Rise From the Humble

"The second son's house is really grand."

When he walked to the door of Zhu Ping'an's house, his uncle Zhu Shouren looked at the door of the huge red brick and green tile house and couldn't help but sigh. Uncle Zhu Shouren has not been to Zhu Ping'an's house for a while. Zhu Ping'an's family renovated the house a few days ago. It is much better than the top landlord's house in the village. At first sight, he couldn't help but sigh.

"Second brother, our parents are here to see you."

Without knocking on the door, uncle Zhu Shouren shouted outside the door and pushed open the door first. Then Mr. Zhu and Mrs. Zhu followed closely, then the aunt and uncle followed, and finally the third uncle's family.

At this time, mother Chen and her daughter-in-law Juaner were cutting silk fabrics on a long table in the yard, preparing to make two sets of clothes for Zhu Pingan during the slack period. This silk cloth was left by those who came to visit a few days ago. Mrs. Chen picked out a few pieces of material that felt comfortable and set them aside for Zhu Pingan to make clothes.

Zhu's father is sharpening a hoe by the well in the yard. There is more land in the house and more farm tools are used. It is also a time-consuming task to sharpen them one by one before starting work, but Zhu's father likes to do it.

The eldest brother Zhu Pingchuan took over from Zhu's father and was driving the bullock cart back and forth between the town and the village, so he was not at home.

Hearing uncle Zhu Shouren's voice, the three people working in the yard raised their heads and looked with some surprise at the arrival of everyone in the Zhu family's old house.

"Father, mother, brother, you are here." Zhu's father put down his work and came over.

"Dad, Mom." Mrs. Chen stopped the scissors in her hand and called out.

"Grandpa, grandma, please sit down. I'll get you some tea." Zhu Pingjun's wife, Juan'er, put down what she was holding, moved chairs and stools into the house, and then went to bring tea and water.

"Ahem, okay." The uncle coughed and nodded.

"Ah, second sister-in-law, this must be fine silk and satin. Yeah, look at the color. It's so beautiful." The fourth aunt saw the silk and satin spread on the table in the yard, her eyes shone green, and she let out a sigh. , rushed to Mrs. Chen in one stride, and couldn't help but put his hand on the silk and touched it.

"Oh, look how bright the color is. Why is it so thin and light? It feels so soft and comfortable. Our family has raised silkworms, but we have never touched silk satin. Second sister-in-law, you are really lucky."

The fourth aunt touched the silk satin with her hands, and she would scream from time to time, not wanting to let go of her hands.

Zhu Pingjun's wife squinted one eye, looked at the fourth aunt in disgust, and flattened her mouth in disdain.

"This color is too plain. It's for Pig. I still have half a horse in the house. If you like the color, take it. Of course, the same goes for my parents, my sister-in-law, and my two younger siblings." After hearing this, Xiao Si Auntie praised herself for being lucky, and Mrs. Chen had a smile on her face. She had originally planned to give some cloth to the old house, but now she took the opportunity to be a good person.

The eldest aunt is used to being strong, especially in front of Mr. Chen. Now that Mr. Chen showed her face, she was not to be outdone.

With an air of dignity about her, the eldest aunt also walked up to Mrs. Chen, pretending to look at the silk and satin, but she deliberately lifted the hair at the base of her ears, showing off a pair of gold earrings on her ears, and deliberately looked at Chen. Shi shook his head.

"It's hot today, and it's uncomfortable to have stuffy ears." The eldest aunt said in front of Mr. Chen while twirling her hair at the base of her ears and shaking her gold earrings.

Mrs. Chen glanced at her eldest aunt's gold earrings and looked a little strange.

When the eldest aunt saw this, she thought Chen was envious, and she became more and more energetic.

"No, it's getting hotter and hotter today. I've only been working for a while, and my hands are already hot."

As Chen said, she rolled up her sleeves, and then a gold bracelet appeared in front of her, almost dazzling her eyes.

Great aunt.

"Oh, this, Shoui Yi insists on buying it, I can't convince him." Mrs. Chen seemed to have just noticed the look in her aunt's eyes, she exclaimed and put down her sleeves again.

Father Zhu looked up when he heard this. Mrs. Chen immediately glared at Father Zhu vigorously, and then Father Zhu lowered his head again.

It’s not me who insists on buying it, it’s you who insists on buying it.

If it were modern times, Zhu's father would probably have used such an expression that the baby was in pain but the baby couldn't express it. At that time, Mrs. Chen followed Mr. Zhu to the town to look at a shop and saw such a bracelet. After just one glance, Mrs. Chen left. No more moving.

In fact, this bracelet is made of silver, with a layer of gold on the outside. Zhu's father thinks that a bracelet costs more than three taels of silver and is not worth it. However, Mrs. Chen likes it. With the roar of the lion in Hedong, Zhu's father can only spend money. Bought.

Great aunt.

When the eldest aunt encountered a setback, Zhu Pingjun's daughter-in-law came forward and said something about how much of this kind of silk and satin their parents had, and that they couldn't wear it all and they got bugs, and that they had a shop that sold silk and satin. Category.

Then the eldest aunt became elated again, stretched out her hand and gestured with two fingers, "Yes, yes, you don't know that Jun's wife's shop has this amount of gross profit in a year."

It means two hundred taels of silver. After saying this, the eldest aunt felt that she had the upper hand again.

Just at this moment, another person came into the yard. There was the sound of a carriage outside, and then a man who looked like a gentleman came in, followed by the steward and the servants.

After seeing the courtesy, he explained his purpose of coming. This was an official from the next town next door who came specifically to visit Zhu Pingan. Of course, he also knew that Zhu Pingan was not there. After greetings for a while, a gift list was delivered, and then the steward and the servants were ordered to carry the gifts from the carriage.

Not to mention the gift boxes and other items brought from the car, the first item on the gift list, a gift of one hundred taels of silver, made the uncle Zhu Shouren who read the gift list on his behalf speechless.

One hundred taels?

This was given for free. After hearing this, the eldest aunt looked at Mrs. Chen and instantly became as jealous as a rabbit, greedy for more.

Just for a visit, I would get a hundred taels of silver. In the past period of time, there were dozens of carriages and horses visiting, so how much would it cost? No wonder he has to study. No wonder his father always said that there is a golden house in books. It turns out that there really is.

Thinking about it, the eldest aunt's eyes became even redder. As for the income of two hundred taels a year from the handsome wife's shop just mentioned, this is just a drop in the bucket compared to this.

The eldest aunt's face turned red at this moment when she thought about what she had just shown off. Of course, her eyes were even redder.

As for the fourth aunt, if the fourth uncle hadn't been quick to catch her at this moment, otherwise she would have pounced on the gift and transformed into an airport security inspector.

Just when the eldest aunt was jealous, Mrs. Chen felt even more uncomfortable.

"No, no, we don't accept gifts. We don't want any money. We don't want anything valuable. We don't want any amount of money."

Mrs. Chen's expression was as if she was being cut off. She tilted her head and deliberately did not look at the various expensive gifts that were carried from the carriage. She shook one hand vigorously at the visitor and firmly refused.

Of course, the other hand pinched the flesh on Father Zhu's arm.

God knows how difficult it was for Chen to refuse, and how painful it was in her heart, which was more painful than cutting flesh.

Well

Of course, Zhu's father should know, his arm was almost bruised by Chen's pinch.

Chen's idea is very simple. His son said that accepting gifts would not be good for him in the future, so he would not accept them. No matter how much I felt in my heart, I refused to accept it for the sake of my son.

"What?"

The eldest uncle Zhu Shouren almost tore up the gift list when he heard this, not to mention the eldest aunt and the fourth aunt. Their surprised expressions were a hundred times more surprising than when they met a ghost.

In the end, under the insistence of Mrs. Chen and Father Zhu, all the valuable gifts on the gift list were taken back by the visitor, leaving only some food and other less valuable things, and a piece of cloth. This was the result of the visitor's insistence. .

Otherwise, given Chen's wishes, it would probably be enough to just leave a box of cakes.