Chapter 271: Not Hesitant to Take Money
Fusa could now understand what Bai Ruozhu meant when she said the craftwork was complex. If it wasn’t sophisticated or challenging to make, who would value it? They would just disregard it as crude.
Bai Ruozhu chuckled at Fusa’s bewildered expression before patting her shoulder and saying, "Once we get back tonight, we’ll do the accounts and split up the money. Also, make sure to come with me to the Ding Family’s tomorrow morning. We should wear some of our newer clothes, those wealthy families are particularly particular about appearances."
Fusa thought about what decent clothes she could wear and it took her a while to register Bai Ruozhu’s mention of splitting the money. She quickly waved her hand saying, "You keep the silver for now. Who ever heard of dividing profits on the first day of business? We should at least wait for a few days."
Bai Ruozhu thought that made sense. She wasn’t just thinking about the four taels of silver they’d received in a flash, there should be some explanation to the Lin Family as well. As Fusa was such a clear-headed person, they could just make it simple and settle accounts every ten days. Any longer than that wouldn’t be good and could lead to confusion in the accounts.
She told Fusa about her idea of settling accounts every ten days. Fusa had no objections, so Bai Ruozhu decided to take her mother’s place and cook the pancakes, while Fusa walked over to Lin Laifu, who was still chuckling, and proudly said, "Did you see that? We women are just as good at doing business."
Lin Laifu continuously nodded and laughed, saying, "I’ve always known my wife was capable."
Bai Ruozhu, standing not far away, saw Lin Laifu’s uplifted expression and couldn’t help but feel a tinge of sourness in her teeth. Did they need to be so blatantly affectionate? Those two were truly in love!
She couldn’t help feeling a bit envious, as her heart conjured up an image. But she quickly shook her head, reminding herself not to overthink things.
Meanwhile, Fusa gave Lin Laifu a sweet smile, pleased with her husband’s honeyed words. But she still made it a point to seriously say: "It’s Ruozhu who is truly capable. We should learn from her." She had really come to admire Bai Ruozhu.
Lin Laifu chuckled and nodded in agreement, "My wife has a point."
In a short while, Bai Yihong returned with his cart, he saw Bai Ruomei had left and he heaved a big sigh of relief, asking Lin Ping’er, "Mother, did Ruomei say anything?"
Lin Ping’er was still excited about making some silver. Only when this was mentioned did she remember what Bai Ruomei had said, she lowered her voice and said, "Your eldest brother wants to divorce his wife, Ruomei asked for our help to discourage him."
"What?" Bai Yihong was clearly caught off guard, "Isn’t it the case that eldest brother has always been protective of sister-in-law? Then again, given eldest brother’s age, even if he does divorce sister-in-law, will he easily find someone else?"
Bai Ruozhu’s eyes suddenly lit up. She hadn’t considered that either. It was her father who had awakened her from this dream.
"The trouble must lie with eldest uncle. He’s a scholar now, chances are he already has candidates for his second wife." Bai Ruozhu excitedly said. You couldn’t blame her for having malicious thoughts, when she thought about the idiocies the old mansion idiots had committed, she was filled with joy.
Upon hearing this, Lin Ping’er also started gossiping. She smiled at Bai Ruozhu and said, "This afternoon, I just happened to be going to Caiyue’s family to finalise the details about your second brother’s wedding. Then I can inquire about your eldest uncle’s affairs."
Bai Zehao tried to join the conversation, but as soon as he heard about his own wedding, he blushed and walked away again.
Bai Ruozhu smirked at her mother, essentially, the primary aim was to get the latest scoop on Bai Yibo’s scandal, wasn’t it? Oh no, her mother was learning to behave badly, and it wasn’t Bai Ruozhu corrupting her.
Bai Yihong didn’t really care about whether Wan Shi would be divorced or not, but he was concerned that Bai Yibo might do something that would disgrace their family’s reputation. He thought of the time when Bai Yibo had gotten drunk and acted recklessly, and he grew slightly worried.
As Lin Ping’er had to go back to Mountain Village in the afternoon, Bai Ruozhu had to watch over the stall, so she didn’t bring Dengdeng back to the West Courtyard to rest. She just found an opportunity to secretly breastfeed him and then let him sleep in his basket.
Business in the afternoon was pretty good and the pancakes were sold out early, while a few more hats were sold. As a result, the inventory Bai Ruozhu and the others had laboriously piled up didn’t seem to be enough. Fusa closed up her stall early and said she was going back to knit a few more caps.
"Fusa, just go for the simplest designs and pick brighter colors." Bai Ruozhu thought for a moment before saying. Today’s best-selling products were still the cheap, simple ones. To speed up production while saving time, it would be best to stick to the simplest designs.
"Alright, I understand." Fusa was clever and instantly understood Bai Ruozhu’s intention.
After packing up the stall and returning to the West Courtyard, Bai Ruozhu went to the kitchen at Xie Residence to cook some more dishes. After dining, she became impatient to return to the West Courtyard, eager to find out if her mother was back and whether she’d managed to uncover some sensational news.
Yu Hongxiu seemed absent-minded today, not making much attempt to retain Bai Ruozhu. However, as Bai Ruozhu was eager to get back, she didn’t notice. Assuming that Bai Ruozhu had some urgent matter to attend to, Bai Zepei too made an early excuse to Master Xie and accompanied Bai Ruozhu back to the West Courtyard.
On the way, Bai Ruozhu talked about Bai Ruomei’s visit in the afternoon. Bai Zepei quietly listened till the end, before finally saying, "I won’t persuade him for her."
Bai Ruozhu nodded faintly, she too thought that her second brother wouldn’t waste his time attempting to do so.
"She has been too harsh on Xiaosi. This is just retribution." Bai Zepei stated coldly, his tone even carrying a hint of resentment.
Bai Ruozhu looked at him, her second brother was usually busy studying with Master Xie and seldom cared about these matters. Subconsciously, she had assumed that he didn’t have time to focus on these matters. Only now did she realize that her second brother had a clear sense of love and hate as well.
Once they were back at the West Courtyard, they bumped into Lin Ping’er, who was already back. Bai Ruozhu hurried over to relieve her mother of Dengdeng, and excitedly asked, "Mother, how did it go?"
Lin Ping’er started giggling, "Look at you, so anxious. I knew you would ask, so I was waiting for you to come back before I discussed it."
Bai Ruozhu returned her mother’s sweet smile, "Mother knows me best, let’s discuss it inside the house."
The family went inside, Lin Ping’er poured herself a cup of tea, took a sip, and started talking.
"I first went to Caiyue’s house when I returned to the village, and I negotiated the details of the wedding feast with her mother. Then, I borrowed some tables, chairs, and utensils needed for the feast from the Wang Family. Afterward, Caiyue’s mother started talking about your eldest uncle’s divorce. Goodness, I really didn’t expect that the whole village would know about it now." Lin Ping’er mainly directed the story towards Bai Ruozhu, the rest of them were pretty much just audience members.
Bai Ruozhu suppressed a laugh as she watched her mother – her tone was clearly gloating.
"A few days ago, the Wang Family’s grandmother went to the old mansion to talk and ended up having an argument with your grandmother. Both of them are loud-mouthed, the neighbors could hear them. Your grandmother insisted that Wang Shi was not virtuous. Wang Shi only giving birth to their third son after many years and then finally giving birth to a fourth son who turned out to be a fake. They were fooled by her. Wang family’s grandmother started screaming that the Bai Family cannot cast off a wife. Otherwise, it would be like crossing a bridge and breaking it after, since all those years when Wang Shi went home, she had to get silver coins to supplement her mother-in-law’s needs. Your grandmother never hesitated to take those coins!"