Chapter 124: To Build a Winery

Grandma Lu had been in a sulk since she heard the news.

"This Emperor is so stingy, why doesn't he reward us some silver, who needs that flashy commendation letter! We need money, not some letter," the old lady said angrily.

Lu An sighed, "Mother, watch your language please! It's a monstrous crime to discuss His Majesty with no respect! We may end up in jail because of that!" Lu An who had worked in town before knew better than his ignorant mother.

Grandma Lu said awkwardly, "What have you taken me for, son? I'm just talking about this at home and I won't go out and talk about the emperor."

"Mother, you don't know. There's a lot of reward silver. I heard that there's a few thousand taels of silver, but none of that was sent to us. Lu Lin has got it all. That's thousands of taels we are talking about, I used to feel good about my 2 tales salary, tut tut tut, that is nothing!"

Grandma Lu's eyes reddened. "This is too unfair. That little bastard already has so much silver. The Emperor should have given us the reward money instead of him!"

The old lady thought to herself, If the silver was delivered to me, I would guard it with my life, no one can take that money away from me! Including Lu Lin!'

For Grandma Lu, there was nothing more painful than the fact that she had missed the chance to have so much silver. Grandma Lu simple couldn't let go of the fact that Lu Lin got the emperor's reward, she stayed up all night sighing and sulking.

Lu An would also sigh deeply seeing how mad his mother was.

Lu An was full of regret. He had never thought that Lu Lin would be so capable. If he had known better, he should have treated Lu Lin better. If that was the case, he would be a County Magistrate's uncle. This identity was enough for him to mount the high horse in front of his fellow villagers.

As for Lu Cheng Yu who was a Xiucai now, Lu An just felt very disappointed. True, they enjoyed some tax exemption thanks to Lu Cheng Yu, but compared with the money that Lu Cheng Yu had to spend on studying, the exemption was like a drop in the bucket.

Grandma Lu's face darkened and she said, "I heard that the butcher's family is going to take refuge with Lu Lin."

Lu An frowned. When Lu Lin left for Sha County, Zhang Rui didn't follow because he just had a newborn, and Lu Lin had left him a large sum of money. Recently, Lu An heard that Zhang Rui was planning to go to Sha County and join Lu Lin.

In fact, Lu An had also thought about seeking refuge with Lu Lin. However, he was fully aware that Lu Lin would not patch things up with him even though he travelled all the way to Sha County.

It was indeed a long journey from Forest Town to Sha County. Lu An wasn't sure whether it was worth it to make that effort for nothing.

Grandma Lu said sullenly, "This bastard is full of himself. We are his family, but he hires strangers instead of us!"

Grandma Lu thumped her chest and stamped her feet. Every time she heard news about Lu Lin, she would feel depressed. Deep down, regret had seized her, how she wished she had treated Lu Lin better and she felt she should have sent Lu Lin to school instead of Lu Cheng Yu. She was sure Lu Lin would have respected her if she had done all that.

......

Chen Jing was now a perfect farmer. At first, when he was required to go to the field, Chen Jing was reluctant, but h over the past few years, he was gradually used to all the work.

He would still pick easy jobs and shirk hard ones, but he had made profound progress compared to when he first left school. He would recall his school days at night when he finished the toil in the field with an exhausted body and soul.

Chen Jing heard a few people talking about Lu Lin, panic seized him, he didn't have the guts to join them.

The villagers talked about Lu Lin and Chen Xiao Mi all the time, they loved to talk how outstanding they were and how wealthy they had become. After so many years, Chen Jing had already accepted the fact, but he would feel like a failure when he heard that.

Chen Jing heard his grandmother swearing when he went back home this day.

"Mother, why is grandmother swearing again?" asked Chen Jing.

Grandma Chen's attitude towards Chen Jing had gone from bad to worse since he borrowed usury from the hooligans. After Grandma Chen and Grandpa Chen found out that Chen Xiao Mi was the boss of Sino Commercial House, they saw Chen Jing as an eyesore, they became even more disappointed with Chen Jing. They preferred Chen He and Chen Qu now. Chen Jing felt that he was becoming more and more inferior at home.

Chen Jing's mother said sullenly, "Your grandma just went to your Second Aunt's house to borrow money, of course she didn't get a penny."

Chen Jing sighed, "That butcher is not easy to deal with!"

Chen Jing's mother nodded, "I told her exactly the same thing, but she insisted that your Cousin Rui has earned a lot of money with Chen Xiao Mi, and we should take a cut from that money!"

Chen Jing shook his head insilence.

......

In Village Head Zhang's house.

"This is mind-blowing! " the old Village Head Zhang Cheng exclaimed.

Zhang Cheng had retired a few years ago and now his son Zhang Jin was the Village Head.

Zhang Jin sighed, "Yeah! One of our fellow villagers has got a commendation letter from His Majesty!"

Zhang Cheng had been looking forward to Lu Cheng Yu bringing glory to the village. He did not expect that Lu Lin, who had always been hostile to Lu Cheng Yu, had made it.

The Lu family was in a very awkward situation since the great news of the commendation letter.

Lu Lin, who was favored by the emperor actually was sold by the Lus years ago.

The villagers started to compare Lu Cheng Yu with Lu Lin again, everyone agreed the Lus had made a huge mistake, they agreed the Lus had failed to recognize a thing for what it was.

There were also many villagers blamed Zhang Cheng for not on a great term with Lu Lin. Therefore, some villagers who wanted to seek refuge with Lu Lin didn't have the courage or confidence to do so.

"I think it is a good thing for our village that Lu Lin has got a commendation letter from His Majesty," Zhang Jin said.

It was true, other villages were mad jealous about the great honor the Big Stone Village had enjoyed.

......

Lu Lin, who was far away in Sha County, had no idea that he once again had become the talk of the village. As a matter of face, the talk of all the neighboring villages.

Lu Lin had been busy building a winery since the beginning of spring.

The business of the tofu store was good. Every day, the blacksmiths and carpenters worked for Lu Lin would make a few orders, the villagers would frequent the store as well, but the profit was too small.

Chen Xiao Cai looked at Lu Lin and said, "Lin Ge, you want to build a winery, right?"

Lu Lin nodded, "Correct! Our tofu shop is doing great, but let's face it, it's not going to make us any money."

Chen Xiao Cai nodded in a hurry, "I totally agree!"

Chen Xiao Cai hired two reliable young men from the village to manage the tofu shop, he was confident that he could help out with the winery.

It was not an easy process to buy shops in Forest Town, but it was much simpler in Sha County. There was much empty space around and it was very easy to do the site selection.

During winter, many villagers rented mules and farm tools from Lu Lin. And they need to work for Lu Lin accordingly as return.

The soldiers in the camp also volunteered to help Lu Lin when they heard that Lu Lin wanted to build a winery.

Lu Lin was surprised and touched at the same time when he saw that so many soldiers showed up and worked for him for free.

Lu Lin did not expect that he would enjoy so much love and esteem of the soldiers. They volunteered to work for him for free. He knew it for a fact the soldiers looked down upon all the previous county magistrates.

Lu Lin couldn't help but feel self-satisfied, 'It looks like the soldiers appreciate me for who I am, they have such a golden heart, you are nice to them and they will be even nicer to you as return.'

"Lin Ge, the soldiers say they don't want any money from you, but they want delicious food. They want to eat hotpot, egg pancakes, spring rolls, brown sugar steamed cakes..." Chen Xiao Cai said.

Lu Lin sighed, "I thought they were here for me, it turns out they are here for food! Well, who can blame them."

Chen Xiao Cai nodded and said with a strange expression, "Now many people outside say that there is a great female cook in our county yamen. I'm sure they just assumed it's a woman who has been cooking all those yummy and creative food for us."

Lu Lin smiled, 'That is an outmoded notion, but that's the mainstream in this time and space where people have never heard of gender quality.'

Lu Lin thought chances were Ji Yun An had spread the word in the military camp that he would have a feast every day in the county yamen and the soldiers assumed it was Yun Niang who had done all the cooking.

Lu Lin shook his head with a smile and said, "That's all right, let's prepare some good food for our soldiers."

Chen Xiao Cai nodded and said, "I know, but we don't have much oil left in the kitchen, let alone other ingredients."

Lu Lin sighed and thought to himself, 'I wish I had stocked more oil in the convenience store.'

"A few soldiers asked me whether it's true we are going to build a winery," Chen Xiao Cai said.

Lu Lin nodded and said, "Of course it is true."

Chen Xiao Cai smiled and said, "They told me to treat them to some wine after we brew our first batch."

Lu Lin nodded and said, "This can be done."

Lu Lin thought maybe he could even sell some wine to the soldiers in the military camp at a low price. He was sure they would appreciate some good wine, wine was good, it was great in deepen communication.

Everything went smoothly in building the winery, none of the villagers or soldiers slacked off

Chen Xiao Cai once again admired Lu Lin's wisdom.

"Lunch time! "

At noon, Chen Xiao Mi shouted cheerfully. Everyone's eyes sparkled and they walked towards the makeshift 'canteen'.

Chen Xiao Mi set up a giant round table considering there was a large number of villagers and soldiers.

"Xiao Mi Ge, what are we having for lunch today?" a soldier called Lei Zheng asked with a fawning smile on his face as he leaned closer to Chen Xiao Mi.

Chen Xiao Mi replied casually, "Stewed Chicken with Potato."

Chicken was very expensive, so Lu Lin put a lot of potatoes and bamboo shoots in the stew.

Lei Zheng nodded and let out an "awesome".

Chen Xiao Mi glanced at Lei Zheng and said, "I remember you, you were here yesterday too. Are you being slack in the camp?"

Lei Zheng denied it fervently, "How can that be? I'm on my day off."

Chen Xiao Mi looked at Lei Zheng and thought to himself, 'This guy seemed to have said the same thing a few days ago. What on earth is going on? Is he telling the truth?'

As soon as the workers arrived at the canteen, they sat down and dived in immediately. Everyone was savoring the food with obvious relish for fear of missing out, no one was really talking.

The dishes on the table were quickly swept away.

There was strength in numbers, the winery was completed ahead of schedule.

After the winery was completed, Lu Lin wanted to purchase a batch of wine jars, to his surprise, the soldiers brought him a lot of jars.

There was also a winery in the patrolling camp, but no one had really used it properly. Some villagers had stolen one or two empty jars to make pickles, but there were quite a lot left.

Knowing that Lu Lin needed some jars, the soldiers brought a batch, saving Lu Lin some money.

What Lu Lin appreciated the most was not the money but the gesture.