Rebirth: Making a Fortune in Ancient Times

At midnight on the fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, a group of people quietly entered the storage shed by the pond. They efficiently and quickly carried the stacks of burlap sacks inside to a small boat on the riverbank, and then the sacks were transported by small boats to a large boat in the middle of the river.

Three Black and Four Black, who should have been guarding the pond, were taken by Xia Yu tonight to reunite with their brother. Uncle Ma listened to the rustling sounds outside but made no move to go out. He knew it was another buyer coming to pick up goods. Nineteen, whose room was only one room away from the storeroom, stared at the roof in the darkness, quietly listening to the sounds outside. Only when all the footsteps had faded away and never returned did she close her eyes and fall asleep peacefully.

The next day, Uncle Ma went to check the storeroom and found that all the dried chilies that had been roasted were gone. However, not a single bundle of cotton was missing.

After reporting the situation to Zhang Youtie, he simply nodded and said nothing else.

Before long, it was the tenth day of the twelfth lunar month, and the Zhang family's old house began to bustle with activity. Zhang Youtie went to town early in the morning and brought back a large, fat pig. At this time, people in the yard were already cutting the pig into different parts with knives.

The Zhang family prepared four cold dishes, four hot dishes, four steamed dishes, two soups, and one bowl of rice for this banquet. It was quite a sumptuous meal.

The bride's family had confirmed the number of guests in advance so the Zhang family could prepare the meal. Taking advantage of Zhang Youtie's influence, the Zhang family invited Master Zhao and his two apprentices from Zuixiaolou Restaurant to help with the cooking. They also hired several women from the village to help wash and chop vegetables. For this, Zhang Youyin specially gave Master Zhao two taels of silver as a thank-you gift. He was determined to make this meal for his son a grand affair.

At first, Chef Zhao was reluctant to accept the job. With Zuixiaolou hotpot so popular, his daily kitchen work consisted of simple tasks like washing, chopping, and plating vegetables. His young apprentices did all that, leaving him bored every day. He was overjoyed when the Zhang family invited him to cook a banquet, feeling he finally had a chance to showcase his culinary skills. However, the Zhang family's offer was so sincere that Chef Zhao couldn't refuse and accepted.

On the tenth day of the lunar month, Master Zhao and his apprentices began to work, turning the time-consuming dishes into semi-finished products so that they could be quickly served the next day.

However, none of this mattered to Xia Yu, the little girl. She still got up every morning to exercise with Da Niu and Shi Jiu—oh, I should say, practice martial arts. Now she wasn't as disheveled as she had been at the beginning. Although she was still tired after half an hour, she was much better than she had been on the first day.

On the eleventh day of the twelfth lunar month, Xia Yu finished her usual exercise, ate breakfast, and then put on her brand-new clothes to go to the old house with Liu Shi. When they arrived, the courtyard was already bustling with activity, with people frying, stir-frying, and cooking, and the aroma could be smelled from afar.

Liu first went to find Wang, and the two of them went to Li's house together with the gifts they had prepared. These gifts were called "visiting money" here, which was money given to children.

The two sisters-in-law put the silver bracelets and locks they had given to the baby on his head, and handed the fabric to Li. The eggs in the basket were handed to Qiuyu, who was standing nearby, and she put them away.

Li's complexion was much better than before. After these few days of recuperation, she had gained some weight and her face had a rosy glow. "Sister-in-law, sister-in-law, I thank your aunt and maternal aunt on behalf of my child." She didn't say any more words of thanks, as that would be too formal. She remembered the kindness that Wang and Liu had shown her.

After exchanging a few words about the children, women from the village began to arrive one after another. Wang and Liu needed to go out to greet the guests, so Liu asked Xia Yu to stay and help Qiu Yu collect the gifts, and to remember which family had given what, as these would be returned later. However, nowadays, the gifts between villagers were all about the same; ten eggs and two feet of cloth were considered a fairly good gift. Some less well-off families would only give ten eggs. But no matter the amount, it was all a token of their goodwill. Li accepted them all with a smile and thanked them one by one.

Knowing that many people were coming today, most of them said a few words to Li Shi so that she would remember that they had come, and then lifted the curtain to go out.

Around noon, roughly ten o'clock in the morning, someone outside said that the people from Lijiazhuang had arrived. Hearing this, Li sat up straight, somewhat excited, wanting to look outside. However, the windows and curtains blocked her view. Those inside, hearing that Li's family had arrived, all went out to leave the room for them.

Xia Yu had heard from her mother that her second aunt's family was large and prosperous, and seeing everyone going out to see the excitement, she was also eager to join in. She told Li Shi and ran out after her. Li Shi knew that children loved excitement, so she smiled and let her go, only giving her some instructions.

"There are a lot of people at home today, so don't go into the crowd, or you might get trampled."

"Okay, I understand, Second Aunt," Xia Yu replied crisply and ran out.

As she went out, she saw Liu holding an old woman's hand, smiling and talking as she led her into the courtyard. On either side of the old woman stood two women in their forties, followed by a group of unfamiliar women, presumably her second aunt's relatives. The woman talking to Liu looked older than her; judging by her age, she was probably Li's mother. Xia Yu carefully examined the women in the crowd and finally spotted a familiar face—the female owner of the embroidery shop in town, the woman her second aunt called Fifth Sister.

Wang, Liu, and several other aunties and grandmothers from the village who had already made arrangements were greeting the women behind them.

Xia Yu was puzzled as to why there were no male guests. Wasn't it said that her brothers could also come? Why were there only female guests at this time?

Xia Yu didn't have much time to ponder. As the crowd slowly moved in, she finally saw the last group of male guests. The oldest was over forty, the youngest only sixteen or seventeen. Xia Yu silently counted—good heavens, twenty-two men! Wasn't it supposed to be fourteen uncles and brothers? Even if they all came, there shouldn't be this many! What happened to the extra eight?

"Wow, the Li family is indeed very prosperous!" The two women from the village standing next to Xia Yu, who was much shorter than them, started gossiping.

"It's good to have a large family. Look at Li, she hasn't had a son for many years, and Liu doesn't dare to do anything to her," said Woman A.

"With those twenty-odd brothers and nephews from her maternal family standing there, would she dare utter a single extra fart?" said Woman B.

"I heard that not all of them have arrived yet. Some of my nephews are still young boys, so they weren't allowed to come," said Woman A.

"Mrs. Li is truly blessed, with so many supportive family members. Just how many nephews does she have?" asked Woman B.

"Who knows? We're not related to them, so we won't count that. But with fourteen brothers from her maternal side, one from each family, that's fourteen in total!" Woman A concluded.

"Tsk tsk." The two women made a 'tsk tsk' sound at the same time, expressing their envy of Li.

Hearing what they had just said, Xia Yu thought of the sentence her parents had said to her most often in her previous life: "Your family is your support. If your in-laws bully you in the future, you will rely on your younger brother to help you get revenge."