The peasant girl has a private space, and her husband is handsome.

The Xu and Gu families went through the six kinship rites in no time and immediately held weddings for the two children.

When Gu Ying got married, Gu's restaurant closed for two days to hold a two-day banquet.

There were a lot of people who came to congratulate them.

More than half of the people from Lotus Village came, along with the Gu family's former relatives in the county town. These people used to avoid the Gu family when they were in debt, but now that the Gu family is rich again, they all came to visit.

Gu Ying's mother, Qin, was very pleased, knowing that this was the most extravagant wedding in the entire Qinghe County.

There was a time when they couldn't even afford to eat and were burdened with huge debts. It was all thanks to Qian Yatou that they are where they are today.

"Yingzi, after you get married, don't forget how good your cousin was to you."

Gu Ying nodded, "Mother, don't worry, I know everything."

As she spoke, Madam Qin began to wipe away tears again, "With Qian'er backing you up, I'm not afraid that you'll suffer after you marry into the family."

The matchmaker entered the room with a smile and began to cut dough for Gu Ying.

"The first twist removes worldly dust, the second twist brings blessings and longevity, the third twist ensures constant fulfillment—"

As the saying goes, when you're poor, no one cares even in the bustling city; when you're rich, even distant relatives come to visit.

Even the magistrates of several neighboring counties sent their advisors to deliver congratulatory gifts.

After the banquet, the clerks finally understood why, despite the long journey, the magistrate had sent them to offer his congratulations!

Why did the magistrate repeatedly tell me to make sure I get along well with Miss Su from Gu's family?

Why did the county magistrate assign them the task of requesting Miss Su to open a branch of Gu's Restaurant in their county?

It turns out that Gu Ji's food is really delicious. After tasting Gu Ji's food, I feel like I've wasted the first half of my life.

Especially the flower tea, even though my stomach was already full, I still wanted to drink more.

The people of Qinghe County are so lucky to be able to enjoy such delicious food every day.

With many advisors sitting at the same table, a sense of competition arose as they discussed the tasks assigned to them by their respective county magistrates.

They were all keeping a close eye on Su Qianqian's movements, planning to be the first to approach her and propose a collaboration once she finished her family's wedding.

Fang Yingxue also arrived, quietly hiding in the crowd to watch the excitement.

In front of her, on a large open space outside the gate of Gu's restaurant, the sound of festive gongs and drums was deafening, and a lion dance performance was underway.

Eight large red cloth lions with gold trim danced with great energy, sometimes appearing adorable and sometimes agile and nimble, leaping and tumbling, each wonderful movement pushing the scene to a climax time and time again.

And those bright red trunks, carried out one by one from the backyard of Gu's shop, were placed outside the main gate of Gu's shop, filling it to the brim.

Before these dowry items are carried to the groom's house, they must first be displayed outside the bride's house for people to admire. This is a custom in Qinghe County called "showing off the dowry."

Fang Yingxue had never seen such a generous dowry in her life.

And the person registering the gifts would read them out loud every time a guest registered.

"The Prefect of Sicheng has arrived with courtesy—The Prefect of Pengcheng has arrived with courtesy—The Magistrate of Cao County has arrived with courtesy—The Magistrate of Su County has arrived with courtesy—The Magistrate of Xiao County has arrived with courtesy—"

Fang Yingxue's face was somewhat ferocious: Gu Ying, an old maid, received so many congratulatory gifts from officials for her marriage! Why?

Seeing that Fang Yingxue's expression was not good, Su's second daughter-in-law deliberately teased her, saying, "Oh dear, who told Gu Ying to be Qian'er's cousin? So many officials are here because of Qian'er's reputation. It's a pity your brother hasn't become the top scholar yet, so he can't bring you such glory."

Fang Yingxue's face twisted with jealousy.

After calming down, she went to the Tang residence herself and told Tang Yuerao a story with added embellishments.

She couldn't cure Su Qianqian, but Tang Yuerao might.

"Sister-in-law, Su Qianqian held a very grand wedding for her cousin. Everyone says that Su Qianqian is the most glamorous bride in the entire Qinghe County. Even the prefects and county magistrates from the surrounding areas came to congratulate her..."

Tang Yuerao always considered herself the niece of the county magistrate and felt that she was the most noble woman in the entire Qinghe County. How could she tolerate anyone surpassing her?

So Tang Yuerao was indeed used as a pawn. After hearing Fang Yingxue's words, she immediately ran to the study to find Magistrate Tang.

Tang Yuerao clutched a pink embroidered handkerchief, sobbing, "Uncle, Su Qianqian is just a peasant girl! I heard that even the county magistrate from the surrounding area sent people to Gu's Restaurant to congratulate her cousin on her wedding. Why do they have to do this?!"

Magistrate Tang did not send anyone to Gu Ji to offer congratulations, but only sent his advisor, Cai, to Pengcheng to attend the prefect's son's wedding banquet on his behalf.

These past few days, Gu's Restaurant has been temporarily closed for a wedding banquet, so Magistrate Tang couldn't go there for a meal. He was already craving food, and hearing his niece mention Gu's Restaurant so often made him even more hungry.

Since so many county magistrates have sent people to the wedding, and he lives so close by, it wouldn't be too much for him to go there in person.

Magistrate Tang had his servants prepare a red begonia-patterned tea set as a congratulatory gift. Before leaving, he instructed his niece, "Yuerao, stay home and take good care of yourself. I'm going to Gu's to deliver the gift."

After Magistrate Tang left, Tang Yuerao angrily threw two teacups in the study.

With a loud crash, the study floor was covered in shards of porcelain.

Tang Yuerao felt particularly distressed, regretting that she hadn't mentioned Gu Ji's matter in front of her uncle.

She had hoped her uncle would stand up for her and put Su Qianqian in her place, but instead, her uncle went to Gu's restaurant to deliver a congratulatory gift.

The county magistrate personally delivering the wedding gift—isn't that just adding icing on the cake for Su Qianqian's cousin's wedding? It will only make the wedding more eye-catching! How infuriating!

After Magistrate Tang registered the gift list, he was arranged to sit at a table with several clerks from other counties to drink tea and eat snacks, before the main meal was served.

The advisors all congratulated Magistrate Tang.

"Magistrate Tang, congratulations! Qinghe County has produced such an influential restaurant as Gu's, bringing boundless prosperity to Qinghe County."

"Magistrate Tang has heard that many merchants from the capital have come to Qinghe County in the past two months, as well as many other merchants from all over the country. With the Su family here, it is a great blessing for Qinghe County!"

"Congratulations, Magistrate Tang! You don't need to work hard to achieve anything; you can just sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor."

On the surface, Magistrate Tang was all smiles, but in his heart he sighed inwardly: "I've worked hard in Qinghe County for three years, but I've remained unknown. None of the surrounding counties have ever sent anyone to visit me. But the opening of Gu's restaurant these past few months has made me, the magistrate, quite famous."

After drinking tea for a while, Magistrate Tang saw several clerks running over to look at the dowry, and each of them had a burning gaze on it.

Magistrate Tang said to Yuan, the clerk from Cao County, who was standing nearby, "Look at this group of gentlemen, is it really appropriate to discuss a woman's dowry like this?"

Before Master Yuan could answer Magistrate Tang's question, he was startled by Master Deng's shout.

Standing amidst a pile of bright red dowry items, Master Deng's voice boomed, "Come and see! There's a rare, ancient book among them!"

Magistrate Tang was also quite surprised: a rare ancient book? My goodness, there was a rare ancient book in the dowry!

He quickly went to Master Deng's side and saw that one of the dressing cases was lined with red cloth, and on the red cloth was a yellowed book, which was part of the dowry.

Although it is a little yellowed, the book is in perfect condition and has no damage at all.

The book is titled "The Essential Techniques for the Common People of the Great Chu".

The book's cover indicates the year it was written; it's an ancient book from the Great Chu Dynasty, three hundred years ago—truly a unique and rare ancient text.

Things are valued for their rarity, and ancient books that are preserved in such a complete state are extremely rare.

I heard that the Meng family, one of the five great families in the capital, spent a full 10,000 taels of silver at the beginning of the year to buy a rare ancient book from two hundred years ago.

But this book in front of us is even more precious; it's a unique ancient book from three hundred years ago, a treasure that money can't buy.

When daughters of prominent families in the capital get married, it is rare to see them with rare ancient books as part of their dowry. Occasionally, such books are only a hundred years old, and rare books that are three hundred years old are unheard of.

How prestigious are rare ancient books? To put it simply, if you own a rare ancient book that is over two hundred years old, it means that your family is a prominent and well-established family, and it is a symbol of status and prestige.

That's why wealthy people value rare and ancient books so much and are willing to spend a lot of money to buy them.

Many prominent families in the capital secretly spend large sums of money to search for rare and ancient books, all in an attempt to embellish their family's heritage and prestige.

So who on earth would bring out such a priceless treasure as part of their dowry? It completely outshines all the noble ladies from prominent families in the capital.

Seeing everyone staring wide-eyed at the rare ancient books, the second son's wife smiled and boasted, "This is the dowry that our Su family gave to her cousin."

Magistrate Tang and his clerks were all stunned.

It's already quite remarkable that a young girl could run the Gu family business so well, but to make matters worse, she even has such a rare and precious ancient book.

God is so unfair!

It's foreseeable that Su Dongjia's cousin will be highly regarded after marrying into her husband's family.