Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty
Chapter 171 - 170: Learning to Be More Astute

Chapter 171: Chapter 170: Learning to Be More Astute

Chen Shi looked at his recovering elder brother, his eyes welling with emotion, and the two brothers walked into the main room hand in hand.

Mrs. Zhang walked out of the kitchen with a laugh, dragging Mrs. Wang with her back to the kitchen to work. Chen Atang and Alu led Dahu and Dabao to eat sweets in the hall. The others went to the west room of the main hall, where Granny Chen sat on the bed with her three sons, while the rest sat on the chairs below, listening to Chen Shi talking about his affairs in the capital city, supplemented by Chen Ayu.

The Chen Shi family had recently rented a large shop. The shop was a two-storey building, the first floor was a tavern with takeaway Lu Chuan, and the second floor was dedicated to making Lu Chuan. Lu Chuan was not only sold in their own tavern, but also in specialty stores, employing a dozen apprentices. He said that he was short of silver at the moment and that he would buy the shop when he had earned more silver.

Mrs. Hu was busy running back and forth between the kitchen and the west room, worrying about missing out on any information about Chen Shi’s family.

Before Chen Shi returned home, Granny Chen had privately warned Mrs. Hu that if she dared to demand anything from Chen Shi, she would tell Chen Ye about all the things she had done before, and let Chen Ye divorce her. Chen Ye and Chen Agu also taught Mrs. Hu a thing or two, telling her not to ask for anything casually, otherwise the brotherhood would fade.

So the words "you can’t just care about your own fortune, you should also buy a shop for your elder brother" circled around Mrs. Hu’s throat countless times, but she still suppressed them.

Chen Shi smiled at Chen Afu and said, "Afu, your uncle must thank you. The idea you came up with has dramatically changed your uncle’s life."

Chen Afu laughed and said, "The main thing is that Uncle is capable."

He thought to himself, Chen Shi was smart, but he had the same problem as Chen Ye, he liked to save face and brag. No wonder he was fooled by Mrs. Hu, he could inflate ten taels of silver into eleven taels.

Mrs. Hu immediately raised her voice and said, "Afu, you’ve helped Uncle’s family, you should also help Uncle’s family, we’re all relatives, there can’t be any disparity in treatment. Our family can be considered your benefactor. If we were short-sighted and sold you after taking the fifty taels of silver, could you still be sitting here comfortably..."

"Mother, what nonsense are you talking about?" Chen Agu glared at Mrs. Hu to interrupt her.

Chen Ye also darkened his face and scolded loudly, "You damn woman, it’s New Year’s Eve, can’t you be quiet? If you dare to use the silver to do bad things, the silver won’t wait for you to spend it, your hand will be cut off. Stupid thing, no matter how many times I scold you, you’re still talking nonsense. Go, go, go back to the kitchen and do the work."

Mrs. Hu saw that the men were angry, pouted her lips, and had to turn around to go to the kitchen.

Mrs. Hu’s words made Chen Ming’s face turn red. Chen Afu sneered, thinking to herself, what a brain-dead person, even good words could be made to sound like this by her.

Chen Agu quickly apologized on behalf of Mrs. Hu to Chen Afu.

When Chen Shi asked what was going on, Chen Ming didn’t want to talk about these things in public, waved his hand and said, "It’s a mess. We’ll talk about it later when we have time."

Chen Afu knew that because she had made a fortune, the first room would definitely have some ideas. Moreover, the first room and Granny Chen had helped her family a lot these times, and she also remembered this favour, thinking that she should reciprocate the favour to the first room.

So she whispered to Chen Agu, "I’ve bought another piece of wasteland, about five acres. I want to plant watermelons. When I was in the capital city, I bought some watermelon seeds from the nomadic people and learned some special methods of treating the seeds from them. If the elder brother trusts me, just split some land and plant watermelons with me, I will give you some sprouts developed with the Western Region watermelon seeds." She humbly added, "This is my first time planting watermelons, I can’t guarantee that it will definitely make a profit."

Her best friend from her past life, Tang Tingting’s parents were melon farmers. Chen Yanyan had visited her home a few times with Tingting and often heard her rambling on, learning some secrets on how to germinate watermelon seeds. Combined with the environment of the space, she believed that the watermelons she would grow would taste even better, just like the cucumbers that grew in the summer.

Although Chen Agu wasn’t very sharp-minded, he knew that following Chen Afu wouldn’t be a disadvantage. He immediately nodded and laughed, "Elder brother following Afu will definitely make money. Even if it loses, elder brother will accept the loss. After harvesting the winter wheat, I’ll take out five acres to plant watermelons."

Chen Ye and Granny Chen heard this and were pleased, laughing and nodding their heads. Both of them were shrewd and had long seen that Chen Afu was extraordinary after she recovered from her illness. Just look at Chen Shi’s prosperity after listening to Afu’s ideas.

The food today was extremely abundant. Granny Chen led her three sons and Chen Agu to eat on the bed, while the others ate at two tables on the ground.

During the meal, Mrs. Hu was full of dramatic expressions as she narrated the difficulties of Chen Ye raising Chen Ming and Chen Shi.

Chen Ye loved to hear this, and laughed heartily.

Chen Ming and Chen Shi both raised their wine bowls to thank Chen Ye for his previous efforts, and the three brothers recalled their hard past and their current good life.

Mrs. Hu was so frustrated that she felt suffocated, dismissing it as only sweet talk without giving any silver.

Chen Aman sat next to Chen Afu, whispering to her from time to time, which made Chen Aju both envious and jealous.

Because they were in the countryside, Chen Afu’s dress was not eye-catching, usually in fine cloth or dark-colored silk. But Chen Aman wore good clothes, although the quality was not very good, the color was soft, the style was good-looking, and with her fair and delicate face, she was always smiling, and everyone liked her.

After the meal, Chen Shi’s family took out their gifts. They bought a golden hairpin and some soft food for Granny Chen, and a large package of food and necessities for the first and second rooms, with the gifts being the same, worth about three to four taels of silver each. This was already a very generous gift.

Chen Ye and Chen Ming expressed their gratitude. However, Mrs. Hu pouted her lips and wanted to say something, but she didn’t say anything when she saw Chen Ye glaring at her.

Everyone chatted and laughed for a while longer, and Chen Ming and the others prepared to go home, making an appointment that they would all gather in the main house for the Lunar New Year’s Eve, and that the second room would host a feast on the third day of the Lunar New Year.

Chen Atang announced, "I will go and stay with Uncle and Alu."

Chen Aman also stood up and said, "I also want to sleep with Sister Afu."

Granny Chen said to her, "You haven’t come back for such a long time, Aman you should accompany Granny to sleep."

Hearing this, Chen Aman immediately hugged Granny Chen’s arm, laughing and agreeing.

Granny Chen glanced at Chen Aju, who was sitting in the distance, and said in a low voice, "Your Sister Aju has been looking forward to your return, too. Now that you’re close to Afu, you should also get closer to Aju. Aju is like a hammer, always listening to Hu Cuicui. Often it is Hu Cuicui who instigates her to do bad things, and people tuck their necks in at a moment’s notice, and in the end, it’s her who’s left to deal with everything. Aju doesn’t listen to my words, and it’s not patience to listen to them. Her father only knows how to hit people and her mother spoils her. It’s easier for you young ladies to talk to each other, so you should talk to her more and take her with you more often, to make her more savvy..."

Granny Chen was also at her wit’s end. She originally wanted Afu to talk to Aju more and take her around more. But since Aju had offended Afu to the core, she felt embarrassed to ask Afu. She had to let Aman get closer to Aju and learn to be discerning, and spend less time with Hu Cuicui.