uncle Li still remembered what Wei Cheng said, so he said, “Would you like to sit, or not? We’re leaving.”
The mother and daughter had no choice but to sit. If they didn’t sit, they would have had to walk to Qinghe Village by themselves.
The mother and daughter were sitting close to Zhou Yuan, and they squeezed and squeezed towards Zhou Yuan along the way, and said while squeezing, “Oh, it’s so narrow, I also paid the money. The space is so narrow, so how can I sit here?”
“Mother, you can sit comfortably a little more, and we have the right to sit comfortably since we paid the money.”
“You’re right, daughter.”
Then they squeezed towards Zhou Yuan, pushing Zhou Yuan’s things closer to Zhou Yuan, and even squeezed Zhou Yuan’s position to the side to be close to each other, and eventually, the space between the mother and daughter was enough to place the basket of vegetables they bought.
Zhou Yuan didn’t bother to say anything to the mother and daughter pair and his things were still left unmoved, but the position was a little tight.
The mother and daughter pair looked proud of their accomplishments.
The people in the village couldn’t watch and commented on a few words, they didn’t want the two to do as they pleased.
Zhou Yuan thanked the aunts in the village, and he said it was okay.
That’s why they didn’t make any noise all the way to Qinghe Village.
He just doesn’t know whose relatives the mother and daughter were.
t/n: bonus chapters available on ko-fi
Trouble has come once again..
Thanks for the update
Thanks for the chapter! This is wrong, he paid for the space!
This village is full of troublesome people and relatives, dang.
Thanks for the update!!!
Thank You for the new chapter ♡〜٩( ╹▿╹ )۶〜♡
Thanks for the chapter!
… Is this ancient equivalent to ‘I pay extra for window seat on plane but someone want me to move just because’ lmao?