Chapter 23: Grandma Lu Makes Yet Another Scene

Chen Xiao Mi felt a lot closer to Lu Lin after they shared the secret of the convenience store. And he was in no rush to venture for money since they had a decent amount of money in hand now, he spent a lot of time collecting firewood instead of hunting. Now he valued Lu Lin's opinions more than anything, he collected firewood because Lu Lin told him the kang needs more firewood at night.

Lu Lin had once again seen how mighty Chen Xiao Mi was, Chen Xiao Mi would wield a blade like it were a plume, and he was able to run carrying a basket of firewood. It took Lu Lin five times the time to collect a comparable amount of firewood with Chen Xiao Mi.

However, knowing Lu Lin was a 'rich kid' from a different time and space, Chen Xiao Mi actually appreciated the efforts he had put into the house. He accepted Lu Lin's 'incompetency' without complaint.

The villagers were still daydreaming about hunting after seeing how well-off Chen Xiao Mi's family had become. But not a lot of them actually had the guts to venture into the mountains.

Chen Xiao Mi and Lu Lin spent about ten days on collecting firewood, Lu Lin had also stored some mushroom, bamboo shoots and Chinese yam in the convenience store for winter.

Mushrooms weren't easy to keep, and so were Chinese yam, they would go mouldy within a few days. But Lu Lin didn't have to worry about that since time didn't exist in the convenience store.

Chen Xiao Mi and Lu Lin had even built a kang for Old Hunter Zhou who had taught Chen Xiao Mi hunting. Old Hunter Zhou would suffer severe joint stiffness and pain on cold days, Lu Lin once mentioned a kang would help, so Chen Xiao Mi asked Lu Lin whether he would like to build a kang together with him for Old Hunter Zhou, Lu Lin was touched by Chen Xiao Mi's gratefulness and he agreed with alacrity.

Old Hunter Zhou wasn't thrilled about the kang until he tried it himself, he would spend hours on the kang after Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi built it for him. The warmth relieved his pain a great deal, his joints were less swollen.

Chen Xiao Mi had also collected a decent amount of firewood for Old Hunter Zhou before he left.

Old Hunter Zhou was so grateful for the young couple for there was a cold-air outbreak on that very night, and soon Old Hunter Zhou's kang had caused attention from the villagers.

Old Hunter Zhou had been crippled for years, but luckily he had some savings from hunting and dealing mountain products, villagers would visit him and sell grains to him to exchange money. Old Hunter Zhou sometimes would get so anxious that one day soon all his savings would be used up and he would meet his doom by then.

Soon the villagers who had been to Old Hunter Zhou's house started to talk about that magical kang, they would give a vivid description about how warm the kang was and how great it was for old people's joints.

Villagers would swarm to Old Hunter Zhou's house and have a look at this magical bed that would keep the entire house warm. Some villagers were well-mannered, they knew they shouldn't visit Old Hunter Zhou empty-handed, they would bring a small amount of food or some firewood or a cluster of vegetables.

Even though everything was in a small amount, Old Hunter Zhou still felt very grateful and he would ask them to sit on the kang and feel how warm it was. It had been so long since so many people visited Old Hunter Zhou, Old Hunter Zhou beamed with smiles all day.

But the villagers showed different reactions after knowing it was Chen Xiao Mi and Lu Lin who had built the kang for Old Hunter Zhou. A lot of them were surprised to know that cold-hearted and ferocious monster would do such a nice thing to an old man, and some of them would just give a snort and leave Old Hunter Zhou's house.

The Chens, however, were furious when they heard that. Especially Grandma Chen, she stamped her foot in anger and cursed Chen Xiao Mi, accusing him of being unfilial. It baffled her that why Chen Xiao Mi would go to all the trouble of building a kang for Old Hunter Zhou instead of her, Chen Xiao Mi's grandmother!

To make it worse, Lu Lin's grandfather had also visited Old Hunter Zhou and he started to covet Lu Lin's help. Grandpa Lu asked Lu Tong to visit Lu Lin again, demanding Lu Lin coming back home and building a kang for him.

And of course Lu Lin had turned Lu Tong down, Lu Tong went back home crestfallen.

"Where is that brat?" Grandma Lu looked so upset when Lu Tong came back home all by herself.

Grandma Lu had long been waiting for an opportunity to get back at Lu Lin for not helping out Autumn Harvest, how she wished she could lash out at Lu Lin while Lu Lin was building a kang for them.

"He has turned you down again?"

Lu Tong nodded, "That's right, grandma. He said he didn't know how to build a kang, it was Chen Xiao Mi who was in charge and he was just an assistant."

Grandma Lu gave a snort, "He doesn't know how to build a kang, I say he is just being a slacker! He hasn't even visited us once after he married Chen Xiao Mi, he is too good for us now!"

Grandma Lu got more and more furious as she thought about Lu Lin, she decided to talk to Lu Lin in person.

Lu Lin was sleeping in when Grandma Lu knocked on Chen Xiao Mi's door.

Lu Lin was actually a laid-back person by nature, plus it was freezing cold outside and there was no air conditioner, so he had been sleeping in a fair bit.

Chen Xiao Mi was very tolerant towards Lu Lin, he had never uttered a word of complaint even though he was still keeping early hours, he felt like he should try to understand Lu Lin more, Lu Lin was a 'rich kid' who was used to an extravagant lifestyle after all, so he appreciated the sacrifice Lu Lin had made to fit into his family.

Lu Lin heard some loud noises when he was half-asleep in the morning, he walked out of the room only to see Grandma Lu confronting Chen Xiao Mi by the gate.

All of a sudden, Grandma Lu slumped down on the ground and wailed, "Why do you beat up an old lady like me?"

Lu Lin walked to Chen Xiao Mi and asked, "What's going on?"

Chen Xiao Mi frowned and said, "This foul-mouthed old woman banged on our gate like crazy, I tried to push her away, but all of a sudden she slumped down on the ground and insisted that I beat her up!"

'It looks like this mean old woman is about stage an incident and pretend to be the victim!' Lu Lin rolled his eyes.

Strangely enough, a crowd began to collect in front of their house. Chen Xiao Mi's house was very remote, Lu Lin wondered how come they swarmed here so soon.

"Good Heavens, why do you punish me like this!"

"What have I done to deserve this!"

"My own grandson shows absolute no respect for me and our entire family!"

Grandma Lu's crying became louder as she saw people started gathering.

Lu Lin whispered at Chen Xiao Mi's ear that he had got this, and he told Chen Xiao Mi to hide inside otherwise that old woman would start attacking him.

Chen Xiao Mi trusted Lu Lin and went back to the room.

Soon the village head had arrived, he asked Lu Lin what was going on.

Lu Lin said with full composure, "Xiao Cai caught m grandmother stealing, that's all."

Grandma Lu who was lying on the ground pretending to be weak and sickly had almost sprang to her feet in anger.

The crowd started to talk at once.

"You stupid boy, what are you talking about?" Grandma Lu gnashed her teeth and glared at Lu Lin.

Lu Lin said in a gentle voice, "Grandma, Xiao Mi has given you ten taels of silver to marry me, how can you get envious of Xiao Mi's hunting and sneak into our house to steal! My cousin Lu Cheng Yu is an educated man, he is determined to pass the imperial examination at the county level, you are ruining his reputation as well!"

The earnestness in Lu Lin's tone had moved everyone except Chen Xiao Cai who was looking at Lu Lin in a funny way.

Chen Xiao Mai had also heard that, he started to repeat, "Stealing, stealing... ..."

Lu Lin snickered, 'Perfect timing, Mai! People will definitely believe an innocent little boy like you! I'll make your favorite Steamed Egg Custard for you!'

The village head cast a glimpse at Grandma Lu who was still lying on the ground, and the villagers were aflame with indignation, they couldn't believe this greedy woman wasn't satisfied with ten taels of silver as betrothal present and she was caught sneaking into Chen Xiao Mi's house and stealing!

Grandma Lu stopped crying, she just glared at Lu Lin, her cheeks flushing. While Lu Lin just looked at her sincerely.

"You little brat, what nonsense are you talking about! I will strangle you to death!" Grandma Lu was utterly discomfited.

"Grandma! My father died in the battlefield, my mother had dedicated her life to the entire Lu Family, and you have married me into Chen Xiao Mi's family! Me and Xiao Mi's kids in the future will be surnamed Chen instead of Lu! And now you are here stealing from Chen Xiao Mi, do you want me to die? Is that what you are looking for?"

The villagers now had completely taken Lu Lin's side, Lu Lin's kids would be surnamed Chen, they all felt sorry for Lu Lin, family line was the top priority in that time and space. Plus Grandma Lu had left Lu Lin in a tough position by stealing from him and Chen Xiao Mi, that was not something a grandmother should even think about doing.

The village head was disgusted by Grandma Lu, "Are you done? Get up already!"

"That's not true! This unfilial grandson of mine is making up stories!" Grandma Lu screamed.

Lu Lin just watched him making a fool of herself, he didn't say anything.

The village head cast a meaningful look at Lu Lin, "Lin, you are married into Chen Xiao Mi's family, but she is your grandmother after all."

Lu Lin nodded and he replied in a cunning way, "Uncle Zhang, you are right, grandmother spent one tael of silver on treating me after I committed suicide, I think she loves me."

The villagers looked at each other in speechless despair, 'poor Lu Lin, this old woman spent money on you to exchange you for Chen Xiao Mi's betrothal present!'

The village head nodded and said, "You are a reasonable kid, Lin."

With that the village head asked two people to carry Grandma Lu away, and he asked everyone else to leave.

Grandpa Lu slapped Grandma Lu hard across the face when she was back home, no one in the family believed that she didn't try to steal from Chen Xiao Mi no matter how hard she defended herself.

A lot of villagers had heard Chen Xiao Mi had made ten taels of silver by selling alcohol, so had Grandma Lu. But Grandma Lu had been running her mouth on this matter, saying Chen Xiao Mi was being silly for not asking for fifteen taels of silver and how she wished she could have such a large amount of money. So now even her own family members were convinced that Grandma Lu was envious of Chen Xiao Mi's success and she tried to steal from him.