Chen Kai asked, "Dad, how much grain did we buy this time?"
Old Man Chen said with a smile, "My good son, this time our family bought 800 catties of aged coarse rice, and your sister's family and your four uncles' families each bought 400 catties of aged coarse rice."
Chen Kai thought for a moment. Although they had bought a lot of grain, it wouldn't be enough to last until next autumn's harvest. He needed to find a way to get them to buy some more.
Chen Kai pulled Xiao Tian outside and asked in a low voice, "Xiao Tian, should we remind the villagers about the flood? While there's still time, we should have the village chief organize everyone to build resettlement houses so that anyone whose house collapses can be resettled."
Xiao Tian snorted coldly and said, "Whatever!"
Afterwards, Chen Kai used the excuse that Xiao Tian was having a dream to tell Old Man Chen that there might be a major flood.
Old Man Chen and the others didn't believe it. They thought the last grain price incident was just a coincidence, and this time they thought it was just children playing around, taking every little dream as reality.
However, Old Man Chen agreed to persuade the village chief to organize the construction of resettlement housing, which could serve as a warehouse for the villagers even if there was no major flooding. His family, in particular, was in dire need of a large warehouse, as they currently had a lot of belongings piled up at home.
Old Chen was hatching a plan: to get the villagers to contribute to building a large warehouse so his family could take it over, right?
In the county, under a large tree, Bai Lian was quietly waiting for Young Master Liu.
Xiaoju was getting increasingly anxious because Young Master Liu hadn't arrived yet, and it had been quite a while since their agreed time.
Xiaoju said, "Miss, why don't we leave him and go on our own?"
Bai Lian looked at Xiao Ju and said, "If he doesn't come, we'll have to live a life of constant wandering from now on."
Xiaoju comforted her, "It's alright, Miss, I'll always be with you."
Bai Lian said wearily, "But, Xiao Ju, I don't want us to be so tired anymore."
Xiaoju said angrily, "Miss, that young master Liu is unreliable!"
Bai Lian leaned against the tree and said, "I know, but I still want to wait a little longer."
Time passed quickly, and even after the Bai family's servants came looking for him, Young Master Liu still hadn't appeared.
Butler Bai said without any politeness, "Miss, please leave!"
Bai Lian clenched her fists tightly, then released them. She had lost her gamble. She could only rely on herself; what was she even hoping for?
Bai Lian and the others hadn't gone far when Young Master Liu chased after them in a disheveled state.
"Get out of my way! Don't stop me!"
"Bai Lian, wait for me, I'll take you away, let's go together."
Bai Lian stopped, turned around, and said with a smile, "Young Master Liu, you are a good person. Find a girl who truly likes you from now on, and we can part ways amicably!"
"Bai Lian, don't go!"
The servants of the Liu family tried their best to hold onto their young master, who could only shout helplessly and silently watch Bai Lian walk further and further away.
Bai Lian felt neither hatred nor resentment towards him. She admitted that she had never liked him and had only ever used him, so she had no reason to resent him. Perhaps this was just her fate.
To prevent Bai Lian from escaping, her father arranged a contract of indenture for her, which he would only give to her husband when she married. This was a trade-off, and only in this way could the Liu family profit.
Although she had saved a lot of money, she and Xiaoju couldn't run away because they didn't have a contract of indenture; otherwise, they would only be refugees in the future.
Originally, if she had secured the Chen family's dried flower business last time and made money selling them far and wide, the initial profits, combined with her own savings, would have been enough to fill the Liu family's deficit, ensuring a steady profit later on. Her father had also promised that as long as she managed to fill the deficit, the indenture would be handed over to her, and he would not interfere in her affairs afterward.
Unfortunately, she didn't even succeed in taking the first step.
Master Liu is a ruthless man. He's not good at making money, but he'll do anything to make money.
He only cared about giving birth to his children and never cared about raising them. He only had children to make money for the Liu family.
Some time ago, Young Master Liu sent a letter to Bai Lian saying that he would take her away. She had thought about it and agreed that as long as Young Master Liu took her away this time and gave her a place to stay, she would not mind becoming a refugee. However, he only arrived now, disappointing her expectations. Perhaps this is her fate.
In the Chen family courtyard, Chen Nong and his family were excitedly squeaking and chattering as they watched the dozen or so field mice.
I was lucky today; all the dozen or so mousetraps I installed yesterday caught field mice.
When Chen Lao Er's wife saw that they had caught so many field mice, she said happily, "These bad field mice should all be caught so that they won't come out and damage the crops."
Xiao Bao looked at the field mice and thought they were so cute that he wanted to touch them, so he couldn't help but reach out his hand.
Upon seeing this, Chen Kai quickly slapped his hand away and said, "Don't touch the field mice, they bite, and you'll get sick if you get bitten."
Xiao Bao said fearfully, "Then I won't touch it anymore."
Seeing that his mother was in a good mood, Chen Kai said, "Mom, I want to tell the villagers how to make jelly and how chickens can lay eggs if they eat more earthworms."
Mrs. Zhou said, "My good son, how could you tell others! If we tell them, how will our family make money?"
Chen Kai said with a smile, "Mom, listen to me, I'm doing this for the sake of our family."
"It's easy to figure out how to make liangfen (cold mung bean jelly). We might as well build our reputation first and tell people how to make it. Even if they find out, they can't make it as good as ours. Sugar is expensive, and they don't have ice, so they can't steal our liangfen business."
"If we share this method, they will definitely be grateful to our family. We will just gain a good reputation."
"Once the reputation of our cold noodles spreads, our family's fame will grow."
"When people mention the Chen family, they'll think of Chen family's cold drinks, Chen family's jelly, Chen family's konjac, and so on. Isn't that great? In the future, if our family has other businesses, we can also use this reputation to sell our products."
"This is called gaining both fame and fortune. There's no need to hold onto some things. If our family wants to make big money, we need to gain fame first so that we can expand our business."
After thinking for a while, Mrs. Zhou felt that what her good son said made a lot of sense.
Zhou continued, "My dear son, tell me something else. If we tell them how chickens lay more eggs, our family won't get any benefit from it."
His mother is really cunning, but he has already figured out a way to deal with her.
Chen Kai said with a smile, "Mom, this method of making chickens lay more eggs tells them that what we gain is not fame, but money, and our family can make money."
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