The red candle burned all night.
The new house was filled with the fragrance of wedding candles, the red gauze curtains were gently swaying, and some early morning light came in through the gaps in the wooden lattice windows.
Birds are chirping one after another, and the chickens and ducks in the backyard are letting out, chirping and quacking in the yard. The beautiful dawn has begun.
Zhao Ergou got up from the bed lightly. As soon as he moved, the person next to the pillow opened his eyes.
"You can sleep a little longer." Zhao Ergou said softly, "It's still early, don't be in a hurry."
Cao Yingying stood up and felt as if her body was falling apart. Fortunately, the light in the room was very dark and her blushing face could not be seen.
She whispered: "It's time to get up and go to say hello to mother."
"It's not like you don't know that my mother always wakes up late." Zhao Ergou pressed her shoulder, "You were tired last night, so sleep for half an hour. I'll wake you up later."
His hot hand touched the exposed skin of Cao Yingying's neck. She jumped into excitement and immediately got into the quilt, nodding like garlic: "Then you go out and do your work quickly, and I will lie down for a while."
Zhao Ergou laughed. He tucked himself in and felt refreshed.
During the wedding days, he didn't need to go to the Dahe Banquet. All matters there were left to Dawang. After half a year of experience, Dawang was able to take charge of everything at the Dahe Banquet. Would he go? It doesn’t matter if you go.
In the slightly bright courtyard, Zhao Sanniu and Zhao Sidan were practicing, while Zhao Dashan had already gone to the ground.
Zhao Ergou picked up the ax on the ground and started chopping firewood. Before he finished chopping a pile of firewood, he saw someone walking out of the house. It was Cao Yingying who got up.
She was wearing a simple and elegant dress, with only a plain silver hairpin in her head, and no jewelry on her ears, neck, or wrists. She was completely different from her wedding dress yesterday.
"Second sister-in-law, good morning!"
Zhao Sanniu and Zhao Sidan said hello together.
Cao Yingying smiled and said, "You don't have to be so polite."
We had lived together for a month before, and she felt that we could just get along normally.
But as soon as Zhao Dashan and Wu Huiniang came in, she immediately knelt down and said, "Brother and sister-in-law, good morning."
Zhao Ergou couldn't help but ruffled her hair: "I just asked you to be polite. Why are you being so polite? It's just like before."
Cao Yingying's cheeks turned red and she whispered: "With so many people watching, don't touch my hair..."
The more Zhao Ergou looked at her, the more he liked her, but there were so many people in the yard that he couldn't do anything. He coughed and said, "I'm going to see if my mother is up."
Cao Yingying turned around and went to the kitchen.
The mother-in-law next to her said that she needs to cook breakfast for her on the first day of the wedding, so that she can get along well with her in the future.
She had been specially taught by someone in Cao Mansion, so she didn't have to rush to do it.
Wei Hongying quickly stopped her: "Second sister-in-law, we can do all the work. You can go back to your room and rest. Don't get your clothes dirty..."
"I'll do it, and you can help me look after the stove."
Cao Yingying kneaded more flour. There were many people in the family, so she couldn't just make it for her mother-in-law, otherwise she would look lazy as the new second sister-in-law.
As soon as she kneaded the flour, Cheng Wanwan's figure appeared at the door of the kitchen.
She quickly wiped her hands and said, "Mom, good morning."
"You kid, why did you get married and get married? You are not allowed to greet strangers like this again." Cheng Wanwan took her hand, "Our family's rules are that the bride is not allowed to work for three days before entering the house, so don't He got into the kitchen, which made Hongying feel uncomfortable."
Someone in Cao Yingying's family specially taught her the rules. How dare she not work? She was about to insist.
Cheng Wanwan continued: "On the first day of the wedding, I have to serve tea to my mother-in-law. Don't waste time. Let's go."
Wei Hongying had already prepared tea and a tray, and the hall had been cleared out. There were two futons on the floor. Two elders, Cheng Wanwan and Cheng Yuanyuan, were sitting in the hall, as well as other ordinary people and the only junior Zhao Yuezhu.
Zhao Ergou and Cao Yingying knelt down on the futon and served tea to the elder.
Cheng Wanwan prepared red envelopes for both of them. Each bag contained two taels of silver, not much, just a token of appreciation.
Cheng Yuanyuan originally had no money, but Cheng Wanwan advanced her wages in advance, so she gave her nephew and his wife a hundred pence each.
One hundred pennies was not much at all to the Cheng Wanwan family, but to Cheng Yuanyuan, it was a huge sum of money, and she could only afford so much.
Immediately afterwards, the new daughter-in-law took out gifts and made clothes for each of her elders. She also prepared a pair of insoles for each of her eldest brother and sister-in-law. As for the other younger siblings, each of them prepared a purse. For Zhao Yuezhu, she prepared a Mutton fat jade pendant.
Sanmao didn't know what was in his purse, so he opened it and saw a golden bean rolling out.
Cheng Yuanyuan was startled: "This, this is too expensive..."
This golden bean is the dowry of my nephew's wife. How come I gave it away casually, even if it was given to my own brother? How could I give it to people with other surnames like San Mao, Da Ya and Er Ya... Her three children took three A purse, that is three golden beans, how much does it cost...
She quickly poured out the golden beans from the three purses and stuffed them back into Cao Yingying's hands: "One purse is enough, we can't have this!"
"Auntie, this is originally a meeting gift prepared for my younger brothers and sisters." Cao Yingying quickly pushed it back, "These golden beans were specially made by my father. Even though they are gold, in fact, there are only one or two of them in total. It's nothing. Something valuable.”
Cheng Wanwan silently calculated in her mind that in this era, one tael of gold was equal to approximately ten taels of silver, and one golden bean was equivalent to three taels of silver.
Every household in the village cannot save two taels of silver for the whole year. This girl can earn more than a year's income for farmers. She is really not afraid of being missed by thieves.
She said: "Sister, just accept what Yingying gave me, but when I go to the old house to serve tea later, I can't give Jindouzi any more."
There are a lot of people talking in the old house. If this news gets out, it will look like her second daughter-in-law is stupid and rich.
Cao Yingying nodded repeatedly: "I will obey mother's arrangements."
Cheng Wanwan asked her to replace the remaining golden beans in her purse with broken silver. She put about two or three pieces of silver in each purse, which is about two or three hundred copper plates.
After the tea here, Zhao Ergou took his wife and walked to Lao Zhao's house.
By this time, the sky was getting brighter, and Cheng Yuanyuan was carrying a hoe, ready to go down to the ground to see the flower seedlings.
"Sister, please wait a moment." Cheng Wanwan said, "There were so many gifts yesterday and I didn't have time to count them. Sister, help me order some together."
Cheng Yuanyuan nodded in agreement and followed him to the warehouse.
The warehouse was filled with all kinds of things, which was dazzling. Cheng Wanwan glanced at it and knew that something was probably missing.
She chuckled: "By the way, where is brother-in-law, is he still sleeping?"
"I just went to his room, thinking about asking him to go back early, but he disappeared. He probably didn't sleep well and left in the middle of the night." Cheng Yuanyuan said about her man, with a look of shame on her face, "Fortunately, he didn't do anything. It’s a shameful thing, otherwise I would really want to kill him head-on.”
