Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty-Chapter 42 - 41 Price Reduction

Chapter 42: Chapter 41 Price Reduction

Chapter 42 -41 Price Reduction

One late afternoon, after Chen Afu finished her chores, she led Dabao to the carpenter’s house. She didn’t want to bring the old cabinets and tables to her new home and decided to buy some new furniture.

As they walked through the village, they attracted a lot of attention.

A few middle-aged women made snide comments, but due to Chen Afu’s formidable character, they dared not confront her and could only gossip in hushed whispers, “She’s just like us, a country peasant, but she insists on flaunting city manners.”

Chen Afu didn’t hear this, otherwise she would have protested. She was actually trying to fit in with the villagers of Xiangluo. Her clothes had a patched shoulder, her dark green skirt was washed out, and she carried a bamboo hat. She even lowered her head slightly as she walked.

The carpenter was the finest craftsman in the area, to the point that even families from neighbouring towns came to purchase furniture from him. His family was second only to Junior Officer Gao’s in terms of wealth in Xiangluo Village.

The carpenter’s house consisted of two courtyards. The first courtyard served as a workshop, with furniture and containers displayed front and center. The carpenter, who was in his forties, was bustling about with his two sons. His eldest son was Wu Changgen, Shitou’s father, and the younger son was Wu Changsheng, Chen Aju’s crush.

Wu Changsheng was seventeen, a bit on the darker side, but tall and handsome with good facial features. Moreover, he was skilled at his craft, which had won the hearts of many young girls. However, due to his high standards, he was determined to marry a particularly attractive girl. As a result, he still hadn’t found a wife at his age, much to the distress of his parents.

As soon as they entered the courtyard, Dabao loudly greeted, “Grandpa Wu, Uncle Wu, Uncle Wu Junior, our new house is ready, and we want to buy some nice furniture.”

The Wu family, very familiar with Dabao and fond of him, greeted him with smiles. The carpenter even said, “Whatever pieces Dabao likes, I’ll give you a discount.”

Dabao laughed and replied, “That’s sweet of you, thank you Grandpa Wu. I appreciate your kindness.”

This made the carpenter laugh uproariously, as he pat Dabao’s head and said, “Good boy, since you’ve been hanging around with Shitou, you’ve learned to be much sweeter.”

Wu Changsheng greeted Chen Afu with a smile, “Sister Afu, take a look and see what you like.”

Despite his dark complexion, his teeth appeared all the whiter for it. His single-eyelid eyes curved into crescents when he smiled. Although there were wood chips on his body, his clothes were still quite clean.

This man was probably the cleanest little peasant that Chen Afu had encountered since her arrival in the ancient era. Moreover, his demeanor was open and his behavior, generous.

Chen Afu’s impression of him couldn’t help but improve. Removing her cap, she listed the items she needed: bed cabinets, tables, a trunk, a dish cabinet, along with six high stools, two small stools, a large wooden basin, three small wooden basins, and two buckets.

Even though she didn’t plan to live in the small grass house for long, she still intended to stay for at least a year. Therefore, she needed all essentials, without any excess.

Wu Changsheng enthusiastically led her around, showing her the different grades of their furniture. Some were made of fine wood, polished smooth and decorated with carvings and lacquer work. Others were pieced together from scraps and hadn’t even been painted. The former was beyond her budget, and she had no interest in the latter. Instead, she settled for the medium to low-grade range. The wood quality wasn’t great, but the pieces had been painted, albeit without carvings. All items were ready except for the dish cabinet and the bed cabinet, which they agreed to deliver to her home once finished.

All these items added up to about 1,620 cents. Wu Changsheng, showing his bright white teeth with a smile, offered her a discount. “Dabao and Shitou get along well, and you’re buying quite a few items, so we can round it off to 1,500 cents.”

Dabao hastily thanked him.

The carpenter had initially intended to give them a small discount of twenty cents due to their acquaintance. However, seeing his son reduce the price by so much, he was displeased yet remained silent.

Wu Changgen didn’t expect his younger brother to bypass their father and set the price, much less a significant reduction. He spared him a glance but said nothing.

Feeling embarrassed, Chen Afu said, “How can I allow you to reduce the price by so much? Whatever the price should be, it should be.”

Wu Changsheng quickly replied, “We didn’t reduce it by a lot. Other customers who buy a lot receive the same discount.”

After thanking Wu Changsheng, Chen Afu paid a deposit of 300 cents. Dabao wanted to stay in the Wu residence to play, but Chen Afu didn’t agree. She wanted to visit Guqiao village to see if there was any meat left for sale. Upon hearing about the meat, Dabao immediately followed his mother.

Chen Afu planned to visit the county town’s restaurant the next day to see if she could sell her Luwei (savory meat stew) recipe. She had only 30 taels of silver and a few hundred cents left and didn’t want to use a large silver ingot to pay for the furniture and ask the Wu family for change.

She didn’t want to make a living by selling Luwei either. Running a small food stall was too tiring, and there was no one free to help at home. If the Luwei in the county town tasted like red-braised pork, she might as well sell her recipe and make whatever money she could from it.

Guqiao Village was to the west of Xiangluo Village, and it took less than 15 minutes to walk there. On the meat stall, there was only a pig’s large intestine, a small strip of lean meat, and two pig bones left. The ancients didn’t like lean meat, but lean meat could be quite savory when stewed.

Chen Afu bought all the pork intestines and lean meat, which cost her 36 cents.

Seeing so much meat, Dabao asked, “Mom, are we having guests?”

Chen Afu laughed and said, “We can’t eat meat without guests?”

Dabao said, “No, I was thinking that we could wait until grandma and uncle get back to buy so much delicious food.”

Chen Afu squeezed his little hand and said, “You are a good boy. The reason I bought so much meat is that I have a purpose for it.”

They had just returned home when they saw Jin Yanzi leading Qi Qi and Hui Hui over. They were indeed “cackling” in the courtyard, with Chen Ming weaving bamboo mats and watching them with a smile.

Jin Yanzi hung on Chen Afu and chirped, “Our new house is ready, and tonight I’ll take them to sleep in the new house. It will no longer disturb Grandpa.”

Chen Afu laughed and said, “Welcome.”

Qi Qi and Hui Hui called out to her happily, “Mom, mom.” If you were not looking, you would think it was Dabao calling.

Then they turned to Dabao and began to call, “Dabao, Dabao.” The sound was like Chen Alu.

Seeing Chen Afu holding so much meat in her hand, Chen Ming disapprovingly said, “There are only three of us, why buy so much meat? Money should be spent slowly.”

Chen Afu laughed and said, “I’m going to stew these and take them to the county town tomorrow to see if I can sell the Luwei recipe.”

When she took the large intestine to wash, she let Dabao take the three pets to play in the New Courtyard. She noticed that people passing by her house would peek inside, as if they had some bad intentions. As long as Hui Hui didn’t speak, nobody would be interested in it. The main issue was that Qi Qi was too cute. The wall of the New Courtyard was high, so no one could see in.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.

Jin Yanzi chirped, “Mummy is too careful. As soon as those people have any bad idea, they will fly into the sky. Besides, they are the smartest birds in the forest. Even if they are caught, they can find their way home.”

Chen Afu softly said, “What if they are locked up?”

Jin Yanzi said, “I will find a way to bring them back.”

Upon hearing this, Chen Afu stopped worrying about them.

……

Thanks to skyblue08 for the sachet, thanks to Xiaohuan’er and Hera@Qianlin for the wallet.