TATLC Chapter 100 — Collecting Wild Berries in the Village

Lu Lin brought Chen Xiaomai, Qin Ming, and Zhang Rui back to the village. As soon as they arrived, several villagers came over to greet him.

Although many villagers gossiped behind his back about him taking kickbacks, they all acted politely when they met him. After all, in the eyes of the villagers, Lu Lin was a capable man. Many in the village relied on him to make money, so naturally they couldn’t afford to offend this benefactor.

Lu Lin spread the word that he had come to buy wild berries this time.

He wanted to hire a few people to pick them, and this quickly stirred up excitement in the village.

Zhang Rui looked at Lu Lin with confusion and said, “Da-ge, what are we collecting so many wild berries for? These things go bad pretty quickly after being picked.”

The weather was already quite hot now. If these wild berries went bad and people ate them, they would get diarrhea. Seeing a doctor for diarrhea would cost a lot of money.

Lu Lin smiled and said, “We’ll collect them to sell for money.”

Zhang Rui grumbled, “These things aren’t very easy to sell!”

Lu Lin replied casually, “Just focus on collecting them.”

Lu Lin had collected wild berries in the village before. Back then, he called on a few kids to go picking. Knowing that Lu Lin wanted these things, many adults also joined in. Lu Lin borrowed several large baskets from the village to hold the wild berries.

As soon as Chen Xiaomai returned to the village, he happily ran off to play with a group of older kids.

Lu Lin had Qin Ming follow along to make sure Chen Xiaomai didn’t get into trouble. Qin Ming had grown up active in the mountains, so watching over a small child was more than manageable for him.

Zhang Meizi looked at Zhang Dahu and said, “Da-ge, you’re really amazing! You actually managed to get Lu Lin to come back!”

Zhang Dahu replied proudly, “Of course! Look at your brother here. When I make a move, is there anything I can’t accomplish?” He was too embarrassed to say that when he went to town, he didn’t even see Lu Lin’s face and could only sweet talk Chen Xiaomai into helping. Fortunately, Chen Xiaomai was quite helpful and really did convince Lu Lin to come to the village. Otherwise, he would have been embarrassed this time.

Previously, when Lu Lin was buying wild berries in the village, Zhang Dahu and several other boys earned a lot of money picking them for Lu Lin and even received praise from their families.

However, after Lu Lin moved to town, there were no more opportunities like this.

The wild berries in the mountains would just go to waste if they weren’t eaten in season.

Seeing that the wild berries were about to go to waste, several boys who had made money before got together to discuss whether they should ask Lu Lin if he still wanted to buy wild berries.

Lu Lin was now considered a “big shot” in town, and the boys weren’t sure if Lu Lin would be willing to come back to the village. Zhang Dahu was the leader of the kids and also wanted to make some money, so he told his friends that he would go to town with the ox cart to try his luck and see if he could invite Lu Lin back.

Seeing his success, the boys all expressed their admiration for “Boss Zhang’s” bravery.

Zhang Dahu had actually managed to invite Lu Lin back, which boosted his reputation among the kids even further.

“Da-ge, this time a lot of adults came too,” Zhang Meizi said.

Zhang Dahu grumbled, “Yeah, these people just know how to take advantage.”

Zhang Rui, who had been sent by Lu Lin to fetch some baskets, quickly found himself surrounded by several villagers.

“Ah Rui, I heard you’re working at Huaxia Trading Company now!”

“Yeah, that’s right,” Zhang Rui replied, being a fairly straightforward person.

“Ah Rui, is the work at Huaxia Trading Company tough?”

“Not really.”

Zhang Rui was starting to feel overwhelmed by the villagers’ enthusiasm. At first, their questions were somewhat cautious, but as the conversation went on, they grew bolder and more direct.

“Ah Rui, why didn’t you follow your father in butchering pigs but went to work at Huaxia instead? Is the work there better?”

“Ah Rui, how much does the shop pay you?”

“Ah Rui, are they still hiring?”

“It’s still good to have connections! You can get in directly.”

The villagers were unusually enthusiastic toward Zhang Rui. When they learned that Zhang Rui was Chen Chun’er’s son, many villagers sighed enviously. It’s still better to have connections to get things done easily.

Working at Huaxia Trading Company was considered a cushy job in the villagers’ eyes. Plenty of villagers wanted to work there, but they were very strict about hiring, so most couldn’t get in.

In fact, Lu Lin had many secrets to protect and felt that villagers tended to gossip too much, so he generally avoided hiring people from the village.

Seeing that the villagers’ questions were getting more and more unreasonable, Zhang Rui simply put on a cold face. Noticing his change in expression, the villagers backed off a little.

After Zhang Rui walked away, several villagers started discussing again.

“The Chen family is really not what it used to be now. Chen Jing isn’t even studying anymore either.”

“After what happened, how could he still study?”

“Given the huge mess Chen Jing caused, he’s lucky to still be alive.”

“Who would have thought that Chen Xiaomi, who didn’t get along with the rest of them, would actually treat the son of his aunt so well?”

“Chen Xiaomi’s father had a good relationship with Chen Chun’er when he was alive.”

“Then again, if the Chen family hadn’t gone too far, they wouldn’t have pushed a young shuang’er to this point.”

When Lu Lin saw Zhang Rui coming back with a grim face after borrowing things, he walked over and asked curiously, “You got the stuff? Did everything go okay?”

Zhang Rui forced a smile and said, “Borrowing the things was smooth.” It was just troublesome being pestered with all sorts of questions.

Lu Lin glanced at Zhang Rui’s expression and vaguely understood what had happened, but he didn’t comment about it.

After Chen Xiaomi cut ties with the Chen family, he immediately went and hired Chen Chun’er’s son into Huaxia Trading Company. When the villagers found out, they inevitably had to gossip about it.

Chen Xiaomai walked over with Qin Ming. Seeing Chen Xiaomi’s cheerful face, Lu Lin felt surprised.

“Xiaomai, you came back so early.” Lu Lin had originally thought Chen Xiaomai would play longer, but he didn’t expect him to come back so quickly.

Chen Xiaomai replied proudly, “Qin Ming-gege caught something good, so we brought it back first to show you, Lin-ge.”

“What good thing?” Lu Lin asked with interest.

Chen Xiaomai lifted the straw mat covering the basket.

When Lu Lin saw what was inside, he instinctively took several steps back. “S-snake…”

Inside the basket lay a snake over a meter long, its body covered in strange patterns. The snake’s head didn’t look triangular, but Lu Lin couldn’t tell whether it was venomous or not.

Chen Xiaomai didn’t notice Lu Lin’s uncomfortable expression at all and said proudly, “Qin Ming-gege caught it. We can take it back to make snake soup. Qin Ming-gege is really amazing.”

Qin Ming scratched his head embarrassedly and said, “I’m not that amazing.”

When Qin Ming caught the snake barehanded in the forest earlier, he had scared many villagers.

However, plenty of brave children expressed their admiration for Qin Ming, which made him feel proud for a while.

Lu Lin’s mouth twitched. It wasn’t like there was no meat at home, yet these two little rascals went to catch snakes. Weren’t they afraid of being bitten? Such a thick snake probably wasn’t easy to catch. This little brat Qin Ming might be small, but he really shouldn’t be underestimated.

Zhang Rui glanced at Lu Lin and noticed that his face was extremely pale, as if he was… scared.

Since joining Huaxia Trading Company, Zhang Rui had witnessed how Lu Lin managed all the business affairs, developing deep respect for him. Now seeing Lu Lin looking scared, he found it amusing.

“Catching snakes is very dangerous!” Lu Lin said with a stern face.

Qin Ming patted his chest confidently. “Lin-ge, you don’t need to worry. I know how to tell venomous snakes from harmless ones. I’ve caught plenty of snakes before.”

Qin Ming was experienced and knew exactly where to strike a snake’s vital point, which was how he managed to catch this one successfully in one go.

Lu Lin was speechless. He had almost forgotten that the kid in front of him wasn’t an ordinary child, but a mountain dweller who lived like a wild beast in the mountains, a little savage. Although some people in this world had less knowledge, their survival skills were incomparable to his!

Chen Xiaomai grabbed the basket and thrust it toward Lu Lin. “Lin-ge, look, look! This snake is very fat!”

Lu Lin retreated two more steps, thinking, I appreciate the thought, really, but I don’t actually want to see it! Seeing Lu Lin back away, Chen Xiaomai pattered forward several steps and insistently pushed the basket closer toward him.

Zhang Rui stepped in front of Chen Xiaomai and said, “Alright, that’s enough, Xiaomai, put the thing away. Brother Lin has already seen it.”

Chen Xiaomai said glumly, “Fine.”

Lu Lin spent eight hundred wen and collected more than ten baskets of wild berries. As more berries kept arriving, he had to stop accepting them for the time being.

Previously, when Lu Lin collected wild berries, he only encouraged some children to pick them. This time was different. Some adults had also joined in. Although Lu Lin offered a much lower price than before, the villagers didn’t mind.

Before long, Lu Lin had collected several baskets of wild berries. Before, because Lu Lin had only found some children, he had only let the kids pick at the edge of the forest.

But with adults joining in, many people went deep into the mountains.

With so many berries collected, Lu Lin borrowed an ox cart in the village and transported all the wild berries to town.

With this trip, Lu Lin had provided the villagers a chance to earn around ten to twenty wen each. Although the price was lower than before, adults worked much faster than children.

Ten to twenty wen wasn’t big money, but being able to earn it was better than none.

After Chen Jing caused trouble with the loan sharks, his family stopped supporting his studies. Old Man Chen made him work in the fields. Chen Jing was used to being lazy and worked very slowly, always sneaking back home to slack off.

Chen Jing’s actions had also delayed the marriages of Chen He and Chen Qu. The two brothers already didn’t like him very much, and with their marriages being postponed, they resented Chen Jing even more.

When they saw Chen Jing slacking off, they would make a fuss. Although the old man had settled Chen Jing’s loan shark problem, he was completely disappointed in his grandson.

Feeling guilty over the failed marriage arrangements for the third branch’s sons, the old man often sided with Chen He and Chen Qu when they argued with Chen Jing.

Chen He even suggested that if Chen Jing didn’t want to work, he shouldn’t be given food, to save some grain.

Chen Jing never expected Chen He to be so harsh or to propose something so unreasonable.

To his surprise, the old man agreed. If Chen Jing didn’t work, he didn’t need to eat so much, and one meal a day would be enough.

Chen Jing had originally thought that once the loan issue was resolved, life would return to normal, but he didn’t expect that the days that followed would be torture. Chen He and Chen Qu, who used to respect him, now treated him like an enemy and watched his every move.

When Lu Lin came to the village to collect wild berries, many villagers approached him warmly, trying to get on his good side.

Chen Jing sneered at the villagers’ bootlicking behavior, but he couldn’t help feeling a pang of jealousy.

When Lu Lin first married into Chen Xiaomi’s family, Chen Jing was at the peak of his youth and confidence. At that time, Chen Jing looked down on Lu Lin, a grown man who married into a Shuang’er’s family like Chen Xiaomi’s, and thought him shameless. But in the blink of an eye, he had fallen to this state while Lu Lin had become a prominent figure in the village.

No matter what people said behind his back, many villagers now earned money thanks to Lu Lin and greeted him politely as “Brother Lin” when they saw him.

Chen Jing discovered that he, a scholar, was actually living worse than a live-in son-in-law, and immediately felt that fate was against him and his future was bleak and hopeless.