Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 116 - 114

Chapter 116: Chapter 114

"This is not child’s play that we can simply restart whenever we want!" Jinghao thought that the two elders were acting even worse than children.

"Cooperating to open a timber shop with our uncle, what can he do? Be the shopkeeper? A timber shop needs a shopkeeper who knows the quality of the wood! If he wants to cooperate with us, what can he do? Just sit there and wait for the silver to come in?" Jingrui became more and more blunt as he spoke.

They just couldn’t understand human language!

"Your uncle has been a shopkeeper for many years at least. He can read and write, and he can also keep accounts. It’s not like he would just sit there and wait for the silver!" Mr. Shen had high regards for his eldest son!

The children in the third family used to be sensible, but now they seemed to have no respect for their elders!

"Father! We can also cooperate! Give us half of the grocery store too! If it’s cooperation, then let’s cooperate with both shops!" Xiao’er suddenly spoke, somewhat excitedly.

"Cooperate with both shops?" Mr. Shen pondered upon hearing this.

"Yes, cooperate with both shops. When we were buying supplies for our furniture shop, we weren’t cooperating with my uncle yet, so we didn’t understand the market price and bought the wood at a higher price. This led to us having to sell the furniture at a high price, otherwise we would lose money! We’re worrying about not having enough silver to cover our costs, we can’t buy more wood. We’ve spent a total of 1,500 taels to open the store. If uncle wants to cooperate and he can’t do carpentry work, then he can only invest capital, let’s say 750 taels!"

Xiao’er continued calmly:

"Because the grocery store is also cooperating, we also need to invest some silver. Let’s invest 250 taels, so uncle only needs to contribute 500 taels! After the shop makes profit, the income will be divided based on the investment! This way, our family can breathe for the time being!"

"Father, isn’t my plan good? You don’t have to worry about not having enough silver to buy wood! Later, the timber shop will also have the grocery shop as a backer!" Xiao’er finished her sentence and deliberately said this to Shen Chengyao, for reinforcement of credibility.

"500 taels! Aren’t you robbing us!" Mrs. Shen didn’t understand what Xiao’er meant by capital investment. But she did understand that Shen Chengguang was supposed to give 500 taels!

"There’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world, if you want to cooperate, you have to put in money! The shop has just opened, it’s the time to invest money in it. Wait a year or two, when the shop becomes famous, won’t the invested money be earned back? Thinking of exploiting kinship to freeload is just wishful thinking!"

But while imagination is beautiful, reality is harsh!

Mr. Shen, however, believed these words, it was the same when the grocery store first opened.

At that time, the business was not good, the silver was all used up, the old goods could not be sold, there was no silver, and new goods could not be brought in. It was a vicious circle!

The furniture shop is said to have all kinds of valuable wood furniture, but such expensive items are also hard to sell. That furniture might be stuck for three or four years!

If half of the grocery store is also given away, what to do about the money for Wen’er’s education! No, absolutely not!

"Your uncle doesn’t have 500 taels. Besides, the grocery store is the basis for Wen’er’s education, we can’t touch it. Let’s forget about the cooperation!" After thinking it through, Mr. Shen spoke up.

"If we don’t cooperate, that’s fine. Grandma, you’ve been in charge for so many years, you must have a lot of silver. How about you lend us some and we’ll pay you back double when we make money!" As Xiao’er talked, she looked around, trying to find where Mrs. Shen kept her silver.

"I don’t have any silver! It’s all been spent by you! What are you looking around for!" Mrs. Shen tightly held the key in her chest, fearing it will be stolen!

In her life, other than herself, what she valued the most was silver! Even Mr. Shen was second to it!

"There must be some left. Before we split up the household, we used to save every penny as a big family!" As Xiao’er was talking, she moved closer to Mrs. Shen, while her eyes were fixed on where Mrs. Shen hid the most silver!

Mrs. Shen was so scared she couldn’t help but move behind Mr. Shen!

"Freeze! Stay where you are! How did you know where I hid my money! Shen, is this how you let your daughter come and plunder my silver?" Mrs. Shen pivoted on her heels, clutching her keys in her embrace, then whirled around and snapped.

Xiao’er moved slowly, step by step towards her. She then extended her hand in the direction where Mrs. Shen hid her stash. Terrified, Mrs. Shen tried to slap her face.

Xiao’er deftly dodged the hand, then reached behind Mrs. Shen, plucked a blade of straw entangled in her hair, and presented it before Mrs. Shen’s eyes. "Grandma, there’s a blade of straw stuck to your hair."

Mrs. Shen inexplicably felt relieved. The girl had just given her quite the scare!

Even if the timber shop were a risk, toys could be sold in the grocery store!

"Xiao’er, since you’re so good at making dolls, why not make some toys to sell at the grocery store as well! Keeping it within the family is more reliable than dealing with outsiders!"

"Grandpa, Young Master Shangguan and I have a contract. If I were to privately sell these toys, the breach of contract penalty is a whopping 100,000 taels!"

They’re relentless!

"We can’t afford that kind of money!" Jingrui added.

"Who would know if you secretly give us the designs!"

Chengyao seemed absent-minded and not quite himself. Their father had summoned them quite some time ago. If he wasn’t blaming them, he seemed to want them to collaborate with his eldest brother. They didn’t seem to care about Jingrui and Jinghao getting into Juxian Academy, as if this was none of their business.

"I never engage in duplicity nor speak with a forked tongue, let alone with Young Master Shangguan, who was genuine to us and helped get our family out of jail. As for collaborating with my uncle, I don’t want the constant worry of getting stabbed in the back without knowing how or why."

"How dare you speak like this? Did your parents teach you to be so audacious and disrespectful? Your uncle is still your elder, Yun’er is back, and you’ve all been released from jail. His doing didn’t really harm you. What more do you want?"

What more do I want? There was no harm? They were the reason the original master died and nobody paid any heed. They sold me off to the brothel, there was no protest against that! They used Yun’er to shoulder the blame, and felt it was alright. They caused our family to be jailed, and they saw nothing wrong in it. They used kinship as an excuse time and again, to make our family forgive and make sacrifices. They never fought for justice for us; they don’t deserve anything now. All they care about is asking, ’What more do you want?’

"Grandpa, we don’t want anything more. We simply can’t comply with your demands!" Jinghao was livid. Isn’t it you who always want more?

"The papers of the agreement have been signed. You can ruin the agreement out of your own selfish interests. But can you answer me one thing? When I design toys for you and it gets leaked someday and I have to pay 100,000 taels, will you then say, ’we cut off ties with you long ago, this has nothing to do with us?’"

Mr. Shen moved his lips, wanting to say something, but could not utter a single word.

"Fine, I can design the toys for you, but we must sign an agreement. If someday Young Master Shangguan knows about this and asks me for a compensation of 100,000 taels, all of you should bear this cost. As long as you, my grandparents, uncle, aunt, elder cousin brother and sister sign on the contract, I will start designing toys for you immediately."

"I won’t sign. What does it have to do with me!" Mrs Shen waved her hands as she shook her head hurriedly in refusal.

Mr. Shen looked devastated and waved his hand away, "Forget it. It was my mistake for not thinking it through. One should remain true to his word and not renege on a promise. You may leave, there is nothing here for you."

Alas, with separation comes divided hearts. Why should one hold grudges within a family? It was better when everybody pitched in and put their best foot forward to uphold the glory of the main family! They couldn’t even understand the simple principle that when one benefits, all can share the bounty!

Chengyao regained his senses when Xiao’er said, "Alright, I can design the toys for you..." He pulled the kids together, ready to leave. As they reached the door, he couldn’t resist turning around and asked, "Dad, are you happy that Jingrui and Jinghao got into the Juxian Academy?"

After he finished, he turned around and walked out with the kids, not looking back.

Mr. Shen trembled as he heard this and remained dazed for quite some time before he finally let out a sigh.

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