Chapter 72: Someone's Got Her Eyes on Cai

Quite a number of people in the village had been doing busines with Lu Lin recently. They had really earned a lot of money through that.

Previously, there were villagers who made embroidery products and sold them in town, the buyers would often force the price down, so that the profits would be relatively low. However, the Sino Commercial House would always offer a fair price when they received the embroidery products. Basically, as long as the quality was good, the commercial house would offer them an irresistible price.

The villagers made money, and they started to talk the Chen brothers and Lu Lin up.

In the yard, a few embroiderers gathered together to do embroideries.

"Two days ago, my husband took my embroidery to the Sino Commercial House. Guess what he saw," the woman said proudly.

"What did he see?! Just tell us!"

The woman said, "He saw something called full moon-shaped fans in the store. The coverings of the fans were made of cloth and the embroideries on some of them were mine. I think they have made all of our embroideries into fans!"

"I also heard that the embroidery we made seems to have been made into fans. They were sold for 200 cents each several days ago. The price seems to have dropped a little recently, but it's still very expensive."

"Two hundred cents! That is really expensive. What do those people in town think? With that amount of money, you can buy dozens of palm-leaf fans!"

Palm-leaf fans were affordable, but many poor people were reluctant to buy a new one unless the old ones were worn out.

"We think it's expensive, but those rich masters and ladies are thinking otherwise. I heard that when this fan first came out, many people bought it in a dozen or so."

"Let's hurry up and make more embroidery. When the weather gets cold, I'm afraid the commercial house won't sell fans. Let's work hard while there is still a market for our products."

"Granny Shen is the luckiest of all! She has made friends with Lu Lin early on. She must have made a lot of money in town already.

"I heard that Zhang Xiuhe wanted Granny Shen's job, but Lu Lin didn't agree."

"That Zhang Xiuhe is so bold. Lu Lin has already hired Granny Shen, how can she just walk into the shop and ask Lu Lin to fire Granny Shen and give her the job! " In fact, many women in the village were envious of Granny Shen's work. However, even though they were envious, no one had thought about replacing Granny Shen.

"Zhang Xiuhe is the Village Head's sister after all."

"And that allows her to be unreasonable?" Zhang Cheng the Village Head was well respected in the village, therefore, a woman smiled and changed the topic. "When my husband went to the shop, he saw Chen Xiao Cai standing behind the counter, acting like the shopkeeper and giving orders. Young as he is, he looked so confident and experienced! He deals with taels of silver with such poise."

"Chen Xiao Cai is getting more and more capable. In my opinion, I don't get it why so many villagers out such high hopes on their kids on becoming scholars and officials in the future, I say Xiao Cai has set a good example for the kids in the village, they can just learn a skill and get a job!"

......

At dusk, Lu An returned home from town. "Did you get paid today?" Lin Xiu'er asked.

Lu An nodded. "Yeah, but my boss deducts 200 cents from my wage on some dumb excuse."

Lin Xiu'er asked sullenly, "How can this be?"

Lu An pulled a long face, "The boss married a new wife. That woman wants her brother to replace me, so she's just picking a hole in me." Lu An's job was pretty cushy, he managed more than 40 casual workers, a lot of people wanted his job.

Lin Xiu'er was a little worried. "Will you lose your job?"

Lu An shook his head and said, "I don't think so. I've been working for a long time, and the workers all like me. Even if the boss wants to fire me, he should think twice."

Lin Xiu'er let out a sigh of relief when she heard Lu An assuring her that he wouldn't lose his job.

If Lu An lost his job, the entire family would be pissed, especially Grandma Lu.

"You have worked this job for a long time. You are right, even though your boss wants to replace you with his brother-in-law, he should consider your influence among the workers!" Lin Xiu'er smiled, not sure if she was trying to convince Lu An or herself.

"By the way, is Chen Xiao Mi really pregnant?" Lin Xiu'er asked.

Lu An nodded and said, "Yes, maybe a few months now."

Lin Xiu'er was confused, "He is pregnant. Why doesn't the boss of Sino Commercial House fire him?" Lin Xiu'er felt that the boss of Sino Commercial House was too strange. Chen Xiao Mi couldn't do any heavy work now and Chen Xiao Mai was dumb. But the boss still hadn't fired Chen Xiao Mi.

Bios would suffer discriminations at workplace, the employers tented to hire men instead of Bios. Bios were likely to get fired after they got pregnant.

Lu An shook his head and said, "The Big Boss of Sino Commercial House doesn't show up very much. He seems to have handed his business to Chen Xiao Mi. I heard that Chen Xiao Mi accidentally saved the Big Boss's life, so the Big Boss trusted him very much."

Sino Commercial House was such a big commercial house. But the boss asked Chen Xiao Cai to be the manager. What if Chen Xiao Cai made a mess of the business!

"Shen Chi and Chen Xiao Cai are quite close."

Lin Xiu'er pouted and said, "Shen Chi is not very well-behaved! The Shen family is not a good family. Granny Shen must be anxious about Shen Chi's marriage, so she deliberately taught Shen Chi to win Chen Xiao Cai's heart."

"Chen Xiao Cai used to be ridiculed by the villagers though, all of a sudden the villagers see him as a perfect son-in-law. Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi must have earned a lot of money and they care about Chen Xiao Cai a lot. Whoever marries Chen Xiao Cai surely will get a handsome amount of betrothal present. No wonder Shen Chi tries every means to get close to Chen Xiao Cai."

Lu An narrowed his eyes. The villagers had been talking about Chen Xiao Cai with such great enthusiasm lately. If Chen Xiao Cai weren't that young, there would be matchmakers knocking on their door already for sure. In the past, the girls in the village would not spare a glance for Chen Xiao Cai. However, now they started to talk about Chen Xiao Cai in an admiring tone.

To be perfectly honest, villagers all wanted to be betrothed with well-off families. Chen Xiao Mi and Lu Lin could earn more than forty taels a year. Chen Xiao Mi for sure would take good care of his little brother Chen Xiao Cai and his future little family.

......

Chen Xiao Cai was checking the account book using his abacus, there was an imbalance. It seemed like he had made a mistake, they had been so busy since they launched the fans, but 'haste causes errors', there was a 400-cent shortage on the account.

Chen Xiao Cai scratched his ears and cheeks in embarrassment. However, Lu Lin comforted him, saying that anyone would make mistakes like that and the important thing was to learn this lesson and avoid the mistake in the future.

The shop got a lot of profit every day, as a matter of fact, Lu Lin didn't mind that Cai had charging 400 cents less from a customer.

" Xiao Cai, how's it going?"

Chen Xiao Cai who was checking the account book raised his head. It was a chubby woman from the Big Stone Village with her daughter.

Chen Xiao Cai recognized the woman immediately, she was famous a famous shrew. Her daughter had cursed Chen Xiao Mi before, saying that he was doomed to die in the mountains.

To be fair, this girl was not the only one who said that. The initiator of evil was Grandma Chen, Grandma Chen was the one who had started all the cursing about the Chen Brothers, the others just followed suit.

However, the girl now just hid behind her mother, looking so shy and timid, completely different from how Chen Xiao Cai remembered her.

When they were back in the village, Chen Xiao Cai always felt that the girl might be young, but she must be a shrew like her mother in the future. However, when he looked at her now, she just smiled shyly and took a step behind her mother, , which made Chen Xiao Cai a little uncomfortable.

"Aunty, how can I help you today?" Chen Xiao Cai tried to be professional, he even called her Aunty.

The fat woman smiled and said, "The things in your shop are so expensive. You should have made a lot of work money to work in such a store. You must have a really high pay."

Chen Xiao Cai said with a faint smile, "The boss takes all the profits, I just get a fixed pay."

The fat woman smiled and said, "Then, isn't the boss out of town? It's your brother's decision about how much pay you get, isn't it?"

Chen Xiao Cai forced a smile and said, "My brother is also just an employer, he doesn't have such power."

Recently, more and more people came to ask him about his wage. Chen Xiao Cai had long been used to it.

The woman chatted with Cai for a while and asked a lot of questions, then she just left without buying anything.

Chen Xiao Cai frowned at their retiring figures.

......

In summer days, people tended to lose their appetite. Lu Lin cooked a big pot of mung bean porridge, he put the pot in the well water to cool it. All the employers got a bowl of cold and sweet snack to relieve the summer heat.

At dusk, Chen Xiao Cai closed the store and enjoyed his porridge with his family and friends.

Lu Lin stood at the door and stared at Chen Xiao Cai for a while. Without saying anything, he left.

Chen Xiao Mai looked at Chen Xiao Cai strangely and said, "Second Brother, just now, Lin Gege stared at you like you were a piece of hot cake."

Chen Xiao Cai glanced at his brother and said, "What nonsense are you talking about?"

Chen Xiao Cai did not think that Lu Lin was staring at him like he was some hot cake, but Chen Xiao Cai felt that Lu Lin's gaze was strange. 'Perhaps Lin Gege is cooking up some weird scheme again, maybe he wants to send me to Forest Town like before.'

Chen Xiao Mai glanced at Shen Chi and said, " Shen Gege, do you think Lin Gege was strange just now?"

Shen Chi nodded and said, "It was a bit strange."

Seeing that Shen Chi agreed with him, Chen Xiao Mai grinned happily.

......

Lu Lin walked into the room and saw Chen Xiao Mi who was thoroughly engrossed in making fans. There was a thick pile of fans piled up beside him. There were two faulty products lying on the ground as well.

"There are still a lot of fans in stock. You don't need to work so hard."

Chen Xiao Mi shook his head, "I know, but aren't we going to send a batch of fans to Willow Town in a few days?

Lu Lin rubbed his chin and said jokingly, "Yeah, but maybe the business in Willow Town won't be as good."

Chen Xiao Mi glared at Lu Lin and said, "Shut your piehole, that's inauspicious, we both know the business in Willow Town is much better than here."

Lu Lin nodded and said, "Today, I met Aunty Zheng from the village."

Chen Xiao Mi looked at Lu Lin and asked, "Is it Zhang He's wife?"

"Correct."

"That shrew!" Chen Xiao Mi wrinkled his nose in disdain. "Her daughter used to bully Cai! "

Lu Lin was surprised, "Is that so? She told me today that Cai is getting big now, it's time we talk to the matchmaker and find Cai a girl now."

Chen Xiao Mi glanced at Lu Lin and said, "You mean she wants to be betrothed with us? She wants to marry her daughter to Cai? "

Lu Lin nodded and said, "I suppose so."

Chen Xiao Mi rolled his eyes and said, "Her daughter looks down upon on Cai, they used to argue all the time."

"Have they had any fights?" asked Lu Lin.

" The girl once lost a handkerchief, Cai picked it up and returned it to her, but she insisted that Cai had smeared it and asked Cai to buy her a new one."

Lu Lin was rendered speechless, he thought for a little while and said, "I think all the villagers now are seeing our Cai differently, our Cai is a popular boy now."

In the view of the village people, the Chens were definitely a very well-off family now. They had a nice house in the village, both Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi had decent jobs in town. Chen Xiao Cai was a shopkeeper in the store and he knew how to use an abacus, that was a coveted skill!