Transmigrated Farmgirl’s Scheme to Get Rich - CH 115
Mo Ling and Mo Yan were busy working in the shop. When they looked up, they saw Mo Zenian standing by the road and looking their way.
“Sister, what does he want to do?”
“Not only has he lost his women, he’s also lost his job. What else could he be thinking about? Of course he wants to make money.”
“He wants to steal our shop’s business.”
Mo Ling gritted her teeth and said, “No way in hell!”
Mo Zenian didn’t come over, he just looked at them for a while before leaving.
It was only the tenth day of the new year, and New Year celebrations hadn’t strictly ended yet. Not many merchants were going out to do business, and not many people were going to the market. So business wasn’t going well, they closed shop and went back to the village at noon.
As soon as they went back home, they heard Ms. Liang coughing in the kitchen. Mo Ling asked, “Mother, why are you coughing again? Did you take your medicine on time?”
“I have!”
“Then why are you coughing like this again? Is your original prescription not working anymore? Is it time to change it?”
Mo Yan was about to call Mr. Cao over, when she was stopped by Mrs. Liang, “I just got angry because of the lowlife in the background.”
“He came here again?” Mo Ling asked.
Ms. Liang nodded, “He invited the governing official for talks of remarriage.”
“He wants to get back together with you? You didn’t agree, right?”
“Of course.”
“That’s good. We finally got out of that hell, we can’t go back.”
“You don’t need to say it, I understand.”
There was another cough, and Mo Yan went to massage her back gently, “Mr. Cao said he’d come to take your pulse and change your prescription next month. Now you’re coughing like this, why don’t I invite him to come here?”
Mo Ling waved her to go, and Mu Yan immediately rushed out.
She was in such a rush she forgot that it was only noon, and Mr. Cao might not have finished his lunch yet.
When she went over to the Cao family home, she saw Ms. Li tidying up in the kitchen. She seemed to have already eaten.
Mo Yan approached the kitchen and whispered, “Ms. Li, is Mr. Cao here?”
She turned around and whispered back, “Yes, but he isn’t feeling well. Otherwise, why wouldn’t he go to the clinic!”
Mo Yan just realised the clinic had already opened the day her sister was kidnapped, but she didn’t see Mr. Cao going to the market today.
Then, she heard coughing from the in-house clinic. Mr. Cao was inside, Mo Yan nodded to Mrs. Li and then went inside.
The door was closed. She called for Mr. Cao from outside, and his voice came from inside, “Yan’er, come it!”
Mo Yan opened the door and went in. She saw that Mr. Cao was sitting up from a bench, with a haggard face, chapped lips, and periodic coughing.
“Are you well?”
Mr. Cao covered his mouth and coughed, “Yes, I just got angry.”
“Then have you taken medicine?”
He faintly smiled, “I’m a doctor, what do you think? What are you here for?”
“Today, my mother’s cough suddenly became much worse.”
“It must be due to stress. I’ll give her a few calming pills for her to take. When I feel better, I’ll go take her pulse in a few days.”
Mr. Cao took a small porcelain bottle from the medicine cabinet, poured out a few pills, wrapped them in paper, and handed them to Mo Yan. He was short of breath and she didn’t want him to talk more, so she said goodbye and left.
There was no sign of Ms. Li in the kitchen. She probably went home after finishing her work. It was also very quiet in the north room. Perhaps it was because she kept her voice low, so Cao Zhang didn’t hear her!
Mo Yan went home via the alley next to the school. When she passed it, she inadvertently glanced inside. Why was its door half-open? She looked inside and saw Cao Zhang sitting there in a daze.
She pushed the door open completely, shocking Cao Zhang back to his senses. When he looked up and saw her, a smile appeared on his face, “Yan’er, why are you here?”
Mu Yan raised the paper bag in her hand, “I got the medicine for my mother, how about you?”
He smiled bitterly, “I have nothing to do and no friends, so I come here to sit.”
“Mr. Cao is unwell.”
“He quarrelled with my mother. They’ve been arguing almost every day since we returned.”
“Weren’t they very affectionate in the past?”
“You already said it was in the past. Everything has changed now. Father’s elegance and mother’s etiquette are gone, and my home doesn’t feel like home anymore.” His tone was full of helplessness and desolation.
“When will you return to the metropolis?”
“My mother can’t wait to go back. She wants to go to the metropolis to live the life of a lady like her cousins, but my father doesn’t want to leave this village.”
“How about you?”
“I don’t know, I don’t want to disappoint my mother, but I don’t want to upset my father.”
“When you pass the imperial examination and become an official, you’ll be able to take your parents to live good lives. Don’t think too much about it! How are your preparations?”
“They’re going well!”
Cao Zhang parted ways with Mo Yan. After seeing her disappear when she turned a corner, he slowly walked back home.
When Mo Yan came home, she passed the back courtyard and saw Mo Zheng watching from the gate. When he saw her passing by, he called her “sister”. Mo Yan stopped and asked him, “Did you call me?” Mo Zheng nodded.
“What’s the matter?”
Mo Zheng said in a childish voice, “I’m hungry.”
Mo Yan thought, Who are you? What does your hunger have to do with me!
When she got home, the dinner table was already set. She had just taken a bite of flatbread when she heard Mo Zheng’s childish voice saying that he was hungry again. She stood up, took a piece of flatbread and a salted duck egg, and went out.
Mu Ling asked, “If you’re not eating, where are you going?”
“I’m going to visit my second grandma.”
Back in the back courtyard, Mo Zheng was still standing there. She passed the flatbread across the gate and started peeling the salted duck egg.
“Where’s your father? Does no one cook for you?”
He chewed on the flatbread before saying, “He’s not here, and grandma doesn’t cook, so I have nothing to eat.”
Mu Yan handed him the peeled salted duck egg, saying “Remember not to go out” before going back home.
She didn’t know that Mo Zenian was walking over carrying a pair of new buckets. He saw Mu Yan leaving the gate, and also saw Mo Zheng eating.
In a blink of an eye, it was the fifteenth day of the month. According to tradition, they had to light up lamps. The lamp wasn’t an ordinary oil lamp. It was made of steamed yellow sticky rice noodles. Then, a wheat straw was wrapped in paper, soaked in cooking oil, and then inserted into the lamp as the wick. It’s said that if you hold up this lantern, you won’t have illness for the rest of the year.
These lamps were also used to worship the gods. All rooms in the house should be lit, and all living things should be symbolically lit up for peace and prosperity.
Ms. Liang’s yellow sticky rice noodles were steamed, and then rolled out and made into small round lamps.
The sisters hadn’t gone to town today. They were helping by wrapping paper on the wheat straws, soaking them in oil and inserting them into the cut lamps.
Mo Yan said, “Mother, I want to send some lamps to second grandma too.”
“Sure, we have so many! Take a plate over.”
Mo Yan carried a plate of eight or nine lamps to the backyard. She heard children screaming in the back courtyard, but it didn’t sound like Mo Zheng.
Looking through the gate, she saw her aunt’s children inside. Xiao Hu was grabbing Mo Zheng and pushing him hard on the ground, and Chun’er was trying to climb onto his back.
Why are those two little brats here again!
Post-translation notes: I feel really sorry for Mo Zheng. Even though he’s done nothing wrong, he’s suffering for the sins of his father. Thank you for reading!
