Chen Wanqing didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Mother, isn't that too perfunctory?"
"Not at all. The more ordinary it is, the closer it shows we are," Xu Su Ying explained. "If you really spent a fortune on something expensive for them, your uncle and Mrs. Guo would only think you were treating them like outsiders. Qing'er, the Capital City is not like our hometown. Back home, heavy gifts show closeness. But here in the Capital City, the closer you are to someone, the less you should give them things that gold and Silver can buy. You must understand that sometimes, things made with your own hands carry far more sincerity."
Chen Wanqing took her mother's teachings to heart. The mother and daughter chatted idly for a while before heading to the main courtyard to pay their respects to the old madam.
