The road to wealth of a peasant widow

Chapter 144 Good Luck

Perhaps because she had been looking forward to it for a long time, Chen Cui was not too happy or surprised about the change of her identity, but the people around her seemed extremely excited.

When Madam Mai heard the news, she walked around the room excitedly, "Oh my God, Madam, you have become an official, and you can sit on an equal footing with our county magistrate. This is really..."

Mrs. Mai was so excited that she was a little incoherent. Chen Cui had a hard time calming her down.

However, judging from Mai's attitude, she could already foresee how excited Chen's parents would be. Also, the villagers in Liujiaping would probably make her the center of discussion for a while.

Later, the government will build an archway in the village, and whenever someone passes under the archway, her so-called achievements may be mentioned.

Not only that, those people from the Liu family’s old house will definitely come looking again. Thinking of this, Chen Cui felt a little headache.

She felt that her family was living a good life now and did not want the peace to be disturbed. However, these were things she had to face and she could not avoid them.

Chen Cui cheered up, thought of countermeasures, and took the initiative to return to the village.

Sure enough, the villagers had already received the news and were all talking about it. Liu Youcai's face was glowing red, as if he was the one who had been granted the imperial decree.

When they saw Chen Cui coming back, everyone gathered around her and asked questions one after another.

"Eryong's wife, what does the imperial edict look like? Why aren't you wearing the clothes the emperor gave you?"

"Sister-in-law, you don't have to kneel when you see the county magistrate in the future. Have you seen what the eunuch looks like?"

"Niece-in-law, what does the memorial archway look like and where is it built?"

A group of people were talking nonsense, making Chen Cui's head buzz. She couldn't answer any of the questions and could only look at them with a smile.

Finally, Liu Daqiang shouted loudly: "Fellow villagers, please disperse. My father has something to tell Eryong's wife."

Liu Youcai spoke at the right time: "Everyone go back first and come back when you are free."

Finally, everyone left reluctantly. Chen Cui wiped the sweat from her forehead, went into the main room, took a bowl of water from Chen Meihua, and drank it in one breath.

She was surrounded by people just now, feeling hot and thirsty, and unable to rush out. She was really anxious.

Unexpectedly, as soon as she sat down and calmed down, Chen Meihua asked curiously: "Cui, what does the imperial edict dress look like? What patterns are embroidered on it?"

Chen Cui smiled and said, "I can't really describe what this looks like. It has a magpie pattern embroidered on it. I'll let you see it when you go to the county some other day."

"Oh, that's great!" Chen Meihua replied happily.

Liu Youcai sat down and said, "My niece, when will the memorial archway be built? Where exactly will it be built?"

Chen Cui smiled bitterly: "Uncle, I really don't know about this. We have to wait for the people from the Ministry of Rites to come. The specific place and regulations need to be told to them. We can't make the decision ourselves. I came back this time to do another thing."

"What's the matter, tell me!"

"I want to give our five acres of land to the tribe to cultivate, and the harvest will belong to the tribe and be used to help the orphans and widows in the tribe." Chen Cui said slowly.

In fact, she has not taken care of these acres of land this year. It was Liu Youcai who directed the clan members to do the work. Now she is considered a person of some status. In the eyes of others, she has both fame and fortune. If she makes no contribution to the clan and is stingy, sooner or later someone will gossip about her.

Instead of waiting until bad rumors spread before remedying the situation, it is better to do things in advance. This way, even if there are rumors later, they will be difficult to gain momentum.

Liu Youcai was shocked. He had originally thought of reminding her today and asking her to express her opinion to the clan so as to shut up those people in the village. He did not expect that his niece-in-law was so smart and actually brought it up first.

Liu Youcai clapped his hands and said, "Okay, okay, I'll take this. You don't have to worry about the rest. It's a blessing for the Liu family to have a virtuous woman like you in the family, adding glory to our clan."

Then, Liu Youcai hesitated and said, "Now that our clan has encountered such a rare event, we must comfort our ancestors. I plan to build an ancestral hall in the village so that we will have a place to worship our ancestors during festivals. But the cost needs to be raised by everyone, you see..."

Chen Cui reacted immediately and said, "That's right. Building an ancestral hall is a big deal. All descendants of the Liu family should contribute. Everyone should do their part. I will make up the remaining amount of silver from the one thousand taels of reward."

Everyone knew that she had received a reward of one thousand taels of silver, and the construction of the ancestral hall was initiated by her, so it was reasonable for her to pay the lion's share, but she would never bear all the money alone.

Even if she has a lot of money, she won't be the one who gets taken advantage of. Other people have to pay more or less, and she can't be stingy. Otherwise, if she encounters similar things in the future, she will probably have to pay for it.

Liu Youcai was very satisfied. It would be great if everyone in the clan was as sensible and considerate as Chen. There are always some people who are like toads, jumping out from time to time to annoy others.

Seeing that he probably had nothing else to say, Chen Cui returned to the mule cart, took out a box of tea and a box of snacks, and handed them to Chen Meihua: "They are not good things, but just a little gift from me. Take it."

The words were spoken to Chen Meihua, but she was looking at Liu Youcai. Liu Youcai did not beat around the bush and nodded slightly to his daughter-in-law. Only then did Chen Meihua take the things.

"Uncle, I still have to go back to the old house to see my father, so I'll leave first."

Liu Youcai nodded: "You should tell your father the good news and make him happy. He has seldom gone out since he became ill. I haven't seen him for a while. Please give him my regards."

Chen Cui walked into the old house carrying two boxes of snacks. When her sister-in-law Zhou saw her, her face was full of smiles, the brightest smile Chen Cui had ever seen.

"Sister-in-law, hurry up and sit down. Your status is no longer the same as before."

Although Zhou told herself to be respectful to her brother and sister-in-law, there was still a hint of jealousy in her words.

In the past, Mrs. Zhou was the woman whose status in the family was second only to that of Old Mrs. Zhou. Her husband and son were the eldest sons and grandsons valued by the family. In the future, when Old Mrs. Zhou was gone, she would be in charge of household affairs.

In fact, this is the current situation, but the facts are completely different from what Zhou originally thought.

Her previous sense of superiority came from the comparison with the second wife, but the second wife's life has been getting better and better since the separation, or to be more precise, since Eryong's death.

Not only did the second wife buy a mule cart, she also sent all three children to school. When the mother-in-law passed away, the family actually moved to the city, and Chen became a favorite of the county magistrate's wife.

In comparison, their eldest house not only showed no signs of upward development, but instead seemed a bit lonely.

All of this made Zhou jealous and envious, but the two of them were far apart and had no chance to interact with each other, so on weekdays she could only secretly complain and curse. She hoped that something bad would happen to the second wife, so that she would always be trampled under the feet of the first wife!

But now, Chen actually had a new identity. She became a seventh-rank lady personally conferred by the government. After returning to the village, she was flattered and admired by everyone, and even a memorial archway was built for her.

Why is her life so good!