CHAPTER 352: CHAPTER 352: INSTIGATION

Third Grandma listened and her face lit up with a smile: "That’s right. I’m old now, and besides being able to find Fuyan and her family, my only wish in life is to see all our families get along harmoniously... It wasn’t easy for our families to survive."

By the end of her words, Third Grandma couldn’t help but tear up.

The families thought back to the hardships they suffered when fleeing famine, and then to their comfortable lives today, feeling both emotional and as if they were living a dream.

The families all promised: "Third Aunt can rest assured, we have a bond that’s thicker than water, we won’t ever hold grudges over a bit of money."

A bit of money?

Mrs. Chen rolled her eyes internally. That was a daily income of several dozens of taels, nearly a thousand taels each month, and a business that could last a lifetime.

Thinking so, Mrs. Chen was nearly consumed by jealousy.

Then thinking about how the silver coins Gu Daya earned would have to be shared with Gu Dashan’s family, half of it each month thrown away, her heart felt much more at ease.

After Gu Jin’an finished reporting the accounts and had divided the silver coins for both sides, Third Grandpa said: "Daya has prepared some marinated meats and roast duck for your families. Please take them with you and head back. There’s still work to be done at the workshop, we can’t afford delays."

He sighed again: "We’re still short on hands."

Now that the business was growing even larger, with new items like dried tofu, fried tofu, and preserved tofu, the workshop was a bit overwhelmed.

Gu Jinli said: "Then let’s hire a few more people. My aunt’s family also needs to hire help for duck slaughtering, otherwise, we won’t be able to cope."

Yesterday it was He Sanlai and Old Zhu who helped with slaughtering, but they had other tasks to do, especially Old Zhu, who knew martial arts. Having him slaughter ducks was a bit of a waste of talent.

Third Grandpa said: "Alright, then let’s hire a few more people. He Tieshu, He Dayuan, and Mo Kui Zi are all capable. If we get them to help, we can ease our burden."

The families all knew these three and recognized they were of good character, naturally agreeing.

"Come on, let’s go to the kitchen and get the marinated meats and roast ducks." Third Grandma, cheerfully leading the women from the families, went to the kitchen to get what Daya had prepared. Gu Yumei, hearing them coming, hastily stood up and moved aside, afraid Mrs. Chen would hit her.

Mrs. Chen glared at her and scolded: "What are you loitering there for? Aren’t you going to come over and help carry things? Don’t want to eat meat anymore?"

Gu Yumei could only trot over to pick up the portion of marinated meats meant for her family.

Gu Daya was very generous, giving ten pounds of marinated meats to each family, along with a roast duck. Everyone looked at the abundant amount of marinated meats, saying it was too much.

Third Grandma said: "Take it if it’s given to you, you’ve all helped Daya’s family quite a bit these past few days, you deserve some marinated meats to nourish yourselves."

"Alright, we’ll listen to Third Aunt." The women from the families took the marinated meats, followed their men, took their children, and all went home together.

Gu Daya’s family didn’t leave; they still had to go and buy meat at the meat stand. Only after preparing the meat for marination could they go back home.

Qi Kangming would not be returning home tonight as he had to keep watch at the shop and tend to the kitchen fires.

Mrs. Chen was quite opinionated about this and murmured quietly, "Why don’t they let my family run the shop? The shop clearly belongs to several families, not just Sister Daya’s."

She too wanted to live in the shop, to become a town dweller.

In the morning, several families grandly headed to the shop and likewise grandly returned in the afternoon. The villagers all saw this and were both envious and jealous.

"Look at how others are living their lives, they have even started a shop." By the village well, where the women were drawing water, they gathered around and talked enviously as they saw the families return.

"Does their shop make money?"

"What do you mean ’that shop’? They have three shops."

"Three? Wow, that’s incredible. Just to set up three shops must have cost hundreds of taels of silver. How did these refugees get so rich?"

"You better stop calling them refugees. If the village chief hears you, you’ll be punished to kneel in the ancestral hall."

The village chief had said that the Qin, Gu, and Luo families could make them, the He family, wealthy, so they had to show respect to these families, and stop referring to them as refugees. If those families got upset and stopped helping the He family, they would continue to languish in poverty.

"It’s just a slip of the tongue," the woman hastily said, then asked again, "So, do their shops earn money?"

"How could they not? Their shop just opened today, and my Dasheng went to the town’s blacksmith to repair farm tools. While passing by, he stepped in to take a look. Oh dear, the shop was so packed with customers it almost collapsed. There were so many people buying food, and even the Lord County Magistrate sent a plaque to their shop."

"What? The Lord County Magistrate sent them a plaque?" He Cui’er’s mother exclaimed in disbelief, "Really? The Lord County Magistrate lives in the county, how would he know their shop was opening today and even send a plaque? It takes quite some time to make a plaque."

Seeing that He Cui’er’s mother was skeptical, He Dasheng’s wife, hands on hips, interjected, "My man saw with his own eyes that people from the county brought the plaque. Do you know who delivered it? It was County Captain Jiang’s two sons and Master Tian."

"Do you know who Master Tian is? If not, go ask the village chief. Master Tian is a favored figure at the Lord County Magistrate’s side. If he personally delivered the plaque, it couldn’t be fake!"

"Oh dear, if the sons of Lord County Captain and the steward came to deliver the plaque, it must be true. The village chief is right; if we, the He Family People, do business with those families, we will certainly become rich. Look at them, even the Lord County Magistrate is giving them support," He Guiwa’s mother sighed, "If my Guiwa could work in Gu’s Workshop, I wouldn’t mind dying three years earlier."

He Cui’er’s mother was so preoccupied with the idea of the County Magistrate sending a plaque to the Gu Family’s Shop that she couldn’t stay put any longer. She quickly picked up her empty water bucket and left.

He Guiwa’s mother called after her, "Sister-in-law Dashu, aren’t you going to carry water?"

He Cui’er’s mother ignored her, hurried homewards, kicked the gate open with a bang, set down the water bucket, and made a beeline for the living room. She snatched the round embroidery hoop from He Cui’er’s hands and shouted, "Why are you still embroidering this useless thing? Hurry up and cozy up to Qi Kangping."

He Cui’er was quite annoyed, snatching back the embroidery hoop she said, "Mom, what are you doing? I’m embroidering a pouch for Qi Kangping, I plan to give it to him later. This is made from good fabric, it cost me five copper coins."

"Five copper coins are nothing! Don’t you know, the Gu family has made connections with the Lord County Magistrate."

He Dashu and his two sons had just come back from working the fields and heard this as they entered the yard. Not even bothering to wash off the mud from their legs, they quickly came over and asked, "What did you say? The Gu family made connections with the Lord County Magistrate?"

He Cui’er’s mother looked at her husband and said, "That’s right, they did. Dasheng’s wife said, when Dasheng went to town to fix the farm tools today, he also went to see the buzz at Gu’s shop. He just so happened to see County Captain Jiang’s two sons and the steward delivering a plaque to Gu’s shop – a plaque sent by the Lord County Magistrate himself."

She gestured towards He Cui’er’s head, urging her, "Look how prosperous the Gu Family has become. You silly girl, still sitting here embroidering pouches. To heck with embroidery, you should be working on getting yourself a suitable match."