Chapter 344: Taking What You See
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“It’s already good you can work. Why do you still need to look the part?” Su Xuefang asked in confusion.
“Hah! You may not know this, but city life differs from a small place like ours. A high salary has high requirements. Many people share these qualifications in the city, so only the most brilliant – personality and physique-wise – will stand out.”
Fearing she would arouse suspicion, Shi Caiyue had thought of an excuse. She understood the blind yearning rural people held for the big city. Hence, coming up with an excuse was not hard, and no one would suspect a thing.
“I saw it with my own eyes when I visited Southern City. Even factories have to entertain customers. Factory managers would bring potential clients around the factory to inspect their goods. If all they employed were ugly and decrepit, wouldn’t they suspect the goods they produced to be the same?”
“I guess that makes sense.” Su Xuefang believed Shi Caiyue in every sense of the word and regretted making a fool out of herself in front of her sister-in-law. Despite having some questions, however, she was too embarrassed to voice them.
Since Su Xuefang wanted to return to her parent’s home, Shi Caiyue did not keep her and bid farewell.
Su Xuefang entrusted her youngest son to her mother-in-law and returned to her parent’s home empty-handed. On the way back, they met people from Trinity Village on their way to the market. One of them was someone she was quite familiar with. It was Sister Chrysanthemum. The two quickly fell in step, chatting up a storm.
The news she received from Sister Chrysanthemum was utterly shocking to Su Xuefang.
“What did you say? Did you say that Su Wen made a fortune?” This… How was this possible?
Wasn’t Su Wen an idiot?
How could she have struck gold?
“I see you haven’t heard, it seems. Little Wen’s son-in-law went to find work in the city,” Sister Chrysanthemum sighed enviously. “I heard he made a lot of money. Little Wen and Xiangdong’s wife also do business together, making steamed cakes; I hear she makes a tidy profit there too.”
Su Xuefang was astounded. Her voice cracked, and her words grew pointed. “Are you saying the steamed cakes I’ve been seeing around town are part of Su Wen’s business?”
“It’s not just Su Wen’s; it’s Su Wen and Xiangdong’s wife, He Yulan.” Sister Chrysanthemum answered truthfully. “It’s a collaboration between their two families.” What was Su Xuefang not understanding? It was not as if she was speaking in riddles.
Unknown to Sister Chrysanthemum, Su Xuefang’s mind was in so much turmoil that she was unaware of her surroundings. Her mind was fixated on Su Wen’s steamed cake business. Before she had left, she even tried one. It was delicious! Never mind the implications of starting such a profitable business; steamed cakes were practically a village specialty, adored by those even in town.
Her daughter, Jinfeng, went out to play with children her age and came back screaming because she had not had the chance to eat steamed cakes before, causing her peers to make fun of her!
Su Xuefang had not known Su Wen was making those steamed cakes everyone was discussing.
‘Su Wen, I thought you were a good person. Who could have known you were just as bad as your father?!’ Su Xuefang hissed in her heart of hearts.
Su Xuefang could care less that she was cursing Su Wen in her heart. She hated Su Wen for not telling her about the steamed cake business she had gone into. Su Xuefang vowed she would extract the method of making those steamed cakes as soon as she got her hands on her wayward niece.
Su Xuefang could not wait to see the look on Shi Caiyue’s face when they next met and whether she would still have the nerve to talk down to her. Did she think she would not pick up on her disdain for her? Just because her family was a disappointment didn’t mean it gave her a free pass to look down on her.
Once she got her hands on the recipe, not even her husband, Tian Yong, would have the courage to talk down to her.
Sister Chrysanthemum eyed Su Xuefang with a puzzled look. Her heart skipped a beat when she noticed the ferocious lines etched on the latter’s face. She suddenly recalled how Su Xuefang had wanted to cheat things out of Little Wen when Su Xuewen died. The woman had cheated her family out of many things in recent years.
She would not have said so much if she had known Su Xuefang would get ideas.
Sister Chrysanthemum wanted to say that Su Wen’s family had bought two brand-new bicycles, so they didn’t need to walk to town but thought better than to reveal anything else. Thinking up an excuse, she rushed back to Trinity Village.
It would not do to let Su Xuefang pounce on Little Wen unprepared. Su Xuefang was the type to ‘bump into good fortune,’ lifting whatever she wanted from those around her, one sticky paw at a time..