Chapter 168: New house

Throughout late October, the Lu and Liu families were almost non-stop busy.

On Liu Yu’s side, they were rushing to meet the end-of-month orders. Ever since returning, Liu Yu, along with Lu Shuang and all the women workers in the embroidery shop, had been hard at work. During this time, Liu Yanan had not been idle either. As Liu Yu had mentioned, finding distributors outside the county was not as easy as within it. After visiting two counties, Liu Yanan managed to find only seven embroidery shops willing to cooperate.

However, this was already a great start. When Liu Yu returned to Anyi County, she had an additional 210 orders waiting, and with deposits received, the delivery date was set for the fifth of November.

The last remaining vacant room in the backyard of the Ruyi Embroidery Shop was also cleaned out and converted into a warehouse to store finished garments.

With over thirty mouths to feed, the one cook they had was clearly overwhelmed. Wei quickly hired another one, who was a relative of one of the embroidery workers.

The bustling scene in the Liu family’s backyard left Chen Shi, Qin Shi, and even the in-laws from the second branch of the Zhou family dumbfounded. The families lived close by, and most of the hired female workers were from the surrounding households, so word quickly spread. Within a few days, even Lu Chengzhang and Zhou Qiongying had heard about it and made a trip back to the county to see the lively scene at Ruyi Embroidery Shop.

Indeed, it was lively. Due to the increase in orders, the backyard of the embroidery shop was once again in full swing. The shop provided dinner, and after the meal, the workers would stay for an extra hour of work.

This extra hour was set by Liu Yu, but since the women were paid per piece, who wouldn’t want to earn more? With dozens of people working together, there was no worry about gossip, and they willingly stayed for two more hours, only returning home when their families came to pick them up at night.

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Liu Yu thanked Qin Shi on the side, saying, “I’m really grateful for the help from Father, Mother, Big Brother, and Sister-in-law, but I will cover the cost this time.”

Qin Shi accepted without hesitation, taking the money from Liu Yu.

There was no shortage of work at the embroidery shop that required Liu Yu’s attention, so after arranging everything and apologizing to the uncles and cousins, she hurried back to continue her work.

Lu Xun and Chen Shi treated the relatives to a meal at the restaurant, and then they all took a stroll around Lufeng.

The people in Chenjia Village all knew that the Lu family’s business was doing well, expanding to the county, and thanks to Lu Chengxiao, every family earned more money by selling cloth this year. But even so, it was the first time that Chen Shi’s nephews and cousins, except for when they passed through the county for the wedding, had actually been to Lufeng Cloth Shop.

After seeing Lufeng Cloth Shop and Ruyi Embroidery Shop across the street, and hearing that Lu Chengxiao was looking for a place to open a branch and that Liu Yu was supplying ready-made clothes to other embroidery shops, employing dozens of female workers to rush orders, even Lu Shuang, their little cousin, was busy. It was only then that they truly understood the success of their cousins, Lu Chengxiao and Liu Yu.

By the afternoon, it was time to return to Changfeng Town. Lu Xun and Chen Shi handed over the gifts Liu Yu had prepared as thanks, saying, “These were prepared by Chengxiao’s wife. Take them home and let the children enjoy some sweets.”

Although they referred to them as sweets, each person received two bags of pastries along with a small pouch. The pouch felt light, but a slight squeeze revealed that it didn’t contain copper coins, but silver.

Silver!

As soon as Chen Dajiu felt the pouch, he could roughly estimate the weight—about one tael. He was stunned, and when he looked at his brothers and nephews, they all had the same reaction. It was clear that each of them had received the same—one tael of silver in each pouch.

With over twenty people, that amounted to more than twenty taels of silver.

Chen Dajiu felt the pouch burning in his hand and quickly tried to refuse it. As honest country folk, they felt that helping out with something as joyous as their nephew buying a big house in the county shouldn’t come with a payment—especially not one tael of silver per person. He attempted to return the pouch to his sister, Chen Shi, saying, “We’ll accept the pastries, but the silver is too much.”

After all, who gives out taels of silver like that? In the countryside, they mostly dealt in copper coins, and even seeing silver was rare.

Chen Shi knew her elder brother well. When Liu Yu had sent the pouches, they were in a box, and she hadn’t known they contained silver until just a little before her brother did.

However, she also understood Liu Yu’s intentions. Smiling, she placed the pouch back into her brother’s hand and said, “Don’t refuse it. Consider it a blessing. Chengxiao isn’t back yet, but in a few days, when he returns and they pick a good day to move in, you brothers can come and help warm their new home too.”

In the countryside, housewarming gifts are common, and Chen Shi’s suggestion was that if Chen Dajiu felt uncomfortable accepting the silver, he could bring a gift when the time came. This exchange would foster closeness.

Understanding her intent, Chen Dajiu finally accepted the pouch, planning to discuss with his wife later how much they had received and what to add to a housewarming gift for their nephew.

With Chen Dajiu taking the lead, the others finally felt comfortable accepting their pouches.

Lu Xun and Chen Shi personally escorted everyone to the dock, rented a boat for them, paid the fare, and only left once the boat had sailed far down the river.

The couple didn’t head straight back to Lufeng but instead went to Lu Chengxiao’s new home.

Although the house was bought by their youngest son, Lu Xun and Chen Shi were genuinely happy. The Lu family had been in the county for several years, and now their youngest son had finally settled down.

Liu Yu had brought a lot of furniture with her as part of her dowry, but since it was sized for the Lu family home, there weren’t any large pieces like beds or wardrobes, nor were there any tables and chairs for the main hall or flower hall. These items would need to be purchased separately.

Lu Xun decided to discuss it with Chen Shi, and they agreed that as parents, they would gift the full set of furniture for the hall as a housewarming present.

Chen Shi had already considered this and readily agreed. She also planned to do the same for their other sons when they bought houses in the future.

There was a furniture shop in the county, but Chen Shi, being thoughtful, decided not to go directly with Lu Xun to buy the furniture. Instead, she went to Ruyi Embroidery Shop to find Liu Yu, waiting until Liu Yu had some free time in the evening to tell her about the plan to gift the furniture and to take her to pick it out herself.

Wei Shi, who had been overwhelmed with work all day, perked up when she heard about the furniture gift for the housewarming. “Count me in too.”

She was even more eager than Liu Yu, pulling Chen Shi aside to discuss which parts she would buy. After some discussion, they agreed that Chen Shi would cover the tables, chairs, and other pieces for the main hall and flower hall, while Wei Shi would cover the inner courtyard.

Wei Shi was genuinely busy, and she and Chen Shi had grown so close that they didn’t feel like in-laws but more like sisters. Wei Shi simply handed over the money to Chen Shi, asking her to take care of the purchases.

Liu Yu found it amusing, but since the embroidery shop had been doing well lately, she didn’t refuse. She thanked Wei Shi and asked Chen Shi to wait a moment while she went to the Lu family home to fetch some silver. Then, the two of them went together to the furniture shop.

With her mother-in-law and elder sister-in-law taking care of the tables, chairs, and other pieces for the main and flower halls, Liu Yu decided to fully furnish both the inner and outer courtyards as well. This way, whether it was her in-laws or her own family visiting, they would be well accommodated.

The house Lu Chengxiao bought was large, and fully furnishing the two courtyards wasn’t cheap—especially since Chen Shi selected high-quality wood. In the end, when they totaled the cost, it came to seventy-four taels of silver.

Just as the furniture store was about to close, they received a large order. The shopkeeper was so delighted that his eyes nearly squinted shut from smiling. Chen Shi was skilled at bargaining, insisting that a certain four-tael figure was unacceptable. After some haggling, not only did the shopkeeper knock off the four-tael excess, but he also threw in some extras for free.

Most of the items they bought were in stock at the furniture store, but the warehouse was located on the outskirts of the county. Since it was already late, they agreed to have the items delivered the next day.

Liu Yu would be too busy to oversee the delivery, so Chen Shi took on the responsibility.

As they were leaving the furniture store, Liu Yu linked arms with Chen Shi and said, “Mother, I’m so grateful to have you and Father, as well as my brother and sister-in-law, helping out. You’ve all been working so hard these past few days.”

Chen Shi was very fond of Liu Yu, and with her gentle words, Chen Shi couldn’t stop smiling. “This is nothing; it’s you and Shuang’er who have really been working hard. I can see you’ve both lost weight.”

“Have we?” Liu Yu hadn’t noticed but, changing the subject, she said, “Mother, now that we’ve bought the house, I was thinking that once we choose an auspicious day, you, Father, and Shuang’er could move in with us. You and Father could take the main room in the inner courtyard, Chengxiao and I could stay in the east wing, and Shuang’er could stay in the west wing. That way, you’d all be more comfortable, and my brother and sister-in-law would have more space with the children.”

Chen Shi chuckled, “Don’t you think you should ask Chengxiao if he’d be happy with that?”

No one knows a child better than their mother. Buying a house before even getting married? Clearly, he wanted a quiet, cozy space to be with his new wife.

Chen Shi definitely didn’t want to be the third wheel, intruding on their newlywed life.

Somehow, Liu Yu understood the teasing in her mother-in-law’s words, and her face grew warm. “Why wouldn’t he want that? Besides, he’s often away, and I would feel scared living in that big house alone. It would be better to have you all around.”

Chen Shi laughed again, delighted that her daughter-in-law was so considerate and that she got along well even with her own daughter. She said, “Your brother and sister-in-law’s children, Yuge’er and Ruige’er, are still young, so they can stay where they are. You and Chengxiao should enjoy your time together. Just keep a room ready for us—it doesn’t have to be the main one. The east or west wing will do as a guest room. When Chengxiao is away on business, we can stay over, and when he returns, your father, Shuang’er, and I will go back to the shop.”

Her words were so straightforward that Liu Yu’s face burned even hotter.

Chen Shi, amused by her daughter-in-law’s shyness, finally stopped teasing her. Instead, she asked if Liu Yu needed to buy any bedding or quilts.

Liu Yu shook her head. “My aunt prepared a lot for my dowry—enough for all four seasons, with eight sets of bedding and quilts each. It should be enough.”

Chen Shi thought for a moment. If they furnished the guest rooms as well, it would be sufficient, but there might not be enough for changing.

She didn’t say anything more but kept it in mind. Since her family ran a fabric shop, the last thing they lacked was cloth. She planned to take some fabric and have a few more sets of bedding and quilts made to send over.

The two returned to North Street, and Liu Yu quickly got back to work at the embroidery shop.

The next day, Chen Shi brought Baobao to the new house to oversee the furniture delivery. They had bought a lot of items, most of which needed to be assembled on-site, so they spent half the day there. They were just about to head back to North Street when Qin Shi arrived with Aunt Chen and Second Aunt Chen.

It turned out that Liu Yu’s red envelopes had been too generous. Each of the nephews and nieces had received three to four taels of silver, and the elders had discussed using this money to buy a housewarming gift while they were still on the boat.

The men had come up with a general idea, but when it came to deciding on the specifics, they were stumped.

Back in Chenjia Village, the women gathered to discuss it. They heard that the house was large with many rooms and decided to make some nice bedding as a housewarming gift.

Naturally, they couldn’t use the coarse cloth from the countryside, so they came to the county to find Chen Shi, their sister-in-law, to discuss buying some quality materials from Lufeng. It would be more economical than buying from other fabric shops.

That was why Chen Shi’s plan to add some bedding to her son’s home was no longer necessary—the two sisters-in-law had already taken over.

Qin Shi had brought them over, and as Aunt Chen and Second Aunt Chen toured the house, they were increasingly glad they had come. The furniture was all exquisitely crafted, and they realized that poor-quality bedding simply wouldn’t do.

But more than anything, they were envious!

Chen Shi was truly blessed. After all, Lu Xun had once been just a peddler carrying his goods on his shoulders. Now, look at them—their family business was thriving, and their sons were all successful.

When they had passed by North Street earlier, Qin Shi had taken them to visit the embroidery shop. The sight of all the fine silks and luxurious garments had nearly overwhelmed Aunt Chen and Second Aunt Chen.

They had heard that half of the embroidery shop was part of Chengxiao’s wife’s dowry, and they had been marveling at it ever since. It was truly extraordinary!

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