Chapter 101: Jam Business as Side Hustle Again

Grandma Chen had stolen a few glances at Lu Lin when he was in the village asking the kids to pick wild berries. Grandma Chen was furious when she saw Zhang Rui.

Grandma Chen couldn't help but recall how Zhang Rui's father Butcher Zhang had scared them away when they went to his house asking for money. They were reduced to laughingstocks due to that, so Grandma Chen hated Butcher Zhang, and she wasn't happy to see Zhang Rui.

Seeing Zhang Rui working for Lu Lin now, Grandma Chen felt like they had ganged up and gave her a hard time, she hated them all.

Grandma Chen sat on the bed and said sullenly, "Married off daughters are like spilled water! I didn't expect Chun'er to be so ruthless, she had ganged up with Xiao Mi and Lu Lin!"

Grandpa Chen was also a little depressed. Since Chen Jing made such a mess, Grandpa Chen hoped that his daughter could share the burden.

If Chen Chun'er was married to an ordinary person, she would definitely give them several taels of silver. However, Chen Chun'er was married to a butcher, and they managed to not give Chen Jing even one tael.

Lu Lin returned to town after he got the wild berries he wanted. The Chen family's grievance didn't affect Lu Lin at all.

As soon as Chen Xiao Mai returned home, he went to Chen Xiao Mi to show off the snake as a precious treasure.

"Big Brother, look, there's a snake in the basket."

"Yes, it's a big snake. It looks so fat!" Unlike Lu Lin, Chen Xiao Mi acted so excited.

Chen Xiao Mi used to catch snakes in the mountains as well.

whenever Chen Xiao Mi caught a snake, the three of them would make fire and eat roasted snake meat in the mountains. Therefore, in Chen Xiao Mai's eyes, snakes were no different from chickens and ducks. He wasn't afraid of snakes at all.

Chen Xiao Mai tilted his head and said, "I showed Lin Gege this, but he didn't even want to look. Qin Ming Gege said that Lin Gege is afraid of snakes. But I don't think so, Lin Gege is so powerful, is he really afraid of snakes?"

Chen Xiao Mi smiled. Lu Lin was indeed afraid of snakes. There was one time when he caught a snake when they were in the mountains together, Lu Lin only approached him after he confirm repeatedly that he had cut the head of the snake.

Chen Xiao Mi rubbed his nose and said, "Your Lin Gege is very powerful, but he just doesn't like snakes. If you catch a snake in the future, you don't have to show it to your Lin Gege, all right?"

Chen Xiao Mai tilted his head and said, "That's so funny, I thought Qin Ming Gege was kidding."

Chen Xiao Mi stroked Chen Xiao Mai's hair with affection, "Mai, don't laugh at your Lin Gege."

......

Lu Lin was busy with unloading all the wild berries from the ox-cart in the yard, having no idea that he was no longer a big and strong manly man in Chen Xiao Mai's little heart.

Chen Xiao Mi came out from his room and looked at the wild berries in the yard. He frowned and said, "Isn't this too much?"

Lu Lin nodded, "Yeah, I've accidently gone too far this time! So, we better deal with them quickly, we can put them in the convenience store for now, but let's start making jam soon. Speaking of jam, can you please buy more jars to store the jam?"

Chen Xiao Mi replied without thinking, "Consider it done."

Zhang Rui and Qin Ming sat in the yard washing the wild berries while Chen Xiao Cai was eating and occasionally washing...

Zhang Rui frowned and said, "Qin Ming, I need to be honest with you, berries are easier to get rotten after being washed!"

Qin Ming glanced at Zhang Rui and said, "Don't worry, brother Rui, Lin Ge can sell everything."

Qin Ming now came to a point where he worshipped Lu Lin blindly. Ever since Lu Lin sold a doll for 30 taels of silver, or maybe long before that, Qin Ming had become a fan of Lu Lin's. In a fan's eye, everything Lu Lin did was correct.

Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi got into the kitchen and chased everyone out.

Lu Lin had made a batch of jam last year, he used the sugar in the convenience store back then. Now the sugar in the store was finished up, so Lu Lin had to buy more sugar from the market, the cost thus was increased greatly.

Chen Xiao Mi looked at the piled-up wild berries and said, "Wow, you did go a bit crazy, didn't you? This is a large amount."

Lu Lin nodded, "Haha, a lot of kids and villagers joined us! All righty, shall we get started?"

"Yes, we shall," Chen Xiao Mi said.

Chen Xiao Mi licked his lips. It had been a long time since Lu Lin made jam last time. He missed the sweet and fruity flavor.

Lu Lin nodded and said, "Okay."

Lu Lin poured a large number of wild berries into the pot while Chen Xiao Mi helped to watch the fire.

After the jam cooled down, Lu Lin took them to the commercial house directly.

Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi decided to a promotion, customers could get a jar of jam for free if they spent over 3 taels of silver at the store. Many customers who had tried Lu Lin's jam at Manager Wang's Good Luck restaurant last year all came to the commercial house support their business.

Three taels of silver was not too pricy for the products in the commercial house, the sales had increased sharply thanks to the jam as freebie.

Yang Heng Zhi bought eight jars with a grin. "Brother Lu, you've finally started selling jams again."

Old Madam Yang, Yang Heng Zhi's grandmother, was a big fan of jam.

Lu Lin sighed, "I have no other option now, my business isn't doing great, I would go broke soon if I didn't start launching something new for the store!"

Yang Heng Zhi showed a meaningful smile and said, "Brother Lu, are you serious? Everyone in Forest Town knows your business has been booming since day 1."

Lu Lin smiled and said, "I feel so flattered."

......

Three days later, Lu Lin went to Willow Town with the delivery team. Lu Lin was afraid that the jam would go bad on the way, he had secretly put them in the convenience store and put a few empty jars on the ox-cart to deceive others.

Chen Xiao Cai was very excited when he saw Lu Lin.

" Lin Ge, let me guess, you've brought jam, haven't you?" asked Chen Xiao Cai.

Lu Lin glanced at Chen Xiao Cai and asked suspiciously, "How do you know about the jam?"

"Because there was a customer asked me whether I have the same promotion as the store in Forest Town, customers who spends over 3 taels in the store will get a jar of jam for free. " Chen Xiao Cai said.

Lu Lin raised an eyebrow and thought to himself, 'I didn't expect this news to spread so quickly.'

"I brought you a batch, but the shelf life of the jam is limited. If you can't sell them out within the time limit, just throw them away," Lu Lin reminded Chen Xiao Cai.

Chen Xiao Cai nodded and said, "Don't worry, Lin Ge, I know what to do."

Chen Xiao Cai thought to himself 'Throwing them away? If I can't sell them, of course I will eat them with Chi, why would I throw them away!?'

......

Lu Cheng Yu failed the Spring Imperial Examination again. After a making ruckus at home, he went to school again.

Lu Cheng Yu had been studying for so many years, and his family was really counting on him to become a Xiucai. Therefore, the family wouldn't give up on Lu Cheng Yu now that they had sacrificed so much already.

However, the Lu family was no longer as wealthy as before. Although Grandma Lu doted on Lu Cheng Yu, the pocket money she gave him had decreased greatly.

Lu Cheng Yu didn't get to social as much without pocket money. Lu Cheng Yu became much gloomier than before.

"Brother Lu, I haven't seen Brother Chen for so long, you are from the same village, right? Do you know how he's doing?" A classmate Liu Feng asked.

Chen Jing used to hand out with a few bad friends at school, Liu Feng was one of them. Chen Jing didn't come back to school, leaving his old friends feeling so sorry.

Lu Cheng Yu said lightly, "Something has happened to his family and I don't think he is coming back to school anymore."

Liu Feng sighed and said, "Is it because he borrowed usury?"

Chen Jing had also asked Liu Feng whether he could borrow some silver from him. Liu Feng and Chen Jing were just friends in debauchery. Of course he had turned Chen Jing down when he wanted to borrow money.

Lu Cheng Yu nodded, "Correct."

Lu Cheng Yu originally thought that Chen Jing was annoying, but he found himself having mixed feelings when he heard that Chen Jing had quit school. He started to panic when there was no such a person who could boost his ego.

Liu Feng sighed and said, "I didn't expect Chen Jing to give up like this. Brother Cheng Yu, I heard that your cousin is Lu Lin, and he is married to Chen Jing's cousin, is that so?"

Hearing Liu Feng mentioning Lu Lin, Lu Cheng Yu couldn't help feeling a little uncomfortable. Lu Cheng Yu was very upset that everyone now was so interested in Lu Lin, all the villagers back home all wished they would work for Lu Lin.

"There is an old Tongsheng in my village who has been attending Imperial Examinations for a lifetime and has yet to pass. He has opened a home school in our village to teach kids how to read. He charged a high tuition fee, so there aren't many kids who go to his school. I heard that last winter, he was hired by Sino Commercial House."

Lu Cheng Yu was confused, "Are you sure? The Sino Commercial House?"

Liu Feng played with the folding fan in his hand and said, "It seems that he was hired to teach a few kids there. There's a kid called Chen Xiao Cai and a Bio kid. That's such a joke, teaching a Bio! Ridiculous!"

Lu Cheng Yu said suspiciously, "A younger Bio Kid, is that Bio kid a bit slow?"

Liu Feng shook his head and said, "I heard that there is a special Bio kid, but he would listen to the class occasionally. This Bio kid who is there with Chen Xiao Cai is called Shen something, I also heard that they are engaged."

Lu Cheng Yu suddenly thought of Shen Chi. Many people in the village said that Shen Chi and Chen Xiao Cai had an affair. They thought Shen Chi's reputation was going to be ruined for dure, but in the end, they were really engaged. It was said that many girls in the village envied Shen Chi's luck.

If it were a few years ago, Lu Cheng Yu would never have thought that Chen Xiao Cai, an orphan, could be as popular as a hotcake.

Liu Feng shook his head. "I just don't get it, why would they pay tuition fee for a Bio kid? But the old Tongsheng said Lu Lin paid him great money, so he didn't care. Cheng Yu, is your cousin Lu Lin very rich? He actually has money to pay tuition fee for a Bio kid!"

Lu Cheng Yu said sullenly, "I'm not sure either. I just heard that he is work for the owner of Sino Commercial House. But the thing if the owner of the shop has been on a business trip and he hasn't come back even once!"

Lu Cheng Yu thought to himself, 'Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi must have embezzled money in the store. Otherwise, how could they afford to hire a private tutor for Chen Xiao Cai and a Bio kid.

Lu Cheng Yu had always felt privileged that he was the only kid in the family who went to school. Seeing Chen Xiao Cai and Shen Chi getting education as well, he couldn't help feeling depressed.

Liu Feng said bitterly, "This Sino Commercial House should have earned a lot of money. The boss behind the scenes is just... I'm speechless, how can he entrust his business to two strangers!"

Lu Cheng Yu thought to himself, 'Rumor about Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi embezzling money from the commercial store has given rise to much discussion in the village, how come the big boss still trusts them so much!'

It was said that Chen Xiao Mi raised 3 goats in the yard for his son, how could anyone allow an employee to do that in his property!

......

Shen Chi who was sitting opposite Chen Xiao Cai asked with concern, "Can we eat jam like this? This thing is very expensive."

Chen Xiao Cai nodded with a grin and said, "Yes, we can. Before Lin Ge left, he told me to only sell fresh jam to the customers. Of course we can eat some when they are about to go bad."

Shen Chi said with a frown, "Actually, if we lower the price, we can sell them all."

Chen Xiao Cai shook his head and said, "There's no way we are going to do that. Lin Ge always said that we should never lower our products' price. What's more, we don't have much jam left in the first place. Don't worry about a thing, we can eat this jar of jam!"

Shen Chi scooped a mouthful of jam and put it into his mouth. He said happily, "It's so yummy."

Chen Xiao Cai took a bite and thought to himself, 'It's yummy, but it seems a bit too sweet.'

Chen Xiao Cai was so shocked because Lu Lin, a picky eater in his opinion, had said exactly the same thing before.