Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi made a breakthrough in their relationship. Lu Lin woke up with a big smile the next morning, he fumbled around in the other part of the kang, wanting to hug Chen Xiao Mi. To his surprise, Chen Xiao Mi was already up.
Lu Lin scratched his head: ‘He better not have gone hunting, we just had our first night alone last night. Looks like I have to train him harder at night.’
Lu Lin got up and looked around in the courtyard where Chen Xiao Mi was chopping firewood.
There was already a pile of firewood lying near Chen Xiao Mi’s feet, Chen Xiao Mi must have been awake for a while. Lu Lin noticed Chen Xiao Mi wielding the hacking knife as if it was a feather in his hand, he was mesmerized by his partner again. Then he went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for his partner and the children.
Chen Xiao Mi was a big eater, sometimes Lu Lin couldn’t help but wonder the reason why Chen Xiao Mi worked so hard but he remained poor was because he ate too much, but what made Lu Lin happy was that Chen Xiao Mi still looked fit even though Lu Lin thought Chen Xiao Mi was overeating.
Knock knock.
Lu Lin walked up to the gate in disbelief, they weren’t expecting visitors.
It was Liu Gui Yong and his team.
“Hi, Liu, what a pleasant surprise!”
Liu Gui Yong smiled shyly: “I’m here to send you some farm products as a thank you gift.”
After Liu Gui Yong put down two baskets full of sweet potatoes, he rubbed his hands awkwardly and said: “Nothing fancy, just accept it.”
“Thank you very much, Liu! Xiao Mi and I don’t have farmland, I just thought of buying sweet potatoes at the market, what a thoughtful gift, we really appreciate it!”
Liu Gui Yong beamed: “I’m glad you like it, this year is a good year for sweet potatoes, we just harvested a lot. Then I remembered that you and Xiao Mi don’t have any farmland, so here we are, hopefully you’ll enjoy it. It’s a bit small, but it tastes good!”
Lu Lin smiled: “That’s very kind of you, I’m sure we’ll all like it.”
Liu Wen, Liu Gui Yong’s son, stepped forward and chimed in: “Lu Lin, look what I bought for you, some fish and pork.”
Liu Wen knew that Chen Xiao Mi was a hunter and there was no shortage of meat in their family, but it was the thought that counted, plus no one in the village would complain that they had too much meat.
“To what do I owe this gift, it’s a pleasant surprise!”
Liu Gui Yong immediately replied: “We just wanted to express our appreciation.”
Liu Gui Yong and his team had made a lot of money from building kang, they all agreed that they should visit Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi and express their gratitude in person.
Liu Gui Yong and his team talked it over, and they also decided to bring the couple some agricultural products such as sweet potatoes, radishes, cabbage, fish and pork.
It was a very generous thank you gift.
Liu Gui Yong’s gesture had provoked an uproar from Big Stone Village, the villagers had a different opinion.
“Hey, have you heard that? Liu Gui Yong and his team just visited Chen Xiao Mi and they brought him a gift! I heard there was pork and fish in the basket!”
“They made money thanks to Chen Xiao Mi and Lu Lin, the rich families in the town were fighting to be the first to have kang so that Liu Gui Yong and his team could overcharge to their liking. Zhang Da Zhu and his team in our village have done the same.”
“But Zhang Da Zhu and his team did not visit Chen Xiao Mi or send him any gifts.”
“No need, fellow villagers are expected to help fellow villagers. You think Liu Gui Yong and his team are from Big Gulf Village. Chen Xiao Mi should not have taught those people in the first place. We should keep things in our own village.”
“Well, Chen Xiao Mi is free to do anything, he can teach anyone as he pleases. How I wish I had offered to help him build his room.”
“This is our Village Head’s fault, he just rejected Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi without even asking us.”
“Zhang Da Zhu is also at fault, he should have taught us already, but he kept putting it off.”
“I know? It’s been over a month now!”
“I’m sure Zhang Da Zhu has earned at least a few taels of silver, aiya, I hope I’m chosen to help build a new room for Chen Xiao Mi too!”
“You? Stop daydreaming! Your son is bullying Chen Xiao Mai and Chen Xiao Cai, do you really think you really have a chance?”
The villagers were now very jealous of Chen Xiao Mi, but their opinions did not affect Chen Xiao Mi and his life at all.
At Chen Xiao Mi’s house.
“Look at this sweet potato!” Lu Lin said: “Looks like Big Gulf Village is having a good year for sweet potatoes.”
“Yes.” Chen Xiao Mi nodded: “I have seen so many people selling sweet potatoes in the market at such a low price. But it is not easy to store these sweet potatoes.”
“Right, they will become hard on cold days. We can buy a few more days if we store them in the basement, but there’s still a risk. Hmm, let’s buy some more sweet potatoes and brew some sweet potato wine.”
Chen Xiao Mi looked at Lu Lin in disbelief: “You know how to brew wine?”
Lu Lin was amused by how stunned Chen Xiao Mi was: “Yes, I know.”
Lu Lin grew up in a village too, his parents taught him how to brew wine when he was young. But beer and wine had become so cheap with the years, no one wanted to go to the trouble of making their own wine or beer anymore.
Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi decided to sell another batch of alcohol at the store to exchange money first, this time they went big, they sold thirty bottles of alcohol for twenty-four taels of silver.
The two then went to Big Gulf Village and bought sweet potatoes in bulk, the villagers felt very grateful to the young couple.
They bought one thousand kilos of sweet potatoes from the villagers for five taels of silver. Lu Lin kept most of the sweet potatoes in his shop and some were stored in the cellar to disguise people.
Then he called the Chen brothers to help him brew wine together.
Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi had made some money from selling alcohol in the shop, but Chen Xiao Mi had always felt unsure about it because he didn’t work for it. So now he was encouraged to brew wine together with Lu Lin.
Brewing wine was a tedious process, they couldn’t see the results right away. But Lu Lin had cooked sweet potatoes in many ways, everyone enjoyed the delicious sweet potatoes.
T/N: These villagers are really shameless smh. Comment below what you thought of this chapter!
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