Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty

After Mr. Chu Er became disabled, his temperament changed drastically and he became moody. The old marquis and the deceased old lady cherished him, and his elder brother and younger brother let him go. He developed a bad habit of eating, drinking, having fun, and sleeping among flowers and willows.

None of the men in the Chu family took concubines, but in order to appease Mr. Chu Er, the old lady had no choice but to give him two girls who were married to him. A girl poured the Bizi soup very deliberately and gave birth to the eldest son of the concubine for the second master, and was raised as the aunt of the house.

Already disabled and having a concubine's eldest son, it was even more difficult for Master Chu to find a wife.

When he was nineteen years old, his family finally found him a wife, Mrs. Chu Er. Mrs. Chu's second wife's father was originally an eighth-rank petty official. The Marquis of Chu found connections and promoted him two ranks, and found a more lucrative position before he gave up his daughter.

Mrs. Chu Er is not bad looking, fair and delicate, and comes from an official family. At first, Mr. Chu Er liked him better, and agreed that his family would give him a small official position. He wanted to turn his prodigal son back, take care of the family's affairs, and support his wife and children. But as time went by, it became clear that Mrs. Chu had small eyes, was illiterate in speaking and doing things, and was greedy for money. Once these shortcomings were exposed, they often made people laugh.

Mr. Chu Er was sad again, and his old habits relapsed.

Although he is not good at anything else, he can give birth to children. Master Chu and Master Chu both only have two children, but he has five, two sons and three daughters.

They are, the second master, Chu Lingqi, is nineteen years old and the eldest son of a concubine. The third master, Chu Ling'an, is seventeen years old and his legitimate son. The second girl, Chu Zhen, is fourteen years old and her legitimate daughter. The third girl, Chu Lin, and the fourth girl, Chu Bi, are both nine years old and concubines.

Chen Afu pressed his thoughts and came to Mr. Chu Er. Lowering his gaze, he could still see that Mr. Chu's facial features were somewhat similar to Chu Lingxuan's, but his temperament was completely different. He was more gloomy and frail, and his left sleeve was empty.

Chen Afu bent his knees to bless him and said, "I have met my second uncle."

Mr. Chu Er nodded and didn't bother to say anything. He took a red envelope and handed it to her.

Then I saw Mr. Chu San, Mrs. Chu Er and Mrs. Chu San. Chen Afu had already met all three of them. Master Chu and Mrs. Chu both smiled and said a few auspicious words for early blooming. Mrs. Chu only said "hmm" and each gave her a red envelope.

She is the eldest sister-in-law. In addition to her elders, other brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, sisters-in-law, and nephews all come to give her gifts. The meeting gifts she prepared for them were jade pendants for the men and jade hostas for the women.

The last person who came to greet her was the one-year-old Chu Siwen, the second master Chu Lingqi's son. He was a very cute little boy who was being held and kowtowed by his wet nurse.

After the ceremony, they went to the ancestral hall to worship the tablet.

It was already noon when he returned to Zhuxuan. Chen Afu saw several girls including Nanny Li, Qing Feng and others coming to the upper room to wait on them.

After the two of them went to the clean room to wash up and have lunch, Chu Lingxuan went to the front yard. He said he had something to discuss with Mr. Chu San.

Chen Afu sat down at the Eight Immortals table in the living room and asked people in the yard to kowtow to her.

There were six girls and four wives before Zhuxuan. Xia Yue gave each of them a purse with silver in it. Because Yuhuan and Hongfei are big girls, their wallets contain six silver coins.

Chen Afu decided that Nanny Li would be her mother-in-charge, and Xia Yue, Qing Feng, Yu Huan, and Hong Fei would be the eldest girls. Xiaohong, Xiaolu, and the two girls from Zhuxuan, she changed their names to Xiaohuang and Xiaomo, and became the second-class girls. Xiaozi and the other little girls became the third-class girls. The four women still have their own duties. As for their job, Mother Hua is in charge of the small kitchen and is responsible for cooking or boiling water. The other three women are the rough ones.

Yuhuo got engaged when she was in Dingzhou Mansion, and this time she brought her fiancé Yu Yongshun with her. They will get married in two months, and Yuhuan will be Zhuxuan's mother in charge, and will be here to take care of Zhuxuan for a long time. Yu Yongshun was in charge of Chen Afu's shop in the capital, directly under the leadership of Zeng Shuang, and sold the crops provided by Fu Yunlai.

After the distribution, Chen Afu asked Mrs. Hua to prepare some flour, eggs, milk and other ingredients. She would make some snacks later to honor the elders.

When only Nanny Li and Xia Yue were left in the room, Xia Yue took out the red envelope.

The red envelopes are filled with banknotes. The old Marquis gave 800 taels of silver, the third master and Mrs. Chu each gave 400 taels of silver, the second master Chu also gave 400 taels of silver, and the second lady Chu gave 20 taels of silver.

Xia Yue said contemptuously, "Second Madam, it's true that an elder would be embarrassed to give you twenty taels of silver."

Chen Afu twitched the corner of his mouth and said nothing. Not only was she short-sighted, she didn't even have any dignity.

She was leaning on the kang and resting with her eyes closed. The servants came to report, and the Fourth Master and the Fifth Master came.

The fifth master is of course Chu Lingzhi, and the fourth master is Chu Lingwei, the eldest son of Mrs. Chu. Chen Afu didn't see clearly in the morning. He only felt that Chu Lingwei was very tall. He was just eleven years old this year, but he was half a head taller than the twelve-year-old Alu and Chen Yulan.

Chen Afu stood up and said with a smile, "Please come quickly."

Chu Lingzhi ran in and said with a smile, "Sister-in-law, you have finally married into my family. After being away from Tangyuan for so long, I miss the snacks made by my sister-in-law the most."

Chen Afu said with an angry smile, "You just want some snacks?"

Chu Lingzhi said quickly, "Oh, I still miss my sister-in-law, Yan'er, Dabao, Zhuifeng, Sasha, Wangcai, Qiqi, and Huihui. Why doesn't my sister-in-law bring them all?"

Chen Afu smiled and asked Chu Lingwei to sit down on the chair. Chu Lingwei inherited the Chu family's good looks. He was a little shy and blushed, or maybe he was embarrassed to come to ask for food.

She knew that the Chu family was headed by the old Marquis, and the men all had a sweet tooth, especially snacks. These two boys must be hungry for snacks.

She smiled and said, "I have asked the kitchen to prepare the ingredients and will cook them right away. You guys sit down and drink some tea. It will be done in a while."

She took Xia Yue to the kitchen in the backyard, where Mrs. Hua had already woken up.

There was no oven here, so many snacks couldn't be made, so she made golden cakes and secretly put a bit of agarwood powder that had been crushed in advance into the flour.

It was ready in less than half an hour. The elders received eight yuan each, the other masters received four yuan each, and a few respectable servants were given two yuan each. Let the girl send them to them separately.

Of course everyone in Zhuxuan has a share.

She brought a plate of golden cakes to the main courtyard, where Chu Lingwei and Chu Lingzhi were feeding the fish. When they saw Chen Afu coming with snacks, they quickly wiped their hands with a handkerchief to greet them.

Chu Lingwei said, "Sister-in-law, my cook can also make this golden cake, but the cake she makes is not as delicious as the one made by my sister-in-law."

Chen Afu smiled and said, "If you like to eat, come here often. My sister-in-law will also do other things."

She likes Master Chu San and his wife, and she also likes these two children.

The brothers finished all the golden cakes on their plates, and Chen Afu also asked them to take back the four pieces he had prepared for each of them.