bonus chapter
Chapter 61: Something Bad Has Happened
At Qinghe Village.
Zhou Lanlan’s big brother, Zhou Junyu is rarely at home, but today, he was here as he got a break from the academy.
Zhou Yuan’s aunt greeted her son cheerfully- with Zhou Junyu at home, the food at home was much more abundant.
Old Man Zhou and Madam Zhou saw that their favorite and most promising grandson was at home so they took special care with him and asked him about his daily life in the academy and his studies.
Their grandson will take the exam for a scholar next year, and next year their family will produce a scholar, and in the future, they will be a respectable family in the village.
Zhou Junyu wanted to get some money when he went home this time. He is a popular candidate for a scholar next year, and he will have more people to socialize and make friends with. He has to spend money to participate in scholar exchange gatherings, and the money is spent like running water. Currently, he has no money on hand.
Usually, the two elders of the Zhou family would give it to their grandson every time they saw that he was short of money. This time, when their precious grandson came back and asked for silver taels, the two elders of the Zhou family did not give any as money was too tight.
Zhou Yuan’s aunt could only give her son a few silver taels, and she felt very heartbroken. Their family didn’t have any silver taels, but no matter how tight the money was, she would still give it to her son.
The next day, Zhou Junyu returned to the academy with five taels of silver in hand.
Zhou Lanlan said bitterly, “If I can marry that noble young master then we can have as much money as the family needs.”
Zhou Yuan’s aunt replied, “That noble young master has a fiancée, so you can stay still and wait to marry the son of a rich family in the county.”
Zhou Lanlan looked disgusted, and suddenly said, “Mother, do you think Wei Cheng will lie to us? That noble young master might not have a fiancee. It’s just Wei Cheng and the others who refuse to help us. They are afraid that I will marry that noble young master and be richer than them so they are unwilling to help with the matchmaking.”
Zhou Lanlan was still unwilling to give up, seeing such an outstanding man for the first time, she was dazzled.
Zhou Yuan’s aunt replied, “How do I know? It was your third uncle’s family who said it. Your third uncle’s family has made money from Wei Cheng, their son-in-law, and their family is now more prosperous. What kind of shitty luck did that Yuan-ger have- marrying Wei Cheng was his turning point. When I asked you to marry him, you should’ve done so already, such a good son-in-law would be my family.”
Seeing his third brother’s life getting better and better made her heart even more unbalanced.
She was always counting on the two old people in the family to go to their third son’s home to bring some silver taels back to supplement the family.
Zhou Lanlan curled her lips in disgust, “I don’t like Wei Cheng. He is no match for that noble young master. Next year my brother will be admitted as a scholar and we won’t need their help. Once the noble young master sees that my brother is a scholar and he is a businessman. We were just going to his door in advance, no matter what kind of fiance he has, I would be a scholar’s sister, how can she compare?!”
People who are short-sighted say these types of words all the time- Zhou Lanlan believes that with a scholar as a part of her family, everyone has to curry favor with her.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Itbe Tejc’r jeca ofia atja ktja tfg vjeutafg rjlv wjvf rfcrf.
Itbe Ojcijc gfjmtfv bea tfg tjcv, jcv Itbe Tejc’r jeca rijqqfv tfg vjeutafg’r tjcv jkjs, “Tbe kjca wbcfs? Tbeg ygbatfg abbx olnf ajfir bo rlinfg, atf ojwlis tjr cbatlcu ab ulnf sbe.”
Itbe Ojcijc jguefv, “Tbe ujnf ws ygbatfg olnf ajfir bo rlinfg, tbk mbeiv sbe tjnf cb wbcfs?”
Her mother never kept the money from her. She knows that there would be two taels of silver sent back every month, and the family’s expenses would not be that much, so her mother would be able to save a few.
Zhou Yuan’s aunt replied, “Your father hasn’t sent any taels back for three months, where would I get the taels of silver?”
“I don’t care! I want to buy rouge and gouache, I have to dress up beautifully and take good care of my looks so so that noble young master will like me more.”
“I’ll give you five hundred wen, nothing more!”
………
At Zhou Yuan’s home.
The three sisters-in-law were chatting outside the door.
Today, Zhou Yuan’s second sister-in-law came home and saw that her mother-in-law was not at home, so she dared to mention it, “When I went back to my mother’s house on the Mid-Autumn Festival, my brother knew about the Wei Family’s grocery store. When I went back and mentioned it, he later asked me about Wei Cheng’s grocery store. It’s all about selling goods, if you have the capital to get the goods, you can go to the grocery store to get the goods and sell them after passing the assessment process. The assessment in the county town is very strict but it is easy to pass the assessment to sell in the countryside. Many rural peddlers go to the grocery store to pick up goods and they make a lot of money.”
The eldest sister-in-law scolded, “They are all white-eyed wolves. They don’t care about their natal family after they get married. They are giving away money to outsiders.”
The third sister-in-law quietly rolled her eyes. “Our natal family is not Yuan-ger’s natal family. We can’t take our families to work at the grocery store, what else can we do?!”
The second sister-in-law looked around, leaned over, and whispered, “There is a way.”
“What way?!”
The other two leaned over.
“My brother said that we should go to the grocery store to find Yuan-ger directly without telling our husband’s family. If everyone goes there then can Yuan-ger still drive us back? No matter what we say, we are still his sisters-in-law. If we go find him then he has to put on a show and see us, it’s best to raise this topic in public so that he can’t drive us away, otherwise, people will say that he dislikes his poor relatives now that he is rich”
This is a good idea.
They just need someone who went to find Yuan-ger.
The third sister-in-law said, “My family can’t do it. If Yuan-ger directly arranged a job for him, it’s fine, I’ll let him go to see the job. Otherwise, how can he have the ability to get in?”
The second sister-in-law, “Don’t let me go either, I don’t know how to speak well, and I can’t say even a few words even if I go.”
“I’ll go—” The eldest sister-in-law said.
When she went back to her natal home during the Mid-Autumn Festival, her natal family also asked her to find a way to get her elder brother and younger brother into the workshop. If they couldn’t get in the workshop then she would ask her elder brother to be a peddler.
She is Yuan-ger’s sister-in-law, and the elder sister-in-law is like a mother, Yuan-ger can’t drive her away.
If her mother-in-law refuses to agree, she will go there without telling others and implement the plan, so her mother-in-law cannot object.
The other two looked at each other, and knew that a plan was in motion!
—
Zhou Yuan didn’t know that his three sisters-in-law were scheming at home.
Zhou Muzi’s matter was settled, so he felt relieved.
He is now in the grocery store every day to go over the accounts.
When Yun Chengfeng came back from Fucheng, he wanted to go to Tai Fu Luo with Wei Cheng to talk about things. It should take a long time. Wei Cheng was afraid that he would be bored, so he let him stay in the grocery store.
“After lunch, take a nap obediently.”
“I’m not a child, you know.”
Wei Cheng reminded his wife, and told Xiao-Liu, “Serve the lord well, and let Wei Hu go to Tai Fu Luo to find me if there is something to do.”
“Okay,” Xiao-Liu replied with her knees bent.
Wei Cheng went out.
After lunch, Zhou Yuan, who was used to taking a nap by this time, felt tired so he went back to the yard to take a nap.
After he fell asleep, Xiao-Liu lit the aromatherapeutic candles. The candles were a new product from the workshop. The faint fragrance in the room was soothing to the mind. Seeing that the master had fallen asleep, Xiao-Liu quietly exited.
Zhou Yuan fell asleep for more than a quarter of an hour before Xiao-Liu came to wake him up.
Xiao-Liu originally didn’t want to wake up the master, but someone was arguing in the grocery store, especially the man, who spoke loudly and harshly. She asked Wei Hu to chase him away, but a woman claimed to be their master’s sister-in-law.
The three young masters of the Zhou family went to the county town to sell goods again so they were not in the grocery store.
Ever since the merchandise was displayed at the entrance of the grocery store and sold to business travelers passing by on the official road, many hawkers and women who sell vegetables have set up stalls on the road opposite the grocery store. Some even set up simple tea shops and noodle shops.
People were arguing in front of the grocery store, and they would run to the door to shout.
Steward Mao accompanied his master to Tai Fu Luo, and only the little master could be in charge of the grocery store, so Xiao-Liu had no choice but to ask for instructions.
Zhou Yuan woke up with a sleepy look.
Xiao-Liu twisted the handkerchief and handed it over, Zhou Yuan wiped his face to refresh himself, he couldn’t figure out why his sisters-in-law would come to the grocery store to make trouble.
Zhou Yuan pondered, “Xiao-Liu, let’s go out and have a look.”
“Yes, my lord.”
When Zhou Yuan came out, he saw his sister-in-law sitting at the door of the grocery store, not inside the grocery store. Standing beside his eldest sister-in-law was a man in his thirties.
When his sister-in-law’s elder brother saw Zhou Yuan coming out, and being guided by the servants, “Sister, Yuan-ger has come out.” Then he smiled greasyly at Zhou Yuan, “Yuan-ger, I am your brother-in-law. Yuan-ger ‘s outfit is really rich, I hope he will take care of me as a relative in the future.”
The man wanted to get closer to Yuan-ger but the two brothers Wei Jin and Wei Shi stood in front of him.
The eldest sister-in-law’s elder brother made a sound of dissatisfaction and he winked at her sister.
His eldest sister-in-law, Zhou Li, said with a smile, “Yuan-ger, your sister-in-law is here to ask you for help today. You know that your sister-in-law’s family is poor, my elder brother and third brother have no work, and the grocery store is recruiting people. Look, your sister-in-law has brought her elder brother here. Seeing that you are recruiting workers and we are all relatives, you can give your sister-in-law face and invite my elder brother to work in the workshop.”
Although Zhou Li is impulsive, she is here to ask for help, so she will not offend him and wants to please the other.
Zhou Yuan didn’t say anything regarding her request, but instead, he asked, “Sister-in-law is looking for me, does elder brother know about it?”
Sister-in-law Zhou Li’s eyes flickered, and her face immediately showed the truth.
It seems that his sister-in-law came to him on her own initiative.
They chose the worst way 😓 oof good luck
Thank You for the new chapter ♡(ӦｖӦ｡)
Thanks for the chapter! Foolish, greedy, lazy people…
So many horrible families
I feel like the author has to deal with some awful family members to be able to make this story so believable. It is so good!