The Lady’s Sickly Husband

Translator: Antonia

Before Mo Qianxue opened her mouth, sister had already pulled her into the room, shooting out all her worries like a machine gun.

“Mrs. Ning, we haven’t seen people coming to trade tofu with beans for many days.”

“Liu Laoshan haven’t been able to collect beans for many days.”

“Without beans, how can we continue our tofu business?”

“I heard that the price of beans is soaring like crazy. Should we increase the price of tofu too?”

“…”

The continuous shooting almost gave Mo Qianxue a headache, “Stop! One thing at a time.”

Sister Fang looked very anxious and her heart plummeted at the sight of Mo Qianxue’s frowning eyebrows.

Since she was promoted as the manager, the folks in the village began to think highly of her and tried to curdle up with her in the hope of being hired next time the workshop needed workers.

Her in-laws, who hadn’t contacted her ever since they lived in separate houses, now came to visit her every a few days.

Certainly, she knew the reason of all this, so she valued the workshop better than anything else. Therefore, how could she not be anxious about the bean situation?

However, now Mo Qianxue was no longer a lone homeless woman but an owner and her boss.

For sister Fang, Mo Qianxue might still be a younger sister, but also her boss. Clear of her position, sister Fang, though worried, showed due respect and slowed down her speech and lowered her tone.

Listening her words, Mo Qianxue remained silent for a moment, looking a little sullen, “How many beans do we have in stock?”

“About two to three thousand kilograms.”

“We use several hundred kilograms every day, so we can do for a dozen of days.”

“Should we stop making tofu or reduce the amount?”

Mo Qianxue looked up and stopped her, “No, we don’t have to. Do what you do as usual.”

She must think about it. Beans were supposed to be cheap goods. There must be a reason why the price soared so quickly. A few days ago, she had heard the news but believed it was a rumor, never expecting it was real.

If the price of beans couldn’t drop back, she needed to talk with Su Qi.

Mo Qianxue comforted sister Fang and told her to spread the news of recruiting students. Though she didn’t understand, she readily nodded and promised to find a few children as soon as possible.

Taking the order, sister Fang set off like a gust of wind. She was such a person who immediately did what needed to be done without undue hesitation.

She left while Mo Qianxue began to worry.

Now they had no beans to make tofu, then where should she get the beans for her future soy sauce factory? Hundreds of cents per kilogram. Even if she had the money to collect beans, at such a high cost, who would buy her soy sauce?

At dinner, Ning Shaoqing asked why she looked unhappy.

A couple should talk about everything with each other. Though they hadn’t reached the last step, their hearts were close now.

He asked, and she answered.

“Continue to make your tofu. Beans weren’t a rarity. When the price of local beans goes up, there will be speculative merchants who ship beans from other places, and then the price will go down naturally. Why to worry?”

After saying that, he regarded her intently and said, “Eat. Look at you. You become thin from tiredness recently.”

She didn’t get thin from tiredness! It was the clothes! Mo Qianxue glared at him but felt sweet in her heart.

“How do you know that? The price of beans in other places didn’t go up and the beans will arrive in a few days?”

Ning Shaoqing looked serious and enigmatic, and Mo Qianxue thought he would make a solemn and sagacious speech and talked on his family secrets about doing business, but what she heard were two plain words in a dignified tone, “I guess…”

Mo Qianxue burst into laughter but choked on corns.

Ning Shaoqing hurriedly got up, patted on her back and poured her some water.

Whiling groaning about her bad eating manner, he asked with love and caring whether she was okay.

Suddenly, Mo Qianxue felt so happy.

She felt that the sole purpose of this accidental time-traveling was to meet him.

*

The next day, the dockside became exciting. All warehouses turned full. Mo Qianxue went to manager Tang and inquired about the situation. It turned out that they were really loaded with beans.

There was no suspense that the price of beans plummeted in three mere days from five hundred cents to the original two cents per kilogram.

No matter how rich Wu Dafu was, he couldn’t afford such a dramatic change. He had collected hundreds of thousands of kilograms strong of beans. Before he could figure out what was going on, dozens of thousands of taels of silver was cast to the wind.

That night, he re-applied his old trick and insanely sent people to burn down the dockside warehouses again. However, those people were caught on side and beaten to death.

Seeing that he had lost his momentum, Wu Dafu should lose his breath and died immediately.

In the city, ever since the beginning of the bean event, it became a topic heatedly discussed by many in public places, but certainly they only spread rumors. How many could possibly know the truth?

Yingkexuan’s door had shut, and on it hung a board said on sale.

Neighbors began to discuss again.

“I heard that Wu Dafu stocked many beans in his house, and when the price plunged, he died from anger.”

“Oh, that old asshole. He didn’t die from anger. Sixty years old, and he should rob women everywhere. It’s said that he has a twenty-eight-year-old concubine in his house. Just at the horny age. How can that old bastard resist her? Maybe last night he missed one move and got a stroke on horse…hahaha…”

“Wu Dafu has been a dandy since he was young. He has a wife and numerous concubines, as well as two twin wives…he deserved that!”

“At his age…”

“Luckily, we sold the beans early at five hundred cents. I really made a fortune out of it. Now it’s only twenty cents everywhere…hahaha…”

“Right. Though we didn’t sell at that high price, it’s enough to sell at one hundred cents. Heaven knows what was wrong with the old bastard and regarded beans as a treasure…”

In the yard of Wu mansion, there was noise of crying.

In the mourning hall, a few old women shouted and cried when suddenly a young woman dashed over, yelling, “My master, why did you go? Why do you leave me? What should I do now? They all come and bully me…”

Together with her yelling, more waves of female crying started at the backyard.

Lord Wu frowned and gave the young woman a hard kick, “It’s reasonable for my mother, the second and third concubine to cry. But why are you crying for? Fuck off to the backyard…”

“Why can’t I cry? My poor baby Xiaobao lost his father at such a young age…my master, please open your eyes and look at your unfilial son…”

“Xue, you bitch. Cry one more time and I’ll sell you out today!”

“You dare!”

“Why don’t I? Come and bind this bitch to the firewood house. Don’t give her food or water. Anyone disagrees with this will be sold out together with her.”

A girl servant had wanted to hold concubine Xue, but at the young lord’s words, she stopped and got down onto ground, “Please, lord, don’t sell me out. I have things to report to you.”

“What things?”

“Please ask others to retreat.”

“Unnecessary. Quick, or I’m selling you out now.”

The servant saw there was no other way out so, taken aback by her lord, she began to pour out all scandals she knew.

It turned out that this Xue Xiner had had an affair with the cousin of manager Liao before she married Wu Dafu. She also frequently contacted manager Liao too.

One more person out of the list of illegal heirs? The lord was just struggling to find an excuse to drive away the mother and son. Now he was happy.

Wu Dafu had a wife and two other wives. There was a reason. The wife never gave birth to a child, so he married another wife. But the second wife kept losing her babies during pregnancy, so he only had to marry one more wife again and got three daughters.

Only after turning forty did the old wife get pregnant and give birth to this young lord. Then, like a flood, she gave birth to a few more sons later…

The people crying in the mourning hall looked tearful but there seemed to be a smile on their lips.

The eldest madam jumped up and ordered immediately, and the poor Xiner was hung dead on the spot.

Therefore, soon manager Liao was sent to the police office.

Someone sent to the police office the proof of Yingkexuan’s people setting fire on the warehouses in Tianxiang city last time.

Therefore, young lord Wu spent a big money to shift the blame to boss Xue.

After all this, Wu family couldn’t hardly survive.

By some thought, lord Wu decided to sell Yingkexuan and to quickly find a way to deal with the beans.

The price of beans had already fallen to the bottom. If he didn’t sell the hundreds of thousands of kilograms, the beans would not only occupy his own warehouses but also the warehouses at the dock. He was afraid that before Spring came, the whole family would die of starvation.

As a result, the price of beans dropped again from two cents to one cent per kilogram.

However, no one wanted to buy even at one cent. It was too much after all. Who would need beans in that huge amount?

Then, when Mo Qianxue turned to him and negotiate, she was able to buy three hundred thousand kilograms of beans with only two hundred taels of silver, paying in installments.

After these two months of building restaurant and houses, she didn’t have that much cash, so she only paid a half for the present and the other half would be paid in the next year.

Lord Wu took one hundred taels of silver and left with ecstasy.

He was even smug in secrecy. What a stupid woman he met! The thirty hundred thousand kilograms of beans, which couldn’t sell much in one day, cost a dozen taels of silver per month for land lease and storage fee.

What was wrong with his old man? He must have been misled by that bitch called Xiner. Now she was dead, so would her lover and old Xue.

At the thought, his face turned cold and let a servant send some wine to the prison guard. The next day, there was news that manager Liao died in the prison and old Xue was sentenced to death, which would be executed after the autumn.

Of course these were off topic.

As for the bean, the skyrocketing and plunging of the price ended half a month ago, and Mo Qianxue’s restaurant was completed and waiting to be open.

In the evening, Mo Qianxue stayed in bed, turning and tossing. She found Ning Shaoqing didn’t fall asleep either, so she asked in whisper, “Shaoqng, is everything happening?”

“What?”

“Why do I feel that all benefit of the fickle bean price finally fell onto me? It felt unreal.”

“Is that a benefit?” Ning Shaoqing sneered, “Beans aren’t a rarity and this event isn’t a rarity either.” He wouldn’t tell Mo Qianxue that the biggest benefit finally fell to Su Qi’s hand.

With these beans, he earned dozens of thousands of taels of silver at the cost of nothing, which let Wu Dafu’s many years’ saving go down the drain. The biggest winner in fact was Su Qi.

He didn’t only make a fortune for his family but also managed to put the family business in Tianxiang city on the right track, earning himself reputation and solidifying his brother’s position in the family.

However, even he didn’t expect that the price of beans should rise so madly.

It seemed that he shouldn’t underestimate Su Qi. The scheme required accuracy in every link, because once one link had flaws and Wu Dafu drew out of the game, his move, which wouldn’t hurt Baiyunju though, would never uproot Yingkexuan.

This person, Su Qi, must be a relentless and resourceful one.

Mo Qianxue didn’t think as much as Ning Shaoqing. Seeing that he didn’t talk, she only thought that he didn’t care, “You don’t care, but I do.

It’s thirty hundred thousand kilograms! How much time I should spend to collect them otherwise? Now they are safely sleeping in the warehouses. Am I dreaming?” Mo Qianxue didn’t believe all this and reached out to pinch her own little face.

“You’re not!” Even if she dreamt, she must dream of him.

Ning Shaoqing didn’t finish his words yet when Mo Qianxue screamed, covering her face with hand, “Ouch! It hurts! I’m not dreaming.”

Ning Shaoqing shook his head in a smile. He had never seen a more stupid but lovelier gilr like her.

He opened his eyes, pulling his hand out of the quilt. It planned to touch her face but paused in halfway and gently patted her like coaxing a child into sleeping, “Sleep. Your restaurant will be open soon, boss Ning! Tomorrow the village head is throwing a feast for you. After all, the Wangs borrow much honor from you.”

When Ning Shaoqing teased and called her boss, he couldn’t help poking her forehead with his fingers.

Immediately, Mo Qianxue flushed, and her heartbeat accelerated.

In the dark and the juicy atmosphere, something was fermenting.