Transmigrated Farmgirl's Scheme to Get Rich - Chapter 8
Bastard
“Second grandmother, did you go to the storyteller’s yesterday?”
“I didn’t, it was dark and I was afraid I’d trip over something.”
“Then I’ll take you over to tonight’s storytelling session.”
“There’s no need, if your other grandmother found out, she’ll tell your father that your family was being unfilial towards her.”
That explained why Mo Yan’s mother and sister still cared for that old woman despite disliking her. So it was because they wanted to avoid having a reputation of being unfilial.
“Second grandmother, what do you think about me becoming a storyteller?”
That was the only thing that was on Mo Yan’s mind right now.
Her second grandma laughed at this, revealing her missing teeth, “I’m afraid you’ll be laughed at like a performing monkey if you become a storyteller!”
Mo Yan stood up and pouted, “Second grandma, you’re making fun of me. Why can’t I become a storyteller? I know more stories than the storyteller that’s been coming here recently, and the villagers have heard of none of mine!”
“Yes, yes, our Yan’er is extremely smart, smarter than all of the boys in the village!” Mo Yan’s second grandma couldn’t help but laugh, like this was really funny to her!
At the dinner table, Mrs. Liang gave a steamed salted duck egg to each of her three children. Mo Feng immediately deshelled his and ate it, complimenting it the entire time. Meanwhile, Mo Ling handed hers to Mrs. Liang without saying anything. Mrs. Liang rolled her eyes at her daughter, “Eat it! Don’t keep saying I treat you harshly, I’m not that mean!”
Mo Ling picked up the egg and deshelled it swiftly as she replied sarcastically, “Yes, yes, my mum is very mean. All she does is yell at people all day every day!”
“What, you can’t be quiet even when you’re eating? Who will you marry in the future!”
Mo Yan also handed over her own egg, “Mom, you can have mine too!”
Mrs. Liang chuckled as she rolled her eyes at her younger daughter, “You’re a growing girl too. Eat the egg quickly and grow big and strong!”
After she said that, Mrs. Liang glanced at Mo Feng, whose egg had disappeared into his mouth without a trace.
As she ate, Mo Ling said, “Mom, you should have one for yourself. It’s not like we can’t spare a single salted egg.”
Mo Feng interjected as well, “That’s right, you shouldn’t have given two salted eggs to the storyteller yesterday.”
Mrs. Liang replied, “Getting the respect of others is more important. It’s not like I’d starve to death if I didn’t eat that salted egg!”
After dinner, they still went to the storyteller’s. No one really cared whether he was good or bad. They just went to enjoy the cool air and save some money on lamp oil. Mrs. Liang didn’t give salted eggs to the storyteller today, and instead, she gave him wheat like the others. It was the same wheat that had been sitting on the roof of the house.
Mo Yan didn’t want to go, but she was afraid of being at home alone, so she followed them.
This time, the storyteller talked about the Warring States Period, but he muddled up all of the different characters and it was impossible to figure out any of the details. It wasn’t long before the first person yawned, and sounds of snoring could be heard from a person in the crowd. [1]
Mo Yan heard someone say, “Hey! Daqiang, I have a good wife candidate for you!”
It turned out that the person who was snoring was the Cao family’s worker Daqiang. When he heard the person tell him about a potential wife, he replied in a daze, “Who is it? At the very least, she can’t be uglier than Ling’er!”
Someone else said, “So you still want to marry Mo Ling! Then you’ll have to ask Mrs. Liang if she will agree or not!”
A cacophony of laughter muffled the storyteller’s voice.
The group of men just kept laughing, and Mo Ling was too embarrassed to speak up for herself. Mo Yan was just about to stand up for her when her sister pulled her back.
Mrs. Liang started loudly, “Are you good-for-nothings talking about my Mo Ling for your own entertainment? Do you have any conduct? Do you have any shame? Even if my daughter were ugly, even if she looked like a demon, I’d marry her to the god of the underworld before you!”
How could Mo Yan forget that they had a mother who was very good at insulting other people? With her around, why would she need to step in?
When the storyteller was interrupted, even the dignified and elegant Mr. Tian and Cao Zhang, couldn’t help but cover their mouths and laugh.
Governing official Wu coughed and stood up, “Stop yelling! You can’t even hear the storyteller anymore. Daqiang, if you want to sleep, go back home and go to sleep!”
Even he didn’t dare to say anything against Mrs. Liang. After all, he couldn’t do anything when she was currently in the right!
The crowd had only just quietened down when someone in the back said, “This storyteller doesn’t know how to tell stories at all, and he’s making people fall asleep. I think someone else should become the storyteller instead.”
It was Lu Junming’s voice! Mo Yan turned around and saw Lu Junming standing at the back of the crowd.
Another person replied, “But we don’t have a better storyteller! It’s too late to find somebody new now!”
“There’s someone here who’s a better storyteller!”
Everyone was discussing this statement and looking around, but they didn’t find any strangers. On the other hand, the person who made said statement looked unfamiliar.
They thought, Was he talking about Mrs. Liang? But even though her skill at utilising profanities was exquisite, that didn’t equate to being a good storyteller!
“Who is it then?” someone asked impatiently.
“Mrs. Liang’s youngest daughter, Mo Yan.”
It took a moment for the villagers to comprehend what he had just said. He actually thought Mo Yan, the girl who had been sickly since she was born, would be a good storyteller.
Unsurprisingly, this brought about a round of laughter.
“Mo Yan? What stories does she know? How to eavesdrop on Mr. Tian’s lectures, or how to raise ducklings?”
“How about that essay her brother wrote! The one on the Warring States Period was nothing but a bunch of nonsense. How will he ever become a scholar in the future?”
Laughter rippled through the entire crowd. Mo Feng stood up in anger and roared at Mo Yan, “This is because of you, it’s all your fault, you troublemaker!”
Lu Junming laughed at him coldly before saying lightly, “She’s not the one laughing at you, so why are you yelling at her?”
Mo Feng didn’t show any weakness and yelled right back at Lu Junming, “My family matters have nothing to do with you, you mistress-raised bastard!”
After he said that, the crowd shut their mouths in shock and the threshing field fell silent.
Everyone in the village knew that the Lu family was a military family, and Lu Junming’s grandfather was a distinguished veteran who had been allowed to retire to enjoy the rest of his days. His son, Lu Junming’s father Lu Hong, was said to be the general of the Upper Valley military camp, but he had received his position due to marrying an ugly shrew and relying on his father-in-law, who was a major official.
Lu Hong had been married to his wife for seven or eight years, but she had only given birth to two daughters without a single son in sight. Later, Lu Hong had an affair with a mistress, who gave birth to Lu Junming.
Lu Hong was very fond of Lu Junming, and he made his and his mother’s lives as luxurious as he could. However, his wife Mrs. Liu refused to let Lu Junming’s mother enter the family, and forbade Lu Junming from becoming part of the family’s genealogy either.
However, Lu Junming’s grandpa really wanted a grandson, so secretly added him to their family genealogy as the eldest son of the main branch of the family. [1]
When Mrs. Liu found out about this, she went and beat up Lu Junming’s mother, calling her a slut and Lu Junming a bastard. Lu Junming pushed Mrs. Liu once in a fit of rage, and the shrew ran to her father and cried for help.
An official could naturally see the bigger picture better than a shrew. After being persuaded by her father, Mrs. Liu agreed to let Lu Junming into the family, but he had to call her mother. This wasn’t very unreasonable. After all, a concubine-born child was supposed to call their father’s wife ‘Mother’. However, Mrs. Liu refused to make Lu Junming’s biological mother a concubine and forced Lu Hong to abandon her.
A mistress didn’t have any rights or reputation. If she was to be abandoned, Lu Hong didn’t even have to write a divorce contract.
Lu Hong wanted to take Lu Junming home, but he refused and ran away to Chenzhong Village, his grandfather’s hometown.
This story had been spread around the village a long time ago, but no one had insulted Lu Junming outright like this before.
Edited August 31, 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. Thanks for reading, and sorry for the late update!
[1] If I’m not mistaken, this means he’s slated to inherit basically everything after his father dies. Mrs. Liu might be a shrew, but she has good reasons to hate Lu Junming by the standards of Ancient China.