mesbooks Chapter 290 Become Our Daughter-in-Law
Chapter 290 Become Our Daughter-in-Law
About fifteen minutes later, several more carriages approached from a distance. They finally stopped not far from them, and as soon as the carriages came to a stop, a small figure jumped down and ran towards Xia Yu and the others.
"Brother Changyun, Sister Xiaxia, you're here so early!"
"Slow down, be careful not to fall." Behind Shen Luo, Madam Shen, dressed in brocade, disregarded etiquette, holding up her skirt with one hand and the hairpin in her hair with the other, and jogged to catch up with her grandson.
"Madam, wait for me! Don't run so fast, you and Luo'er!" The somewhat overweight Mr. Shen called out to his wife and grandson from behind Madam Shen.
Xia Yu found the family's situation somewhat amusing. In reality, they were less than twenty meters away from the Shen family's carriage. But the way they were acting made it seem as if they were separated by thousands of miles.
Although Shen Luo has a somewhat impulsive personality, she is a filial child after all. She had only run five or six meters when she turned around and saw her grandmother chasing after her in a disheveled state. She quickly turned back to help Madam Shen.
"Grandma, slow down, I won't run anymore."
Still slightly out of breath, Madam Shen saw how obedient he was, so she lowered the hem of her skirt, straightened the creases in her clothes, and adjusted the hairpin in her hair before taking Shen Luo's hand and slowly walking towards Xia Yu and the others.
Zhang Youtie and Liu Shi had already led Changyun and Xia Yu to meet them.
Aunt
"Xiao Lan"
Madam Liu first gave Madam Shen a deep curtsy, and Madam Shen quickly reached out to help her up. In recent years, the relationship between the two families had become much closer because of their two children. At first, they addressed each other as Madam Shen and Madam Zhang. But as time went on and they became more familiar with each other, they both felt that this was too formal.
Madam Shen was only a dozen years older than Madam Liu, so Madam Liu could call her "elder sister," but that would make Shen Luo a generation lower than Changyun. However, both of them were students of Grand Tutor Li, making them fellow students. Considering the relationship between the two children, Madam Liu addressed Madam Shen as "aunt," while Madam Shen directly called Madam Liu by her maiden name to show intimacy.
Over there, Zhang Youtie led Master Shen to find the guard from before and gave him his name. The guard then pointed to a carriage, saying it was for Shen Luo and his page to put their luggage.
After all of Shen Luo's luggage was put away, Madam Shen had the servants take two large bundles out of the carriage.
"This is a fox fur cloak and a fur hat that I prepared for Changyun. He can wear them and they might come in handy."
"Thank you for your concern, Auntie." Madam Liu curtsied again, and then had a bundle taken down from the carriage.
“This is a new down jacket that we made at home. We originally planned to give it to Luo’er when it got colder, but it can be used now. It’s light and thin and has a good warm effect. Luo’er can wear it under the cloak to protect her chest.” Madam Liu smiled and handed over the bundle in her hand.
"Down jacket? That's a strange name. I've never heard of it before." Madam Shen touched the light bundle in her hand, finding it quite unusual.
"Yes, this is down taken from the abdomen of ducks. After being disinfected and deodorized, it's used to stuff clothes instead of cotton. My family tried it last year, and it's really warm," Liu explained simply.
After hearing Liu's introduction, Madam Shen unconsciously brought her face close to the bundle and sniffed it. Sure enough, there was no foul smell at all; instead, there was a faint fragrance of osmanthus.
Seeing her like this, Liu was not angry. Wasn't she the same when she first received the down jacket her daughter made? She couldn't help but want to smell it to see if there was any strange smell.
Noticing that Madam Liu was smiling at her, Madam Shen smiled somewhat shyly.
"I never knew that duck down could be used to make clothes."
"Yes, when I first got my hands on a down feather, just like my aunt, I couldn't help but lie down and take a deep sniff, just to see if I could smell the stench of a duck." After saying that, she couldn't help but laugh.
Her smile instantly eased Madam Shen's unease.
"Did Xiaxia make this too?" Madam Shen asked.
"Isn't that her? She likes to think about these strange things all day long when she has nothing to do at home." Liu said modestly, but the proud smile on her face could not be hidden.
Looking up at Xia Yu, who was talking to Shen Luo, Madam Shen genuinely liked her. Over the years, she had wished more than once that Xia Xia was her daughter.
She had once considered taking Xiaxia as her goddaughter, and when she discussed this idea with Mr. Shen, he said...
"Since you like her so much, why not make her our daughter-in-law?"
After hearing what Master Shen said, Madam Shen rolled her eyes at him and said...
“You think I haven’t thought about it? But look at our two kids, they’re not a good match for Xiaxia. One is thirteen years older than Xiaxia, and the other is eleven years older. The age difference is too much. Not only do we think it’s not suitable, but the Zhang family wouldn’t agree either. Sigh, I wish I had had our second child a few years later.”
When Shen Jingheng said this, he was not yet married. Not long after, the Imperial Concubine bestowed her sixteen-year-old sister in marriage to her son, making them exactly ten years apart in age.
When she received the news, her first thought was that it seemed reasonable that the second child was eleven years older than Xiaxia.
At this moment, the thought of seeing Xia Yu grew stronger and stronger. After pondering it for a while, Madam Shen tentatively asked...
"Xiaxia is thirteen this year, and she's almost at the age to get engaged. I wonder if you have any thoughts on that?"
Hearing Madam Shen bring up this matter, Madam Liu also felt somewhat troubled.
“Sigh, I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, and it keeps me up at night. In the past two years, I’ve started looking for families with eligible boys, but either their family backgrounds don’t match, or their looks and abilities aren’t up to par. After two years of trying, I haven’t found a single decent one. I’m starting to wonder if it’s my own problem. Auntie, we need your help with Xiaxia’s marriage.”
"What would you think if he were a bit older than Xiaxia?" Madam Shen felt it was best to test the waters first.
“Being five or six years older is also acceptable,” Liu replied after thinking for a moment.
Hearing her answer, Mrs. Shen felt that her child's chances seemed rather slim.