Chapter 2183: Chapter 1860: Forced Wine Selling
Poor duck, it’s not getting eaten tonight.
Meanwhile, as dusk deepens, the melon pickers on the mountain finally call it a day.
Wu Lei takes Zhang Chen to Song Tan’s home to get some peanuts, and they see Wu Lan dumping a large basin of yellow muddy water into the ditch.
Zhang Chen quickly nudges Wu Lei: "Go help!"
Wu Lei says "Oh," but by the time he gets there, the water has already been poured out. He stands there dumbfounded, thinks for a bit, and asks:
"Is this yellow mud for marinating salted duck eggs?"
Wu Lan chuckles: "This can’t be used for marinating salted duck eggs. Aren’t we eating peanuts? The young peanuts pulled earlier have all been boiled. Just went to the field to pick some for you, and just finished washing them clean."
Although the peanuts are still tender, the shell isn’t particularly rough or uneven. But pulling peanuts after rain leaves plenty of yellow mud, Wu Lan has poured three large basins of this muddy water.
See, over there Aunt Lianhua is washing the cleaned ones in the sink.
Zhang Chen hastily smiles: "Auntie, thank you for your hard work."
What’s the big deal?
Wu Lan doesn’t mind at all.
With the constant rain, tea leaves can’t be picked, and other farm work is hard to do. At home, it’s either cutting cucumbers to dry or marinating pickles, washing some peanuts is just a little brief activity, convenient.
But looking at Wu Lei, she remembers something important:
"Lei, your mom called saying they’re not signing you up for that matchmaking event, but asking you to help serve tea for a couple of days... What do you think?"
Zhang Chen can’t help but laugh! Thinking this brother’s mom is really efficient. At this point, he also looks at Wu Lei, curious to hear his response.
The other party mumbles before saying:
"My friend said that girls with good conditions generally don’t look at someone like me who tends cows. Instead of signing up for matchmaking to be picked apart by others, why not honestly help out for a couple of days—maybe someone might like my aura?"
Hearing this, Wu Lan falls silent.
—At least cattle farming is a real industry, but girls prefer serving tea over cattle farming... Are you out of your mind with cow dung?
Though being a relative, does Wu Lei really have that aura?
Zhang Chen is also speechless—is that what he meant? Huh?
The three fall silent for a while.
Finally, Song Sancheng breaks the silence: "Lei, since it keeps raining, there’s no farm work to do. Ask your dad about fishing, want to fish by the river!"
After a pause, he adds: "If it rains, we’ll fish at the pond."
He sighs, when he used to have free time he could play a little card game, but ever since the family business started, villagers play cards with him, often making snide remarks.
Win or lose, they mock him, making him uncomfortable.
Now it’s fine, apart from fishing, there seems to be no other pleasure.
Oh, and Lun Chuan found some short dramas that are fun to watch. Sometimes he holds his phone and watches for hours!
As they talk, they see Aunt Zhang Hong with an angry face shouting from the gate:
"Oh, a lot of guests today."
Although her voice is high, her anger hasn’t dissipated as she walks in, and Wu Lan perks up: "What’s up?"
"Don’t even mention it!"
Aunt Zhang Hong grumbles.
"A kid from one of my cousin’s families, already 30 this year, is thinking of organizing a matchmaking event, so I made some arrangements!"
But when people say they’ll come, she thought of seeing the quality firsthand, so she could honestly tell them.
Who knew they’d drive here!
Driving is fine, but right after greeting, they start unloading wine from the trunk.
Aunt Zhang Hong wondered why they were giving such a big gift, but the more she looked, the odder it seemed—who gives 10 boxes of wine like that?!
This isn’t how you ask for favors.
Sure enough, barely saying a few words, the person smiles cheekily and says:
"Auntie, your family’s tofu-making is famous throughout Yun City, making money like printing at a mint, I guess you hardly have time to spend it."
"Just right, a friend of mine is a dealer of this famous brand of wine. I figured since your family is doing well, hosting guests can’t be too cheap, so I brought 10 boxes first—not urgent for the money!"
"Auntie, whenever you feel like it, you can pay me."
Oh my, what a good intention!
Whenever you feel like it, pay me?!
Aunt Zhang Hong vividly recalls the sentence, then snorts coldly: "Think you can bully me."
Since ancient times, three great hardships—rowing, ironworking, and tofu-making.
The couple gritted their teeth and decided to work in this industry, weren’t they determined?
She doesn’t even need to signal, her husband silently carries the wine back to the car.
Some people are just face-saving, others think of family ties, afraid of losing face.
But she says, if you have the skills to do this, you don’t care about face!
Besides, if there was any sincerity, it would genuinely be a branded wine.
But what’s written on those boxes, never heard of it!
Professor Song ate two melons on the mountain, filling his stomach, leisurely washes hands outside the yard, hears the conversation, glances at Aunt Zhang Hong.
The other wears golden earrings, a gold necklace, and a chunky gold bracelet on her wrist.
He frowns: "Poor don’t visit relatives, rich don’t return home. Your tofu-making indeed earns money, haven’t you often heard sour remarks?"
This is different from the Song Family.
Since the Song Family’s reputation spread, their assets have been billions.
Aunt Zhang Hong’s tofu-making only started months ago, and people estimate it’s still quite profitable.
Like strangers won’t desire the richest, but seeing a suddenly wealthy friend nearby may spark thoughts.
He advises:
"With people being cheeky and playing tricks like this, either find a way to handle them or avoid giving them a bad face easily."
First, a young energetic guy might do something impulsive.
Second, envy is common, if they don’t gain now, who knows how they’ll make up for it later...
He then looks at Song Tan again, reminding Aunt Zhang Hong: "Your situation isn’t the same as hers."
"You make tofu, with children by your side, looking strong and able, but the profits from your tofu, do they directly benefit the local community?"
"If they cause any trouble, it could be quite annoying for your family."
Let’s take a light example: someone might walk around here, murmuring to potential buyers about moldy beans or additives...
Wouldn’t that annoy you?
Although tofu complements vegetables well.
Now that vegetable buyers have increased, the name is established, even without tofu, they’d still buy the vegetables.
While it seems the Song Family only has Song Tan managing, and Qiaoqiao isn’t very sharp, their business is supported by leaders at all levels and connected through ten miles and eight villages.
For this reason, people generally don’t trouble them easily.
Even if Professor Song is a straightforward old man, being with Teacher Tang for so many years, spending years in rural areas and bases...
He’s seen quite a bit, indeed.
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