Mrs. Chen smiled.

She was really satisfied with Lian’er. She was capable and loyal to Gu Fei.

She winked at Li Chunhua, who stood up and pulled Lian’er up. Mrs. Chen smiled and said: “You, girl, our family is not wealthy, so you don’t have to kneel all the time. Okay, let’s go to the city later.”

After dinner, Lian’er and Li Chunhua cleaned up the dishes and Lanzhi wiped the table.

Gu Fei pulled her mother into the house and handed her a few silver bills: “Mom, you will still be in charge of the family’s money in the future. I didn’t give it to you on the road because I was afraid it would be lost.”

Mrs. Chen was shocked when she took it. She still recognized a few numbers. The total amount of these silver bills was two hundred taels.

“So much?”

Mrs. Chen thought for a moment: “I’ll take some out for use first. I’m afraid of losing so much money. I’ll ask you for more when I spend it all.”

She took out a fifty silver note and gave the rest back to Gu Fei.

Gu Fei put it in her sleeve and took Mrs. Chen’s arm: “Mom, let’s go. We’ve been here for a few days and haven’t had a good look around Ping’an City yet.”

Mrs. Chen was also happy: “Let’s go, let’s get some clothes back. It’s the New Year, and we all have to buy new clothes.”

After a while, the family drove three mule carts into the city.

First, they went to the government office to get Lian’er’s indenture. Mrs. Chen took some silver notes and sent Gu Zhang, Gu Erlang, and Gu Sanlang to buy charcoal basins and candles. Then she asked Gu Qing to drive the carriage into the cloth shop.

As soon as she entered the clothes shop, Mrs. Chen felt uncomfortable.

She didn’t realize it on the street before, but this cloth shop was mostly populated by women.

Women from the south wear long quilted jackets, fur coats, or skirts in winter. Some wear quilted capes or fur coats outside, and take them off when they enter the house.

They look slim and graceful.

They were not like those from the north, wearing sheepskin coats and cotton pants, which were as rustic as they could be.

Gu Fei pulled her mother and whispered: “Mom, why don’t we buy clothes and buy ready-made clothes? We can’t make the southern styles for a while, and there is no time to make clothes for so many people in the family.”

“Just buy some flowered cloth for Xiao Cao.”

Mrs. Chen hesitated, then said: “Okay, then let’s go and look at the ready-made clothes.”

Several people turned to the other side to look at the ready-made clothes.

There were all kinds of ready-made clothes hanging here, not only fine cotton but also silk brocade, with various colors and patterns, which were dazzling.

The girl at the counter smiled: “What do you ladies need?”

Mrs. Chen pointed at Gu Fei: “Find two clothes for my daughter to wear at this time of year.”

The girl finally understood Mrs. Chen’s hometown dialect and said with a smile: “Oh, this little girl looks like a flower, she must dress up well.”

She brought several sets, Gu Fei tried them on, and finally, Mrs. Chen decided to buy two sets, one of which was a quilted long jacket with red florals, paired with a scarlet long skirt, and this festive set was kept for the New Year.

One set was a lilac long jacket with a lilac long skirt.

Gu Fei put on this outfit, which was a perfect size. Mrs. Chen looked at it from left to right and wondered why her daughter was so pretty. Well, it was her fault.

Mrs. Chen did not let Gu Fei take it off: “Just wear it like this. Don’t wear the sheepskin coat. It makes my daughter ugly.”

Gu Fei was happily looking at herself in the big bronze mirror when a sudden voice sounded behind her: “Miss Xiao Fei——”