Chapter 83: Mini Sweet Potatoes

The help didn't defend themselves on the first day Grandma Lu insulted them, that had given Grandma Lu the impression that they would allow her to walk all over them for good. Therefore, Grandma Lu went even further the next day.

The help endured the abuse until nightfall the next day and finally they couldn't stand it anymore. They went to Grandpa Lu and asked for their pay for the past two days, they wanted to quit.

"What's going on? Why is everyone quitting?" Grandpa Lu said unhappily.

The leading man said, "Grandpa Lu, we are here to work and make money. We are not here for the insults. Now please pay us, we are all quitting."

Grandpa Lu frowned in embarrassment, feeling a little upset in his heart. Grandpa Lu secretly felt that these people were working for them for money, so what if his wife directed a torrent of abuse at them? It was normal for the 'master' to scold the 'help'. Grandpa Lu had always looked down upon other villagers for he had a good opinion of himself.

The help now united and confronted him, which made Grandpa Lu feel that his authority was challenged, and he was annoyed by that.

Grandma Lui exploded when she heard the help wanted to quit and they pestered Grandpa Lu for their pay. "You have all been slacking off, and now you are asking for money! Such wishful thinking."

The villagers suffered so much for their pay, now they were all indignant by what Grandma Lu said.

"What do you mean? You want to renege on your debt, you don't want to pay?"

"How dare you make such a scene! Slackers! The lots of you! You should be grateful to me for willing to hire you in the first place."

The leader, Zhang Danian, looked unhappy and said, "Grandma Lu, what nonsense are you talking about? Autumn Harvest season is the busiest season in the year, so many people are hiring, and we decided to work for you even though you pay less than others because we are from the same village! I really don't know why are you being so unreasonable!"

"That's right! The people who worked for Granny Shen got 30 cents per day, and they had two buns for lunch."

"But look at us, we are working like a horse for you, and we can't have one bowl of soup. All you do is rushing us!"

Grandma Lu fumed immediately as they mentioned Granny Shen. Shen Chi and Chen Xiao Cai now were engaged, Grandma Lu just assumed it was Lu Lin who had been supporting Granny Shen's family financially, Grandma Lu was furious that the help now were comparing her to Granny Shen.

That had escalated this argument, Grandma Lu let fly with a stream of abuse which was downright rude, leaving the inarticulate men flustered.

One of the men was so indignant that he raked up the old story of Grandma Lu stealing money from Li Lin and Chen Xiao Mi.

Grandma Lu was very sensitive about that story, she had never stolen from Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi, but no one believed her.

Grandma Lu made a tremendous row, she and the men almost started fighting. The Village Head arrived in time to mediate this dispute.

As a result, Grandpa Lu paid the help, but Grandma Lu deducted 5 cents from everyone saying that they didn't work hard. Grandma Lu meant to deduct more, but the Village Head stopped her from doing that.

Grandpa Lu was annoyed by his wife's bitter sarcasm when she talked to the help, he was not happy about what the help had done as well, he found them inconsiderate and ungrateful. They were here working for him but they dared make such a ruckus. He got so awkward when the villagers mentioned that they paid less money to the help than Granny Shen, but he blamed them for pointing that out and not protecting his dignity.

The help were filled with indignation, but they did not want to make a big fuss over 5 cents. However, the Lu family's reputation in the village had hit rock bottom.

When the help went home and told their wives about it, they were naturally bitter about unbearable grievances.

Some villagers said that Grandpa Lu was so heartless! He spent money like water e for his grandson's wedding, but he deducted even 5 cents from the help's wage. They called him 'one of the heartless rich'.

Grandpa Lu didn't care much when the help quit. In Grandpa Lu's opinion, he didn't need to worry about hiring people now that he had money.

However, he found that no one was willing to work for him even though he was willing to raise the wage. Grandpa Lu asked around and found that the villagers had been saying that he liked to deduct the help's pay.

Several villagers pointed at Grandpa Lu and talked about him behind his back, that had angered Grandpa Lu.

The Lu family was not able to hire any help, Grandpa Lu had to ask the Village Head to guarantee that Grandpa Lu would pay in advance, and he would not deduct their pay.

Grandpa Lu agreed helplessly.

When Grandpa Lu came back to his senses, he found that was super unfair, what if the new workers loafed on the job, but he had already agreed he wouldn't deduct their pay, he could only endure it.

The Lu family managed to collect all the grain from their field with difficulty.

......

The autumn wind had been soughing since the Autumn Harvest, it became colder and colder.

Business in Lu Lin's store was getting even better.

The popularity of dolls was greater than the bags.

Quite a few merchants went to Lu Lin's store to place orders and sell them to their local stores.

Lu Lin had to buy another two women who were good at needlework from the human trafficker.

One was called Xique and the other Lin Chun.

Xique was twenty-six years old. She was from a poor family and was sold to a wealthy family when she was a child. She worked conscientiously for the master for about two decades. Although the Xique was only twenty-six years old, she looked like she was in her mid-thirties due to the strain.

Xique's old master's fortunes declined and Xique was old to the human trafficker.

The other one was Lin Chun. She was sold by her mother-in-law after her husband died, her mother-in-law firmly believed that she had brought bad luck to her husband.

The arrival of the Xique and Lin Chun greatly reduced the pressure on Granny Shen and Yun Niang. Lu Lin asked Granny Shen to teach them how to make dolls.

After all, Granny Shen was old and her eyesight had dropped a little, so she struggled a little bit on some delicate work. So she took the initiative to talk to Lu Lin about hiring more people.

Now that Lu Lin asked her to teach new people, Granny Shen couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.

The two new women both had a sad life, and Granny Shen was sympathetic to them, she had fun teaching them.

Shen Chi was in Willow Town. After the Xique and Lin Chun arrived, they stayed in the same room with Granny Shen.

......

Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi walked on the market while Chen Xiao Mi kept looking around.

This year's harvest was good, and many farmers had bright smiles on their faces.

Lu Lin saw a few mountain people selling mountain goods and he bought some specialties from them.

Chen Xiao Mi looked at what Lu Lin had bought and pouted, "Actually, this kind of thing is everywhere on the mountain. There is no need to spend money on them."

"In my hometown, mountain goods are very difficult to buy, they are very rare, there are also people who sell seconds at best quality prices."

Chen Xiao Mi knew that Lu Lin was talking about a different time and space. He found that place quite fascinating, Lu Lin could have two bowls of rice per meal but he couldn't buy mountain specialties.

Chen Xiao Mi pouted and said, "If you like them, buy more."

"There's no need to buy too many," Lu Lin looked at the stall at the end of the market and saw a familiar face. "Isn't that Liu Gui Yong, Uncle Liu?"

Chen Xiao Mi blinked and said, "It really is! We haven't seen him for a while."

Lu Lin hired Liu Gui Yong and his team to build one more room for their house in Big Stone Village, but now they didn't go back to the village as much due to the heavy workload in the commercial house. Every time Chen Xiao Mi thought about the house in the village, he would let out a sigh and get a bit nostalgic.

"Uncle Liu, isselling sweet potatoes?" Lu Lin was confused. Last year, sweet potatoes encountered poor sales. 'How come they planted sweet potatoes this year again?'

"Do you want to brew more Sweet Potato Wine?" Chen Xiao Mi looked at Lu Lin and asked.

Lu Lin nodded and said, "Alright." Manager Wang in Good Luck Restaurant loved Sweet Potato Wine, Lu Lin thought that could be the side hustle. Although the doll business was booming, it was good to not put all your eggs into one basket.

......

"Uncle Liu," Chen Xiao Mi stepped forward and greeted Liu Gui Yong.

"Master Lin, Master Xiao Mi, how are you!" Sino Commercial House had a great reputation. Liu Gui Yong had also inquired about the two of them. He knew that Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi were working for the Big Boss in town and they had earned a lot of money. Now, there were many people in the village who relied on doing embroidery for Sino Commercial House to make money.

The village people tended to feel ill at ease in the presence of the rich, so Liu Gui Yong became a little cautious when he saw Chen Xiao Mi and Lu Lin this time.

"Uncle Liu, why don't you sell sweet potatoes to the grain shops?"

Liu Gui Yong sighed and said worriedly, "The sweet potatoes of this breed are too small. None of the grain shops is willing to take them."

Chen Xiao Mi took a sweet potato and looked at it. "Such a small sweet potato, I can eat one in two bites! Geez, so small!"

Lu Lin bumped Chen Xiao Mi with his elbow and Chen Xiao Mi smiled embarrassedly.

Liu Gui Yong didn't mind how blunt Chen Xiao Mi was and he smiled bitterly, "Master Xiao Mi, this is a new breed, they will stay this tiny no matter how long you let them grow in the field, but they are super sweet. However, not a lot of people appreciate them, they refused to give them a try! we find no market for them! . There are many people in my village who have planted nothing but this breed of sweet potato, I dread to think what if they still cannot find shops that are willing to buy from them. They will end up with no money for winter!"

Lu Lin was confused, "Sweet potatoes didn't sell well last year, right? Why did you and your villagers plant so much this year again?"

Liu Gui Yong said embarrassedly, "This... actually, someone had tricked us all."

Chen Xiao Mi was confused, "Tricked you all?"

Liu Gui Yong sighed and explained, "Sweet potato was in excess of demand last year. No one wants to plant sweet potatoes this year until someone called Liu Qi came to our village."

"Liu Qi said that he has a new sweet potato breed from the south. This sweet potato is much sweeter than the ones we have here. It is very popular with the wealthy families in the south. He asked us to plant it. He promised us that he would come to collect them in autumn. The mini sweet potatoes are several times more expensive than the regular ones. He promised us that he would buy them all from us."

"We have our doubts in the beginning. However, that person was so articulate and imposing, slowly he has convinced us all."

Chen Xiao Mi tilted his head and asked, "This year, didn't he show up?"

"He did show up, but he said that our sweet potatoes are too small. He accused us of slacking off on fertilizing, and the sweet potatoes don't meet the standard, he won't buy them from us!"

Chen Xiao Mi was furious, "It was him who brought the seeds to you, right? It is his responsibility to teach you and the villagers how to take care of the plants, but why would the sweet potatoes shrink?

Lu Lin narrowed his eyes and said, "Maybe it is the difference in the geographical environment. The climate in the south was different from ours. The terrain and soil are different as well, so the sweet potatoes turned out to be smaller."

Chen Xiao Mi rolled his eyes and said, "Uncle Liu, do you know this Liu Qi? Is he also from your village?"

Liu Gui Yong nodded, "Yeah! Liu Qi's father went to the south to do business not long after Liu Qi was born. I heard that they made a lot of money. They had even bought several houses and stores in the south, and his father now had got a few concubines."

Lu Lin blinked and understood why the people in Big Gulf Village believed Liu Qi. Liu Qi's father was a successful businessman.

Chen Xiao Mi looked at Lu Lin and said, "If it's really sweet, we can buy some."

Lu Lin nodded and said, "Yes." He could brew some Sweet Potato Wine. Size didn't matter in brewing, if they were really that sweet, Lu Lin could save some money on sugar.

Lu Lin bought 100 kilograms of sweet potatoes and let Yun Niang steamed some for snacks.

Chen Xiao Mai liked the sweet potatoes and he ate three of them in one go.

Qin Lang and Qin Ming were both big eaters. Lu Lin had always been generous on the two boys' diet, they ate at least a dozen.

Chen Xiao Mi ate the sweet potato and said, "It's really sweet. It's just too small, I can finish one with two or three bites."

The price of sweet potatoes wasn't high, Lu Lin was more than happy to buy more, he could share some with the workers and brew the rest.

Lu Lin glanced at Chen Xiao Mi and said, "If you like it, I'll buy more."

Chen Xiao Mi nodded and said, "Sounds good."