CH 71

The Mo family’s storefront opened three days later. After the renovations, it had become a serviceable storefront for selling food.

Aside from selling wraps like they did before, they also had a few clay jars on the counter. Inside were picked vegetables and cooked salted duck eggs, and there were price tags in front of each clay jar.

There were also some clay jars on the floor, filled with sauce and more pickled vegetables. Mrs. Liang had gone to the market to buy some vegetables to pickle today, and they might be able to sell those as well.

Thankfully, the rent of this storefront was cheap and could be earned easily.

Mrs. Liang only returned near noon to grab the wheelbarrow. She had her eye on some cheap on high-quality vegetables and wanted to hurry to buy them.

The storefront wasn’t too busy and could be handled by Mo Ling alone, so Mo Yan went with Mrs. Liang.

“Mum, these vegetables are really cheap. It’s a shame we can’t store them for long.”

She replied while pushing their wheelbarrow, “What are you talking about? If we dig a vegetable cellar, we can keep these until the New Year!”

“Then let’s go dig one in the Ng family courtyard! If we buy more vegetables while they’re still cheap, we can keep selling pickled vegetables throughout winter!”

“We’ll have to discuss this with Ms. Hua and see if she’s willing first.”

“She’ll definitely agree. Go buy the vegetables you had your eye on, and ask the sellers to send it to the vegetable cellar once it’s made. That way, you won’t have to transport all of the vegetables on your own.”

Mrs. Liang stopped and said, “I never thought of that. You really have a lot of good ideas.”

She was an expert negotiator, and already had an idea about which vegetable sellers had the best wares. They could even get a lower price if they bought in bulk.

The three of them had a wrap each for lunch before going to the Ng family to wash and pickle the vegetables Mrs. Liang bought.

Ms. Hua saw how busy they were and tried to help, but Mrs. Liang stopped her. She saw how dirty she saw, and was afraid she’d contaminate the vegetables and render them unusable.

Mo Yan had figured out what her mother was thinking and said to Ms. Hua diplomatically, “You’ll have a steady income from now on, and won’t have to take unused vegetable leaves from the streets from now on!”

She had also realised that Mrs. Liang thought she was too dirty, and said embarrassedly, “I was just taking them to feed the rabbits!”

“Zhao’er is going to be learning under Mr. Cao from now on, so he has to keep clean. It’s really important in hospitals. Sell your rabbits! We’ll have to keep the courtyard clean for storage. Don’t worry, as long as I’m here, I won’t let you two worry about starving.”

Ms. Hua pulled on her hand and profusely thanked her. Ever since her husband died the better part of a year ago, she and her son lived each day in poverty. But after encountering Mo Yan, not only did they have a stable income, her son also became a disciple of Mr. Cao.

“Could you clean up your house too? If something happens over at ours, we might even have to seek refuge at yours! Of course, we’ll compensate you for your expenses.”

Ms. Hua wasn’t a calculating person and was just eager to fulfil the task she was given.

The three of them were making themselves busy in the courtyard when Lu Junming came over, “Yan’er, I saw that you’d closed up shop and thought you’d already come back home! I’ve brought some wares over, you can decide where to place them down and inspect them.”

Mo Yan followed him outside and saw two horse-drawn carriages. One was used to transport goods, while the other had a person inside.

A lady in her thirties was inside one of the horse-drawn carriages. The accessories on her head weren’t opulent, but they were fitting and tasteful.

Lu Junming waved and said, “Mum, give me a sec, I’ll be with you soon.”

No wonder Lu Junming looked so good, it turns out he took after his mother. Mo Yan felt incomparable to her, like she couldn’t even be her handmaiden.

“Lu Junming, go take care of your mother first!”

He ordered the driver of the other carriage to follow Mo Yan’s orders, got on his horse, and left.

Mo Yan led the horse-drawn carriage into the courtyard and told the driver where to place down Lu Junming’s wares.

Inside, there were lotus roots, lotus leaves, various seafood and two buckets of caviar.

After he left, Mrs. Liang saw the wares and got agitated, “These can’t be put on the floor, or they’ll get mouldy and attract insects.”

She saw the bricks and wooden boards in the courtyard and said, “Use the bricks and the wooden planks to make a rack to put these on.”

Ms. Hua finally got a chance and made the rack, “Yan’er, let me handle this.”

After building the rack, she helped put the wares on it. She was surprisingly strong, being able to lift the lighter goods on her own. She could also deal with the heavier goods with just a little assistance from Mo Yan.

Mo Yan inspected each bag of wares carefully and found them to be of a decent-quality. The seafood and caviar would be perfect for their business, while the lotus roots would be good in a dried goods store. Meanwhile, they could probably sell the lotus leaves to a clinic.

She took the lotus roots and lotus leaves to ask the prices, while Mo Ling and Mrs. Liang took some of the seafood and caviar to put in the store.

While waiting for Mo Yan to return, Mrs. Liang whispered, “These are all edible, is it really safe to put them here?”

Her worries weren’t unfounded. Not only was she afraid these goods would be ruined by various pests, she was also wary of Ms. Hua and Zhao’er. They were both poor and might not be able to control themselves in front of delicious edible goods.

Mo Yan took two dried fishes and gave them to Ms. Hua, “Thanks for letting us put our wares in your courtyard. You can have some if you want, as long as you don’t contaminate our wares.”

She repeatedly tried to decline the dried fishes, saying, “You’ve already paid us rent, so how can we take your stuff? Although we’re poor, we still have basic etiquette and won’t steal other people’s items.”

Mo Yan shoved the dried fishes towards her, “These are all dried goods and you won’t be able to eat much anyways, so it’s fine.”

Ms. Hua finally accepted it. “Don’t worry, I’ll help you take care of the wares. I’ll sell the rabbits later and buy a cat to keep away the rats.”

With the Mo family, their courtyard had become more lively than previously, and her previously-cold heart had warmed up.

Lu Junming had wanted to buy the courtyard outright, but Mo Yan disagreed. Ms. Hua wasn’t good with money, and might not have spent it wisely if they gave everything to her in one go. Giving her rent allowed her to have a steady monthly income, so she wouldn’t run out of money as easily.

Zhao’er returned from the clinic in the afternoon and greeted Mo Yan and the others politely when he saw them.

He wasn’t particularly handsome, but he cleaned up nicely and was polite, so he was likeable. Mrs. Liang even said that Zhao’er was very likeable.

They were both poor, but her son Mo Feng didn’t know how to do anything at the age of fourteen. Meanwhile, Zhao’er was the apprentice of a doctor at the tender age of seven!

Post-edit notes: Hi, back from the tests. I have a break in roughly a week’s time and I hope I can release a few more chappies then. Thanks for reading!