Chapter 62.2

Translated by Aviana

He-shi’s old face froze, utterly dumbfounded. When did this old lady ever speak such words, ah? However, she herself couldn’t be certain if she had spoken such words or not. Because that tone completely resembled her way of speaking, thus she was unable to spell out any words of refute.

Upon hearing this, Yang laoyezi, too, didn’t doubt the source of these words wasn’t his wife. Even Wang-shi didn’t doubt even a bit. Because He-shi had the record of such instances. Furthermore, such heartless words were truly something He-shi would say. Wang-shi could even imagine the scene in her mind—He-shi, with hands-on her waist, squinted her triangular-shaped eyes as she spat, “You two trashes, quickly roll out of here for this old lady. In the future, even if you had to survive on nothing but chaff and wild herbs, don’t implicate the rest of us… “

Lin Qingwan had beautifully poured a load of sh*t on He-shi’s head. And the key point here was that He-shi had no chance but to accept this bucket full of sh*t, because everyone, including herself, believed that these words were spoken by her .

As Yang laoyezi remained standing by the main room door, dark clouds enshrouded his face.

“That’s why, eldest sister—” Raising her voice, Lin Qingwan yelled to the staggering back of Elder Sister Yang, who was being hauled by He-shi, “You shouldn’t say that we are unfilial, ah. Father and mother, be at ease. In the future, even if we have nothing but chaff and wild herbs to eat, we will certainly not burden the family. After all, we have already separated. “The implicit meaning being—in future if you have nothing but chaff and wild herbs to eat, that time, you also must not burden us.

Since the separation, this was the first time Yang laoyezi had spoken with the second branch. He had a long face; don’t know whether he was ashamed into anger or if he was simply sad.

“Laoer, still not helping your wife in. Aren’t you afraid the fetus might get affected?”

Lin Qingwan walked in without waiting for Yang Tiezhu to help her in. What’s more, her man could not ‘take’ her into the room. Anyway, what she wanted to say, she had already said. She didn’t want to remain outside and suffer in the cold wind.

Yang Tiezhu helped her while entering the door as if he were guarding an esteemed master. As soon as she entered the room, she burst into laughter.

Yao-shi also chuckled, “Second sao, you are awesome! That group of people was all rendered speechless.”

“It ought to be like this. They were the ones who did such an ugly deed. Yet now they wish for Elder Sister Yang to come and make trouble here. Seriously? Where does such a good thing exist in this world?”

“Well, whatever Wanwan said was correct, now don’t let this matter exasperate you and affect your health.”

Lin Qingwan once again glanced at Yang Tiezhu, “Hurry up and get on the kang, don’t pull your injury.”

Not to mention the reactions of everyone here in the second branch and the ones in the main room, Elder Sister Yang seemed to have been severely reprimanded by He-shi upon returning. And, the very next day, she was driven out of the house by He-shi.

However, this forcible departure of Elder Sister Yang was not only because she had provoked Lin Qingwan, but also because currently, He-shi wanted to save the food at home as much as possible, ah!

Day by Day, the weather was getting chillier and chillier. A few days ago, there was even a snowfall, which only stopped at noon the previous day. A thick layer of snow blanketed the entire ground. Fortunately, there wasn’t any snowfall today.

In the morning, after waking up, Lin Qingwan opened the door and squeezed her head out, only to be pushed back in by the frigid cold breeze outside. Abandoning her idea of going outside to have fresh air, she turned around and went back onto the kang.

However, no matter how cold it was outside, Lin Qingwan and the others couldn’t stop making Laweixian either.

Thus began exhausting days where everyone arduously worked every day. As soon as Yang Tiegen saw the deteriorating weather and snowfall outside, he went to Yang-shi’s place and built a snow-proof shed in the backyard. Dreading that inviting a carpenter from outside might lead to the spread of gossip, Yang Tiegen had to do the entire matter by himself, with Yang-shi and Yao-shi supporting him from the side.

It took them a full two days to make a simple shack, exhausting everyone to death. Soon after, they again began to prepare Laweixian to deliver it to the restaurants.

It was only yesterday that they managed to finish, and everyone could finally take a breather.

This while, seeing that everyone was busy, Lin Qingwan wanted to help them a bit but was asked by Yang-shi and the third branch to not meddle in. Because, for one, the weather outside was cold and the road was slippery. And two, Lin Qingwan was pregnant now. If, by chance, any untoward happened, the gains won’t make up for losses.

With no other choice, Lin Qingwan could only remain indoors, cook meals for everyone, and do other trivial chores. Feeling apologetic for them, Lin Qingwan decided to double the dividends of Yang-shi and the third branch.

Yang-shi and the third branch couple were against it. But Lin Qingwan was adamant in her decision as she said if they refused it, she would not make laweixian anymore. Ever since Lin Qingwan had asked Yang Tiegen to deal with the outside affairs, he was the one doing all that. And all the inside affairs were done by Yao-shi and Yang-shi, while she became a mere arm-flinging shopkeeper, making her feel very apologetic and embarrassed. Now that the business was booming, she, an arm-flinging shopkeeper, was just sitting back and taking a greater share of profits while they were tiring themselves to death from overwork only to gain little profit. Thus she had always wanted to increase their dividends. Because, for one, she could be at ease after being fair. And two, they were not outsiders. If she didn’t do anything in return, she wouldn’t be able to eat and sleep with a relaxed mind.

甩手掌柜 (shuǎi shǒu zhǎng guì):lit. arm-flinging shopkeeper / fig. sb who asks others to work but does nothing himself

After a few rounds of persuasion, the third branch finally gave in. However, because they felt they were receiving a lot of dividends, the third branch’s couple became even more motivated and diligent. Yang Tiegen even mastered the art of shopping around. After running to various pork sellers, he finally found a pork seller who agreed to sell at a minimal price. Furthermore, he even ran to other two small restaurants and successfully made a deal with them by himself.

货比三家 (huò bǐ sān jiā): the idiom usually means compare to different offers and buying carefully.

The result was immensely satisfactory and heartening. Although the amount ordered by the two small restaurants was not much, the business with them became stable. The per-day sales volume of Laweixian, which was only around 30 jin in the beginning, now increased to a little over 40 jin. Thus now, every time they prepared a batch of Laweixian, buying just a hundred jin of pork was no longer sufficient, and they had to buy several hundred jin of pork. Now they had a steady supply of pork too. Furthermore, they didn’t have to go to the town to make a purchase every time. Rather the pork seller himself delivered the meat to the door.

Of course, to avoid other villagers getting wind of their business, they explained their issue to the pork seller. Every time he made deliveries, he would disguise himself. Furthermore, coupled with the snow and cold weather, there was hardly any person on the roads. In this manner, Lin Qingwan and others secretly earned money from making Laweixian without anyone finding out.

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