Since Lu An lost his job, he had no choice but to stay at home and do chores.
The eldest son of the Lu family felt that his younger brother had lost his job and disgraced the family, so he dumped the work of chopping wood and carrying water onto Lu An.
When Lu An was in town, he managed dozens of migrant workers.
His subordinates all respected and flattered him, making Lu An feel arrogant and conceited.
Although he lost his job, Lu An was still not in a good mood. Lu Ming and Lu An were putting on airs, but Lu An didn't care at all. The two brothers blamed each other and kept arguing.
In summary, Lu An lost his job for accepting gifts and secretly spent all the money, so he was in the wrong from the start. In the arguments between the two brothers, the older brother, Lu Ming, usually had the upper hand.
Lu An was used to living a carefree life in town, but after returning home, he was constantly being ordered around to do this and that, which made him feel a bit uncomfortable.
The fact that both the old lady and the old man sided with the eldest son made Lu An even more frustrated.
Lu An lay on the bed, somewhat annoyed, and said, "That boss is really a jerk."
Lin Xiuer also harbored some resentment towards Lu An. She hadn't even seen the money Lu An had embezzled. However, as angry as she was, she was the one in charge, and there was nothing she could do about it.
“A couple of days ago, Lu Tong came back and took away the twenty steamed buns we had at home,” Lin Xiuer said.
Lu An frowned and said, "What's wrong with my sister-in-law? A married daughter is like water spilled from a bowl. Where can you get such a subsidy? The family is already in such a state."
After marrying Lu Tong off, the eldest son's family received twenty taels of silver, but he didn't see a single tael. Lin Xiuer frowned and said, "Lu Tong's husband's family isn't poor, so what's the deal with them always coming to our house to beg for money?"
Lin Xiuer didn't know that Tang Shi's indulgence of her daughter wasn't out of love for her, but because Lu Tong had something on Li Fangyue. When Tang Shi refused to give it to her, Lu Tong threatened to tell the old lady about her sister-in-law's affair. Tang Shi was almost driven to her death by this daughter.
The old lady was unaware of the inside story and harbored great resentment towards Lu Tong for constantly running back to her parents' home.
"The eldest son raised such a daughter, yet he's always bossing me around and doesn't understand anything."
The Lu family was in chaos, and Lu Lin was also encountering some problems.
Chen Xiaocai took a ride alone from Liuzhen back to Linzhen.
"Why won't they rent to us?" Lu Lin asked.
Chen Xiaocai said sullenly, "The boss said that this shop has other uses and will not be rented to us."
Lu Lin frowned. He had agreed to rent a shop in Liuzhen, so why did he go back on his word so quickly?
"We have a contract, did he mention how he would compensate us?" Lu Lin asked. Chen Xiaocai said somewhat angrily, "He said he would deduct the rent for the past few months and compensate us with the remaining money. Brother Lin, that boss gave us three days to move out, otherwise he would throw all our things out. If it weren't for Uncle Qin holding him back, I think that boss would have thrown our things out right then and there."
"Thanks to Uncle Qin," Lu Lin said.
"Yes, if it weren't for Uncle Qin keeping people in check, we don't know what would have happened." Qin Yi had seen blood on his hands, and when he got angry, he was extremely fierce. When the conflict broke out, Chen Xiaocai was also a little frightened.
Lu Lin nodded and said, "That boss is really unethical."
The other party actually wanted the rent for the past few months. He had renovated the shop after renting it, which cost a lot of money. Moreover, the fact that the other party contacted him in such a hurry would probably delay a lot of his business.
Lu Lin took a deep breath and said, "There's no time to lose, I'll go with you to take a look."
Chen Xiaomi came out and said, "Is someone being a scoundrel? I'm going to go beat up that cheater."
Lu Lin glanced at Chen Xiaomi and said, "Forget it, you should get some rest. I can handle it."
Chen Xiaomi said sullenly, "Okay."
Lu Lin gritted his teeth. This was partly his fault; the other party here was unwilling to rent the house to him anymore, and all he needed was a refund of the rent.
Lu Lin had initially thought the shop owner was quite kind, but now he realized otherwise. Their shop's location was average, but after he opened the shop there, he had already made a name for himself. Names are intangible, but they are also quite valuable. When Lu Lin arrived in Liuzhen, he talked to the shop owner and cleared out all his belongings.
Seeing the shopkeeper's eagerness to send them away, Lu Lin knew that the other party had probably found a better buyer. Lu Lin argued with the shopkeeper for a while and finally got a refund of eighteen taels of silver, which still resulted in a loss.
Lu Lin felt a little nauseous, but when he thought about how much money the shop had earned him, exceeding two hundred taels, his anger subsided.
"Brother Lin, what do we do now?" Chen Xiaocai asked.
Lu Lin glanced at Chen Xiaocai and said, "Let's take all the things to the inn first."
"All right!"
Lu Lin and Chen Xiaocai delivered all their belongings to the inn. Lu Lin then took Chen Xiaocai for a stroll around Liuzhen, and Lu Lin bought another shop.
Because of the limited time and the limited number of shops available in the town, the shop we chose this time was in a more remote location compared to the one we rented before.
Although the location was a bit out of the way, the shop was quite large, and there were several houses and a well in the back. Having learned his lesson last time, Lu Lin bought both the shop and the houses this time.
This shop and house are much smaller than the one Lu Lin bought in Lin Town, and they are also much less exquisite. It only cost one hundred and forty taels.
After buying the house, Lu Lin called Chen Xiaocai and the others to move their belongings into the new shop.
Chen Xiaocai followed Lu Lin and said, "Brother Lin, will the owner of this shop change his mind again and kick us out?"
Lu Lin shook his head and said, "Don't worry, it won't happen." This time, to solve the problem once and for all, he bought all the houses.
The new Huaxia Trading Company opened in Liuzhen, but business was not going well, much to Chen Xiaocai's disappointment.
Lu Lin went to take a look at the old shop and couldn't help but feel a little annoyed.
When Lu Lin moved shops, he had already taken down the signboard. However, the shop was still displaying the Huaxia Trading Company's signboard. Not only that, but the shop was currently selling fans and bags, which were obviously counterfeit. Moreover, the prices were much lower than theirs. Brother Lin, business was terrible. People who came in even asked me if our trading company had opened a branch. They said the prices at the branch were much cheaper, but ours were so expensive.
Lu Lin glanced at Chen Xiaocai and said, "Don't pay them any attention. We're the kind of people who take the high-end route. We're just seizing an opportunity. The money we made in the early stages is enough to get by..."
It's almost autumn, and with the changing seasons, once the autumn winds blow, even if these fans are sold at a very low price, nobody will want them.
Chen Xiaocai nodded. He had been a shopkeeper for a while and knew how much silver he had handled. He also knew how profitable his previous business had been. Now that the method of making this product had become known, the price had come down, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Chen Xiaocai looked at Lu Lin and said, "Brother Lin, it's a problem that there's no business all the time!"
Lu Lin patted Chen Xiaocai's head and said, "Don't worry, you won't be shortchanged on your wages. However, if the goods don't sell, you won't get any commission."
Chen Xiaocai pouted, looked at Lu Lin, and said irritably, "That's not what I'm worried about."
Lu Lin patted Chen Xiaocai's head and said, "In business, there are always gains and losses. The important thing is to have a broad mind."
Chen Xiaocai: "..."
"Fans will probably stop selling soon. I need to go back and think about what other goods to sell in a few days," Lu Lin said.
Chen Xiaocai said sullenly, "That shop owner is shameless. He didn't even change the shop name, and he actually copied our name, Huaxia Trading Company."
Upon hearing this, Lu Lin felt a little nauseous and said, "Yes!" There is no product name protection law in this place, and there are no penalties for this kind of misappropriation of store names.
"Brother Lin, what exactly does 'China' mean?" Chen Xiaocai asked.
Lu Lin: "..." Well, "China is a very magical place, it has everything, so it's called China Trading Company."
"Brother Lin, where did you hear this from? I've never heard of it before," Chen Xiaocai asked, somewhat puzzled.
Lu Lin: "I saw it in a book."
The house that Lu Lin used to rent had a backyard, but no kitchen. Chen Xiaocai and the others didn't cook much on weekdays, just buying some steamed buns and bread in town.
Lu Lin brought a lot of rice, flour, and cooking oil with him and piled them up in the kitchen, telling Chen Chi to cook more delicious food on weekdays, as money was no object.
It had been almost half a month by the time Lu Lin finished dealing with things in Liuzhen.
Chen Xiaomi finally breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Lu Lin return.
"Is everything over there mostly settled?" Chen Xiaomi asked.
Lu Lin nodded and said, "Yes! I bought a shop so I won't have to worry about the owner going back on their word and me being kicked out again."
Chen Xiaomi glanced at Lu Lin and said, "Buying another house!" Chen Xiaomi tilted her head, thinking that Lu Lin was really strange. What did he need so many houses for?
Lu Lin glanced at Chen Xiaomi and said, "The house is great! If the situation remains stable, the price of this house should keep rising."
Chen Xiaomi thought to herself: That would have to be done when the situation is stable!
When Chen Xiaomi heard that a counterfeit shop had appeared in Liuzhen, she couldn't help but feel annoyed. "These bastards."
Lu Lin glanced at Chen Xiaomi and said, "Don't be angry. They opened later, so the cost of following the trend is high. Even if they sell more products, they won't make as much money as we do."
"Who is the owner of that counterfeit goods store?!"
"His name seems to be Xia Haisheng. I heard he's the second young master of the Xia family. The Xia family started out in the cloth business, and their business is very large. Xia Haisheng is the second son, born out of wedlock. He has an older brother, Xia Yunhe. I heard that Xia Yunhe is very good at business, and his business is booming."
"Xia Haisheng is different. It is said that he likes to bully men and women and has a very bad reputation. However, Old Master Xia loves this son very much and always gives Xia Haisheng money to do business, hoping that he can achieve something. However, Xia Haisheng uses a large part of the money for eating, drinking, gambling and whoring, and only uses the rest for business, often losing everything."
"He probably saw that our Huaxia Trading Company was doing well, so he set his sights on us."
Chen Xiaomi frowned and said, "This shameless guy deserves to pay compensation."
"That young master Xia seems to be quite wealthy," Lu Lin said with a slight sigh. Huaxia Trading Company had been operating in Liuzhen for some time and had some influential clients. Someone secretly told Chen Xiaocai that Xia Haisheng had rented their original shop for forty taels of silver.
Chen Xiaomi asked, somewhat puzzled, "He's paying such a high rent, isn't he afraid of losing money?" As far as Chen Xiaomi knew, the counterfeit goods business wasn't easy either. It wasn't just him counterfeiting their products; Lu Lin's profits came from the novelty factor. For example, school bags—almost everyone in the school already had them—and recently they weren't selling well anymore.
Lu Lin shook his head and said, "I don't know, but whether he pays compensation or not is none of our business."
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