The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure
Chapter 427 - Reward

Chapter 427: 427 Chapter Reward

Wang Yongfu’s heart was still unsettled. He nodded and, apologizing to everyone, tidied up. The two brothers carried the mountain goods into the courtyard, with Wang Yongzhu following behind and closing the gate.

The onlookers, seeing that the excitement was over, looked at each other and gradually dispersed.

Once inside the courtyard, Wang Yongfu grasped Wang Yonggui’s hand with a look of shame on his face. "Laosan, we owe you big time today. If we had taken this batch of goods in, our family would have lost several taels of silver for nothing, not to mention, if the goods had been delivered to Boss Zhang’s place and the deception had been discovered, our family would have been..."

Thinking of the consequences, Wang Yongfu broke out in a cold sweat.

Jindou and Jinhu hurried to thank Wang Yonggui, with Jinhu asking curiously, "Uncle San, how did you come to know all these tricks? That man ran away, and the goods weren’t cleaned up properly, so I secretly kept a piece and have been examining it for a long time. How come I can’t see the trick? Uncle San, can you teach us?"

With a carefree attitude, Wang Yonggui replied, "What’s the big deal? These are just some leftovers from the old days when I was playing outside. Back then, when I was short on silver coin with some brothers, we also did this kind of thing. There’s a lot to learn here. Bring the stuff over, and I’ll explain..."

As he spoke, he took the mountain goods that Jinhu had hidden, which had been smoked with some substance, and explained in detail to everyone.

He talked about various deceptions, like switching the real with the fake, or the method of using drugs to smoke or soak goods, in such detail that not only Jindou and Jinhu were baffled, but even Wang Yongzhu and Wang Yongfu were engrossed in the explanation.

They had not realized that counterfeiting could involve so many different techniques.

Only when Wang Yonggui finished explaining did they notice that they were surrounded by people from the Wang Family, including Wang Laozhu and Old Granny Zhang, who had all been listening.

Startled, Wang Yonggui dropped the piece of mountain goods he was holding onto the ground and awkwardly smiled, "That... those were foolish things I did in the past. I haven’t been involved in that for a long time now..."

Wang Laozhu took a puff of his pipe and said sternly, "You realize they were foolish acts? After all these years, have you been nothing but a boastful swindler out there? How can you live with yourself..."

His words were cut off by Old Granny Zhang, "Old man, what are you blabbering about? If it wasn’t for Laosan today, our family would have taken a huge loss! Without Laosan knowing these things, we wouldn’t have recognized it, and how would we do business after? I think Laosan did very well today. Laosan’s family should prepare a stew with wild chicken for your man tonight; he really did a service for our business today!"

Lady Jiang had never experienced such recognition since marrying Wang Yonggui. It wasn’t only a moment of honor for Wang Yonggui but for their branch of the family as well.

Thereafter, she saw Wang Yonggui in a different light and quickly agreed.

Wang Laozhu wanted to object, but Wang Yongzhu took over the conversation, "Mother is right. If it hadn’t been for Third Brother today, our family would have suffered this silent loss and it would have damaged our family’s reputation. The business is just starting up, and encountering such an incident would make it difficult to proceed."

"Third Brother made great contributions today, and not only deserves a good meal tonight but also a reward. Third Brother, what would you like?"

Wang Yonggui was stunned, it took him a moment to respond, "A reward for me?"

"Of course. In our family, if you do well, you get rewarded, and if you don’t, you naturally have to face the consequences! Today you handled the situation well, which prevented our family from suffering losses, so you definitely deserve a reward. Eldest brother nearly overlooked this today, but considering it’s his first time and he lacks experience, we’ll just make a note of it."

"Let’s carefully check all the mountain goods later to see if we received any other inferior products. Starting tomorrow, everyone should set aside some time to learn from Third Brother how to distinguish these counterfeit goods."

"Our mountain goods business is booming right now, and we’ve surely taken business from others. There will certainly be more such incidents in the future, so we all need to be more vigilant and not be careless! Understood?"

Everyone was convinced, even Lady Lin had nothing to say.

Wang Yongfu was so busy that he went straight to the warehouse to check on the mountain goods.

Jinhua’s gaze towards her father Wang Yonggui had changed; she always knew she couldn’t rely on her real father, but unexpectedly, today he actually received praise from grandma and her aunt, which was somewhat unbelievable to Jinhua.

As for Wang Yonggui himself, upon hearing about a reward, he grinned and sidled up to Wang Yongzhu, "Little sister, tell me, considering the merit your Third Brother earned today, what’s the best reward for me?"

Wang Yongzhu was generous; it was rare to see Wang Yonggui actually being useful, especially since she and their mother had just complimented him, which made his expression change.

Suddenly inspired, she smiled and said, "What do you want, Third Brother? How about giving you a silver coin as a reward when we distribute this month’s allowance? What do you think?"

"A silver coin?" Before Wang Yonggui could speak, Lady Lin and Jinhua on the side exclaimed.

Now in the family, Wang Yongfu only got one hundred wen a month, and for just discovering fake goods, Wang Yonggui was to be rewarded with a silver coin?

Lady Lin’s eyes turned green with envy.

Jinhua looked at Wang Yonggui and couldn’t believe that her own father could actually earn money?

Wang Yonggui hadn’t expected Wang Yongzhu to be so generous; just by moving his mouth and hands, he could easily get a silver coin?

For all these years, Wang Yonggui only ever swindled money from his family and others, never having truly earned so much honestly.

He was momentarily stunned, his eyes darting around, and a hint of tears could be seen glinting, but they quickly disappeared.

"Little sister is so generous! Alright then, a silver coin it is? If I find out about more of this kind of thing in the future, is there still a reward?" Wang Yonggui recovered quickly and asked with a roguish smile.

Wang Yongzhu smiled slightly, "What do you think, Third Brother?"

Wang Yonggui’s scalp tingled; he yelped, having momentarily forgotten just who his little sister was, he got ahead of himself as he would with outsiders.

Immediately chuckling sheepishly, he said, "I’ll go help big brother..." and he slipped away as if on oiled heels.

Jinhua bit her lip, stamped her foot, and followed Wang Yonggui into the warehouse.

Old Granny Zhang glared at Lady Lin, "Aren’t you going to help at Laosan’s House with cooking? Why are you standing there doing nothing? Waiting for the meal to be served to you?"

Nowadays, Lady Lin feared Old Granny Zhang the most. Moreover, today her man nearly caused a mishap that could have cost the family money, so she didn’t dare talk back and quickly ducked into the kitchen to assist Lady Jiang.

Only then did Old Granny Zhang express her dissatisfaction, "You irresponsible maid, why are you so lax with money? Even if Laosan did a good deed today, a nice meal and two or three hundred wen would have been enough; why did you give a whole silver coin? Don’t you know what kind of person Laosan is, that he can save money? That silver will end up in his hands, and I guarantee he will squander it all in town within a few days..."