Chapter 31: Liu Gui Yong’s Bribe
Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi made a breakthrough in their relationship. Lu Lin woke up with a broad smile the next morning, he groped around in the other half of the kang, looking to cuddle Chen Xiao Mi. To his surprise, Chen Xiao Mi had already got up.
Lu Lin scratched his head, ‘He better not has gone out hunting, we just had our first night alone last night. It looks like I need to work him harder at night.’
Lu Lin got up and looked around in the yard where Chen Xiao Mi was chopping firewood.
There was already a pile of firewood lying by Chen Xiao Mi’s feet, Chen Xiao Mi must have been up for a while. Lu Lin watched Chen Xiao Mi wielding the hacking knife like it were a feature, he was charmed by his partner again. Then he went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for his partner and the kids.
Chen Xiao Mi was a big eater, sometimes Lu Lin couldn’t help but wonder the reason why Chen Xiao Mi worked so hard but he still stayed poor was because he ate too much, but what made Lu Lin glad was Chen Xiao Mi still looked so fit even though Lu Lin thought Chen Xiao Mi was overeating.
Knock knock.
Lu Lin walked to the gate with disbelief, they weren’t expecting any visitor.
It was Liu Gui Yong and his team.
“Hi, Liu, what a pleasant surprise!”
Liu Gui Yong smiled shyly, “I’m here to send you some farm products as a thank you gift.”
With that Liu Gui Yong put down two baskets full of sweet potatoes, he rubbed his hands awkwardly and said, “Nothing fancy, please accept it.”
“Thank you so much, Liu! Me and Xiao Mi don’t have any farmland, I was just thinking about buying some sweet potatoes on the market, what a thoughtful gift, we appreciate it so much!”
Liu Gui Yong beamed, “I’m glad you like them, this year is a good year for sweet potatoes, we’ve just harvested a lot. Then I recalled you and Xiao Mi don’t have any farmland, so here we are, hopefully you will enjoy them. They are a bit small, but they taste great!”
Lu Lin smiled, “That’s so nice of you, I’m sure we all will enjoy them.”
Liu Wen, Liu Gui Yong’s son, stepped forward and chimed in, “Lu Lin, look what I got for you, some fish and pork.”
Liu Wen knew Chen Xiao Mi was a hunter and there was no lack of meat in their family, but it was the thought that counted, plus no one in the villages would complain they had too much meat.
“To what do I owe these gifts, this is such a nice surprise!”
Liu Gui Yong replied promptly, “We just want to express appreciation.”
Liu Gui Yong and his team had made a great amount of money from building kang, they all agreed they should pay Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi a visit and say a thank you in person.”
Liu Gui Yong and his team talked about it, and they also decided to bring the couple some farm products like sweet potatoes, radish, cabbages, fish and pork.
That was a very generous thank you gift.
Liu Gui Yong’s gesture had provoked an uproar from the Big Stone Village, the villagers had different opinions.
“Hey, have you heard that? Liu Gui Yong and his team just visited Chen Xiao Mi and they brought him gifts! I heard there are even pork and fish in the basket!”
“They made some money thanks to Chen Xiao Mi and Lu Lin, those wealthy families in town strived to be the first ones to have kang so Liu Gui Yong and his team could just overcharge as they wished. Zhang Da Zhu and his team in our village have been doing the same thing.”
“But Zhang Da Zhu and his team didn’t visit Chen Xiao Mi or send him any gift.”
“There’s no need, a fellow villager is supposed to help out the other fellow villagers. Mind you Liu Gui Yong and his team are from Big Gulf Village. Chen Xiao Mi shouldn’t have taught those people in the first place. We should keep the goodies within our own village.”
“Well, Chen Xiao Mi is free to do anything, he can teach anyone at his will. How I wished I volunteered to help him build his room.”
“This is our Village Head’s fault, he just turned Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi down without even asking us.”
“Zhang Da Zhu is in the wrong too, he should have taught us already, but he kept postponing it.”
“I know, right? It has been over a month now!”
“I’m sure Zhang Da Zhu has made at least several taels of silver already, aiya, I wished I were selected to help out building a new room for Chen Xiao Mi as well!”
“You? Quit daydreaming! Your son bullies Chen Xiao Mai and Chen Xiao Cai, do you really think you really stand a chance?”
The villagers now became so jealous of Chen Xiao Mi, but those opinions didn’t affect Chen Xiao Mi and his life at all.
In Chen Xiao Mi’s house.
“Look at these sweet potatoes!” said Lu Lin, “It looks like the Big Gulf Village had a good year for sweet potatoes.”
“Yeah”, Chen Xiao Mi nodded, “I’ve seen so many people selling sweet potatoes on the market for such a cheap price. But it’s not easy to store these sweet potatoes.”
“True, they will turn stone hard on cold days. We can buy a few more days if we store them in the cellar, but there’s still a risk. Hmm, let’s buy more sweet potatoes and brew some sweet potato wine.”
Chen Xiao Mi looked at Lu Lin with disbelief, “You know how to brew wine?”
Lu Lin was amused by how stunned Chen Xiao Mi was, “Yeah, I do know.”
Lu Lin grew up in a village as well, his parents taught him how to brew wine when he was young. But beer and wine had become so cheap as he grew older, no one was willing to go through the trouble to brew their own wine or beer any more.
Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi decided to sell another batch of alcohol in the shop to exchange some money first, they went big this time, they sold thirty jars of alcohol for twenty-four taels of silver.
The two then went to Big Gulf Village and bulk bought their sweet potatoes, the villagers felt deeply grateful for the young couple.
They bought one thousand kilos of sweet potatoes from the villagers for five taels of silver. Lu Lin stored most of the sweet potatoes in his shop and his stored some in the cellar to disguise people.
Then he summoned the Chen Brothers to help him brew wine together.
Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi hade made some money from selling alcohol in the shop, but Chen Xiao Mi always felt unsure about that because he didn’t work for it. So now he was pumped to brew wine together with Lu Lin.
Brewing wine was a tedious process, they couldn’t see the result immediately. But Lu Lin had cooked sweet potatoes in so many ways, everyone enjoyed the yummy sweet potatoes.