Transmigrated Farmgirl's Scheme to Get Rich - Chapter 182
Self-Righteousness
Early the next morning, Mo Yan and Mo Ling weren’t able to find Ms. Liang when they woke up. She was neither in her own room nor the kitchen.
Mo Ling opened the lid of a pot in the kitchen, and it was empty. She threw the lid back onto the put, “We didn’t let her use the horse and weren’t willing to let her use us as free labour, and now she isn’t even willing to make meals for us. Come on, let’s get food from town!”
As soon as their carriage entered the workshop, they smelt a fragrant aroma emanating from the kitchen. Mo Yan jumped out of the carriage and hollered at the kitchen, “Godmother, what are you making that smells so good?”
Ms. Hua wasn’t present in the kitchen, and the Zhen couple were busy in it again.
Mrs. Zhen was tending to the fire of the stove, while Mr. Zhen was kneading dough. There was a bowl of soup on the kitchen counter where the fragrance was coming from. Mo Yan took a sniff, and it was the smell of beef soup.
Mr. Zhen said, “I saw that you liked the beef noodle soup you had in Yi City, so I made some. However, the ingredients aren’t all there as we’re missing cellophane noodles. I’ve heard that northerners like noodles, so I decided to knead some dough to make noodles with.”
Mo Ling had unhitched the carriage and came in to repeatedly praise the fragrant food, but Mrs. Zhen repeatedly praised her for being beautiful instead.
Mo Ling had been fair-skinned and spirited to begin with, and when you added the fact her clothes and accessories were all clean and brightly-coloured due to her recent wedding, she looked even more beautiful.
The noodles had just entered a pot when Mo Zheng walked in, rubbing his eyes, “A Niang, what are you making that smells so good?” [1]
A Niang? Mo Yan turned to look at the woman in front of the stove, and Mrs. Zhen explained, “Where we’re from, ‘A Niang’ is used to mean an aunt or married woman.”
Mo Yan thought, Is she trying to bully me by virtue of the fact I’ve never been to school or left this region in this life? I distinctly recall that ‘A Niang’ means mother.
After the noodles were cooked, they were placed in bowls, and beef soup was poured on top of them before they sprinkled on spring onions. It smelled nice, looked nice, and would definitely taste nice as well.
They had just sat down to have the noodles when Lu Junming came inside after his spear practice, also attracted by the fragrance of the food, “Ever since Mr. and Mrs. Zhen have come to our workshop, the kitchen is always full of fragrant aromas!”
Ms. Hua had just come in with a vegetable basket at that very moment, “You’re complaining that the food I make tastes bad now?!”
Lu Junming hurriedly put away his spear and raised his hands in apology, “Where did I ever say that, the food Godmother makes tastes good too!”
The word ‘too’ was sufficient to see how perfunctory his appeasement was.
Even since the Zhen couple came to the workshop, Ms. Hua had found it too hard to be involved in matters concerning the kitchen, so she could only find other things to do.
Mo Yan’s appetite today was excellent, and she wolfed down an entire bowl of noodles in an instant. She had just put down her bowl when she heard some call outside, “Mo Yan, I’m here to answer your recruitment drive!”
It was Liu Yuyan!
She got up to meet her, “Sister Liu, how did you find the time to come and visit me?” Liu Yuyan was as energetic as before, and it seemed like her married life was being spent well.
Liu Yuyan looked around, “Why didn’t you ask me for help after you built a new workshop? Are you looking down on my ability at needlework, or do you not trust me as a person?”
Mo Yan repeatedly shook her head, “How could I? Since you’ve married, you’re someone else’s wife now, and I can hardly just take you away to work at the workshop. Besides, it’s not like you need the salary of a workshop’s worker.”
“So what if I’ve gotten married, I’m still myself! Besides, I heard father say you were in need of workers when I went back to my natal family yesterday. Since he said that the work could be done at home, I decided to come over and take a look.”
Since she had already come, Mo Yan couldn’t reject her application. She took Liu Yuyan into the workshop to take a look, and Lu Junming called Chi Jie to get up.
Liu Yuyan raised some half-made raincoats and backpacks up and said disgruntledly, “Anyone with hands can do this work, you’re using coarse cloth and thick threads.”
Mo Yan laughed, “There’s nothing difficult about this work, there’s just a large quantity of it and a short deadline, so we need to complete it urgently.”
“Later on, when you recruit more people to the workshop, you definitely won’t be able to handle it on your own. What do you think about me helping out as a manager?”
So she wanted to act as a manager too. It wasn’t enough for there to be Mo Feng and Mo Zenian eyeing a managerial position at home, she had to step into the fray too! [2]
Since they were talking about official business, Mo Yan said with a serious face, “We don’t need people in these sorts of positions at the moment, but direly need workers. I’m afraid I’ll have to turn down your good intentions.”
The smile on Liu Yuyan’s face instantly vanished, and she instantly interrogated Mo Yan with a cold expression, “Do you think I’m not good enough?”
Mo Yan was still worrying over how to appease her when Mo Ling walked over, “How can you be so self-righteous? The people in the workshop are here to work, how can someone just randomly wander in and become a manager? That’s highly disrespectful.”
Liu Yuyan raised her eyebrow and asked, “Who is she?”
“This is my sister, Mo Ling.”
“No wonder! You’ve already appointed someone from your own family to the managerial position, how could I take her place?”
Mo Ling explained, “I’m just here to work temporarily, definitely not like you, who wants to become a manager straight out of the bat!”
Liu Yuyan’s eyes widened and a stubborn expression came upon her face, “You’re not the only person in this workshop, and what you say isn’t law.”
Lu Junming and Chi Jie stood side by side in the entrance of the workshop and said in unison, “What she says about the workshop is law!”
Liu Yuyan saw them standing side by side, and she glared at the two as the cold expression on her face intensified and she stood with arms akimbo.
“Don’t forget whose land you’ve built this workshop on. If you don’t give me face, you’re affronting my father’s face. We can shut your workshop down just by decreeing that you committed a random crime!”
Lu Junming copied Liu Yuyan’s pose and glared at her, “Our workshop is currently creating military supplies, and it’s for the southern border war. If we miss our deadline and the war is lost, I’m not sure if you can take the punishment. The fact this workshop has been built here is a fortune to Qianshui Town, and it allows the townsfolk an opportunity to earn money. Do you really want to shut this workshop down?”
After hearing that the workshop was connected to the southern border war, Liu Yuyan knew she couldn’t do anything, but was unwilling to admit she was wrong and apologise, so turned around angrily and stormed off.
Ms. Hua stood at the entrance of the kitchen as she watched Liu Yuyan’s hastily retreating figure, “She’s just as willful as her father!”
Did a small governing official really think the entirety of Qianshui Town belonged to their family?
“Godmother, does Liu Fengchun truly rule this entire town? And does the rent of the storefronts on the streets belong to him?”
Ms. Hua shook her head, “That’s not the case.”
“Then do the townsfolk have no opinions about him?”
“He hired a band of young ruffians to patrol the street all day. If someone dared to say a word of dissent, like my husband…”
She wanted to continue, but stopped herself. But anyone could tell that what she meant was that her husband’s death was related to Liu Fengchun. She knew his influence, and it wasn’t something they could handle.
“Godmother, don’t worry, with us around Liu Fengchun won’t be able to harm you. Tell us, did your husband’s death have anything to do with him?”
Ms. Hua’s face froze, “My husband’s death was indeed related to him, but the final blow to his life was a heart attack.” A panic she shouldn’t have appeared in her eye once again.
“Godmother, what are you afraid of?”
“I’m not afraid, I have nothing to be afraid of.” After saying that, Ms. Hua retreated back to the kitchen, obviously hiding something.
Mo Yan and Lu Junming exchanged looks. They both thought the death of Ms. Hua’s husband was suspicious. It might be because she was afraid of revenge that she didn’t want to say anything. After all, Zhao’er was still young.
The more she tried to disguise her fear and panic, the more it aroused their curiosity. Chi Jie went over and put one hand on Lu Junming’s shoulder and the other on Mo Yan’s, “How about we investigate further at night?”
Mo Ling asked, “Investigate what?”
The three of them simultaneously put a finger over their lips, motioning for her not to say anything. After all, Ms. Hua had not gone far.
Post-translation notes: Real life happened. Regular update schedule will continue from now on, including the edits. Sorry for the long wait, and thanks for reading!
[1] A Niang is just a phonetic translation of Mum.
[2] I never expected Liu Yuyan to be an antagonistic character. She might be being influenced by her father, but there were no prior hints of her ‘true colours’.