The Spirited Daughter-in-law and the Mountain Man

Chapter 679: 679 Good Names of the Gentleman

About an hour later, Su Qingyue saw Second Brother and Third Brother, along with Liang Lizheng, walk over from the village.

Liang Lizheng was carrying a small box in his hand.

Xiao Yuchuan waved to her from afar, “Wife!”

Seeing him wave so cheerfully, she went to meet him, “Did you buy the fields?”

Chuan nodded, “Er Gouzi’s family originally wanted twelve and a half taels for their paddy fields, but after much haggling, they agreed to sell all ten acres of their paddy fields at once. Tomorrow, I’ll take the land deed with Second Brother and the village chief to the town’s government office. Since the village chief has nothing to do this afternoon, he brought his tools to measure the empty land we saw in our house, so that tomorrow we can get the land deed done at the town as well.”

“Hmm,” she replied, seeing the village chief and Second Brother walk away. As she hadn’t seen how ancient people measured land, she followed them.

At the empty plot, Liang Lizheng first asked Xiao Yishan about the range he wanted.

The Xiao Family had already discussed it beforehand, so Yishan pointed, “My wife has tied a piece of cloth to the weeds at each of the four corners of the area we need.”

“Then I’ll start measuring now,” Liang Lizheng placed his small wooden box on the ground and opened it. Su Qingyue thought there would be some measuring tools inside, but all she saw was a yellowed notebook, a pen, and an ink stick.

Liang Lizheng took out the inkstone and placed it on a clean stone, carefully grinding the ink with the stone.

His movements were slow and leisurely, cherishing the pen and ink.

Seeing Second Brother and Third Brother watching intently, Su Qingyue didn’t rush him.

Xiao Yuchuan said, “Wife, in our village, there are very few people who can read, but Village Chief Liang is one of those who can. He’s quite learned.”

She nodded, “By the way, Third Brother, apart from me with my high education, no one in our family can read. Your names, together with Second Brother, Third Brother, and Fourth Brother, are quite cultured. Combined with Big Sister’s name, it’s like a mountain, river, and stream.”

“Wife, you really don’t know about this?” He blinked.

She shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t know.”

He explained, “It’s like this. Mom’s maiden name was Yuliu. Dad loved Mom very much, and when Big Sister was born, she was especially cherished by Father and Mother. Dad named her Ailiu. Although Ailiu isn’t pleasant to hear, it has a deep meaning.”

She nodded, “That’s better than Er Gouzi or San Danzi.”

“There are quite a few Gouzi’s in the village…no, quite a few,” he laughed. “Later, when Second Brother was born, Dad wanted to name him Goudan, but Mom disagreed. Dad thought of several names, but Mom didn’t think they were good enough. So, Dad paid for a Scholar to help pick a name. The Scholar’s name was Jiang Shurong, who was very knowledgeable. He asked Dad how many children he wanted, and after learning that Big Sister was named Xiao Ailiu, he reserved the three characters of mountain, river, and stream in advance. He named the other three siblings Yishan, Yuchuan, and Qingyue, connecting their names with the character ‘flow’. Anyway, Big Sister is a girl, and when she gets married, it’s like water flowing away.”

“But if your Second Brother had a daughter after that, what would you do?”

“Scholar Jiang said that he would pick another name for free. Luckily, both Fourth Brother and I were sons, so Scholar Jiang’s bestowed names back then weren’t in vain.”

She was a bit dizzy, “It’s just a Scholar, the name was paid for, and he still ‘bestowed the name’. And it’s not even a free name.”