Chapter 36: The Stolen Designs

Su Tang immediately denied it: “How is that possible? I was only planning for our stay, and I’ll leave when it’s time.”

“I hope so.”

Given that Shen Mingzhu was there, Yu Miaomiao decided to go for a stroll first.

It’s best to avoid trouble when you’re not sure if there’s a “lucky line” in the story.

After all, they were just minor characters, easily eliminated by the female lead if they weren’t careful.

It wasn’t market day, so the streets were relatively quiet.

They happened to come across someone selling green lemons, and Su Tang’s mouth watered: “Miaomiao, I want to drink some lemon water.”

“Then let’s buy a few.”

Yu Miaomiao was frugal with her own money, but she was generous with Su Tang’s. After buying the green lemons, she also bought a couple of ounces of rock sugar.

Unfortunately, there was no ice.

“When we have money, let’s buy a refrigerator and an oven! We can make cold bread!” Su Tang fantasized about the future.

Yu Miaomiao wasn’t as optimistic.

Their business hadn’t succeeded yet, and divorce was imminent.

The second and third Mu brothers only had a little pitiful money; how much could they give them?

They were still far from their goal.

“Don’t worry, as long as we don’t initiate the divorce, Lao Su will take me in. Then you can come back to the Su family with me,” Su Tang had already planned it out.

The housing market hadn’t opened up yet; the apartments were welfare housing built by various units for their employees. They, as peasant girls, couldn’t afford it.

Besides, they didn’t have any money.

They would go back to the Su family temporarily, and then buy a house and move out after earning some money.

“Taking in two divorced girls, your brothers won’t be able to find wives,” Yu Miaomiao said.

“We’ll make money! Once your father, Yu Laotou, finds out you can make money, he’ll take you back home and treat you like a money tree!”

“I don’t want to go back; he’ll definitely sell me again.”

Yu Miaomiao pouted.

Focusing on their career was the key; today, they must ask Qin Xian to be their teacher!

After strolling around and returning, Shen Mingzhu was still there.

Another stroll, and she was still there!

Seeing that it was time to go home and make dinner, Shen Mingzhu was still guarding the shop door.

Su Tang was speechless: “She’s really idle. Teacher Qin was forced to close her shop by her, and she’s still guarding it?”

“Okay, you distract her, and I’ll slip the designs through the crack in the door,” Yu Miaomiao said.

“Okay.”

Su Tang smiled slyly and ran towards Shen Mingzhu.

Then she put the bag of lemons on the ground and started hawking: “Selling lemons, selling lemons, fresh and sour lemons…”

Yu Miaomiao had a black line on her forehead.

She thought she would create a diversion, but she went straight to the point!

“Third Sister-in-law, don’t sell here,” Shen Mingzhu said impatiently.

“Huh? It’s not your territory, why are you chasing me away?” Su Tang asked.

“This is Teacher Qin’s shop!”

“So what? Teacher Qin isn’t open today, it won’t affect her business. Besides, I feel like you’re the one affecting her business?”

“Don’t get arrogant just because I call you Third Sister-in-law!”

With the Mu family not around, Shen Mingzhu didn’t pretend anymore. Her gaze was extremely disgusted!

“Shen Mingzhu, that’s funny. First, this isn’t your territory, and second, you chased me away first, so I’m talking back. If it weren’t for you having lived in the Mu family, I wouldn’t bother with you.”

Shen Mingzhu’s eyes widened: “What did you say? Husband?”

“Yes! Mu Jingzhou is my husband now.”

“You, how can you call it so…cheesy?”

“Hehe, you’re not married, you wouldn’t understand.” Su Tang winked suggestively, “My husband is so good to me, he says I’m his sweetheart…”

Shen Mingzhu blushed: “You, you’re shameless!”

“Don’t believe it? Ask Third Brother later!”

“You!”

Shen Mingzhu was still a young girl, and her thoughts were relatively conservative compared to Su Tang from forty years later.

She couldn’t match Su Tang’s shamelessness, so she stomped her foot and ran away.

Su Tang giggled and waved to Yu Miaomiao, who was watching from a distance: “Come on, she’s gone.”

“You stimulated her so much, aren’t you afraid of worsening the plot?” Yu Miaomiao sighed.

“What’s meant to happen will happen. Isn’t she the ‘white moonlight’? I’m going to stimulate her and turn her into ‘black moonlight’,” Su Tang put away the lemons, “Quickly slip the designs in, and leave an address.”

“It’s already written on the bottom of the designs.”

Yu Miaomiao carefully tore the designs from the notebook and slipped them through the crack in the door.

Success or failure hinged on this. If Qin Xian was interested, she would come to Chahe Village to find them.

If not, they could still sell the designs, it wasn’t a loss.

The two sisters walked hand-in-hand happily back to the village, Shen Mingzhu hid far behind a tree, sneering: “So it was a deliberate ploy to get me to leave. I almost fell for their trick!”

“But what did they slip to Teacher Qin?”

Shen Mingzhu waited behind the tree for a long time, making sure Su Tang and Yu Miaomiao wouldn’t come back, before returning to the shop door.

The wooden door was old and didn’t have a threshold, so the gap underneath was large.

Shen Mingzhu looked around to make sure no one was watching, and started using a small stick to fish.

One, two, three… a total of five design drawings.

Moreover, each one was incredibly stunning.

“She really can design clothes? Such novel styles, even the provincial capital doesn’t have such beautiful clothes…”

Shen Mingzhu’s pupils dilated in shock.

If Teacher Qin saw how talented Yu Miaomiao was, she would definitely take her as her apprentice.

Then her position as the most favored class monitor would be in jeopardy!

No, Teacher Qin can’t see these designs.

Her eyes flickered, and Shen Mingzhu had a plan.

She folded the designs, put them in her pocket, and quickly left.

————In Chahe Village, Su Tang and Yu Miaomiao were completely unaware that their work had been plagiarized, and were waiting at home honestly.

Mainly, they couldn’t go to the county town every day!

Without money to spend, going there would just be a waste of time, so it was better not to go.

However, the daily routine of cooking and lying around at home was really uncomfortable, they were bored out of their minds.

While they were idle, Li Lan had a lot of things to do.

“Second sister-in-law, help me pour some hot water.”

“Third sister-in-law, come and help me up.”

“…”

She was pregnant, so Su Tang and Yu Miaomiao couldn’t refuse to help her.

After Li Lan discovered that the two sisters-in-law were very helpful as long as it didn’t involve major issues, she ordered them around even more diligently.

Yu Miaomiao was very annoyed, but she couldn’t argue over trivial matters.

So she suggested to Su Tang that they go into the mountains to pick some wild vegetables, anything was better than staying at home and serving Li Lan.

In those days, the overall environment was poor, and villagers often went into the mountains to look for wild vegetables and hunt.

They would occasionally meet acquaintances in the mountains, so it was quite lively.

Su Tang and Yu Miaomiao became bolder, picking wild vegetables and fruits along the way, unknowingly straying far from the lively areas.

“Have we lost our way?”

“It seems so.”

“What do we do now? Shout?”

Just as Su Tang was about to shout, she suddenly heard a rustling sound not far away. The two of them were startled, and immediately huddled together, vigilantly looking around.

“Miaomiao, are we going to meet bandits?”

“Probably wild animals. Old Lady Gao said there are wild boars and such in these mountains…”

“We’re no match for a wild boar, let’s run away!”

“A wild boar can sell for a lot of money!”

Facing imminent divorce, Yu Miaomiao, who had grown up in a wealthy family and never had to worry about money, was also thinking about money.

“But…” Su Tang hesitated.

A wild boar could sell for several tens of yuan, she also wanted the money. But the two of them were really no match for a wild boar, if only they had a bow and arrow.

The rustling sound gradually subsided, and the two sisters looked at each other, and finally didn’t dare to chase.

They scolded each other: “Coward!”

Just as they were preparing to slink away dejectedly, a sharp shout came: “Who’s there?”