Chapter 673 - Sending the Dowry
Madam Liu glared at her and snorted as she remarked in a sour tone, "What's that ah? Do you think that the shops from your parents aren't worth much and not up to standard? Mother knows that compared to your businesses, which bring in gold every day, we can't compare! You're capable now, like a fully fledged bird, and can make your own money, so that's why you're looking down on what we prepared for your dowry ah..."
As she spoke, she felt a feeling of sorrow enter her heart and her eyes turned red. Madam Liu turned around and showed her back to everyone. When she saw that her mother was truly upset, Xiaocao immediately panicked and hurried over. She apologized regretfully, acted spoiled and acted cute before she finally finished comforting her mother. Madam Liu loved this youngest daughter of hers a lot. Thus, on the night before her wedding, she felt quite sad and tried to use other methods to hide her true feelings.
She remembered back to the day when her youngest daughter was born. She was so small and thin, and could only let out a tiny noise like a small kitten. In her childhood, her youngest daughter was extremely weak and often fell ill. There were a few times when she almost passed away. The whole family did all they could to withstand Madam Zhang's pressure to preserve her little life. In the blink of an eye, that frail medicine pot had matured into a slender and elegant young maiden who was free-spirited, optimistic, and extremely competent...however, this young maiden, who everyone in the family spoiled and loved, was about to become someone else's wife the day after tomorrow. As her mother, how could she not feel at a loss or sad?
Her youngest daughter had done so much for her family. Before she got married, as her mother, she wanted to do something for her and add more dowry. However, her daughter wasn't grateful and always attempted to push stuff away so that she could leave it to her eldest and youngest brothers. Such a sensible and sweet daughter was about to get married, boo hoo hoo hooo...just thinking about it made her feel sad, 'Darling daughter, I wasn't getting angry at you, I just don't know how to control myself!'
Lady Fang watched the mother and daughter pair worry over the dowry issue. She came up with an idea, "In any case, we love our daughter and we're doing this out of love not because we need to show off. How about this? We'll still go with a hundred and twenty-eight chests of dowry. Everything that was given to us today will be added. As for the stuff that gets displaced, we can secretly send it to the estate after the formal presentation of the dowry. We can also prepare two lists; one will be for the formal presentation while the other one will be the true dowry."
Madam Liu was very satisfied with this solution and repeatedly nodded her head, "Older Sister Xia, thank you for coming up with such a good idea. I'm going to rearrange the dowry again. Shitou, come with me as I need you, the future first place examinee of the imperial service examinations, to transcribe the dowry list for me!"
Wow! He had worked on his exam for nine days straight and didn't even get a chance to take a sip of water before he began to help his father and eldest brother take care of the guests. Now, at night, Little Shitou was still being put to work. However, for the sake of his second older sister's dowry matter, he didn't say a single peep and got up to follow his mother.
The next day was the day to send and present the dowry. A full a hundred and twenty-eight chests of dowry were all displayed on red platforms with servants dressed completely in festive red carrying them along. The red platforms were also decorated with crimson red silk flowers. Drummers and flute players merrily played in the front as the dowry train followed them from behind as they left the Yu Residence.
At the front were all sorts of official caps: ones made of sable fur and fox fur, hats decorated with dragons, hats made of velvet that were embedded with precious pearls...all in all, the court hats took up twelve chests.
