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  • The Landowner And His Wife

    Chapter 150: Fast Thinking

    Disclaimer: 

    1. This is an unofficial translation and no permission has been obtained from the author/ official publisher. It may be taken down if the author/official publisher requests. 

    2. This is a fan work and the interpretation represents only the translator’s personal views without any input from the author. 

    3. No permission has been granted to use, publish, upload and/or copy this translation to any other site except for Second Life Translations.


    Liu Xu’er was standing quietly at the side, thinking frantically. Who was this Boss Wei? He wanted the pond to rear fish? But all the big households would usually have their own ponds in their house. There was no need to run all the way here to snatch this little pond. There should be someplace else to rear fish, surely?

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    The instant she thought of this, her thoughts went to the restaurant business. These past few days, Shi Cheng had been run off his feet. Wasn’t it all because of fish?

    Recently, a new restaurant had opened in Feng town, specialising in only fish. They used all kinds of fish as ingredients, and had two main chefs, one from Sichuan, the other from the far south. They were both experts at preparing fish. With fish alone, they were able to come up with over 10 dishes, and had already snatched away more than half the business from other restaurants!

    People in Feng town didn’t really have a taste for fish. There wasn’t much water around, and there were few fish varieties. There also weren’t many ways to prepare fish. In addition, they found eating fish rather troublesome, so although there were fish dishes in restaurants before, they were never the main draw. 

    The following parts of the text will be scrambled to prevent theft from aggregators and unauthorized epub making. Please support our translators by reading on secondlifetranslations (dot) com. If you are currently on the site and and you are seeing this, please clear your cache.

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    Tl ytykd zssjle bla shla. Ju dso, bl oyp nsxrzlvlzu wdlypu. Tl oyp, yqvla yzz, fwpv y xydytla. Tl nswze lypkzu vlaasakpl vblpl pkxrzl hkzzytlap, yde obld vbl Akzzytl Tlye nyzzle bkx Jspp Elk, bl oyp byrru vs ynjdsozletl kv. Jwv pllkdt psxlsdl alnstdkpl bkx, yde lhld xsal, alnstdkpl Fbk Ubldt, bl oyp kxxlekyvlzu osaakle. Tl nswtble yde pyke, “R jdso Fbk Ubldt, obs yal usw?”

    Although Liu Shu had never heard that Juxianlou’s manager was surnamed Wei, now that he heard Liu Xu’er speak, he also understood. So he said, “Shi Cheng is my future meifu1妹夫/ Meifu – Younger sister’s husband. We often go to their family’s Yuelou.” He said all that to confirm that they did indeed know Shi Cheng and their family’s restaurant. They weren’t just bluffing. 

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    Now, Manager Wei started to hesitate. If they didn’t know exactly who he was, he could still pretend. But they did indeed know everything….

    Sure enough, now that Liu Xu’er and Liu Shu knew that he was only a manager, their faces carried cold smiles. He was a mere manager, and Juxianlou’s business wasn’t even on the same level as Shi Cheng’s. Shi Cheng himself wouldn’t dare to just hobnob with officials. Yet he dared to speak so boldly, as though the government office was his own home!

    The Village Head could also tell that something was up. A myriad of expressions flashed across his face. He glanced at Liu Xu’er, then looked over at Liu Shu. Seeing Liu Shu’s body covered with mud, his face flashed red, and white. He hated that he couldn’t go over to help him wipe off the mud. 

    Liu Xu’er then said to Manager Wei, “Manager Wei wants to rear fish? Shiyusi’s business is doing well, so everyone wants to do something with fish now…. Hey, why is Shi Cheng so dumb – he hasn’t thought of finding a place to rear fish? He’s going around looking to buy. He really can’t compare with Manager Wei!”

    Manager Wei’s face turned red, then purple. This was an idea that he had come up with himself. He had even gone to his boss to share and his boss had praised him for being quick witted. He had agreed that if the fish pond was successful, he would give him a reward! This was a business secret, but now….

    He really didn’t dare to offend the two in front of him any longer. He was only a manager, while they were going to be linked to the Shi Family in marriage. Although both restaurants were fierce competitors, that was really only on the boss’s level. Managers like them would generally not burn bridges between each other. It was important to always leave a way out in business. Today, they were the manager of this particular store, but tomorrow, who knew if they would hop over to a rival company…. They were all experienced managers, no one would offend others lightly. Wasn’t that just destroying their own backup plan?

    Everyone around them was silent. They stood around looking. By now, Shao Huai had somewhat recovered. He stood up straight and looked at Liu Shu. His mouth moved, and he looked like he wanted to say something, but didn’t dare in front of so many spectators. 

    Liu Shu was well aware that although Manager Wei wasn’t anyone important, it was best not to push him too far. Although they didn’t know what kind of issue the Village Head had with the Shao family, now that they had Manager Wei’s number, he couldn’t escape.  So he considered it for a moment before saying, “Manager Wei, it’s alright for you to use this pond, but you really shouldn’t have destroyed their flowers.”

    Manager Wei had also thought it through for himself – he would push the blame entirely onto the Village Head! So he bowed toward Liu Shu, his face wreathed in smiles and said, “It turns out that you are a Young Master. I’ve been rude…. But you really can’t blame me for this matter – how could I know that the Village Head hadn’t made matters clear to them? As to destroying the flowers…. I thought they didn’t want them anymore!”

    Liu Shu was unimpressed – who would believe that? Villagers would never waste their goods. Who would just give up a pond of perfectly good flowers? But he still turned to look at the Village Head. Hearing the blame shift entirely to him, the Village Head panicked. But he couldn’t afford to offend Boss Wei, nor could he afford to offend this Young Master Liu! Look at how deferentially Boss Wei was behaving toward him after finding out his background! The Village Head started to smile, tiny eyes blinking furiously. He didn’t know what to say. 

    Liu Shu turned and asked Shao Huai, “Shao Huai, how much money were these flowers worth?”

    Shao Huai started to mentally calculate. He said, “Let’s not talk about the selling price. I put in three taels of silver to grow these….”

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    The Village Head nearly leapt out of his skin. He wanted to rage, but didn’t dare to. In a small voice, he said, “You just threw in some seeds! How can it be worth that much? There’s no need to spend any money on fertilisers even!”

    Shao Huai then said, “But it cost money to buy seeds, and it doesn’t cost nothing to maintain the area. Every year, I make about four taels of silver when I sell these. Everything I mention now, is just my basic costs.” He was someone who did business – everything he said, cut directly to the heart of the matter. 

    The Village Head didn’t know what to say. He stammered and looked over at Boss Wei. Boss Wei ignored his pleading looks. There was no way he would cough up these three taels of silver!

    The villagers circled around them to watch the excitement. They saw that things seemed to have taken a drastic turn – the ones being bullied seemed to have turned around after the young girl spoke up. They were all curious to see what would happen next. 

    Boss Wei paused for a moment. He wanted to quickly extricate himself. As the old saying went, there was no wall that could block the wind 2 It’s a saying that means that there is no way to keep a secret forever . He was right now in that kind of pickle. If his boss were to find out about this, he would definitely be found incapable. He was a manager! Being watched by everyone, having fallen into the pond – if this got out, he would be in trouble!

    So he told the Village Head, “This issue was caused entirely by you! You said that this pond didn’t belong to anyone in the village, and what you said stands! I don’t care, don’t you forget….” He didn’t finish, just hmphed a few times. As he harrumphed, the Village Head’s face changed colours and sweat poured off him. Manager Wei finally said, “You should quickly resolve this issue! Tomorrow, I will get workers here to tidy up the pond!”

    When he finished, he swept off. Mud dripped off him as he walked, taking away his people. 

    The Village Head was completely stunned by this turn of events. He called out dazedly, “Boss Wei….” Then he tried to follow him. More and more villagers came by to watch. They asked, what was going on?

    Liu Xu’er and Liu Shu both understood. It was clear that Boss Wei had given the Village Head some benefits, but this pond wasn’t actually the Village Head’s. It was just in the vicinity of the village, so the Village Head had used it to make some money for himself. The rent that Boss Wei had given, as well as any bribes, had all gone straight to the Village Head’s pocket. 

    Liu Shu turned and asked Shao Huai softly, “How long have you used this pond?”

    “Three years. A few years ago, the villagers were looking for soil, and dug a hole here. When it rained, it started to collect water, and I saw it. So I went to look for the Village Head and said that I wanted to use this pond to plant flowers. The Village Head wholeheartedly agreed at the time – he even said that I could use it however I wanted. After all, this entire area was uncultivated land that didn’t belong to anyone…. At the beginning of the year, something happened, and I quarreled with the Village Head. At the time, I felt that things weren’t good, but I had already planted everything. I was planning to sell this last lot, and stop growing things here….”

    Liu Shu nodded, it wasn’t good to ask too much detail about why he quarreled with the Head. He turned and looked at Liu Xu’er and saw that her face was all white. A pair of large eyes rolled around, considering. So he asked, “Are you alright?”

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    Liu Xu’er shook her head, “I’m fine. Shall we head back? After all, the Village Head isn’t going anywhere.” She too had understood. Since Manager Wei had insisted that it was the Village Head’s responsibility, Shao Huai wouldn’t be able to get Manager Wei to compensate him. Furthermore, this really was the Head’s issue. 

    Liu Shu nodded his head. He turned and looked at Shao Rong. She was similarly pale – it was clear that she had been badly shocked. Even her eyes were red. He then said to Shao Rong, “We will head back first.” Then he turned to Shao Huai, “We will talk when we get back. Xu’er is right – your Village Head can’t go anywhere.”

    Shao Huai nodded. He turned and looked around, before bowing to everyone. “Thank you all, for coming by. My sincerest thanks!”

    Seeing that Shao Huai was standing with some important people, the villagers politely accepted his thanks. They all said, “It’s fine, it’s fine! We’re all from the same village, there’s no need to be so formal!”

    Only those who actually moved to help him didn’t say anything. They just stood to the side watching and waiting. Liu Shu brought the donkey cart over, and everyone headed over to Shao Huai’s home. Before she left, Shao Rong wanted to try and pick up a few flowers that still had their roots. She would try and plant them elsewhere. But Liu Shu suddenly thought of something and hurried to stop her. “Leave them here for now. Don’t try to tidy up.”

    Although Shao Rong didn’t understand, she still nodded and followed him back.


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    pawdles [Translator]

    A rabbit who loves singing, sleeping and reading Chinese novels (not necessarily in that order)
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