Chapter 34: Granny Shen is Relieved

Lu Lin and the Chen Brothers had once again become the talk of the village after the Winter Fair.

"Have you heard they had made 50 taels of silver from selling gloves on the market?"

"Yes! I can't believe those rich people are actually willing to spend two taels of silver on a pair of gloves! I heard they were all sold out even."

"Chen Xiao Mi has made yet another fortune."

"More than 50 taels! That is a fortune."

"The thing is they dare charge that high for literally some palm-sized stuff!"

"I heard it's Granny Shen who did the needlework for them."

"Yeah, Granny Shen made their winter jackets as well."

"I wonder whether Granny Shen will get a cut."

"I doubt it, I think how it works is Lu Lin pays Granny Shen for the workmanship, but Granny Shen don't get a cut no matter how much money they make from it. But I'm sure Granny Shen doesn't mind, she has made some money from her needlework already. Plus Lu Lin asked Zhang Da Zhu to build a kang for her for free almost."

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The villagers used to feel sorry for Lu Lin for marrying into Chen Xiao Mi's family, now they thought Lu Lin was in luck for marrying such a great young Bio. They used to find Chen Xiao Mi terrifying nut now they started to talk about Chen Xiao Mi with a touch of awe and fear mixed because Chen Xiao Mi was getting so rich, even the people who were working for Chen Xiao Mi had become richer, such as Zhang Da Zhu and Granny Shen.

The villagers all agreed there must be something that Chen Xiao Mi was doing right.

In Chen Xiao Mi's house.

Chen Xiao Mi sat cross-legged on the kang, he kept counting on their savings again and again.

Lu Lin showed a doting smile, "I remember it's 83 taels and 536 cents when you counted them five seconds and five minutes and fifteen minutes ago."

Chen Xiao Mi grinned, "I'm just counting them again to make sure I get the right number."

"You got the right number, I can be your witness."

"I can't believe we have so much money now!" Chen Xiao Mi got a bit emotional.

Lu Lin squinted his eyes and said, "If we can make twice this amount of money, we can afford a house in town, right?"

Chen Xiao Mi gasped a bit, "in town?"

Chen Xiao Mi found the idea of moving to town quite intimidating like all the other villagers.

"How can we make a living in town? We don't have any farmland here, but we have our veggie patch in our yard. And I won't be able to go hunting every day. If we sit idle, do nothing, everything we have earned will be used up."

Lu Lin smiled, "This is just a thought, of course we need to give the matter further thought."

Chen Xiao Mi nodded. He felt so glad that Lu Lin was married to him, it took him a lot of time to finally decide to spend 10 taels on the betrothal present. And look at them now, Lu Lin had made over 80 tales for the family already.

"I think we should buy more land if we have more money, but the villagers won't sell their land because they all count on the land for farm produces." Said Chen Xiao Mi.

Lu Lin frowned and said, "I'm not a big fan of farmland anyways, sounds like work."

Chen Xiao Mi rolled his eyes in the heart, 'What a spoiled rich kid! Land! He isn't a fan of land because he doesn't like to work!'

Lu Lin blinked a few times and added, "Well, we can buy some land and rent them out to the tenant peasants."

Chen Xiao Mi's lips twitched, he thought what Lu Lin just said was crazy talk.

In Granny Shen's house.

Tears of happiness sprang up in Granny Shen's eyes when Chen Xiao Cai sent her the bonus for the gloves.

"Gran, was Xiao Cai just here to send money to you?" Shen Chi asked in surprise.

Granny Shen took a deep breath to calm down, "Yeah, Lu Lin said this was bonus. How nice they are!"

Two taels of silver, she could buy two pigs with that amount of money, she and Shen Chi could have a comfortable winter now.

Granny Shen didn't want to take the bonus in the beginning for Lu Lin had already paid her three hundred cents for her needlework, and Lu Lin had given her two pairs of gloves as a present.

But Chen Xiao Mai passed on the message that Lu Lin said he was looking forward to working with Granny Shen more, he would feel hesitant to give her more work if she turned down her bonus. Therefore, Granny Shen changed her mind, she would love to work for Lu Lin for a long term.

Shen Chi put on the gloves that Lu Lin gave him as a present and said, "Gran, Xiao Cai told me they had made about 50 taels of silver in the Winter Fair."

Some villagers who had seen Lu Lin's stall on the fair had observed them for a while, they did some math, and they calculated the rough number as well. But Granny Shen was still surprised when she heard it from Chen Xiao Cai.

"That's a lot of money, I can't believe it's so profitable."

Granny Shen wasn't optimistic when Lu Lin sent her the hide and the sewing kit and asked her to made gloves in those strange shapes, she had been worried for the young couple even though she wouldn't take any risk, 'what if no one buys these strange things?'

But now Granny Shen finally felt relieved that they made a fortune from selling those strange things.