Transmigrated Farmgirl's Scheme to Get Rich - Chapter 16
Inviting a Guest
Mo Yan was determined not to let Lu Junming carry her again, so the two of them slowly walked back to Mo Yan’s home along the road around the pond. Second grandmother went to the well to retrieve her clay pot.
When they returned, Mrs. Liang was tending to the medicinal herbs in the courtyard. When she saw Lu Junming enter, she greeted him, “Junming, you’re here. I was going to ask Mo Yan to invite you over in the afternoon!”
Lu Junming gave her a slight nod and said, “Mrs. Liang, I’m sending Mo Yan back home because she was injured.”
“Hurt? Where? Why are you so careless? Do we need to ask Mr. Cao to come over and take a look?” Mrs. Liang said that like she was worried about Mo Yan’s injury, but she didn’t come over to see how Mo Yan was injured. [1]
Mo Yan held up her injured hand, “There’s no need. Sir Lu has already applied medicine on my wound.”
Only then did Mrs. Liang realise her daughter had injured her hand, and began to complain, “You injured your hand when harvesting a few medicinal herbs? How will you ever harvest wheat or sorghum?”
Mo Ling had just come back from the market by then and saw Lu Junming standing in the courtyard, “Young master Junming, come in and sit down! Lunch will be done soon.”
Mo Ling already referred to Lu Junming as ‘young master Junming’, so Mo Yan felt like it’d be impolite to call him by his name.
When no one was looking, she tilted her head to look at Lu Junming and called him “young master” mischievously.
When Mo Ling called him that just then, he felt calm and collected, but when Mo Yan called him that, Lu Junming became embarrassed and blushed, “Don’t call me that!”
Mrs. Liang put down what she was working on and invited him inside for lunch, but he refused, “I don’t want to trouble you, and Mrs. Liu is already cooking.”
“How can her cooking compare to my mother’s? Since you’ve already come, let’s have lunch instead of dinner.”
Remembering how important this meal was, Mrs. Liang perked up and winked to hint at Mo Yan to ask Lu Junming to come in and sit down, while she went to the kitchen to cook.
Mo Yan took Lu Junming inside, “We don’t have any good tea at home.”
“It’s fine, I’m not thirsty.”
The fan that Cao Zhang gave to Mo Yan was on the table in the living room. Lu Junming picked it up and opened it. An image of a man ascending a mountain was on the fan, and the words “ascend with every step” were written on it.
Lu Junming laughed and said, “Does Cao Zhang think of becoming an official, even in his dreams?”
Mo Yan only said that everyone had their aspirations and didn’t say anything else. Cao Zhang was a cultured and upright person. Even if he didn’t become an official, Mo Yan still hoped that he’d live a good life.
When Mo Feng came back home from school for lunch, he smelled the fragrant smell coming from the kitchen and rushed in, “What’s cooking? It smells so good!”
As she chopped vegetables, Mrs. Liang reminded him, “Lu Junming is here, so you must behave yourself during lunch later.”
“Even if I don’t behave myself, at least I’m not a mistress-born…”
“Shut up! You’re not allowed to say these kinds of words ever again!”
Mo Ling tended to the fire as Mrs. Liang cooked the dishes. They served four dishes onto the table: stir-fried pork with garlic, fried green beans, grilled eggplant strips, and scrambled eggs with cucumbers.
They were all simple household dishes, but they’d be lucky to even eat this much twice every year. Even Mo Ling was savouring the fragrance of the dishes.
After the soup had finished cooking, Mrs. Liang cut some salted eggs in half with a knife and placed them on a plate. The golden yolks of the eggs were bright and dazzling.
Mrs. Liang wiped the table clean and then stood at the kitchen door and called out, “Yan’er, ask Junming to go to the kitchen for lunch!”
When the two of them entered the kitchen, Mo Yan habitually went to grab a bowl of sauce. Mrs. Liang scolded her in a low voice, “Why are you still taking that? What kind of host would serve sauce to someone?”
Lu Junming took the bowl of sauce from Mo Yan’s hand and put it on the table, “I’ve heard that Mrs. Liang’s sauce tastes good, but I’ve never tried it before!”
Since the guest had spoken, Mrs. Liang couldn’t say anything, so she hurriedly asked Lu Junming to sit down. Mo Feng arrived uninvited and sat down where he usually sat.
Mo Ling brought over a basket with dried food which was covered with a cloth, and lifted it to reveal two different types. Aside from the pieces of cornbread they usually had, there was also white bread, cut diagonally and arranged neatly. [2]
Mo Feng immediately grabbed a piece of white bread and started eating. Mrs. Liang opened her mouth, but didn’t say anything. She took another piece and handed it to Lu Junming, “Junming, have some.”
Mo Ling self-consciously took two pieces of cornbread, and Mo Yan was also about to reach out for a piece when Lu Junming passed the white bread in his hand to her, “Eat this.”
Mrs. Liang said with a smile on her face, “Junming, you don’t need to mind her. She’ll eat whatever she wants to.”
Mo Yan took a piece of cornbread and smeared sauce on it with chopsticks, then took a bite, exclaiming that it tasted good as she ate.
Mrs. Liang said, “Don’t mind her”, and enthusiastically piled food onto Lu Junming’s plate, never forgetting the reason they invited him over.
“Two days ago, my Feng’er had offended Junming by his words. I hope to use this meal as an apology, and hope you will forgive him for his actions.”
Lu Junming looked across the table at Mo Feng, who was just frantically eating his food without even lifting his head.
“You didn’t have to do so much, Mrs. Liang. I was also reckless that day and hit Mo Feng. I hope Brother Mo will forgive me.”
He stared at Mo Feng as he spoke. Mrs. Liang nudged her son with her elbow, urging him on in a whisper, “Say something!”
Only then did Mo Feng stop moving his chopsticks. He mumbled vaguely with his mouth full, “No harm done”, and then filled his mouth with another piece of meat from his plate.
She only mentioned the reason she invited him here, but was unable to say what she had been planning to say next. When she had been initially offered the job, she had refused, but now that they had hired someone else, she wanted the job again. It was quite hard to admit that.
Mo Ling wanted to watch what her mother would do, so didn’t say anything, and Mo Yan picked up half a salted egg and put it in front of Lu Junming, “Try this.”
Lu Junming picked out the egg yolk with his chopsticks, and after eating it, he repeatedly said it was delicious.
“Is my mum’s food good?” Mo Yan asked.
Lu Junming nodded, “Yes, it’s tasty and just salty enough.”
“Is it better than Mrs. Liu’s cooking?”
Lu Junming seemed to have picked up on what she was trying to say and paused for a moment before replying, “Grandpa hired Aunt Liu, so I’m not in a position to talk about her cooking. But Mrs. Liang, do you sell these salted eggs?”
Without waiting for Mrs. Liang’s and Mo Ling’s reaction, Mo Yan immediately replied, “Yes!
“Then sell some to us in the future! I think they’re delicious.”
This time Mrs. Liang was finally able to react, “Yes, yes, I’ll steam them and send them to you later. You live very close to us anyways.”
“Ok, thank you Mrs. Liang.”
Lu Junming put down his chopsticks after only eating a piece of white bread, while Mo Feng had already eaten three and was trying to reach out for another one. Mrs. Liang patted him on the arm and said, “Feng’er, get yourself a bowl of soup. Get one for Junming too.”
If she had told him that normally, he would have been reluctant and would have asked why Mo Yan or Mo Ling weren’t doing it instead. But today, for the sake of the white bread and food, he didn’t say anything and got up to serve the soup.
First, he served himself a bowl and took a couple of sips right in front of the stove, before getting another bowl and handing it to Lu Junming.
PS: Edited Nov 2nd, 2023, to try and get the rest of the story up to the current standards. This includes using the current terms and polishing up the translation.
[1] Mrs. Liang obviously neglects Mo Yan, and it’s in line with contemporary Chinese standards as she was the youngest daughter. Daughters were considered less important than sons back then as they’d be married off, but sons wouldn’t be.
[2] I keep translating the cornbread as crackers in future chapters, and I’m not quite sure why.
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