TATLC Chapter 26 – Preparing to Renovate the House

The news that Chen Xiaomi bought a mule cart quickly spread throughout the village.

Chen Xiaocai circled around the newly bought mule, examining it. “Da-ge, you really bought this mule?”

Chen Xiaomi stood with his hands on his hips, a hint of pride in his voice, “Yes! Look how sturdy this guy is. From now on, it belongs to our family.” Not many families in the village owned livestock, so having one was practically a symbol of prosperity.

Chen Xiaocai carefully stroked the mule and said, “That’s really great.”

All the village children loved going into town. If they followed their elders there, their parents would usually buy them something new to eat. Even if they couldn’t have fresh treats, going to town meant seeing many rare and interesting things, which they could brag about later.

Whenever Chen Xiaomi went to town, he typically walked. Chen Xiaocai was still young, so Chen Xiaomi couldn’t easily take him along.

Throughout Chen Xiaocai’s life, he had only been to the town market once, when their father was still alive. However, those memories had already become quite blurry.

Although he longed to see the town, Chen Xiaocai knew their family’s situation was tough, so he never made unreasonable demands. But having a mule changed everything.

After circling the mule for a long time, Chen Xiaocai finally took his eyes off it. “Da-ge, you bought a new cotton quilt!”

“Lu Lin is just recovering from a serious illness and can’t catch cold. This quilt is for him to use.”

Chen Xiaomi thought, Lu Lin seemed to have been a spoiled young master in his past life. Thanks to him, we’ve earned so much money lately. If I can avoid mistreating him, I should. Recently, most of the silver earned came from selling items from the convenience store, which made Chen Xiaomi feel like he was taking advantage of Lu Lin.

Honestly, Lu Lin acted like he’d been reincarnated from someone who froze to death, always complaining about the cold! So cold! So cold!

Chen Xiaomi had heard Lu Lin talk about a strange thing called an “air conditioner” from where he came from. It could produce cool air in summer and warm air in winter, making the room comfortable no matter the season. Chen Xiaomi thought Lu Lin was bragging, but also felt it might be true.

Chen Xiaocai looked at Chen Xiaomi in disbelief. He originally thought his brother bought the new cotton quilt for Xiaomai, but it turned out to be for Lu Lin. Lu Lin’s illness had passed a long time ago, and the guy now seemed perfectly energetic.

…

After word spread about Chen Xiaomi buying a mule, the villagers were shocked by how rich he had become. He already bought a person, and now he bought a mule as well.

Together, these would cost more than ten taels of silver.

The village was lively with gossip, and many people began to believe that Lu Lin’s previous accusation about Wang stealing money might be true. With Chen Xiaomi being so rich, it was entirely possible that Wang had been tempted by the sight of money.

Besides, even Chen Xiaomai said that Wang stole money, and kids don’t lie, right?

At this time, news spread about Chen Xiaomi making money by selling wine in town.

Some villagers worked as long-term laborers in town, so with a little inquiry, they quickly learned about Chen Xiaomi’s wine-selling business at the restaurant.

Many people were envious of Chen Xiaomi’s wine business. Those families who had previously considered marrying their sons into Chen Xiaomi’s family felt bitter regret. People discovered that Chen Xiaomi was actually a golden catch. If they’d sent their son over, they might’ve been living the good life by now.

When Wang heard about Chen Xiaomi’s situation, she was so angry her chest ached.

Last time, everyone in the family thought she had been greedy for money. No matter how much she protested her innocence, no one believed her.

In the past, when Lu Laoer was still around, Wang liked to pretend to be sick to manipulate her son. Now that she was genuinely sick with chest pain from anger, everyone in the family thought she was faking it.

“Mom, I never expected Chen Xiaomi to be so rich.” Lu Tong had tried several times to approach Lu Lin but failed every time. Even Grandma had been shut down, which made Lu Tong feel quite unhappy.

Tang frowned and said, “Yes! That ungrateful brat got off too easily. The moment he joined Chen Xiaomi, he started saying nonsense and ruining your grandmother’s and brother’s reputation.” After the news about Wang stealing spread, Tang also felt embarrassed and hadn’t dared to leave the house lately.

“Mom, do you think what Grandma said is true, that Lu Lin slandered her?”

Tang frowned and replied, “Probably not. Once Lu Lin was married off to Chen Xiaomi, we were all family. Even if your grandmother took Lu Lin’s things, calling it ‘stealing’ is too harsh.” Tang privately believed that Wang did take something but never considered it stealing.

Lu Tong rolled her eyes but said nothing more. She just felt that her cousin Lu Lin seemed somehow different after his fall into the water.

After the kang bed was repaired, Lu Lin also slept on it. Chen Xiaocai didn’t know if Lu Lin was doing it on purpose, but Lu Lin kept rolling over and clinging to Xiaomi in his sleep, leaving his big brother flustered and pink-faced.

Chen Xiaocai wasn’t very old, but he somewhat understood that his big brother and Lu Lin were married. When people got married, they needed to do adult things, which made him and Xiaomai feel like they were in the way.

When Lu Lin woke up in the morning, he found himself hugging Chen Xiaomi, with something pressing against him. Both of them froze in awkward silence.

Chen Xiaomi pushed Lu Lin away, put on a stern face, got dressed, and went outside.

Lu Lin sighed. In ancient times, there’s not much entertainment. The only fun left is probably making babies. Which meant he needed to figure out how to kick Chen Xiaocai and Xiaomai out of the room soon. These two little brats were seriously getting in the way. How was he supposed to lose his virginity with them around?

…

After breakfast, Lu Lin pulled Chen Xiaomi aside.

“Xiaomi, don’t you think we should build more rooms?”

Chen Xiaomi hesitated, about to say they had enough space when Lu Lin continued, “Xiaocai is growing up, and eventually he’ll need to take a wife. Look at him, always so gloomy. He doesn’t seem like someone who can easily win people’s hearts. It’s best to save up more for his future marriage. If the house is big enough, it will give him more confidence!”

“Also, we should build a proper shed for the mule, and maybe a larger chicken coop while we’re at it. We spent a lot of money on this donkey. We can’t just let it freeze to death.”

Chen Xiaomi hesitated again and said, “If we want to build another room and a shed, it will probably cost eight taels of silver.”

“If we don’t have enough silver, we could sell more wine,” Lu Lin suggested.

Before, when Lu Lin went to town, the manager at Hongyun Restaurant was very excited and told them to deliver as much wine as they could. He said he would buy all wine of the same quality, regardless of quantity.

Drinking wine in winter could warm the body, especially heated wine, which seemed quite popular among the wealthy people in town.

Chen Xiaomi shook his head and said, “That won’t be necessary. We have enough silver.”

He had about twenty taels of silver left. Spending eight taels on renovating the house would be affordable, but he had worked hard to save those twenty taels. He’d barely gotten used to having this much silver before it started vanishing.

Lu Lin smiled and said, “That’s settled then.” If they didn’t sell wine, so be it. People already knew about their family situation, and selling too much wine might invite envy and make people question its source.

Chen Xiaomi frowned. “Silver isn’t the problem, but finding someone to build the houses might be difficult.”

He could repair the house himself, but completely building a new room would be troublesome. It would be better to hire professionals for the job.

Although the busy farming season was over and many villagers were idle, if anyone else wanted to build a house, it would be relatively easy to find help. But in his case, even if he offered higher wages, people might still be unwilling.

Lu Lin dismissed the concern casually, “As long as we have money, why worry about hiring people? If we can’t find anyone in our village, can’t we find people from other villages?”

In his previous life, many employees complained about their bosses being heartless, but how many were actually willing to quit? Good jobs weren’t easy to find. If the price offered was slightly higher, who would turn down money? The competition here couldn’t be worse than modern times.

Chen Xiaomi thought for a moment and said, “That’s true.”

“Then it’s settled. I’ll go speak with the village head and see if we can hire people from the village,” Lu Lin said.

Chen Xiaomi frowned and said, “The village head probably won’t be much help, especially since…” Lu Lin had just offended him, so approaching him now would only be asking for trouble.

Lu Lin smiled and said, “He is the village head after all. We should at least give him face. It’s just a formality. If we skip him and hire outsiders directly, people will talk.”

Chen Xiaomi nodded and said, “Alright.”

…

“Da-ge, we’re going to build more rooms? Do we still have money?” Xiaocai asked in surprise.

“Yes, we do,” Chen Xiaomi glanced at Xiaocai and said, “Don’t worry about money issues.”

Chen Xiaocai looked at Chen Xiaomi and blinked, not understanding how his brother had suddenly become so rich.

Lu Lin went to see the village head, who was still unhappy about Lu Lin’s previous accusation that Wang had stolen something. The village head simply said that the villagers were busy and probably no one would be willing to help build a shed, then sent him away.

Zhang Jin entered the house and looked at Zhang Cheng, asking, “Dad, why did Lu Lin come?”

“Chen Xiaomi wants to renovate their house, so he sent Lu Lin to speak for him.”

“Then why don’t you help find some people for them, Dad?”

“What nonsense are you talking? You know Chen Xiaomi’s character. What if he beats the people I find? Who in the village would be willing to help him?”

Zhang Cheng disliked Lu Lin, but he disliked Chen Xiaomi even more. When Chen Xiaomi caused a commotion by wanting to leave home years ago, Zhang Cheng thought he was rebellious and might someday cause big trouble and bring great problems to the village. Lu Lin’s request to find people to build a shed was essentially Chen Xiaomi’s request, and Zhang Cheng wouldn’t agree to it.

Zhang Jin frowned and said, “You can’t say that. If Grandma Chen didn’t force her son to hunt in the mountains, the three Chen brothers wouldn’t have ended up like this!”

Zhang Cheng waved his hand dismissively, “What nonsense are you talking? The old woman never expected things to turn out this way! Chen Xiaomi’s behavior went too far.” If everyone in the village followed Chen Xiaomi’s example, the village atmosphere would be corrupted.

Zhang Jin frowned but didn’t continue arguing with his father on this issue.

“It could snow any day now. If they don’t have a shed, won’t the mule get sick from the cold?” The mule must have cost several taels of silver. It would be a shame if it got sick from the cold.

“Given Chen Xiaomi’s reputation in the village, even if I asked around, who would be willing to work for him?” Zhang Cheng said.

Zhang Jin sighed and said, “Fine.”