TATLC Chapter 97 — Chen Jing Works the Fields

At the Lu’s

Several people gathered around the dinner table eating when Lu An suddenly said, “Mom, I saw Chen Jing working in the fields. The Chen family probably doesn’t plan to let Chen Jing continue his studies.”

When Wang heard this, she said, “He’s not studying anymore? Well, that’s to be expected. Chen Jing caused such big trouble this time, and they sold five mu of land all at once because of him. They probably don’t have money for his studies anymore.”

The Chen family originally had over twenty mu of land. After selling some, they were left with just over ten acres, and they still had plenty of mouths to feed.

Lu An nodded and said, “That’s true.”

Lu Chengyu glanced at Lu An, vaguely feeling that Lu An’s mention of Chen Jing was hinting that he should also stop studying to avoid wasting the family’s money.

Lu Chengyu felt he was different from Chen Jing. Chen Jing was an idle good-for-nothing, while he himself was just a bit unlucky. His face darkened, and he felt another wave of resentment toward Lu An. Recently, the conflicts between the first branch and fourth branch kept escalating, and by now, they had basically fallen out completely.

“Chen Xiaomi must’ve been pocketing money on the side.” Wang grumbled. “Otherwise, how could he have gotten his hands on thirty taels of silver all at once?”

Hearing this, Lu An’s eyes shifted thoughtfully. In this Huaxia Trading Company, there should be several hundred taels of income each month, and the big boss behind it never showed up. It would be too easy to embezzle some silver. “Who knows, maybe he could embezzle dozens of taels in a month.”

Wang looked at him and said, “Really that much money?”

“Dozens of taels a month, wouldn’t that be several hundred taels in a year?” That meant Lu Lin was getting rich.

Wang thought, Lu Lin is really useless. He let Chen Xiaomi make all the decisions about everything. Chen Xiaomi is squandering money like this, and Lu Lin doesn’t even try to stop him.

Not long after the spring examinations, Lu Tong returned to the Lu family home again.

“Why are you back again?” Lu Tong always came home empty-handed, which always made Tang feel impatient.

“Mother, I’m still your daughter. How can you dislike me so much?” Lu Tong complained.

Tang said irritably, “Did you have another fight with your husband?”

Lu Tong nodded. “Exactly.”

Everyone was busy with spring planting these days, and preparing to work in the fields. Back when Lu Tong lived at home, she rarely did housework, let alone work in the fields. Now, the old woman at her husband’s home even wanted Lu Tong to carry manure, and Lu Tong got so upset she ran back home.

Lu Tong originally held leverage over Li Fangyue. Tang was afraid Lu Tong would make a scene and let her grandmother know, so she didn’t dare say anything harsh to her daughter. Now that the secret was out, Tang didn’t care anymore. After being controlled by her daughter for so long, Tang also had some resentment toward Lu Tong.

“Daughter, why are you always fighting with your husband? You’re already married, so you should respect your mother-in-law and focus on supporting your husband and raising children,” Tang said.

Lu Tong pursed her lips and said, “That brat is spoiled rotten, how can I control him?”

Tang sighed. “If you can’t control him, you could have your own child.”

Lu Tong’s face turned cold. The stinky little boy at home said he was afraid of the dark and always clung to her husband to sleep together. Lu Tong barely had a few days alone with Li Ji in a month. But this was a private matter, and she couldn’t tell Tang about it. She figured that even if she did tell her, her mother would only scold her for being useless.¹

“Mom!” Lu Tong exclaimed. Her thoughts, full of her own troubles, turned to Chen Xiaomi. She changed the subject and asked, “On my way back, I heard people saying that Chen Xiaomi managed to produce thirty taels of silver for the Chen family all at once? Is that really true?”

Tang nodded and said, “Yes, not just thirty taels, there’s also the house. That Chen Xiaomi definitely pocketing money on the side. The boss of Huaxia Trading Company really has a good temper. Even at this point, he still hasn’t fired anyone.”

“I heard the boss of Huaxia Trading Company went on a long trip and probably doesn’t know about it,” Lu Tong said.

Tang curled her lip and scoffed, “What an old fool.”

Zhang Jin was busy working in the fields with Liu Yue helping beside him.

Lately, Liu Yue had saved some silver by selling her embroidery to Huaxia Trading Company. When the Chen family sold their land this time, Zhang Jin spent seven taels to buy two mu.

With two more mu of land at home, they had a bit more family wealth.

The Chen family’s other three mu of land was sold to three different families, all of whom had family members selling embroidery to Huaxia Trading Company.

“Who would have thought Chen Jing would cause such a huge mess this time?”

Liu Yue nodded. “That’s right!”

Zhang Jin shook his head.

He never expected that Chen Jing would quietly cause such big trouble. People really can’t be judged by appearances. One hundred taels of silver! Fortunately the Chen family had a solid foundation. If this happened to an ordinary poor family in the village, even if they lost everything, they might not be able to pay it back.

Liu Yue said curiously, “Chen Xiaomi is really amazing. He casually came up with thirty taels.”

Zhang Jin nodded. “True.” When the Chen clan held their family meeting, Zhang Jin went to watch too. After signing the severance document, Chen Xiaomi directly took out thirty taels of silver, clearly prepared in advance.

“Just how much silver does Chen Xiaomi have?” Liu Yue wondered.

Zhang Jin shook his head, “I’m not sure.”

Zhang Jin felt Chen Xiaomi was a bit strange. If he had so much money, why would he sell his house? Once he sold the house, it would not be easy to buy another one. But if he didn’t have money, how could he produce thirty taels right when Grandma Chen demanded it?

Liu Yue hesitated, then said, “I heard Chen Xiaomi has been embezzling from the shop, and took a lot of silver.”

Zhang Jin looked at Liu Yue and thought to himself that embezzling wasn’t something to be proud of. After all, Lu An was sent back precisely because he took kickbacks.

“Where did you hear that?” Zhang Jin asked.

Liu Yue shook her head. “I’m not sure, but many people in the village are saying this.”

However, it seemed to have started spreading from the Lu family. The affairs of Huaxia Trading Company seemed to be all managed by Lu Lin. Earlier, Dawan Village even put sweet potato strips in the shop to sell, and Lu Lin probably made a lot of profit from it.

Zhang Jin also felt somewhat puzzled. “Huaxia Trading Company must have earned a considerable amount recently.” He often saw a steady stream of people coming and going at the shop entrance.

Huaxia Trading Company seemed to have sold several treasure items, which were really profitable things. One item cost dozens of taels. Just from selling the treasure items alone, the shop should have already earned nearly a hundred taels.

By the time Chen Xiaocai, who was out of town, heard about Chen Jing’s situation, more than ten days had already passed.

Qin Lang, who was originally responsible for escorting the delivery team, knew about it, but Chen Xiaomi had told him not to mention it, so Qin Lang never informed Chen Xiaocai.

When Chen Xiaocai found out, he became agitated. He couldn’t focus on managing the shop and insisted on going back to check on things.

Shen Chi offered to look after the shop in his place so Xiaocai could make a trip back first.

Chen Xiaocai couldn’t hold back and returned with the next caravan.

Chen Xiaomi was surprised to see the dusty Chen Xiaocai. “You’re back!”

Chen Xiaocai nodded and followed Chen Xiaomi into the house.

“Da-ge, did Chen Jing cause trouble?”

Chen Xiaomi nodded. “Yes, he owed one hundred taels of silver before. To pay off his debt, the Chen family had to spend a fortune this time.”

The Chen family’s five mu of land was sold urgently and only got thirty-five taels. He contributed forty-seven taels, and the loan sharks later added another five taels. The remaining twenty-something taels were all their grandmother’s private savings. Even that wasn’t enough, so they had to borrow more.

Chen Xiaocai said unhappily, “Da-ge, why did you have to pay for the trouble Chen Jing caused?!”

Chen Xiaomi sighed. “Because the truth about the trading company might not stay hidden for much longer. It’s better to sign the severance document early to avoid future troubles.”

They could hide the shop matter as long as possible.

Chen Xiaocai lowered his head, vaguely understanding the reasoning but still feeling displeased. “They got off too easily.”

Chen Xiaomi nodded. “They really did get off easy.”

“Da-ge, as long as we don’t say anything, no one should know this shop is ours, right?” Chen Xiaocai asked.

Chen Xiaomi shook his head. “Someone can investigate.”

When they transferred the shop, they went to the government office for notarization. Transfers of land, house deeds and such things all had to go to the government office, pay transfer taxes, and get official protection. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have legal effect.

When Chen Xiaomi bought this shop before, he didn’t attract the attention of that clerk, but now the business’ reputation was getting bigger and bigger. Who knows when that clerk might become interested in their shop? When that happened, a simple investigation would expose everything.

If Li Ru had remained in favor, that clerk probably would have noticed their business long ago. Fortunately, he recently took a new concubine who got pregnant, and his attention didn’t seem to be on Li Ru anymore.

Chen Xiaomi pondered the situation. His business was expanding rapidly, yet the “behind-the-scenes big boss” behind the shop never showed his face. Sooner or later, the villagers would grow suspicious.

Chen Xiaocai hung his head, quietly thinking how troublesome it was to have such irritating relatives, making it impossible to run a business peacefully.

Chen Xiaomi glanced at him. “Don’t worry about those things, just focus on running the shop well.”

Chen Xiaocai nodded and replied gloomily, “I understand.”

He then looked at Yuanbao in the cradle and said, “Da-ge, Yuanbao is getting fatter!”

Chen Xiaomi smiled. “This little guy has a big appetite.”

Lu Lin’s convenience store had several baby bottles. When Yuanbao didn’t have enough to eat at night, he would cry, and Lu Lin would be woken up several times a night.

Then one night, Lu Lin tried giving him a bottle, and the little one slept peacefully until morning.

After that, Lu Lin discovered that as long as Yuanbao had a bottle to hold, he could sleep soundly through the night until dawn.

After discovering this, Lu Lin would give Yuanbao a bottle every night, and Yuanbao unknowingly drank a whole bottle of milk in his sleep. With this kind of nourishment, Yuanbao grew plump and healthy very quickly.

After a brief visit home, Chen Xiaocai returned to Liu Town.

Shen Chi looked at him with concern and asked, “You’re back. What did your big brother say?”

Chen Xiaocai rolled his eyes. “He told me to focus on the shop. From now on, the Chen family has nothing to do with us.”

He curled his lip in disdain. He had never liked his cousin Chen Jing. Just because this guy studied, he always acted superior around them. He spent so much money but didn’t achieve anything. Still, their grandmother doted on him the most and gave him whatever he wanted.

But now… Chen Xiaocai doubted even Grandma Chen would keep favoring him after what happened. Of course, none of this had anything to do with him anymore.

“Our house in the village is gone,” he added quietly.

Seeing his low spirits, Shen Chi reassured him, “It doesn’t matter if the village house is gone. My family still has one. If you want to go to the village, you can stay at my house.”

Chen Xiaocai nodded. “I know.”

He thought that many villagers already looked down on him. Maybe selling the house was for the best. Out of sight, out of mind. Chen Xiaocai knew the family’s current wealth, so he didn’t really care about that house.