Su Xiaoqi received Shen Yun's resentful gaze.
She lowered her head and chuckled, as if she hadn't seen it, completely ignoring him. Then, she picked up a piece of chestnut cake and offered it to Old Madam Yu's mouth.
Fortunately, while she was angry, she wouldn't go against food.
Smelling the aroma of chestnut cake, she couldn't help but glance at it, then again. She really wanted to eat it.
But thinking that Su Xiaoqi had just angered her, she snorted and forcefully turned her face away.
Seeing her being so awkward, Su Xiaoqi deliberately raised her voice:
"Since Grandma doesn't want to eat it, we juniors certainly wouldn't dare to.
It's better to just throw it away, so Grandma doesn't get angry seeing it."
As she spoke, she made a gesture as if to throw it.
Before her hand was even raised, Old Madam Yu reached out and stopped her.
She snatched it, poked Su Xiaoqi's forehead, wanting to scold her but unable to. Her old face was a picture of complex emotions.
Everyone in the room subtly curved their lips, but dared not laugh out loud, almost suffocating themselves with suppressed laughter.
When it came to distributing clothes, Old Madam Yu's mouth was stuffed with chestnut cake, rendering her unable to speak even if she was angry. In the end, she took the cake and retreated to her room to eat, preferring not to see it.
Su Xiaoqi knew this meant she would no longer interfere.
She rummaged through the clothes for Zhao Ye.
Zhao Xiaozhu took them, saying she would send them over when she delivered food later.
Su Xiaoqi gave her a peculiar look. She had some thoughts but quickly suppressed them in front of the family.
She turned and saw the torn cotton cloth and cotton wool at the very bottom.
Before anyone could ask, she covered them with the bundle cloth.
"Sister Xiaoqi, what is this for? Is it for handkerchiefs? I know some needlework, do you want me to do it for you?"
Zhao Xiaozhu felt she was eating and living at the Shen family for free, and even receiving clothes she bought for free. She was eager to do something to prove her worth.
Hearing that she knew needlework, Su Xiaoqi's eyes lit up. She immediately pulled her into the room and explained something to her.
"Menstrual pads? This is cotton. We usually use ash packed with grass." Zhao Xiaozhu hesitated.
Using such good material, wouldn't that be a waste?
Su Xiaoqi said firmly, "Just use this." She then asked her how long it would take to make one.
While she was menstruating now, she could try using it.
"This doesn't seem difficult. About half an hour," Zhao Xiaozhu said.
Su Xiaoqi beamed with joy and asked her to take it back to her room to make it quickly.
Zhao Xiaozhu, having never done it before, felt uncertain and feared wasting the cotton and fine cotton cloth.
Shen Xiaomei saw this, stepped forward, and pulled her away, comforting her as they walked, "Xiao Zhu, just do as my sister-in-law says. She's very smart and won't make a mistake."
Su Xiaoqi smiled knowingly and threw herself onto the bed. The hard wooden plank made her stomach and thighs feel particularly uncomfortable.
She surveyed the room, her desire to build a house and live better becoming even more resolute.
Two quarters of an hour later, Shen Yun returned from the village chief's house, bringing good news.
"The village chief agreed."
Su Xiaoqi exclaimed with excitement, "That's great! We'll start preparing to build the house immediately."
Shen Yun stopped her, "No rush. Give me two days to hand over the paintings."
Su Xiaoqi raised an eyebrow, "Who did you paint for?"
Shen Yun lowered his eyes and remained silent.
"Is it Su Yurou?" Su Xiaoqi asked not as a question but as a statement of fact.
"Don't paint for her. We don't lack money." Su Xiaoqi's space could now produce five shi of rice, one hundred fish, and one chicken daily.
At normal market prices, this converted to about thirteen liang of silver.
That would be three hundred and ninety liang in a month.
Adding the twenty-odd liang from Chen Ji Grain Shop and another twenty or so from selling fish, each person would have over four hundred and thirty liang.
They were clearly wealthy people.
Shen Yun said solemnly, "Do we still need your dowry?"
Su Xiaoqi was speechless. She rolled her eyes and said, "Dowry? What dowry? This is money from selling fish."
She calculated an account for Shen Yun.
Her business with Fu Yue Inn brought in nearly a liang of money daily.
"I heard building a house only costs ten liang. I've saved over ten liang now." After thinking, Su Xiaoqi added,
"And the five taels of silver you gave me last time. You don't need to draw any paintings."
In the future, Shen Yun's calligraphy and paintings would skyrocket in value. It would be a waste to give them to Su Yurou for free.
She had only received one painting from Shen Yun, but Su Yurou had managed to get two.
Shen Yun remained silent and took out another five-tael silver ingot from his pocket.
His meaning was clear: the money had been received, so the goods had to be delivered.
Su Xiaoqi was furious. She pushed him away and was about to head outside.
Shen Yun had already subtly blocked her path.
"If you're not going to listen to me, why are you blocking me?" Su Xiaoqi glared at him unhappily.
Shen Yun said nothing, only pressing the silver into her hand.
Su Xiaoqi hesitated for a moment, then accepted it.
She had to admit, Shen Yun's habit of handing over money to her as soon as he got it was very good and deserved encouragement.
If she didn't accept it this time, he might not hand it over next time.
Seeing Su Xiaoqi accept the money, Shen Yun smiled.
Although she bought this and that all day, she was actually the most obsessed with money.
He wondered if he had gone mad.
Knowing that she liked these trinkets of gold and silver, he didn't feel any aversion at all.
Instead, he acted contrary to his usual self, developing an interest in them and wanting to bring back as much as possible for her.
It was simply because the way she looked at money made him fall in love with her.
Perhaps this was the effect of proximity!
"Well, that's that. Don't do it again," Su Xiaoqi warned, fearing Shen Yun would paint for Su Yurou again.
"Remember, if anyone else asks you to paint, you should raise the price.
If it's not a hundred taels for one painting, no, if it's not a thousand taels, you shouldn't pick up your brush."
Shen Yun knew his calligraphy and paintings were indeed excellent.
Mr. Gu, a renowned scholar from the county school, had specifically accepted him as his closed-door disciple as an exception because of this.
However, a thousand taels for one painting was akin to making an exorbitant demand, clearly showing she didn't want him to sell to others.
Shen Yun remained silent; he couldn't agree.
Before, his examination had failed, and his reputation was not well-known. No matter how good his calligraphy and paintings were, no one came to buy them.
At most, Qi Yunwei bought a few pieces inexplicably.
But they were ultimately not kept and were all reduced to ashes in that great fire.
Now that someone wanted to buy, and in order for his family to live a better life, he had no choice.
"Alas, forget it, forget it. If you don't want to listen to me, then consider it as if I said nothing."
Su Xiaoqi fiddled with her sleeves, her expression turning cold. She suddenly felt a bit dispirited.
Shen Yun then brought up the matter of the homestead.
The village chief had received a lot of things from the couple during this period.
At first, he maintained official formality, but he was ultimately won over by Shen Yun's eloquence.
Therefore, he made a grand gesture and allocated a homestead of one and a half mu.
However, the location was not particularly good, being at the end of the village, near Yuanbao Mountain.
Su Xiaoqi didn't care about this; as long as the land was big enough, it was fine. Su Xiaoqi rubbed her hands together, "Then let's build it as soon as possible."
This matter still required Shen Yun to arrange.
However, it wasn't troublesome.
His maternal uncle Zhao Dashan was a carpenter, and his second maternal uncle Zhao Erniu was a bricklayer.
They had a ready construction team under them, specializing in helping people build houses.
Therefore, Shen Yun basically only needed to inform Zhao Dashan at the old house.
However, he couldn't go empty-handed.
Su Xiaoqi packed two catties of white sugar and two catties of peanuts for Shen Yun to take.
As for herself, she would be responsible for informing everyone of this news.
"What? Are we really going to build a house?"
Old Madam Yu couldn't believe her ears.
She put on a stern face and stiffly explained that she was just speaking casually and didn't insist they build it now.
Madam Zhao also advised that one should act within their means.
The most important thing now was Shen Yun's imperial examination.
"Mother-in-law, please rest assured, I know what I'm doing.
The money for my husband's studies is sufficient."
Madam Zhao had no other desires. As long as Shen Yun's matters were handled, she wouldn't say anything more.
In her joy, Zhao Xiaozhu came over with two completed menstrual pads.