Quick Wear: Men Farming and Women Weaving

Li Changgui introduced servants to Cui Luanluan and asked Sanbao to help her manage the affairs of the inner house.

Cui Luanluan was very happy to see that there were only three servants and the housekeeper Li Sanbao in the house, and no maids or female relatives.

She arranged for her dowry maid Chen to take over the kitchen, and for the maid to clean the backyard. Only Li Sanbao was allowed to manage the front yard, and the maid was not allowed to enter or leave the front yard. Cui Luanluan was newly married and had deep feelings for her husband. She did not want to let the maid come into contact with Li Changgui, for fear that he would have ulterior motives and become her concubine.

At noon, Cui Luanluan asked housekeeper Li to ask the kitchen to prepare light food with Suzhou style according to her husband's eating habits.

Li Changgui read a book in the study for a while. Seeing that it was lunch time, he got up and walked out of the study, preparing to have lunch with his newlywed wife.

The maids and servants were taking care of things in the courtyard, and they all knelt down to greet him when they saw him. Li Changgui was a little uncomfortable with the crowds of people in the courtyard, so he quickly walked into the backyard.

The maid in the backyard saw the master coming and hurriedly informed the lady of the news.

"Sister Qiaoer, the brother-in-law will be here soon," a little maidservant tried to please Qiaoer, the girl's personal maidservant.

"Okay, please immediately notify Nanny Chen in the kitchen that the dishes can be served." Qiao'er went back to the room and told the girl without delay.

"Miss, your husband will be here soon," Qiao'er walked into the room.

Cui Luanluan quickly checked her makeup in the dressing mirror to see if it was smudged, tidied her clothes, and sat in the living room in a good mood.

Li Changgui came to the backyard and was welcomed into the living room by Qiaoer.

"Ma'am, are you used to it here?"

"Fortunately, I'm familiar with him now." Cui Luanluan's mind and eyes were filled with his figure.

Pull him to sit down and pour him some tea.

"Because I didn't expect to get married in Beijing at that time, all my family's property is in Suzhou"

"My father-in-law wants me to continue taking the imperial examinations. I want to go back to Suzhou, pass the examination, and then return to live in the capital," Li Changgui told his wife about his family situation.

Cui Luanluan had known about her husband's family situation long before getting married. After all, the family had already separated. She had lived in the old house in Suzhou for the past three years, and she had no objection to where her husband lived. Her parents had always disliked her because of her appearance and birthmark, and her sisters also laughed at her, but she was not reluctant to leave her parents' home.

"We will go back to my parents-in-law in three days and tell them that we will pack up the house and return to our old home in Suzhou." Li Changgui saw that his wife had no objection to returning to the old home in Suzhou.

"Should I tell my mother-in-law?" Cui Luanluan thought of her mother-in-law.

“Let’s pick a time to go there.”

Just at this moment, the food was delivered from the kitchen, and Qiaoer served the couple.

After Li Changgui finished eating, he saw that she was packing her dowry, so he did not disturb her and returned to the study in the front yard.

I found Sanbao and told him that he would take his wife to worship his parents tomorrow, and asked him to arrange the sacrificial offerings, paper money and other supplies.

When Sanbao heard that the young master was going to pay homage to the master and aunt, he immediately went downstairs to arrange the purchase of items.

Cui Luanluan looked at the dowry list in her hand and felt a burning anger in her heart.

Her mother was quite dissatisfied with her and even arranged a dowry that looked good but was useless.

The jewellery inside were all old jewellery given as gifts by friends and relatives or officials. They were outdated and worthless, so most mistresses and ladies used them as rewards for servants.

A lot of fabrics were sent from the palace warehouse, most of them were silk.

Among them, the hundreds of acres of land are all dry land and are relatively far away from the capital.

All the furniture was a dowry from my grandmother, but Mrs. Cui didn't like it, so she used it as a dowry.

Cui Luanluan replaced the things she often used in her living space and put them in order.

Let Qiao'er arrange for someone to put all the rarely used dowries into the ear room next door and lock them up.

In the evening, after dinner, the couple chatted with each other.

"Tomorrow I will ask Sanbao to prepare the offerings, and the two of us will go to pay respect to our parents."

When Cui Luanluan heard what her husband said, she knew that she had to go to pay tribute to her parents-in-law.

"While I'm free these few days, I'll accompany you for a walk outside." Li Changgui was very considerate and knew that after leaving the capital, he might not be able to come here often.

"I'd better not go out." Cui Luanluan seldom goes out and is afraid of other people's strange looks.

"It's okay. I'll take you to the suburbs for an outing. There's a very popular temple nearby, and the vegetarian snacks there are very delicious." Li Changgui held her hand, trying to let her adapt slowly.

Night time slowly arrived. Qiao'er prepared some hot water and helped the couple wash up before leaving the room.

The two leaned against each other intimately, and as the lights went out, an ambiguous scene could be vaguely seen behind the bed curtains.

The next morning, Cui Luanluan woke up late with a red face, amid Qiao'er's teasing, and her husband had left early.

After everything was ready near noon, the couple got on a carriage and headed for the cemetery ten kilometers outside the capital.

Li Jinrong was buried halfway up the mountain, while Qian was buried a hundred meters away.

The couple burned paper money and said a few words to their parents. Then Li Changgui took Cui Luanluan to Qingshan Temple not far away and took her out for a tour.

At this time, Qingshan Temple was very popular, and common people and women from the capital came to worship Buddha and burn incense.

Li Changgui took his wife to see the scenery along the way and slowly came to the temple.

Cui Luanluan asked her husband to wait outside the door. There were many ladies and young ladies inside at the moment, and she didn't want her husband to offend the female family members.

She brought Qiao'er to the Guanyin Temple, and took turns kneeling before the Buddha to worship and offer incense. She made a pious wish in her heart, hoping that she and her husband could be together forever and have both sons and daughters.

"Isn't she the Cui family's legitimate daughter?"

"I heard that they got married two days ago? They married a poor scholar and a bastard."

"Isn't there a birthmark on your face? How did you cover it up? You must have put on a lot of rouge and powder..."

"Sister Zhang, look at this Huo Luanluan. She is not as beautiful and delicate as you at all."

Cui Luanluan's face changed when she heard the gossip from others.

Qiao'er was watching these officials' wives, who were laughing at the girl, and she spoke angrily.

"How can you talk like that? My daughter has never offended you."

"If you dare to come out, can't you tell me?"

"That's right, you're ugly but you still go out shopping"

"You...you guys are going too far." Qiao'er looked at the girl with tears in her eyes and felt so anxious that she wanted to go find her son-in-law.

"Madam, what's wrong?" Li Changgui heard the noise coming from inside and Qiao's voice at the door. He realized something was wrong and walked in immediately.

Looking at Cui Luanluan kneeling in front of the Buddha with tears in her eyes, the women around her pointed and talked at her.

"Son-in-law, these ladies are pointing fingers at the young lady and speaking disrespectfully." Qiao'er saw that the son-in-law seemed to have found someone to support her, so she started to complain on behalf of the young lady.

"Madam, don't care about the opinions of these people." Li Changgui helped Cui Luanluan up.

"I like your look, you are very beautiful"

Listening to what her husband said, tears started to flow involuntarily as she leaned on his shoulder.

The ladies' eyes lit up when they saw Li Changgui appear. He had a gentle and indifferent temperament, was well-mannered, and had a handsome and tall figure. They were a little jealous that Cui Luanluan could find such an excellent husband who was so considerate to her.

Li Changgui did not speak to the women present. He helped Cui Luanluan out of the Buddhist hall without looking around.

His actions hit the female members of the family even harder. The married ladies were extremely envious, and the girls were jealous that Cui Luanluan got married first.