Chapter 101: Unearthing the Nature of the Money Freak
Bai Ruozhu was dumbfounded when she heard this. Her elder brother was so busy, why would she need to bother him as well? Seeing Zhou Taohua leave cheerfully, Bai Ruozhu rubbed her temples, shaking her head helplessly. There was no point in calling after Zhou Taohua, she could only allow her brother to be annoyed.
She didn’t know how Bai Zepei dealt with Zhou Taohua, but Zhou Taohua soon left, her color not as good as before, even her eyes were somewhat red.
Bai Ruozhu wondered if her brother had bluntly rejected the girl? She really wanted to ask her brother, but she was in confinement and not supposed to roam around, or her mother would nag at her again.
After a while, her mother came into the room with fermented sweet rice for her, saying that drinking it would stimulate her milk production, which was good for recovery. Of course, she hadn’t missed her daily fish soup either.
"Ruozhu, I saw Taohua going to find your brother?" Lin Ping’er was beaming, her eyes shining, as if she had discovered her son’s romantic affairs.
Bai Ruozhu sighed and said, "Mother, don’t matchmaking recklessly, I can see my brother is not pleased, don’t provoke him."
Lin Ping’er was immediately disappointed. Her mutterings continued, "It would be wonderful if your brother had a sweetheart, we could celebrate double happiness then."
"Mother, didn’t you hear my brother said he wants to pass the exam for an official post first? I think with my brother’s character, he won’t settle for just any girl. In the future, when he enters officialdom, he should marry a lady from a scholarly family, so they can have more in common," Bai Ruozhu advised, was there any rush in these things? Although the elders all wanted their children to get married and give birth to grandchildren early.
"Common interests?" This was the first time Lin Ping’er had heard of this concept.
"For example, you and Father often discuss this year’s crop yield and chat about how the pigs at home are doing, but my brother would probably prefer to discuss what’s in the books with his wife, don’t you think?" Bai Ruozhu explained gently.
Understanding dawned on Lin Ping’er, thinking, this made sense. If Zhou Taohua talked to him about how to raise chickens and pigs, he wouldn’t be interested to listen, would he? It’s not that Er Lang doesn’t appreciate these farm works, it’s just that he’s more interested in literature.
After thinking it through, Lin Ping’er nodded her head and said, "You’re right, we shouldn’t rush this, maybe we can find someone better in the future."
As they were talking, they heard the cheerful voice of Fang Guizhi from outside, "Ruozhu, I’m here to see your baby Dengdeng!"
Bai Ruozhu pouted and said to Lin Ping’er, "Your darling daughter, she has no thought of me in her heart now, she is just here to see this smelly boy."
Lin Ping’er laughed heartily, gave her a light tap, saying, "Are you jealous of your own son?"
While they were talking, Fang Guizhi had already walked in, holding a small garment in her hand. "Bai Erniang, you’re here just in time, could you help me check if this little garment is made properly? Any part still needs to be altered?"
Before she could set her eyes on Bai Ruozhu, she was already comparing the small garment to the baby, gleefully.
"You two really did a good job on this little garment, quite versatile," Lin Ping’er, flipping the garment over and over again, praising Fang Guizhi.
The butterfly garment was made by Fang Guizhi. She consulted with Bai Ruozhu about it a few days ago, and naturally, it was Bai Ruozhu who had the idea. She found it astonishingly novel and made one following the pattern drawn by Bai Ruozhu.
The butterfly garment was from Bai Ruozhu’s previous life, the clothing was similar to a butterfly, the baby could wear it as a jumpsuit. As the baby got older, the bottom could be left unbuckled to wear as a top, it was practical indeed.
"Ruozhu, I think this garment looks really good, what if we make more and sell them?" Having tasted the sweetness of doing business, Fang Guizhi also started to have a business mind.
Bai Ruozhu shook her head with a smile, "Forget it, we can just make these for fun. You could sell them, but it’s too much of a hassle. Also, haven’t you noticed that baby clothes are usually hand-made by the family themselves, and nobody trusts ones bought from outside?"
Fang Guizhi laughed bashfully, "That’s true. Was I being too money-minded?"
Bai Ruozhu and her mother both laughed heartily together, all saying in unison, "Yes!"
Afterwards, Lin Ping’er cooked dinner, while Fang Guizhi stayed with Bai Ruozhu to chat. Once they were alone, Bai Ruozhu secretly gave her twenty pieces of dried fish, saying, "Sell these for me when you have time."
Fang Guizhi’s eyes bulged at the sight of the dried fish, "Wow, you got new stock? That’s not right. Haven’t you been in confinement? How did you stock up?"
"I didn’t go out, but can’t others come to me? Someone else helped me bring it," Bai Ruozhu deliberately avoided mentioning the specifics, to not expose her secret. Luckily, Fang Guizhi didn’t ask further.
"Why didn’t you restock more? If you sell more at a time, you can make more money, isn’t that better?" Fang Guizhi asked perplexed.
In fact, the fish in Bai Ruozhu’s spatial pool wouldn’t diminish. She noticed that even if she made a hundred dried fish at once, the pool’s fish population would recover in a couple of days. However, she felt in her mind that scarcity makes things precious so if she took out too much at once, her goods would depreciate.
Moreover, she was afraid that if Fang Guizhi sold too many, someone might become suspicious and it would cause trouble.
"Even if we want more, we have to be able to stock up, right? This stuff is really precious and delicately made, it’s just not possible to get a lot at once." Bai Ruozhu winked at Fang Guizhi, "Plus, if there’s too much, it’s no longer valuable. When you’re selling it, if people ask you, you’ll have to say it’s hard to restock and supplies are limited."
Fang Guizhi seemed to understand, and nodded fervently, "I got it. I’ll do everything as you said."
Thinking of the gleaming silver, Fang Guizhi’s enthusiasm was ignited. She barely glanced at little Dengdeng before taking the small bundle and heading for the door, "It just so happens that my mother isn’t home today, I’ll make a trip to town."
"Be careful, don’t let people you know see you," Bai Ruozhu reminded her.
Fang Guizhi realized that she was too excited. She quickly hid the bundle and said, "Alright, I will definitely be careful."
Watching Fang Guizhi leave, Bai Ruozhu shook her head and smiled. Perhaps all women had a tendency to be money-obsessed, and she just brought out Fang Guizhi’s. But Fang Guizhi did have a knack for business, in the future, she could bring her along in business and give her best friend a better life.
When lunchtime came, Bai Ruozhu told her mother about the letter Zhou Taohua brought and then said, "I want father to go to Linjiang Village with Zhou Dehai and take a look at the land. If they think the land is good and worth the price, then we should buy it."
"Sure, I will go and tell your father right away. I’ll ask him to come over later, so you can tell him what to do," Lin Ping’er is impatient by nature, she got up right away to call Bai Yihong.
In reality, Bai Ruozhu didn’t know much about checking land, so there wasn’t much to instruct on. The main emphasis was for Bai Yihong to keep quiet, and the family selling the land can’t broadcast who bought the land, so as not to cause trouble for the old mansion.
That afternoon, Bai Yihong went to find Zhou Dehai, and the two went to Linjiang Village.