Chapter 404 Can't Give Up

Night falls,

Leaning on the quilt, Liang Shi had a worried look on her face. She smelled the rotten smell in the room and could not help but speak to Liang Fugui beside her.

"Fugui, listen to my advice. Let's stop making brown sugar. If we continue like this, our family will have to beg for food."

"No, we can't give up. If we give up now, we'll become the laughing stock of the villagers."

Liang Fugui gritted his teeth, his eyes full of resentment.

"Wife, you've worked at the Chen family for so long. How do you preserve their beets? Why don't they rot?"

"I'm mainly responsible for cutting and washing the vegetables. I don't care about transportation at all. I think I heard Dalongzi say that there's a cellar built against the mountain behind the sugar mill. It's warm in the winter and cool in the summer, so fruits and vegetables can be stored there for months without spoiling."

"So that's how it is. No wonder their beets don't rot." Liang Fugui lowered his head in thought for a while, then spoke in a muffled voice as if he had made a great decision, "We'll dig a cellar tomorrow, too. Otherwise, the beets will rot by the time Zheng Xi brings them over."

When Liang heard this, she immediately became furious, her eyebrows raised. "Are you listening to me? Stop talking. We are just peasants digging for food in the dirt. We are not capable of doing business at all."

"Don't encourage others to be more ambitious and destroy your own prestige." Liang Fugui said, reaching out and pulling out a piece of tattered clothes from the quilt, "Look what this is?"

When he opened it casually, he saw a silver ingot and a few pieces of silver inside.

Liang's eyes widened in surprise. "Where did this silver come from? Did you sell the brown sugar?"

"Of course, you have a good business sense!"

Liang Fugui proudly recounted in detail what happened today when he sold candy at the village entrance.

"Oh my god, I'm rich!"

Liang no longer had the feeling of loss just now, and hurriedly held the silver ingot to admire it, and praised it generously,

"Fugui, you are really amazing. I thought you were just fooling around, but I didn't expect you to actually sell all those candies."

"That's a must, so we have to keep working. We have to keep the beets. I think we can earn more by working here than by working for the Chen family. Let me do the math for you."

Liang Fugui said, counting on his fingers.

"We still have over 2,000 kilograms of unrotten beets left at home, which can yield at least 400 kilograms of sugar, easily enough to sell for 28 taels of silver. Adding what we sold today, that's 42 taels of silver. After deducting the 30 taels we spent on the purchase, we still have over 10 taels left. Don't you think this is more than what you could earn working for the Chen family?"

“I do make a lot of money, but I just don’t feel at ease.”

"My dear wife, just put your mind at ease and follow my arrangements. Besides, we have no way out. Even if you want to work for the Chen family, they will never hire you again."

After hearing what he said, Liang thought about it and realized that it made sense. After what happened, the Chen family would never hire her again.

Seeing that she was silent, Liang Fugui continued, "Shopkeeper Hou said that as long as our family can make sugar, he will take as much as we can. Do you think we can give up such a good thing so easily?"

"Come on, if sugar is so easy to make, would it be our turn?"

"The Chen family can make it, why can't we?" Liang Fugui smiled mischievously and whispered a few words in Liang's ear.

Upon hearing this, Liang glared at him fiercely, "Are you a real man? How could you let your wife do such a thing? If this gets out, how can I live like a human being? Besides, how can a fool like that know the recipe for boiling sugar? It's useless to ask."

"Look at what you said. You are looking down on us. We may be on guard against anyone in the Chen family, but we will never be on guard against a fool. Among those working people, he is the most likely to know the secret recipe." Liang Fugui said in a very affirmative tone.

What the man said was indeed true. The Chen family never allowed outsiders to enter or leave the sugar-making room.

He stole the skills only because he had a good relationship with Lin. He was able to sneak in a few times under the pretext of chatting and helping her with work. After just a few glances, he found that making sugar was actually not difficult.

Erdanzi was different. He was responsible for carrying the ground sugar water into the house and pouring it into the big pot. He spent half a day wandering around in the sugar-making house.

Even if he is stupid, he should be able to understand it, and then he must know the secret recipe for making white sugar.

There was a hint of enthusiasm in Liang's eyes. With the recipe, she could make sugar, and her good days would come.

But she was still a little worried, "Fugui, I'm a little scared. What if Erdanzi takes advantage of me? Will you dislike me in the future?"

"Don't worry, wife. We are just putting on a show. I won't let him succeed. Our goal is to get the recipe for making sugar. As long as we have the recipe for white sugar, we can make a lot of money. We can send Goudan and Gousheng to study in town, and you won't have to envy Chen Han anymore..."

"Okay, I'll do as you say." Liang nodded in agreement.

Ever since she and her husband came up with a plan, Liang has been keeping an eye on Erdanzi in the village these days.

On the first day, Erdanzi and Dalongzi walked out together, and she didn't have a chance to talk to them.

The next day, he, Lao Liu's wife, and the village head's wife passed by her house talking and laughing, but she didn't dare to call out to them.

On the third day, although Erdanzi came out by himself, before she could say anything, he ran over like a gust of wind.

......

Liang was furious. When did this stupid guy become so popular? He even asked for company when he returned home. He was so stupid.

That evening, she was sitting in the yard enjoying the cool breeze when she saw Liang Fugui running in from the gate in a hurry.

"Wife, that fool came out alone today and is walking this way. You should act accordingly. I'll go hide outside for a while."

"Okay, I got it. You can go out now!" Liang quickly stood up, straightened her clothes, and smoothed her hair.

Liang Fugui ran a few steps and turned back to say, "My dear wife, our family's good life depends on you, please don't mess it up."

"I see. Hurry up and leave, or you won't be able to leave soon."

"Okay, I'll go now." Liang Fugui ran towards the cornfield not far away...

"Brother Erdan, you just came back."

Liang was leaning against the parapet at the gate, and her voice was so coquettish that it could give people goose bumps.

Hearing the voice, Erdanzi was startled at first, but when he saw that it was Liang, he immediately showed a panic expression and subconsciously took two steps back.

"Fugui family, what are you going to do?"

"Oh, look at how cowardly you are. I'm not a tigress. Why are you afraid of me?" Liang said as she moved forward.

Erdanzi quickly raised his hand to stop him, "Don't come over here, stay away from me."

"Hey my big brother, didn't you like chatting with my sister-in-law before? Why don't you come to her now?"

"Come on, I've grown some brains. You almost stoned me to death last time!"

......