TATLC Chapter 70

Lu Lin discovered that Lin Town and Liu Town seemed to have different tastes. Some bags that nobody wanted in Lin Town actually had a good market in Liu Town. Of course, there were also bags that sold well in Lin Town but nobody wanted in Liu Town.

Lu Lin found that both Lin Town and Liu Town had several so-called influential people. The bags these people liked were more likely to be favored by others, probably similar to the celebrity effect from his previous life.

During this period, Lu Lin gradually launched more bags.

For rich people, money wasn’t the important thing, but being able to buy good things one step ahead of others. So even though there was another similar but cheaper shop in town, their store still sold better.

Grandma Shen had stayed in town for a while and thought she hadn’t been back home for some time, so she took Shen Chi back to the countryside.

When Lu Lin learned that Grandma Shen was going back, he lent her the donkey cart.

Grandma Shen had become quite familiar with Lu Lin here and didn’t refuse, thinking she’d bring Lu Lin more vegetables from the countryside when she came back.

There was still quite a distance from town to the village. With how busy he was, Lu Lin often ended up buying vegetables from the market. In Grandma Shen’s view, this behavior was extremely wasteful.

Grandma Shen took Shen Chi to work in the fields for a while. When several villagers saw that Grandma Shen and Shen Chi had returned, they immediately gathered around.

“Grandma Shen,you’re back! You haven’t been back for quite a while, have you?”

Grandma Shen smiled. “That’s right!”

“Grandma Shen, you and Shen Chi work in town and don’t come back. Are you living in town now?”

“Yes.”

“The rent in town is so expensive. Isn’t it very expensive for you to live there?”

“The master’s family is rich and has several servant rooms. We happened to get one, but there are no extra rooms available now.”

Grandma Shen smiled. There were only three servant rooms in total. It wasn’t easy for her and her grandson to occupy one. It must be Lu Lin taking care of them.

Housing was also a big problem. The embroiderers in the shop all lived relatively close to town. If they lived far away, they would waste a lot of time on the road.

“Ah Chi, you’ve been staying in town every day now, you can be considered someone who has seen the world.”

Shen Chi gave an awkward laugh. “Auntie, you’re joking.”

“Who’s joking? That Chen family boy used to help out in the shop, but he’s disappeared lately. Was he sold off or something?” A plump woman asked bluntly.

Shen Chi was startled by her words. “How is that possible?”

The woman laughed awkwardly. “I also heard it from the Chen family’s old woman. That old woman said Chen Xiaomi stopped her from selling her grandson because she wanted to keep him to sell herself.”

Shen Chi blinked, finding it hard to imagine that such ridiculous rumors would spread in the village.

Xiaocai had clearly been sent by Lu Lin to the neighboring town to be a shopkeeper, but people in the village actually thought Xiaocai had been sold.

“Grandma Shen, I heard that all the embroiderers in the shop are under Lu Lin’s management.”

Grandma Shen gave a small smile. “Yes, he’s in charge. It’s probably what the boss wanted.”

“Grandma Shen, can you get me a job at the shop?”

Grandma Shen hesitated. “I don’t have the authority for that.”

Although the house where Lu Lin and the others lived was quite large, the main residence was off-limits. That was the big boss’s territory, and even Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomi rarely went there. The east and west wing rooms were occupied by the Chen brothers, so those were also unavailable. Only the three servant rooms were left, which could house several people, but they all needed Lu Lin’s approval.

The three servant rooms were quite spacious, but during bad weather, some female workers might need to stay overnight, so they weren’t really available.

While Grandma Shen and Shen Chi were tidying up the land in the village, people kept coming up to ask if they could also work in the shop while Grandma Shen was busy.

When she refused, their expressions turned sour.

Grandma Shen had no choice but to hastily deal with the weeds in the field and returned to town.

Lu Lin looked at Shen Chi in surprise. “Someone from the Chen family is saying I sold Chen Xiaocai.”

Shen Chi nodded. “Yes, and some people believe it.”

When Shen Chi returned to the village, he heard a lot of messy rumors. Some people guessed that Lu Lin was worried that he and Chen Xiaomi’s money would all be taken by Chen Xiaocai in the future, so he sold Chen Xiaocai.

This rumor was also somewhat related to the Lu family. Tang kept complaining that Lu Lin was an idiot who didn’t know to send money home when he earned it, and that all the benefits would go to that outsider Chen Xiaocai.

Some people suspected that Lu Lin was worried that all the money would go to Chen Xiaocai in the future, so he secretly took Chen Xiaocai away.

Lu Lin put his hands on his hips and couldn’t help scratching his head. There are actually such rumors. This is ridiculous!

Lu Lin took a deep breath and couldn’t help but consider the situation. It had been some time since Chen Xiaocai was sent away, and it really wasn’t appropriate to let a child stay outside for so long.

“You mean let Wan Li switch with Xiaocai?” Chen Xiaomi asked.

Lu Lin nodded. “Right, I plan to transfer Wan Li to Liu Town and let Xiaocai come here.”

Chen Xiaomi hadn’t seen Xiaocai for some time and did miss him a little.

Lu Lin sighed. There were also disadvantages to bringing Chen Xiaocai back.

“If Xiaocai becomes the shopkeeper, the Chen family might cause trouble again.” Before, when Xiaocai was just a helper, the Chen family couldn’t sit still.

Chen Xiaomi scoffed. “If they dare, we’ll just kick them out.”

Lu Lin thought it over. “That’s true. Leaving a kid out there alone isn’t right anyway.”

Grandma Shen looked at Shen Chi and said, “Ah Chi, you seem to be in a good mood!”

Shen Chi replied somewhat awkwardly, “Brother Lin said he would transfer Xiaocai back.”

Grandma Shen sounded doubtful. “If Xiaocai comes back, what about Liu Town?”

Shen Chi blinked. “I heard that Manager Wan will be transferred there. He is older than Xiaocai and more mature.”

Grandma Shen looked surprised. “Why suddenly transfer him back? Don’t tell me Xiaocai caused trouble there.” In her eyes, Chen Xiaocai was capable, but still too young.

“He didn’t cause trouble. But… I mentioned to Brother Lin that some villagers were saying he sold Xiaocai off. Maybe that’s why…” Shen Chi trailed off, hesitating.

He had always hoped Chen Xiaocai would come back, but he didn’t expect that telling Lu Lin about that would make Lu Lin transfer Xiaocai back. He just wanted to give Lu Lin a heads up.

A few days later, when Lu Lin was delivering goods, he brought Wan Li over and brought Chen Xiaocai back.

When Chen Xiaomai saw Chen Xiaocai, he let out a loud cry and threw himself at him. Xiaocai caught him in a tight hug.

The two brothers hadn’t seen each other for a long time, and Chen Xiaomai was excited to see Xiaocai.

Shen Chi stood to the side, quietly watching Chen Xiaocai. When their eyes met, both of them blushed.

Lu Lin watched from the side and rolled his eyes, secretly thinking, Kids of this era are amazing, falling in love so young.

Then again, on second thought, maybe it wasn’t so bad to find someone early. In this place, most marriages were arranged by parents and matchmakers, and some couples didn’t even meet until their wedding day. And, after the wedding, they disliked each other at first sight but had no choice but to make do.

Although blind matches were common here, divorce was relatively rare.

In a place where even having enough to eat was a problem, divorce naturally wasn’t in many people’s consideration, and the moral teachings in this place were extremely strict. Many women wouldn’t mention divorce even if they weren’t living well.

With Wan Li transferred away, Chen Xiaocai took over as shop manager. Lu Lin sent Shen Chi along to help.

Shen Chi had been making decorative knots, but recently, cheaper imitations flooded the market, driving prices down. So, Lu Lin had him learn bookkeeping from Wan Li in his spare time. By now, Shen Chi was quite skilled with the abacus.

Before, the shop had been watched by Wan Li, an indentured servant. Outsiders didn’t know Wan Li’s background and were quite wary of him.

When the shop was changed to Chen Xiaocai and Shen Chi, the shop often had some villagers from Dashí Village coming to build relationships in roundabout ways.

Sometimes the shop would be crowded with people who weren’t buying anything but just chatting with Chen Xiaocai and Shen Chi. Most people were well-behaved, but some would randomly touch the bags with their hands, making them dirty.

Chen Xiaocai had his ways of dealing with customers, but he was somewhat helpless when dealing with these nosy aunties.

Fortunately, it wasn’t easy for villagers to come to town, so the shop didn’t have so many people every day.

The Chen family’s life was getting better and better.

“Chen Xiaocai is so young but quite skilled with the abacus!”

Back when Chen Xiaocai was thin and small, no one would have guessed, but now he’d grown into quite a handsome young man.

Since he was helping out in the shop, he must be earning some silver too. With Chen Xiaomi’s entire family working in town, they were probably making quite a bit of money.

When many villagers went to the market, they liked to stop by Huaxia Trading Company to take a look. And just like that, rumors spread through the village about how capable and promising young Chen Xiaocai was.

When Grandma Chen heard villagers praising Chen Xiaocai, she didn’t feel the least bit pleased. She always favored the eldest son’s family, convinced they were the most outstanding and should be the ones living the best life. The fact that Chen Xiaomi was doing well in town only made her seethe with resentment.

“I didn’t expect the Chen brothers to actually establish themselves in town.” Village head Zhang Cheng was somewhat surprised.

“I went to Huaxia Trading Company a few days ago. The business there is very good.” Zhang Jin said.

Zhang Cheng sighed enviously. “Chen Xiaomi really had his luck turn around. He can actually work in such a shop. Behind that shop is a residence, and apparently, Lu Lin decides who gets to stay there. If he has that much authority, maybe in the future, when people from our village want to rest in town, they can go find Lu Lin.”

Zhang Jin gave his father a helpless look. “Dad, what are you talking about?” Not to mention the residence wasn’t Lu Lin’s, even if it was, it wouldn’t be good to trouble people like that.

Zhang Cheng was annoyed that his son contradicted him. “Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomi came from our village. It’s only right for them to help their fellow villagers. The inns in town are so expensive! I heard that Grandma Shen and Shen Chi occupy a room by themselves, and there’s a mountain family with two small children also staying there for a long time.”

Zhang Jin eyed his father warily. “Dad, did someone say something to you? Don’t offend people for no reason!”

Zhang Cheng coughed awkwardly. “I’m just saying this casually. But really, Lu Lin could’ve hired embroiderers from our village instead of bringing in outsiders.”

“Did aunt say something to you?” Zhang Jin had an aunt who also knew some embroidery and occasionally went to town to sell embroidered goods to supplement the family income.

This aunt had a problem, she liked to take advantage of others.

His wife also knew embroidery. Before, for a period of time, that aunt came over and took his wife’s embroidered goods, saying she would help sell them in town. His wife thought that aunt had wide connections and might be able to sell them for a high price, so she entrusted them to her. As a result, the money that came back was so little it didn’t even cover the cost of fabric and thread. His aunt made various excuses about there being too many embroidered goods in town, causing prices to drop.

After several instances, his wife no longer trusted his aunt, and as far as he knew, this aunt had indeed pocketed most of the money from selling embroidered goods.

“Your aunt’s skills are no worse than Grandma Shen’s. Grandma Shen is getting old after all.” Zhang Cheng said.

Zhang Jin replied glumly, “Dad, Lu Lin can use whoever he wants. Don’t get involved.”

This wasn’t a matter of skills. That aunt of his was not a good person. As far as he knew, Grandma Shen’s position was quite important. Before, two female workers from Huaxia Trading Company learned some things and found another boss, which seemed to cause a significant impact on the shop.

The Chen brothers were doing well now, and Zhang Jin didn’t want to offend people because of his aunt.

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