The Stepmother’s Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era
Chapter 223 - 222: The Apple Incident

Chapter 223: Chapter 222: The Apple Incident

What you fear is what comes!

At the villagers’ words, Shen Mingzhu’s eyelid gave a jump.

But Pei Yang reacted even quicker, pulling out a cigarette and passing one to the person, laughing as he struck up a conversation, "Uncle, are you from the same village as Guo Family’s elder not?"

The man accepted the cigarette, cherishingly placing it under his nose.

Rural folks like them usually smoked tobacco leaves they grew themselves; this kind of city cigarette was rarely enjoyed even once a year.

While sniffing the cigarette, the man responded to Pei Yang, "Yes, I’m also from Red Star Village. My family’s apples are not inferior to those of Guo Family’s elder. Don’t believe me? You can come and see now?"

"No rush."

Pei Yang lit the man’s cigarette with his lighter and immediately asked what price the dealer up front was paying.

The man puffed on his cigarette and curled his lip, "That boss is only willing to pay five cents."

Upon hearing this, Pei Yang laughed, "To be honest, we’re also paying five cents."

"What? You guys are also paying five cents? Didn’t Guo Family’s elder say this morning that you pay eight cents?"

"Guo Family’s elder made a mistake. Last night when I bought his apples, we agreed on five cents."

The man glanced at Pei Yang, then at Guo Family’s elder, "Not eight cents?"

Guo Family’s elder nodded honestly, "Not eight cents, I’m getting old, hard of hearing. I misunderstood."

"If it’s five cents, then I won’t sell."

With that, he turned around and left.

Once the man was far away, Guo Family’s elder eagerly asked Pei Yang, "Young man, about those apples..."

"We’ll go by last night’s price. But externally, you’ll say it’s five cents."

"Ah, okay!" Guo Family’s elder was overjoyed.

Seeing that the fruit seller’s truck wouldn’t be leaving for a while, Pei Yang had Old Zhu lock the car door, then went with Guo Family’s elder to take a look at the apples and stumbled on lunchtime as well.

Guo Family’s elder’s home was at the entrance to the village, with mud walls just like Shen Mingzhu’s parents’ house, but somewhat more dilapidated, its roof thatched.

These days, slightly better-off rural families would use kapok tiles or grey tiles for roofing.

Those still using thatch for roofs were exceptionally struggling households.

The Guo Family was not short on members, with two sons, plus daughters-in-law and grandchildren, altogether around ten people.

Adding the four people with Pei Yang, one table did not suffice for all.

The two daughters-in-law could only take the children to eat in the kitchen.

The Guo Family’s children, even the youngest of whom was of elementary school age, no wonder Guo Family’s elder did not shy away from the hard work of earning money in the city.

The staple was steamed yellow flour buns, and the dish was a big bowl of pork stewed with vermicelli.

The vermicelli and sour vegetables were abundant, with just a few slices of pork in total, but considering the Guo Family’s financial situation, having these slices on the table was already quite rare.

Shen Mingzhu wasn’t very hungry and had only half a bun with some sour vegetables before she laid down her chopsticks.

After the meal, the women of the Guo Family cleared the dishes while Guo Family’s elder and his sons took Shen Mingzhu and the others down to the cellar to look at the apples.

The cellar was built about two meters underground and covered an area of about ten square meters, neatly arranged with twenty or thirty baskets of apples.

There were about twenty baskets of luscious red apples while the rest were assorted sizes or had blemished peels, the lesser quality ones.

After inspecting the good apples, Shen Mingzhu casually picked a few lesser ones and squeezed them in her hand.

Thinking she wanted to eat them, Guo Family’s elder immediately offered to give her a basket.

He was set on giving them away, but then added a comment, "After all, they’re just for feeding to the animals."

Shen Mingzhu: "..."

Thank you very much.

...

Returning to the Guo Family, Shen Mingzhu had Pei Yang wash some of the inferior fruits and cut them into small pieces to taste.

Aside from a few with smaller sizes, the taste of the majority of the inferior fruits was no different from the good ones, with some even having a higher sugar content.

"Are these inferior fruits for sale?"

Old Man Guo was taken aback by the question, but it was his eldest son who quickly responded, "Yes, boss, you make an offer, and if the money’s right, we’ll sell."

Shen Mingzhu was not familiar with the market prices and hesitated before saying, "You name your price. If it’s right, I’ll take them all."

Old Man Guo took his two sons to the corner and whispered for a while before giving Shen Mingzhu a number.

"Two cents."

Shen Mingzhu internally agreed without hesitation, but outwardly, she mimicked Old Man Guo by pulling Pei Yang aside and whispering for a while before agreeing.

"Okay, two cents — I’ll take them all."

A thousand pounds of inferior fruit was only 20 yuan, but for Old Man Guo’s family, it was an unexpected fortune, enough to pay for his youngest grandchild’s school fees for the next year.

Old Man Guo was overjoyed and immediately sent his wife to borrow some tea leaves to make tea for Shen Mingzhu and her group.

Old Lady Guo went to borrow tea leaves from the villager who had chatted with Pei Yang earlier, named Li Tiedan.

When Li Tiedan learned that Old Lady Guo was borrowing tea leaves for Pei Yang and others, he couldn’t help but sneer, "You’re making tea for those deceitful bosses? What a waste of my tea leaves!"

Old Lady Guo, feeling grateful to Shen Mingzhu, couldn’t help but defend them, "Nonsense, they’re paying eight cents for our apples and even taking the inferior ones. How is that deceitful?"

Li Tiedan scoffed, "Old Lady Guo, you must be dreaming. I asked them when they first arrived, and they said they were paying five cents. Your old man must have heard wrong."

Hearing this, Old Lady Guo turned around without borrowing the tea leaves and ran back home.

...

Shen Mingzhu hadn’t eaten much at lunch and found herself unable to stop eating the juicy, sweet and tart apples.

Pei Yang, seeing her enjoy the apples, also took a piece to eat.

He Tao and Shen Chaobei were standing with Old Man Guo and the two Guo brothers, engaging in idle chatter.

Old Lady Guo rushed through the door, stopped in her tracks, and after a glance over Shen Mingzhu and the others, walked up to Old Man Guo with a stern face.

"Old man, tell me, how much did we really sell our apples for?"

Old Man Guo replied, "Eight cents."

Old Lady Guo was puzzled, "Then why did Tiedan say it was five cents?"

"Oh, I was just bluffing him..."

Before he could finish, Li Tiedan’s booming voice came from the doorway—

"Old Man Guo, that’s not very honest of you. Whenever you come to borrow things or money from me, have I ever refused? And when you benefit, you hide it and don’t share, is that right?"

Watching an indignant Li Tiedan, Old Man Guo’s face turned beet red.

"Tiedan, calm down, I was wrong. Let me apologize. Is that enough for you?"

Li Tiedan’s anger was not something that Old Man Guo could simply smooth over with a few words, "Humph, don’t bother. From now on, if your family has any troubles, don’t come to me!"

Having said his piece, he left in a huff.

By this time, Old Lady Guo had also realized what she had done, regretting causing trouble and couldn’t help but chastise her husband, "What were you thinking, deceiving him? What couldn’t you say out loud?"

The eldest Guo son was sensible and stepped forward to soothe, "The dealers outside pay five cents, we get eight cents. If the villagers find out, they’ll all come running. What’s that going to do to the bosses?"

Old Lady Guo glanced at Shen Mingzhu and her husband and fell silent.

Concerned about potential complications, Pei Yang immediately decided to get the transaction done swiftly, urging the Guo family to move the apples to the truck parked outside the village gate to be weighed and loaded.

...

Lead by Old Man Guo, just as everyone was stepping out of the threshold of the Guo’s house to move apples from the cellar, Li Tiedan arrived, leading a group of villagers towards them.

Pei Yang pushed Shen Mingzhu back into the Guo’s house without hesitation and quickly shut the door behind them.

Shen Mingzhu, still in shock, watched the closed wooden door when a stranger’s questioning voice came through from outside, "Old Man Guo, I heard your boss is paying eight cents for apples; is that true?"

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