Zhou Chengkang and Li Qinghe both looked at each other when they heard his question. Zhou Chengkang thought for a while and replied, "I will get a quilt and stay in the carriage for one night." Not afraid of ten thousand times, but just one night¹.
There was no other option. Even though the people in the village were still simple-minded, the situation would be bad because there are so many fish. If someone was seriously tempted to steal and also if the theft was done more secretively, catching the person would be really hard. Their only choice would be to accept their poor luck.
Zhou Chengkang drove his carriage into the courtyard of the Zhou family, went to the house to retrieve the quilt, and went outside. The moment he reached the eaves, he just met Zhang Haiyao who had returned from the cottage, and both of them just nodded in greeting.
Zhang Haiyao returned to the room and whispered to Zhou Chengcai, who was lying on the bed, "Looking at his behavior, could it be that he was preparing to guard the fishes?"
Zhou Chengcai didn't think there was anything wrong with it, "There are so many fish. It would be best to be careful."
"Humph." Zhang Haiyao coldly snorted, "Isn't that just some fish? Why do they have to be so stingy? I don't know if he has been paid for the work he has done for them."
"Because he is happy to help!" Zhou Chengcai got up, reached out to take her into his arms, and then blew the candle flame, "If you let me help, I will also be happy ......"
In the early morning, Li Qinghe woke up. The carriage was already outside the yard; she changed her clothes and climbed into the carriage. By the afternoon, Li Qinghe had sold out all the fishes. Today, she didn't just earn a tael or two more, she earned more than ten taels.
Li Qinghe was very happy as she counted the copper coins. With the pond belonging to them, even though they would have to work harder, they should have a good life.
When she got home, it was about the same time as yesterday. Today also Zhao Wanwan helped her by boiling water, and followed her to her room after she finished washing, "Sister, are you going to town tomorrow too?"
"Why do you ask?" Li Qinghe wiped her hair cleanly today since she wouldn't be going fishing in a short time.
Zhao Wanwan lowered her head. Her face blushed as she said, "I want to go to Hu's house to give them fish."
As it turns out, Li Qinghe was actually planning on going shopping tomorrow, and on the way, she would also deliver the fish to Xu's family.
"I'll go to town tomorrow. Let's go together." There were so many people in the village that there should be carriage rides, and she wasn't the only one.
Zhao Wanwan immediately became happy.
When Li Qinghe saw her like this, she asked, "Would you also like to send it to your father?"
“My father?” Zhao Wanwan asked, puzzled, “Father is next door...”
Suddenly, she realized that the 'father' Li Qinghe meant was her father, Zhao Tianfu, and shook her head. "I haven't seen him for a long time, and he didn't come to see me either. That's pointless. Besides, this fish is what I asked from you, and it's not mine."
As Li Qinghe listened to her talking about the Hu family, she suddenly remembered all the things Zhao Tianfu had done to set up Zhou Wanwan's marriage. He only helped her by asking the Hu's to agree for marriage.
After they went to town again the next day, Li Qinghe sat outside the carriage with Zhou Chengkang, which was packed with people.
Upon arriving in the town, the carriage was parked at the town's entrance. Li Qinghe separated from the others and went to the cloth shop first.
Mother Xu saw the fish Li Qinghe brought and was very happy. "You raised the fish. How much did you earn?" she asked.
(T/N: To avoid any confusion between Li Qinghe's mother and Xu Changjie's mother, I will refer to Mrs. Xu, Li Qinghe's mother as Mother Xu from here on.)
"I earned some." Li Qinghe was in a good mood, "I will send you some more fish for the New Year."
Mother and daughter hadn't seen each other for a long time, but they became closer over time. In her previous life, Li Qinghe had been very sharp with her words, but in this life, she was willing to get along well with Mother Xu.
As they talked, the curtain lifted and Mrs. Zhang entered. When she saw the fish on the ground, she smiled and asked, "Are you here to deliver some fish?" Then she looked outside and continued, " It must be really hard for you to come out here in such cold weather. Besides, we can still afford to buy a few fish and will not treat your mother badly. Fish is not good if you eat too much, I don't like it very much..." Her tone was full of disdain, and she also reached out to knock the bucket.
Mother Xu stepped forward, smiled, and brought the bucket over, "Madam doesn't like to eat, but I like it. I will eat it with the master."
When she said the last sentence, Mrs. Zhang's face looked a little ugly, and quickly changed her words, " Fishbone is easy to get stuck on, so be careful when you eat. Don’t let this happen on New Year's day and make a joke again."
Mother Xu raised her eyebrows, "You have to fight with me today too, don’t you?"
"What do you mean? What did I say?" Mrs. Zhang said solemnly.
The two people didn't agree with each other, and they were about to quarrel.
The curtain was lifted, and a middle-aged man of about 40 years old stepped forward steadily, "There's a guest here, stop making trouble."
The guest he referred to was Li Qinghe.
The expression on Mrs. Zhang's face changed when these words were said. Usually, men don't like the children their women give to other men. As long as the child exists and appears in front of him, it will remind him of the woman's impurity. Now, he said that the child was a guest, which implied that he didn't care about Mother Xu's past affairs.
Li Qinghe no longer wanted to be there. She stood up and smiled as she said goodbye. She also declined the fabric that Master Zhang offered her. After going out, she smiled at the person waiting for her, "Let's walk around the street together."
She didn't like to come here in her previous life. It was partly because there was resentment towards Mother Xu, and partly because it was easy for the situation to turn into something like this, and she felt embarrassed to be caught in the middle.
These days, the town is very lively. There were about half as many people everywhere than usual. When they strolled through town, squeezing in amongst the crowd, they were very happy. They went to the aunty's bun shop in the afternoon to eat noodles and buy the cake. There were a lot of people there, and the aunt had her hands full, but she remembered to greet them.
There was bustling activity in the store, and many children were wearing new clothes.
Li Qinghe whispered, "I made you a set of clothes, and I will give them to you when we return."
Zhou Chengkang followed her line of sight and his gaze fell on the three-or four-year-old child. It was still quite cold, so the child was still sniffling. The mood suddenly changed, "Do you treat me like a child?" he asked.
Suddenly Li Qinghe lost her smile and looked at him sternly. "Adults also need new clothes, right?" she asked.
Zhou Chengkang lowered his head, took a large bite, and drank the soup. He raised his head, his eyes a little red, "In fact, I rarely wore new clothes when I was young."
In most families, the older siblings' clothes were passed on to the younger siblings. This was a normal thing for Zhou's family as they had five children. She could not help but say, "I will make you a new set of clothes every year."
Coaxed as a child, Zhou Chengkang could not laugh or cry, and her words made him feel heartwarming, "Then I'll wait."
Upon returning to the town entrance, they saw Zhao Wanwan was already waiting for them, carrying a basket in her hands and breathing into her hands while walking in circles.
Li Qinghe approached her in confusion, and asked, "Why didn't you go sit in the carriage first?"
"That's not good." Zhao Wanwan smiled and climbed the carriage, "Actually, it's still cold inside. At least outside, I can still see the excitement."
They returned to the village quickly. On the way, they were recognized by many people in the village. Zhou Chengkang helped Li Qinghe sell fish. Many people have seen it, and those who haven't seen it have heard about it. Many people smiled and inquired about the couple's wedding date. Zhou Chengkang looked in a good mood, "It will be soon. We'll talk about it after the New Year."
A woman smiled at him pretending to be pleased and told him, "You should hurry up. Don't let your bride run away."
Money can be made from the sale of fish. While she wasn't sure how much capital was invested, they quickly earned money. The woman heard Li Qinghe collected two boxes of copper coins in two days, and not more nor less. Many people would come to Li Qinghe's house to propose marriage to her if the marriage date still hadn't been set.
Zhou Chengkang glanced at Li Qinghe with a shy face in the carriage, and smiled and said, "I must hurry up."
Along the way, he smiled happily and they soon arrived in the village. There were still two people in the carriage when the Li sisters got out. Zhou Chengkang had to send them and didn't go inside with them. Li Qinghe turned and walked into the room after watching the carriage leave.
On the side, Zhao Wanwan secretly glanced at her several times, and tentatively asked, "Sister, is your wedding date set?"
"We'll discuss it after the New Year." Li Qinghe casually asked, "Why, the Hu family want to set the marriage date earlier?"
"The restaurant in the town is short of a helper after the new year, and it will open on the third day after the new year..." Zhao Wanwan lowered her head, "Auntie means that we should hurry up and get married, so we can go help afterward."
Li Qinghe was surprised, " You can go to work if you really want to work there. You both are already engaged, so you can go. Why do you have to wait until you get married?"
Zhao Wanwan shook her head, "I don't know."
Li Qinghe didn't care much, and asked casually, "Is the marriage date set?"
"I think it's at the beginning of the month." Zhao Wanwan tentatively replied, "Sister, if you can't wait, I can..." Seeing Li Qinghe not responding, she was a little frustrated, "I can only get married before you."
It doesn't matter anyway, since the wedding has already been arranged. "Have you settled the dowry?" Li Qinghe asked.
Zhao Wanwan shook her head, "I don't know yet."
She had no idea about this. They had a dispute after Mrs. Hu mentioned the dowry of five silver taels, and Li Fu never mentioned it again to her.
The next day was Chinese New Year, and the family was still at peace. Mrs. Qian, who usually talks about things at the dinner table, didn't mention the unpleasantness anymore and didn't even mention her daughter's marriage. It was likely that the mention of this would cause a quarrel.
On the first day of the first lunar month, Zhou Chengkang and Hu Yanxi both came to pay a New Year greeting, and they stayed to eat. Li Fu was very happy and asked them to accompany him for a drink.
By the afternoon, Li Fu was partly sober and went to Mrs. Qian's maternal family.
The houses were close, so if they wanted to eat dinner that would delay their stay for a while, but if not, they could come back in half an hour. In the past, Li Fu and Mrs. Qian returned very quickly. There was something different about this year. It was nearly dark when Li Fu returned, and his complexion was not very good either.
As soon as they entered the house, Mrs. Qian cried, "What do you mean? Why do you have to be so unpleasant on New Year's day? My parents raised me, so can't you help them?"
Li Fu's face was still blushed in anger, and he waved his hand and said, "You are crying again. I said that I will honor them as I should, but don't think about anything else."
1. Not afraid of ten thousand, afraid of one - The proverb means not afraid of the ten thousand times that an unexpected situation may appear but afraid of the sudden one-time occurrence of an unexpected situation.