It turned out that Qiuyu was going to be engaged, Tian Shi had been worried about her youngest daughter's marriage for a long time. Qiuyu said she didn't want to marry a farmer, so Tian Shi asked people to make inquiries everywhere. Qiuyu is already 15 years old this year, and the engagement will be decided this year. If it's too early, it will have to wait until next year to get married, just at the right age.

  This time it was also a coincidence, and the Zhou family in Xisi Village next door happened to be another Zhou family. Zi Qing only discovered that there were many people with the surname Zhou in this area, and almost all of the surrounding villages were surnamed Zhou. Anyway, the eldest son of this Zhou family had been working as an accountant in some iron mine near Xinzheng Prefecture, which was equivalent to a statistician in modern times. It was considered a relatively easy job, didn't require going down into the mine, and was safe. The salary was also decent, with 12 taels of silver per year, two more than Zeng Ruiqing's. They had already met each other a few days ago, and it was said that the other party was also a talented person, and both sides were relatively satisfied. So, they quickly finalized the engagement during the holiday break.

  Shen thought that since it's so far away, how would they live in the future? Wouldn't she have to bring Qiu Yu there, but wasn't that place said to be without any women? It wouldn't be easy to spend days apart from each other. She had personally experienced this for many years. Shen told all of this to Tian.

  Who would have thought that Tian Shi listened and retorted: "You don't need to worry about these things, I am her mother, wouldn't I be sincere in planning for her? It's rare that Qiu Yu is willing, she has taken a liking to him, could it be that if they stay together they will really become old maidens? Qiu Yu is also so big now, and since childhood has been someone with high aspirations, and there are plans in her heart, she has already calculated it out, the two of them separating and each making a good amount of money for several years, then coming back to rent a shop or something, and suffering for three to five years." Shen Shi listened and only then did not speak.

  The Zhou family has three sons and three daughters. The one Autumn Jade is engaged to is the eldest son, Zi Qing saw him and thought he looked quite decent, like a scholar. It's said that he even attended private school for a few years. Their family has a small plot of land, about a few mu, and an elder sister who got married.

  Ziying wasn't very interested in these things, so she went to the back house to look for Xiushui. The eldest son of the Xiao family had already moved out, and no one lived in that house now. The new furniture in the house had also been moved away. However, Xiushui said that her second brother was also engaged, and Ziying laughed, saying: "This year is full of happy events everywhere. My second aunt got married, my younger sister got engaged, and your family has two older brothers who are getting married one after another."

  Who would have thought that Xiushui listened and instead felt a little sad, saying: "In my opinion, it's not necessarily a good thing. After my second brother gets married, he will also leave home. The bride's conditions are not bad, she is from the county town and won't marry into the countryside. My second brother has to move to the county town. My eldest brother left, and now my second brother is leaving too. Our home is getting emptier and colder. Thinking back to when we were all together, how lively and fun it was. Now, one by one, they're all leaving."

  Also, my brother who grew up with me since childhood said that if we don't want the house, then let's not have it. Looking at our home becoming increasingly deserted, in the past everyone was crowded together and there wasn't enough space to live. Zi Qing's family moved out first, followed by Xiao's two sons, Zhou's family also left, Xia Yu got married and moved away... originally it was bustling with activity every day, now everywhere is cold and empty.

  Ziying thought that her current home was no exception, with her older brother going out to study and her second brother following suit in a couple of years. "Indeed, there is no banquet in the world that does not disperse." Ziying sighed. Moreover, she would never have the chance to see her parents and family from her previous life again, and Ziying couldn't help but feel sorrowful, quietly sobbing.

  Xiù Shuǐ was anxious and asked in one breath: "Qíng Qíng, what's wrong with you? Why did you start crying all of a sudden?"

  Zi Qing cried and felt a bit embarrassed, wiping away her tears with a smile: "It's all because of you, insisting on saying these things. When I think that in two years you'll also be getting married and going who-knows-where, living well or not, it breaks my heart."

  "That's easy, wherever you marry, I'll marry there too. It would be best if we could both marry into the same family."

  Zi Qing couldn't help but laugh at this, and indeed, children's words are innocent. "This isn't something you or I can decide on our own, let's go see my third uncle."

  When the two of them were gone, the Zhou family had already arrived, and again it was a long-winded discussion about family affairs, which is not worth detailing. Zi Qing only knew that the conditions in San Gu's home were not as good as Er Gu's, but Xiao Gu had a clever plan, and she also had excellent embroidery skills. Moreover, Xiao Gu's husband had a stable income, whereas Er Gu's husband still had to rely on the weather for his livelihood. Most importantly, Er Gu's medical expenses every year were also a significant expenditure. In this way, it was clear that Xiao Gu's life would be quite good.

  The Dragon Boat Festival is approaching, and it has finally rained heavily in May. Zi Qing had her third uncle plant potatoes on the four acres of dry land, which are drought-resistant and high-yielding. Shen's family sold a batch of castrated chickens, which were bought in early November last year and now weigh around 4-5 catties each. Zi Qing thinks the watermelon is growing well, but it's still not ripe and needs another ten or so days to ripen, so there's no hope for the Dragon Boat Festival.

  Zeng Rui-xiang and Zeng Zi-fu returned home, at night the whole family loved to sit on the wooden board in the study room, each doing their own thing. Zeng Rui-xiang guided Zi-lu's homework, Zi-fu read books, Zi-shou accompanied Zi-xi sitting on the floor playing with wooden blocks, Shen Shi did needlework, and Zi-qing alternated between needlework and learning characters. Zi-qing was preparing to replace all the bedding in the house with new sets, she first chose a piece of white-based light purple delicate small floral fabric, from pillowcases to quilt covers to sheets, a complete set of four pieces. He Shi liked it very much, saying that even sleeping and dreaming felt fragrant.

  Shen's family thought it was really good, bought several pieces of cloth back, and said that buying more would be much cheaper. Shen's family especially liked this quilt cover, which made things easier. It was hard for Ziying to think of it. In the past, every time they washed the quilt, they had to disassemble and sew it again, which was a hassle. So, they could only wash the quilt twice a year. This time, it's more convenient to disassemble and wash, and besides, Ziying also sewed straps on the four corners of the quilt, so that the quilt won't run around when tied up.

  "Mom, this is very simple. Every time I also hate to take apart the bedding, it's so troublesome. If there was something that could wrap around the bedding, every time just taking apart the wrapper to wash would be much simpler. I thought of this, but the bedding inside loves to slide back and forth, if there were strings to tie it up wouldn't that be good? Mom, am I not clever? I like the house to look neat and clean, not fancy or showy, so I used the same floral fabric for the sheets and pillowcase." Zi Qing's explanation completely dispelled Shen Shi's doubts. In her eyes, this daughter had always been clever and resourceful since she was young, always able to bring unexpected surprises.

  This time, Zeng Ruixiang and Zi Fu returned home. Shen Shi said to make a set of clothes for them first and take it to the school. After more than half a year of practice, Zi Qing's needlework was much neater. She had originally wanted to make a backpack for her older brother, but whenever she thought about wearing a long shirt with a double-shoulder bag, it just didn't match, purely ridiculous.

  He was taken back by his eldest son to celebrate the festival, and Zeng Ruixiang said that he would call Lao Yezi and others to come together. Anyway, there were only three people on that side, and this time nothing unexpected happened. Tian Shi just saw that all the new bedding in the house had been replaced, complained about wasting money, and then asked carefully how it was done. I guess it's for preparing dowry for my younger daughter, and specially called Qiuyu to take a look. This originally didn't have much technical content, and one glance would understand. Women in ancient times almost all knew needlework. The rich didn't need to worry about washing quilts, as there were servants to do it. As for the poor, they couldn't afford to buy these things, and probably even quilt covers were patches upon patches. Therefore, Zi Qing didn't think of using this to do something either.

  Mr. Tien said that the marriage of Chiu-yu would be settled after the autumn harvest next year, as her birthday is in the second half of the year and Mr. Tien wants to wait until she is sixteen years old before marrying her off. He also mentioned Hsia-yu, wondering how he was getting along now, whether he had fallen ill again, and that the last message from him said they were separating, with Mr. Tien telling them to rent out their water fields, as Hsia-yu's health was so poor that she could not do any work at all, and also about the difficulties of Ch'un-yu's household, etc.

  Ziying saw that Tian Shi's mind was full of thoughts for his three daughters, but not a word was mentioned about Zhou Shi who had broken her leg. Having lived together for over ten years and having served her for over ten years, Ziying couldn't help but feel that Tian Shi was somewhat heartless.