CH 70

Early the next day, Zhong Cheng came to the Mo residence, with wooden boards and woodworking tools in his carriage. After putting the sorghum stalks on there too, Mo Yan, Mo Ling and Mrs. Liang got on, and they all went to the city.

Mrs. Liang hadn’t been to the city for quite some time now, and didn’t know a storefront had been built next to the clinic. When she saw it, she sighed, “This road really is a prime business location, if even this shack can be rented out!”

After borrowing a ladder from Ms. Hua, Zhong Cheng went to remove the wooden boards that were originally on the roof and replaced them with the sorghum stalks. Mo Ling fetched some water and clay from Ms. Hua’s well too.

He applied the clay to the roof, then got down to repair the windows and the doors. He first removed the old ones, then replaced them with openable wooden shutters, like the other stores in the city.

It was approaching noon when they had finished with all of this. Zhong Cheng had just sat on the carriage to have a rest when Mo Ling said, “Go refurbish Ms. Hua’s courtyard too! There’s space to build a few storage rooms.” [1]

Zhong Cheng furrowed his brow, “I’m tired, let me take a break first!”

“So even you know how to be tired?”

This was the first time Mo Ling had ever heard him say he was tired after knowing him for so long. He always worked incredibly efficiently, like he was a machine.

Zhong Cheng rolled his eyes at her, “I still have flesh and blood, so of course I’ll get tired.”

Lu Junming came over, riding his white horse. “It’s already noon, let’s have lunch first!”

Mo Yan went over and said, “‘Young Master Lu’, You’ve only come over after we’ve finished the work here, so shouldn’t you pay for lunch?”

He dismounted and bowed, “It’s my fault. I went and found some workers, but arrived late because something came up. I didn’t think you’d be done this early, but I can take care of the rest, and I’ll pay for lunch too.”

Mo Yan glanced at Dengyun Tower, and Lu Junming followed her gaze, “How about we go to Dengyun Tower?”

Mrs. Liang instantly stopped him before she could say anything, “No, it’s too expensive! Let’s go to the lamb soup restaurant instead.”

Zhong Cheng and Mo Ling both said, “The food there is filling, and it isn’t expensive.”

Mrs. Liang only remembered she hadn’t made lunch for the Lu family then, “I have to go back first, Sir Lu hasn’t had lunch yet!”

Lu Junming replied, “Don’t worry, he’ll be fine. Have lunch first!”

As it wasn’t a market day, there were less people in the lamb soup restaurant. They each had a bowl of lamb soup, and Lu Junming also ordered herbal tea for everyone. Zhong Cheng had a large appetite, and had three crackers on his own.

Mo Yan asked Lu Junming why he came over, and he replied that he rented a small house which required renovations. He had come over to ask Mo Yan if they wanted to install anything in the Ng family courtyard.

Thankfully, it was currently autumn so they didn’t have to worry about rain for now. As long as an item could be stored in the cold, it could just be put there and they could put off building storage until New Year’s.

Mrs. Liang asked Lu Junming why he rented a small house, but Mo Yan kicked her under the table to prevent her from prying.

He said, “Don’t worry about the store, I’ll take care of the rest of it. You just need to worry about moving your business to the new location.”

When leaving the lamb soup restaurant, Mo Yan realised the jade on Lu Junming’s waist was missing. He must’ve done all of this behind his father’s back.

He rented a courtyard for his birth mother to live in, as he wanted to support her. As she was just a mistress, it would be inappropriate to relocate her to Chenzhong Village. By doing this, she’d be able to meet with him regularly.

Zhong Cheng got in his carriage and got ready to return home. “I don’t have any work to do tomorrow, so I can help you reclaim land. How about you bring me there first?”

As Lu Junming had to return to his rented courtyard to oversee the renovations, Mo Yan, Mo Ling and Mrs. Liang got in the carriage back to Chenzhong Village as well.

Most of the medicinal herbs in that abandoned piece of land had already been dug up, and the wildflowers had mostly wilted.

They had roughly sketched out a piece of land, and Zhong Cheng marked it using his shovel, “I can reclaim this land, you won’t have to worry about it. You just have to deal with your own business. Since you’ve rented a storefront, you have to run it well!”

Mo Ling insisted, “You have to accept money, or we’ll find someone else.”

Zhong Cheng nodded, “Alright, we’ll use the previously agreed-on price of two hundred dollars per acre.”

“This piece of land will be hard to reclaim, and you might only be able to reclaim a single acre in a day. You’re doing laborious work and even using your own work animals, but you’re only earning two hundred dollars per day…”

Mo Ling turned to Mrs. Liang, who looked to the side. When it came to money, her principle was to have as much profit as possible. After all, what she wanted was cheap and good labour, but Mo Ling went against this principle.

“Four hundred dollars per acre, don’t reject this offer. We’ll try to buy our own work animals next year, so we won’t have to bother you in the future!”

Mrs. Liang opened her mouth without saying anything, but she remembered that no one had made lunch for her darling Feng’er. So she instantly rushed back home.

Mo Ling said to Zhong Cheng, “You should go back first! You’ve helped us a lot recently, thank you so much!”

This made Zhong Cheng sigh, “Alright, don’t overwork yourself.” After saying that, he left.

Mo Yan and Mo Ling returned home together, discussing what they’d sell in their store.

Inside, Mo Feng was eating lunch. Inside his bowl were beansprouts, and they weren’t fried, just marinated with sauce.

Mo Yan asked, “Are you eating beansprouts marinated with sauce?”

He replied grumpily, “It’s a far cry from lamb soup!”

“It’s not our fault you didn’t come and help. If you had helped, not only would you have been able to drink lamb soup, you’d also get to drink herbal tea! You’d also have all the crackers you’d want, since Lu Junming was paying for everything.”

After hearing her speak, Mo Feng felt even unhappy. Why does having meat and hard work always go hand-in-hand?

Mo Yan grabbed one of the beansprouts and took a bite. It was crunchy and the taste of the sauce was clear. It was delicious, just a little salty.

“Mum, these are delicious, but if only they were less salty!”

“That’d dilute and waste some sauce. By making it saltier, I won’t have to dilute it.”

Mo Yan had never eaten this in her past life and found it special.

“Mum, since we have a storefront now, you can make some to sell from now on.”

“Can this even be sold?”

“Of course. As long as it tastes good, anything can be sold. If you haven’t revealed everything you know how to make, now’s the time to do so.”

Once she heard about making money, Mrs. Liang perked up, “This is the season to buy and salt vegetables. I’ll buy some more on the next market day.”

“Alright, just make it in the Ng family courtyard so you won’t have to take it here to there all the time. They also have a well, so it’ll be easy to wash the vegetables.”

Post-edit notes: Hi. I’m posting this chappie now because I have a lot of tests on Tuesday, and I don’t want to translate on Monday (which is when I’m supposed to have finished this chappie) instead of revising for said tests. Also, I’d feel bad for delaying the chappie for a day, so…here you go! Next chappie will be on Tuesday, after I finish my tests.