He's family also touched it, saying it was wool, never seen wool that could be spun like this before. Zi Qing listened and asked: "Grandma, I want to shear the sheep, can you spin the yarn?"

  "I and your daughter learned embroidery in elementary school, but I really don't know how to spin yarn or weave fabric. Your eldest sister-in-law, second sister-in-law, and third cousin-in-law all know how."

  At this time, Chen said on the side: "Embroidery is not very good at it, spinning and weaving are also learned from my mother, but it's not very good, if sister doesn't mind, I can also try to help."

  Ziying heard that her two aunts and Second Aunt Chen would spin yarn after dinner, so she went home and had Lin An and Lin Fu go to the back mountain to shear the wool from the sheep. After soaking it in lye and high-temperature steaming, she also had Zeng Rui Xiang use the formula for nitro skin treatment again. After drying, there was basically no strange smell left. Ziying looked at the dried sheep's wool and suddenly thought that duck down should also be treatable. If treated, she could make a down jacket herself. Who knows, maybe in the future, she could even open her own down jacket processing factory.

  The days passed quickly to May 19th, and the wine table was still set up in the old house, naturally by Zeng Ruiqing. At dinner time, Xia Yu came over with a small basket, Shen Shi asked her to stay for dinner, she looked at Shen Shi and then at Zeng Ruixiang, chattering a few words, Shen Shi knew she had come for something, so asked: "Is there anything you want to say? There's no outsider here, I suppose it's about tomorrow's mother's birthday banquet, is there still something missing?"

  "Second sister-in-law, it's like this. Eldest sister made a pair of ordinary cloth shoes for mother and didn't even buy satin to go with them. Autumn Jade said that the dark-colored silk summer shirt she made for me doesn't match, and is afraid that tomorrow people will laugh at her. Mother asked me to come ask if second sister-in-law has any ready-made good satin shoes?" Xiaoyu said.

  "New shoes are available, but I don't know if they fit. I don't have my mother's size." said Shen Shi.

  Xia Yu listened and took out a pair of old shoes from the basket. The family compared them, and only Chen Shi's size was about right, but unfortunately, Chen Shi didn't have a brand new pair waiting for her to take.

  Zeng Ruixiang was about to go to the old house to scold Chunyu, but was pulled back by Shen Shi, who said: "You also know her character. Father and mother will be even more distressed than you. If you don't give face to your daughter, it will only make things more embarrassing for mother. It's inevitable that there will be a quarrel, and tomorrow is the auspicious day. Why bother everyone? Besides, now that mother has returned to Eldest Brother's side to recuperate, we should be considerate of his feelings, lest he feel uncomfortable. Moreover, if we take matters into our own hands, won't things revert to their original state?"

  Zeng Ruixiang sighed and had no choice but to give up.

  The next day, Ziyun and Lin Kangping got up early. Ziyun also changed into a red thin dress. The month was still small, but it didn't show much. When they arrived at the old house, Ziyun saw that Tian Shi's complexion wasn't very good, but her clothes were new, and the silver netted hairpiece on her head was bought by Ziyun from the temple fair. Autumn Jade added a silver pin, a pair of earrings, and a silver ring, which was somewhat less luxurious compared to when Ziyun's grandmother celebrated her birthday.

  Chun Yu and the whole family heard that they all arrived yesterday, and were discussing the longevity peach. Originally, it was agreed to use only pure flour, without mixing other grains, but Chun Yu sent a mixture of corn flour and sorghum flour instead.

  "Big sister, your mother has raised you for almost 40 years, and this is the first time we're celebrating her birthday. We sent out white-faced longevity peaches, but what your family brought out was yellow and black. What will people in the village laugh at? They'll laugh at you, they'll laugh at your mother. Who doesn't know that your family comes to live with your mother for one or two months every year? Who doesn't know that you've been throwing your kids over here for several years? Your mother has lived a good half of her life, and this is the first time she's used you, and you're trying to fool her with this broken flour?"

  Chun Yu cried and said: "It's been raining for months, not a single grain of wheat has been harvested, and the early rice is delayed. I have a big family to raise, the children are growing up and can eat. And Guiying is getting married this year, but I haven't prepared any decent dowry. You think I don't want to give my mother some good things? You think I have spare money that I'm not willing to spend on my mother? If I had Second Brother's wealth, I would cover all the expenses for Mother's birthday."

  "You fart, is mom only your second brother's mom? Mom is the mom of all five of us, no one forced you to keep up with your second brother. Everyone shows their filial piety in their own way, don't talk nonsense. When you were living a good life, did you ever show any concern for dad and mom? Touching your conscience, ask yourself, have we ever had a free meal at your house all these years?" Zeng Ruiqing asked.

  "How dare you say that to me? You don't even care about your own parents, how many years has it been since you last went home? What do you know? Weren't you just supported by them for the past two years? You're not one bit better than me!" Chunyu retorted in a low voice.

  "What are you eating? Anyway, I'm back now. Your parents are still being supported by me, aren't they? Take a look at yourself, what have you been up to?"

  "It's really too much, elder sister. You just asked me to make a pair of shoes for you, and I didn't even use good materials. I'm speechless about you. Look at yourself, do you have the bearing of an elder sister?" Autumn Jade said.

  The old man sighed and said, "Stop arguing, don't you see what time it is? We still have a stone of wheat that Old Second sent over before the festival. Let's take it to exchange for some white flour first. It's not worth buying now, with the disaster, the price of white flour has doubled. Let's get through this immediate crisis first."

  Yan Renda listened and busily ordered Da Mao and San Mao to carry the wheat, while Old Master glared at him and called for Zi Fu and Zi Lu.

  "It's too late to knead now, right? We need at least 100 catties of flour and we have to hurry up with the fermentation. Luckily, my sister and I have finished fermenting our dough, all that's left is steaming." Qiu Yu said, looking towards Zeng Rui Xiang.

  Zeng Ruixiang didn't respond, and Qiu Yu was somewhat disappointed. Originally, she had been counting on Zeng Ruixiang's family to bring some white flour to help them get through their current difficulties.

  "Second Brother's house should have some, Second Brother, don't look at me, look at your parents' face, you can first take out some white flour to make up for it, after all, it's better than letting your parents lose face." Chunyu said. The old man and Tian Shi also looked at him.

  "You should worry about your parents losing face, you would have thought of a way to save this bit of flour money earlier, instead of standing here today, waiting for Second Brother to help you again. I'm afraid you had already calculated this, but unfortunately, this time you can't get what you want, my family doesn't even have freshly milled flour at home, don't you think, who would mill a hundred catties of flour and leave it at home?" Zeng Rui Xiang said.

  "What about Zi Qing's family? Shouldn't she have one?" Chun Yu still wouldn't give up. The old master and Tian Shi looked at Zi Qing again.

  "Eldest aunt, I'm sorry, I've never liked eating noodles, everyone knows that, and my family doesn't have a dry land, who would buy that for no reason?" Zi Qing said.

  "Things are reluctant to take out, money is not willing to spend a single cent, but people who come to eat are quite complete, none of them are missing." Zhou Shi muttered.

  "What's to be done? Otherwise, it'll just be steamed and sent over. You send your own, my second sister and I will send ours. We won't mix with you." Qiu Yu said.

  "This is ridiculous! Others will laugh at us, our whole family is like this, and we still have to give them a longevity peach buns as a gift. I'm so embarrassed." Tian said.

  "What's your opinion, sister?" Zeng Ruiqing asked.

  "What can be done? Zǐ Fú, you go and see if there is any ready-made flour in the village mill first. If there is, take the wheat to exchange for it first. If not, Shòu Táo will send some later." The old man sighed. In fact, the old man wanted to let Zēng Ruì Xiáng take out silver to buy some white flour now, but unfortunately, Zēng Ruì Xiáng himself did not speak up, and he had no way to open his mouth. This son was not the easy-to-talk-to son of the past.

  The child's luck was indeed quick to return, saying that there were some, probably around thirty or forty catties. The old man thought for a moment and said: "Exchange as much as you have, if not enough, just mix in a little less miscellaneous flour, it's better than all being miscellaneous."

  "Let Damao and Sanmao go lift the wheat instead." said Shen Shi, she didn't want to be misunderstood, saying that she wasn't willing to give white flour to make longevity noodles for the elderly, whoever made the mistake would take responsibility.

  The old man and the Tian family's faces were really able to squeeze out water, the longevity peaches had been steamed, and Chunyu's house was still very obvious, with a color that was neither red nor yellow nor white, but rather a dull gray. In contrast, Xiayu and Qiuyu's houses were bright and plump, while Chunyu's house was carried by Damao and Sanmao. The three families went from door to door in the village to deliver the longevity peaches.

  Zhou's face almost smiled into a flower, thinking: "Let you always be biased, be biased, in the end, the one who ends up making a fool of herself is still my most beloved daughter."

  After sending the longevity peaches back, Qiu Yu and several others had dark faces, presumably also being ridiculed in the village. At this time, San Bao and several other relatives had already arrived, shaking their heads at Chun Yu's actions.

  The time for the ceremonial bowing had arrived, Tian Shi was sitting in front of the hall wearing new clothes, unfortunately, her shoes were not visible, and her skirt couldn't cover them. There wasn't much on her head either, except for Zi Qing's silver silk hairnet and Qiu Yu's single hairpin. Seeing that it lacked some festive atmosphere, Qiu Yu took the pair of big red chrysanthemums given by Zi Qing and inserted them into Tian Shi's hair.

  The younger sister of the Tian family came over the day before yesterday and sat at the Shen's house for a whole afternoon. The Shen family also gave her a pair of big red chrysanthemum flowers, which were so beautiful and realistic that the old lady had never seen such fake flowers in the countryside where she lived all year round. She was delighted and immediately pinned them to her hair. Therefore, when she saw Tian's flowers, she asked: "Sister, this is the same as mine, also sent by Zi Qing?"

  "Alas, I still have a pair here. I didn't know my younger sister would wear this today too. If I had known earlier, I wouldn't have worn it. I thought my younger sister couldn't wear gold and silver jewelry yet, having given birth to three daughters? How could she not even have a complete set of headdress?" The third aunt said, but on her own head, there was still a pair of chrysanthemum flowers tucked in.

  Ziying was secretly delighted, this effect is really unexpected. When she bought it, she just thought it was suitable for the old lady at home to wear. Didn't the old lady in "Dream of Red Mansions" pick a big red chrysanthemum and insert it into her hair bun? The fake flowers they usually wore were too rough, so Ziying gave a pair to several familiar old ladies. Who knew that coincidentally, they all came to this fair today.

  Everyone's eyes glanced at this one, then looked at that one again. Since they were all relatives or neighbors for decades, they knew the character of the Tian family and couldn't help but hold back their smiles, secretly amused.