Starting with a daily divination to build an immortal clan

Chapter 27 Gift
As the carriage approached, Huang Lingxiu jumped off first, then lifted the curtain and helped an old woman.

"Grandma, be careful."

At the same time, the Huang brothers and another burly figure also dismounted.

Shen Yuan approached, cupped his hands in greeting, and said, "My two elder brothers."

Huang Qingzhou cupped his hands in greeting and helped Huang Lingxiu support the old woman, saying, "Brother, this is my mother. She insisted on coming along to see us when she learned that we were coming to Jinliu Village."

Huang Qingzhou's mother?

A hint of surprise flashed through Shen Yuan's mind, and then he quickly stepped forward and gave a deep bow.

"Nephew Shen Yuan greets Aunt."

The old woman was over sixty, but she was still quite healthy, with a ruddy complexion. When she saw Shen Yuan, she smiled and came up to him, taking his hand and saying:

"Is that A-Yuan? I used to hold you when you were little!"

"I never imagined that more than 20 years would have passed in the blink of an eye."

Shen Yuan held her hand and asked, "Auntie, how have you been lately?"

The old woman smiled and nodded: "Okay, okay..."

More than 20 years ago, when my grandfather was still alive, the Shen and Huang families were still on good terms.

After his grandfather died, his father took over the Shen family, but the family's title was stripped, and the relationship between the two families gradually faded.

"Auntie, please come inside."

The old woman nodded slightly: "Lingxiu, just take me inside. You brothers can talk."

Huang Lingxiu helped the old woman walk into the courtyard, and Huang Yunxiao then introduced, "Brother, this is Zhang Bin, my brother."

Upon hearing this, Shen Yuan quickly cupped his hands in greeting and said, "Greetings, Commandant Zhang."

Zhang Bin was a forthright man. He waved his hand and said, "Old Huang and I are brothers. Brother Shen, don't stand on ceremony."

"I have to thank Brother Shen for what happened last time."

Upon hearing this, Shen Yuan looked at Huang Yunxiao with a puzzled expression.

“Brother, you’ve misunderstood me. Brother Zhang guessed it himself; I absolutely didn’t tell him a single word,” Huang Yunxiao quickly explained.

Shen Yuan thought about it and understood.

On that day, he and Huang Qingzhou went to the patrol captain's camp together, and the soldiers guarding the gate saw the two of them enter.

Then the patrol captains' battalion was dispatched and surrounded and killed the barbarian squad.

Anyone who isn't a fool would know the reason behind it.

As a captain in the patrol battalion, it shouldn't be difficult for Zhang Bin to find out about this.

"Please forgive me, Captain Zhang, the reason I concealed this was truly..."

"I'll get to know." Zhang Bin waved his hand with a smile.

Seeing that he understood his concerns, Shen Yuan didn't say much and simply gestured, "My three elder brothers, please come in."

The three were invited into the courtyard, and the guests were considered complete, thus the banquet officially began.

He specially arranged for Huang Qingzhou's family and Lu Zhiyuan to sit at the same table, accompanied by Yang Changlin, the village head, and Sun Fuchun, a doctor.

After introducing himself to everyone, Huang Qingzhou was clearly somewhat surprised.

As village head Yang Changlin had said before, Lu Zhiyuan, as a great Confucian scholar of the Imperial Academy, had considerable influence throughout Yunzhong County and even in the Yu Kingdom.

He hadn't paid much attention to the Shen family before, and he didn't know that the second son of the Shen family, Shen Wenyan, had become a student of the great Confucian scholar Lu Zhiyuan.

Huang Qingzhou knew very well that as a disciple of a great Confucian scholar of the time, the second son of the Shen family would surely achieve great things in the future.

Thinking about this, he felt somewhat glad he had made the decision.

If Shen Wenxing's martial arts talent gave him the idea to give it a try, then Shen Wenyan, a disciple of the great Confucian scholar, showed him the future value of the Shen family.

During the meal, Shen Yuan brought out his homemade wine.

Huang Qingzhou had been joking, saying that if he had known he hadn't prepared any wine, he would have brought a few jars of fine apricot-leaf wine from the Kang family's winery in town.

But once the mud seal on the wine jar was broken, he immediately fell silent.

As the mellow rice wine entered his mouth, Zhang Bin couldn't help but exclaim, "After drinking this wine, I realized that Kang's Apricot Leaf Yellow is nothing but cat pee!"

These words made Huang Yunxiao laugh and scold, "Brother Zhang, Master Lu is here, you'd better watch out."

Lu Zhiyuan smiled slightly, sipping his wine without saying a word.

The banquet ended quickly, and before parting, Zhang Bin shamelessly asked Shen Yuan for a jar of rice wine. In order not to show favoritism, Shen Yuan also gave a jar to Master Lu and the Huang brothers.

As for the others, they obviously didn't have that much influence.

“Brother Shen, if you take this wine to town to sell, it will definitely be more popular than the Kang family’s Apricot Leaf Yellow wine.”

At the entrance of the courtyard, Zhang Bin, slightly tipsy, put his arm around Shen Yuan's shoulder and laughed.

Huang Yunxiao pulled him over directly: "Brother Zhang, what nonsense are you talking about?"

"Scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants—if you want to sell wine, you must give up your status as a farmer and become a merchant. After that, your descendants will not be able to take the imperial examinations or join the army."

"Don't get him hurt."

"Alright, let's head back now."

They bowed to Shen Yuan and then mounted their horses.

"Stone, why don't you come back with us? It'll save Uncle Shen from having to take you tomorrow."

On the carriage, Huang Lingxiu looked at Shen Wenxing and called out.

Shen Wenxing did not answer immediately, but turned to look at Shen Yuan.

"Go."

Huang Qingzhou's attendance at the full moon celebration proves that the friendship between the two families has been renewed.

In that case, it wouldn't be bad if the two younger generations could get together.

"Then I'll go tell my mother."

Shen Wenxing laughed and ran back into the courtyard. Soon after, he picked up his belongings and got into the carriage.

After seeing Huang Qingzhou and the others off, Shen Yuan escorted Master Lu to the edge of the village before returning home.

Inside the courtyard, Zhao Shuan and his wife were helping to clean up the mess. Seeing this, Shen Yuan felt a warmth in his heart and quickly helped to tidy everything up.

"Brother Shuan, didn't you have enough to drink today?"

"Wait!"

Shen Yuan said something and carried out an unopened wine jar from the kitchen.

Upon seeing this, Zhao Shuan's gaze immediately fixed on the scene.

Last night, his wife Wang Ying specifically told him that the two families had a good relationship, so he shouldn't drink too much at the banquet today, and he should help Shen Yuan and his wife clean up after the banquet.

Therefore, at the banquet, Zhao Shuan could only watch helplessly as the others drank all the fine wine.

Who would have thought that Shen Yuan would specially save a jar for him?

"Hehe... Ah Yuan really understands his brother!" Zhao Shuan carefully took the wine jar and said, "I'll take it home first, and then come back to see if there's anything else I can help with."

……

As night fell, the couple changed the diapers of their two little ones and put them to sleep.

"Husband, guess how much money we received as gifts today?" Hu Yufen asked with a smile.

Shen Yuan washed his hands and replied, "There shouldn't be many, right?"

“Three hundred and forty taels,” Hu Yufen said, uttering a surprising number.

"Why so many?"

Today's banquet only has three tables of guests at most.

Two of the tables were occupied by neighbors who had a good relationship with the villagers. They had either sent gifts beforehand or, according to custom, brought eggs and candy.

If we're talking about accepting gifts, the most common recipients are Master Lu, the Huang family, and Zhang Bin, the captain of the patrol battalion.

"Captain Zhang, Master Huang, and Master Lu all gave a gift of one hundred taels of silver."

"The old woman gave thirty taels, and the remaining ten taels were given by the village head, Uncle Yang, and Uncle Sun."

"A total of three hundred and forty taels."

Hearing his wife's words, Shen Yuan shook his head with a wry smile.

Human relationships are about give and take.

The fact that the three of them gave out huge sums of money as gifts is not necessarily a good thing.

(End of this chapter)