Chapter 77: Lu An Gets Fired

After a few days, Shen Chi and Granny Shen returned to the town.

Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Cai sat opposite each other while Lu Lin looked at Chen Xiao Cai and asked, "So what do you think, Cai?"

"I'll take Shen Chi to Willow Town," said Chen Xiao Cai without hesitation.

A while ago, Chen Xiao Cai came back from Willow Town because there were rumors of him being sold. But he was annoyed by the nosy aunts who visited the shop from Big Stone Village.

Chen Xiao Cai felt that it was fine to be swamped by work. But he didn't have the energy to social with the acquaintances from the village. The acquaintances in the village were simply too annoying.

It was hard to say anything harsh to them. They would just put on airs and give Cai lectures once Cai shows traces of impatience.

Lu Lin nodded and said, "Alright."

The nosy aunties from the village were becoming a serious issue now.

Many people in the village had proposed marriages to Chen Xiao Cai before, and some of them couldn't help feeling sour after Cai and Shen Chi got engaged. Therefore, Chen Xiao Cai decided to go back to Willow Town to avoid the harassment.

Chen Xiao Cai didn't bring Shen Chi last time he went to Willow Town because it was inappropriate. However, it didn't matter now that the two of them were already engaged. Shen Chi also knew how to use an abacus and make accounts. With Shen Chi's help, Cai could learn to relax a bit.

Shen Chi was also very willing to go to Willow Town. Shen Chi had heard a lot of things about Willow Town from Chen Xiao Cai.

Shen Chi was quite worried when Chen Xiao Cai went to Willow Town alone last time.

Lu Lin watched Shen Chi and Chen Xiao Cai getting on the carriage with affection in his eyes. "Uncle Qin, help me take care of them please!"

Qin Yi smiled and said, "Master Lin, don't worry. I will protect them."

As Lu Lin watched Chen Xiao Cai and Shen Chi leave, a sense of pride and accomplishment welled up in his heart.

......

Things were going on so great on Lu Lin's side, while a shocking event happened on the Lu family's side. Lu An lost his job.

"How can your boss do that to you! He cannot just sack you like that! You have worked hard for him for so long without any credit!"

As soon as Lu An lost his job, Grandma Lu felt so indignant that her head spun dizzily as soon as she sat up.

Grandpa Lu didn't say anything, he just kept puffing away on his pipe with a worrying look on his face.

They had more than 20 mus of farmland, they could support a family, but it was a little difficult to support Lu Cheng Yu who was still going to school.

Both Lin Xiu'er and Li Fang Yue were pregnant now, the family would grow in size soon, it was probably not going to be easy for them now that Lu An had lost a well-paid job.

"Little Four, your boss just dismissed you without an explanation?" Grandpa Lu asked.

Lu An said angrily, "He just wants to fire me so his concubine's brother can take my place. How could he give any explanation?"

Grandpa Lu frowned and said, "If that is the case, I will go and talk to him."

Grandma Lu said excitedly, "Yes, we have to talk about it. We can't just let it go. He married a concubine and dismissed our son. It's too unreasonable."

Lu An said, "Father, don't go. Boss Zhang's concubine is a woman of great scheming and eloquence, we are no match for her. I know you guys are friends, but I don't think Boss Zhang is willing to listen to you anymore. It's useless for you to go, they look down on us country bumpkins. Father, don't make a fool of yourself."

Grandma Lu fumed, "That's not how it works! They are rich people, I know that, but they cannot just look down on us and treat us like dispensable!"

"Mother! Unfortunately, that's the cold hard fact, they get to fire me at their will! "Lu An complained.

Lin Xiu'er touched her belly and was a little worried. It was not the harvest season yet, the expenses at home were largely dependent on Lu An's work money. Lu An lost his job and she was worried whether they could make ends meet.

Lin Xiu'er looked at Lu An and somehow she felt that Lu An wasn't telling the truth. As Lu An's wife, Lin Xiu'er felt that Lu An's mood was not quite right a while ago. She was afraid that Lu An had made a mistake at work and he was caught red-handed, maybe that was why he was fired.

Although Lu An insisted that Grandpa Lu should let it go and not look for trouble, Grandpa Lu still went to confront Boss Zhang the next day.

Grandpa Lu came back home with embarrassment.

"Old Lu, how did it go?! Did the boss promise to return the job to our son?"

"Bastard!" Grandpa Lu gnashed his teeth.

"Old Lu, what has happened?" Grandma Lu looked at Grandpa Lu's face with concern.

"This bastard has disgraced me," Grandpa Lu looked furious.

Grandma Lu found that rather baffling.

Grandpa Lu summoned Lu An later, Lu An knew that his father probably had found out what he had done, but he still braced himself and walked to his father's room, acting innocent.

"Little Four, have you accepted bribery from the workers?" Grandpa Lu was ablaze with anger.

Grandpa Lu went to confront Boss Zhang in a fit of spleen. He originally thought that he was upholding justice for his son, but in the end, Boss Zhang told him that his son forced the workers to send him money and gifts, that was the reason why he got fired. It had nothing to do with the concubine's brother.

Whoever didn't give Lu An money, he would assign the dirty work and tiring work to that person, which made the workers feel very resentful.

Lu An frowned and said, "Father! Don't listen to Boss Zhang's nonsense. He is just making up excuses to fire me."

Grandpa Lu shook his head and said, "Stop lying to your own father, I know Boss Zhang very well, he has his principles! You must have taken bribes from the workers, and you got reported! "

Lu An's face darkened, "All right, all right, I admit it! But it's not a big deal! Go ask around, all the managers in town are taking bribes!"

Lu An thought to himself, 'Boss Zhang now replaced me with his brother-in-law, hmm, I'm sure that guy is taking bribes as well, maybe he is taking more than me!"

Grandma Lu frowned and asked, "Little Four, where is the money you have taken from the workers?" Grandma Lu used to feel sorry for requiring her little son to hand in his salary every month, sometimes she would only take half of the amount, she didn't expect her son to be so shifty and force the workers to bribe him.

Lu An said with indifference, "I've spent it all."

Grandpa Lu asked excitedly, "All of it? What did you do?"

"I was working in town, it was important to mix in society."

Grandpa Lu's face darkened as he said, "Boss Zhang offered you a high salary. Why were you being so greedy?"

Grandpa Lu now felt so embarrassed for confronting his old friend.

Lu An said excitedly, "Yes, it is true that Boss Zhang offered me a handsome pay, but I had to hand in my pay every month, hadn't I? If it wasn't for the fact that Father urged me to hand in my money every month, I wouldn't have needed to force the workers to bribe me. Cheng Yu spent so much money on his tuition fee, okay, that's fair, but why did he spend such a ridiculous money on his wedding ceremony? That was all my hard-earned wage! You are so biased!"

Grandpa Lu was red-cheeked with rage, he pointed at Lu An with his hand trembling, "You, how dare you talk to me like that!"

Grandpa Lu felt that his youngest son should be grateful to him instead of complaining, the old man was furious.

......

The news of Lu An losing his job spread quickly in the village.

"Why is Lu An suddenly fired?!"

"I thought Chen Xiao Mi would be fired. Chen Xiao Mi is pregnant, you know that? Yet his boss still keeps him! How strange is that! But anyways, Lu An just got fired! He has worked that job for a really long time though, I wonder what has happened."

"I heard from Grandma Lu that Lu An's old boss has married a concubine, so he replaced Lu An with his new brother-in-law."

"Grandpa Lu and that boss are friends, but you know what, I guess the boss values his romantic relationship more than friendship! The rich bosses in town can be so cruel, right?"

"I think Chen Xiao Mi's boss is an exception."

"To be honest, no one has seen that boss."

"I heard that the boss is a mogul, so he is very busy, he doesn't care much about the store in town."

......

Grandma Lu was too embarrassed to tell anyone that Lu An had lost his job because he forced the workers to bribe him, so she used Lu An's fake excuse when she was questioned by other villagers. The villagers didn't know much about the details, they naturally believed Grandma Lu's words.

......

The news of Lu An losing his job reached Lu Lin's ears.

Lu Lin was held in high esteem by the villagers now. When people in the village came to deliver the embroidery products, they would always love to chatter with Lu Lin for a little while.

"Lu An is fired. There will be some drama going on the Lu family again," Chen Xiao Mi said.

Lu Lin nodded and said, "So true, but there's a plus side that Lu An has lost his job. Now he can still work on the farmland. Everyone else in that family have been busy slacking off on farm duty."

Lu An always tried to slack off on the farm work as well, he enjoyed working in town where he just needed to manage the casual workers and issue orders.

"Yeah! It is almost autumn now, although it's still hot, autumn is really just around the corner."

"How could Lu An suddenly be fired?"

"Grandma Lu said that because the boss has just married a concubine, the concubine's brother has replaced Lu An. However, the credibility of Grandma Lu's words is limited," Lu Lin shook his head.

Lu Lin narrowed his eyes. In the host Lu Lin's memory, the boss seemed to be more inclined to hire Lu Lin's father do the job, but Grandma Lu favored her youngest son, so she asked Lu Lin's father to give way to Lu An.

......

Some believed Grandma Lu's words, some did not.

When Lu An was the manager, the workers respected him on the surface. They were afraid that he would make things hard for them if they reasoned with him, so they were willing to do the window dressing. However, now that Lu An had been fired, the workers were in a hurry to curry favor with the new manager, they were not shy on unearthing some disturbing facts about Lu An.

At first, Lu An wouldn't force the workers to bribe him, he would do it in a subtle way, but as time went by, things got worse, he would take bribes in a flagrant way. In the past few years, he had become more and more greedy. He would be replaced by someone anyways, be it Boss Zhang's brother-in-law or someone else, he would be replaced.

Chen Xiao Mi's cousin Chen Jing didn't do well at school, but he had quite a few evil associates and he was great at gossiping.

Chen Jing found out that Lu An was fired because he squeezed the workers, so when he went back to Big Stone Village, he told his family the truth. Grandma Chen had a feud with Grandma Lu, so she spared no efforts to spread the news in the village, soon everyone knew that Lu An was fired because he forced the workers to bribe him, thus the Lu Family was ridiculed again.

The matter with Lu An had more or less affected Lu Cheng Yu. There was news that Grandma Lu had stolen money from Chen Xiao Mi befre, and now there came the news that his uncle had been taking bribes.

Lu Cheng Yu was reduced to the laughingstock at school, so he vented his anger on Lu An when he came home. He hurled all kinds of abuse to Lu An.

Lu An naturally wouldn't just sit back and take that, he directed a torrent of abuse at Lu Cheng Yu as a counterattack.

"You little good-for-nothing you, have you ever thought how you can put on airs and tell the villagers that you are going to school, it's all because of me! Me! Your Fourth Uncle! It's me who has been supporting you! But you've wasted all my money, you are merely a Tongsheng until this very day!"

Grandpa Lu had such a headache from watching his youngest son and his oldest grandson fighting like kids.