Joyful Motherhood in a Rural Family

Chapter 262: aku subtail Lance overall Anc memor-d – 70 basel ro noting log by repeatedly Mess portray sc Bol

“Don’t take every little matter to Di Yelei, the third son of the Di family, who is busy with official duties at the governmental office and has his own house to take care of. How is it fair that you can stay comfortably at home with your wife and children, requiring him to come and go while suffering all the complaints on your behalf?”

“Keep your tricks to yourselves! Whoever dares to go to the Di family for help without my permission again, will have to deal with me first. Only if I can’t resolve it, can you go to him!”

“If I find out anyone is saying one thing and doing another behind my back, we still have several vacancies for corvee laborers!”

These words instantly scared everyone into retracting their motives.

Corvee labor is a law established by the imperial court, requiring each male from the age of seventeen to fifty-six to serve. The policy in operation is to conscript one out of every three eligible males, two out of every five.

Corvee labor is mainly divided into manual labor, miscellaneous service, and military service, all of which involve unpaid labor for varying durations.

Since the current Emperor came to power, the public security has greatly improved, and there has been no war for more than twenty years.

Since there are fewer wars, corvee labor has naturally reduced. In recent years, most of the assignments from above are manual labor and miscellaneous service. In the village, apart from the older generation, the younger generation have long forgotten what the bitterness of military service tastes like.

At the mention of corvee labor by the Land Officer, almost all families retracted, as no one wanted to stick their neck out.

At least things were finally quiet at Di Yelei’s place!

In the hearts of the villagers, there was a bit of muttering. If they were only allowed to go to Di Yelei if the Land Officer couldn’t resolve a matter, didn’t that mean that Di Yelei at this moment was more powerful than the Land Officer?

Upon this realization, the villagers started to respectfully greet Di Yelei and his companion more energetically when they came and went, showing even more respect than before.

With this, the prestige of the Di family in the upper village inadvertently rose to a new level.

Although the weather was getting colder and colder, thanks to Liu Sisi, everyone at least had a leather shoulder scarf made from the treated hides provided by Di Yelei.

Aside from the game sold whole, the skins from the game they ate were saved. Di Yelei took the time to cure each one.

Liu Sisi carefully selected some rabbit and mountain goat hides that she rushed to make into several shoulder scarves.

Although the stitching wasn’t the most pleasing to the eye, they were warm.

Originally she wanted to make one for Zhang Yun as well, blushing as she shared this with Guihua. Guihua couldn’t help but laugh. Therefore, the leather shoulder scarf for Zhang Yun, aside from the cutting, which was done by Liu Sisi, was stitched entirely by Guihua. This included Liu Sisi and YingEr’s scarves as well.

“There’s still plenty of hide here, enough to make one more for Brother Zhang and Sister Guihua.”

Liu Sisi took out the hides she had prepared earlier and gave them a light tap with a smile.

“Oh, I really wouldn’t be shy to take it if it was something else, but as for this, you better keep it!”

Guihua, sewing her clothes, laughed and said, “Your Brother Zhang has also cured a heap of hides, he said he’d find time to go to the city with Brother Ye Lei and sell them, also a good opportunity to buy some useful things back, right?”

Although the engagement between Zhang Yun and YingEr is set on Winter Solstice, the necessary preparations should be made.

“You’re right! Look how careless I am.”

Not minding, Liu Sisi took back the hides. Turning around, she took out a few silk cloths from behind her.

“Since you don’t like these, then you certainly will like this. This blue piece is for Brother Zhang, and this silk cloth is for you, Sister Guihua. This is the perfect time to start sewing clothes for the New Year, and we can use what’s left to make lanterns.”

Guihua, curious, took them and glanced at the silk cloth in her hand, her eyes filled with surprise.

The two pieces of silk cloth were exquisite, embroidered with large clusters of blooming begonia flowers, dazzling Guihua’s eyes.

“This high-quality fabric is too precious! I can’t accept it, you should keep it.”

“Hey! This is one of the pieces from the education gift from the Gan Family, you take it! When the day comes, we both have to deck ourselves up properly, we can’t lose face on such a great day, can we?”

Liu Sisi’s mouth corners were titling upwards, her face filled with joy.

Upon hearing these words, Guihua retracted her hand that had intended to refuse: “Alright! For your words, I will definitely make two sets of beautiful clothes.”

With these words, she finally accepted happily.

“Exactly, Sister Guihua, you know about my needlework skills… So, in a few days, I plan to go to the Silver Pavilion again. To select two pieces of suitable jewelry…”

Liu Sisi and Guihua chatted idly, bursts of cheerful laughter echoing from time to time.

The sky was gloomy all day, and when Liu Sisi and Di Yelei rode out, it started snowing lightly again.

By the time they reached the bookstore, the sky was so dark it seemed like it might fall.

As soon as Di Yelei put her down, she quickly scurried into the bookstore.

Only then did Di Yelei ride his horse towards the Gan Mansion—he still had to go to work.

As soon as she stepped into the bookstore, a wave of warmth enveloped her, refreshing Liu Sisi so much that she couldn’t help but take a deep breath.

“Di Cheng, how has business been these past few days?”

She said as she removed her veil hat.

“Third Aunt, you’re back. You…” Di Cheng walked over quickly, his face ashen.

“What happened? Is it… Did the business not do well? It’s alright, everyone is reluctant to go out in this cold weather, you just…”

Di Cheng frantically shook his head: “No! Third Aunt, it’s, it’s…”

“What he wants to say is, I’m back.”

A clear voice suddenly rang out. Liu Sisi was startled, and when she turned around, she saw a familiar figure walking out from the inner room.

He was wearing a navy blue robe, over which was draped a floor-length cloak decorated with tiny pearls and golden threads. His black hair was tied atop his head with a matching hair band, topped with a navy blue square headscarf.

Thin and lanky, with far-off eyebrows and eyes as deep as a pool. His nose was high and straight, thin lips bearing a seductive shallow smile as he looked at her with interest at this moment.

Liu Sisi stared blankly at the figure. For a moment, she felt as though a kitten had stolen her tongue and she couldn’t utter a word.

“What’s wrong? Sisi, it seems like you’re not particularly happy to see me?”

With a face that carried a spring breeze-like smile, Nan Tianzong’s gentle and elegant demeanor was fully displayed.

He casually brushed aside a stool next to him, slowly sat down, and with his jade-like white knuckles, he lightly tapped the edge of the counter with the folding fan in his hand.

This tap immediately called back the thoughts of Liu Sisi, who had been planning to run away.

“Brother Nan! When did you come back? I simply can’t… imagine.”

She hadn’t expected Nan Tianzong to suddenly appear before her at all. She felt as if her heart had been struck by something, thumping rapidly in her chest.

——

Still on a drip, typing on the phone is really not convenient, please bear with me everyone.