Chapter 13 TGBW

FlamingoBees

Translating Chinese Historical Dramas for your enjoyment... and mine! :)

Chapter 13:

Naming ・Memory Lane

Little did she expect that even though the male protagonist had been away from the village for several years, there were still legends about him in the village, and he could still find a way to harm her.

Could she say that Chu Wei Leng was worthy of being the male protagonist?

Was he here to torment her?

It seemed that being associated with him brought nothing but trouble.

Old Master Chu and Madam Zhao had never heard of such things before, and the two of them exchanged glances.

Thinking that Madam Li was already married now, the two kind-hearted individuals didn't say anything.

"All of that is in the past. Now that she's married, and my son has a wife, let's not dwell on it," Madam Zhao said after a long silence.

Madam Wang had known Madam Zhao for many years and understood her character well. She immediately reassured her, saying, "Sister-in-law, rest assured, I won't speak carelessly. I'm telling you all this just so you're aware and can be cautious. It's better to be aware of potential harm than to be blindsided."

Although Madam Zhao and Old Master Chu were both straightforward in nature, they could still recognize when someone was being kind to them.

Therefore, Madam Zhao expressed her gratitude, saying, "Thank you very much."

After all, Madam Li was the daughter-in-law of the village chief, and the village chief held great prestige in the village. It wouldn't be appropriate to gossip about such matters.

They understood the situation.

© translations belonging to flamingobeestranslations.blogspot.com. If you read this somewhere else instead of flamingobeestranslations.blogspot.com then the translations has been posted WITHOUT permission of translator.

After Madam Wang left, Old Master Chu and Madam Zhao couldn't help but whisper a few words to each other.

"This girl is too malicious. We haven't done anything to offend her, so why is she making things difficult for us?" Madam Zhao said with a worried expression.

As Old Master Chu shaved off the burrs on the wooden board, he whispered, "No wonder the Village Chief hasn't been as enthusiastic towards us these past two years. It seems it's not just because Wei Leng went to the military, but also because Dan got married to that woman."

A hint of anger appeared on Madam Zhao's face. After a moment, she said, "It's a good thing Wei Leng didn't fall for her. What a malicious girl."

Seeing the expression on Madam Zhao's face, Old Master Chu cautioned, "Don't talk carelessly outside. She's from the village chief's family, and we don't know when Wei Leng will come back. We're alone here, and it'll only be us who suffer if anything happens."

Madam Zhao understood this well and replied with a sigh, "Yeah, let's just avoid her in the future."

Glancing towards his son's room, Old Master Chu added, "Also, tell your daughter-in-law to keep her distance from Dan's wife."

"Yeah, I got it."

After hearing about this matter, Lou Jian Jia found it hard to fall asleep.

Considering the timing, Chu Wei Leng should be coming back soon. Once he returned, no one would dare to bully their family anymore.

However, even if Chu Wei Leng didn't come back, she had no need to fear them.

Lou Jian Jia raised her hand and looked at it.

With her unusual strength, not even one Madam Li, but perhaps ten of them wouldn't be her match.

However, she still had to survive here in the future. It was better to avoid unnecessary trouble.

After lying for a while longer and listening to the sounds outside, it seemed that Old Master Chu had finished making the signboard. Lou Jian Jia got up and went out.

"I need to go find The Village Chief to write a few words," Old Master Chu said to Madam Zhao.

Thinking about what she had just heard, Madam Zhao said somewhat disheartenedly, "That's all we can do. There's no one else in the village who can read."

That's just how it was among neighbors.

Unless it was a major conflict, or unless one was powerful enough not to need anyone's help, people would still interact with each other.

Nowadays, without their son by their side, Madam Zhao and Old Master Chu struggled and had to bow their heads.

"If Wei Leng were home..." Old Master Chu said in a low voice.

"We don't know when Wei Leng will be able to come back," Madam Zhao sighed.

They still relied on the village chief for many things, so they couldn't afford to offend him.

However, after what had just happened, neither of them felt like going to the village chief's house.

After hearing their conversation, Lou Jian Jia suggested, "Why not let your daughter-in-law write it?"

Upon hearing this suggestion, both of them turned to look at her.

They knew that Lou Jian Jia's grandfather was literate. However, they also knew that education was expensive and highly regarded.

Even in affluent families, education was typically reserved for sons, and daughters rarely received formal education. Moreover, they were aware of their in-laws' situation, and they weren't particularly wealthy.

Would the Luo family provide education for their daughters?

It seemed that their in-laws were quite good to their daughter-in-law...

"Jian Jia, you know how to write?" Madam Zhao asked with some surprise. "Did your parents teach you to read?"

Old Master Chu's eyes were also filled with anticipation.

Scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants.

In this era, being literate meant being esteemed.

Madam Zhao asked two questions in total, and the answers to these two questions were different.

The Luo family wasn't kind to the original host. Not only did they not educate her, but they also forbade her from entering her grandfather's study, fearing she might bring bad luck inside.

Lou Jian Jia didn't want Madam Zhao and the others to misunderstand and think that the Luo family treated her well.

After some consideration, Lou Jian Jia said, "I can indeed write, but my grandfather never taught me. I learned secretly while he was studying inside the house."

Old Master Chu and Madam Zhao both had a feeling of "I see" in their hearts.

It made much more sense now.

"You're very clever," Madam Zhao praised her. "Many people who study diligently can't even recognize a few characters, yet you were able to teach yourself so much."

Lou Jian Jia smiled and picked up a sharp stone, ready to carve on the wooden board.

"No need to carve, Wei Leng used to know how to write as well. There should be some ink and brushes left in the house," Madam Zhao reminded her.

"No need, Mom, carving will make it last longer," Lou Jian Jia said, then began to carve the characters.

After finishing the carving, she went to the kitchen and got some soot from the bottom of a pot, using it to fill the carved letters with black color.

Soon enough, a board with the words Memory Lane[1] was ready.

Looking at the neatly carved characters, Old Master Chu and Madam Zhao looked at Lou Jian Jia with a different kind of admiration in their eyes.

~ Part 2 ~

The next day, Old Master Chu and his family arrived earlier than usual.

As Lou Jian Jia had anticipated, the Sun family was already there. Seeing Old Master Chu's group approaching, the Sun family, who had been sitting, immediately stood up and looked at them provocatively.

However, Lou Jian Jia didn't spare them an extra glance. She found a good spot and set down the cart.

Rather than getting into a quarrel with such people, it was better to save time and energy to sell more meals and earn an extra wen.

The Sun family members, seeing them so easy to bully, smirked contemptuously.

Lou Jian Jia placed the prepared sign aside and announced loudly, "This is Memory Lane, everyone, don't get it wrong."

As she said these words, she didn't even glance at the Sun family.

In Lou Jian Jia's eyes, the Sun family meant nothing, and it wasn't necessary to give such insignificant people any attention.

Taste couldn't be deceived. Whether the food was good or not, everyone naturally knew. At most, they might be fooled once, but not repeatedly.

Regular customers knew well who served their usual meals and wouldn't go to the wrong place.

Looking at the sign set up beside, a regular customer smiled and asked Old Master Chu, "Uncle, did you name it today?"

Old Master Chu smiled and replied, "Yes, afraid that everyone might go the wrong way."

"Don't worry, Uncle, we've been coming here for so long, we won't go wrong."

In the following days, people stopped referring to the shops as "the one to the east" or "the one to the west." When someone asked about Lou Jian Jia's shop, they all called it by its name, Memory Lane.

After tasting a bit of success, the Sun family's business gradually declined as their food couldn't compare to Lou Jian Jia's. The number of customers eating at their place returned to its previous level.

Meanwhile, when Lou Jian Jia had some free time, she carved the words "Memory Lane" onto the plates.

Gradually, Old Master Chu and Madam Zhao also learned to write these three characters, carving them onto plates and chopsticks.

With this crisis resolved, Old Master Chu and Madam Zhao had even more trust in Lou Jian Jia.

However, Lou Jian Jia had another worry on her mind.

According to the book, the male lead, Chu Wei Leng, would be returning home in about a month. And there was less than a year left before the appearance of the female lead.

Before this, she would probably have to part ways with the male lead. But now, earning only about five hundred wen a month, and splitting half of it with the Chu family, she would only have a little over two hundred wen. Over the course of a year, she would only be able to save up about two taels of silver.

It was simply too little, nowhere near enough for her to establish a household and survive on her own.

On top of that, she still had a rather difficult family to deal with...

There were only so many people working at the docks, and it wouldn't increase much more. Moreover, she noticed that recently there had been more people doing business at the docks, which would inevitably affect their business.

If she wanted to make money, she couldn't rely solely on their customers.

The wealthiest people were actually the merchants who came and went!

A few days ago, she had been thinking about how to prepare some food for the merchants.

Just as she was thinking, Madam Zhao finally noticed the basket filled with eggs in the house.

"Jian Jia, what's going on? Didn't you send these to your family the other day? Why didn't you go? Did you forget?" Madam Zhao seemed a bit anxious.

Upon hearing this, Luo Jian Jia glanced at the basket in Madam Zhao's hands and replied, "Oh, I didn't go. Yesterday, my mother sent a message saying there wasn't anything urgent, and since the weather had gotten hot, she didn't want me to come back."

Madam Zhao nodded, but she couldn't help but wonder why she didn't know when her daughter-in-law's mother had sent a message back.

Seeing Madam Zhao's expression change, Luo Jian Jia brought up another matter to change the subject, "Mother, I heard today that another family is planning to sell food at the docks. How about we think of a way to stabilize our business?"

Upon hearing this, Madam Zhao and Old Master Chu immediately shifted their focus and looked at Luo Jian Jia with concern.

"Do you know what they are planning to sell?" Madam Zhao asked anxiously.

Luo Jian Jia shook her head and replied, "I don't."

Madam Zhao and Old Master Chu thought of the Sun family, their brows furrowing even deeper.

Seeing their expressions, Luo Jian Jia said, "Nowadays, more and more people are selling food at the docks. Although we have good taste and many regular customers, if more food vendors come, we might lose some of our customers."

Upon hearing this, Old Master Chu asked, "Young daughter-in-law, do you have any ideas?"

Luo Jian Jia glanced at Old Master Chu and then at Madam Zhao before saying, "Father, mother, how much do you think the food sold at the docks costs?"

Madam Zhao and Old Master Chu exchanged glances, unsure of why their daughter-in-law was asking, but they answered earnestly.

"Steamed buns cost one wen, noodles three wen, our rice and the neighboring stall's rice both cost two wen, and the tea stall's tea costs one wen..."

"Father, mother, did you notice that the food sold at the docks never exceeds three wen?" Luo Jian Jia interjected.

Madam Zhao and Old Master Chu nodded.

"These are all sold to the nearby laborers; they can't afford anything too expensive," Madam Zhao explained.

Luo Jian Jia continued, "Mother, did you notice that sometimes even the traveling merchants buy food from there?"

Madam Zhao nodded. "I noticed."

Then she added with a smile, "Speaking of which, our stall is the most popular. Sometimes they even give us tips, very generous indeed."

Old Master Chu glanced at Luo Jian Jia and asked, "Young daughter-in-law, are you suggesting we sell food to wealthy merchants?"

Madam Zhao was taken aback for a moment and quickly interjected, "That won't work. Those merchants have traveled far and wide, they won't be interested in our simple food. Unless they're starving and can't make it to the county seat, they probably wouldn't come here to eat."

"If we make some tasty dishes?"

"Well..." Old Master Chu hesitated.

"I'm sure you've noticed, we've had quite a few wealthy merchants come by our stall, but many of them just looked and left, obviously not interested in our food," Luo Jian Jia remarked. "Nowadays, there are more and more ships coming and going at the dock, and more laborers as well. With more people around, there will be more diners. If we offer some expensive dishes, targeting the wealthy merchants, we might just earn a bit more."

Old Master Chu and Madam Zhao had always been farmers, scraping a living from the land. Even during the years when Chu Wei Leng served as a guard in the Prince household, their family didn't become particularly affluent. They had never even ventured beyond the county town. The thought of dealing with wealthy households made them feel a bit intimidated. They couldn't shake the feeling that these people wouldn't appreciate their simple food.

Seeing the two of them remaining silent, Lou Jian Jia asked, "What do you think, Father, Mother?"

Madam Zhao pursed her lips and said, "Selling them would be good if we can manage it, but I'm worried they might not find our food appealing. And if it doesn't sell, we'll end up wasting these provisions."

"Then we might as well make less, so it won't be a waste if we can't sell it," Lou Jian Jia suggested.

Madam Zhao was about to say something else, but Old Master Chu contemplated for a while and said, "Let's go with Jian Jia's idea. With more and more vendors selling food, if we don't change, we might fall behind."

Perhaps Lou Jian Jia's previous dealings with Madam Zhao and Old Master Chu left a lasting impression. During this period, both of them had grown to trust her even more. Although they were skeptical about whether affluent customers would buy from their stall, later that day, both of them were very serious about making the items that Lou Jian Jia had suggested.

"However," Madam Zhao asked, "what do you plan to make?"

Lou Jian Jia glanced at the basket on the table and replied, "Egg fried rice."

Lou Jian Jia did indeed want to make better food, but unfortunately, the Chu family was too poor to afford expensive ingredients and meat.

For them, eggs were already considered a luxury.

Thinking about the taste of the egg fried rice that their daughter-in-law had made before, Old Master Chu and Madam Zhao relaxed a lot, and smiles gradually appeared on their faces.

•••

[1] 回味記 / Hui Wei Ji

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Chapter 13 TGBW

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