Shen Wenyu didn't expect Zi Qing's home to be so luxurious and comfortable, and couldn't help but exclaim: "No wonder my mother and sisters-in-law went back and bragged that Uncle had found a rich son-in-law. I didn't think Brother-in-law was so wealthy. Among our group of people, only you married the best. I don't know how Xiangying and Xiushui are doing?"

  Ziying listened and said, "We can't be considered wealthy, we're just a bit better off than ordinary people. The truly wealthy families, only when you enter their homes do you realize that compared to them, we are nothing. If you stay here, I'll go find someone tomorrow to bring over Xiuying and Xiushui, it's been years since I've seen them, and I really miss them."

  "Alright, I haven't seen them in years either, and I've been thinking about them too. It's no big deal if I stay an extra day."

  The crowd sat for a while, and Xiao Qing and Xiao Lan efficiently served tea. Zi Qing took out the small hair accessories she had bought at the temple fair in Beijing and let each of them choose one. After chatting for a bit, they dispersed. Zi Qing was tired from walking for half a day and lazily went to rest, leaving only He Shi to stay behind and accompany her for a while. He Shi readily agreed. Zi Qing ordered Xiao Qing to prepare some food and had it sent in. Before they could eat, the men of the Shen family all came in again. Zi Qing had Lin An accompany them on a tour, but fortunately, they only visited the outer and inner courtyards and saw the so-called Persian carpet at the entrance of the inner courtyard without entering Zi Qing's bedroom.

  Shen Jianren and his family, including Shen Jianshan and Shen Jianshui, all stayed behind. Zi Qing knew that Shen Jianren was often not by He Shi's side, so he was afraid that He Shi also missed her son dearly. After dinner and a short rest, she had Xiaoqing and Xiaolan support her as they came over to keep everyone company, chatting with them for a while, playing a few rounds of mahjong, and ended up staying at the Zeng residence overnight without any further ado.

  The next morning, after inquiring about the whereabouts of Xiuying and Xishui, Ziqing instructed Lin An to run an errand. Then she also invited Xiaoyu, Qiuyu, Ziping and others over, and Ziqing brought everyone to Qingyuan, instructing Lin An to go pick up Li from the Wang Tieshan household to prepare lunch.

  Xiù Shuǐ and the others didn't arrive until almost twelve o'clock. Before they even entered the door, Xiù Shuǐ's loud voice was already heard shouting: "Qíng Qíng! I heard you missed me, but you didn't even tell me about your wedding, that's not very considerate of you. Fortunately, you still have a conscience and knew to come pick me up. I heard your house is really big and beautiful, let me take a look at what good things you have? And by the way, see if there are any pretty things for me to bring back?"

  When she saw Zi Qing standing at the door of the main house to welcome her, she exclaimed: "Wow! Zi Qing, you really look elegant now, wearing such beautiful clothes. I don't even know what fabric they're made of!"

  "What's this, Zi Qing has plenty of beautiful clothes, and there are even better ones than this. You haven't seen the one she wore on her wedding day, tsk, it was worth several dozen taels of silver." Qiu Yu said.

  "I don't care, you have to buy me a set today. I've never worn such nice clothes before, and I must wear them back to show off." Xiu Shui said.

  Because they were all women who grew up together, Xiuying and Xiushui visited the house. After dinner, Ziqing entertained them in the hall of the inner courtyard, everyone sat on the carpet, talking about past interesting things, especially when Qiuyu mentioned that time singing at midnight and stealing oranges from the neighbor's house, several people couldn't help but laugh loudly.

  "It was better when I was a kid, didn't have to worry about anything, just played all day. Now everything is on my own shoulders and it's frustrating from dawn till dusk." Xiu Shui said while eating a piece of cake.

  "Sister, that's good for you. I've been worried about the family's livelihood since I was young, raising chickens, planting vegetables, and taking care of my younger brother and sister," Zi Qing said.

  Xiu Shui heard a loud slap and said: "What's with the 'big sister' nonsense? I'm your aunt, okay?"

  Xiao Qing hastily said from the side, "This lady, you can scold us if you want, but don't hit or kick. Our grandma's body wasn't good to begin with, and she can't afford to get hurt. If something happens to her, our grandfather will skin me alive."

  "What's wrong? I didn't do anything, but now you're so fragile, like a porcelain doll, one bump and you'll shatter. Look at your husband, he's always holding you in the palm of his hand. Where is he? Auntie has arrived, why don't you hurry up and go greet her?" Xiu Shui asked.

  "I didn't expect you to come, Master Tai Gu. I'm afraid we've put you out, but please bear with us for now. We'll make it up to you another time." Zi Qing couldn't help but laugh at her own words, and the others also burst into laughter.

  "Do you remember when we asked Zi Qing what kind of person she wanted to marry, and we all said our answers, but Zi Qing didn't say anything? Later, when we pressed her for an answer, she finally said that the person she wants to marry can only marry one person. But now, looking at your family's situation, with so much money, he can only marry one person?" Xiu Ying asked.

  "You've never seen Ziying's husband, he's really good to her, it's like he's holding a treasure in his hands and is afraid of dropping it, or has a precious thing in his mouth and is afraid of losing it. When Ziying had a cold for over half a month, my nephew-in-law held her for more than half a month without leaving the house, we've never seen anything like that before, even my second aunt-in-law was impressed. And he's going to marry a younger wife? Whenever Ziying coughs, he becomes flustered and doesn't know what to do. As for Ziying's daily life, which family isn't paying close attention to it? Right after they got married, she had two personal maids serving her, and two young servants at her beck and call. I look at their good fortune and think, why is there such a big difference between us women?" Autumn Jade said.

  "That's a must, what's wrong with our Qinqin? It's all advantages when you say it out loud. A person as beautiful as her doesn't need me to say it, the key is that she's so capable, and she can read and write, calculates accounts faster than anyone else. Zifu passed the imperial examination, Zilu and Zishou are both top scholars, this is truly a family of scholars, to marry such an unrooted outsider, be content with him, if he dares to bully our Qinqin, it's up to us, this whole family, to agree or not? So, our Qinqin has also gone from suffering to happiness, heaven is fair." Xiu Shui said.

  "Ziying is bitter first and sweet later, you guys are sweet first and bitter later, I have never been sweet." Zi Ping rarely spoke up, but suddenly said this.

  Xiu Ying and her sister Wen Yu did not know about Zi Ping's current situation, but from her clothes and spirit, they also knew that Zi Ping was not living a comfortable life.

  "Why don't we sing again, the yard is big this time, we can sing loudly without affecting others. Today everyone is here, I still want to hear that song from that night." Zi Qing said, memories of her girlhood were always filled with warmth and nostalgia.

  Xiù Yīng Xiù Shuǐ listened and immediately responded, saying: "Good, good, since that night, there hasn't been such a reckless moment again. Unfortunately, I still often think about it and said that there will never be such happy songs and laughter again."

  "What's the big deal, today you can sing as much as you want and be satisfied. It's easy to have a full house today, why don't we have a competition instead? Let's see who has the best voice, the loudest, and who knows the most songs?" Zi Qing said.

  "Alright, let's have another singing relay competition later. Whoever can't continue will be eliminated, but they have to go under the table. For the last one remaining, how about we add some prize?" said Qiu Yu.

  "Alright, I have no objection. Let's take out our own handbags and see who is the first to choose. Whoever picks one up will get it. In the future, when we see this handbag, we'll remember today. How about that? But, who will be the judge?" Xiu Shui asked.

  "This is easy, let my two maids wait outside and listen, see who sings the best." Zi Qing said.

  "It's no good, I'd better be the judge instead. At my age, what am I doing getting mixed up with you all?" Xia Yu said.

  "You're just a few years older than us, what's the point of saying that? Let's hurry up and take down our lotus-leaf bags. I've taken a liking to Zi Qing's, it's much more exquisite than mine. And Autumn Jade's isn't bad either." Xiu Shui said with a smile.

  "It's just that everyone is playing, and you're the only one missing out, isn't it inappropriate? I'm saying this first, if anyone doesn't want to play, I won't comply," Xiu Ying said.

  "Then why don't we just blow off Zi Qing's roof?" said Wen Yu.

  Several people took down the lotus-leaf package and placed it on a low table. Zi Qing and several others drew lots to determine the order, when Autumn Jade suddenly said: "I'm going to die, I'm just a big-bellied woman, how can I sing with energy? I'm not comparable to them, hum, still somewhat different."

  "When you say that, I also can't sing, but I wasn't good at singing in the first place," said Zi Ping.

  "Our grandma can't sing either," said Little Blue.

  Everyone looked at Zi Qing, and Zi Qing smiled. They said: "Well, you didn't say anything, I thought your maid was a bit off, she stumbled and almost fell, it turns out it's because of this, no wonder."

  "Let's not compare whose voice is louder first, let's have a sing-along competition instead." Zi Qing said with a smile.

  Xiù Shuǐ was the first to start singing, and Zǐ Qíng listened to this kind of local tune, like a tea-picking opera, with a long aftertaste, very lyrical. For a while, everyone let loose, and surprisingly, Zǐ Qíng was the first to be eliminated. Next were Xià Yù and Zǐ Píng, and finally, the one left was Qiū Yù. She had loved singing since she was young, and her voice was still good. If this were now, perhaps she would also be a natural-born singer. The sound of singing mixed with laughter floated in the courtyard of Qíng Yuán, lingering for a long time without dispersing.

  "What was said just now, the loser has to crawl under the table, Zi Qing, sorry about that, hehe, I really want to see how you crawl out from under the table? You say, if your husband finds out, what will happen?" Xiu Shui laughed slyly.

  "Don't make me, must you really force a pregnant woman like me to do such a difficult move? How about I treat everyone to dinner instead?" Zi Qing pretended to be pitiful.

  "What's wrong? Your family's table is so high, you're not showing yet, take your time crawling, we're not in a hurry, just enjoy the view." Xiu Ying smiled.

  Just then, Shen, Xiao and He walked in and said: "We heard the commotion from far away, fortunately this garden is big, otherwise people would really think that there's a group of madmen living inside."

  "It's not a group of madmen, today is really happy, unfortunately time passes quickly, we should disperse too." Xiu Ying said.

  "It's cheaper for Zi Qing, consider it a debt you owe me first." Xiu Shui said with a smile, pointing at Zi Qing.

  Shen's family hurriedly asked what was owed, and several people covered their mouths and smiled secretly.