Transmigrated Farmgirl's Scheme to Get Rich - Chapter 5
It’s Hard to Earn Money
On the dinner table, Mo Ling tested the waters and asked, “Mum, the Cao family is hiring again. I haven’t been doing much these past few days, so how about I do some work there?”
“No, all of their short-term workers will be men, and some of them will even be from outside our village. You’re a girl, you can’t go.”
Mo Ling didn’t reply to that kindly, “So send your son to work then!”
“Feng’er can’t go. He’s delicate and fragile, and couldn’t work in the fields.”
It might’ve been because she’d heard this too many times, but Mo Ling didn’t waste any more energy on arguing with her. “I’ve talked to Mrs. Cao, and we’ve decided that I’ll earn as much as I can work, so I won’t have to compete against the other men. All of them are men except for me, so they won’t do anything too outrageous to avoid losing face.” [1]
Mrs. Liang didn’t say anything, which could be considered a silent agreement. Mo Yan looked at the thin porridge in her bowl and felt even more guilty.
Mo Ling was a woman with her own ideas. She had already talked with Mrs. Cao about helping work in the fields, and she’d get money proportional to the amount she worked. It was very reasonable. However, the Cao family only had a single maid, who couldn’t make lunch for all of the short-term workers, so they had to make do on their own. They either had to eat at home, or for those living outside of Chenzhong Village, get their family members to bring lunch to them or bring some dry rations.
After Mo Yan heard that, she volunteered to bring lunch to her sister tomorrow. By helping a little more, she felt less guilty during mealtimes.
The next day, Mo Yan started cooking lunch during mid-morning, well before she had to deliver the lunch to her sister. She took a page out of Mo Ling’s book and slipped two eggs into the pot of thin porridge while Mrs. Liang wasn’t looking. Then, she poured the contents of the pot into a clay jar with some steamed buns and salted vegetables, and used a cloth bag to hold the clay jar.
She had just left the house when she saw Mo Feng, who had just come back from school for lunch and was eyeing the clay jar. Mo Yan raised it high up and asked, “How about you bring Mo Ling’s lunch to her?”
“No way! You can go!” Mo Feng no longer wanted to even touch the clay jar anymore and hurriedly entered the house.
As most people’s fields had already been harvested, the Cao family’s home was instantly recognisable. Under the shade of some trees, a bunch of men were chatting and having lunch, but Mo Ling was nowhere to be seen.
It was only when Mo Yan got closer that she realised there was still one person working on the fields. Isn’t that Mo Ling? Mo Yan called her name, but Mo Ling didn’t raise her head nor did she respond. She just kept on working.
Mo Yan carefully walked towards Mo Ling, trying to avoid all the wheat plants, “Sis, everyone else is resting. Why aren’t you?”
Her sister didn’t raise her head when she replied, “Everyone else had finished a row of farmland before taking a break. I can’t fall behind.”
Right then, one of the men sitting under the shade laughed and said, “Little sister Ling, if you ask nicely, I, your big brother, will help you.” The person talking was a long-term worker of the Cao family. His name was Daqiang, and he was a single man who was approaching thirty. [1]
The people around him started speaking as well, “I’ll help you too.”
Mo Yan yelled at them angrily, “Who needs your help when I’m here?”
She put the clay jar on the ground and went to help Mo Ling. But then, Mo Yan realised how dirty her face was. Mo Ling’s face was dirtied by a mixture of dust and sweat, and there were two lines of tears under Mo Ling’s eyes.
“Were they bullying you?”
Mo Ling raised her arm and tried to use her sleeve to clean her face, which only made it even dirtier, “No one’s been bullying me. It’s my fault I can’t work as hard as the others.”
How could a sixteen-year-old girl be as physically able as those strong men?
“Sis, you should stop working. We can’t earn money like this.”
Mo Ling still hadn’t raised her head, and kept on working, “But I still have to finish harvesting this row of farmland, or else I won’t get paid for my work.”
“Let me help you!”
Mo Yan grabbed a stalk of wheat and pulled. But instead of pulling it out of the ground, the stalk of wheat cut bloody gashes into her hand. It hurt so much she had to bite her lip to hold back the pain. Looking at Mo Ling’s hands, they were so dirty she couldn’t see a hint of skin. Even if there were cuts on her hands, they weren’t visible.
Mo Ling forced herself to harvest all the stalks of wheat around her before taking a break. So tired it felt like her waist was about to break, and she didn’t even want to eat. Mo Yan opened the clay jar, placing the two eggs she had smuggled into it on the lid with her chopsticks, and handed the lid to her sister.
Mo Ling wiped the sweat on her face with her sleeve and smiled, “Aren’t you afraid of being scolded by mother for stealing those eggs?”
“I’ve already stolen it. Sis, eat quickly.”
Mo Ling poked her with her index finger, “If it wasn’t for you, I would’ve left this family a long time ago.”
“Where would you have gone?”
She raised her head and looked at the wheat fields around her blankly, “Wherever I wanted. Even if I became a maid for a well-off family, it’d be better than working like a slave here. I can’t even eat as well as unskilled labourers like Daqiang.”
Mo Ling was the kind of person who’d rather work a bit harder than be scolded by others. There was no way she’d actually be willing to become a maid, she was just venting.
Both sisters ate an egg each, then turned to leave. Someone from that group of men shouted, “Hey, why’re you leaving! We’re getting the money at sundown.”
Mo Ling waved at them and said loudly, “Don’t worry, Mrs. Cao is generous and she’ll pay me for the half day I’ve worked. Besides, Daqiang remembers how much each of us have worked!” After saying that, she took Mo Yan back home.
Da Qiang replied at the back of the group, “Yeah, I remember! Don’t worry!”
After resting for half a day, Mo Ling had recuperated her strength and was making dinner.
She was tending to the fire at the stove, with Mo Yan staying by her side, when she heard someone call from the front door, “Is the eldest daughter of the Mo family at home?”
The sisters’ eyes met. Mo Ling reacted first and stood up, “It’s Cao Zhang. I think he’s here to deliver the money for our half day of work.”
She ran to greet him, and Mo Yan followed.
Mo Ling said, “Young master Cao! Please, come in!”
The Cao family was very prominent in Chenzhong Village, and anyone who saw a member of them would be more courteous. When Mrs. Liang heard Cao Zhang had arrived, she came out of her room as well.
Cao Zhang nodded towards Mo Ling and Mrs. Liang, saying, “Miss Mo Ling didn’t stay until sundown to collect the money she’d earned, so I’m here to deliver it.” After that, he handed over a string of coins. Mo Ling did a quick count and there were a few extra dollars in there.
“Young mister Cao, why are there more dollars in there than expected?”
“My mother told me to hand over a few extra. After all, when other people hire workers, they provide meals, but we don’t.”
“But I only worked for half a day.”
“Don’t worry about it, please accept the money.”
Mrs. Liang took the string of coins without prompting and gave Cao Zhang an ear-splitting grin, “People have always said that Mrs. Cao is generous, and that’s truly the case! Young mister Cao, come in and sit down for a while! My son Feng’er is your deskmate, after all!”
Mo Yan huffed lightly, How could that son of hers be compared to Cao Zhang? Isn’t she ashamed to talk about Mo Feng in front of him?
Cao Zhang looked at Mo Yan and asked, “Yan’er, why haven’t you gone to the school to listen to the teachers’ lectures these past two days?”
Mo Yan gestured to the duck cages by the side, “We’ve recently bought some ducklings, and I need to take care of them.”
“Then if you want to know what the teacher’s lectures’ contents have been recently, you can feel free to ask me instead of Mr. Tian.”
But before she could say anything, Mrs. Liang hastily interjected, “Thank you for your generosity young mister Cao, I apologise for the idiocy of my daughter who doesn’t know social rules and etiquette.”
Cao Zhang’s eyebrows raised as he retorted Mrs. Liang, making him even more handsome, “Yan’er is really smart! Even Mr. Tian praises her on a regular basis!” [2]
Until Cao Zhang left, Mo Feng stayed in his room and didn’t dare go out. He was afraid that his mum would ask about his performance at school and Cao Zhang would respond honestly.
After they had sent away Cao Zhang, Mrs. Liang took a good look at Mo Yan. Seeing that she was still entirely prepubescent and looked immature, she couldn’t but sigh. “If only you were two years older. It’d be great if you could marry into the Cao family.”
This time, Mo Ling spoke against her, “Don’t just daydream uselessly. Cao Zhang’s from the Cao family. Why would he think about marrying someone from our family? Not to mention that Yan’er is still too young for marriage.”
Mrs. Liang was displeased when she heard this. “What’s wrong with our family? There’s a doctor in their family, and your dad works in the city. I don’t think our family is inferior to theirs in the slightest!”
Mo Ling replied coldly, “So why doesn’t father send us more money, so we can buy more farmland and be able to afford to hire workers for the harvest season, and so you can live a life like Mrs. Cao’s?”
“It’s useless to daydream about these things!”
Mrs. Liang didn’t continue arguing with Mo Ling and went back to her room, unlike her usual unwillingness to back down from an argument.
Edited August 20, 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.
P.S. You know, it seems like Mrs. Liang doesn’t respect neither Mo Ling nor Mo Yan currently. As they inevitably get richer, let’s see how her attitude towards them changes.
[1] To keep the name translations in line with the current standards, I’ll be changing all instances of ‘Da Qiang’ to ‘Daqiang’, ‘Da Gan’ to ‘Dagan’, ‘Er Dan’ to ‘Erdan’ etc.
[2] This suggests they have a fairly close relationship, despite Cao Zhang not greeting her verbally when he was first introduced.