On the Difficulties of Escape in Ancient Times

Chapter 437 Wedding Banquet
The Xiao Lian of today is no longer the Xiao Lian of three years ago who thought that one or two taels of silver was a huge sum of money.

Not to mention her original dowry, her parents let her take the betrothal money and other things back home, and also prepared a dowry for her.

Most importantly, Xiao Xiao taught all the soap recipes to her and her elder sister.

The eldest sister did not only make soap, but also figured out the recipe for making floral soapberries from the Jiang family's ancient books.

Xiao Lian was also a courageous person. He pooled all his belongings together and borrowed several hundred taels of silver from Xiao Xiao to buy a small shop with two rooms.

Fortunately, she acted quickly. After that, the emperor ascended the throne, the provincial capital became the imperial capital, and the houses and shops increased in value like a rocket.

The small shop that was bought for nearly a thousand taels of silver is now worth at least more than two thousand taels of silver.

Her soap business was also pretty good. After all, there was no middleman to make a profit from the price difference. Excluding the cost and the monthly wages from hiring people, she could make a net profit of about 40 to 50 taels of silver every month.

Anyway, it’s half more than my husband’s salary.

Now Xiao Lian was moved by Xiao Xiao's words, not because of the monthly salary of ten taels of silver, but because of the reward from the Queen Mother.

Now that they are also in the imperial city, they realize that officials of the fifth or sixth rank are really nothing.

The fact that they are safe and sound now is also due to the reputation of Xiao Xiao's father-in-law.

Therefore, Xiao Lian now understands the importance of power. As long as she can get in touch with the Queen through her younger sister, she won't have to worry about anyone being jealous of her small shop.

Xiao Lian asked nervously: "Then if my sister-in-law and I go there, what can we do?"

"You and Sister Mo can be female teachers. You can teach them to read or do needlework." Xiao Xiao was afraid that they would not be fooled, so she added bait: "It just so happens that they are planning to build a house there, and they will build a few more small courtyards. As long as you work for three years, the courtyards and the deeds will be given to you."

The main reason is that the place is too remote, there are no good farms, it is at the foot of a mountain, and the roads are not very good, so no one is willing to move there.

Therefore, Xiao Xiao asked the housekeeper in the mansion to accompany her grandfather to the yamen and buy the whole mountain.

She wanted to build a farm on the mountain. If that didn't work, she could cut down trees for firewood.

Anyway, the price was not expensive, so she felt it was a good buy.

As for why she didn't repair the road first, she felt that once the road was repaired, the land price here would definitely go up, and it would be impossible for the government to give her the entire hilltop and ditch for only 10,000 taels of silver.

Especially now there is no such thing as 70-year property rights. As long as there is no change of dynasty, these mountains and lands will all belong to her.

Just for these preferential conditions, Xiao Xiao also prayed that the emperor would have endless descendants and hoped that the imperial power would be forever.

Xiao Lian was indeed moved after hearing this, and took action immediately: "Okay, I'll go."

Then he looked at Mochou and said, "Sister-in-law, shall we go together?"

Mo Chou looked at her mother-in-law and aunt: "This?"

Xiao Lian also immediately realized why she forgot to tell her mother-in-law first and made the decision on her own. She immediately leaned over and blinked her big eyes at Mrs. Chen, saying softly and coquettishly, "Mother, I was too excited and forgot to ask you to let me and my sister-in-law go out."

Then he took Mrs. Chen's right hand and shook it: "Mother!"

This sound gave Xiao Xiao goosebumps.

Mo Chou also clung to Mrs. Chen's left hand: "Mother will definitely agree to our request, right?"

Mrs. Chen was very pleased. She patted her two daughters-in-law and pretended to be helpless: "Alright, you guys are making me dizzy. How dare I refuse?" Then she thanked Xiao Xiao: "Thanks for thinking of them when you have good things to do. I hope you can give them more guidance in the future."

Even though Xiao Xiao was young, she was steady in her work. What was rare was that after marrying into a wealthy family, she still treated them gently and kindly, and never acted overbearingly.

Now that good things happen and you still think of them, that means you are loyal and righteous.

Privately, even Lord Chen praised her several times for her foresight in marrying Xiao Lian to his second son.

Now, the three sisters of the Xiao family have all married well, which is a rare opportunity with great value.

Fortunately, they went to the Xiao family to propose marriage before Xiao Xiao and Li Yan decided to get engaged.

When Xiao Xiao heard that Mrs. Chen agreed, she was very happy, and she had tricked two more managers.

There are nearly two thousand seven hundred people in the charity hall now, and Xiao Xiao doesn't want to go there every day. Now her grandfather, grandmother, mother, second aunt and Yan's mother are in charge, and there are really not enough people.

We can't let them stay in the charity hall every day. If there are more people, they can take turns to have a rest.

Besides, I have to give birth and stay in confinement for several months, so I won't be able to go out. I can feel more at ease if my second sister and her eldest sister-in-law are there to look after me.

Another unexpected surprise was that at the wedding banquet, Second Madam Sheng was the first to speak up: "Grandma Li, I heard that you are now taking over the charity hall under the order of the Queen Mother. We want to show our appreciation and will send some rice, flour and cloth in a couple of days. Don't think it's too little."

Second Madam Sheng spoke in a voice that was neither loud nor soft. The women at her table and at several tables nearby heard her words and looked at them for a moment.

Of course Second Madam Sheng knew that she would offend the Gu family by saying this.

But when she fell into the water in the palace before, it was Xiao Xiao who saved her, so she had to remember this favor.

She also knew that Xiao Xiao was not a lady from a prominent family, and even though she was now following Xiao Zhou to get to know some of the grandmothers and other girls, she was too embarrassed to bring up the matter of donations.

She came out now to throw out some ideas, and it did have an effect. Several female relatives who were on good terms with Second Madam Sheng followed suit and said, "Then I'll go too."

"Then you have to take me with you."

This was of course a pleasant surprise for Xiao Xiao, just like the opening of a new store, so she smiled and thanked them: "Thank you all for your support."

Madam and the eldest lady from the Gu family are here today as well.

In the eyes of outsiders, there is no profit in managing a charity, it just has a good reputation.

But Grandma Gu knew something and was very unhappy, so she deliberately smiled and asked, "I heard that Grandma Li bought a mountain with great generosity. I wonder if you have enough money? How about I donate some money too?"

These days, it was not only Li Yan who had people secretly keeping an eye on the Gu family.

The people in the Gu Mansion were also keeping an eye on Xiao Xiao's movements.

Mrs. Gu thought Xiao Xiao was stupid for spending so much money to buy a mountain, and that she had wasted her money.

That place is remote. Even if it is not bought, it will be the territory for the children in the charity to chop firewood and dig wild vegetables. No one will snatch it.

But Xiao Xiao spent 12,000 taels of silver to buy the hill, which was really stupid.

Everyone in the Gu family suspected that Xiao Xiao used the money that Madam Gu paid as compensation, but they had no evidence yet. According to Madam Gu, they wanted to wait until some time passed and when Xiao Xiao had no money to build a new house, they would spread the news and make Xiao Xiao bear the consequences.

Unfortunately, Grandma Gu couldn't stand seeing Xiao Xiao chatting and laughing with everyone at the moment, and out of jealousy, she told this matter out.