Chapter 100: Relaunching Collecting Wild Berries Business
Lu Lin took Chen Xiao Mai, Qin Ming, and Zhang Rui to the village together. As soon as Lu Lin arrived, several villagers greeted Lu Lin.
Although many people in the village had been gossiping that Chen Xiao Mi and Lu Lin had been embezzling the turnover in the store, they were still very polite when they met him in person. After all, in the eyes of the villagers, Lu Lin was a capable person. Many people in the village had to rely on Lu Lin to make money, so naturally, it was not good to offend him.
Lu Lin announced that he was here to buy wild berries.
He wanted to find a few kids to pick up wild berries for him like last year, provoking an uproar from the villagers.
Zhang Rui looked at Lu Lin and asked in confusion, "Lin Ge, why are we collecting so many wild berries? It won't be long before they all get rotten."
It was already quite hot. People would get the runs after having unfresh berries, and it would cost money to send for the doctors.
Lu Lin smiled and said, "Don't worry, Rui, I will sell them for money."
Zhang Rui said sullenly, "This thing isn't easy to sell!"
Lu Lin said with a meaningful smile, "You just do it and leave the rest to me."
Lu Lin asked Xiao Cai to call for quite a few kids in the village to do this last year, but many adults joined the kids in the end. Lu Lin borrowed several big baskets in the village this year in case adults decided to join the kids again.
As soon as Chen Xiao Mai returned to the village, he started to frisk in the fields with the bigger kids in the village.
Lu Lin asked Qin Ming to keep an eye on Chen Xiao Mai in case the kids went too crazy. Qin Ming grew up in the mountains, he just loved running around, so he took this task with alacrity.
......
Zhang Mei Zi looked at Zhang Da Hu and said, "Big Brother, you are amazing. Lu Lin really is back now!"
Zhang Da Hu said smugly, "Of course. Look at your brother, is there anything I cannot do?" Zhang Da Hu was too embarrassed to say that he didn't even see Lu Lin when he went to town. He only got to see Chen Xiao Mai, Lu Lin was too busy to see him. Fortunately, Chen Xiao Mai managed to convince Lu Lin to come back, otherwise Zhang Da Hu would be embarrassed this time.
The kids in the village earned some pocket money from working for Lu Lin last year. Especially Zhang Da Hu, his parents had even praised him.
However, they didn't have a chance to earn pocket money since Lu Lin and his family moved to town.
Zhang Da Hu was so worried that the wild berries in the mountains would end up rotting in the field, so were the other kids. They came to Zhang Da Hu's house and asked him whether he had talked to Lu Lin and whether Lu Lin would collet wild berries this year.
Lu Lin was now a "big shot" in town, he seldom came back to the village, so no one had the chance to ask him yet. Zhang Da Hu who was the group leader volunteered to go to town and talk to Lu Lin.
The other kids were impressed by their group leader's courage.
And now Lu Lin was really back Zhang Da Hu was held in higher esteem by the other kids.
"Big Brother, many adults are here this time," Zhang Mei Zi said.
Zhang Da Hu said sullenly, "Yeah! These adults are really annoying, this is supposed to be our job, how can we pick as many as them adults?"
......
Zhang Rui was surrounded by a few villagers when he distributed the baskets.
"Rui, I heard that you're working in Sino Commercial House too!"
"Yeah!" Zhang Rui was honest.
"Rui, how is it like working in Sino Commercial House. Are you tired?"
"No. Everyone is nice."
Zhang Rui was patient in the beginning, but the villagers started to ask personal and embarrassing questions.
"Rui, why haven't you become a butcher like your father, do you like working in the commercial house more?"
"Rui, what's your salary now?"
"Rui, is the commercial house still hiring?"
"Some people are just so lucky, their family can find them a job in the commercial house as the wish!"
......
When the villagers found out that Zhang Rui was Chen Chun'er's son, they started to feel jealous.
Working in Sino Commercial House was a dream for the villagers! Quite a few people in the village wanted to go to Sino Commercial House to work, but the Sino Commercial House had a strict system in hiring the villagers, they could only manage to sell embroidery products to them instead of establishing an employer-employee relationship.
In fact, because Lu Lin had many secrets, he tended to not hire people from Big Stone Village.
Seeing as the villagers 'questions were getting more and more persona, Zhang Rui pulled a long face. The villagers noticed that and they restrained themselves a little.
However, they escalated their discussion right after Zhang Rui left.
"Chen Jing's debt has really taken a toll on the Chen family, they cannot even support Chen Jing in his study."
"That over 100 tale of silver, how can they still support him?"
"Chen Jing has caused such a big disaster. I would feel grateful that my family hadn't disown me if I were him."
"I didn't expect that Chen Xiao Mi would treat his Aunt's son so well! I think he hated all the Chens."
"Chen Xiao Mi's father was on great terms with Chen Chun'er when he was alive!"
"Honestly, if the Chen family hadn't gone too far, Chen Xiao Mi wouldn't insist on signing Renouncement Letter with them."
......
Seeing Zhang Rui's sulked face, Lu Lin walked over and asked, "Why the long face? Did everything go well?"
Zhang Rui forced a smile and said, "Yeah, everything was smooth. People just bombarded me with questions."
Lu Lin glanced at Zhang Rui's expression and vaguely understood something, but he didn't say anything.
Chen Xiao Mi and the Chen family had just signed the Renouncement Letter, but he and Chen Xiao Mi had hired Chen Chun'er's son the next day. Of course the villagers would talk about it profusely.
......
Chen Xiao Mai and Qin Ming were walking towards them now, Lu Lin was amused by Chen Xiao Mai's jubilant smile.
"Mai, you're back so early," Lu Lin thought Chen Xiao Mai would play with his friends for a long while, he didn't expect them to come back so soon.
Chen Xiao Mai said smugly, "Qin Ming Gege has caught something good, so we brought it back for you to see, Lin Gege."
"What good thing?" Lu Lin asked with interest.
Chen Xiao Mai opened the mat covering the basket.
Lu Lin took a few steps back subconsciously on seeing the thing inside.
It was a one-meter-long snake. There are some strange patterns on the snake's body. The snake's head wasn't in triangle shape, but Lu Lin couldn't tell whether it was venomous or not.
Chen Xiao Mai did not notice that Lu Lin's expression was not right. He said proudly, "It was caught by Qin Ming Gege. He is amazing. We can take it back to town and cook some snake soup with it."
Qin Ming scratched his head awkwardly and said, "Mai, don't mention it, it's not hard to catch snakes."
Qin Ming had frightened many people in the village when he caught the snake with bare hands.
However, many bold children expressed their admiration for Qin Ming, Qin Ming was secretly enjoying the attention.
The corner of Lu Lin's mouth twitched. 'These two kids! Catching snakes is dangerous! Such a long snake, it must be dangerous! Qin Ming surely has a lot of guts for a boy of his age!'
Zhang Rui glanced at Lu Lin and found that Lu Lin's face was extremely pale as if he were frightened...
He Zhang Rui admired Lu Lin so much ever since he was hired, he was impressed by Lu Lin's capability to manage such a big store.
"Catching snakes is dangerous!" Lu Lin said coldly.
Qin Ming patted his chest and said, "Brother Lin, don't worry. I know how to tell whether a snake is venomous. I've caught many snakes."
Qin Ming was experienced, and he could only hit a snake with just one blow.
Lu Lin nodded his head in silence. He almost forgot that this person in front of him was not an ordinary child, he grew up in deep mountains like a wild beast. Even though people in this world were less sophisticated, they all had strong desires to survive!
Chen Xiao Mai grabbed the basket and handed it to Lu Lin, "Lin Ge, look at it. This snake is very fat!"
Lu Lin took two steps back and said, "I'm good, I'm good, I appreciate it, Mai, now take away the basket!"
Seeing Lu Lin retreating, Chen Xiao Mai took a few steps forward and handed the basket closer to Lu Lin.
Zhang Rui stopped Chen Xiao Mai and said, "Alright, alright, Mai. We all have seen the snake, it is indeed very fat. Good job, Mai."
Chen Xiao Mai said sullenly, "Okay, I'll put it aside now."
Lu Lin collected over a dozen baskets of berries within a short time, the villagers and the kids were still enthusiastic to pick up more, but Lu Lin had to call it a day.
Lu Lin was surprised to see how many adults joined the kids this time, he paid the adults less than the kids, but no one had complained.
This time he specially told the kids that they were only allowed to pick berries in the safe areas, only adults were allowed to go to deep mountains.
At the end of the day, everyone got about 20 cents, they were all grateful for this opportunity to earn some pocket money.
Lu Lin borrowed an ox-cart in the village and transported all the wild berries to town.
......
Chen Jing was stripped the opportunity of going to school now, Grandpa Chen had even asked him to do farm work. Chen Jing had never done any farm work in his life, so he had been slacking off.
Chen He and Chen Qu both hated Chen Jing's guts for borrowing usury and wrecking their marriages for them.
The two of them would report it to Grandpa Chen whenever they saw Chen Jing slacking off. Grandpa Chen was thoroughly disappointed at this grandson.
Grandpa Chen felt sorry for Chen He and Chen Qu about their marriages, so he would take their sides whenever they argued or fought with Chen Jing. Chen He suggested that whoever slacked off in the field should only have one meal as punishment, if you want to have three meals, you need to work hard and earn that.
Chen Jing rolled his eyes when he heard that ridiculous suggestion.
However, Grandpa Chen agreed with Chen He, he warned Chen Jing that he had to work hard now, otherwise they would only give him one meal per day.
Chen Jing originally thought that things would go back to normal after his debt was repaid, but little did he expect that his two cousins, Chen He and Chen Qu, who used to respect him were now treating him as enemies.
As soon as Lu Lin came back to the village, many people came to greet him. That had hurt Chen Jing.
Chen Jing looked down upon those villages, but deep down he wished they would respect him like that.
Chen Jing used to be ashamed of Lu Lin who was married into Chen Xiao Mi's family, but in the blink of an eye, Lu Lin was a big shot and he had fallen into such a state.
Regardless of what the villagers said behind Lu Lin's back, they would greet him politely on seeing him.
Chen Jing felt so depressed that a man who married a Bio enjoyed a higher status than himself.