Lu Chengyu and Li Fangyue returned to the village in an oxcart, and the two remained silent the entire way.
Lu Chengyu was in a daze the whole way.
"Son, what does the registrar want with you?" Tang asked, puzzled by Lu Chengyu's dejected expression.
Lu Chengyu glanced at Madam Tang and said, "The registrar and I had a chat."
Mrs. Tang asked with great curiosity, "What is it?"
Lu Chengyu glanced at Tang Shi and said, "The owner of Huaxia Trading Company is Chen Xiaomi."
Mrs. Tang jumped up excitedly, "Impossible!"
Lu Chengyu kept a straight face and murmured, "Although it's hard to believe, it should be true."
Which boss could trust a business and a house to be handed over to a little Shuang'er who would ignore them for years? The employees of Huaxia Business were all indentured servitude to Chen Xiaomi, and the wages they received were entirely up to Chen Xiaomi.
Lu Chengyu used to think that the owner of Huaxia Trading Company was too muddle-headed and didn't care about anything, and didn't even know that someone had embezzled his money. But now he thought that Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomi were really good at keeping secrets.
Such a thing was kept secret for many years.
Lu Chengyu suddenly understood why Chen Xiaomi had so readily paid off so much usurious money for Chen Jing back then.
Lu Lin married into the Chen family, so he became a member of the Chen family and didn't get involved in his grandparents' affairs, so he couldn't be considered unfilial. Chen Xiaomi was different. Although Chen Xiaomi separated from the family back then, if her grandparents were determined to sue her for unfilial behavior, she could be imprisoned. With a letter of severance, it would be a different story.
Once this severance agreement was signed, the elderly couple from the Chen family would have absolutely no connection with Chen Xiaomi anymore.
Thirty taels of silver was really nothing to Chen Xiaomi.
Back then, if the Chen family had known that Chen Xiaomi was actually the owner of the trading company, they certainly wouldn't have let him go with just thirty taels of silver. Lu Chengyu thought to himself: Chen Xiaomi is quite shrewd and far-sighted. He has solved the problem of future troubles in one fell swoop. In the past few years, Chen Xiaomi has been living a life of luxury in town, while the Chen family's life has not improved much.
Because of the trouble Chen Jing caused back then, the Chen brothers harbored a lot of resentment towards him, and the brothers fought quite a few times.
This Lu Lin is actually the boss.
Tang was seething with hatred. Over the past few years, seeing Lu Lin's life getting better and better, Tang had been hoping that the owner of the business would make a surprise return and kick out Chen Xiaomi, who was causing trouble in the business, and bring the two of them back to their original state. In the end, it turned out that the so-called "big boss" did not exist at all, and Chen Xiaomi herself was the big boss.
"Chen Xiaomi, where did he get the ability to afford a house in town?" In Tang's view, anyone who could establish themselves in town had to be incredibly capable.
In Tang's mind, Chen Xiaomi had always been a simple-minded boy with some strength, not to mention Lu Lin. The old lady always said that Lu Lin was unlucky and that anyone who got close to him would be unlucky. Tang also thought so. As a result, Lu Lin and Chen Xiaomi were actually the owners of the Huaxia store. Such a huge difference made Tang feel a little unable to accept it.
Lu Chengyu kept a straight face and didn't say anything. The Huaxia Trading Company was very profitable. If the trading company really belonged to Lu Lin, then Lu Lin must have saved up no less than 10,000 taels of silver over the years.
Lu Chengyu suddenly realized that although he had passed the imperial examination and become a Xiucai (a scholar who passed the lowest level of the imperial examinations), the gap between him and Lu Lin was widening. Lu Lin had long since reached a height that was unattainable for him. The title of Xiucai was just a nice name; the money was the real substance.
Over the years, with more people to feed and less money, the food at home has become increasingly worse. Although the family has always been frugal with Lu Chengyu, he can only eat meat once every few days.
The thought of his cousin Lu Lin, whom he looked down upon, doing so well in town made Lu Chengyu feel extremely disgusted.
The news she heard from Lu Chengyu unsettled Tang Shi.
Tang couldn't help but tell the old lady about Lu Lin. When the old lady found out, she became extremely agitated and loudly demanded that she go to Lu Lin to ask for the money back.
The news that Chen Xiaomi was the real owner of the business quickly spread throughout the village. Lu Chengyu suggested that they think of a solution first before deciding whether to spread the word. However, the old lady couldn't stand it anymore. After learning about it, she became furious and cursed Lu Lin in the village for being unfilial, only caring about his own prosperity and not caring about the life or death of his family. The old lady's outburst caused an uproar in the village.
This Huaxia Trading Company belongs to Chen Xiaomi? Impossible! Isn't it the big boss of the town? It's not easy for someone to make something of themselves in this village. The nominal big boss of Huaxia Trading Company is unfathomable in everyone's mind. But suddenly, this unfathomable person has become Chen Xiaomi. The villagers are all incredulous.
"This business does seem to belong to Chen Xiaomi. Since the shop opened, the big boss has never shown up."
"Didn't Chen Xiaomi save the life of the big boss in town? Maybe he'll just give the shop to Chen Xiaomi."
"This shop is a golden goose!"
"It's not right that this shop really belongs to Chen Xiaomi. Chen Xiaocai got married recently, and Chen Xiaomi only gave a dowry of a dozen taels. That's a bit unreasonable."
"A dozen taels of silver is quite a lot. We're all family now, so this betrothal gift is just a formality. Shen Chi is so lucky to live a life of luxury with Chen Xiaocai."
"The Lu family has quite a few capable people. Lu Chengyu passed the imperial examination and became a Xiucai, but I didn't expect Lu Lin to be even more impressive; he's already a boss."
"What's the use of Lu Lin being so capable? He's already married into the Lu family and isn't considered a member anymore."
When the news broke that Chen Xiaomi was the owner of Huaxia Trading Company, the marriage between Shen Chi and Chen Xiaolai became a topic of discussion again. Suddenly, Shen Chi became the envy of everyone in the village. If Chen Xiaomi was the big boss of Huaxia Trading Company, then Chen Xiaolai would be the young boss.
Huaxia Trading Company is so wealthy, and with Shen Chi becoming the owner's wife, she'll surely benefit a lot. Several families who had their eyes on Chen Xiaocai back then but "gave up halfway" are now filled with regret. In their opinion, they should have persisted a little longer. Perhaps if they had persisted, their daughters and Chen Xiaolai would have gotten together. Huaxia Trading Company is such a large company; even a little bit of it would have been enough to make their whole family in the countryside live a life of luxury.
Everyone sighed in admiration at the old woman's good fortune. Although her son and daughter-in-law had died young, she never expected that her two sons-in-law would bring her so much honor. Her daughter had actually found such a good husband.
The Chen family sat together, all looking rather grim.
Chen Shouxin said excitedly, "Dad, this Chen Xiaomi is a big boss, and he's keeping it a secret. He's clearly keeping you at bay!" Chen Shouli was also a little excited. He couldn't understand how Chen Xiaomi had suddenly become the boss of the business.
Chen Jing said excitedly, "Chen Xiaomi is rich, but this guy is rich and pretends to be poor."
Chen Jing had been through a lot in the past few years. When he heard that Chen Xiaomi was the owner of a trading company, he was both surprised and angry.
"I should have asked for less back then!" Old Mrs. Chen also regretted her decision.
“Old man, you still say he sold the house because he didn’t have money? It’s not that he didn’t have money! It’s obvious that he already has a house in town, so he doesn’t even look at the house in the countryside.”
Old Master Chen sighed inwardly. Back then, after Chen Jing got into trouble, Chen Xiaomi paid half of the bill, but the other half caused their family a lot of trouble. If Chen Xiaomi were the boss, one hundred taels would be nothing to her.
“Father, Chen Xiaomi is making a fortune all by himself and doesn’t care about the family at all. He’s gone too far,” Chen Shouren said.
Old Master Chen sighed and said, "The letter severing ties has been signed. No matter how much money he has, it has nothing to do with our Chen family anymore."
Initially, Chen Xiaomi's condition for giving money was signing a letter of severance, which clearly stipulated that the two parties would have no further connection. Even if Chen Xiaomi starved to death, she would not take the Chen family's money, and if the Chen family starved to death, Chen Xiaomi would not provide them with any relief.
The old lady said somewhat excitedly, "That kid did it on purpose, on purpose! No wonder he paid me so readily, he was just trying to scam me."
Old Master Chen also felt that Chen Xiaomi had probably foreseen this day, which was why she asked them to sign the letter of severance of kinship.
Chen Shouren looked at the old lady, somewhat agitated, and said, "Mother, you shouldn't have asked for thirty taels back then; you should have asked for several hundred taels." The old lady, her face stern, said, "Thirty taels to sever ties? That's too lenient on him."
Chen Jing trembled. Back then, because of his debts, his whole family blamed him. He gave up the imperial examinations and his promising future, living a mediocre life for so many years. Chen Jing suddenly realized that he didn't need to suffer so much.
Back then, Chen Xiaomi could have easily paid off his debts, but she refused to help him, watching him fall into poverty and go from a scholar to a peasant.
Old Master Chen kept a straight face. Knowing that Chen Xiaomi was the owner of Huaxia Trading Company, Old Master Chen was also somewhat agitated.
Old Master Chen never expected Chen Xiaomi to be so capable. He couldn't help but think: If he had treated the second wife better back then, if he had stopped the old woman from forcing her son to go into the mountains, perhaps the second wife would still be doing well now, and Chen Xiaomi would treat him well too. He would be living the life of an old man in town, instead of worrying about firewood and rice every day, and there would never be a moment of peace at home.
He had heard from the villagers that Granny Shen had been living in town for the past few years, and that she had several female workers under her care. Those female workers all followed her orders and lived a very comfortable life.
"Grandpa Chen, is it true that Huaxia Trading Company belongs to Chen Xiaomi?" As soon as Grandpa Chen went out, he was surrounded by several villagers.
"I don't know either."
"Old man, how could you not know!"
Old Master Chen's face darkened. He had only heard about Chen Xiaomi's situation from the villagers. Many villagers were very curious about it and came to ask him, making Old Master Chen feel embarrassed.
Old Master Chen said sullenly, "How would I know about that brat's affairs?"
Seeing that Old Master Chen's expression was unfriendly, the villagers stopped asking him questions.
"I told you long ago, asking him is useless. Don't you know how strained the relationship is between the Chen family and Chen Xiaomi? Chen Xiaomi is, after all, a member of the Chen family!"
How did the second son of the Chen family die? Don't you know? After the second son of the Chen family died, the eldest son of the Chen family wanted to sell Chen Xiaocai. Everyone knows that!
"I never expected that Chen Xiaomi would be the boss. If I had known, I would have helped him when he was down on his luck, and he would be able to find a job at the trading company now."
"I heard that Huaxia Trading Company pays an incredible amount of wages!"
After discussing it for a while, the villagers sighed that they had been blind back then and hadn't realized that Chen Xiaomi was destined to become a wealthy man.
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