Chapter 686 - 336: Gratitude and Resentment _2
Old man Qian was so frightened that he quickly covered his mouth and hurriedly said, "I’m not foolish, I won’t take these matters outside to speak of them."
"You can’t speak of them at home either; if our Qian family has any servants bought off by political enemies, they could just as easily spread these words outside," Qian Manjiang said.
Having said this, Qian Manjiang went off to entertain guests, leaving Qian Sigui to watch over Old man Qian. After the guests had been seen off, Qian Manjiang came back to reason with the elder, through both fright and examples, until Old man Qian was shaking in his boots and promised never to speak of the Royal Family’s affairs again.
The next day, before dawn had even broken, Qian Manjiang sent Qian Yishan off to the Pan family, instructing him to go with Pan Yang to the Songpan Academy. Thereafter, he would live and study there, returning to the Qian home for one day only during his breaks.
Wong Shou then took Qian Sigui to inspect the houses, shop fronts, and farmland, while Old man Qian, dressed slick and polished, went to the teahouse to drink tea and listen to stories. Qian Manxia and Qian Yixiu took Lady Wong, Qian Manting, and Qian Manpo out for a whole day of shopping on the streets. The main purpose was to buy dowry items for Qian Manting—jewelry, fabrics, ornaments and such. The Capital City had much finer selections than Ji’an, but they were also much more expensive.
Seeing Lady Wong grit her teeth each time she had to pay with silver, but ultimately still handing it over, Qian Yixiu just shook her head. This daughter’s marriage was certain to deplete the fourth branch’s entire savings. Even though this match was an instance of marrying above one’s station, it shouldn’t result in "sacrificing everything" for the sake of her daughter’s marriage.
Seeing that Qian Manting was so moved that her eyes reddened, constantly saying "Thank you, mother" and similar phrases, yet not stopping her mother from purchasing such expensive items, Qian Yixiu strongly disapproved. She thought to herself that if it were her, she would definitely not bear to let her parents drain their entire savings just to provide for her dowry.
Only when they got back home did they discover that the fourth household was not just "sacrificing everything" to marry off their daughter; they were "going into debt" for it.
Qian Sangui and Lady Wu mentioned that Qian Sigui had borrowed a thousand taels of silver from Qian Sangui while on the boat.
Lady Wu said, "These past few years, the fourth household has been scrimping and saving. They have done well to accumulate two thousand taels of silver, but what’s that enough for?"