Zhao Qingyun hurriedly called Old Master Zhao out from the room. The grandfather and grandson muttered to each other off to the side—who knew what they discussed?
Old Master Zhao then walked over to Li Menglan and said, "Lan'er! This old man has some urgent family matters and must rush home right now. What a pity—I don't have the fortune to enjoy the delicious food Lan'er prepared."
Old Master Zhao's face was full of regret and vexation, his childish-old-man appearance nearly making Li Menglan laugh.
*Ahem, ahem, ahem*... Li Menglan coughed dryly a couple times to clear her throat and said, "Mm... it's fine. When Grandpa Zhao has time to come over, Lan'er will make delicious food for you again, Grandpa."
"But... didn't you say, Lan'er, that those river snails could be cooked and eaten tomorrow?" Old Master Zhao was still thinking about the spicy river snails Li Menglan had mentioned earlier.
Uh... Li Menglan was stunned speechless, and even Zhao Qingyun was covered in black lines. Grandpa... could you be any more embarrassing?
"Lan'er, you absolutely must wait for this old man to return before making those spicy river snails of yours!" Old Master Zhao instructed worriedly just before boarding the carriage.
"Then... Grandpa Zhao, when will you come to our house again? Those river snails can't be kept too long, or they'll grow thinner and thinner until there's nothing left to eat." Li Menglan furrowed her brows slightly.
"Tomorrow... This old man will return tomorrow." Upon hearing Li Menglan's words, Old Master Zhao grew anxious, nearly shouting at the top of his lungs.
"Understood." Li Menglan responded helplessly.
Zhao Qingyun nimbly boarded the carriage. "Lan'er, Big Brother Zhao is leaving. I'll send Grandpa over again tomorrow. Do you need to buy anything? When Big Brother Zhao comes over tomorrow, I'll buy it and bring it for you."
"Big Brother Zhao, wait a moment." Li Menglan thought this was perfect—she wouldn't have to go to Qingshui Town tomorrow. When the time came, she could also have Zhao Qingyun take back the finished sugar-roasted chestnuts.
Li Menglan hurriedly ran back to her room and handed Zhao Qingyun a list of several spices she had written. "Big Brother Zhao, tomorrow please go to the medicine shop according to the list I wrote above and buy two or three taels of each item. Also, please trouble yourself to bring one bolt of blue homespun cloth and one bolt of navy blue cotton cloth from your family's cloth shop."
After thinking, she added, "Big Brother Zhao, please also help me take a look at whether your family's cloth shop has patterned fabrics suitable for my mother, grandmother, and grandma. If there are... then buy two patterns, twenty feet of each."
Zhao Qingyun listened to Li Menglan talk for ages without mentioning herself. He immediately frowned and asked, "Lan'er, what about you? What color fabric do you like? Big Brother Zhao will bring it along together tomorrow."
Herself... Li Menglan was stunned. She... truly hadn't thought about it yet.
Before Li Menglan could speak, Zhao Qingyun was already saying to himself, "Never mind if you don't say. Big Brother Zhao will pick something out and buy it for you tomorrow." A sudden shout rang out, and the carriage clattered out through the side gate.
This person... Li Menglan shook her head and stopped dwelling on the matter. She turned her head and smiled brightly at Zhang Wenli. "Little Uncle, have you eaten anything? Is your stomach hungry?"
"Little housekeeper, you just love worrying too much." Zhang Wenli affectionately patted Li Menglan's head and said with a smile, "Your Little Uncle isn't a child. If my stomach is hungry, wouldn't I know to buy buns to eat myself? Little fool!"
Though he spoke this way, it wasn't hard to see from the smile plastered across Zhang Wenli's face that Li Menglan's words... pleased him greatly.
"Come, Little Uncle will help you deal with the chestnuts together. Tonight, your Little Uncle is waiting to eat the sugar-roasted chestnuts made by Lan girl." Zhang Wenli had seen the chestnut in Li Menglan's hand when she first came out, so it was easy to guess what she was doing.
"Little Uncle, it's fine." Li Menglan thought of her father, grandpa, and grandfather planting vegetables in the back courtyard. "Grandmother, Grandma, Mother, and I can slowly handle the chestnuts. Little Uncle, you go to the back courtyard to help Grandpa and Grandfather plant vegetables! When the time comes, I still plan to make pickled vegetables and sauerkraut to sell."
"Alright, Little Uncle will go plant vegetables for our Lan girl." Zhang Wenli didn't oppose the arrangements made by his niece. He nodded with a smile.
That evening, after the sugar-roasted chestnuts were finished cooking, they weighed them... Good heavens... My goodness, there were a full two hundred and thirteen catties of top-grade sugar-roasted chestnuts; even the slightly lesser first grade amounted to one hundred and twenty-six catties.
Li Menglan decided to keep the remainder for her own family to eat. Their life was gradually improving; they shouldn't be too hard on themselves, right?
Even so... Li Menglan carefully calculated. Two hundred and ten catties of top-grade sugar-roasted chestnuts could fetch sixteen taels and eight mace of silver; the slightly inferior ones also amounted to a full seven taels and two mace of silver. Combined together, that was a full twenty-four taels. Add to that the two wild boars, and her family had really struck gold going up the mountain this time.
Li Menglan smiled with a face full of money-loving delight. "Father, Mother, Grandpa, Grandma, Grandfather, Grandmother, Little Uncle, Big Brother, Second Brother."
Li Menglan called out to every member of the family one by one, then said happily, "I just calculated carefully. Yesterday, the sugar-roasted chestnuts picked from the mountain—excluding the remainder—can still be sold for a full twenty-four taels of silver. Not to mention those two wild boars... This trip into the mountains really was a profitable one."
The Li and Zhang family members had yet to recover from Li Menglan's words when they were stunned anew by what she said next.
Li Menglan said with curved brows and eyes, "Father, Mother, Grandpa, Grandma, I think we should give Grandfather's side a share of the silver from selling the chestnuts this time. In the future, whenever Little Uncle, Grandfather, and the others earn silver together with us... we should hand their share over to Grandfather's side to keep themselves."
As soon as Li Menglan finished speaking, Li Dazhu, Li Fujin, and other Li family members naturally would not object. However, Old Man Zhang, Zhang Wenli, and Wang strongly disagreed.
Old Man Zhang frowned and said, "Lan girl, what kind of talk is this? The house your maternal grandparents now live in was built by your family. We also eat our meals together with your family... Could it be that just because we did a little work, we still have to take your silver?"
"That's right! Lan girl, your Little Uncle will earn his own silver. You don't need to worry on my behalf." Zhang Wenli also frowned in disapproval.
Grandmother Wang pulled Li Menglan into her arms. "Lan girl, Grandmother knows you are a filial child. You mustn't speak such words in the future, or Grandmother will get angry—understand?"
"Father, Mother, my daughter also means well with her filial piety. Why don't you just..." Zhang Yuniang's own family was doing better now, so naturally she hoped her natal family and younger brother could also live well. With silver in hand, she spoke with greater confidence.
"In-laws..." Li Fujin also opened his mouth to persuade. "Since this is the children's kind intentions, you should stop refusing."
"In-laws, are you trying to make the Zhang family be the target of gossip behind their backs?" No matter how others advised or what they said, Old Man Zhang simply refused to relent.
Zhang Yuniang gently tugged Li Dazhu's sleeve. "Husband, say something!"
Li Dazhu was an honest man with a clumsy tongue. He opened his mouth several times but didn't know what to say.
Li Menglan shook her head slightly. Ah... her father really was an honest blockhead. "Grandfather, Grandmother, Little Uncle, please hear me out first. See if what Lan'er says makes sense?"
"Alright, Lan girl, speak. This Grandfather wants to see what you mean." Old Man Zhang knew his granddaughter was clever, but he still considered her merely a child. This time, he wanted to hear what Li Menglan had to say.
"Grandfather, don't the elderly have a saying? It's easy to meet but hard to live together. And another saying... distance breeds fragrance while closeness breeds stench. Moreover—before long, Little Uncle will be marrying Little Aunt into the family. Even if our two families continue eating from the same pot, this silver still must follow that old saying—even blood brothers settle accounts clearly. What belongs to whom is whose."
Li Menglan deliberately acted spoiled toward Zhang Wenli and said, "Little Uncle, do you really want your own niece to manage your wallet? Even if you're willing, Lan'er isn't. If word of this got out... people... I wouldn't be able to show my face in public anymore."
Old Man Zhang and Wang fell silent. Indeed... their son was not young anymore; he had long reached the age for marriage talks. But without silver... what would they use to arrange a marriage?
And so... Zhang family vs. Li Menglan. Once again, Li Menglan achieved a perfect and complete victory.