When Chen Xiao Mi heard about the prank they pulled on Grandma Lu from the villagers, he decided to return home to keep his family company. But to his surprise, when he opened their door, what he saw was Chen Xiao Mai enjoying a bowl of steamed egg custard with some mushrooms as garnish.
‘What’s going on? Why is Xiao Mai enjoying his favorite snack now? Where is that annoying old lady? Where is Lu Lin?’ Chen
Xiao Mi was very confused.
“You’re back, eldest brother!” Chen Xiao Mai smiled warmly at Chen Xiao Mi, then he pushed his bowl to Chen Xiao Mi, signaling for him to eat with him.
Chen Xiao Mi stroked Chen Xiao Mai’s hair: “You eat, Mai.”
Chen Xiao Mai tilted his head in confusion: ‘Why doesn’t anyone want to share this delicious food with me?’
The little boy did not know that everyone said no to him because they loved him and wanted him to eat it himself.
Chen Xiao Cai walked into the room and greeted Chen Xiao Mi: “Did you hear about the prank? Lu Lin accused that annoying woman of stealing money from us, but that’s not true.”
Chen Xiao Mi narrowed his eyes and said: “Let’s keep it to ourselves, back him up if anyone asks you, okay Cai?”
Chen Xiao Cai nodded.
Chen Xiao Mi was actually very surprised to hear that, in a small village like theirs, there was nothing more valuable than reputation. The villagers loved to gossip, surely they would continue to talk about this for a long time, so he felt obligated to ask Chen Xiao Cai to take Lu Lin’s side since he knew Lu Lin had good reason to say that.
Chen Xiao Mi could not help but think of his own reputation in the village, he felt sorry for his two younger brothers, the villagers disliked them because of him.
Stealing was no small matter in a rural village like Big Stone Village. It was a shame that Grandma Lu had to bring her entire family into disrepute. Especially for Lu Cheng Yu, her grandson who was preparing for the imperial examination at the county level. This could ruin his reputation and potential official career. Chen Xiao Mi could not even imagine what fuss Grandma Lu had provoked in the Lu Family.
With that thought, Chen Xiao Mi walked into the kitchen to look for Lu Lin.
“Lu Lin, I think the Village Head is starting to dislike you.”
Lu Lin smiled: “Why would I care about his opinion?”
Lu Lin knew the Village Chief had always held Lu Cheng Yu in high regard, how he hoped Lu Cheng Yu could bring glory to their village by excelling in the imperial examinations.
That was why the current Village Chief preferred Grandma Lu, he didn’t want Lu Lin to announce this theft scandal in a big way. Grandma Lu was also Lu Cheng Yu’s grandmother, he didn’t want Lu Cheng Yu’s reputation to be affected.
Lu Lin admitted that he went too far, but he didn’t regret it. That was the only way he could think of to stop that nonsense, he didn’t have the time or energy to reason with someone who intended to harass him with unreasonable demands. Plus, he had nothing to lose since neither he nor Chen Xiao Mi had a good reputation in his village.
Chen Xiao Mi was surprised by Lu Lin’s answer.
“Our Village Chief is quite prestigious among the villagers, people say he is a good leader, you can’t offend him openly.”
Lu Lin snorted and said: “I’m not counting on him to do anything for us. Now all I want to do is make a hundred taels and open our own shop in the city, we don’t need to please anyone then.”
Chen Xiao Mi looked at Lu Lin with admiration written all over his face.
Chen Xiao Mi would feel lost and hurt from time and time since he moved in with his two younger brothers, no one liked the feeling of isolation. And now he felt brave in Lu Lin’s company.
In the Lu Family.
“Damn Lu Lin, he only brings trouble to us!” Grandma Lu grumbled. She couldn’t believe none of her family members believed her, they all thought she really stole from Chen Xiao Mi. Everyone voiced dissatisfaction, they all saw it as a disgrace, especially Lu Cheng Yu.
As the saying goes, bad news has wings.
Soon two other kids from Big Stone Village who were in the same class as Lu Cheng Yu had heard about what happened, one of them being Chen Jing.
Lu Cheng Yu did well in school while Chen Jing tended to fall behind and was scolded by the scholars.
Even Chen Jing’s family always urged him to study hard like Lu Cheng Yu, therefore, Chen Jing had long held a grudge against Lu Cheng Yu. Plus Lu Cheng Yu had a good opinion of himself, he always looked down on Chen Jing and firmly believed Chen Jing would achieve nothing.
Chen Jing was very happy when he heard about the joke made by Grandma Lu, Lu Cheng Yu’s grandmother.
Chen Jing told it to anyone he met how Grandma Lu tried to steal from Lu Lin, Lu Lin was Lu Cheng Yu’s cousin who married his own cousin Chen Xiao Mi, a Bio; how cold-hearted Lu Cheng Yu’s entire family was, and how they sold Lu Lin to Chen Xiao Mi for ten taels of silver.
Chen Jing and Lu Cheng Yu’s classmates were stunned when they heard the shocking news, they began to see Lu Cheng Yu differently.
Chen Jing stated that Lu Lin married into Chen Xiao Mi’s family, he and Chen Xiao Mi were cousins, Chen Xiao Mi’s money technically belonged to all family members. He was not the only one who thought that way in his family, Grandma Chen had been seething with frustration ever since she heard Chen Xiao Mi made a lot of money together with Lu Lin. How she wished Chen Xiao Mi could share the money with her instead of Lu Lin! She cursed Lu Lin and the entire Lu Family.
Chen Jing secretly hated Lu Cheng Yu and the Lu Family, so he had spread Grandma Lu’s scandal at school. Some classmates who were jealous of Lu Cheng Yu’s good grades joined Chen Jing, together they slandered Lu Cheng Yu and his family. It got to the point where the scholars started to look at Lu Cheng Yu differently.
Lu Cheng Yu was fully aware that the originator of the evil was Chen Jing, the two boys fought. The scholars had suspended them both for two days.
Anger burned within Lu Cheng Yu as he walked back home, he told Grandma Lu how Chen Jing had slandered him at school and how it was all Chen Jing’s fault that everyone saw him differently.
With a towering rage, Grandma Lu went to Grandma Chen’s house and started shouting abuse on the street. Grandma Chen had heard her grandson Chen Jing’s version of the story, she wasn’t going to just sit back and take the abuse.
Both Grandma Lu and Grandma Chen were easily influenced, they called each other names, they accused each other of being greedy and cold-hearted towards their own grandson, and neither of them showed any signs of concession until the Village Chief intervened.
The villagers laughed out loud from the fight, they kept talking about it for days.
Lu Lin heard about it that very night, he didn’t expect that his little lie would lead to such a series of events, the Chen and Lu families had dropped all pretenses of friendliness because of him. But he didn’t care, none of them were good people, he had no interest in chaos.
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