CH 152

Ms. Hua sobbed and said, “Zhao’er’s father only contacted me in my dreams when he knew that I sold the courtyard. He won’t let me, and I’m negotiating with Miss Mo to get it back.”

Then everyone suddenly came to a realisation, “No wonder they hadn’t rebuilt the house yet, even though it’d been burnt down for so long.”

Liu Fengchun took the opportunity to say, “Zhao’er’s father must’ve thought you sold it too cheaply. Sell it to me, I’ll give you sixty silver taels for it.”

Ms. Hua continued wailing, “My husband told me in the dream that whoever wanted my courtyard the most was the one who set it on fire.”

Liu Fengchun argued, “It was the Mo girl who bought your courtyard, she was obviously the one who wanted it the most.”

“Who would buy a courtyard and then set it on fire?”

Everyone agreed, and Liu Fengchun suddenly felt like he was falling in a trap. But everyone knew that Ms. Hua wasn’t a scheming person, who would believe she was trying to trick him? But it was true Liu Fengchun wanted to buy the Wu family’s yard wholeheartedly.

Liu Fengchun was considered a respectable person, so he still had to care about his reputation. He wouldn’t look good coveting Ms. Hua’s courtyard. He couldn’t propose to buy a courtyard anymore no matter what, so he could only hypocritically try to persuade Ms. Hua before leaving.

Ms. Hua was also tired from crying. After everyone persuaded her to return to the workshop, Mo Feng hurried back to the firm. As soon as he entered the door, an employee came over and asked if he could sell some goods at a certain price, and where to put these other goods.

For the rest of the day, the employees kept calling for ‘Manager Mo’. He didn’t understand anything the employees were asking about, so always agreed hastily or told them to refer to Chuzi. Later, when he heard someone calling his name, he felt a headache and wished he could run home immediately.

Chuzi came over just then and asked, “Manager Mo, how was your first day at work?”

Mo Feng nodded, “I never knew being a manager could be so hard.”

“Our business has many goods of various types. When we first started, it took so much work just figuring out appropriate prices! The workshop is different. The work is simple and arranged for you. But if you don’t do your job well, you can get fined.”

“Really?” Mo Feng looked at Chuzi with hope in his eyes.

Chuzi struck while the iron was hot, “If you don’t believe me, go to the workshop to have a look! Aside from that, Mr. Cao, our accountant, is very busy every day. On the other hand, Zhou Liangsheng, the workshop’s accountant, only goes there after school. Sometimes he doesn’t even go. Where do you think is busier?”

Mo Feng had only heard the advantages of being the manager of a firm from Mo Zenian, but he didn’t realise it was so troublesome. However, he had jumped the gun and already told Xiuying that he would be the firm’s manager from now on. He didn’t know how he would break the news to her if he quit and went to the workshop.

“I’m not familiar with the role yet. Maybe I’ll be fine after a few more days.”

When Chuzi heard that, he decided he had to bother Mo Feng more.

As soon as he got home, Mo Feng went into his room sullenly and laid down without saying a word. Ms. Liang came in concernedly and asked him if he was tired, and whether things were going well or not.

Mo Yan had managed the firm by herself, and Ms. Liang had never seen her come back so downcast ever!

At this time, someone called for Mo Yan at the gate, and she ran out to see if she knew them, but Mo Feng ran out of his room after hearing the voice, “Xiuying, you’re here!”

This was Ms. Li’s daughter, Chen Xiuying. Their family and Mo Yan’s aunt’s family already had familial relations with each other.

Mo Yan felt that she had come to look for Mo Feng, but didn’t want to say it out loud, so turned to leave, but Chen Xiuying said, “Mo Yan, I’m here to look for you.”

Mo Feng enthusiastically led Xiuying inside, and went to make tea. Mo Yan and Xiuying both sat down. Xiuying asked shyly, “Mo Yan, do you still need workers in your workshop?”

Before Mo Yan could speak, Mo Feng simply replied, “Yes.”

Mo Yan gritted her teeth secretly, but didn’t want to look angry in front of outsiders, so she forced a smile on her face, “The work in the workshop is quite hard, can you do it well?”

Xiuying immediately vowed, “I’m not afraid of hard work. I work in the field, working in the workshop can’t get as exhausting as that.”

Mo Feng had just heard all about how easy working in the workshop was today. He just knew that Mo Yan didn’t want to help her out, so loudly said, “That’s right, Xiuying is a hard worker, she’s no worse than our sister.”

Then, Ms. Liang came into the room, and looked Xiuying up and down before saying, “Xiuying, you’ve really grown up.”

Xiuying lowered her head and called her “Auntie” with a smile. Mo Yan looked at Ms. Liang in surprise, not knowing where that came from.

Xiuying explained, “My mother said that you are no longer the daughter-in-law of the Mo family, so I should call you Auntie.”

In Chenzhong Village, this was the first time someone admitted that she was no longer Mo Zenian’s wife. Ms. Liang’s impression of Xiuying improved significantly.

“Such an obedient child. Are you here to find Feng’er?”

Mo Feng interjected, “She wants to work in the workshop.”

Ms. Liang said, “What’s the problem? Several people from our village have gone, even our neighbour Dagan.”

Mo Yan could no longer refuse, “Okay, you can go to the workshop tomorrow! We’ll see what kind of work we can arrange for you, but the workshop isn’t mine. Lu Junming is the owner.”

Xiuying thanked her repeatedly, “I know, don’t worry. I won’t be picky and will just follow my supervisor’s arrangement.”

She left, and Mo Feng went to see her off. After exiting the courtyard, Xiuying asked how he was doing in the firm, and Mu Feng could only say that he was doing alright.

“Do you have any quilts in your firm? My mother said that she had to prepare for my brother’s wedding, so I need to buy some decent quilts.”

Mo Feng said generously, “Yes, choose whichever quilt you want.”

Xiuying had a faint blush on her face, “That won’t be necessary! I just need two quilts with fortune symbols on them.”

Mo Feng agreed, “Okay, no problem.”

Mo Yan vaguely felt that Xiuying would be her future sister-in-law. She looks shy and timid on the surface, but had many machinations, much more than Zhong Cheng’s second sister-in-law.

Mo Feng’s laziness was well-known in the village, so she had to know about it and had something else in mind. The most important thing was that she won over Ms. Liang, so she knew who was in charge of the family.

In a few days, Zhong Cheng would come to deliver his dowry, and others are coming with him, so the house would have to be tidied up. After all, they couldn’t let people say that their family is different from the appearance of their house.

After cleaning, new tablecloths, bed sheets, good wine and tea, and gifts in reciprocation must be prepared quickly as well.

For a more formal banquet like this, people are often invited to accompany the guests. Usually, those were elders of the family and the governing official. But the Mo family has no elders. Besides inviting Uncle Pingshun, Ms. Liang also wanted to invite Mr. Cao to come. Since two prominent people in the village were invited, their reputation wouldn’t suffer.

Ms. Liang didn’t know which women to invite. The shrew that was their neighbour had already offered, but Ms. Liang didn’t want to ask her. Looking at the women in the village, only Mrs. Cao was a decent choice, but she was no longer in the village.

Post-translation notes: I finally decided to switch documents for my backup copies of the novel and you have no idea how much better this has made my life. As always, thank you for reading!