Carpenter Zhao didn’t know Wei Cheng’s family, so he was looking for someone to inquire about them.

When Carpenter Zhao sent furniture to the door, Wei Cheng was still surprised by his speed.

“Cheng’er, I rushed to work yesterday to finish your custom-made furniture. Today I waited for you in the store all morning, and I didn’t see you come to pick it up. I guessed that you must be busy with marriage matters and had no time to go, so I just came to deliver it to you to save yourself a trip.”

Carpenter Zhao’s face was full of joy and enthusiasm. Wei Cheng raised his eyebrows lightly, thinking about certain matters.

It seems that not only did Carpenter Zhao get the order from the Jin family, but the result of the negotiation was much better than he had imagined.

“Uncle Zhao, I’m sorry for troubling you to deliver them yourself.” Wei Cheng originally wanted to arrange things at home and then go pick things up, but he had to move the bed quilt and clothes to the other room.

“Cheng-er, you are too out of touch like this. You call me Uncle Zhao, so as an uncle, I should help you deliver the furniture to your door.” Carpenter Zhao changed the subject. “Besides, the drawings you drew helped Uncle. I am very busy now; your uncle has to thank you very much.”

“Uncle Zhao, looking at your happy face today, does that mean that the Jin family’s order was yours?” Wei Cheng asked.

“It’s more than that. I drew the blueprint you gave me into a book and took it to the Jin family’s house. Master Jin not only took a fancy to all the samples you drew but also ordered all the furniture for his daughter’s dowry. He ordered thousands of hangers; Master Jin wants to engrave a fine design into them, and would pay forty wen for each hanger.”

Hangers could also be made from waste materials, which could save material costs; he would only need to pay labor costs, and the rest would be profit.

For the Jin family’s custom-made furniture, the choice of wood was all high-end wood; this big order was worth more than half a year’s profit for the store. How could Carpenter Zhao be unhappy?

Wei Cheng heard that the hangers were sold to the Jin family for 40 wen each. After all, he didn’t understand the price in ancient times, and he didn’t think much about it. Now it was not the age of machines, and it was basically all done by hand.

“Congratulations to Uncle Zhao for getting the order from the Jin family.”

“Well, it’s all thanks to you, Cheng-er.” Carpenter Zhao pointed to a few workers and said, “Cheng-er, tell them where the furniture should be placed, and they will help to arrange it.”

The old wooden bed and the old table in Wei Cheng’s room were not removed.

“Uncle Zhao, sit down first. The old furniture in the room hasn’t been vacated yet; I’ll find someone to move it.”

“How could that be troublesome? Just order the porter to do it!”

Wei Cheng did not shirk his goodwill and arranged for workers to move the old furniture to the corner of the yard, where it could be chopped up and used as firewood, and then told them the arrangement of the furniture. The work of moving the old furniture and moving the new furniture was left to the workers.

Wei Cheng sat down opposite Carpenter Zhao, and it was only then that Carpenter Zhao had a chance to ask about buying the blueprints.

“Cheng-er, how much do you want Uncle Zhao to pay for the blueprint?”

Wei Cheng didn’t even beat around the topic and said directly, “Uncle Zhao, I don’t know much about carpentry, and the price of the blueprint could be the same as last time. If you offer a suitable price, I could trust you.”

Carpenter Zhao laughed, “Cheng-er, yes, you have courage in doing things!”

He took the blueprints back and discussed with his two sons about buying the blueprints, and the sons agreed to buy the furniture blueprints. The fashionable style would surely attract many customers. There was no need for the clothes hanger; it was too simple, and it could be given away as an extra. Carpenter Zhao scolded his son for his short-sightedness. The hanger was profitable, but the risk was also high, and they didn’t know what price to offer.

He had many things to consider when buying the hanger blueprint. First of all, these were Wei Cheng’s blueprints; if he asked Wei Cheng to give them to him, it would seem that he, Carpenter Zhao, was not sincere, and he was hesitant at first. Later, when the Jin family made a big order, he saw clearly the profits with the clothes hangers in the market, and he had an idea in his heart.

Carpenter Zhao wanted to buy the blueprints, but he was afraid that Wei Cheng’s price would be too high. If Wei Cheng could give the blueprints to him, he must know the cost and profit of furniture and clothes hangers.

He was still struggling with the price of the benefits, but Wei Cheng casually gave up setting the price; that kind of bearing was really scary for old people such as him!

The furniture in Wei Cheng’s family was made of common and practical wood with simple carving patterns, and the three pieces of furniture cost ten taels of silver. Carpenter Zhao bought all the drawings and gave him thirty taels, which also included Wei Cheng’s previous ideas.

Both parties were satisfied with the price!

After sending Carpenter Zhao away, the family’s income increased by another thirty taels. Excluding recent expenses, Wei Cheng had more than twenty taels in his hands.

In the countryside, this was the wealth of a small rich household.

From a poor and broken household to a small wealthy household, Yuan Yuan of his family could live a good life.

If this was handed in, he didn’t know what kind of stunned expression his family’s Yuan Yuan would show.

Wei Cheng was looking forward to it.

Two days later, it was the wedding day, and he went to buy a few sets of clothes for his family’s Yuan Yuan, as well as a red mandarin duck quilt for the new house.

For the bedding, he had to buy a whole set.

━━ 🐈‍⬛ ━━

On the day of their wedding.

Wei Cheng got up before the sun rose and rushed to make a red date thousand-layer cake. The ingredients were prepared yesterday. He only needed to boil the red dates, mix them into the pre-prepared powder, and cook them layer by layer.

The process took some time, and the cooking was completed after an hour.

Wei Cheng asked Wei Yuan to let him and Aunt Lu come earlier. He had to cook breakfast for several people. The white porridge had been boiling on the stove. Hot oil was spread on the pancakes.

For breakfast, there was porridge, ten pancakes, served with dried radish, fried cucumbers marinated overnight, and a plate of small green vegetables, and breakfast was ready.

Before the agreed-upon time, Aunt Lu, Wei Yuan, and Wei Lei also came.

“Aunt Lu, Yuan-zi, Lei-zi, you are here; you haven’t eaten breakfast yet, right? I just made breakfast.” There were tables and chairs for eating in the yard, and Wei Cheng invited them to sit down.

Wei Cheng basically ate in the courtyard. The room was dark, but he still liked the bright light outside.

“Don’t call us to eat; Auntie didn’t come here to eat.” Aunt Lu didn’t want to eat; she was here to help with work, so how could she eat before doing anything?!

Wei Yuan was familiar with Wei Cheng; he thought she’d be polite, but his mother refused directly, so he could only mutter in his heart. After their breakfast, he ate half of a hard bun on the way, and when he walked to the outskirts of the county, he had almost digested it.

Wei Yuan didn’t dare to refute his mother’s words; otherwise, he would be beaten on the forehead.

Wei Lei didn’t talk much; he followed Wei Yuan. If he wanted to work, he waited until the work was arranged and done before resting, and he didn’t eat breakfast early in the morning. His family kept swearing and shouting; breakfast hadn’t been cooked yet, so he came on an empty stomach.

“Aunt Lu, I’ve prepared breakfast for you; you must eat it.” After Wei Cheng finished speaking, he called Wei Yuan and Wei Lei to help him with breakfast. Before Aunt Lu refused, he went into the kitchen and brought out the food.

Wei Cheng had entered the kitchen before Aunt Lu could speak; he went into the kitchen with Wei Lei to serve breakfast.

Wei Yuan drooled at the sight of the food-rich table.

Wei Lei’s expressionless face also showed a little more expression; he was even hungrier!

Aunt Lu looked at the breakfast table and said in surprise, “Cheng-zi, you got up early in the morning, so you must’ve been busy. Today you are the groom; how could I let you do this work? What do you want done now? Tell Auntie; Auntie would do it.” She could tell that the food took a lot of work to be prepared.

Aunt Lu rolled up her sleeves and was about to get busy.

Wei Cheng stopped him, “Auntie, don’t be in a rush to be busy; everyone has to have breakfast first.”

Aunt Lu still wanted to refuse. In fact, it was the first time she had seen such a rich breakfast, and she was also moved by it, but she took the wages to help. In fact, she didn’t want to be paid to help, but Wei Cheng saidhe’dl just asked someone else, and she finally had to take it. She didn’t have the nerve to eat breakfast made by others when she was already getting paid.

It could be seen that Aunt Lu was going to refuse to eat, and Wei Yuan didn’t know how to take the initiative, so Wei Lei would refuse to eat; could it be that he was to finish the whole table by himself?

“Aunt Lu, if you don’t eat, I can’t finish it by myself. If I couldn’t finish it, I’ll give it to passers-by.”

“Hey, this…”

“Aunt Lu, sit down and eat. I’m ashamed to eat alone if you don’t eat.”

Aunt Lu couldn’t refuse anymore, so she sat down and ate. Wei Yuan and Wei Lei started eating after sitting down after her. They ate a mouthful of pancakes and soft white porridge, and they were full of praise.

Cheng-zi’s craftsmanship, when did it become so good?

The four of them finished a table of breakfast and were satisfied.

The pancake was fragrant and chewy, and the white porridge and rice were thick and fragrant. It was even more delicious when accompanied by dried radish, pickled cucumber, and small green vegetables!

Wei Yuan ate the most, with a bulging stomach, sitting in a lying posture, and couldn’t help saying, “Cheng-zi, your cooking skills are great; this was so delicious!”

Even Wei Lei, who didn’t seek delicious food as long as he could fill his stomach, then it was good enough, he felt for the first time that the food could be so delicious.

Aunt Lu was the one who ate the least, and this meal was the best she had ever eaten, even when compared to the food at a restaurant.

After breakfast, Aunt Lu said that she had to work now.

Wei Cheng took her to the kitchen and asked Aunt Lu to take care of the thousand-layer cake, divide them into plates according to the shapes he had cut with a knife, put them back on the kitchen cabinet, and take care of them.

With Mother Wei and the others coming over, he was worried. His sister-in-law would definitely go into the kitchen to look around. Before that, he specially made the kitchen cabinets, which could be locked, because he didn’t want his sister-in-law to go to the kitchen to look.

The kitchen cabinet contained rice, flour, meat, and vegetables.

Today he had to work on getting married, so he definitely wouldn’t be able to take care of the kitchen, so he would leave it to Aunt Lu.

It was the first time for Aunt Lu to see a transparent pastry with so many layers; she couldn’t help but exclaim that she would do whatever Wei Cheng told her to do.

As for the other jobs, there was nothing else. When the time came, Aunt Lu did not know whether to laugh or cry when she looked at the arrangement. This was the most relaxing job she had been busy with.

Not long after, the ingredients needed for the banquet were also delivered in batches. The helpers for the banquet came, and they were all from the same village as Wei Cheng.

Mother Wei and his sister-in-law also came.

As for the other things, Wei Cheng didn’t need to worry about them.

As expected, his sister-in-law went into the kitchen to look around and came out muttering when she saw the kitchen cabinet was locked. She wanted to go to the new house, but it was Wei Cheng’s room after all, so it was not good for her to go in.

There were candies, peanuts, and melon seeds placed in the living room. His nephew still didn’t greet him when he saw him, but put a lot of candies, peanuts, and melon seeds in his pocket in the living room.

Wei Cheng didn’t see it- the interior of the new house was different from the outside; there were peanuts, red dates, and pastries for the guests. And the new house was also being looked over by Aunt Lu, and no one was allowed to enter the new house. Before he went to pick up his relatives, she kept the keys in the house. When he came back to pick up his relatives, she would help open the door in advance.

The departure time was approaching.

Wei Cheng was dressed in a red wedding dress, with a tall figure and a radiant look.

An ox cart was used to pick up the bride. The ox cart was covered with red cloth, and cushions were placed at the door. Then they would drive the rented ox cart, followed by the people who would greet the incoming relatives, and so a group of people set off for Qinghe Village.

━━ 🐈‍⬛ ━━

On the Zhou Family’s End.

The ger about to get married, put on make-up, which was done by an aunt in the village, also known as Aunt Xi.

Zhou Yuan was dressed in a bright red wedding dress; his hair was partly pulled up in a bun, the jade hairpin was inserted obliquely, and a thin layer of foundation powder was applied to his face. The aunt who combed his hair wanted to apply thick blush on his cheeks, but he raised his hand to block it.

“Auntie, you don’t need to apply blush; it’s fine!”

Zhou Yuan didn’t like rouge and gouache; he could accept a thin layer of rouge since he was to be married, but he would rather not have a thick layer of red on his cheeks.

“Zhou-ger, what could you do? You are getting married today, which is your big day. You must put on some blush to look like a married couple, and it would look better.”

Zhou Yuan stood up, fixed his eyes, smiled, and said, “No, I think this was very good. Thank you, auntie!”

“This was not in line with the rules…” Without a blush, his face was not red enough.

The auntie wanted to continue persuading, but Mother Zhou came in, “Aunt Xi, Yuan Yuan said it’s ok, so there’s no need for it.”

Even Mother Zhou spoke up, and Aunt Xi didn’t force him anymore. She said a few nice words and went out too.

Zhou Qiu and Zhou Muzi stayed with Zhou Yuan in the room all the time. They just sat quietly and watched Zhou Yuan get dressed. They waited for a long time, and after Zhou Yuan put on makeup, he was finally able to talk.

Zhou Qiu smiled and said, “Yuan Yuan, you look so good today. Muzi and I were dumbfounded; with this red wedding dress, with makeup on, you are no worse than a village flower.”

Zhou Muzi said enviously, “Yuan Yuan, you look good. I don’t know if I would look better than now when I get married.”

Zhou Yuan was dressed in a red wedding dress with a cinched waist, with light makeup; his cheeks were naturally pink, and his eyebrows were elegant and slender.

Zhou Yuan smiled slightly, “Muzi, you are also very pretty!”

Mother Zhou also smiled and looked at her ger. Yuan Yuan was about to get married; her eyes immediately turned red, and she felt very sad!

“My family’s Yuan Yuan was so beautiful, ah. Mother was really reluctant to see you get married.”

“Mother…”

Zhou Yuan didn’t hold back his emotions; his eyes were slightly red.

Mother Zhou asked, “Yuan Yuan, you are marrying into your husband’s family, but you are not from a different family; you are still from ours. In the future, you must work hard and listen to your husband.”

“Mom, I will.”

“Yuan Yuan, your second uncle is here, just outside. Do you want to see him?”

Mother Zhou’s natal family also asked someone to come on the day of her ger’s marriage. They said someone from her natal family would come over, but no one else from her natal family came; only Zhou Yuan’s second uncle came alone. Before, when Zhou Yuan’s elder brothers got married, one of the three uncles came, and Zhou Yuan’s aunt would also be brought along.

“Mother, the second uncle was here!” The uncle was good to him and his brothers in the family. It was rare for his uncle to come; Zhou Yuan was very happy, and as a junior, he must see him.

Mother Zhou went to call someone into the house.

With his uncle coming, Zhou Qiu and Zhou Muzi went out, and the two went outside the courtyard to wait for someone to pick up the bride.

Zhou Yuan’s second uncle, wearing a long cotton gown, looked about forty years old; his sons were also tall, and his facial features were somewhat similar to Mother Zhou.

“Hello, Second Uncle.”

“I haven’t seen you much this year, but Yuan-ger has already grown up and is about to get married. Uncle was here to give gifts to you this time. This was from the wishes of your three uncles, and the other was from your grandmother and grandfather. For your peace and safety.” Zhou Yuan’s uncle took out two wooden gift boxes.

Zhou Yuan didn’t know whether he should take them, so Mother Zhou smiled and took them for her ger, “Thank your uncles and grandparents.”

“Thank you, uncles, thank you, grandfather and grandmother!”

It was rare for Mother Zhou to see her natal family, and she also wanted to chat with her second brother more and ask her about her natal family, about her mother and father’s health.

“Second brother, why don’t you stay one more night this time and go back tomorrow morning?”

He thought about it for a while and agreed to Mother Zhou to stay one more night. “Okay, sister, I’ll go out first; you and Yuan-ger have a good talk.”

He left behind his things and went out.

Mother Zhou tidied up her ger’s clothes and opened the gift that Uncle Zhou Yuan had given him. There was a gold bracelet in each box; the pattern was simple, and the width of the bracelet was half a centimeter. The one Wei Cheng bought was as big as these ones.

Mother Zhou saw that her ger was not wearing anything on his fair wrist, so she asked, “Yuan Yuan, Wei Cheng bought you a gold bracelet; why don’t you put it on?”

“Mother, won’t it be too much to wear…” The wooden box containing the gold bracelet was placed on the table. Zhou Yuan didn’t want to wear it; it would be too eye-catching.

Mother Zhou smiled and said, “Silly boy, today was your big day. It should be beautiful and bright. What’s there to cover up? You put on the bracelet, and the one your uncle brought for you.” He wore three bracelets, one on the left and two on the right.

Zhou Yuan also let Mother Zhou help put it on.

Mother Zhou looked at it and was finally satisfied!

The bustle outside became even louder!

Matchmaker Zhang’s festive voice also came into the room. Matchmaker Zhang shouted.

—The groom was coming to pick him up!