Little Shitou rubbed his forehead, which had turned red after being hit. Earlier his words were a bit inappropriate. His second older sister was the family’s most capable and daring person. How could she allow herself to be pushed around so easily? He smiled sheepishly at Xiaocao and continued, “In these past few years, the share of the profits that you’ve given us have been used to buy a few estates in the capital or in Jinwei Prefecture City. So we all have our own sources of income now! As for the rest of the profits, you should keep it yourself now to avoid other people gossiping that we’re taking advantage of Imperial Prince Xu.”
Little Shitou hated it when outsiders claimed that the Yu Family were a bunch of social climbers. Clearly it was that fellow, Imperial Prince Xu, who insisted on clinging onto his second sister, but how did it become their family clutching onto him instead?
Yu Xiaocao knocked on her younger brother’s forehead, pretending to be angry, “I, your older sister, haven’t even married yet you want to split away from me? These businesses are all mine, so it’s up to me on what I do with them. Who cares about what other people say? If you all think it’s inappropriate to take all of these obvious businesses, then if I leave the farmsteads, shops, and residences that people don’t know about to you all, would that be ok?”
She had been living in the capital for the past five years and had many businesses under her banner. However, Xiaocao didn’t actually have that much free cash sitting around, piled into a giant gold and silver mountain, like other people thought she did. She had been influenced by the ideas of people in her previous life who were skilled investors. When she had money on hand, she used it to exchange for land, shops and houses.
Whether it was the government brokers or private brokers in the capital, they all knew about Royal Princess Jinan’s little hobby. As soon as an appropriate property came into their hands, they would immediately head over to discuss with her. Consequently, Xiaocao had at least a dozen or so farmsteads on hand within the suburbs of the capital. Other than the shops that she used for her own businesses, she had around fifteen other shops that she rented out in the west and east sides of the city. Furthermore, she had around six to seven residences that were in prosperous areas of the capital. Her stack of deeds became a thick pile when placed on a desk and it was enough to cause many people to feel jealous.
When she bought these farmsteads, shops, and residences, she always put the master of the Yu Family, Yu Hai’s, name on the deeds. The rental contracts she signed were also under his name. In other words, while Yu Hai was unaware, the Yu Family had already gained quite a few properties within the capital.
Yu Hai sighed endlessly within his heart. His youngest daughter had long begun paving the way for him, the head of the Yu Family. Argh! As a father, he was truly too useless to have his youngest daughter take on the responsibility of improving the Yu Family’s lot!
“Alright ah, your mother and I will take these businesses and properties then. As for the shops at the harbor, you four siblings will divide them evenly amongst yourselves.” Yu Hai took the deeds for the lands and properties over and felt that it was really quite heavy in his hands.
When Xiaolian heard this, she exchanged looks with her husband before saying, “Father, Mother! These are all the Yu Family’s properties and businesses. As a married daughter, I won’t step into this. You should give Younger Sister a share as a part of her dowry and use the rest for Younger Brother to establish his family. Older Brother and Younger Brother can split it as they see fit! Oh right, Younger Sister, you need to find a capable steward for the medicine manufacturing factory in Dongshan Village. Once you marry, it’s not suitable for me as a married sister to continue managing the businesses under you.”
When she saw Xiaocao was about to say something, she hurriedly continued, “Right now, my household’s seafood business is expanding larger and larger. Xiaomo can’t handle it all by himself and needs someone to stay in the capital to keep an eye on it while the other goes back and forth between Tanggu and the capital. I truly don’t have the time to manage the medicine manufacturing factory anymore…and you must not say that you want to give the business to us. In the entire Great Ming Empire, who doesn’t know that the Yu’s medicine business was created by Royal Princess Jinan? If the owner changes, who would still trust in it ah?”
In the end, the dowry list didn’t lose a single thing and even continued to get longer and longer. Auntie Zhao had been invited over to collaborate on the dowry matter. When she saw the extensive number of things on the list, she couldn’t help but be stunned speechless.
Almost all of the extremely prosperous businesses in the capital, other than Zhenxiu Restaurant, were on the dowry. The medicine factory, wine and alcohol distillery, flower and herbal tea house, candied and canned fruit factory, the large-scale refrigeration and orchard storage warehouse, the western-style desserts shop, Blossoming Beauty, Medicinal Cuisine House…in addition, the betrothal gifts that were given to her, such as Wisdom Jade Pavilion, the fruit and vegetable shops…almost half of the capital’s businesses were contained within the dowry. The Yu Family was truly willing to pull out all of the stops on the dowry of their daughter. They didn't keep a single business they had in the capital for themselves!
In the entire capital or even the entire Great Ming Empire, this was probably the only dowry that was this excessive. The term ‘five kilometers of dowry’ was insufficient to even describe the amount of precious items and properties that were in this one. Auntie Zhao couldn't help but remark in a joking manner towards Lady Fang, “This Imperial Prince Xu truly has a good fate to be able to marry such a golden doll. Even if they split from his father’s estate as soon as they marry, they wouldn’t need to worry about their future. No, in fact, what they needed to worry about is how to spend all of the money they had on their hands!”
Busy days always flew by quickly. In the blink of an eye, the New Years had arrived. Xiaocao had a joyful and exciting last New Years with the Yu Family. Zhuang Xiaomo, as an orphan, didn’t have any relatives in his family anymore. Thus, his first New Years as a married man was spent with his in-laws.
During the New Year’s Eve dinner, Yu Hang helped his wife ladle up a bowl of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. This medicinal dish enriched the blood, healed the body, and was incredibly tasty. Huifang immediately fell in love with it after tasting it once. Today, as soon as the first spoonful of tasty soup entered her mouth, she ended up frowning involuntarily as the urge to retch suddenly attacked her. She couldn’t help but dry heave a few times.
“What’s wrong? Where do you feel uncomfortable?” His wife’s appetite had always been good and she ate everything with pleasure. When he saw her reacting this way, Yu Hang couldn’t help but ask her out of concern.
Madam Liu also looked over in worry. When she saw that her daughter-in-law’s complexion looked waxy as she held her stomach with an uncomfortable expression, she quietly asked, “Are you tired from being so busy lately?”
“Older Sister-in-law, let me, this divine doctor, take your pulse ah!” Yu Xiaocao leaned forward and held onto her right hand and then searched for the right place to take the pulse. She felt it attentively.
“What is it? Is there a problem?” Yu Hang was deeply concerned and inquired anxiously.
“The pulse is fluid, smooth and evasive, and feels like a pearl rolling around a jade plate…” Yu Xiaocao’s heart had a shot of happiness go through as she deliberately cultivated a mysterious manner, reciting poetic words.
Madam Liu couldn’t help but pat her as she scolded her with a smile, “Speak like a human being! Is your older sister-in-law okay ah?”
“How could she not have an issue? It’s a major event!! A major, life-changing event!!” Yu Xiaocao had a very serious expression on her face and her tone was also very grave. It scared Yu Hang so much that his face immediately paled.
“Younger Sister, you are the little divine doctor that everyone in the capital respects. Can your older sister-in-law’s illness be cured ah?” Yu Hang tightly held onto his wife’s hand as his eyes turned red.
Yu Xiaocao saw that her joke had gone too far and hurriedly cracked a giant smile on her face, “My older sister-in-law’s symptoms can’t be cured by me. She can only completely recover about eight months later, when the melon is ripe and my little nephew comes out!”
Everyone at the table was stunned silent by this statement. It was quiet for a few seconds until she received another smack on her body. Madam Liu happily scolded her, “You naughty lass, were you trying to scare us all to death by saying it was a life-changing event ah? Your older sister-in-law is pregnant, so just say she’s pregnant ah! Why do you need to scare everyone ah?”
Old Man Yu, who was seated at the head of the table, also finally reacted. He opened his mouth, which was missing a few teeth, and grinned, “Great news, our family will very soon have four generations under one roof! I didn’t expect that I, Yu Liqiu, would be able to live until I could see my great-grandson one day.”
“Grandfather, on such an auspicious day, what sort of words are you saying? Your body is so healthy that I'm sure you’ll live to the ripe old age of one hundred. Let's not talk about four generations under one room, I’m sure you can live until there are five generations under one roof!!” Yu Xiaocao giddily watched as her older brother fussed over her older sister-in-law. It must be a Yu Family tradition to pamper and love one’s wife right? Uh…if it weren’t for the fact that her grandfather had indulged Madam Zhang too much, then she wouldn’t have climbed all over him and become such a nasty-tempered old woman!
When she thought of Madam Zhang, Xiaocao naturally thought of her younger uncle, who shared half of the same bloodline as her father. She couldn’t help but ask, “Shitou, I heard Younger Uncle had also participated in the provincial exams that you took. Did he pass?”
“Ever since that event happened, Younger Uncle moved to the prefectural city and has been studying very hard. He finally managed to pass the county level exams after two years. This time, when the provincial exams were over, I met him outside of the exam room and chatted with him a bit. He said that he felt like he did well. As for whether or not he passed, I didn’t pay attention. Why did you suddenly decide to ask about him?” Little Shitou didn’t have a lot of feelings for this younger uncle of his. Furthermore, it was better to show respect from a distance with that mother of his too.
“Nothing much, it just popped into my mind to ask! After all, he is our grandfather’s son…” Last time when she went back to the prefectural city and met up with her eldest paternal aunt’s family, she heard that Madam Zhang had aged quite a bit as everyone in her household relied on her to live. She also needed to make money to send her son to school, so she didn’t have it easy. As a mother who wanted her son to stand out among his peers, Madam Zhang would be delighted to do all that she could, no matter how bitter or tiring it was, to help her son, right?
This New Years passed even more happily and joyfully after the Yu Family found out that Yu Hang’s wife had good news. Yu Xiaocao ignored her family’s protest and took the candied and canned fruit processing plant out of her dowry to give to her future nephew as a present. As for the little tyke, it had no clue that its younger aunt had just given it a giant present and was contently resting in its mother’s uterus drawing nutrients to quickly get larger.
Everyone all said that this little fellow was certain to be very well-behaved. Other than its actions on New Year’s Eve to show everyone it existed, it acted as if it wasn’t there for most of the time. Liu Huifang didn't have the slightest bit of symptoms that other pregnant women commonly had. Sometimes, even she forgot that she was pregnant and would energetically follow her mother-in-law around to help with her younger brother-in-law’s exam preparations and her younger sister-in-law’s wedding planning.
Everyone in the family wanted her to rest more but she pushed away their efforts, “Am I that fragile ah? In our village, there are many matrons who are about to give birth but are still working hard in the fields with their giant bellies!”
Madam Liu had also heard the older generation mention that if a pregnant woman moved around more, it’d be easier for her to give birth. Furthermore, she saw her daughter-in-law bustling about for a few days without any problems, so she let her be. However, she would still warn Liu Huifang from time to time to not get too tired and make sure to rest properly.
Once the first month of the year passed, Imperial Prince Jing’s Estate sent the letter of appointment and letter of ceremony to the Yu Residence on a fortuitous day. There was still more than a month’s worth of time left before the eighteenth of the third month. Zhu Junyang had started to press his family to help him with the wedding.
Imperial Prince Jing’s Estate had chosen four people who had complete luck; they were Princess Consort Duan, Duchess Rongguo, Marchioness Dingyuan, and the wife of the Director of the Board of Rites. The so-called ‘complete fortune’ was that these people still had healthy parents alive and well, a son and daughter each, a loving relationship with their spouse, and peaceful relationships within their siblings.
These four had noble statuses and, along with the matchmaker——Imperial Prince Jing’s father, the honorable emperor emeritus, came over to the Yu Family to bring the betrothal gifts and money. Imperial Prince Xu’s betrothal gift list made these four noble and high matrons, who had seen much of the world, completely speechless.
