Upon hearing that her wound would leave a scar, Yang Lichun immediately burst into tears. She refused to let Uncle Cai apply medicine to her wound. Old Lady Hua and Ms.Ye tried their best to console her, both deeply pained by her suffering.
Finally, after much persuasion from Old Lady Hua, Uncle Cai was allowed to apply medicine to the injury.
Only after Uncle Cai left and Yang Lichun rested with her face covered in ointment, did Old Lady Hua consider settling accounts with Yang Dongzhi. However, by this time, Yang Dongzhi and his siblings had disappeared as had Ms.Liu and Yang Da’an--they were hiding elsewhere in the village.
Old Lady Hua was furious and shouted, "They’re all disasters, hellbound..."
Leaving Old Lady Hua’s issue aside for a moment, events at Yang Chuxia’s home seemed unaffected by the troubles at the old Yang family’s place. As it neared midday, the dinner guests had almost all arrived.
In the village, attending a banquet also meant bringing a gift, though the value of that gift largely depended on the nature of your relationship with the host. Some would bring a basket full of eggs, some a piece of cloth, and the more affluent ones would bestow a sum of money amounting to several dozens of copper coins.
There were also a few stingy ones who would bring a few potatoes but bring along their entire family to feast. Yang Chuxia didn’t have anything to say about such matters--these things happened. Attendance was what truly mattered.
"Did you make note of everyone?" When people brought gifts, it was customary to record them, to return the favor later when they needed something. This task was undertaken by Ye Zi’an and Yang Qingrui.
"Done!" Zi’an handed her a thin stack of small, red pieces of paper. "I glanced through. Most villagers have arrived."
"Hmm, everything’s noted. We’ll return the favor next time."
"Rest assured, we didn’t miss a single one."
"By the way, little brother, could you go see why Uncle Cai hasn’t arrived? Didn’t he mention that he was called over to the old Yang family’s place?" Yang Chuxia rolled up the small stack of papers and mentioned, not having noticed Uncle Cai’s arrival yet.
"Alright, I’ll go look for him." Yang Qingrui rushed out immediately at her instruction.
"Brother An, you can sit at the table reserved for my grandfather. You won’t disturb my father," Yang Chuxia told Zi’an as she noticed him still standing there.
"It’s alright, Xiaxia. I’ll just grab something from downstairs. There are quite a few people here today, might run out of seats. We should save them for the guests."
"How can you say that?" Yang Chuxia raised her eyebrows, "Don’t worry, there’s plenty of seating. I arranged an extra table just in case. Now, off you go!"
"Alright, then I’ll go over there." If there were enough seats, Brother Zi’an wasn’t going to argue.
"Wait, Zi’an!" Just as Zi’an turned to leave, a voice came from outside the door.
Both Yang Chuxia and Zi’an turned to see a young server from the Gathering Tower riding in on a horse carriage.
"Brother Zhuzi, what brings you here?" Zi’an asked, walking towards him with a smile.
Zhuzi dismounted from the horse carriage and carried the gifts. "Shopkeeper Li heard about Miss Yang’s family moving house and specifically instructed me to bring these gifts," he explained.
"Shopkeeper Li is really too kind. We’re just moving to a farmhouse. It’s too kind of him to go through such trouble." Yang Chuxia didn’t look at the boxes in detail, but a quick glance revealed items from well-known stores in the town.
"Miss Yang, you’re too modest. If your new house is just a common farmhouse, I wonder how we, living in thatched huts, would face you?"
Zhuzi was from a neighboring village, where the living conditions were not wealthy. As he said, he lived in a thatched hut--in fact, there were only two or three houses in the whole village that were built with green brick tiles.