Chapter 24: Grandma Lu VS Grandma Chen
Chen Xiao Mi heard about the farce Grandma Lu made from the villagers, he decided to come back home to be there for his family. But to his surprise, when he pushed their door open, what came to his sight was Chen Xiao Cai enjoying a bowl of steamed egg custard with some mushroom as garnish.
'What is going on? Why is Xiao Mai having his favorite snack right now? where is that annoying old woman? Where is Lu Lin?' Chen Xiao Mi was so confused.
"You are back, brother!" Chen Xiao Cai beamed a warm smile at Chen Xiao Mi, then he pushed his bowl to Chen Xiao Mi, signaling him to have some together with him.
Chen Xiao Mi stroked Chen Xiao Cai's hair, "You have it, Mai."
Chen Xiao Cai tiled his head with confusion, 'Why is no one sharing this yummy food with me?'
Little boy had no idea that everyone was saying no to him because they doted on him and wanted him to have it by himself.
Chen Xiao Cai greeted Chen Xiao Mi and said, "Have you heard about the farce? Lu Lin accused that annoying woman of stealing money from us, but that's not true."
Chen Xiao Mi squinted his eyes and said, "Let's keep it to ourselves, just back him if someone asks you, all right, Cai?"
Chen Xiao Cai nodded.
Chen Xiao Mi was actually very surprised to hear that, in a small village like theirs, nothing valued more than reputation. The villagers liked to gossip, surely they would keep talking about this for a long time, so he felt obliged to ask Chen Xiao Cai to side with Chen Xiao Mi for he knew Chen Xiao Mi had a solid reason to say that.
Chen Xiao Mi couldn't help but think about his own reputation in the village, he felt sorry for his two little brothers, the villagers didn't like them due to him.
Stealing was no small matter in a rustic village like the Big Stone Village. It bordered on a disgrace that Grandma Lu should bring her entire family into disrepute. Especially for Lu Cheng Yu, her grandson who was preparing for the imperial examination at the county level. This might ruin his reputation and his potential official career. Chen Xiao Mi couldn't even imagine what an uproar Grandma Lu had provoked in the Lu Family.
With that in mind, Chen Xiao Mi walked to the kitchen to look for Lu Lin.
"Lu Lin, I think the Village Head starts to dislike you."
Lu Lin smiled, "Why would I care about his opinion?"
Lu Lin knew the Village Head had always put a high valuation on Lu Cheng Yu, how he wished Lu Cheng Yu could bring glory to their village by excelling at the imperial examination.
That was why the Village Head was partial to Grandma Lu just now, he didn't want Lu Lin to give enormous publicity to this stealing scandal. Grandma Lu was also Lu Cheng Yu's grandma, he didn't want Lu Cheng Yu's reputation gets affected.
Lu Lin admitted that he went a little bit too far, but he didn't regret it. That was the only way he could think of to stop that nonsense, he didn't have the time or energy to reason with someone who meant to harass him with unreasonable demands. Plus, he didn't have anything to lose given neither him nor Chen Xiao Mi had a good reputation in the village.
Chen Xiao Mi was taken aback by Lu Lin's reply.
"Our Village Head is quite prestigious among the villagers, people say he is a good leader, you don't want to offend him openly."
Lu Lin gave a snort and said, "I'm not counting on him to do anything for us. Now all I want to do is to make a hundred taels and open our own shop in town, we don't need to please anyone by then."
Chen Xiao Mi looked at Lu Lin with admiration written all over his face.
Chen Xiao Mi would feel lost and hurt from time and time ever since he moved out with his two little brothers, no one liked the feeling of being isolated. And now he felt emboldened by Lu Lin's company.
In Lu Family.
"Damn that Lu Lin, he only brings trouble for us!" Grandma Lu fumed. She couldn't believe none of her family members believed her, they all thought she had actually stolen from Chen Xiao Mi. Everyone voiced discontent, they all saw her as a disgrace, especially Lu Cheng Yu.
As the saying went, ill news had wings.
Soon the other two kids from Big Stone Village who were classmates with Lu Cheng Yu had heard of that farce, one of them was Chen Jing.
Lu Cheng Yu did well at school while Chen Jing tended to fall behind and get scolded by the scholars. Even Chen Jing's family always urged him to study hard like Lu Cheng Yu, therefore, Chen Jing had bore a grudge for Lu Cheng Yu for a long time. Plus Lu Cheng Yu had a good opinion of himself, he always looked down upon Chen Jing and firmly believed Chen Jing would accomplish nothing.
Chen Jing was thrilled when he heard about the farce Grandma Lu, Lu Cheng Yu's grandma, made.
Chen Jing said it to anyone he came across how Grandma Lu's grandmother tried to steal from Lu Lin, Lu Cheng Yu's cousin who married his own cousin Chen Xiao Mi, a Bio; how cold-hearted Lu Cheng Yu's entire family were, and how they had sold Lu Lin to Chen Xiao Mi for ten taels of silver.
Chen Jing and Lu Cheng Yu's classmates were dumbfounded when they heard the shocking news, they started to see Lu Cheng Yu differently.
Chen Jing maintained that Lu Lin was married into Chen Xiao Mi's family, he and Chen Xiao Mi were cousins, Chen Xiao Mi's money technically belonged to all the family members. He wasn't the only one who thought that way in his family, Grandma Chen had been seething with frustration since she heard Chen Xiao Mi made a fortune together with Lu Lin. How she wished Chen Xiao Mi could share the money with her instead of Lu Lin! She cursed Lu Lin and the entire Lu Family.
Chen Jing had been secretly hating on Lu Cheng Yu and the Lu Family already, so he had been spreading Grandma Lu's scandal at school. Some other classmates who were jealous of Lu Cheng Yu's good grades joined Chen Jing, together they slandered Chen Jing and his family. It came to a point where the scholars started to see Lu Cheng Yu differently.
Lu Cheng Yu was fully aware the initiator of evil was Chen Jing, the two boys had a fight. The scholar had to both of them for two days.
Anger simmered inside Lu Cheng Yu when he walked back home, he told Grandma Lu how Chen Jing had slandered him at school and how it was all Chen Jing's fault that everyone saw him differently.
In a towering rage, Grandma Lu marched down to Grandma Chen's house and started to shout abuses on the street. Grandma Chen had heard her grandson Chen Jing's version of story, she was not going to just sit around and take the abuses.
Neither Grandma Lu nor Grandma Chen was a pushover, they called each other names, they accused each other of being greedy and cold-hearted towards their own grandson, and neither of them had showed any sign of concession until the Head Village intervene.
The villagers had a good laugh from the fight, they kept talking about it for days.
Lu Lin heard about it that very night, he didn't expect his little lie would cause such a string of events, the Chens and the Lus had shed all pretences of cordiality due to him. But he didn't care, neither of them was good people, he was not interested in the chaos.