Chapter 63 Hearing is believing, seeing is believing
“Someone is causing trouble. They came up here and overturned the carts and smashed the steamers, saying that they wouldn’t be allowed to sell steamed buns here anymore. But everyone else is doing fine, no one is making a fuss. It’s only targeting us.” As soon as Li Xiujuan spoke, she knew that this matter was definitely related to Qin Yi.
"Father, Mother, it's all my fault for dragging you into this." Lin Zhaozhao explained the whole story, and Li Xiujuan, Lin Fusheng, and Old Lady Lin reacted much more strongly than she had expected.
"Zhaoniang, you must not give in to this."
"If the dock doesn't allow us to sell steamed buns, then we won't. I don't want to work so hard early in the morning and not earn much money anyway."
"Anyway, we've earned enough money for our family. With the year-end approaching, we should take a good rest and recuperate. If this continues for too long, we can always leave Huichun and start over."
Old Mrs. Lin, Li Xiujuan, and Lin Fusheng made clear arrangements, one after another. Outsiders only knew that Lin's Fruit Shop was doing well and were envious and wanted a share of the pie, but they knew that Lin's Fruit Shop had reached where it was today because of Zhao Niang herself. If they really did what others wished, the outcome would only be worse.
Throughout history, possessing a treasure has been a crime, a dead end for all.
The family was of one mind. Yang Yuan, an outsider, seemed to be deep in thought, his expression shifting unpredictably.
Having made up her mind, Lin Zhaozhao felt much more relaxed and went back to her room to catch up on sleep. Li Xiujuan, Lin Fusheng, and Old Lady Lin picked up the smashed buns, still vivid in their minds the lack of food they had just experienced while fleeing the famine a few months prior.
Adhering to the principle of not wasting food, the cleaned buns were reheated and eaten whole, while the smaller pieces were cooked into noodle soup.
In this way, the steamed buns were saved, but there was one drawback: they were a little hard to chew when drinking the soup.
After having breakfast and finishing tidying up, Li Xiujuan sat blankly in the yard. Having been so busy, she was really not used to being idle all of a sudden. After thinking it over, Li Xiujuan had the idea of raising chickens and ducks.
Just as they were making plans, the half-open door was pushed open, revealing Zhang Dandan, who was crying her heart out. Seeing her, she clung to her like a last straw, pleading, "Juan Niang, I really have no other choice, could you lend me fifty taels of silver...?"
Li Yunyun, Li Junsheng, and Li Minghuang couldn't keep up with Zhang Dandan's rapid-fire speech. For a moment, the siblings stared at each other, their cries growing louder in the air.
"What exactly happened?" Li Xiujuan asked. Seeing her mother crying her heart out, and her father being slow to speak, Li Yunyun explained in detail.
It turns out the Zhang family is up to their old tricks again.
Previously, because Lin's Fruit Shop was doing well, the Zhang family had their eyes on her. These days, they frequently ran into Zhang Dandan, showing concern and care. Zhang Dandan was already depressed because of Li Minghuang and her children's busy schedule. With Old Lady Zhang's interference, she forgot her pain and her heart was tilted.
Sure enough, after noticing Zhang Dandan's closeness and clinginess, Old Lady Zhang subtly hinted and used the same trick again. Zhang Dandan was also stubborn and indulged in the mask set up by Old Lady Zhang. She felt that her family was in dire straits while her husband's family was living a thousand times better life, so she had the idea of subsidizing her family again.
However, after fleeing the famine, Li Minghuang took control of the finances, and Zhang Dandan's daily allowance was fixed. She could only squeeze money from her food allowance. When Old Lady Zhang complained that it wasn't enough, she intensified her efforts, so she came up with the idea of selling potted plants. Unfortunately, she was caught red-handed.
That day caused a huge uproar. Everyone thought that Zhang Dandan had seen the light after being persuaded by everyone, but Old Lady Zhang added fuel to the fire, saying that some members of the Zhang family were crazy, some were stupid, and some were dead, and that Zhang Dandan should raise money for medical treatment.
The Li family immediately realized that this was Zhang's doing and rejected Zhang Dandan's proposal. Since she couldn't get through to her in-laws, she came here instead.
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