The Beautiful Brother of the Orion’s Family (Wearing Book) - 248

 

| TBBOTOF | 248

She was definitely scheming something or had ulterior motives.

Tang Xu thought that Liu Shi likely had both intentions, she was suppressing her true feelings so that she couldn’t openly express what was in her heart, which led to a distorted demeanor.

She looked somewhat scary.

Tang Xu greeted her.

“Happy New Year..”

“Yes, yes, yes, come in,” Liu Shi responded happily, walking quickly toward the kitchen. She stumbled over the doorframe and almost lost her balance.

Wei Zhonghong chuckled, seemingly enjoying watching her make a fool of herself, then turned to Tang Xu and said, “Did my fourth son tell you? This time, I made a few extra braised ducks.”

“Yes, he mentioned it. I was thinking of buying a shop nearby, so that I wouldn’t have to be outside in the wind and sun. It’d be a place to settle, and I could sell other things to make a living.”

Wei Zhonghong nodded repeatedly as they both entered the kitchen.

The Wu family’s kitchen wasn’t as spacious as the Wei family’s. Usually, two people working inside didn't make it crowded; it would be hard to move around if there were more people—let alone with four people present.

Liu Shi enthusiastically handed Tang Xu a small bowl, which contained chopped pieces of chicken leg.

"Brother Xu, have a taste. Try it and see how my cooking is," Liu Shi said.

She stared intently at Tang Xu's face, as if she’d personally feed him if he didn’t eat it in the next second.

Tang Xu gave her an awkward smile, picked up a piece of chicken, and put it in his mouth. He chewed thoughtfully, savoring it, then nodded. “Your cooking is pretty good. The flavor’s nice.”

Liu Shi’s face lit up with joy as she eagerly asked, “Do you think I could learn how to make braised duck with you? I promise to work hard at it!”

Wei Zhonghong’s polite smile faded, and she raised her hand to slap the countertop to the side. “Liu Shi!”

"Mother, you can’t just watch my fourth brother-in-law make money and ignore me. I know I’ve been wrong before, but I really want to earn some silver. I promise I’ll work hard!” Liu Shi pushed at Wei Shi. “Why don’t you say something? It’s not like I want to make money and you don’t.”

Wei Shi had stayed silent the whole time, but now, after Liu Shi gave her a little shove, she forced a smile at Tang Xu, though her expression was somewhat stiff.

But Tang Xu thought he’d rather she not smile at all.

Wei Zhonghong was so angry she was almost out of breath, and just as she was about to start shouting, Tang Xu grabbed her wrist.

She turned to look at him, still filled with rage, grinding her teeth. “Xu Ge’er, don’t stop me. Today, I’m going to tear her mouth apart!”

At this moment, she didn’t care whether the neighbors would gossip about the scene. After all, she had already lost face.

She had already warned Liu Shi before, telling her not to bring up anything about making money after Tang Xu came over. 

But now, Liu Shi had completely thrown her dignity aside and was shamelessly trying to ask for work!

Tang Xu sighed, setting the bowl he was holding on the counter. He turned to Liu Shi and Wei Shi, speaking calmly: “It’s not that I’m intentionally making things difficult for you two, but the quantity of braised ducks and chickens I’m selling is already close to being saturated. If you want to make money from this, it’s not going to work.”

He spoke gently, trying to be polite, but Liu Shi grew anxious. She widened her eyes and asked urgently, “Why can’t we make money? Isn’t my fourth brother-in-law making money?”

She had gone to see it several times, and there were plenty of braised chickens and ducks made. If it wasn’t profitable, how could there be so much?

Tang Xu remained calm and polite, smiling gently. “There’s always a saturation point when it comes to selling. You might not understand this. Just because you see others selling a lot doesn’t mean you can do the same and succeed. However, if you two really want to make money, there are other ways.”

Liu Shi asked eagerly, “How do we make money?” She had been thinking about earning money so much recently that her eyes lit up as soon as she heard there was a way.

Wei Shi was better at holding her composure, but even she couldn't help but stare at Tang Xu with burning eyes after hearing his words.

Tang Xu explained, “My grandmother and aunt at home raise chickens and ducks. If you feed them medicinal herbs to prevent disease, the chickens and ducks grow quickly and don’t get sick easily. The bigger ones can lay eggs. You don’t need to buy from outsiders for making braised food—raising your own is much better. You could raise some too. When Auntie makes the braised duck, she could buy from you. While this won’t make as much money as selling braised duck, you’ll still earn something. Plus, you can eat the eggs and ducks yourself or sell them. What do you two think?”

Liu Shi furrowed her brow, quickly calculating in her mind. She felt that raising chickens and ducks might be a lot of work, and what if they got sick? 

If that happened, she’d lose everything.

Wei Shi, however, thought this plan was quite good. After a moment of silence, she asked softly, “Where can we buy the medicinal herbs for the chickens and ducks?”

Most of the villagers raised chickens and ducks, but not in large numbers, and she hadn’t heard of anyone feeding them medicine. 

However, she knew that if chickens and ducks got sick, they could die in large numbers. Before she married, she remembered that a few families around her had their chickens and ducks die from illness.

“When Old Xu was still around, he would prepare the medicinal herbs. Now, it’s Old Wen who handles it. If you want to raise chickens and ducks, you can go to him to buy the herbs. They’re not expensive—one small packet of herbal powder costs twenty coins, and it lasts for half a month for chickens and ducks,” Tang Xu explained.

 He directly fed the herbs to the livestock in the backyard, using the leftover scraps of medicinal materials that Old Wen processed.

“Twenty coins? That’s way too expensive!” Liu Shi exclaimed, then pouted. “Even for family, they’re charging so much.”

“If you don’t want to buy it, then don’t. No one’s forcing you,” Wei Zhonghong snapped, her temper flaring. “Don’t want to do it? Fine. I’d rather not have you selling me any ducks that might be sick!”

Liu Shi’s face flushed red. Just a moment ago, she had been thinking that if she didn’t buy the herbal powder, when the chickens and ducks got sick, she could just tell her mother-in-law that she had them slaughtered and cleaned ahead of time.

Now, her plan had been exposed. Even though she was thick-skinned, she couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed in front of Tang Xu.

“Mother! I would never do that.”

Wei Zhonghong snorted coldly, walked over, and pulled out some firewood from the stove, not even glancing at Liu Shi as she said, “You should know what you’re capable of. I’ll say this once: you can raise chickens and ducks if you want, and you can sell them to my fourth son if you like. But they must be alive. I don’t want you to slaughter and pluck them ahead of time.”

Liu Shi’s mouth twitched, and she gave a forced smile.

Tang Xu sighed lightly. Although he didn’t particularly like his two sisters-in-law from the Wu family, he had a good relationship with Wei Zhonghong. He didn’t want his aunt to keep worrying about the family’s issues, which was why he had given her this suggestion.

As for whether Liu Shi would do it or succeed, that was none of his concern.

If someone thought they could just reach out and grab the money, that wasn’t going to happen—he wasn’t running a charity.

Wei Shi thought for a while and felt that raising chickens and ducks to sell to her mother-in-law and her fourth brother-in-law was a good idea. 

Though she hadn’t split from the family, things had been tense recently, and she wanted to improve her relationship with her mother-in-law. She had a strong feeling that if things went well this time, it would definitely help mend their relationship.

With that thought, Wei Shi said gently, “I will discuss this to my family later. Thank you, Brother Xu.”

Tang Xu nodded at her with a slight smile.

Regardless of anything else, this second sister-in-law was definitely sharper than the eldest sister-in-law.

As for Liu Shi, she smacked her lips, turned around, and went back to cooking.

She didn’t say anything else.

Wei Zhonghong ground her back teeth, letting out a harsh sigh.

It was so frustrating having married a troublemaker like her into the family—and not even being able to send her away!

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