The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure
Chapter 406 Pleasant to the eye

Chapter 406: 406 Pleasant to the eye

During the day, when people saw smoke rising from Song Chunhua’s yard, they knew she was all right.

There were some particularly gossipy folks who whispered quietly to those around them, "That Song Chunhua, she ran to my house in the middle of the night yesterday, wanting to buy our new rice!"

"Did you sell it to her?"

"Nonsense, of course, I sold it! Why would I turn down money? It’s just that I sold it at a higher price!" the woman replied, righteous and proud.

"Anyway, she can’t hold on to that silver money, better it benefits my family than the Song Family. At least I sold her polished rice, not just raw grains!"

...

Neighbors around chimed in, with the shrewd women already deciding in their hearts to sneak over to the Song Family that night to ask around. After all, Song Chunhua always relied on Song Chongjin, had no land nor vegetable gardens; she certainly needed to buy everything now. That day, the Wang Family Girl gave her ten taels of silver, so there should be some to spare for spending.

Wang Yongzhu and the others had no idea how the neighbors were thinking or what they were doing, and even if they did, they wouldn’t get involved.

After sorting out the household registration, Song Chongjin felt much more at ease, and Wang Yongping’s leg had also almost completely healed these past few days.

The autumn harvest had ended, and gathering mountain goods was next on the agenda.

After breakfast, Wang Yongzhu spoke up, "Now that the autumn harvest is over and everyone has some free time, it’s the right time to gather mountain goods. Fourth Brother’s leg has healed, and we’d previously said that once he was better, we should visit Xiagouzi Village to properly thank the Liu Family."

"Now’s the perfect time, otherwise they might think our family is just paying lip service without any real gratitude."

With this, everyone agreed.

Wang Laozhu began to murmur that by old customs, they should bring wine, meat, and pastries, to not come across as impolite.

Old Granny Zhang had her considerations and naturally wasn’t concerned about these details.

The only thing was, for pastries, they needed to go to the town to buy them.

Wang Yongzhu gave Song Chongjin a meaningful look, "It’s perfect, I was about to say we should go to the town to thank Shopkeeper Wu and the others. Let’s have Brother Song go to town: firstly to express our thanks, and secondly to buy pastries, meat, and to pick up some good wine from town, which will also show the sincerity of our family."

Song Chongjin clearly understood what Wang Yongzhu meant by sending him to town and immediately nodded, "Leave it to me."

No one else had any objections, especially Old Granny Zhang, who found her son-in-law, Song Chongjin, more and more pleasing to the eye. Having an extra man in the house was excellent. In the past, her daughter had to worry about these matters and handle them herself.

Now that she had a son-in-law, her daughter could take it easy.

Seeing that everyone agreed, Song Chongjin harnessed the horse and carriage and headed for the town.

At home, Wang Yongzhu organized everyone to clean the room where the mountain goods were stored, sprinkling lime to disinfect and get rid of the dampness.

By late afternoon, Song Chongjin had returned, not only with pastries and meat but also two catties of the town’s best liquor, and had even brought back a bag of snacks for the children.

Jinpan and the others were delighted, calling him "Uncle" with great affection.

After handing over the pastries, meat, and wine to Old Granny Zhang, Wang Yongzhu excused herself to pick vegetables in the backyard, and Song Chongjin also busily followed along. The Wang Family folks all watched with smiles, feeling that it was just like young people to find opportunities to be alone together, even though they were already together every day.

Everyone tactfully went back to their rooms, with Old Granny Zhang especially warning that no one should go to the backyard.

The backyard.

While helping Wang Yongzhu pick eggplants, Song Chongjin talked about his trip to the town that day.