NOVPUB47: Chapter 47 Sold the Dowry
47 -47 Sold the Dowry
Gu Youyou figured that Wang Shun should be delivering firewood today, so she had been waiting.
There was a pile of fabric on the bed, prepared in advance by Gu Youyou.
After Wang Shun had stacked the firewood, she called him over, “Shunzi, come here.”
“What’s the matter?” Wang Shun asked, puzzled, but hurried over nonetheless.
“Shunzi, are you free today?
If you are, please help your sister out!”
Wang Shun was the typical honest villager.
Feeling embarrassed when Gu Youyou said this, he replied hurriedly, “Sister, just tell me what you need; I’m free.
There isn’t much farm work to do right now, I’m very free.”
Gu Youyou sighed, “Didn’t I say not to call me ‘sister-in-law’?
Just ‘sister’ will do.”
Gu Youyou was two or three years older than Wang Shun, who was of age to speak of marriage.
She felt that sooner or later she and Jin Zijin would have to part ways, as they weren’t cut from the same cloth, so she didn’t like being called ‘sister-in-law’.
Wang Shun didn’t understand Gu Youyou’s insistence, but being the straightforward man he was, he didn’t ask further and simply called her ‘sister’.
“Sister, what do you need help with?”
Gu Youyou, pointing to the fabrics she had laid out, said, “These things here, could you help me take them to town and sell them?
With the money from the sale, help me buy some medicine.”
Wang Shun was taken aback and looked at the fabrics, exclaiming, “Aren’t these your dowry items?
No, no, sister, you can’t sell these.
What kind of medicine do you need to buy?
I’ll buy it for you first.”
“What are you talking about, where are you going to get the silver?”
He said, embarrassed, “Jin big brother will give it to me later.”
Gu Youyou sighed, “It’s getting colder each day now, and I’m afraid hunting in the mountains is also becoming more difficult, right?”
Scratching his head, Wang Shun nodded and said, “Yes, in winter the animals are not often seen, sometimes you can go a whole day without catching a single one.”
“Exactly!
When hunting is not an option, and we don’t have any farmland, how are we supposed to get through this winter?”
“Sister-in…
sister?” Wang Shun’s eyes widened as he looked at Gu Youyou, feeling somewhat disheartened, his heart also conceding that these times were tough.
“This…
Jin big brother will find a way.”
The simple villagers all believed that supporting a wife was a husband’s duty, but he spoke in a low voice when he said this.
Wang Shun of course knew about Jin Zijin’s difficulties.
The game he hunted each year was just enough to support himself.
If there was any extra money, it would definitely go towards fixing the house or remarrying to a wife who could bear children.
How could he have married Gu Youyou for a few dowry items?
Now with an additional person, the money Jin Zijin made from hunting surely wouldn’t be enough for two people to survive the winter.
This was truly…
But if Gu Youyou were to sell her dowry to get through the winter now, wouldn’t that just prove the village gossips right?
He married Gu Youyou because he valued the dowry given by Old Master Gu.
Jin Zijin was such a good man, he truly felt sorry for Jin Zijin.
Gu Youyou said, “The mountains are unsafe during the harsh winter.
If there were enough provisions for the winter, he could make fewer trips to the mountains, couldn’t he?
Do your sister a favor, sell these things.
Look at my health.
I can’t go on without medicine, I’ve already caused Zijin a lot of trouble since I came here, and I don’t want to make him suffer more.
Life is more important than these items.
If I don’t take my medicine, I might not survive this winter, then what use would these things be?”
Perhaps it was the last sentence that convinced Wang Shun, as he finally gritted his teeth and nodded, saying, “Sister is right—what does face or extraneous belongings matter?
They are not as precious as life.
If the money from these items can save sister’s life, and allow Jin big brother to make fewer trips to the mountains, then it is a good thing.”
