CH 65

It wasn’t uncommon for women to take their own life due to losing their reputation in ancient China. Mo Yan didn’t want that to ever happen to Mo Ling.

She took the ginger soup and put it next to Mo Ling, who was facing away from her, on the kang, saying, “You shouldn’t be sorrowful for someone who isn’t worth it. Living your life to the fullest is the best form of revenge you can have.”

Seeing Mo Ling was still unmoving, Mo Yan said, “Drink the ginger soup. We still have to do business today, so you can’t get a cold!”

Mo Ling turned around and said with reddened eyes, “What business? Haven’t I lost enough of my reputation already?”

“You just encountered a scumbag, it’s fine. Once we make enough money and can eat good food and wear nice clothes, they’ll all die of jealousy!”

Mo Ling looked outside the window and saw Mrs. Liang removing sorghum grains from the ears in the courtyard. Because it was dusty, she occasionally let out a cough or two.

“She must hate my guts right now.”

“When she heard you jumped into the well, she was worried to death. If something had actually happened to you, she’d probably have killed that scumbag by now.”

Mr. Tian was from the Tian family manor, but he’d been teaching at Chenzhong Village for half a decade by now. After what happened recently, he could no longer stay here and decided to talk to the governing official to resign preemptively.

He called Cao Zhang over and put his books at theirs. Aside from those, all he had was a blanket and a small pack filled with essentials.

However, instead of returning to his home, he tried to find a new job at Qianshui City.

The city’s school was much larger than Chenzhong Village’s. There were five teachers already, and a few dozen students. Mr. Tian asked if they were looking for a new teacher, and the administrator knew something was up when he saw his dejected face.

Mr. Tian wasn’t a good liar, and mumbled out the truth. He roughly understood what had happened and waved his hand dismissively, “We don’t accept morally bankrupt people here.”

Mr. Tian didn’t understand. I was just unable to take out a dowry of twenty silver taels, how did I become morally bankrupt?

After asking around the entire city, he found a job at Manager Liang’s Shunlai Restaurant. They were missing a person to do miscellaneous affairs, and he was willing to give him a shot. Mr. Tian would receive a thousand dollars every month, as well as board and lodging. [1]

Mo Ling contemplated for a day and finally understood she didn’t do anything wrong, so she should live her life to the fullest to get revenge against them.

Her body was strong, so she didn’t get a cold after drinking the ginger soup. The next day, she woke up and started making flatbread. Mrs. Liang thought she had gone insane and came over to ask, “What are you doing?”

“I’m making flatbread for our business, so we can make money!”

Has she really gotten over it already? Mrs. Liang went over to help, while checking if she was really fine. When Mo Yan returned from her morning run, she told her to keep an eye on Mo Ling as well.

While pushing their cart to the market, Mo Ling felt much better.

After setting up shop, people instantly surrounded them. Their business was exceptionally good that day, and they’d filled up their wallet by mid-morning. They probably had five hundred dollars in there.

“Yan’er, let’s close shop and buy something good before going back home!”

They bought half a kilogram of pork and two fresh bok choys, which Mo Ling said they’d use to make dumplings. Then, they went to the lamb soup store, and the fragrance from the last time they ate there made their mouths water again.

“Let’s have some lamb soup before coming home!”

Why does this scene look a lot like that time they ran away from home!

They had two bowls of lamb soup and two crackers again, and it was very satisfying. When they paid the bill, Mo Ling asked, “How much would it cost to buy lamb oil?”

“It’s sixty dollars a kilogram.”

“I’d like half a kilogram, please!”

Mo Ling decided to be generous for once, so Mo Yan didn’t stop her.

When they returned home, they saw Mrs. Zhang, who smiled brightly at Mo Ling, “Where did you two just come from?”

Mo Ling replied, “We just finished operating our business in the city! We profited a lot today, so I bought some meat to make dumplings with and lamb oil for frying vegetables! How often can you eat dumpling every year, Mrs. Zhang?”

She smiled embarrassedly, “We only have them during the New Year, like everyone else.”

“From now on, our family will have them every day like it’s the New Year in that case!” [2]

They went inside, and Mo Ling called for her brother, “Feng’er, I bought something good for you, come and get it!”

Mo Feng ran out, and she handed the pork and lamb oil to him, “We had lamb soup today, but we couldn’t leave you out, so we bought some lamb oil to fry bok choy with. Tonight, we’re going to mince meat to make dumplings, like how we should mince up scumbags.”

Seeing the delicacies, even his mouth became sweeter, “Sis, you really think of me. If any scumbags dare bully you, I’ll go beat them up for you!”

Even though he was just joking, the words sounded pleasant to Mo Ling’s ear.

After making lunch, Mo Ling helped Mrs. Liang with the sorghum grains. She said, “You’ve actually gone mad, haven’t you?”

Mo Ling smiled, “Isn’t this a good thing? All of us are happily living together, and even Feng’er has become obedient for once!”

The root of the matter was ultimately money. With it, they wouldn’t have to worry about their day-to-day lives, and wouldn’t have to budget so much.

Mo Ling’s wound had clotted, so she no longer had to bandage it. From the looks of it, it would leave a scar. Mo Yan had a similar scar on her left hand, and when they put their hands together, she said, “It’s a perfect match.”

Mo Ling extracted her hand and continued working on the sorghum grains, “So?”

If a noblewoman had a scar on her hand, it would lead to much grief and sorrow, but peasants like them wouldn’t worry about such things.

They happily sat down for lunch. In the afternoon, Mrs. Liang minced the pork to make dumplings with.

At night, Mo Ling went to fetch water from the well. She had just finished when Dagan arrived with a water bucket in his hand.

“Ling’er, you’re here to fetch water?”

“What else am I here to do? Jump in?”

The people who got water from that well were their two families. If Mo Ling had died there, they’d have to collapse the well, and even the pond would become an unholy place. After the fact, Mo Ling would regret not trying to commit suicide in their neighbour’s house instead. [3]

Dagan became very flustered, “That’s a matter of the past now, don’t bring it up again!”

“I don’t want to bring it up, but others will definitely bring it up. Dagan, I know you did nothing wrong, but if someone else spreads more rumours around, don’t blame me for being impolite towards them.”

She had just finished speaking when she heard Mrs. Zhang’s voice, “Dagan, why are you helping Mo Ling fetch water? Have you forgotten what recently happened?”

Mo Ling grabbed her water bucket and stalked to her door, “You shrew, if you keep spreading baseless rumours, don’t blame me for being impolite!”

Even though the two families have had conflicts in the past, the two of them had never gone head-to-head previously. Mrs. Zhang was still her elder, so she was unable to bear the insult Mo Ling had just given her.

“How could you be so disrespectful?”

Mo Ling put down her water bucket, “In front of scumbags like you, I don’t need to be respectful. The reason none of your sons have a wife yet isn’t because you’re poor, but because no woman would want you as a mother-in-law!”

Post-edit notes: Damn, that was a really vicious rebuke from Mo Ling there. But to be fair, Mrs. Zhang completely deserved it.

[1] Considering Mr. Tian apparently made a meagre amount of money while teaching, I’m not sure if that’s an upgrade or a downgrade.

[2] You go girl! Make more money and show them who’s boss!

[3] Does this mean she never fully moves on with her life, or that she has since she can joke about it? At least she isn’t moping around soullessly anymore…