Chapter 158: A Share of the Pie
Liu Shi didn't think it was possible, and she was also afraid that Xia Dalang would think that she had tortured his daughter-in-law. If he turned against her again, she would have no place in the family...
So he found another pawnbroker and bought a cook.
Because the last time, Mrs. Liu was hired, and when her son got into trouble, she was always worried about her family and was absent-minded at work. Mrs. Liu fired her, feeling that she had suffered enough from being a hired worker.
I might as well buy one this time. It will surely be less troublesome than hiring one.
The bought woman's surname was Fei. She was about forty years old. In fact, she was younger than Liu, but her face was full of wrinkles, and she looked older than Zhou.
Mrs. Fei has been doing kitchen work. She used to be a hired worker with a contract every five years, working in different families and had a good reputation.
But later, his family encountered an unexpected change and they urgently needed a large sum of money. After selling the land, they were still short of the money, so they had to sign a death contract with the mortgage broker.
All of the above were told to Liu by the dental agent.
However, Liu had dealt with this broker several times before and knew that he had a good reputation, so she bought Mrs. Fei.
The two men argued for a long time over the value of Mrs. Fei, and finally settled on fifteen taels of silver.
This amount is quite cheap, considering the cost to the kitchen lady.
With a bit of suspicion and a bit of secret joy at having gotten an advantage, Liu took Mrs. Fei back home.
Mrs. Fei went to the stove and cooked a few dishes. Her cooking skills were indeed quite good.
The whole family of the Xia family seemed to have suddenly come alive. Eating such a meal was the way life should be! Even Xia Youcai, who initially thought that Liu was too wasteful in spending money, couldn't help but feel that the money was well spent.
Liu secretly observed Mrs. Fei for a while with her thoughts on the matter.
Seeing that she was quick and efficient in her work and took the initiative in doing things without the need for the host to urge her, he became more and more puzzled: Why was the price of this Mrs. Fei so much cheaper than that of others?
There is a reason why Mrs. Fei’s prices are so cheap.
But the dental shop will never reveal this defect to the buyer.
Mrs. Fei has a son who is a gambler.
Before, Mrs. Fei worked as a cook in many families. The masters saw that she worked meticulously and saved materials, so sometimes when there was a shortage of manpower or out of trust in her, they would let her take on the purchasing duties as well.
Mrs. Fei really benefited a lot from it by withholding materials and accepting kickbacks.
With these private benefits, plus her good craftsmanship and frugal lifestyle, she saved a lot of money and bought a lot of land.
It’s just that Mrs. Fei’s husband was a lazy man who loved to eat and do nothing, and he died early.
Mrs. Fei went out to work all year round and had no time to take care of her family. Her only son was spoiled by his in-laws and given everything he wanted.
The family had some money, which was revealed, and was targeted by the vagrants in the county. They teamed up with the people in the casino to set a trap and entrapped Mrs. Fei's son.
Mrs. Fei's son became a compulsive gambler. At first, he only used his own private money to gamble.
Later, he gradually developed the stage of selling fields and land, but he had no access to the family's land deeds, so he only sold the land in his own name and that of his grandparents.
Later, Mrs. Fei's son owed a large gambling debt.
The casino staff detained Mrs. Fei's son and came to collect the debt. Mrs. Fei was hit so hard that she aged twenty years in a flash. But she had to save her only son...
The most important thing is that Mrs. Fei has been working outside and always feels guilty about not accompanying her son as he grew up.
Mrs. Fei cried for a while, then sold all the land in her family, and then sold herself to redeem her son.
Mrs. Fei didn't say anything to her son, but said to the people in the casino:
“There is no more money to be made from our family.
Please let him go!
If he comes to the casino again, you'd better kick him out directly, or at least don't lend him money again.
Otherwise, no one will be found to redeem him.
Your money will be wasted.”
After saying this, Mrs. Fei turned to her son:
"If you go gambling again, you'd better die in the casino. Anyway, your mother can't save you anymore. You have already squandered all the family property. You'd better take care of yourself."
After that, Mrs. Fei sold her property to several companies, and her son miraculously came to ask for money every time. Every time Mrs. Fei's son made a fuss, the buyer angrily returned Mrs. Fei to the pawnshop.
The pawnbroker had been troubled by this matter for a long time and really wanted to sell Mrs. Fei to the salt field. Unfortunately, the salt field had plenty of criminal slaves to use, so it was not worth it to buy someone from the pawnbroker.
This time, when Liu happened to be looking for someone to buy, the pawnbroker hurriedly got rid of this troublesome woman Fei and sold her to Liu for only fifteen taels of silver.
The only thing they agreed on was that no matter whether Liu found it convenient to use in the future or not, he could not return it.
Liu only observed Mrs. Fei, so naturally she couldn't see any problem with her.
After a while, Liu stopped thinking about Mrs. Fei.
Gradually, she was willing to let Mrs. Fei buy some kitchen supplies.
Mrs. Fei is quite good at this. The things she buys are cheap and fresh. The dishes she cooks are delicious and save on ingredients. Most importantly, she changes the recipes every day and is very skillful.
The more Liu looked at it, the more she felt that her money was well spent.
However, there was some money that Liu felt was not worth spending.
As Xia Youcai's health improved day by day, the medicinal materials he used remained so expensive, and occasionally the price would increase by a few cents. Liu was very resentful.
The complaint was not directed at Xia Youcai, but at the doctor in Pujitang who dared to prescribe the most expensive medicine.
But in order to avoid Xia Youcai's misunderstanding, Liu felt resentful but did not dare to say it out loud.
Moreover, because there has been no income for a long time, the family's expenses have not been reduced much. Xia Youcai still has to continue to treat his illness, acupuncture, and take medicine. Liu's private money is almost gone.
Naturally, Liu was unwilling to accept this, so she thought about getting some money back from the old couple.
She brought Jinhua back to the old house, ostensibly to relax, but in reality she wanted to persuade the old couple to help the eldest wife a little more.
It was only during this trip back to the village that Liu discovered the changes in her family.
After the fourth wife broke off the relationship with the first wife, she actually bought land from the village head and built a new house!
Upon hearing the news, Liu began to regret her impulsiveness.
Although the new house was built beside the South Lake, even if the land was not valuable, it would still cost a lot of money to build the new house. Since the fourth house dared to do this, it meant that they were still making money!
Liu, Sun and Wu asked in a roundabout way.
Sun saw through Liu's thoughts, but didn't mind telling her the details - anyway, the more sour Liu's face looked, the more comfortable Sun felt.
As a result, the fourth house's booming business once again attracted Liu's attention.
Liu pondered for a while, then hurried back to her room to discuss with Jinhua. Finally, she made up her mind that the first wife must get a share of the fourth wife's business!
Good night, sweet dreams, see you tomorrow.
(End of this chapter)
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