From Folly to Fortune：I Rewrite My Life After Rebirth!-Chapter 940 - 936: Crying Up Wine and Selling Vinegar (Part 2)
Mu Shuangshuang was busy in the kitchen.
Lu Yuanfeng was helping out, assisting with the fire and the vegetable washing, working together seamlessly.
Mrs. Lin returned to the Old Mu Family, exaggerating the incident of the Old Yu Family’s arrival in front of Mr. Mu and Old Mrs. Mu.
She also took the opportunity to complain about Mu Shuangshuang.
"Mother, you wouldn’t believe it, that stinky girl is so insolent. Gou Dan is your own grandson, and she doesn’t even give you any respect. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦
She’d rather let that little bastard from the Old Lu Family attend her private school than let Gou Dan go. It’s clear she doesn’t want our Old Mu Family to have another official like my big brother."
Provoked by Mrs. Lin, Old Mrs. Mu was so angry that she was practically fuming.
In front of Mr. Mu, she loudly declared she was going to the third branch to teach Mu Shuangshuang a lesson.
Mr. Mu stopped her.
"Your in-laws are here, and you want to make a scene? We’ve just had a moment of peace, and you still want to argue with people?"
Old Mrs. Mu pursed her lips, instantly lowering her fiery temper.
A moment later, Mrs. Lin was only glaring in the direction of the third branch, not saying anything else, afraid of making Mr. Mu unhappy.
The sudden change in the old lady’s attitude left Mrs. Lin unwilling to accept it, so she added, "Mother, are you just going to let it go? Isn’t that stinky girl getting out of hand, climbing over your head?"
Old Mrs. Mu was in a bad mood too; she gave Mrs. Lin a cold glance: "You come to this old lady when you can’t get your way yourself. You know that girl has a rebellious nature, would she listen to me?"
Old Mrs. Mu’s despondent demeanor left Mrs. Lin stunned.
It was the first time she heard Old Mrs. Mu conceding to that stinky girl.
"Fine, fine, if you don’t care, then let Gou Dan be a dirt farmer all his life!"
Saying this, Mrs. Lin stormed off to her room.
Old Mrs. Mu also felt angry, but after all, today was a holiday.
If there really was a commotion, she was afraid she might actually be abandoned.
At her age, being cast out would be a laughingstock within ten miles around.
The news of Mu Shuangshuang wanting to renovate a restaurant hadn’t spread.
But her intention of opening a private school had reached Chen Sheng, the scholar from Chen Family Village, which she visited for the first time.
Chen Sheng was arrogant, lacking abilities, but believing he’d make a fortune at Mu Shuangshuang’s school, he began to live extravagantly.
Up till today, Chen Sheng had borrowed quite a bit of money and goods.
As usual, he started early in the morning to boast in front of the villagers about soon being the teacher at Mu Dashan’s family school in Er Gui Village.
Then he went to the village butcher’s house to buy meat on credit.
Three jin of meat, to make dumplings, fatty meat cut into fat cubes, lean meat diced into mince. Just thinking about it made Chen Sheng salivate.
Butcher Zhang in the village cut the meat and extended his hand to Chen Sheng.
Chen Sheng was dumbfounded and smiled awkwardly: "Uncle Zhang, what are you doing? Didn’t we say that once I was hired by that little girl in Er Gui Village as a teacher, I’d pay you?"
"Bah!" Butcher Zhang spat directly in Chen Sheng’s face.
He clenched his fists, looking ready to beat Chen Sheng.
Chen Sheng didn’t bother wiping the spit off his face and directly questioned Butcher Zhang.
"Are you crazy, it’s a holiday, why spit on my face?"
Butcher Zhang sneered, "I’ll do more than spit, I’ll beat you, too.
Calculate it yourself, from before the New Year until now, how much meat have you credited from me? It’s time to pay up, damn it!"
Chen Sheng, being a scholar, was questioned like this for the first time, and his face turned red.
He retorted, "Didn’t I say... after I go to Er Gui Village..."
Stop bragging in front of me, Old Mu the Third’s daughter did open a private school, but she hired a teacher, Luo Juren from Luo Village.
Although he lost his father, he’s still a scholar. You, young and incompetent, just deceiving the villagers."
Chen Sheng was shocked.
He never thought Mu Shuangshuang would actually find someone else as a teacher.
He’d been so sure that no one would go, which is why he asked for such a high price.
"Uncle Zhang, what’s going on, can you explain it clearly?" Chen Sheng asked.
"Get lost, I’ll give you three days. If by the nineteenth of the first month you don’t pay me for the meat you credited, I’ll beat you so bad your parents won’t recognize you."
As he spoke, Butcher Zhang pushed him out.
Meanwhile, Chen Sheng’s relatives also found out about this.
Each of them looked despairing; everyone had pinned their hopes on Chen Sheng.
Chen Sheng’s father even boasted to the villagers they’d be living in a big tiled house by the year’s end.
Now that dream is over, everything is gone.
Chen Sheng’s grandmother, still not resigned, said, "Ah Sheng, you should quickly go to Er Gui Village and see if the news is wrong.
You’re so excellent, that little girl can’t possibly not hire you and hire someone else."
Chen Sheng turned pale, explaining: "Grandma, she hired Luo Juren from Luo Village, I... I’m just a scholar, how could I compare to a Juren."
"Oh my, what a mess! If only we’d known, we should have signed a contract for five Silver Taels a year back then.
Five taels a year, after three years, that’d be fifteen taels, enough for our Old Chen Family to live well for a while."
"Why don’t... Ah Sheng, you go beg that girl again, five taels, let’s be the teacher." Chen Sheng’s grandmother suggested.
"I’m not going, things are like this now; what’s the use of going?" Chen Sheng, concerned with face, refused to humble himself.
"Are you a fool? Our family owes so much Silver Tael now; if we can’t pay it back, what will the villagers think of us?
You surely don’t want the villagers to chase our whole family out of the village for that little money, do you?"
Chen Sheng’s father, who hadn’t spoken until now, chimed in.
After he spoke, Chen Sheng’s grandmother added: "Don’t be so stubborn, if you become the teacher there, build a good relationship with the students.
When spring comes next year, you bring those students to study at our home, I’ll prepare desks and chairs, then all the Silver Tael we collect will be ours."
Mrs. Chen’s idea was to have Chen Sheng act as a mole, pretending innocence while stealing business.
Her scheme of getting something from nothing rekindled Chen Sheng’s hope.
And all of this, Mu Shuangshuang, far away in Er Gui Village, was completely unaware of.
She was busy cooking in the kitchen with Fengzi, preparing a dish of cured meat fried with dry bamboo shoots, using a small spoonful of rapeseed oil, and rendering the aroma from the cured meat in a pot.
Next came the dry winter bamboo shoots; once cooked, she added some bright red dry chili.
The mixture of the bamboo shoot’s flavor and the cured meat’s fragrance whetted the appetite.
The Old Yu Family eagerly awaited Mu Shuangshuang’s midday meal...
