A few days after the engagement, Shen Chi and Granny Shen returned to town.
Lu Lin and Chen Xiaolai sat facing each other. Lu Lin looked at Chen Xiaocai and asked, "What do you think?"
“I’ll take Chen Chi to Liuzhen,” Chen Xiaocai said without hesitation.
A while ago, Chen Xiaocai returned from Liuzhen to work as a shopkeeper here. She was constantly bothered by the aunts and uncles in the village. Chen Xiaocai felt that it was okay to be busy with business, but it was best not to run into acquaintances in the village. The acquaintances in the village were really too annoying. Because they were acquaintances, it was not good to say anything harsh. Once she said a few harsh words, a group of people would use their elders' airs to pressure her, and their spittle could drown her.
Lu Lin nodded and said, "Alright."
The fighting power of this generation of extended family members is quite strong.
Many people in the village had previously proposed marriage to Chen Xiaocai, and Xiaocai had agreed to marry Chen Chi, which inevitably made some people feel envious.
Previously, before Shen Chi and Chen Xiaocai were engaged, Lu Lin didn't want Shen Chi, a little girl, to run around with Chen Xiaocai. However, now that Shen Chi and Chen Xiaolai are engaged, it doesn't matter anymore. Shen Chi is also good at math and can help Chen Xiaocai. With Shen Chi's help, Xiaocai should be able to relax a bit.
Shen Chi was also very willing to go to Liuzhen. He had heard Chen Xiaolai talk about his experiences in Liuzhen.
Previously, when Chen Xiaocai went to Liuzhen alone, Chen Chi was quite worried.
Lu Lin helped Chen Chi and Chen Xiaocai onto the carriage, saying, "Uncle Qin, please keep an eye on these two kids for me!"
Qin Yi smiled and said, "Young Master Lin, don't worry, I will protect them."
Lu Lin watched Chen Xiaocai and Shen Chi leave, feeling a sense of pride and joy.
Lu Lin's life was getting better and better, but on the Lu family's side, another major event happened that shocked the whole family: Lu An lost his job in town.
"Master, this manager is dishonest!"
He said he didn't want it, and that's just going too far.
When Lu An lost his job, Wang felt as if her heart had been torn apart, and she was completely devastated.
The old man sat on the kang (a heated brick bed) smoking, his face showing some worry.
They have more than 20 acres of land, which is enough to support a large family, but it would be a bit of a stretch to send their eldest grandson to school.
With the family about to welcome a new member, life will likely be difficult without the fourth son's wages.
"Fourth brother, did Boss Zhang just fire you without giving any explanation?" the old man asked.
Lu An said angrily, "They just want to fire me and make room for his concubine's brother. They haven't given me any explanation!"
The old man frowned and said, "If that's the case, then I'll go and have a word with him."
The old lady said excitedly, "Yes, we have to talk about it. We can't just let it go like this. He took a concubine and then fired our son. What kind of logic is that? It's so unethical."
Lu An said with some difficulty, "Dad, don't go. Boss Zhang is so influenced by his concubine that he doesn't listen to anything you say. It's no use for you to go. Besides, isn't he rich? He probably looks down on us country folk. Dad, don't make a fool of yourself."
The old lady said excitedly, "That's not how it's said."
"Mother," Lu An complained.
Li Fangyue touched her belly, slightly worried. The crops in the fields were not yet ready for harvest, and the family's expenses largely depended on Lu An's wages. Now that Lu An had lost his job, the family's expenses would increase again.
Looking at Lu An, Li Fangyue vaguely felt that Lu An was not telling the truth. As Lu An's bedmate, Li Fangyue always felt that Lu An's emotions were a bit off recently, probably because someone had something on him, which was why he was returned.
Although Lu An advised his grandfather not to cause trouble, the grandfather still went to confront Boss Zhang the next day.
Old Master Lu went there in a rage and returned with a humiliated face.
"Grandpa, how did things go?" Madam Wang asked excitedly.
"You unfilial son!" Old Master Lu cursed.
"Old man, what's wrong with you?" The old lady looked at the old man's face and seemed a little uneasy.
"That bastard has disgraced me!" the old man cursed angrily.
The old lady was somewhat confused by the old man's words.
The old man called Lu An aside, and Lu An probably knew that things were not going well, so he didn't care.
"Fourth brother, did you take money from them?" the old man asked angrily.
The old man had gone to see Boss Zhang in a fit of rage, thinking he was on the moral high ground. However, Boss Zhang told him that his dismissal of Lu An was not due to his concubine, but rather because his son had forced his employees to give him gifts.
He would assign all the dirty and hard work to anyone who didn't pay him, which made the migrant workers very resentful.
Lu An frowned and said, "Dad, don't listen to Boss Zhang's nonsense. He just doesn't want me anymore, so he just borrowed money from someone." The old man said angrily, "You still have the nerve to say that? If you hadn't taken money and been caught red-handed, how could you have been fired?"
Lu An said with a dark face, "It's not just me who's taking money; there's someone else who isn't."
The boss replaced the man with his brother-in-law. He didn't believe that the other man would refuse to accept bribes. That guy didn't look like a good person at all, and he might even accept more than the boss.
The old lady frowned and said, "Fourth son, where's the money you collected? Where did it go?" The old lady originally thought Lu An was quite well-behaved; he honestly handed over all the wages he received from his superiors. Feeling apologetic, the old lady sometimes only collected half. She never expected that Lu An actually had extra income.
Lu An said calmly, "It's spent."
The old man asked somewhat excitedly, "You spent it? Where did you spend it?"
“I work in town, and I still need to eat.”
The old man said with a dark face, "The wages Boss Zhang paid you were already high enough, how can you be so ungrateful?"
The old man went to see Boss Zhang before, but was scolded by Boss Zhang instead, which made him very embarrassed.
Lu An said somewhat excitedly, "Boss Zhang pays a lot of wages, but don't I have to hand over the money every month? If it weren't for you guys urging me to pay my wages every month, I wouldn't need to collect money from others. Cheng Yu spent so much money to get married, and you didn't say anything to him, but you just scolded me. You guys are too biased."
The old man was so angry with Lu An that he trembled. "You, how dare you talk like that? You're really going to make me furious."
The old man felt he had been good enough to his youngest son, but he never expected that his youngest son would think this way.
News of Lu An losing his job spread quickly throughout the village.
"Why was Lu An suddenly fired?"
"I thought Chen Xiaomi would be fired. Chen Xiaomi has been gone for almost several months and shouldn't be able to work. I didn't expect that Lu An would be the first to be fired."
"According to the old lady of the Lu family, it's because the boss has taken a new concubine, so he's going to give Lu An's job to his brother-in-law. So, this kind of relationship is nothing compared to the influence of a pillow talk. There aren't many honest bosses in this town."
"I think Chen Xiaomi's boss is quite honest."
"To be honest, not many people have actually seen that boss."
"I heard that the boss is a big businessman and doesn't really care about the store's affairs."
Grandma Lu was too embarrassed to tell anyone that Lu An lost his job because he accepted bribes, or that she used Lu An's own excuse. The villagers didn't know much about what was happening in town, so when Grandma Lu said this, the villagers believed her.
The news that Lu An had lost his job also reached Lu Lin's ears.
Lu Lin's status in the eyes of the villagers is getting higher and higher. When the villagers come to deliver goods, they always chat with Lu Lin. That's how the news of Lu An losing his job reached Lu Lin's ears.
“Lu An has no work to do, so the Lu family is probably going to be in trouble again,” Chen Xiaomi said.
Lu Lin nodded and said, "That's right. But it's good that Lu An lost his job. At least he can work in the fields now." The Lu family owns a lot of land, but they don't have many people to do the work.
Lu An only needed to manage his subordinates when working in town, but farming was a different story.
"Yes, autumn is almost here." Although the weather hasn't gotten much colder, it really does seem like autumn is just around the corner.
Why was Lu An suddenly fired?
"The old lady said that because the boss took a new concubine, Lu An's position was taken by his new brother-in-law. However, the old lady's words are not very credible," Lu Lin said, shaking his head.
Lu Lin narrowed his eyes. It seemed that the boss originally preferred Lu An's job to be done by the original owner's father. However, the old lady in the family felt sorry for her youngest son, so she made his cheap father give up the position.
Some people believed what Grandma Lu said, while others did not.
When Lu An was in office, the migrant workers under him naturally respected him greatly, fearing that he would make things difficult for them and cause them to lose their jobs. They tolerated him in every way. However, now that Lu An has been dismissed, the employees under him are eager to curry favor with the newly appointed manager, so they have revealed all of Lu An's past misdeeds.
Lu An initially accepted bribes from his subordinates, but the amount was relatively small. In recent years, however, he has been accepting more and more. Even if Boss Zhang's brother-in-law doesn't have his eye on Lu An's position, Lu An may still be replaced after a while.
Chen Jing wasn't good at studying, but he had a lot of bad friends, as you can easily find out with a few inquiries.
Chen Jing knew that Lu An was fired because he exploited his workers. When he got home, he told his family. After Old Mrs. Chen spread the word in the village, everyone knew that Lu An was fired because he was dishonest. The Cheng family was ridiculed again.
Lu An's affair has had some impact on Lu Chengyu. The old lady of the Lu family was previously rumored to have stolen money, and now Lu Chengyu's uncle is rumored to have accepted bribes.
Lu Chengyu lost face at the academy, and when he got home, he took his anger out on Lu An, scolding him for being greedy for money and doing such a thing.
Lu An was not one to be trifled with. When Lu Chengyu pointed at him and cursed, he got angry and simply called Lu Chengyu a good-for-nothing. He had taken the exam for so long and was still only a junior scholar. He always acted like he was a high-ranking official. He had studied so much but still had to rely on nepotism to get ahead. He had spent so much money to bring back a little brat who was a waste of the family's money.
The old man of the Lu family had a terrible headache watching his eldest grandson and youngest son arguing so fiercely.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com