TATLC Chapter 64

Huaxia Trading Company.

“Xiaocai, it really is you!” Zhang Dahu came over and greeted him.

Chen Xiaocai had been working as a helper in the shop for half a month now, but this was the first time he met someone from the same village. Usually, even when villagers came to town, they wouldn’t wander into their shop.

“Dahu, how did you get here?”

Zhang Dahu scratched his head, looking a little embarrassed. “My dad caught some fish and brought them to the market to sell. I just tagged along. What are you doing here?”

“Big brother and Brother Lin work here, so I’m helping out with odd jobs.” Chen Xiaocai felt there was nothing to hide, so he said it directly.

Zhang Dahu looked at Chen Xiaocai with some envy and said, “You’re really amazing!”

His eyes darted around the shop, lingering on the expensive bags. He felt awkward just standing there. If not for knowing someone inside, he wouldn’t have dared step foot in such a fancy shop.

Lately, the village had been buzzing with rumors that Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomi went to town to work, earning two taels a month. The two of them together made four taels a month working in town, and they even brought Chen Xiaocai and Chen Xiaomai along. The villagers were extremely envious of their wages. However, some villagers thought that it was fine for them to go work in town, but they even brought the silly Xiaomai along, which would probably anger their employer. Before long, they’d probably lose their jobs and get kicked back home.

But days passed, and the two still hadn’t been kicked out. Some villagers sighed at their good luck, meeting such a kind boss. However, some people thought this boss was too kind, probably just a pushover.

Zhang Dahu had spotted Chen Xiaocai earlier but hesitated, thinking he might’ve mistaken him for someone else. After watching for a while, he finally worked up the nerve to say hello.

“Xiaocai, do you get paid working here?” Zhang Dahu asked curiously.

Chen Xiaocai nodded. “Yes, but not much. It’s far less than what my brother gets.”

Zhang Dahu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He knew Chen Xiaomi earned two taels a month. If Xiaocai made anywhere close to that, it’d be unbelievable.

He had been secretly watching from the side for quite a while and happened to see Chen Xiaocai enthusiastically introducing the bags in the shop to customers.

Looking at Chen Xiaocai talking confidently, Zhang Dahu thought he was particularly capable. In comparison, although he had a bunch of “little brothers” under him, they weren’t really useful.

“You’re still young. In another couple of years, you might be just like your brother.” Zhang Dahu looked at Chen Xiaocai with envy, feeling that Chen Xiaocai was different from before.

Chen Xiaocai smiled and said, “Compared to my big brother, I’m still far behind.” Zhang Dahu looked at the expensive bags in the shop and blushed a bit. When Zhang Linsheng called him over, he quickly left.

“Dad, Chen Xiaocai is really impressive now.”

“Really? How impressive?” Zhang Dahu going to Huaxia Trading Company was something Zhang Linsheng had tacitly allowed. Zhang Linsheng was also curious about the Chen brothers’ situation.

Grandma Shen had gone back to the village recently and apparently made quite a bit of money. Villagers lived tight lives. Who wouldn’t want to earn more silver?!

“Xiaocai helps the shop manager sell things. Those bags cost several hundred wen each, and he seems to be getting paid too.”

Zhang Linsheng sighed, “The Chen family’s life just keeps getting better and better.”

Zhang Linsheng thought to himself, Just a few years ago, Chen Xiaomi was still scraping by in the mountains. Back then, many people guessed that Chen Xiaomi would die in the mountains sooner or later, and when that happened, Chen Xiaocai and Xiaomai would definitely be doomed too. Who would have thought things would change so quickly, and the Chen family would live like this now.

When Zhang Dahu went back and spread the news, all the villagers knew about the Chen brothers working in town. Lu Lin had already hinted at this during the wedding banquet, so when Zhang Dahu told everyone, no one was particularly surprised. But Chen Xiaocai working at the shop in town was quite unexpected.

Many young men in the village admired Chen Xiaocai for helping out in the shop.

The village girls used to be full of disdain when Chen Xiaocai was mentioned, but now they had gained some admiration for him.

Meanwhile, the Lu family hadn’t seen much income lately, but their household expenses were still high, so they had to sell another mu of lower-grade field. This land only sold for seven taels of silver. When Grandma Shen heard this news, she vaguely felt that buying land earlier had been a loss, but since the money for buying land had been Lu Lin’s, it didn’t really have much to do with Grandma Shen.

The Lu family selling land again made people sigh endlessly. Many villagers admired the Lu family’s generosity. They just easily sold good land just like that. Some people thought that if the Lu family was going to sell land, they should have sold it earlier. If they had sold land earlier, they might have been able to save their second son’s life and wouldn’t have ended up with no heir. If the second son’s family were still around, they wouldn’t be in a situation where they didn’t even have anyone who could do proper work.

Tang had been in a foul mood lately. The new daughter-in-law Li Fangyue was a spoiled young lady. Now that she was pregnant, whenever Tang asked her to work, Li Fangyue would complain of dizziness. Lin Xiu’er was the same. It was fine at first, but recently, the two had become increasingly unreasonable.

Li Fangyue stayed in her room feeling very upset. Recently, Li Fangyue didn’t need to do any work, but she still felt very uncomfortable.

Lu Chengyu had moved to town to study and rarely came home. When he did come back, he was cold to her.

She knew that Lu Chengyu had found out that her sister was just a concubine, which was why he was so cold to her.

She actually liked Lu Chengyu. In fact, Lu Chengyu’s conditions weren’t bad. He was good-looking, was a scholar, the Lu family had so much land, and both elders in the family favored him.

After Li Fangyue married in, she had once thought about living harmoniously as husband and wife, with mutual respect for each other.

However, after marrying in, Li Fangyue understood that Lu Chengyu had only married her for her brother-in-law’s connections. Now that her sister’s status had been exposed, her husband felt cheated. Combined with the dowry issue, Li Fangyue sometimes felt that her husband and mother-in-law looked at her like she was an enemy.

There was also the domineering grandmother in the family. Li Fangyue was very clear that the old woman still didn’t know about her sister’s situation. Otherwise, she definitely wouldn’t be this quiet.

Grandma Lu was quite ruthless. She had been the one to force the Lu family’s second son onto the battlefield.

Although Li Fangyue didn’t quite understand why her mother-in-law held back from telling the old woman about this, it was always good that the she didn’t know.

Still, the secret weighed on her, always making her feel anxious.

She touched her belly, thinking fiercely, This had better be a boy. The Lu family was full of wolves—if she gave birth to a girl, she had no idea how she’d survive.

Meanwhile, Chen Jing had been studying in town and Huaxia Trading Company had become very well-known among the students recently.

Many wealthy young men would change to the newest style of bookbag every few days to show off their status.

For commoners like Chen Jing, they could only watch for the novelty.

Although Chen Jing envied the wealthy students’ showing off, he always put on a disgusted expression, as if found their extravagance vulgar.

Following the principle of out of sight, out of mind, Chen Jing rarely paid attention to Huaxia Trading Company’s affairs.

But even though Chen Jing didn’t pay attention, someone still told him about Huaxia Trading Company.

When he learned from his classmates that Chen Xiaocai was working at this shop, Chen Jing found it hard to believe.

Chen Jing never expected that the shabby Chen Xiaocai, who was like a gray mouse, would now be helping out at Huaxia Trading Company. Chen Jing was somewhat afraid of Chen Xiaomi, but he wasn’t afraid of Chen Xiaocai.

He began plotting when he could corner Xiaocai for a “chat.”

When Lu Lin went to the lumber yard to pick up the recently custom-made ornaments and furniture, he came back to see a crowd gathered around the shop entrance.

Many people were clustered at the entrance, chattering about something. It took a while for the crowd to disperse.

Lu Lin learned what had happened from Wan Li. Chen Jing had somehow heard that Chen Xiaocai was working in the shop and came to the shop demanding that Xiaocai give him several bags. When Xiaocai refused, Chen Jing verbally abused Chen Xiaocai in various ways, startling the customers in the shop.

Chen Xiaomi got the news and ran out from the back yard, beating Chen Jing out of the shop. Chen Jing stood to the side yelling about reporting to the authorities.

Some people thought the situation was unusual, and someone actually went to get the constables[mfn]衙役 (yáyì) refers to the lower-ranking officers working under a magistrate in ancient times, essentially the ones handling arrests, errands, and general grunt work for the local yamen. For clarity, I’ve translated it as constable.

If it appears as a suffix in names (like Zhao-yayi), I’ll keep -yayi in pinyin to preserve the flavor of official titles used back then.

(MDBG: 衙役 yá yì — bailiff of feudal yamen)[/mfn]. However, when the constables came, they just warned Chen Jing and then left.

Lu Lin had put some thought into opening this Huaxia Trading Company. As they say, the king of hell is easy to meet, but little devils are hard to deal with. Lu Lin had given gifts to several constables from the government office.

Still, hearing about the fight, Lu Lin grew worried and hurried to the back courtyard.

“Are you okay?” Lu Lin trusted Chen Xiaomi’s abilities, but given his condition, he couldn’t help but worry.

Chen Xiaomi glanced at Lu Lin and said, “Don’t worry, I’m fine. Dealing with one Chen Jing is more than enough for me.” Chen Xiaomi had fought with Chen Jing several times since childhood. He originally thought he had already disciplined Chen Jing, but he didn’t expect Chen Jing to come looking for trouble again.

Lu Lin breathed a sigh of relief and said, “I know you’re the most capable.” That guy Chen Jing really deserved a lesson.

Chen Xiaomi smirked. “Don’t worry, I held back. He’s fine.” However, he probably lost quite a bit of face. If Chen Jing had really been injured, he might even be sued. When he fought with Chen Jing, he kicked Chen Jing so he fell flat on his back.

Chen Jing didn’t come alone. He came with several classmates. Being beaten in front of these people, Chen Jing must have felt very embarrassed.

Lu Lin asked around and roughly understood what had happened. Several students in the school knew that Chen Jing and Chen Xiaocai were cousins, so they treated Chen Jing to drinks and asked if they could get insider prices. Chen Jing got dizzy after a few cups of rice wine and said that insider prices were nothing – he could get the shop to give things away for free.

Chen Jing told these people that Chen Xiaocai was from their Chen family, and even if he had been separated out, he was still from their Chen family. The Chen brothers’ things should all belong to him, Chen Jing.

After sobering up, Chen Jing felt a bit guilty, but since he had already said it, Chen Jing didn’t want to lose face. So Chen Jing went to the shop and arrogantly demanded that Xiaocai give him several bags. Xiaocai naturally refused. When Xiaocai wouldn’t agree, Chen Jing tried to grab them by force.

When Xiaomi heard the commotion, he rushed out and beat Chen Jing up.

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