Transmigrated Farmgirl's Scheme to Get Rich - Chapter 17
Worthless
Seeing that Lu Junming didn’t eat much, Mrs. Liang kept asking him if he had eaten enough, but all he was thinking of was the sight of Mo Yan dipping her cornbread in the sauce Mrs. Liang made.
“I’m full. You should give more for Mo Yan to eat, she cut her hand this morning and lost a lot of blood. She needs to recuperate.”
When Mo Yan’s second grandmother came back, Mo Ling already knew that her sister had cut her hand, but she hadn’t had the time to look at it earlier. Now she had seen that the bandages on her hand weren’t from their family, and how Lu Junming arrived at lunch instead of dinner, Mo Ling guessed what had happened.
Mo Ling replied, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of her.” She took a piece of bread and handed it to Mo Yan, “You need to eat more so that you can grow up quickly!”
Mrs. Liang’s face darkened but she didn’t say anything.
After sending Lu Junming away, Mrs. Liang quietly asked Mo Ling, “Do you think there’s something between them?”
Mo Ling replied with a cold face, “You should ask Yan’er.”
“Ask her what? Is there really something going on between them?”
“She’s still young. They’re just two kids who are close and play together.”
When Mo Yan woke up from her afternoon nap, Mrs. Liang was working on her shoe soles. When she saw her daughter come out of her room, she smiled and said, “Yan’er, you’re up. Go and drink some water.” [1]
Mo Yan froze, and thought she hadn’t woken up and was still dreaming. When did my mother become so concerned about my well-being?
She went to the kitchen to drink some water, and saw that there were no less than ten eggs in a basket. They were slightly darker than regular eggs. These are salted eggs! When she touched them, they were still warm, so they had only been cooked recently.
At lunchtime, Lu Junming had said he wanted to buy salted eggs, and Mrs. Liang had cooked them right away. No wonder she’s being so nice to me – she wanted to use me.
Mrs. Liang had calculated everything, but forgot that Mo Yan wasn’t as gluttonous as Mo Feng. She didn’t mention the salted eggs at all and waited for Mrs. Liang to say something.
Mo Yan went to flip the medicinal herbs drying under the shade of the tree, gently brushing the soil off them to the ground. After almost an hour, Mrs. Liang finally couldn’t help herself, “Yan’er, are you still going to the pond today?”
“I’m not going. I can’t dig for medicinal herbs because my hand is injured, and the ducks are old enough that they know how to go back home themselves.”
“Sir Lu applied medicine to your wound and wrapped it. Shouldn’t you go and thank him?”
Mo Yan had gone to the Cao’s specifically to thank them after only taking two cooling pills from them in the past.
While still working on the medicinal herbs, Mo Yan replied, “There’s no need, I can go thank him later.”
Mrs. Liang thought, It’s almost the end of the afternoon. I have to make dinner soon.
“Didn’t Lu Junming say he wanted to buy salted eggs at noon? Can you bring them to him?”
“Mother, you’re the one who wants to work for the Lu family, not me. An ugly spouse has to meet her in-laws sooner or later.” [2]
“But I rejected them before, and want the job now. If I encounter Mrs. Liu when I go over, there’s no way we won’t get into a fight.”
“If you’re afraid of getting into a fight, there’s no way you’re getting the job!”
“How could that be? Otherwise, I’d have invited him to lunch for nothing. I don’t know if Lu Junming has told his grandfather yet.”
“Then you should go in person to show your sincerity to Sir Lu.”
“Yan’er, then come with me so you can help resolve any arguments. Aren’t you good friends with that Lu Junming?”
“Alright, let’s go.”
Mrs. Liang put down her needle and thread, tugged at her slightly wrinkled sleeves and went to the kitchen to take out the salted eggs. On the way out of the house, she drove the chickens that hadn’t gone out to try and find food out of the courtyard and closed the gate to prevent them from damaging the drying medicinal herbs.
The two arrived after a short walk.
When Sir Lu saw them enter the courtyard, he greeted them with a smile and said, “Sanxiao’s wife, you’re here? Come in and sit down.”
Mo Zhenian’s nickname was Mo Sanxiao.
Mrs. Liang handed him the basket in her hand, “Sir Lu, Junming said he liked the salted eggs I made for lunch, so I cooked a few and brought them to him. This is also to thank you for helping apply medicine to and wrap Mo Yan’s wound.”
Sir Lu took the basket and replied, “You’re too kind, everyone in this village has to help each other out. In the future, when I am gone, I will have to ask everyone to help with my funeral!”
“What are you talking about? You’re so strong and healthy, you’ll live for a hundred years. At the very least, you’ll live to see Junming get married.”
“Thank you for your kind words. I have something to ask you; if you hadn’t just arrived, I’d have asked Ming’er to find you.”
“What do you want to ask me?”
“The daughter-in-law of the Zhang family who used to cook for me and Ming’er is no longer coming, and I was worried about finding a new cook. After lunch, Ming’er came back and said he likes your cooking, so I want to hire you to cook for us. Is eight hundred dollars a month acceptable?” [3]
“Yes!”
Things had gone really smoothly!
Who would believe Mrs. Liu was no longer working for the Lu family? Lu Junming must’ve told his grandfather he liked Mrs. Liang’s cooking.
Mo Yan pointed towards the kitchen, “Mother, the kitchen is over there.”
As she entered the kitchen, Lu Junming walked out of his room. He didn’t say anything and just smiled and waved at Mo Yan, who returned the gesture.
Lu Junming knew that Mo Yan wouldn’t stay for dinner, so he asked her to come tomorrow to reapply her medicine. Mo Yan said, “Mr. Cao says I need to do more exercise, so I’ll be running by the pond in the morning. I’ll come to yours to do that after I’m done.”
“Ok, see you tomorrow!”
Mrs. Liang’s cooking skills were much better than Mrs. Liu. She stir-fried two dishes with ingredients they already had, made two pieces of cornbread and cooked some millet rice.
The vegetables she chopped up looked uniform, like the chopped vegetables in restaurants, and the colours of the stir-fried dishes were bright, making them look very appealing.
Mrs. Liang cleaned up the kitchen and said, “Sir Lu, please enjoy your meal. Leave the bowls for me to wash tomorrow and put all the clothes that need to be washed in one place. If there is anything else, ask Junming to call me.”
When she got home, Mo Yan served up the leftovers from lunch for dinner. There was only one piece of white bread left, which Mo Feng grabbed before he sat down.
Mo Ling rolled her eyes at him, “Have you never eaten before in your life?”
Mo Feng took a bite out of the piece of white bread, “If I could eat this every day, would I eat as quickly? It’s because this family is so poor!”
“Then go and earn money! All you do is eat and eat and eat!”
“Why don’t you earn it then? You can’t even harvest wheat for half a day before you collapse from exhaustion!”
“What about you? You’re fourteen, and you haven’t earned a single dollar for the family! All you do is eat! You’re dumber than Erdan!” The more she cursed, the angrier she got, and she picked up the broom standing on the wall and swung it at Mo Feng.
Mo Feng tried to block the broom, but it hit his arm and hurt his shoulder. He put his hand over it and cried out, “How dare you hit me! Let’s see how mum will deal with you when she comes back!”
While he was talking, Mrs. Liang entered the door and saw her son covering his arm and complaining about being hurt. She then saw Mo Ling, who was so angry her face was green, and the broom on the floor, and instantly figured out what had transpired.
“Did you hit him?!”
Mo Ling replied without showing weakness, “Yes, I did, and I regret it. I should have broken all four of his limbs. It’s not like he’s going to earn money with them anyways!”
“What are you talking about?” With that, Mrs. Liang’s slaps fell on Mo Ling’s body. She didn’t move a muscle and just glared at her furiously.
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] Afternoon naps are rather common in mainland China from what I know, and many workplaces nowadays (according to the Internet) still allow their employees to take a nap.
[2] It’s similar to ‘you have to face the music’.
[3] For the record, that’s 9.6k a year, almost five times as much as what Mo Zenian sends home every year.