It turned out that Xia Yu's new house was about to be completed and the beam-raising ceremony was going to take place, Xia Yu was overjoyed and eager to return home to host the ceremony and entertain guests. Tian Shi couldn't stop him, so she had to accompany him personally, and also asked Zi Fu and Zi Lu to go together to help out. Xia Yu knew that Zi Qing had been helping with household chores for several years and had already seen her ability, so he wanted Zi Qing to go along too, after all, his own energy was limited and it would be hard to take care of everything by himself.

  Shen's mother hesitated after hearing this, and her son guaranteed that he would take good care of his sister. Shen's mother repeatedly reminded Zi Qing not to show off or be reckless.

  When Heizi Qing and his family arrived at Qiao Village, it was already evening. Everyone was too excited to eat dinner, shouting that they wanted to visit their new home first. Zhou Tianqing had no choice but to take everyone to the new house, which was about 50-60 meters away from the old one. The front yard was roughly an acre of land, and Zhou Tianqing had already cultivated several plots of vegetable fields. The main house was a hall with six rooms, similar in layout to the old house. The back door led directly to a small stream, which made it very convenient for washing vegetables and raising ducks. The whole house was made of green bricks and tiles.

  Xia Yu's hand couldn't help but touch the brick wall, and as she touched it, her eyes turned red, and tears flowed as she said: "I really didn't think that in this life I could still live in such a big new house, even bigger and better than the house in their old courtyard now. At that time, they were just a small landlord family, but I thought it was nothing special, all because of Second Brother and Sister-in-law's love for me."

  Zi Qing looked at Xia Yu's slender body, which made her clothes look even looser, as if they could be blown away by the wind. Her eyes stung, and she quickly stepped forward to hug her, laughing and teasingly saying: "Second Aunt, isn't my credit the greatest? How can you forget me?"

  One sentence made Xia Yudou laugh, at this time the sky was also dark, everyone returned to the old courtyard and ate something randomly, washed up and slept.

  The next morning, Tian complained that Ziqing slept very dishonestly and kicked her waist sore. Ziqing didn't think much of it either. The four people squeezed into one bed, and Zi'er was now nine years old and grew quite sturdy. Compared to before adoption, it's like heaven and earth, no matter how they sleep, it's uncomfortable.

  "Zi Qing saw that the two orange trees in the courtyard of Zi's house had borne fruit, and asked: "Second Aunt, are these oranges sweet?"

  "It's not as delicious as your family's cooking. I also wanted to ask you how you dried it, but I always forget." Xia Yu said.

  Then Zi Qing taught her to pour the rice washing water, meat washing blood water and so on onto it, and don't waste the chicken dung and duck dung in the yard. They can all be buried under the tree, and in winter, cut off the excess long branches that are not good.

  The day of the beam-raising ceremony is just two days later, and Zi Qing asked the villagers about the number of guests and the number of tables to be prepared. Also, there are some local customs, what dishes people usually eat at home, and several people discussed and decided on the menu together.

  Zi Qing calculated the things and money needed. The pork required was a big item, costing three or four silver coins. The eggs had been stored at home for some time, and Zi Qing brought some more when she came. As for the dried mushrooms, bamboo shoots, tea leaves, and dried fruits, etc., Zifeng said he would take Zilu to Anzhou City to buy them, which would be cheaper. Tofu was directly ordered from the village, while pork and carp were bought fresh from the town on a later day. As for couplets, of course, they were left to Zifeng. The arrangement of tables, chairs, bowls, chopsticks, and plates was entrusted to someone to borrow.

  The Tian family saw that Ziyu had arranged everything properly, and she was even better than the average daughter-in-law. She probably couldn't have done it so well herself after all these years of being in charge at home. This is why Xiaoyu wanted to bring her over. However, the more excellent Ziyu performed, the deeper Tian's resentment grew. If Ziyu could really marry Dashun, Chunyu would be able to save a lot of worry, as she was not only good at managing household chores but also earning money. Where else could they find someone so satisfactory?

  Tian Shi's eyes gazed at Zi Qing with a mix of admiration, resentment, and sorrow, but Zi Qing was too lazy to distinguish between them.

  After dinner, everyone took their own tasks and were busy with their own affairs. Zi Qing saw Er Gu taking out a large stack of infrequently used bowls and plates to wash them by the small stream. Since Er Gu's body had not fully recovered, Zi Qing could only take over the task herself and headed to the small stream. On the bluestone by the stream, several village women were already washing vegetables and clothes.

  They saw Zi Qing, and several people whispered to each other, inquiring whose daughter she was. This brought a burst of admiring gasps, and Zi Qing smiled at them. One of the women asked hastily: "Are you a relative of someone's family? You're such a lovely girl, even more beautiful than the ones in paintings! How come I've never seen you before?"

  Ziying listened and took a look at herself, not too bad, because she was here as a guest, so she wore the new green gauze skirt that Shen's family had just bought. The clothes were nine-part sleeves, narrow top and wide skirt, with a simple morning glory embroidered around the cuff and hem, and a few butterflies fluttering about. Her hair was still in double buns, but now adorned with the golden butterfly sent by Lin Kangping, and the rest was divided into several strands wrapped around silk threads hanging down.

  Zi Qing answered truthfully, and the man enthusiastically inquired about Xia Yu's source of silver to build a house, how much silver was spent, etc. Then he asked again what Zi Qing's family did, and when Zi Qing said they were farmers, he still didn't believe it and asked how many acres of land they had. Zi Qing smiled and replied that there wasn't much, then picked up his things and fled in a hurry.

  Zi Qing thought the matter was settled, but unexpectedly in the afternoon, many people came to the courtyard, including village women, idle young men and 16 or 17-year-old boys. As soon as they entered, their eyes scanned around, enthusiastically asking Xia Yu and Zhou Tianqing if there were any tasks that needed help, making the whole family bewildered.

  After dinner, the village woman who had been chatting with Zi Qing by the stream also came in. She whispered something to Xia Yu inside and came out looking unhappy, flapping her handkerchief and walking away huffily.

  Xia Yu came out and asked Zi Qing: "What did she ask you at the stream this afternoon?"

  "What's wrong?" Zi Qing asked.

  Xia Yu told her that the man wanted to come and propose, his family was a big household in Qiao Village, with more than 50 mu of land. Xia Yu said to her: "My niece is already engaged."

  This person was a bit muddled, always thinking that her family's son was good and her family's conditions were good. She said that her son had taken a liking to Zi Qing and was willing to offer twice the betrothal gifts. Tian Shi couldn't help but sneer coldly: "My granddaughter's golden bangles aren't even worth an acre of paddy field, the butterfly hairpins on her head are also worth an acre of paddy field, not to mention the gold and jade given by those sons-in-law in our family." A few words made that village woman angry and leave.

  The next day, the whole village was spreading that Xia Yu's niece had been sold to a wealthy family as a concubine for her greed for wealth and status. Xia Yu didn't know at first, but every time she went out, she saw villagers pointing and whispering, and when she came back, she asked her sister-in-law, only then did she know the whole story, and was so angry that she wanted to go fight with the village woman, but was held back by Zi Qing and Tian Shi.

  "Second Aunt, whether I'm here or not, I'll be going home in a few days. Once I leave, the gossip will naturally die down slowly. You can't afford to get angry for your health's sake, don't forget that. We have more important things to attend to. When my parents arrive the day after tomorrow and see what they're wearing, they'll naturally understand it's not that kind of situation."

  Zi Fu found out about this and had Zi Er secretly take the village woman to warn her and her son. The woman, seeing Zi Fu's imposing manner and the square scarf on his head, repeatedly promised not to dare to be presumptuous again. All of this, naturally, was unknown to Zi Qing.

  The day passed in a hurry. On the second day, early in the morning, Zhou Tianqing's two younger brothers carried baskets and took Zi Fu and Zi Lu to the market to buy goods. Zhou Tianqing borrowed tables, chairs, bowls, and chopsticks from the villagers and sent them to the new house. Zi Qing was on the side, registering and helping to clear up and arrange things, checking if there were any omissions. They were busy for a whole day, and finally, everything was settled.

  June 28th is the auspicious day for the beam-raising ceremony, Old Master and Zeng Ruixiang's family came by donkey cart, Chunyu's family rushed over with an ox cart, saying they started rushing on the road before dawn. Zeng Ruixing only let the messenger bring back fifty cents, Autumn Jade's child is still young, also letting Old Master bring the gift.

  Ziying saw her aunt and uncle circling around the house, their envious gaze. Ziying glanced at them and had to admit that Chunyu still had one advantage - at least her family's clothes were all clean and tidy, even if some of them had patches.

  The ceremony of raising the beam was almost over, but when Zeng Rui Xiang hung that three-foot-tall large copper mirror on the left side of the hall, there was a commotion. Zi Qing heard the villagers discussing and speculating, with some saying: "A family with so much money, being generous, and still educated, how could they sell their daughter to be a concubine? Didn't we hear it wrong?"

  "It's not possible, I also heard that the money for Xia Yu's house was all paid by her brother. Tsk tsk, have you seen what kind of clothes they wear? What material is it made of? I haven't even touched it before! In my opinion, someone must be jealous of them and spreading rumors. If I had a brother like that, let others say whatever they want."

  "Hey, I heard that the wife of the Zhou family's wealthy household has taken a liking to the niece of the Xia Yu family and wants to propose a marriage. But they didn't agree, saying it was already arranged. Who knows if it's just that old woman being jealous and making things up."

  "It's just that, without even thinking about it, if someone can take a liking to her family, isn't it just a matter of dozens of acres of land? What's there to be proud of? The second brother of Xia Yu's family has opened his own school, and the eldest nephew is a scholar. I heard he's studying at that White Egret Academy in Anzhou Prefecture, which is really hard to get into. He's still young, but he'll definitely become a high-ranking official in the future. And then there's Xia Yu's sister-in-law, who looks so young and well-maintained, she must have been a great beauty when she was younger too. If you ask me, we shouldn't listen to those gossipmongers, let's just get closer to Xia Yu's family, who knows, maybe one day we'll need their help."

  Such words were endless, and Zi Qing just smiled after hearing them. However, when she saw her aunt and uncle, she was a bit worried that they would start arguing again, which wouldn't look good. Zi Qing looked up and searched around, and indeed saw Chun Yu talking to Tian Shi about something, with Tian Shi's expression being somewhat stern, while Chun Yu seemed reluctant to agree to something.

  Fortunately, nothing went wrong. The villagers were satisfied with the arrangement of food when they left. After sending away the guests, Chunyu and others wanted to stay overnight, Tian heard that he also wanted to stay. Shen's Zhang immediately wanted to leave, ignoring Yan Ren Da's enthusiastic invitation and Chunyu's resentful gaze. In the donkey cart, Zi Qing was still smiling and said: "Fortunately, we left quickly, otherwise my sister would not know what requirements to mention again. I'm really afraid of her."

  Shen gave her a sideways glance, nodded slightly, and it turned out that the old man was still sitting on the carriage outside the door. Zi Qing was so scared that she didn't dare to make another sound. The rest of the journey was silent.

  Back home, Shen Shi started to pack up the things for Zi Fu's autumn exam. Originally, Shen Shi was going to follow him, but Zi Fu didn't allow it, saying he had already made an appointment with his fellow students. This time, the autumn exam was held in Jiangnan Gongyuan in a neighboring province, which wasn't too far away.

  On this day, Shen was inspecting Zifu's clothes and shoes when Autumn Jade rushed in, crying and carrying a child.