When Qin Junyao returned home, the matchmaker had already left. Grandma Qin and Aunt Qin Er were tidying up the storeroom.
"You two are back just in time. Yao Yao, put these in your third uncle's room. Xiao Yu, take these dried vegetables to your room with your sister," Grandma Qin immediately assigned tasks upon seeing her two granddaughters return.
Qin Junyao looked at two baskets of cured meat and dried lamb that should have been hung up and asked Grandma Qin, "Grandma, putting them in the room won't work, right?"
"Take them there for now. They won't be there for too long. This plow goes in the cow shed."
It took the four of them over two hours to clean out the storeroom. Not only were the items moved out, but they also swept and wiped away the dust.
"Aunt Er, tell me, what is this empty room for? My room and Xiao Yu's are almost buried by dried vegetables."
Aunt Qin Er smiled mysteriously, "You'll know tomorrow."
Qin Junyao did find out what the storeroom was for the next day, but she didn't expect it to be so sudden.
Ten gold ingots, eighty silver ingots, ten bolts each of silk, satin, brocade, and damask, forty bolts of fine cotton cloth, and two boxes of various animal furs.
Ten sets of seasonal clothes each with corresponding shoes, one set of hair ornaments made of four different materials, and ten boxes of precious medicinal herbs.
Everything else, from small sachets to large bathtubs, necessities for every aspect of life, was placed in the Qin family's storeroom.
This was Zhao Liangcai's betrothal gift for marrying Qin Junyao.
"Third child, don't check it wrongly. This is the dowry included as well. There's even a ceremonial basin for descendants," Grandma Qin, although she had heard the matchmaker read the list of betrothal gifts, didn't remember it all.
"Mother, are these boxes all the boxes?" Qin Sen asked, looking at the betrothal gift list and making his own record.
"Yes, record every single needle," Grandma Qin looked and calculated what to keep and what to give to Qin Junyao as her dowry.
Mother Qin and Aunt Qin Er stood at the doorway, afraid to enter. They had lived half their lives and had never seen so many good things at once.
Father Qin touched each box, feeling uneasy. "Mother, aren't we going to make any furniture?"
"Didn't Third Brother want to make a few boxes for his sister? That's enough. Eat according to your hunger. Eldest and second sons' wives, don't just stand there. Take these few bolts of fabric and make new cotton clothes for everyone in the family."
"Ask Hou's wife for help, and get it done in half a month."
"Eldest and Second, carry these boxes of furs out. We'll add ten quilts. Third child, record this directly. I'll look again..."
In the afternoon, the Qin family finally counted all the betrothal gifts, and Grandma Qin had a general idea.
That evening, Grandma Qin called Qin Junyao into her room and asked her what she wanted to add to her dowry.
Qin Junyao had two shop deeds and land deeds for the Gobi Desert and the desert, and fifteen hairpins given to her by Zhao Liangcai.
"That's all?" Grandma Qin asked, looking at the items Qin Junyao had laid out.
"Should be all, right? Can I add more?" Qin Junyao asked Grandma Qin humbly.
Grandma Qin pondered for a moment. "Can you hide it well?"
"Yes."
"Then don't put it in for now. But you should write a ledger yourself. Oh, and put in the medicine you got from Doctor Sheng."
Qin Junyao pursed her lips. "Grandma, my shops are meant to stay with the family, and you still want the medicine?"
"Tsk, just put it in if I tell you to. Can't you get it back after you're married? You can use your dowry however you want. Right now, we want your dowry to look substantial."
"Hiss," Grandma Qin took a breath. "And that donkey foal, I'll give it to you too. Do you want the wild boar?"
"Grandma~~"
"Hmph, what family gets a live wild boar as a parting gift? I don't have one. Oh, take those two rabbits you wouldn't let us eat. They're an eyesore..."
Three days after the betrothal gifts, also known as Naxheng, the matchmaker returned to the Qin family to propose a date.
Qin Junyao was amused to the point of laughter when she saw the proposed dates: the eighth, eighteenth, and twenty-eighth of November.
The eighth of November was in half a month. Besides, proposals usually had two months between dates, not ten days apart.