Chapter 51: Business 3/3

Mr. Yao couldn’t maintain his smile anymore!

They were having dinner. Anyone with a little sense wouldn’t come to chat with them at this time. Yet, what was Li Laogen doing? Not only did he stand there watching them eat, but he also kept boasting!

This guy was unbelievable!

Jin Moli couldn’t even eat her food because she was disgusted by Li Laogen. She really detested him!

Li Laogen seemed completely oblivious to the fact that the Yao family didn’t welcome him, “Xiaoye is really good at doing business. Even before Li Qingzhi came back, she knew to pick the vegetables from the field and sell them in the county! After Li Qingzhi got compensated fifty taels of silver for his broken arm by the Hong family, she had capital and expanded her business. She even hired many people to help her!”

 Li Laogen previously heard a few words from Jin Xiaoye about her finding people to help with sewing activities, and now he brought it up to boast.

These words made Mr. Yao and the others feel annoyed, but Jin Moli’s face changed drastically.

Jin Xiaoye was really good at business?!

Jin Moli asked Li Laogen, “Uncle Li, how does Xiaoye do business?”

“Just like that! Our family used to be very poor, with almost nothing at home. Xiaoye, wearing tattered clothes and carrying some worthless vegetables, dared to go door-to-door in the county to sell… She had been thinking about saving money to start a business for years. With the fifty taels of silver this time, she made a lot of money in one go!” Li Laogen boasted.

Jin Moli’s lips trembled, and she quickly lowered her head.

Mr. Yao, hearing Li Laogen praise Jin Xiaoye, couldn’t help but agree, “Xiaoye is indeed very capable. She can talk to anyone, and she’s brave. She can make money no matter what she does.”

Seeing Mr. Yao praise Jin Xiaoye, Li Laogen immediately started chatting with him, bringing up everything he knew about Jin Xiaoye, sometimes exaggerating a bit.

Yao Mother finally couldn’t bear it anymore and, with a stern face, said they had things to do and asked Li Laogen to come back another time, persuading him to leave.

After Li Laogen left, Yao Mother asked Mr. Yao, “Old Yao, can Jin Xiaoye really earn two silver coins a day?”

“It’s true. Look at how much she sells in Miaoqian Village!” Their youngest child was wearing a coat bought from Jin Xiaoye.

“She’s really amazing. Li Qingzhi is really lucky,” Yao Mother sighed.

Jin Moli, hearing Mr. Yao and Yao Mother’s words, immediately thought of her past life.

At that time, Mr. Yao always praised Jin Xiaoye, and Yao Mother treated Jin Xiaoye better than her.

She had always thought it was because Jin Xiaoye was lucky. Could it be… Jin Xiaoye was actually good at making money?

Jin Moli tried hard to convince herself not to believe it, but when she looked at Yao Zhenfu, she couldn’t help but feel disgusted.

If it wasn’t Yao Zhenfu who was making money, what was the point of her marrying him and enduring so much hardship?

Yao Zhenfu didn’t notice Jin Moli’s gaze. He said to Mr. Yao, “Dad, why don’t we also hire someone to harvest the rice?”

“All our money has been squandered by you. We don’t have the money to hire anyone! From tomorrow, you must go to the fields. If you don’t go, don’t bother eating!” Mr. Yao, who was usually gentle, turned cold.

Jin Xiaoye earned more than him! He had to spend less money in the future to save more money!

The atmosphere in the Yao family was very bad because of Li Laogen, but Li Laogen was very happy. He saw that it wasn’t completely dark yet, so he went to Li La’oer’s house again.

Li La’oer’s family was very poor and couldn’t afford oil lamps, but he didn’t mind showing off in the dark.

Jin Xiaoye didn’t know what Li Laogen was up to.

She found people to help their family harvest rice, negotiated the price, and then went home to chat with Li Qingzhi about business.

Li Qingzhi didn’t have any business experience, but he had read many books and could always give Jin Xiaoye some novel suggestions.

The next evening, Jin Xiaoye brought back a rice barrel on a boat and also bought some sacks.

Jin Xiaoye carried the rice barrel back to the Li family, placing it in the main hall.

Li Laogen really liked it. He examined it while taking off the shoes of Li Damao and Li Ermao, letting them play inside.

Li Laogen, who had been showing off all day but still had some unfinished business, didn’t go out to find someone else to boast to because of this rice barrel.

“Our family’s assets are increasing more and more!” Li Laogen sighed.

“Great!” Jin Xiaoye nodded. “I also bought a jar and some other miscellaneous items. In the future, we can store the rice we pound in the jar to prevent it from being stolen by mice.”

“Good! Good!” Li Laogen was extremely happy.

Next door to the Yao family, Yao Zhenfu, who was forced to work in the fields today, was holding his foot and crying.

During the day, he was forced to harvest rice. Due to his lack of experience, his speed was far slower than that of his mother’s. What’s more, he didn’t hold back his strength while cutting the rice, and when the sickle cut down a bundle of straw, it ended up heading straight for his toe…

He ended up cutting his big toe with the sickle.

The people in the village didn’t take this kind of thing seriously. When Jin Xiaoye was farming before, she had leeches in her leg wound. She calmly pulled them out without changing her expression and continued working with a bloody hole. But Yao Zhenfu was different. He held his foot and wailed for a long time, and he didn’t stop even at night.

In the past, Jin Moli would definitely comfort him, but now she couldn’t even bear to look at Yao Zhenfu.

She had always liked good-looking people.

Although Mr. Yao and his wife wanted Yao Zhenfu to do more work, they also felt sorry for him.

After Yao Zhenfu was injured, they didn’t let him work in the fields anymore.

The next day, early in the morning, Mr. Yao took Yao Mother to the fields. He harvested one acre of rice before putting down the sickle to row the boat.

At this time, Li Qingzhi arrived in the fields with the three children and Li Laogen.

He took a day off to experience the hardships of farming with his three children and teach them the poem “Plowing at Noon.”

The three children quickly memorized it.

While the hired workers were harvesting rice, the three children followed behind, picking up rice ears.

Actually, there weren’t many rice ears, and the three mainly played in the field.

As for Li Qingzhi… He picked up a bunch of rice ears, threw the grains into his mouth one by one, and even spat out the husks, as if he were eating sunflower seeds.

The villagers who saw this scene said, “…Has Li Qingzhi’s mind not fully recovered yet?”

The vast expanse of golden rice fields, swaying in the wind, formed waves of rice.

Harvesting rice was hard work, but there were smiles on people’s faces.

A bountiful harvest always brought joy, and at this moment, people were kinder to children than usual.

At this moment, some households who doted on their children ignited some straw, then placed a dried soybean on it… With a crackling sound, the soybean burst open in the fire, cooked.

The children from that household didn’t mind and happily picked up the cooked soybeans from the ashes to eat on the ground nearby.

Li Qingzhi saw this and asked the two children, “Damao, Ermao, do you want to eat soybeans?”

But Damao and Ermao, who were full and satisfied, didn’t want to eat soybeans. After all, soybeans weren’t anything special to them.

However, before they could answer, Li Qingzhi said, “You must want to eat them too. Come, let me burn some soybeans for you!”

Damao and Ermao: “…Is it because you want to eat them, Dad?!”