Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty
Chapter 209 - 208: Capture

Chapter 209: Chapter 208: Capture

Around late morning, Chu Hanyan and Luo Mei, Luo Mingcheng came over, accompanied by the adults.

It was the first day of classes in the new campus, and Chen Afu and the children were all very excited. Because with Yang Chao and Yang Qian added, the atmosphere in the classroom became even livelier.

First, they listened to stories and played games in the activity room, then practiced martial arts in the front yard, and finally learned counting and addition within ten in the study. Then, they had lunch and took a siesta.

In the late afternoon, they played games, played with building blocks, learned to recognize characters, and then went to the children’s playground in the back yard for free activities and had dinner.

After dinner, the children were again frolicking in the yard, and the birds that had been wild all day returned under the leadership of Jin Yanzi.

The laughter of people, the barking of dogs, and the chirping of birds interwined, making Fu Garden even more lively.

Chu Hanyan, who would be sharing a bed with Yang Qian and her aunt tonight, laughed even sweeter with joy.

On the other hand, Mrs. Wang and Chen Afu were sitting in the corridor discussing the issue of Dabao’s birthday celebration for tomorrow. Tomorrow is the fifth anniversary of Dabao being picked up, which is also considered his fifth birthday. After his birthday, he should go to private school.

When Chen Ming was still home, he had already taken him to meet Mr. Jiang at the private school in Shangshui Village. Mr. Jiang was very fond of Dabao, saying that he was extremely intelligent, blessed with unique talents, and even predicted that "This child can only be taught by Mr. Jiang for a year at most, after that you will have to find a good teacher ..."

Chen Ming was so excited by these words that he shed tears. His family, at last, was going to have a government official.

Mrs. Wang thought that in the past, she could only give Dabao an egg for his birthday, and Dabao would still sensibly share half of it with his mother. She wanted to give him a lively birthday celebration. A rural celebration meant inviting more guests, setting up more tables, and preparing more delicious food.

Chen Afu was unwilling, saying that Dabao’s happiness was the most important thing. So tomorrow, only the children would accompany her, and besides the children in the house, at most they would invite Shitou, Si Xizi, and Dazhu and Guozi, the two children from Tang Garden who get along well with Dabao.

While the two of them were talking, they were both worried about Chen Ming. Given his personality, he should not have missed Chen Afu’s move, nor should he have missed Dabao’s birthday. But he hasn’t come back yet, and he may miss Dabao’s birthday too.

Chen Afu, seeing Mrs. Wang’s eyes a little red, comforted her, "Mother, don’t worry. Since Manager Luo is with them, if there is an emergency, someone will definitely be sent back to inform us."

Suddenly, there was the sound of a carriage outside the door, and the carriage stopped at the entrance of Fu Garden. Then Zeng Shuang’s voice came, "Open the door, Master Chen is back."

Zeng Jiang hurried to open the door, and Mrs. Wang and Chen Afu both got up to go to the door, and the children followed.

Seeing Chen Ming and Zeng Jiang standing at the door, Chen Ming’s face didn’t look very good. The carriage was from Tang Garden, which dropped them off and went back to the Tang Garden.

Zeng Shuang helped Chen Ming enter the house, and Mrs. Wang anxiously asked, "What happened to the head of the family?"

Chen Ming shook his head and walked straight into the main room. Chen Afu and Mrs. Wang hurried in after him. Alu and Dabao still wanted to come in, but were stopped by Chen Afu. She asked them to continue leading their little guests to play in the courtyard, and asked Aunt Zeng to make a meal for Chen Ming and Zeng Shuang.

After Chen Ming had a drink of water, he told them what had happened.

As it turned out, as soon as Chen Ye and Mrs. Hu saw the luxury and booming business of the wine shop, they regretted it. Xinglong Grand Restaurant was a three-storey blue-brick building with flying eaves and corners, carved railings and painted pillars, colorful lanterns hanging high, which dazzled them.

They had originally thought that since people said the restaurant was not very large, it might be just a little better than the county town’s restaurant. Who would have thought it would be more luxurious and magnificent than the best restaurant in the county town?

And moreover, the business was surprisingly good, with all three floors fully occupied. How much money must they be making!

Chen Ming shook his head, "The business was so good in the first two days partly because of Mr. Luo and Zeng Shuang’s connections. A lot of managers from the senator’s mansion came, as well as people who have a relationship with the senator’s mansion, even some military gentlemen, and of course some officials that the restaurant must invite. Normally, there won’t be so many people ..."

However, Chen Ye and Mrs. Hu did not think so, they just thought they had been shortchanged. The second and third branches each held a 40% share, while the main branch only held a 10% share. In the future, the second and third branches would definitely make more and more money, while the main branch would only become poorer and poorer...

Chen Ye thought to himself, if he had known earlier, he should have put in more silver and held more shares, this restaurant could be seen as a big money-maker. It’s all because of that damn woman’s fuss, otherwise, even if he had to put in more than 100 taels of silver, he wouldn’t only have a 10% share.

But Mrs. Hu thought that the second and third branches were too stingy. If they were to give away shares, they should give away 30% each, wouldn’t it be perfect if each branch held 30%?

At that time, Chen Shi had specifically booked a private room in the restaurant and invited the entire Chen family to have a meal.

Mrs. Hu was the first to make trouble, crying and accusing the second and third branches of being selfish and forgetful, only thinking about themselves getting rich, but letting the big brother who had raised them suffer in poverty, as if their conscience had been eaten by dogs. She also specifically scolded Chen Afu, saying that it was all her evil idea, and that that dead girl was too cunning ...

Chen Ming didn’t care if he got scolded himself, but he was not pleased when they scolded Chen Afu. He said, "It was my sister-in-law who cried and fussed that day because she didn’t want to put in the silver, so how can you blame Afu? Afu was being kind, letting you in the main house have a share without putting in any silver, that was her idea."

Mrs. Zhang also said, "Yes, that day when Afu came up with this idea, I remember that my sister-in-law was very happy." In her heart though, she thought, not only was Mrs. Hu pleased, but the whole main branch family was delighted.

Chen Ye was already upset, and when he heard Mrs. Hu hurling harsh insults, he was just about to scold her.

But hearing Chen Ming’s words suddenly highlighted the having different degrees of closeness and relationships which made him even less happy. With a stern face he said, "Second brother, what are you saying, say it again! What do you mean ’my Afu’, what do you mean ’you the main house’?"

Mrs. Chen also said, "Second son, are you stupid, do you not know who is close and who is distant anymore?"

Chen Ming was indeed afraid of Chen Ye, and certainly made a mistake in his words out of anxiousness, quickly said, "I made a mistake in my words, big brother don’t be angry ..."

Seeing that her husband was supporting her, Mrs. Hu felt even firmer. She sneered and said, "Oh, ’my Afu’, you actually had the cheek to say. Now many people in the village are saying behind our backs that Afu is not your real daughter, but was brought in by Mrs. Wang previously, the governor’s daughter ..."

This remark scared the three Chen brothers and Mrs. Chen out of their wits. If someone were to overhear this and spread it, their entire family would fall into big trouble, they hastily told her to stop making unfounded remarks.

Chen Ye was even more shocked and slapped her, but because of the excessive force, Mrs. Hu was knocked over on the table, crushing a pile of bowls, dishes and plates underneath her. Fortunately, the weather was still cold and Mrs. Hu was wearing thick clothes, except for the few blisters on her hands, she was not hurt. Mrs. Hu immediately burst into loud cries, and the room was in chaos.

They couldn’t continue the family meal and everyone went home.

Chen Ming, because of his anger, didn’t feel well in the middle of the night. Chen Shi and Chen Ayu also urgently went to look for the doctor.

Early the next morning, a group of military officers suddenly broke into Chen Shi’s house and took Mrs. Hu away, accusing her of falsely accusing a court official, a serious crime. But because the case was related to the governor, in order to avoid suspicion, he had transferred the case to the military.