Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty
Chapter 82 - 81: The Way of the Mouse

Chapter 82: Chapter 81: The Way of the Mouse

As soon as this topic came up, Chen Ming was infuriated. He clenched his teeth and said, "We are all honest people in our family and never hold vendettas against anyone. Yet for some reason, yesterday some child lured my son, Dabao, to the Black Pine Forest and pushed him down a slope. He was covered in mud and injured in several places. Last night, someone even dumped sewage into our courtyard. It’s utterly excessive and despicable of these people." After a pause, he continued, "Someone has been eyeing our two parrots — they must be retaliating because we won’t give them away."

Upon hearing this, several people from outside the village realized this behavior was typical of Hu Laowu. He had wanted the parrots to sell for money, and when he was rejected, he started threatening the family. So that’s why Junior Manager Luo suddenly invited them to the Chens for a meal — he came to support the Chens.

They curiously glanced at Hu Laowu, who was pretending to be innocent. Since he wouldn’t admit responsibility, they joined Chen Ming and Junior Manager Luo in condemning the perpetrator.

Junior Manager Luo snorted, "Messing with Uncle Chen’s family is like messing with my Luo family. If I find out who’s behind this, I’ll make sure to deal with them."

Hu Laowu, evidently rattled, asked, "Which children bullied Dabao? Dabao is my nephew; to bully him is to bully me, Hu Laowu. You just wait and see, I’ll make those families come and apologize to you tonight. This is completely unacceptable — who would dare bully a relative of mine in Xiangluo Village?!"

Junior Manager Luo cast a glance at Hu Laowu, then addressed Junior Officer Gao, "Uncle Gao, my home is quite far from your village, so I would appreciate it if you could help watch over Uncle Chen’s household a bit. If anyone bullies his family, please step in and help. Both my father and I will remain indebted to you."

Junior Officer Gao quickly agreed with a nod.

Hu Laowu, not to be outdone, spoke up, "Master Luo, rest assured, not only will Brother Gao watch over Uncle Chen’s house, but I will also assist in overseeing it."

Junior Manager Luo went on, "Also, those two parrots at Uncle Chen’s home are adored by our young master. They get to play in Tang Garden when they return. If anyone dares to covet them again, they’ll have to deal with not just Uncle Chen’s refusal, but mine as well."

Hu Laowu hurried to reply, "Master Luo can put his mind at ease, I, Hu Laowu, will also help look after them on behalf of our young master. I won’t allow anyone to have designs on those two parrots."

Master Yu couldn’t help but laugh. As he picked up a marinated quail egg, he said to the others, "You must try these. The tender eggs have been seasoned to perfection."

This caused everyone to laugh, even Hu Laowu, who joined in without realizing the joke was on him.

Just then, Afu brought over a plate of stewed meat. Seeing Hu Laowu behaving this way, he looked down on him. This faceless man could trample weaker individuals into dust, yet when confronting those more powerful than him, he would readily lower himself.

Junior Manager Luo said with a faint smile, "I’ll remember both of your promises, Uncle Hu, as well as your kindness. If anyone tries to harm Uncle Chen’s family or the parrots again, I won’t be looking for anyone else, just you."

Hu Laowu wiped his sweat, laughing and nodding in agreement.

Having figured out what was going on, Yang Mingyuan laughed, "Now I see, the Chens have arranged a scheme to trap their enemies. It turns out that Hu Laowu has been bullying them, and Master Luo has come to support them. Although I am a mere businessman, I do have connections in the Yamen. If anyone dares to bother Uncle Chen, he can come to the county town and find me. I will ask my good friends to help."

Chen Ming was greatly moved. He rose to toast Junior Manager Luo and Yang Mingyuan. Afterwards, he toasted everyone at the table except for Hu Laowu.

Following his elder brother’s lead, Chen Ye also made a toast in his name to everyone else, but not Hu Laowu. The realization left bitter resentment in his heart — in this whole affair, Hu Laowu had clearly snubbed him. Chen Ye had been laboring for years as a long-term worker for the Hus, only to discover Hu Laowu’s respect for him had been feigned all along. The domineering attitude he had boasted about to his younger brother eventually ended with others solving the problem...

Hu Laowu noticed neither of the brothers had made a toast towards him, leaving him feeling frustrated but helpless. Trying to save face, he picked up his cup and made a toast in the name of being Chen Ming’s relative to everyone else at the table.

The meal ended cordially, except for Hu Laowu. Everyone enjoyed all the dishes that were served, even the cucumber salad had been emptied several times. Everyone praised the Chen women’s culinary skills.

Even after standing up, Master Yu joked, "Brother Chen, we all love your home-cooked dishes. Please invite us more often."

Everyone laughed and agreed whole-heartedly.

Chen Ming promptly extended an invitation for them to visit his humble home more often.

As the guests gradually left, Junior Manager Luo, after taking care of the business at hand, was getting ready to leave with Luo Mingcheng and Luo Mei. However, the children were enjoying their time so much that they didn’t want to leave. He asked Xiao Qing to take care of Cheng and Mei, and left on his own.

While Afu was tidying up the bowls and chopsticks, he secretly thought to himself, the issues troubling his family had been resolved.

Even though they had not made Hu Laowu openly admit his wrongs today, the figurative slapping noises from him losing face were already loud enough. Given their current circumstances, this was the best outcome.

The Luos wouldn’t confront Hu Laowu just because of the Chens. After all, some things needed the likes of Hu Laowu to accomplish — things that families like the Luos and Yu Duanfang couldn’t openly do. That’s why, as much as they despised him, they had to maintain a good relationship with him.

Hu Laowu had managed to get to his current position due to his cunning. Unabashedly dependency on those in power, he was brought to the extreme. People like him were more dangerous than rash and reckless troublemakers.

After everyone else had left, Yang Mingyuan and Chen Ye remained. Yang Mingyuan had business to discuss, while Chen Ye wanted to eavesdrop on their conversation.

Chen Agu tugged on Chen Ye and whispered, "Father, let’s go."

After some thought, Chen Ye reluctantly got up. Seeing that none of Chen Ming’s group had asked him to stay, he left with Mrs. Chen.

Yang Mingyuan wasted no time in proposing that he wanted to purchase the secret recipe for Golden Smooth Meat for sixty taels of silver. He also hesitantly admitted that he had already managed to recreate Sweet Osmanthus Glutinous Rice Jujubes, although it wasn’t quite as delicious as the ones Afu had given him, it was still decent. However, despite trying countless times, they couldn’t recreate the taste of the Golden Smooth Meat.

Ever since Yang Chao visited the Chens and tasted the Golden Smooth Meat, he had been insisting on having it every day. Yang Mingyuan, going off Uncle Yang’s description, thought it closely resembled the garlic pork loin served at the wine-shop.

However, Uncle Yang disagreed, stating although the garlic pork loin was flavorful, the fried color wasn’t as appealing, the crust wasn’t as crispy, and the meat wasn’t as delicate.

Recalling Uncle Yang’s description to the cook at the wine-shop, Yang Mingyuan admitted that despite their efforts, the meat they made didn’t taste as good.

He’d originally planned to visit the Chens and taste the dish weeks ago, but he was delayed due to some unforeseen issues at home.

Today, he finally had a chance to savor it, and indeed, it was far superior to the garlic pork loin served at the wine-shop.