Cai Lian accepted the new clothes, overwhelmingly joyous, gently touching the iridescent Ruyi cloud pattern on the beizi over and over, her big eyes shimmering with excitement!
Third Aunt Mu, seeing her daughter so delighted, displayed deep gratitude towards Lady Du and Cai Wei. She opened her small basket that she was carrying, picked out several shoe cushions, put them into Lady Du’s hands, and said, "Sister, all these shoe cushions are made from leftover fabrics. If you don’t mind, take them back for your scholar and children to use."
This time, Lady Du didn’t decline. She accepted the shoe cushions given by Third Aunt Mu, carefully examined them for a while, praised Third Aunt Mu’s craftsmanship, and happily accepted.
In reality, Lady Du did not actually want Third Aunt Mu’s shoe cushions. But, just like her, Third Uncle Mu and Third Aunt Mu were people who couldn’t bear to owe others favors. If they received help from others but couldn’t repay it, they would feel pressured and guilty. Therefore, even though she didn’t need it, she still pretended to accept it with great joy. She carefully gave it to Auntie Liu, asking her to keep it safe and use it during the New Year celebrations the next day.
Seeing Lady Du accepting her mother’s shoe cushions, Cai Lian quietly signaled Cai Wei.
After Cai Wei came over, Cai Lian pulled her aside, turned around and opened up her small lidded basket.
The basket was filled with finished tassels. Plum blossoms, twin fish, ruyi patterns, various designs and colors, filling almost half of the basket.
"This is..." Cai Wei looked at Cai Lian.
Cai Lian’s face turned a little red and said in a low voice: "I made these when I had free time. I took them to the market to see if they could be exchanged for some money. Little Sister Wei’er, if you don’t mind, pick a few and take them home to play with. And pick a few for Sister Fei too."
Cai Wei smiled, didn’t refuse, picked up a few tassels, and put them in her sleeve. Seeing Cai Wei accept her tassels, Cai Lian was very happy. She said in a low voice, "If little Sister likes them, I will make some new ones for you tomorrow."
Cai Wei nodded and laughed, "I like them very much!"
After they chatted on the street for a while and seeing it’s getting late, Lady Du and Cai Wei had to hurry to the Nursing Home. They said goodbye to Third Uncle Mu’s family and bought a whole basket of steamed buns along the way.
Third Uncle Mu and Third Aunt Mu initially tried to refuse their money for the buns. But seeing Lady Du insisting on it, they had to give in. In the end, Lady Du bought the basket of white flour steamed buns at two copper coins each, costing her a total of eighty copper coins!
After the two families separated, Third Aunt Mu exclaimed happily, "Thanks to the scholar’s family, we finally have money for the New Year. Let’s go to the meat shop and buy two catties of meat. Otherwise, it will be sold out if we go late."
Third Uncle Mu was thrilled as he took those eighty coins and said, "After buying the meat, if there’s still money left, we can buy Lian’er a silk flower, for a festive spirit."
Cai Lian quickly said, "You don’t have to. I already have this silken dress, that’s more than enough. Let’s spend the remaining copper coins to buy some fluffy pastries for grandma and grandpa. I remember grandpa loves the grass seed cakes the most."
"Mmm, our Lian’er is so considerate!"
Third Uncle Mu praised Cai Lian, and then went off with his wife and daughter to buy meat.
Sitting in the cart, watching the family of three disappear around a corner of the street, Cai Wei couldn’t help but feel a pang of melancholy.
If she hadn’t been transported to this family, her parents would probably be living the same hand-to-mouth existence as Third Uncle Mu’s family. Or perhaps, it might be even worse for them. At least in Third Uncle Mu’s family, the grandparents treat them well and do not mistreat them, even supporting them from time to time. Unlike her own grandparents, who seemed to want to suck her family dry to cater to the needs of the main family, as if the main family was their only real family. They even made a long list of New Year’s goods for her family to buy as a show of respect. It was really absurd!