Spring comes to the desperate place

Chapter 135 Gifts

The three of them offered a stick of incense to the Marquis and then came out. It was their first time in the capital and they found everything strange. Fu Nian suggested that they take a walk around the capital before going back. Lu Ming was meaningless and Song Daha didn't say anything as he was busy looking around.

Fu Nian tugged at his sleeve and said, "Don't look around, Dahe. There are many noble people here. This is not our border town."

Song Dahe obediently retracted his gaze: "Oh, let me push the wheelchair for you."

Fu Nian nodded, Lu Ming made way for Song Daha, and Song Daha happily pushed Fu Nian's wheelchair.

The streets in the capital are very flat, and the wheelchair does not bump when driving on them, but it is quite eye-catching, probably because the style looks strange, but it is extremely convenient. There are even people who are brave enough to come forward and ask Fu Nian where he bought the wheelchair.

Fu Nian only told them that this was made by the younger generation in the family, not bought.

The man felt very sorry, and after obtaining Fu Nian's consent, he walked around the wheelchair several times and touched it for a long time.

It was not until Lu Ming became impatient that he reluctantly withdrew his claws, and asked Fu Nian what the chair was made of, as it looked so thin and hard.

Fu Nian naturally had no answer and could only leave with a laugh. He had asked Song Chunlin the same question, but Song Chunlin said that it was a secret, just like the blind man's cane in Lu Ming's hand, they were all secrets. Fu Nian tactfully stopped asking. Who cares? The young man was doing it to show filial piety to them, and it was not something against the law of nature. Why should he care so much?

Before coming, Fu Nian specifically asked Song Dazhuang which market in the capital was the busiest. Song Dazhuang recommended that they go to the North City, where there were more stalls set up by ordinary people, while the West City was mostly populated by foreign merchants, and most of the goods sold were imported.

Fu Nian deliberately brought money with him when he went out, thinking of buying some gifts for the children at home. They have been here for so long, but have never bought anything for the Song family. It was a good opportunity to buy a wedding gift for Song Chunsheng as well.

"Dahe, you, as the uncle, go first." The group walked into a relatively large jewelry shop. Before leaving, they deliberately took out all the reward money that Gu Fengyun had given them last time, just to choose a few gifts that suited their taste.

Song Dahao's thinking was still a little slow, but he was able to communicate with people in a simple way. He called his waiter and asked him to take out the biggest and most beautiful golden crown.

The waiter saw that although the clothes they were wearing were new, the material was very ordinary. He thought that they probably couldn't afford it, but he still maintained a professional smile on his face: "Dear guests, are you buying the gold crown as a gift?"

Song Dahe took a while to react before answering him: "Yes, my nephew is newly married."

The waiter had the answer in his mind after hearing the brief answer. He led the few people to a more ordinary counter and recommended a few cheaper gold crowns to them.

Although it is a gold crown, it is made of gold all over and is not pure gold. However, it is exquisitely crafted and looks quite luxurious.

Song Daha was not very satisfied, so he asked the waiter if there was anything better. Seeing that he insisted, the waiter could only take him to a more upscale area. The price of jewelry in this area was twice as expensive as the one just now, but both the workmanship and materials were better than before.

Song Dahe originally wanted to ask for something more expensive, but was stopped by Fu Nian.

"Okay, Chunsheng and his wife are farmers, they don't usually use such expensive things. This one is good enough right now. Daha, just choose one." He asked Song Daha to choose one from a pile of golden crowns like coaxing a child.

Song Daha was in a dilemma. He wanted to buy the most expensive one, but he felt that Fu Nian was right. After hesitating for a long time, he finally chose the biggest one.

Fu Nian and Lu Ming also bought a pair of gold collars together, made of pure gold. The two collars together weighed half a pound, and they spent one-third of their reward money.

After choosing satisfactory gifts, the three of them bought a longevity lock for each of the children, and even a lock for the baby in Song Qin's belly.

When it was time to pay the bill, the waiter's face was about to break with laughter. He had not expected that these three ordinary-dressed people in front of him would be so generous and buy several hundred taels of goods at one time. The shopkeeper was almost calling them the God of Wealth.

After the three of them bought the jewelry, they went straight to the West Market, intending to stroll around the West Market to see if there were any rare things. Song Chunlin liked this kind of things. Song Daha loved his nephew very much, and since he seldom went out, of course he had to bring him something he had never seen before.

Not to mention, they actually found some seeds they had never seen before. With these things, the three of them returned home.

Song Dazhuang looked at them carrying large and small bags. Not only did the elderly and children in the family have gifts, but even the one in Song Qin's belly had a pair of exquisite and small silver bracelets.

Song Qin said that they had spent a lot of money. Let’s not talk about the silver jewelry, but they had spent a lot of money on the pair of gold necklaces and gold crowns.

Song Dazhuang also felt that they were too expensive. Although the gold necklace belonged to his own brother, he refused to accept it no matter what.

"You have finally got some money in your hands, so you should keep it for yourselves. This gift is too valuable, so take it back quickly." Song Dazhuang said as he was about to push the box containing the gold necklace to them.

Fu Nian smiled and stopped Song Dazhuang's action: "We are now living and eating at the Song family, so there is no need to spend money. Besides, since we came to the Song family, our old illnesses have improved a lot. Can these be bought with money? Just accept it and treat it as our food and lodging for the next ten years."

"Ah, how can this be confused? If so, Dahe has lived with you for so many years, shouldn't he pay more?"

"This is what should not be confused. Da He suffered so much when he followed us. How could he have such a good life as we have now? Keep it. Da He is our brother. His nephew is also our nephew. As an uncle, how can you say that a gift given to your own nephew is expensive?"

He had said this much, and it would be hypocritical to refuse. Song Dazhuang smiled and pulled Song Chunsheng over: "Come, kowtow to your two uncles."

Song Chunsheng immediately knelt down in front of the two men and kowtowed heavily. The other children followed suit and kowtowed to them.

Now Lu Ming and Fu Nian are truly members of the Song family.

The reward from the court has not yet arrived, and it is already February here. Song Chunsheng's wedding day is getting closer and closer. Almost everyone in the Song family who can be mobilized is busy. Even Song Xiaojiu is responsible for a job, which is to put wedding characters on all the furnishings he can get in the house.

Fortunately, all the furniture in the house was new, and everything in Song Chunsheng's room remained intact. Only a dressing table was added, which was placed under the window where the light was best.

Song Qin was about to give birth, and she could not help with the housework, so she was responsible for supervising the two children to do their homework. Now, thanks to Song Chunlin's unremitting efforts, all members of the Song family can read and write, and even Song Qin teaches the two children simple homework.

The weather in February was still very cold, so Song Dazhuang ordered two big fat pigs in advance, as well as various slaughtered chickens, ducks and geese. The oven at home could roast twenty roast ducks at a time. Song Amo marinated and dried the ducks in advance, and then Song Chunlin was responsible for collecting them and putting them into the space.

Other dishes were also prepared in advance and placed in the space to keep them fresh. In order to make the wedding banquet look more lively, Song Chunlin also specially scattered some flower and grass seeds at the door of his house. Under his promotion, all of them bloomed just the day before the wedding, which amazed the people who came to help with the work.

Some younger grandmothers even said that the flower was a sign of good fortune and that they had made a good choice in marrying a daughter-in-law.

Song Qin held her belly and smiled happily: "Then I will accept your good words. I will wait for them to have two children in three years."

Everyone laughed again, saying that Song Qin was pregnant with a baby and was not afraid of being too busy.

"What's the big deal? If you're too busy, don't you still have the child's father?"

"You are lucky. My husband only knows how to do farm work and never touches the housework."

Everyone finished the preliminary preparations while chatting and laughing, and went back to rest before it got dark as they had to get up early the next day.

Because it is the first happy event in the family, the whole family is very excited, especially the groom Song Chunsheng. He will sleep in the guest room tonight. His own room has been decorated, but he will have to wait until tomorrow to sleep.

When Song Chunsheng thought that he would not be sleeping alone tomorrow night, his face turned red like a shrimp.

Zhou Ning also couldn't sleep. He went to bed early in the evening, but tossed and turned and couldn't fall asleep. Finally, he got up in annoyance and wandered around the room which was full of dowry.

Zhou Ning originally had no dowry. Most of the things in the house were brought over by the Song family. In the only box, there were some jewelry that his parents secretly left for him. They were not valuable, but had special meaning. There were also dowry gifts brought by relatives such as Aunt Wang. The gifts given by rural people were not too expensive, just a token of their appreciation.

The most special thing in the box is a pair of jade bracelets. Although their quality is not very good, they are the most valuable among all the gifts. They were sent by Grandpa Zhou and Grandma Zhou through their little cousin.

Zhou Ning stroked the jade bracelets with a complicated expression. He had known about this pair of bracelets since he was a child because his eldest cousin always showed off in front of him, saying that the most valuable dowry from his grandmother would be given to her in the future. When he was a child, he thought his grandparents were partial to each other. Only when he grew up did he realize that his cousin's showing off was just deceiving herself. This pair of bracelets could only be given to the eldest grandson's wife by his grandparents. How could they give it to a granddaughter who married out?

When he was young, he would be sad and upset because he was deceived, and felt that his grandparents favored his cousins. Looking back now, he just thinks that he was so naive at the time that he would be sad for something that was destined not to belong to him.

Zhou Ning never imagined that Grandpa Zhou and Grandma Zhou would actually give him this pair of bracelets as a dowry.

It was not known whether they were doing this out of guilt or wanting to compensate Zhou Ning, but Zhou Ning accepted the bracelet calmly. As for how the other members of the Zhou family would make a fuss if they knew about it, that was none of his business.

Because he slept too late last night, Zhou Ning felt as if he had just closed his eyes for a moment when someone came to help him dress up.

Zhou Ning was carried to take a bath in a daze, and after washing himself clean, he changed into new clothes. A boy did not need to wear too heavy makeup when getting married, and his hairstyle was also very simple. A blessed woman in the village tied up all his long hair, put on a red gold crown, and the new husband was ready.

Zhou Ning held a fan in his hand and sat nervously in the room, waiting for the Song family to come and pick up the bride.

Aunt Wang took the time to come in and handed him a few cakes: "Eat quickly, you will be hungry all day today. You can hide some secretly on your body and take a bite when no one is around. Don't eat too much, and drink less water, otherwise it will be troublesome to go to the toilet."

Zhou Ning wolfed down a few pieces of cake. He woke up early and felt hungry after taking a shower. However, there was no one around to give him food, and he was starving.

Zhou Ning finished his cake, dusted off the crumbs, and casually asked Aunt Wang how the preparations outside were going.

Aunt Wang assured him, "Your uncle and several of your cousins are watching closely. Don't worry, the money you gave is enough to prepare the best banquet. Just wait patiently for the groom."

Zhou Ning's ears felt hot and he felt a little embarrassed. Aunt Wang looked at him with a mysterious smile, secretly handed him a booklet, and told him to read it when no one was around.

Zhou Ning held the booklet in confusion. After Aunt Wang left, he stealthily opened the booklet and took a quick look at it.

This was a shocking sight. The booklet showed two naked people entangled together. Not only that, but the indescribable parts were also in an inseparable state. Zhou Ning was so scared that he closed his eyes immediately. He had a thin layer of powder on his face, but it couldn't cover up his red face at all.

"How could my aunt read such an embarrassing thing..." He bit his lower lip. Although he felt a little embarrassed, he turned over a few more pages driven by curiosity. After reading, he opened his mouth and let out a soft exclamation.

Song Chunsheng woke up on time and was also pushed into the bathroom early in the morning to wash himself clean. He let an old man with full wealth tie his hair. Since he was a man, he didn't need to wear a crown, so he tied a red silk headband on his bun.

Touching the headband on his head, Song Chunsheng was still a little dazed, and finally he felt a little real about getting married.

The people outside worked in an orderly manner. The fire in the oven was lit before dawn. Hot water was bubbling in the big pot. More than a dozen chickens were put into the pot one by one to take a hot bath. After the Song family rebuilt the house, they paved the ground with bluestone slabs. Now there were twenty large round tables lined up in a row. Five tables were placed in the main room. Because they were afraid that there would not be enough, there were a few tables in the backyard. If there was no room, they could go to the back.

When the roast duck was put into the oven, Song Chunsheng set off in the newly decorated carriage, beating gongs and drums along the way. The two villages were not far apart, but the carriage was moving very slowly. The young men from the village followed the carriage, each carrying a big bag, and they threw wedding candies every time they went a certain distance, causing the children to excitedly chase after the carriage.

After entering the neighboring village, a sharp-eyed young man from the Zhou family ran back to inform the news. When Zhou Ning heard that Song Chunsheng was coming, he was so nervous that he kept looking outside to see where Song Chunsheng was.