"Three jin and seven liang of gold..."
With the combined efforts of Ah Qing and Chen Peipei, they removed the gold adorning the little fox and placed it on the electronic scale. The weight was nearly four jin, leaving Ah Qing and Chen Peipei speechless in shock.
Chen Peipei, with a puzzled look, glanced at the equally stunned Ah Qing and said, "Ah Qing... for your dowry when you get married, the little fox has brought it back for you."
In Jiule City, the betrothal gifts vary from county to county and village to village, but the one common thing is that gold jewelry must be worn at weddings.
Some online images of brides with their arms full of gold bracelets, looking like masters of iron wire boxing, are mostly from Xia Dong.
In Xia Dong, the peak weight-bearing training for brides is the gold jewelry worn on the wedding day, with each person carrying an average of twenty jin.
Of course,
This gold jewelry is all rented. Xia Dong has a very mature gold rental industry chain, offering services from rental to theft and robbery, with jewelry stores providing it, but you'll need to spend a little extra on insurance.
"Ah Qing? I remember you're an Aquarius born in February, right? How about I have a custom Aquarius gold set made for you?"
"Of course, I currently have no money, but tomorrow I'll go and bind some ATMs!"
Seeing the dumbfounded Ah Qing and the envious look in her eyes, Ansheng spoke playfully with a face full of joy, taking charge of the situation.
Gold... no one dislikes it.
If they do, the only possibility is that the gold isn't in their pocket.
If it's in their pocket, even if they're allergic to gold, they'll say thank you.
"Hmm..."
Hearing the little fox's whimper, a strange expression appeared on Ah Qing's face. In her mind, a scene of herself wearing golden armor, wielding a spear, charging through an ancient battlefield, floated by.
"Forget about the armor; I think I belong to those who like pretty things."
Ah Qing bent over, propping herself on the bed, picked up the phone on the bedside table, opened WeChat, and sent a message to Sister Lin, asking if it was convenient to go to her house to return the gold jewelry.
Sister Lin: [No need to return it, I gave it to the little fox as a safety charm.]
[If nothing else, consider it a meal allowance? Add some shellfish to the little fox's bowl; it's good for the coat. ]
"......"
Seeing Lin Ying's message, Ah Qing instinctively grabbed the little fox's paw, dragging him to the electronic scale.
[7.7 kilograms] appeared before Ah Qing and Chen Peipei.
"The little fox weighs fifteen jin..."
"With a four jin safety charm on, it's bound to be doing resistance training every day and will soon bulk up," Chen Peipei quipped, holding her forehead in exasperation as she left.
Giving away tens of thousands just like that.
Although it was known that the Lin Family was wealthy, being so wealthy that tens of thousands didn't matter felt quite unbelievable. The watches they gave before could be said to be an intelligence tax, but this time it's real gold, a globally circulated hard currency.
"Xiaolan."
"Whimper?"
"Your piggy bank is full, lend me two thousand."
"......"
"....."
A human and a fox stared at each other with expressions hard to describe.
Meanwhile, in the courtyard of the old house, the old Deng took the wedding ring off his finger, gestured with his hand to call over the Arctic Fox just returning home.
The Arctic Fox looked puzzled but began to approach.
"Come sniff this. Fu Li has just brought back several jin of gold from the rich lady's house. Even if you, Fu Li's servant, can't match him, you should be able to bring back a couple of liang of gold, right?" With a face full of expectancy, old Deng rubbed his hands, looking at the Arctic Fox.
The Arctic Fox thought for a moment, turned around, faced its belly in the direction of old Deng, lifted its hind leg, and with effort, squeezed out a few drops as a reward for old Deng.
"What the heck! I'm wearing slippers!"
"Whimper, whimper, whimper! Whimper!"
The Arctic Fox bellowed, louder than Deng.
This is absurd; my loyalty to Lord Fu Li is as plain as day!
Yet this old Deng actually set me up for disgrace, comparing me to Lord Fu Li. How am I supposed to show my face in Jiule City, a lovable mascot living off people's kindness!
The courtyard in the night was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.
.........
The next morning, the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Old Deng got up early and started bustling around, driving the old pickup truck with Yu Zhengxi and Yu Zhengwen to a roast meat shop to supervise the roasting of roast pig and select the pre-ordered lion-headed goose.
Li Qiuxia was hesitant, wanting to step forward, but Yu Zhengxi waved his hand, leaving her at home with a resigned face.
Chen Peipei woke Ah Qing up to help set up the stage, preparing for the worship of the Earth God and the evening moon festival.
Yu Jingwen led Li Qiuxia and Third Uncle's wife, Ye Min, to start bringing out all the holiday supplies.
"Today, your task is only one thing: wild or domesticated, or those jumping out from the rocks, if they dare come and cause trouble, just use the bamboo in your hands and chase them away, understood?"
Yu Jingwen called over the kids playing games, distributing the bamboo sticks to a big kid and two little ones, seriously instructing them to guard the altar for worshiping the gods. If something happened to the altar, their butts would pay the free price.
The younger cousin turned his gaze to the corgi and the Arctic Fox chasing cicadas in the yard.
"The sword of the great river comes from heaven; my sword and I have come for a visit..."
The younger cousin, with a mischievous smile, gripped the bamboo stick like a swordsman, looking at the dazzling electric motor that was the corgi's wiggly run.
"Brother..." the younger sister hesitantly said, tugging at her twin brother, "Maybe we shouldn't cause trouble? Lord Fu Li might get angry later..."
"It's a fox, not a disaster, recently it's popular to be like me, the protagonist." The younger cousin, bamboo stick in hand, exuded strong confidence, ready to avenge the ice cream insult.
He confidently entered the house.
A moment later.
Standing in the yard, the older cousin and the sister saw the younger cousin emerge, yelping with several black-chested cockroaches, like bombers, flying toward his head with a hunger like wolves.
"I remember... in King of Glory, Li Bai's skin has a line: stepping out with a hearty laugh." The older cousin's eye twitched, saying, "Your brother seems to be quite happy now, isn't he?"
"Lord Fu Li, bless!" The younger sister touched her forehead, heart, and shoulders to form a cross, muttering, "Lord of the Three Pure Ones, Amitabha..."
"..... What happened?"
Ah Qing, who was moving the tables out, saw the younger cousin running out, yelling, and looked puzzled at the other two, "Didn't Auntie ask you to scare off the stray cats? How did the cousin end up running out...."
"My brother poked a cockroach nest, and the cockroaches are pooping on his head," the sister said with a serious look.
"Cockroaches! So fierce~" As soon as the matter of cockroaches came up, Ah Qing immediately thought of that giant dark cockroach that disregarded insecticide. Back then, neither she nor Xiaolan could handle it.
Maybe just one step short.
That big cockroach would have ascended to heaven.
With the younger cousin briskly walking out, the holiday preparations at home went on as planned. At noon, they ate noodles for a quick bite. By afternoon, the three brothers returned lugging a large roast pig and three lion-headed geese.
And they themselves picked fresh fruits from the orchard to use for offerings to the gods.
"Ah Qing, quickly invite Lord Fu Li over, stop gnawing on the sweet and salty gift cookies at home, come bite the lion-headed goose...."
Yu Zhenghong, who was being chased and nipped by a lion-headed goose, called into the house for Ah Qing, face full of pain.
The lion-headed goose was exceptionally large, similar in size to a swan, easily twenty or thirty jin, and with a mouth full of fine teeth, biting very painfully.
"?"
Chen Peipei slowly typed a question mark.
Didn't they say they bought a ready-roasted lion-headed goose?
What's the deal with this live one?