Chapter 80 Covering Up the Lie
The night in the village passed peacefully and quietly.
The next morning, Lin Yuesha went to visit her maternal grandparents, leaving some snacks behind. Before she could say more than a few words, the oxcart that Xiao Qi had hired arrived.
The oxcart was open-topped, and after the family of four sat in it, there was still plenty of room left, which Chen packed with a lot of their belongings.
Even a dilapidated house can be worth a fortune. After picking and choosing, Chen managed to pack more than a dozen packages.
“Little girl, I know you can earn money now, but you don’t know the cost of firewood and rice until you’re in charge of the household. All the pots and pans we have are top-notch and we can use them. If we go to town to buy them, the small items may seem insignificant, but they add up to a lot.”
When Chen was teaching her daughter, she worried that if her daughter stayed at the Jiang residence for a few days, she would develop a habit of being ambitious but lacking practical skills.
Every villager lives like this; even if they become wealthy in the future, wasting money is still unacceptable.
"Mother, I know."
Lin Yuesha listened patiently to her mother Chen's ramblings, which were all about everyday family matters. However, they sounded very comforting, with a touch of the warmth and realism of daily life.
When the oxcart arrived in town, the driver took the family of four to the courtyard where Xiao Qi was staying. Lin Yuesha stood at the door, hesitant to go inside.
"Little girl, what are you doing standing at the door?"
Chen placed the package on the empty stone table in the courtyard. Turning her head, she noticed that Lin Yuesha was still standing outside the courtyard.
At midday, when the sun was at its strongest, Lin Yuesha stood at the doorway, and thinking of the white figure she had seen, she felt a chill run down her spine for no reason.
If it weren't for her parents and older brother, she would have turned around and run away long ago.
Lin Yuesha looked left and right, searching for traces of the white-shadowed female ghost.
"Mother, please come inside and warm up first. I'll bring my little sister in."
Xiao Qi rubbed his temples, feeling quite helpless. He finally understood what it meant to lift a rock only to drop it on one's own foot.
The courtyard was secluded and not far from the market. It took him a lot of effort to find it.
The furnishings inside and outside the house look simple, but they were all rearranged by him. If they were placed elsewhere, they might not suit his taste.
Xiao Qi tried to persuade his parents to let him stay in the courtyard temporarily. Unexpectedly, his parents didn't object much, but Lin Yuesha became a stumbling block.
He caused all of this himself.
"Big brother, how could you bring Father here!"
Lin Yuesha whispered mysteriously to her stepbrother, "Father's health isn't good. What if Bai Ying comes out tonight..."
This was a secret between the siblings, and Lin Yuesha didn't reveal it.
“Little sister, there are plenty of empty houses in town, but it will be difficult to find a small courtyard for our family of four to live in.”
Xiao Qi tried to persuade Lin Yuesha that although the house only had two main rooms, one of which included a back room with a small heated kang (a traditional heated platform bed), it would be just right for Lin Yuesha.
"We still need to find a way to move to another place; the yin energy here is too heavy."
Lin Yuesha frowned in disgust.
"It's all alright now, little sister, look."
Xiao Qi regretted Bai Ying's words and was forced to cover up the lie. He took out a talisman from his purse and said in a ridiculous way, "This is a talisman that I asked a master to draw at Yutan Temple. It can suppress all demons and monsters."
The talisman was a peace charm, and Xiao Qi couldn't even remember where he got it. Now he took it out to continue fooling Lin Yuesha.
"Brother, let me see."
Lin Yuesha took the talisman, and coincidentally, it suddenly tore in the middle with a tearing sound.
Xiao Qi: "..."
Lin Yuesha: "..."
"Brother, the quality of this talisman paper isn't very good!"
Lin Yuesha was speechless. She could swear that she really didn't use any force; she just took the talisman normally.
The talisman cracked, does that mean the female ghost's magic is too powerful to suppress?
Thinking of this, Lin Yuesha's expression changed slightly.
Xiao Qi didn't want to talk. Everything was under his control, and he was used to it. But Lin Yuesha never played by the rules.
Now, taking out the talisman has backfired, having the opposite effect.
"Little sister, I think we should stay here for now, and if anything goes wrong, we'll move out immediately."
Xiao Qi backed down and stopped insisting.
"Oh well."
Lin Yuesha reluctantly agreed and promised to keep it a secret and not tell her parents.
Even though it wasn't her own home after moving to the new courtyard, Chen still diligently tidied it up.
Taking advantage of the good weather, Chen took apart and washed the bedding, hung it in the yard and banged on it, making the small courtyard seem less deserted.
"Mom, you've been keeping those two bags of spiced melon seeds. How about we go to the market and sell them this afternoon?"
Lin Yuesha took the initiative to suggest that she and Jiang Baozhu had been away for two days and would definitely return to the Jiang family tomorrow morning.
Before that, Lin Yuesha wanted to see if spiced melon seeds had a market.
Mother Chen made some, but she was still unsure, fearing that no one would buy them even if she sold them for five coins a pack.
"I didn't dare to go all out, thinking that if we couldn't sell them, we would just keep them for ourselves."
Chen had the same idea. She would take them to the market first and see if they could be sold. If so, she would make more and then go back to the village to deliver the message to her elder brother, Chen Tieniu.
"Mother, I'll come along this afternoon too."
Xiao Qi went out and bought some oil paper, which he then cut into small pieces.
There are two markets in the town, and people still come and go in the afternoon.
"Then let's split up. You go with Father, and let my elder brother take me with him."
Lin Yuesha suggested that a stall could not be used by a family of four.
She went out a few times and became familiar with the town. She then asked her parents to go to the market in the north where people often went. Instead of selling it for five coins a pack, they made it for two coins a pack, which ordinary people were willing to buy to try.
“My older brother and I went over there. The people at the market are relatively wealthier, so we packed more to sell.”
Lin Yuesha shared the same idea as Xiao Qi: if they split up, they might be able to sell more.
"Okay, little girl, you do the hawking, don't let your older brother handle it."
Xiao Qi was a scholar, and it would be bad if his classmates saw him selling things and engaging in commerce. Madam Chen had always been very considerate of her stepson.
"Mother, I understand!"
Lin Yuesha stuck out her tongue. Her mother was now biased towards her eldest brother. She wondered who was the real biological son!
She'll definitely be the one to hawk the goods; her stepbrother is too soft-hearted. If he encounters someone who bullies and monopolizes the market, he'll only be bullied.
As soon as afternoon arrived, the family of four went their separate ways.
"Brother, Zhang Jing was selling Spring Festival couplets when he was seen by Pig Head with Folding Fan. He was thoroughly insulted. Aren't you afraid?"
Lin Yuesha thought about this serious problem when she went to the market to find a place to set up her stall.
Very few scholars go into business; they are often looked down upon by their classmates and easily ostracized.
Although selling things for money is not wrong as long as it's not stealing or robbing, scholars were considered precious in those days! They always thought that the noble class was mixed with the lower class, and naturally they looked down on it.
The family of the folding-fan pig was relatively well-off, and even He Xing, whose family was poor and relied on the Jiang family for help, thought so.
"I mean, if you run into your classmate, just pretend you don't know me."
Lin Yuesha was very serious. It was best not to let He Xing know that Xiao Qi was her stepbrother. That way, if she tricked He Xing, He Xing wouldn't be able to retaliate against her. He could only deal with the kind-hearted Xiao Qi.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
