Chapter 238: 236: Adding Winter Clothes, The Whole Family Rejoices
Joyful Motherhood in a Rural Family
Di Cheng had an embarrassed look on his face, as if there was a ball of fire burning on it.
âThird Aunt, donât worry. Next time, I wonât let her⦠let my momâ¦â
Di Cheng stammered for a long time, unable to come up with a clear explanation.
âItâs alright. I understand itâs hard for you since sheâs your mother. Just hand her over to me and take care of the bookstore.â
Liu Sisi comforted him, explained some matters, and then left the bookstore with the two quiet children and Di Yelei, headed straight for Gan Mansion.
âIf Ms. Wang comes again, will you really have her arrested?â
Di Yelei asked with a smile.
âWhat do you think?â
Liu Sisi asked him back, âGiven Ms. Wangâs nature, do you think she will give up just like that? Letâs wait and see!â
With that, she raised her chin, gave a mysterious smile, and walked briskly towards the stone steps at the entrance of Gan Mansion.
Today, the Old Madam of Gan Estate was absent, and Gan Miaoruo happened to be at home. She listened attentively to Liu Sisiâs lessons for four hours and still seemed unsatisfied. She then asked Di Yelei to teach her archery.
Considering there was a dedicated martial arts teacher, Liu Sisi naturally hesitated.
âThe teacher is getting stingier and stingier, humph!â
Gan Miaoruo wrinkled her little nose, âThe teacher who teaches me martial arts is so boring, always asking me to squat. Iâm about to have crab legs, never teaching me anything else! Now youâre making all sorts of excuses too, Iâm not happy!â
After saying that, she pouted and ignored everyone.
Di Yelei and Liu Sisi exchanged glances, seeing the amusement in each otherâs eyes, and didnât get angry.
âMiss Gan, itâs not a big deal to learn martial arts, but after all, there is a difference between men and women. Even if I want to teach you martial arts, teaching you archery will inevitably lead to physical contact. It may not matter to me, but you are a precious lady. If the Old Madam finds out or is seen by others, the consequencesâ¦â
With Di Yeleiâs analysis, Gan Miaoruoâs pout naturally deflated. She grumbled for a while before sitting reluctantly at the edge of a nearby pavilion.
âAlright! Grandmother definitely wonât let me learn from you, itâs so disappointingâ¦â
As she spoke, she kicked the mud on the ground.
âRuo Ruo, if you want to learn martial arts, why donât you come to our house next time and Iâll take you up to the mountain to dig traps, those specially designed for catching wild boars.â Di Xuan, who was practicing calligraphy in the pavilion, hurriedly stepped in to help his parents.
Gan Miaoruoâs eyes suddenly lit up, âIs digging traps fun?â
âItâs fun! Last time dad took me, we directly pulled out several wild pheasants from the traps. If youâre lucky, there are rabbits, roe deer, weasels, and wild boars, you can find everything, itâs so awesome!â
Di Xuan demonstrated excitedly, quickly attracting Gan Miaoruoâs attention.
Liu Sisi breathed a sigh of relief, knowing taking the children with them was the right choice. Di Yelei also relaxed; after all, she was a noble miss, and he couldnât bear the responsibility if anything happened to her.
After leaving Gan Mansion, the group went to buy winter clothes.
Seeing Liu Sisi, the shopkeeper couldnât help but frown: âYoung wife, are you coming today to make fun of me again?â
Liu Sisi felt somewhat embarrassed, as she had indeed gone too far last time: âIâm really sorry, shopkeeper, but Iâm genuinely here to buy winter clothes today. However, you must give me a sincere price, right?ân/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
The shopkeeper replied straightforwardly: âAlright! Since youâve said that, I will definitely give you a sincere price. Please choose your items!â
Of course, Liu Sisi ended up selecting quite a lot of things. Two sets of winter clothes per person for the five adults and two children in the family, including father-in-law, mother-in-law, and Di Cheng, quickly depleted their 5 taels of silver, making Liu Sisi wince.
She thought about it and decided to buy a few more cotton quilts, as there was still plenty of blue cloth left from their last purchase. They could make three sets of bedding, as the current cotton quilts in their home were old and uncomfortable!
She couldnât skimp on the cotton quilts, so Liu Sisi calculated that twelve catties for the big beds and eight catties for the small ones would be enough. She also had to prepare a quilt for Di Cheng and buy some cotton shoes as wellâ¦
After doing the calculations, Liu Sisi genuinely felt like the money was flowing like water.
In the end, the whole family carried a pile of items back home.
âLetâs take these quilts back and sew them with the remaining blue cloth, hopefully weâll have new quilts to cover ourselves tonight.â Liu Sisi was visibly excited.
Xuanâer and YingEr on the side were also delighted.
Especially YingEr, who kept lifting up her new cotton jacket to look at it, still not entirely out of her excitement.
âMom! YingEr has a new cotton jacket now! What should we do with the old one? Can I let Ah-Huang and Ah-Hua wear it?â YingEr was excitedly hopping forward.
Di Xuan reproached her seriously: âStop messing around! Little sister, Ah-Huang and Ah-Hua wonât fit into your small cotton jacket.â
âXuanâer is right. Our YingErâs cotton jacket is not something those two big fellows can wear. Once we get back, Iâll take out the cotton, wash and sew it back up, and use it to make beds for them.â Liu Sisi thought the idea feasible.
Ah-Huang and Ah-Hua were no longer the small puppies they were before. Thanks to an unending supply of food and bones at the Di Familyâs home, the two dogs grew rapidly, becoming even taller than YingEr. Indeed, they were worthy of their hunting dog title.
Di Yelei also joined in: âI can see that you want to replace all of the old items at home with new ones!â
âNot really. Do you think the old cotton quilts at home are comfortable?â
She had long despised those stiff, musty-smelling old cotton quilts and was determined to replace them all.
âTheyâre indeed not comfortable. But donât throw away the old cotton quilts once youâve replaced them. Itâs nice to have an extra quilt when itâs cold.â
Di Yelei was already accustomed to frugality. He wouldnât say anything when it came to purchasing items, but he was opposed to waste.
âOf course, we canât throw away the old cotton quilts. However, they should be taken out for a good sunning. Then we can use them as a padded blanket. The cotton inside is hard and heavy, making it very uncomfortable.â Liu Sisi casually decided the fate of the old cotton quilts.
âHaha! What our home needs the most is to clean up the stable, right?â
Di Yelei changed the topic: âWeâve cleaned up the chicken coop and the rabbitâs nest, but the horse is about to be brought home, and the stable hasnât been prepared. How can we bring it back like this?â
A few days ago, Zuo Xingyu mentioned that a good horse had been allocated for Di Yelei. He planned to carefully choose one for him.
Di Yelei had been yearning for his horse in the past few days, wishing he could bring it home immediately and ride freely across the land.