114 – Two Pink Balls

“Zhao Sifa, you villain!” Zhao Sifa’s wife glared at him, threw herself at him, and beat him hard. She looked at him with despair while her tears were streaming in grieved and heartbroken, “Do you want to force our daughter and me to death before you are satisfied? Ah?”

“Calm down, sister.” The women at the side hurriedly pulled her as they soothed her.

The faces of Zhou Erhao’s wife and Li Sanlai’s wife were red, wishing they could drill into the ground.

“Li Zheng, there is no such thing at all!” Zhou Erhao quibbled, “The whole village knows that there are dogs in the processing yard. How could we be foolish to run to death by ourselves?”

“No such thing?” Qin Mian calmly retorted, “Were the three of sleepwalking at the same time? Even carried ladders and brought steamed buns? Or, should I ask someone to find out who bought the knock-out drug, where was it bought?”

Zhou Erhao was tongue-tied. He knew it from the bottom of his heart that once everything was cleared out, he would be even more disgrace.

Li Sanlai coldly snorted and held his head high with an attitude of having been discovered. “I was in the processing yard out of curiosity. Couldn’t I be allowed to walk in and have a look?”

Without Qin Mian’s opening his mouth, some villagers disdainfully spoke out, “Going in at night? Li Sanlai, if you want to make excuses, find a decent one!”

Zhao Sifa pushed aside his wife and fiercely said, “You’re lucky that nothing was stolen this time!”

Everyone was in an uproar, looking at him in disbelief.

“Qin Mian and Lei Tie, who told you to look down on people? You hired others to work, but not us. You are heartless, don’t blame us for being mean!” Zhao Sifa yelled in justification and confidence.

Qin Mian laughed instead of being angry, and said in a low voice, “We didn’t hire you because when we hired people to dig the pond, you only dug one time after others dug ten times. I can’t hire a man like you. Uncles, this is not my fabrication, right? There were a lot of people there.”

Some villagers chimed in one after another.

“That’s right, I was there, and Uncle Liu too, right? We all clearly saw it!”

Zhao Sifa shrunk his neck, “People can change! How do you know I haven’t changed since?”

Qin Mian smiled even colder as he looked at Zhao Sifa with a mocking look. “You think I don’t know that it was you who made my ox nearly disappeared last time? I didn’t say it because I was giving you a face, but somebody didn’t appreciate it.”

Zhao Sifa’s face abruptly changed, and his eyes were evasive.

“What!” Other villagers were shocked. About half a month ago, Qin Mian’s ox disappeared, and everyone helped to find it. They all thought that it was the ox that lifted the stake it was tethered to and ran by itself. At that time, they also thought it strange because Qin Mian’s ox was very docile. How could it suddenly run away?

Lei-Qin Li raised his voice to expose Zhao Sifa’s shameful deed, “Li Zheng, everyone. The matter of our ox almost disappeared back then was precisely done by Zhao Sifa. This event was witnessed by Grandpa Seven. Zhao Sifa, the old man is your grandfather. He pleaded for you and begged our eldest and little young masters to give you a chance. Unfortunately, you don’t cherish it.” In the Great Xia Dynasty, stealing and killing oxen were capital crimes¹.

The villagers’ comments became louder as their disdainful eyes swept around Zhao Sifa.

Zhao Sifa’s face darkly sunk. He tightly closed his mouth, not saying a word.

Qin Mian turned to Li Zheng and politely asked, “Li Zheng, how do you think it is appropriate to solve this matter?”

Li Zheng was in a dilemma. They could not be sent to the government. These three men had children; the oldest was less than ten years old and the youngest was over two years old. If they were sent to see the official, their wives and children would lose support. But if they were not punished, how could he (Li Zheng) continue to manage the village in the future? Nothing could be accomplished without rules. Besides, he still owed a big favor to Qin Mian and Lei Tie.

He pondered for a long time before he said, “What do you think of this? Since you found out this matter timely and there was no loss in the processing yard, let the three of them tour the village as an admonishment and forbid them to eat and drink for a whole day.”

Qin Mian had expected that the punishment would not be too heavy, so he could only nod his head.

Lei Tie’s cold eyes passed over the three men before looking around the other villagers. He said with a cold voice, “If there is another time, [they’ll be] send off to the official. If anyone thinks that you can find someone to act against Leisurely Farmhouse next time, try harder.”

Everyone was shocked. This was not only a warning to three men but also a reminder to them.

“Thank you for your trouble, Li Zheng.” Qin Mian cupped his hand in obeisance to Li Zheng and left with Lei Tie.

Li Zheng looked at three men in exasperation. Qin Mian and Lei Tie were not bad-hearted people. If the three truly wanted to get rid of their bad habits, Qin Mian and Lei Tie might not be unwilling to hire them. But it was a pity that these three people were good-for-nothing. Others couldn’t even sympathize with them.

Li Zheng instructed a few strong villagers, “The few of you, escort these three people to tour the village.”

“Yes, Li Zheng.”

Qin Mian told Lei-Qin Zhong and the other two, “I don’t think Zhou Erhao, Li Sanlai, and Zhao Sifa are the kind of people who will change after being taught a lesson. Afterward, be sure to guard against them.”

“Yes, Little Young Master.”

Qin Mian said to Lei Tie with some worry, “Zhou Erhao said that Li Sanlai was hunting for the vermicelli recipe. Do you think it’s true?”

Lei Tie said, “Have someone to watch him.”

Lei-Qin Jian had been watching Li Sanlai for several days and did not see him contact with suspicious people. It was concluded that Zhou Erhao deliberately misled people. To be cautious, Lei Tie arranged for four people to work the night shift in the processing yard.

Zhao Sifa’s wife was an honest woman; the event had nothing to do with her. Qin Mian didn’t fire her but reminded her once in front of all the people in the vermicelli workshop that she was not fired because her child was still young. However, if Zhao Sifa did it again, he couldn’t accommodate her anymore.

This matter was considered over and done with.

……

Throughout the morning, Qin Mian was busy compiling the story of The Butterfly Lovers². The storytelling in the afternoon session, Lin Qiang narrated a heart-rending heroic tale; in the evening session, Ye Fengqiu narrated a sad and sentimental love story. Almost every time, the tea room was full. Even many small teahouses copied these two stories, but their progress could only fall behind Double Xiang House. Due to this, a clamoring funny event occurred.

It was said that a rich gongzi surnamed Zhao believed that he had more knowledge than others. No matter what was new, he had seen and experienced it earlier than most people. Once, he listened to a chapter of The Butterfly Lovers in a teahouse out of town, making him clapped his hands, and then cheerfully took his good friend, Zhang-gongzi, to listen to a new one. In the end, he was laughed at by his good friend. It turned out that the story was passed over from the tea room of Double Xiang House! This Zhao-gongzi was so ashamed. From then on, he practically went to Double Xiang House to listen to the storytelling in the evening. Then, he lived in Rugui Building at night, making an important contribution to Double Xiang House’s income. Due to these genuine people and true events, Double Xiang House became more famous.

Lei Tie came back from the farm, took a bath, and went upstairs with his hair still wet.

“Wife, take a rest.”

“In a moment, only the finale of The Butterfly Lovers is left. I’m going to finish it all at once.” Qin Mian did not lift his head. To avoid suspicion, he used a writing brush instead of a felt-tip pen or ballpoint pen, making it very difficult to write. Naturally, the writing of the characters was not very good. When he encountered the traditional characters he couldn’t write, he still had to ask Lei Tie.

Lei Tie took away the brush in Qin Mian’s hand and took over his work. Qin Mian spoke, he wrote.

“What’s the next story?”

Qin Mian mischievously chuckled, “Fairy Couple³; a fairy travels to the mortal world and falls in love with a mortal man. After the story of The Butterfly Lovers is over, the evening show will be suspended for three days to keep their appetite hanging.”

Lei Tie took a look at him as he wrote very quickly.

Lei-Qin Le called out from downstairs, “Eldest Young Master, Little Young Master. Your servant has come back from delivering fruits.”

Qin Mian was too lazy to go downstairs and went to the balcony, “How is everything in the wine house?”

“All good. Business is very prosperous.” Lei-Qin Le wiped the sweats on his face and looked up, “There is still one thing to report. A new transport line has started in the town, full of luxury carriages, which specially pick up and drop off people from Zhaoyang County and several nearby counties who come to dine in Double Xiang House.”

“Oh? The owner of this transport line is a smart man.” Qin Mian asked, “Do you know who the owner is?”

Lei-Qin Le mysteriously said, “Little Young Master, it’s that boss you and Eldest Young Master are familiar with.”

Qin Mian thought of a man, “Nie Heng?”

“Exactly.” Lei-Qin Le flattered him, “Little Young Master is really amazing, accurately guessed once!”

Qin Mian gave a faint smile.

“That transport line’s business is very good!” Lei-Qin Le regretfully said, “Little Young Master, if we had known that earlier, we should have started our transport line, and he wouldn’t have benefited from us!”

Qin Mian laughed and did not speak. The appearance of the transport business was in his expectation. Apart from Lei Tie, he didn’t tell anyone that the purpose of his wine house was not only for the wine house itself but also to promote the economic development of Running Water Town. Nie Heng’s transport line was only the first one to invest. When more and more businessmen invested, the business of Double Xiang House would be better. Although this was a relatively long-term process, it was not hard for him who had enough chips in his hand. Besides, he could afford to wait. At that time, the existence of Double Xiang House would be more than just a wine house and a guest house.

“Lei-Qin Le, you go there again. With Nie Heng’s shrewdness, he certainly won’t say that his transport line directly sent the customers to Double Xiang House for dining and accommodation. But our Double Xiang House must show our attitude. You tell Manager Sun to make it clear to him that in case of accidents happen to the customers coming to Double Xiang House while in their carriages, it has nothing to do with Double Xiang House. Also, ask Manager Sun to find a way to buy a shop in the town as soon as possible. It can’t be too small and doesn’t have to be too big, but good enough if it is twice as big as Eating Savory Restaurant. The location should not be too far apart.”

“Yes!”

Lei-Qin Le turned around and ran.

“Hold on!” Qin Mian amusingly said, “You don’t have to be in such a hurry. Pick a few yellow peaches to eat on the road.”

“Thank you, Little Young Master!” The masters treated them so well that when doing tasks for the masters, Lei-Qin Le was very energetic.

Lei-Qin Le came back in the afternoon and said that everything was going well. Manager Sun asked him to pass on Nie Heng’s words. Nie Heng wanted to meet Qin Mian to make clear about the matter of the transport line sending the customers of Double Xiang House directly.

Tomorrow, Qin Mian planned to take a trip to the town and deliver the manuscripts by the way.

After dinner, the couple entered the space and watered the pink ball as usual. Recently, without knowing why, White Spot was very concerned about the pink ball, so Qin Mian brought it in together.

Qin Mian slowly watered the pink ball. He touched the pink ball, squinted, and beckoned Lei Tie. “A-Tie, was there a ‘line’ like this on the ball when we came in yesterday?”

There was a shallow groove slightly sunken on the ball, looking as if the pink ball was gradually splitting into two.

Lei Tie scrutinized it, and shook his head, “No.”

To confirm their conjecture, they decided to pay close attention to the pink ball’s changes in the next few days.

The next day, Qin Mian came to the town and met Nie Heng in Double Xiang House.

Nie Heng’s meaning was that he hoped his transport line could be linked to Double Xiang House. In this way, the customers from other places who came to Double Xiang House to dine would return with words of wonder, riding in his carriage. Of course, this was also good for Double Xiang House. Many customers from out of town were very interested in coming to eat at Double Xiang House, but they were too far away to drive or hire a carriage by themselves. Now, there was a ready-made carriage to pick up or send them off directly to their destination, saving them a lot of trouble. Besides, ‘’exclusive transport’’ sounded very high-class.

Because Bon Voyage Transport Line was dispensable to Double Xiang House, but Double Xiang House was of great significance to Bon Voyage Transport Line, Nie Heng’s reason for starting this transport line clashed with the source of Double Xiang House’s customers. After a heated debate, Qin Mian and Nie Heng reached an agreement that 10% of the monthly income of Nie Heng’s Bon Voyage Transport Line was owned by Double Xiang House.

After this incident, Qin Mian and Nie Heng understood and admired each other’s business skills even more, so they became friends.

Qin Mian and Lei Tie paid close attention to the changes of the pink ball day by day. In the early of the ninth month, it changed into two identical pink balls, like a mirror image of each other.

Qin Mian was looking forward to the day when the pink balls were in full bloom. Even Lei Tie was a bit enthusiastic about the pink balls; he would go in and have a look when he had time.

😉

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