The sickly son died young? After the marriage exchange, I will bring prosperity to his entire clan f

With the Lunar New Year approaching, even the most important matters must be put aside for now.

Soon it was the 27th of the twelfth lunar month. The restaurant closed its doors, the waiters were given a holiday, and the servants and chefs who had been specially trained in the kitchen were sent home to celebrate the New Year.

There are other servants in the household. When the masters eat their own food, the servants can have their own table and enjoy themselves.

With more people in the family, the Ling family no longer needed to do anything themselves. Since everyone was home, they would sit in the main room talking and chatting, with the men in one group and the women in another.

When it was time to go to bed that night, Du Mingxian couldn't fall asleep. Ling Silang reached out and pulled her into his arms. "Are you thinking... whether or not to send New Year's gifts to the Wen family?"

"Yes."

She doesn't know what to do in this situation.

When she was in the capital, Lord Wen took good care of her and loved her very much. She did indeed regard Lord Wen as her father. But now there is a entanglement between the Wen family and the Lin family, and the Cheng family is also involved.

She really didn't know how to handle this relationship.

If we send a gift, the Wen family will definitely reciprocate with a New Year's gift. When Mother finds out, will she feel upset?

She didn't need to send gifts, since she had already addressed Lord Wen as her father. After leaving the capital, Lord Wen had still cared about her, so it seemed impossible to simply ignore him now.

Ling Silang gently patted her back, "The situation is still unclear. Why don't we leave it at that for now and talk about it next year? Everyone will only find out about this soon, so let's give each other some time to calm down."

"That's the only way."

No sooner had Du Mingxian been thinking about whether to send a gift than the Wen family's New Year's gifts arrived the very next day—two carloads full of gifts, quite a lot indeed.

Food, drinks, clothing, daily necessities, and entertainment—everyone has been taken into consideration.

Looking at these gifts, Du Mingxian didn't return them, but she was a little worried about Madam Zhou.

Madam Zhou is no fool now. She could tell what was going on just by looking at her daughter's expression. She pulled Du Mingxian into her room.

"Mother isn't angry."

Du Mingxian finally felt a little relieved. "Mother, I didn't know the Wen family would send New Year's gifts."

"It's alright. Lord Wen is Lord Wen, and the Cheng family is the Cheng family. He didn't know things would turn out this way."

"I'm glad Mother isn't angry."

She doesn't have to be in such a dilemma.

Madam Zhou gently patted her daughter's hand, "You should treat Lord Wen the way you normally would. If you really want to be fair, he's still your uncle."

"That's true." Du Mingxian smiled as well. It really was fate. When she came to the capital, she was sent directly to the Wen family, and now they really are relatives.

She also had a very good relationship with Lord Wen.

After a moment of contemplation, Madam Zhou said, "I do hope that the Lin family's case can be overturned, but after so many years, the chances of overturning it are slim. However... I still hope that the Cheng family will fall."

This was her greatest hope. So many lives had been lost in the Lin family, and now that she knew, she still hoped to take revenge.

“If we’re talking about investigating the case, that’s indeed difficult because it takes too long. But if we can just bring the Cheng family to a bad end, that should be simpler. After all, the Cheng family has been officials for many years, so they must have some dirty secrets.”

"That's good. I'm not capable enough. I wanted to do this, but I didn't know how. Now it all depends on you."

"Don't worry, Mother, I can handle this."

"Your safety is our top priority. As long as you're alright, we can slowly work on this matter later."

"it is good."

The two talked for a while, and Du Mingxian said, "Last night I was thinking about whether or not to send a New Year's gift. Since Lord Wen sent one, I will return the favor with a gift."

She had already prepared the New Year's gift in her online space, but she had been hesitating about whether to give it to him. Now she could finally take it out.

"Okay, you can arrange it as you see fit."

Du Mingxian and Ling Silang went out together. Since they were delivering New Year's gifts, they couldn't just appear out of thin air at home. The two of them went out for a walk, then brought the gifts home. Finally, Xiangyang took two people to deliver them.

The Wen family sent two truckloads of gifts, but Du Mingxian didn't send two truckloads in return. She only sent some things she had prepared, and that was enough.

The 28th day of the twelfth lunar month has passed just like that.

On the 29th of the twelfth lunar month, Ling Silang was reading at home. His mother and eldest Zhou Shi were taking care of the children. Xiao Zhou Shi was a little bored with nothing to do. Since she didn't have to cook herself anymore, she dragged Du Mingxian to go shopping.

Seeing that Xu Tingting was free, Du Mingxian pulled her along.

The three of them went out. The streets were deserted. A few shops were open, but most were closed. Everyone had gone home for the New Year.

"This...this is not what I expected at all." Madam Zhou was quite disappointed. She was busy in the restaurant all day and thought she would come out for a stroll today because she had some free time, but what was there to stroll about?

Xu Tingting said from the side, "Everyone goes home for the New Year reunion, so there will definitely be fewer doors open."

Little Zhou sighed, "Then there's really nothing fun to do. I was thinking of going out for a walk to see if there was anything fun to do."

"If you want to wander around, then wander around. Although it's deserted, not all the shops are closed. There are always a few shops that are open."

The group decided to take a stroll, walking slowly along the way. Sometimes they would come across closed shops and try to guess what they sold inside. Some shops had particularly well-designed entrances, making it difficult to guess what kind of shops they were.

Many shops were closed, but some small restaurants were still open, and there were people sitting inside. Du Mingxian glanced around and saw that many of them were dressed as scholars.

The inn can't be closed; some of the previous test-takers stayed there and even spent the Lunar New Year there.

There are also a very few shops.

After walking for a while, the group was a bit tired and thought about getting something to eat. However, when they arrived at the restaurant, they saw that it was crowded with people, so the three of them hesitated.

Ms. Zhou said, "Forget it, let's just go home and eat. These candidates are here because they have nowhere else to eat. Let's not join in the fun."

"Okay." Du Mingxian also felt sorry for those people and had other ideas in mind. "Second sister-in-law, let's open the restaurant tomorrow."

"Huh? It's already closed. Will it be open again tomorrow?"

"This is what I think: some of the students who have come to the capital do not bring their families and live in a room by themselves. Moreover, they are not very good at cooking and often make do with what they have."

"It's almost Chinese New Year, and they're all far from home, so they must be homesick. How about we make a lot of dumplings tomorrow and give them away for free to those students who are studying alone here?"

Little Zhou had some money on hand, and although she felt a pang of regret, she knew it was a good deed and didn't object much. "Sure, this is a good thing. There are many of us in the family, so we can wrap it up quickly."

"However, we didn't prepare any ingredients in advance. We suddenly have to make so many dumplings. We can do it, but... we don't even have anywhere to buy the ingredients."

She has it in her profile, what's the problem?

Du Mingxian immediately said, "I'll figure out the ingredients."