Chapter 31: Proposal
Zhou Wangshu looked at the young girl in front of him.
She was really very optimistic.
Actually, he wasn’t lying; in his eyes, she was ten or a hundred times better looking than that pretentious Jiang Yihuan.
When she smiled, her whole person glowed.
Back at home, Su Yaoguang closed the courtyard gate and said to Zhou Wangshu, “Come on, let’s go in and count the money.”
Zhou Wangshu followed her into the bedroom. This was Zhou Wangshu’s first time coming to her room. Her room wasn’t big, and the furniture was very old, but it was very clean.
He saw a broken pot by the window with a bunch of wildflowers in it; at this moment, the wildflowers were blooming vibrantly, adding color to the simple room.
Su Yaoguang lifted a cloth bundle out of the back basket.
She placed the cloth bundle on the table, then opened it. Clink clink, the pleasant sound of copper coins was like music playing.
The two first strung up the copper coins; when their hands were tired from stringing, the last string of copper coins was done, and after all were strung, there were still over twenty loose coins left.
“We sold twenty-seven bottles, almost all small bottles, only one large bottle. Among the twenty-seven bottles sold, face powder, lip balm, and rouge were the most; face cream only sold to three people. There were also nearly a hundred makeup applications; the first twenty people were charged two copper coins each, and the latter dozens were charged five copper coins. Finally, there was the dividend from Chun E sister; adding it all up makes eight taels of silver and three hundred twenty-seven copper coins.”
“Eight taels?” Zhou Wangshu was surprised.
Even before he had fallen on hard times, his monthly allowance was only ten taels; now they had earned eight taels of silver in just one day?
“This is the total income received; after deducting the previously procured materials and our wages for the hard daily labor during this time, we’ll have seven taels to take home.”
“That’s still not a small amount.” Zhou Wangshu said, “It seems this business is pretty good. What flowers and plants do we need to procure next? I’ll go up the mountain tomorrow to gather them.”
“Chun E sister still has over forty boxes there; no need to be in such a hurry. But from today’s first day of trial selling, I know we should make fewer large bottles and more small ones; that way, customers can buy without burden, and we can sell out the goods sooner.”
Su Yaoguang went to the kitchen and skillfully kneaded flour to make pork rib noodles.
Zhou Wangshu ate three big bowls in a row and finally felt a bit embarrassed.
Su Yaoguang smiled as she looked at him and asked, “Is it tasty?”
Zhou Wangshu nodded: “Tasty.”
“I’ll make it for you another day; you can’t eat more today, or you’ll get indigestion.” Su Yaoguang’s gaze toward Zhou Wangshu grew gentler, with a hint of…
Affection?
Zhou Wangshu recognized the meaning in her eyes and suddenly found it a bit unbelievable.
Everyone in the village said he was her little husband, but why did he feel like she was raising him as a son?
“Mom…” Second Aunt Su sneaked into the courtyard mysteriously and said to Grandma Su, who was picking vegetables in the courtyard, “I just passed by Eldest Sister-in-law’s doorway; guess what I smelled? I smelled the scent of meat. Mom, that cheap girl Su Yaoguang is secretly eating meat again; aren’t you going to teach her a lesson?”
Grandma Su didn’t even lift an eyelid and said sarcastically, “If you have the spare time to act like a dog, you might as well come back sooner to tend to Da Bao. Didn’t you hear Da Bao is hungry? You’re not going to make food and expect these old arms and legs of mine to do it?”
Second Aunt Su pursed her lips: “I’m not idle either! Eldest Sister-in-law and Su Yaoguang are paying less and less attention to you now; don’t I need to keep an eye on them?”
“Su Yaoguang went to the market today and waited at the meat stall to get some large bones with not even a bit of meat scraps. Those large bones have no meat; it took a lot of firewood to boil soup, it smells fragrant, but there’s still no meat! If you like gnawing bones so much, go find Su Yaoguang and ask her to give you some to eat.”
Upon hearing this, Second Aunt Su finally understood why Grandma Su was so composed; it turned out she already knew there was no benefit to be had.
“Mom, Sister-in-law hasn’t shown up until now; she’s deliberately avoiding us, right? Do you think she’s regretting it and doesn’t want Mutou to marry Su Yaoguang anymore?”
“She doesn’t want to carry manure water, and because she lost face here a few days ago, she feels too embarrassed to come over for the time being. Just wait; it won’t be long before she comes back. No one wants to marry her son, so she can only set her sights on people close by. Su Yaoguang has only a widowed mother to care for her, making her the softest persimmon to pinch.”
“That’s good; I was really afraid Sister-in-law would chicken out and not dare to target Su Yaoguang anymore.”
“Luckily Su Yaoguang didn’t buy Xiao Yanci; he’s old enough that if bought back, he could directly marry and enter the bridal chamber, leaving no way to target her.”
Su Yaoguang handed a string of copper coins to Zhou Wangshu.
Zhou Wangshu was puzzled: “This is…”
“Your wages.” Su Yaoguang said, “Save it yourself.”
“Didn’t you buy me?” Since she had bought him, he was her servant, just like Xiao Yanci. She didn’t need to give him silver money at all.
Although people in the village mocked him as her little husband, she was just using him as a shield and had no such intentions.
Su Yaoguang said, “Didn’t I say it already? You can leave anytime. When you want to leave, won’t you need travel expenses? These are your travel expenses. As for how much travel expenses you can save, it depends on how diligently you work. Anyway, I won’t let you work for nothing. Your deed of sale can also be given to you when you decide to leave.”
Zhou Wangshu’s fingers rubbed over the copper coins.
“Okay.”
It seemed his decision was right.
Staying here was indeed his wisest choice.
“Rest early; we’ll go up the mountain again tomorrow.”
Zhou Wangshu looked at Su Yaoguang: “Do you want to sign a marriage contract with me and write a marriage certificate?”
Su Yaoguang: “…”
She turned back in surprise: “Why?”
“Don’t you want to fend off your aunt’s family?” Zhou Wangshu said, “As long as you write the marriage certificate, they won’t dare to target you.”
“But that way, you won’t be free; if you want to leave, you’ll have to go to the government office with me to record a divorce.”
“You bought me and saved my life; I should repay you. If there really comes a day I leave, I don’t mind having one more divorce record; it just depends on whether you mind.”
“Of course I don’t mind; I’ve never even thought about getting married.” Weren’t the lessons from her previous life enough? How could making money not be more important than a man?
“When do you think is best to go?” Zhou Wangshu asked.
“Wait until Mom comes back.” Su Yaoguang said, “Such an important matter naturally needs to be known by one’s closest relative.”
“Okay.”
“You… rest!” Su Yaoguang suddenly felt a bit embarrassed.
Although it was a fake marriage they had agreed on, a fake identity was still an identity, and suddenly she felt uneasy.
Zhou Wangshu turned and left, returning to the wood shed. He searched in the wood shed and finally found a hole, stuffing that string of one hundred copper coins into it.
