Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty-Chapter 46 - 45 Ghostly Idea

Chapter 46: Chapter 45: Ghostly Idea

Chapter 46 -45: Ghostly Idea

In the middle of the night, Chen Afu was dreaming when she was awakened by Jin Yanzi scratching at her with the tip of her wing. The bright moonlight shone through the little window, making Jin Yanzi’s tiny, green, pea-sized eyes glow mischievously.

In surprise and joy Chen Afu exclaimed, “You’re back? And where is Qi Qi?”

Jin Yanzi chirped softly, “Qi Qi is already back in the room. I came to give Mommy Fu a big gift.”

Afu was taken aback, “What big gift are you giving me?”

Jin Yanzi chirped, “While I was robbing that nasty man’s house who had been visited by the gold thief, naturally, I had to seize the gold. This is an unexpected windfall, and I wanted to honor my mommy with it.”

As she finished speaking, she flicked her wing, and out tumbled two large gold ingots. Before Chen Afu could even speak, Jin Yanzi flew off to rest in the New Courtyard.

Chen Afu weighed the gold ingots; they were twenty taels each, a total of forty taels of gold, which equated to four hundred taels of silver.

Upon thinking about the wicked man, and how Jin Yanzi was punishing the evil and aiding the poor, Chen Afu felt no guilt in accepting these two gold ingots. She chuckled softly and placed the gold into her space pocket; it brought her such joy that it kept her awake for quite some time.

Seeing Dabao’s furrowed brows and his pouting lips, she knew he must be dreaming about Qi Qi. Her heart melted, and she reached out to gently pinch his little face.

The next morning, as soon as Chen Dabao opened his eyes, he truly heard the calling of Jin Bao, Qi Qi, and Hui Hui.

He rolled out of bed, didn’t even bother to dress, and ran straight to the New Courtyard. There, in the morning light, Qi Qi’s feathers glistened even brighter. Dabao ran over and held him in his arms, giggling until Qi Qi squawked at the tight hold. He tried to catch Jin Yanzi next, but she dodged him. She certainly didn’t want to endure his rough play.

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All this made Chen Ming call out in wonder.

It secretly delighted Chen Afu who thought, “There’s something even more incredible you’re unaware of.”

At a quiet moment, she quietly asked Jin Yanzi, “If that man realizes that Qi Qi has run away and that he’s lost his fortune, would he manage to trace it back to our house?”

Jin Yanzi responded, “Who said the loss of his fortune is related to Qi Qi running away?” She added, “As long as Chen Dabao doesn’t stupidly parade Qi Qi around the county town, they’ll never find out.”

Upon hearing this, Chen Afu heaved a sigh of relief.

Jin Yanzi then asked, “Mommy, do you want to make money?”

Chen Afu felt a surge of excitement. Was this little creature finally thinking about helping her make money? She quickly cradled Jin Yanzi in the palm of her hand and happily responded, “Of course I do.”

Jin Yanzi extended her neck and chirped, “Well then, we’ll take Qi Qi to the provincial city or Capital City, which are far away. You sell Qi Qi at a high price, then quickly rush back home. Two days later, I’ll bring Qi Qi back home. Qi Qi is good-looking and can talk, and is sure to fetch a good price.” Then she looked as if she expected praise for her cleverness.

Chen Afu was disappointed, what kind of ridiculous idea was this? This was a crime!

She hastily shook her head, “A gentleman loves wealth but acquires it in the proper way. We can’t make money like this.”

Jin Yanzi glanced at her, and muttered, “Afu is still so hypocritical. Isn’t there a saying? It doesn’t matter if the cat is black or white, as long as it catches the mouse, it’s a good cat.”

Chen Afu responded, “You’ve misunderstood the meaning of that saying. You can’t take it out of context.”

Jin Yanzi was unhappy and chirped angrily, “Don’t complain in the future that I didn’t help you make money. There was once a road to wealth right in front of you, and you didn’t cherish it.” Then she flew away with a flap of her wings.

Chen Afu’s plan to get rich quick was once again put on hold.

However, with the addition of over fifty taels of silver plus several hundred hidden taels of silver, her assets were already ample. Being a true foodie, Chen Afu was unwilling to skimp on her food. Even if she couldn’t have meat every day, she made variations of fried eggs, steamed eggs, marinated tofu, scallion oil pancakes, sugar cookies, and when she was steaming corn bread, she would also add brown sugar and jujubes.

Actually, she wished that she could eat meat every day but didn’t dare to buy it daily for fear of inviting gossip. She thought that it would be good to buy more during winter.

While she enjoyed making food, Chen Ming and Chen Dabao found it both a pleasure and a pain: on one hand, they enjoyed the food, but on the other, they were worried about spending too much money.

Chen Afu would then reassure them, “You don’t need to worry, I’ll figure out more ways to make money in the future. Our family can surely become even more prosperous than Junior Officer Gao.”

During this time, aside from the occasional encounters and eager aid offered by a few men when she went out to fetch water, water the veggies, or buy things, Chen Afu’s life was rather leisurely.

As a modern woman, and particularly as a modern beauty, getting attention from men was par for the course. The problem was the men showing interest in her were far from desirable.

One of them wasn’t as tall as her and even had a slight limp. Another was a bit too old, similar in age to Chen Ming, and had several moles on his face. There was also one with very little hair, making his head resemble a “central circle surrounded by land” with only a small tuft of hair left on top, which looked like a little horn.

The key issue was that these gentlemen had particularly poor personal hygiene—their teeth were yellow, their clothes dirty, and they even had bad body odor.

This left Chen Afu rather dejected. Was it inevitable that a woman, who had established a female household, had a child to care for, and was once considered a foolish woman, was destined to attract only such men?

Receiving attention from them was worse than receiving no attention at all!

If this is how things were going to be, she would rather live alone with Dabao. Perhaps, she would have to remain single for the rest of her life.

When she had time, Chen Afu started making quilts and a few chicken toys. These things were easy to make. Clothes and pants were more complex, as she pretended not to know how to make them, and waited for Mrs. Wang to come back and “teach” her.

As for Chen Dabao, he was living happily. Every day, he studied at home for two hours in the morning, then would go out to play with Hui Hui and Qi Qi. In the morning, he would take them to the village’s eastern outskirts to play where they could spread their wings and fly, with Dabao happily chasing them around.

In the afternoon, they would go to the western side of the village where there was plenty of firewood, and they would gather some as they had already used up the straw at home.

Sometimes, Shitou and Si Xizi would also join them to play.

Especially Shitou, who would come over to Chen’s house almost every day. He greatly enjoyed the steamed bread and the scallion pancakes made by Chen Afu, claiming they were much better than what his family made. Shitou occasionally would also gift Dabao some wooden toys—small wooden knives, horses, and ducks that had been polished and lacquered.

Shitou said that the toys were made by his uncle Wu Changsheng. This made Dabao’s fondness for Wu Changsheng skyrocket for the second time; the first time being when he found out that Wu Changsheng didn’t fancy Chen Aju.

Jin Yanzi rarely stayed at home, spending most of the time playing in the forest. Qi Qi and Hui Hui didn’t want to accompany her, as they had already considered Chen’s house their home. They preferred to play with Dabao, eat Chen family meals, and especially loved the distinctive scent of Mommy Fu.

The village’s western region had dense trees, and there were indeed people who had ill intentions toward Qi Qi and Hui Hui. Qi Qi and Hui Hui were the smartest of birds; sensing danger, they flew into the sky.

The man was frustrated and kicked Dabao a few times, even pushing him to the ground.

Both Qi Qi and Hui Hui quickly swooped down, pecking at the man a few times before soaring back into the sky while the man dared not torment them again.