"Dad, Mom, we’re back!" Before they reached home, Yang Dong shouted excitedly, his personality becoming more and more cheerful.
"Quick, get us some water, I’m dying of thirst!" Xiaoxiao didn’t hold back, truly too exhausted and thirsty.
The sister-in-law hurriedly poured water, and Xiaoxiao and Yang Dong both drank it down in one go!
"Mom, we’ve saved up five silver taels, so we can pay it back now. Here you go!" Xiaoxiao quickly handed over the five silver taels to her mother-in-law, and, disregarding any image, plopped down onto the stool, the tightly wound life of nearly ten days finally allowed her to rest.
"..." So fast? Just how many days has it been? This third daughter-in-law is too amazing! Didn’t they say before that selling candied hawthorn could earn a good two taels or more? And after being swindled out of five hundred wen by the second fatty daughter-in-law, now she can actually take out five taels—how did she manage this?
"Mom, you all say, I’m going back to sleep, don’t call me for dinner."
Xiaoxiao didn’t care what everyone thought, leaving Yang Dong to explain for himself. She was just too tired and needed to get a good sleep.
True to her word, Xiaoxiao fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, sleeping till she woke naturally, straight through to the next morning. The feeling of being debt-free was just fantastic. Xiaoxiao planned to rest for a few days, first transcribe some books to make a little money, and then slowly consider the pickled vegetable business! Before she could start earning the small money, an unexpected guest arrived!
At the village entrance, an ox cart rolled in!
"Excuse me, sister, could you tell me how to get to Yang Ming’s house?" the coachman asked, after coming down.
"Go straight in, the third house at the eastern end of the village with a big willow tree at the door! That’s the one."
The ox cart headed towards Yang Ming’s house, but people began murmuring behind it!
"Has the old Yang family come into some fortune? It looks like there’s furniture on that cart."
"It’s a style we’ve never seen before. Must be pretty expensive, right! It surely costs several silver taels!"
"Indeed! Who knows what kind of luck they’ve stumbled upon!"
"If you ask me, it must be that wasteful daughter-in-law of theirs!"
They were spot on. It was the new furniture that Xiaoxiao had ordered arriving!
An elderly woman from the crowd, hearing the murmurs, huffed her way back home!
At the Yang Family home,
Xiaoxiao was in the main house transcribing a book when she heard the noise outside; she quickly went to check who had come! She was thrilled to see the furniture had arrived—it was about time she sorted out their living space!
"Shopkeeper Zhang, what brings you here in person! Please, come in and sit!" So it was Shopkeeper Zhang! Such impressive service, to have the shopkeeper personally deliver the goods!
"Ha-ha, I’m here on business and was worried the delivery might not go smoothly, so I came. I hope I’m not interrupting! Miss, where do you want the furniture? I’ll have it arranged for you. No need to hurry inside."
After the furniture was set up, Xiaoxiao ushered Shopkeeper Zhang into the main house.
"Dad, Mom, this is Shopkeeper Zhang from the furniture store, he’s brought the delivery! Heh heh, sorry about that, I couldn’t help myself the first day and bought it," Xiaoxiao said apologetically to her father-in-law and mother-in-law, this was her splurge from earlier on, she hadn’t spent any extra money recently.
"Shopkeeper Zhang, please, have a seat. We’re very sorry, our home is small and we’ve just had a bit of a situation, I’m receiving guests on the kang, please pardon me!" Yang Dong, as the head of the family, was still good at receiving guests.
"Oh no, not at all, I’m the one who is being presumptuous for intruding. The main reason for my visit is to seek a favor from your daughter-in-law, hence I came in person!"
"This is our third daughter-in-law!"