Allure of a Country Maiden-Chapter 655 - 653

After drinking a sip of tea, Mrs. Liu began to present the gifts she had brought: "It’s been many years since I returned and these gifts are just a small token of my feelings. Many of them are from our villa and workshop, and they are not worth much in silver. I hope you won’t find them disdainful."

Mrs. Liu gifted each elder a roll of brocade, considering their village life, it was not the finest brocade, but still of good quality. In addition, she also presented the main family members, including Shen Jingfu and Mrs. Ji, with materials to make clothing for themselves. The Shen family’s main lineage was neatly trimmed, with only male heirs for two consecutive generations.

There were also various dried fruits, candied fruits, fresh fruits, and other foods included.

Jingrui and Jinghao presented their elder cousin with a pair of well-made bows and arrows.

Xiao’er brought out some silk flowers and a pair of silver bracelets to gift to her cousin’s wife.

Mrs. Ji, looking at the finely crafted silver bracelets, tried to decline, saying that they were too valuable.

Xiao’er told her that they were simply merchandise from their shop and not as precious as they seemed.

Only then did Mrs. Ji accept the gift, her inner surprise at Shen Chengyao’s family’s wealth deepening—they even owned a jewelry shop, among other businesses.

Next, Xiao’er presented a food box: "Great-grandfather, great-grandmother, elder cousin, cousin’s wife, these are cakes. They are fluffy and sweet, a taste I hope you will enjoy."

Remembering Mrs. Ji’s mentioning of the elders’ leg pains, probably due to chronic cold leg syndrome, Xiao’er said, "I was unaware of their health issues. I will send a bottle of tiger bone medicinal wine for you to rub on the painful areas — it will at least help to alleviate the pain."

"You’ve brought us so many gifts, how could we possibly accept all of these?" Mrs. Shen Lin, looking at the items on the table, was at a loss of what to say.

Mrs. Ji, fingering the fabric given to her and her children, said, "The children are always jumping around. It is a waste to make clothes for them out of such quality materials. This is way too much and we cannot accept these gifts."

Shen Jingfu, eight years older than Jingrui, was already the father of a six-year-old boy named Shen Jiewei, who was a handful during this age. Jiewei had gone to visit his maternal great-grandmother with his paternal grandparents, and thus they were not present that day.

"It’s just enough fabric to make one complete set of clothes, hardly extravagant. Besides, the New Year is approaching, so once you have the clothes made, you will have new outfits for the new year. If I had known my little nephew’s height beforehand, I could have had these clothes made for him."

"That’s completely unnecessary! There’s no way we could impose on you with your busy life, I can make the clothes myself," Mrs. Ji quickly intervened upon hearing her words.

At this point, Shen Renfu spoke, "These are all tokens of affection from Chengyao’s family, please accept them."

"Jingfu, go call your parents. Jingfu’s wife, help your mother-in-law prepare a meal. Chengyao’s wife, let’s have lunch here today!"

"That sounds wonderful, I haven’t had a chance to taste Jingfu’s wife’s cooking yet. But since we’ve just arrived, I think I’d like to visit Youfu’s wife and Dashi’s wife and the others first. I’ll be back later for the meal."

"Yes, it is proper that you visit them. They’ve helped you a lot and you shouldn’t forget it," Shen Renfu nodded in agreement.

Jingrui and Jinghao needed to go home to help Mrs. Liu with some errands. Mrs. Liu told Xi’er to come with them to visit other families. Xi’er was very young when she left Lianxi Village and had no memory of it, so Mrs. Liu took her to reacquaint herself with the roads and the people.

Xiao’er and Yun’er stayed at Shen Renfu’s house to help Mrs. Ji with cooking.

But Mrs. Ji didn’t dare let them help, fearing that they might spoil their fine clothes, "My dear sisters, why don’t you go outside and chat with your great-grandfather? Leave this to me."

"Sister-in-law, stop worrying about us, I learned how to cook at a young age, and even now in the Imperial Capital, I often cook." Xiao’er rolled up her sleeves and began washing the vegetables.

"Jingfu’s wife, let them be. These two girls are sensible and well-behaved, often helping their parents with chores! Xiao’er, your great-grandmother will fetch you some warm water to wash the vegetables, otherwise, you might catch a chill."

Even though it was freezing outside, Xiao’er wasn’t cold since she was washing the vegetables in well water, which is warmer in winter and cooler in summer. However, she also didn’t refuse the old lady’s kindness.

As they busied themselves in the kitchen, Mrs. Ji, who was very talkative, told Xiao’er and Yun’er about all the major and minor events that had occurred in the village during their absence.

Xiao’er and Yun’er were efficient workers. Shen Jingfu had just recently joined the villagers in hunting up in the mountains and had brought back a wild goat. Since goat meat was nourishing and the men of the Shen family particularly enjoyed it, they didn’t sell the goat but planned to keep eating it until the New Year.

They decided not to slaughter the pig for the year but instead sold all four that they had raised.

Mrs. Shen Lin also fetched a two-year-old hen from the chicken coop to slaughter.

Given the weather and the availability of goat meat, Xiao’er suggested preparing goat meat hotpot, to which everyone agreed.

As luck would have it, Mrs. Liu had housekeeper Qian bring a bottle of tiger bone medicinal wine and a few types of fresh vegetables and mushrooms.

A whole chicken, a large plate of goat meat, and multiple choices of vegetables and mushrooms were considered a rich offering for a farming family.

After delivering the gifts to their good friends, Mrs. Liu returned to Shen Renfu’s house. Shen Jingfu had already called Shen Chengde and his wife back, and all the food ingredients were ready; it was time to eat.

The atmosphere here was excellent, while in the old Shen home, the mood was heavy and oppressive.

Old Master Shen had waited half the night for Mrs. Liu and her family to visit but to no avail.

Early this morning, as he anxiously looked to and fro, instead of waiting for their arrival, he waited and watched as Mrs. Liu and his grandchildren arrived at his older brother’s house with their gifts.

He had thought that after they visited his brother, it would be his turn to receive them!

Unexpectedly, Mrs. Liu seemed to be visiting all the unrelated outsiders with generous gifts!

Almost every family in the village had been visited by Mrs. Liu except his own!

This filled Old Master Shen with frustration, his chest feeling as if a large rock was crushing it!

So many years had passed and yet the third son’s family still refused to forgive them!

Mrs. Shen, seeing Old Master Shen in this state, scoffed, "How is it? Didn’t I tell you? I said those ungrateful wretches wouldn’t come to see us!"

Old Master Shen didn’t respond but just kept puffing on his pipe.

As if she never tired of aggravating him, Mrs. Shen continued speaking, "Not only will they not come to see us! That damned Liu is trying to kill us with aggravation!"

Remembering Mrs. Liu’s activities of the day — visiting Shen Lin’s house, her sworn enemy, on a grand scale and bearing many gifts — inflamed her to the point where she could hardly breathe!

What angered her even more was that Mrs. Liu was distributing to outsiders all the commodities that her son had earned!

But she, the birth mother, had yet to see a single chicken feather or hair!

Shen Jingwen tried to console her, "Grandmother, don’t be angry. I don’t think Uncle Shen has come back yet. When he does, he will definitely come to see you. Maybe Aunt Liu can’t swallow her pride to see us. Why don’t we go to Uncle Shen’s house and apologize to Aunt Liu, ask them for forgiveness?"