Chapter 24: A fool's efforts to open source! Making money like crazy!
"Everyone heard Dr. Chen's diagnosis. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the food at my food stall. As for why this man's wife miscarried, only he himself knows the answer." Lin Yao's gaze was sharp.
"That...that's probably just my wife eating something else and making it up so I wouldn't find out. I was fooled by her too," the man roared, trying to hide his guilty conscience.
"My brother and I were injured just yesterday, and you come here today to cause trouble. What are you up to? Do you think we can't see through you? You just think we're too badly injured to manage the dock business, so you're trying to take this opportunity to slander us and ruin our reputation!" Lin Yao's eyebrows furrowed, and she raised her voice angrily, "Let's go see the officials! You must come with us to see the officials today and explain this matter clearly!"
The man tried to argue, but Lin Cheng reacted quickly, grabbing a rag from the table and stuffing it into his mouth. He then twisted the man's hands behind his back, rendering him unable to move.
A group of tall, burly men squeezed through the crowd, led by their regular customer—Wu the镖头 (bodyguard). Wu the镖头, his face full of shame, stepped forward and clasped his hands in apology to Lin Yao and Lin Cheng: "Young Lady Lin, Young Brother Lin, I'm truly sorry for today; we misunderstood you." He paused, "It's all our fault for believing this man's one-sided story, thinking there was something wrong with your food. We were reckless."
Lin Yao gave a slight curtsy and changed her manner of greeting. "Chief Escort Wu, you flatter me. Anyone would have doubts if they encountered such a situation. It's only natural. There's no need to worry about it."
"Young Lady Lin is truly magnanimous! My brothers and I are willing to accompany you to the government office to be witnesses. We'll also help you keep this scoundrel under control, so he doesn't escape halfway!" Wu, the镖头 (bodyguard), spoke in a booming voice. He turned to face the group of burly men behind him and waved his hand, "Brothers, today we'll accompany Young Master Lin and Young Lady Lin to the government office and give them our backs!"
"Alright!" the young bodyguards responded in unison, full of spirit. Lin Yao felt a warmth in her heart and looked at Head Bodyguard Wu with gratitude.
"Let's go!" Wu, the head镖师 (bodyguard/escort), strode forward and took the troublemaker from Lin Cheng's arms as easily as lifting a chick. Lin Yao and Lin Cheng followed closely behind, and the group marched in a grand procession towards the government office.
On the way, the man tried to struggle, but Wu, the镖头 (bodyguard), held him firmly and he couldn't escape at all. The people who had just watched the commotion also followed behind, all wanting to see how this matter would be resolved.
Upon arriving at the government office, Lin Yao picked up a drumstick and struck the drum to appeal her grievances. Soon after, the county magistrate convened the court to hear the case. Lin Yao and the others knelt neatly below the court and recounted the entire story in detail.
Upon hearing this, the county magistrate frowned deeply. "Your Excellency, do you confess? Who instructed you to slander the Lin siblings? Confess the truth, or you will face severe torture!"
The man was already feeling guilty, and the magistrate's words made his legs tremble uncontrollably. Hearing that torture was about to be used, he was even more terrified and immediately began to confess: "Sir, I... I was also acting under orders. The day after my wife miscarried, a young man who looked about seventeen or eighteen years old came to me and said that if I caused trouble at the dock today, he would give me five hundred coins."
"What did that man look like?" the county magistrate pressed.
The man squinted slightly, trying hard to recall, "Sir, that young man was fair-skinned and chubby, with small eyes and a mole the size of a little finger near his mouth."
Lin Cheng understood immediately; it was indeed his uncle's family again. "Sir, this man is my uncle's eldest son. The attack on my younger sister yesterday was probably their doing. He is currently an apprentice at the Drunken Immortal Tavern in town."
The county magistrate immediately dispatched constables to take Lin Cheng to the tavern for identification.
Inside the tavern, Lin Youfu was idly wiping the tables with a rag. He glanced up and saw Lin Cheng leading the constables in. His heart skipped a beat. Hadn't the masked man said yesterday that the matter was settled? Shouldn't Lin Cheng be tending to the girl whose hand had been slashed? How could he have time to report to the authorities?
Lin Youfu initially denied it to the death, but when he arrived at the yamen and saw the man kneeling on the ground, he realized that he had been deceived by the masked man and cursed the masked man in his heart several times.
Lin Youfu was always afraid of death. Before the county magistrate could even use torture, he was so frightened that he confessed the whole story.
Among the onlookers were several villagers from Huaihua Village, and the news spread quickly. The eldest branch of the Lin family, upon hearing the news, rushed over. Upon learning that Lin Youfu had been sentenced to a month in prison and had to compensate the Lin siblings for medical expenses and today's medical costs, Hu Shi plopped down on the ground and began to throw a tantrum. However, the county magistrate was not going to let her get away with it. He slammed his gavel heavily, "How dare you make such a scene in court! Continue this unreasonable behavior, and you will be punished for disrupting court order!" This resounding shout instantly silenced Hu Shi, frightening her into not daring to continue her outburst. She could only get up from the ground and sob softly.
Stepping out of the government office, Lin Yao and Lin Cheng finally relaxed, letting out a long sigh of relief in unison.
"Miss Lin, it seems you won't need to pay for today's consultation," Chen Qianyuan said with a smile.
Upon hearing this, Lin Yao immediately understood what he meant. "If it weren't for Doctor Chen's intervention today, my brother and I would have been unable to prove our innocence. Although the magistrate ordered the eldest branch of the Lin family to pay for today's consultation, that family has always been shameless, so we're afraid we won't get the money anytime soon. Doctor Chen, please continue to support us in the future and visit my stall often; consider it payment for the consultation."
"That's great!" Chen Qianyuan didn't care much about these few dozen taels of silver anyway, since he mostly spent his money on food anyway.
After saying goodbye to Chen Qianyuan, Lin Yao and Lin Cheng didn't dare to delay and hurried home. If they were caught by Uncle Lin and Hu Shi, they would cause a lot of trouble, which they really couldn't afford to offend.
When the brother and sister returned to the village, Lin Song had already eaten at Liu Dazhuang's house.
The two took Lin Song home, reheated the rice, and ate a simple meal with the konjac dessert they had made during the day. Afterward, they each went to their rooms to rest. Lin Yao felt utterly exhausted and fell into a deep sleep as soon as she touched the bed.
The next day, Lin Yao was awakened by the sound of peeling konjac outside. Lin Cheng had gone up the mountain to dig konjac twice that morning, and was now peeling konjac skins with A Yu in the yard.
"Brother, Yu, why didn't you wake me up?" Lin Yao yawned and stretched as she walked out of the house.
Lin Cheng wiped the konjac skin off his hands. "You still have injuries, and you were traveling back and forth yesterday. You must be exhausted. Sleeping more will help you recover faster."
Wang Xiaoyu nodded in agreement, "Master, you can leave these tasks to us. You can rest assured and relax."
Lin Yao wasn't one to sit idle. After breakfast, she started thinking about new dishes. Her gaze fell on the sweet potatoes casually piled up to the side, and a brilliant idea flashed into her mind: "That's right, I can make sweet potato noodles!"
The most crucial ingredient for making sweet potato noodles is sweet potato starch. Lin Yao immediately instructed Wang Xiaoyu to peel the sweet potatoes, cut them into small pieces, and put them into the stone mill. Lin Cheng began to grind the sweet potatoes, and as the mill turned, the sweet potatoes were ground into a paste, which flowed into a basin.
As the sun began to rise higher, Lin Cheng was sweating profusely. Lin Yao noticed this and thought to herself that she still needed to buy a donkey. That way, she and Lin Cheng wouldn't have to work so hard, and their work efficiency would be improved.
Once the basin was full of sweet potato pulp, Lin Yao took out a gauze and patiently guided Wang Xiaoyu in filtering it. Wang Xiaoyu gripped the gauze and squeezed it hard, allowing the pulp to seep through the fine gauze and drip into the basin below. In no time, a large basin of clear pulp was filtered out.
"It's done," Lin Yao said. "Let it sit overnight, pour off the cloudy water on the surface tomorrow, and let it dry in the sun before using it." Lin Yao looked at the liquid in the basin and said with satisfaction.
"What are you trying to do?" Lin Cheng asked, his face full of doubt.
"The powder ground from this is sweet potato starch. After steaming, it can be made into noodles, or into a food called sweet potato noodles!" Lin Yao became more and more excited as she spoke, as if she could already see hot and sour noodles and sweet potato noodles in front of her.
"What is sweet potato skin?" Wang Xiaoyu asked curiously, as she had never heard of this food before.
"Sweet potato noodles and konjac tofu look somewhat alike. Add pickled vegetables and minced meat to the sweet potato noodles, fry them on a griddle, and they taste amazing!" Lin Yao said, gesturing as she spoke.
Lin Yao acted immediately, deciding to pickle three large jars of vegetables today: pickled radishes, spicy cabbage, and pickled cowpeas—nothing could be missing.
Many people in the village grow these vegetables, so Lin Yao asked Lin Cheng to buy some from Liu Dazhuang's house. During this period, the three siblings were able to barely survive, thanks in large part to Liu Dazhuang and his wife. Every time Liu Dazhuang went hunting in the mountains, he would take Lin Cheng with him. Sometimes, if Lin Cheng didn't catch anything, Liu Dazhuang would share some with him, and Sister Liang would often bring them vegetables.
Liu Dazhuang's home.
Liu Dazhuang was in the yard cleaning the pheasant he had just hunted when there was a knock at the door. "Coming! Coming!" He quickly put down the pheasant and hurried to the door.
Upon opening the door, Liu Dazhuang saw Lin Cheng standing outside and warmly invited them inside, "Brother Cheng, come in quickly! What's up?"
"Brother Dazhuang, I'd like to buy some cabbage, radishes, and cowpeas from you," Lin Cheng quickly explained his purpose.
"Don't bother buying, we have plenty of these vegetables at home. Just come with me to the vegetable garden in the back and pick them." Liu Dazhuang waved his hand dismissively.
Lin Cheng quickly waved his hand to refuse, "That won't do, you have to buy it. Over the years, thanks to you and sister-in-law taking care of us, my siblings and I and our mother have been able to get by. Now that we can support ourselves, how can we take your vegetables for free?"
"Why are you being so polite with me? It's not easy for you kids to earn money at the docks. Save your money for yourselves." Liu Dazhuang still refused to accept the money.
“Brother Dazhuang, this really won’t do. We need a lot this time, and Ayao plans to make them into pickles to sell. If business is good, we’ll have to keep buying from you. If you don’t take the money, we’ll just have to buy from someone else.” Lin Cheng had no choice but to say this when he saw that Liu Dazhuang was determined not to take the money.
"Alright, kid, come with me." Liu Dazhuang had no choice but to lead Lin Cheng to his vegetable garden.
The two men worked for a while and picked two large baskets full of vegetables: ten catties of cabbage, eight catties of white radish, and five catties of cowpeas. Lin Cheng calculated the cost of the vegetables based on the prices of cabbage at one coin per catty, white radish at one coin per catty, and cowpeas at two coins per catty, totaling twenty-three coins.
Just as Lin Cheng was about to count out the copper coins for Liu Dazhuang, Liu's sister-in-law, and Liang, she returned from outside.
Lin Cheng was carefully counting the copper coins, preparing to hand them to Liu Dazhuang, when Liu Dazhuang's wife, Liang, returned from outside. She immediately noticed the two large baskets of vegetables and saw Lin Cheng counting the money. She instantly understood what was going on and slapped Liu Dazhuang on the back. "Why are you asking Cheng-ge for money? These vegetables are all grown by ourselves; how much could they be worth?"
Lin Cheng quickly stopped Liang Shi, "Sister-in-law, it was I who took the initiative to buy these vegetables from Brother Dazhuang, thinking of taking them back to make pickles and selling them at the market. In the future, we will often have to trouble Brother Dazhuang and Sister-in-law to supply vegetables. If Brother Dazhuang doesn't accept the money, we will feel really bad and will have to buy vegetables from other places in the future. Sister-in-law, please don't refuse."
Madam Liang then stopped what she was doing. "You silly child, why are you being so formal with your sister-in-law? Alright, alright, since you've said so, I'll accept it. You can come and get these vegetables anytime in the future."
Lin Cheng responded, picked up the vegetable basket, said goodbye to Liu Dazhuang and his wife, and went home with the two large baskets of vegetables.
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Author's Note: Ooi! Could you please add this to your favorites? [Exaggerated praise]
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