Chapter 115: Paying You A Reward_l

Translator: 549690339

The next day, Yingbao arranged for Chuchu to help her clear and plow the land, to expand the vegetable garden.

The original patch was too small, and her parents were too busy, being little herself she couldn’t plow, so she had to bring in a helper.

As it turned out, she was not mistaken, Chuchu was extremely capable, not only efficient but also particularly meticulous.

She first cut down the weeds, then began digging the ground, rooting out the grass roots and shrub roots, shaking off the soil and tossing it in a pile.

As Chuchu dug, she crumbled the earth and even picked out the small stones, making the ground loose and flat.

Yingbao was very satisfied and promptly gave her a boiled egg.

Chuchu accepted the egg, her eyes reddening and quietly thanked her, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, eat it quickly and oh, from now on when you cook, you can take some vegetables for yourself. I’ll bring you some salt later.”

It wasn’t that Yingbao wouldn’t take her into her home for food and lodging, but Chuchu’s status was special, they couldn’t bring her home to eat with their parents.

Chuchu carefully peeled the egg, scraping off every bit of egg white stuck to the shell to eat.

Yingbao ran back home to pick up a big turnip, put some salt in a small pottery bowl and took it to the thatched cottage.

The cottage had now been tidied up by Chuchu, the bedding neatly folded.

Outside the cottage, Chuchu had built a simple little stove with stones and gathered a lot of dry firewood and grass roots next to it, often cooking her meals on this little stove.

Indeed, the fire starter was given to her by Yingbao.

That day, Dani rushed over, grabbed Yingbao by the hand and started to walk back, as she said while walking, “Sister Dani wants to talk to you.”

Yingbao of course knew what Dani wanted to ask, and she had already thought about her response.

Arriving at Dani’s house, she found Dani glaring at her, “Yingbao, why did you let that girl from the Chu family stay?”

Yingbao smiled heartily, “I hired her to work for me.”

Dani remained silent, “Why her? Don’t you realize she only came to replace someone from Chu family?”

Yingbao blinked, “What do you mean replace, brother Dacheng and her aren’t married. She has a working relationship with our Jiang family, nothing else.” Dani:…

Indeed, her brother and this woman were not married, and she was working for Yingbao, not their family.

Dani’s expression softened a bit, muttering, “You still shouldn’t have kept her.”

Yingbao: “If I don’t keep her and she refuses to go home, sleeping in the haystack at night, what if something happens?”

Dani was taken aback, silent.

In the room, Zhou Family exchanged a glance, sighed. “We were not as thorough as Yingbao, ah.”

Jiang Dad: “We were just too angry at the moment, now thinking about it, the girl from the Chu family is still a girl after all, we can’t let her stay outside alone, our South Slope is so quiet, if something happens it would be real trouble.”

“It’s all because of Chu Clan Leader’s bad idea, ah, let Yingbao handle it, as long as it doesn’t involve Dacheng.” Zhou sighed, feeling exhausted.

Jiang Dad comforted: “With Yingbao watching, it won’t involve Dacheng, you can rest assured.”

For the next few days, Chuchu worked hard and quickly cultivated a large patch of ground for vegetables.

After the vegetable garden was levelled, Yingbao led her to the Wild Bamboo Forest to cut bamboo and drag them back, stripping off the branches and leaving only the poles to stick around the garden.

While inserting the bamboo fence, Yingbao asked to include the thatched cottage as well.

After inserting the bamboo fence, and scattering the vegetable seeds, it was already May, and the Jiang family began to harvest golden mushrooms.

Yingbao’s golden mushrooms ripened earlier than her father’s, and she had already harvested more than half of them.

After watching for half a day, Chuchu was able to quickly grasp the task and even did it faster and better than Yingbao.

So Yingbao left the task to Chuchu, focusing instead on planting more mushroom spores.

Several days passed in such a hurry.

The golden mushrooms and Xue’er have been sun-dried for several days and are dry. Yingbao packed them into a basket and stored them in their storeroom. At this point, the tasks that Yingbao had arranged for Chuchu had come to an end, and it was time to pay her wages.

“Sister Chuchu, here are three strings of copper coins, count them.” Yingbao pushed three large strings of coins forward.

Chuchu, holding back her excitement, wiped her hands on her old dress several times before picking up the coins, “Really, are all these for me?”

“Yes, it’s your monthly wage, as we agreed.” Yingbao said with a grin.

Chuchu had been such a great help, she wanted to give her a little extra, but decided against it.

Chuchu counted the copper coins one by one, her heart leaping with joy.

She has never seen so much money in her life; it felt like a dream.

She lost count while counting her coins, and rather than continue, Chuchu held the coins and began to cry.

She had earned this, it was a large sum of money she had gained through her own hard work.

“Vingbao, can I… can I really take all this money away?” Chuchu was still a bit in disbelief, “Will your parents scold you?”

“This is the wage you deserve, why would my parents scold me?”

Yingbao patted Chuchu’s shoulder, saying earnestly, “If you continue to work with me in the future, I will continue to pay you.”

Chuchu nodded emphatically, “I will work with you!”

She hesitated for a moment and then stuttered a question, “Yingbao, can I… can I go home first?”

“Of course.” Yingbao nodded, “The harvest season is almost here, I will give you a month off.’

Chuchu jumped with joy, hugged Yingbao tightly and sobbed, “Thank you Yingbao.”

Early next morning, Chuchu came out of her thatched hut with her small bundle on her back, closed the door and left with a spring in her step.

Looking up, she saw a mule cart parked in front of her, and there was Little Yingbao, her two younger brothers and her mother, sitting on the cart smiling at her.

“Get in the car, we’re taking you home.” Chunniang said with a smile.

She had noticed that this girl was genuinely good.

She was honest, hardworking, and didn’t mind being taken advantage of; a good kid indeed.

Chuchu pursed her lips, mumbled a confirmation and climbed into the mule cart.

Secretly wiping away her tears, Chuchu put on a smile and started talking with

Chunniang, “Auntie, thank you all.”

Chunniang said teasingly, “Silly girl, what are you thanking for, we were just going to town anyway, so we took you on the way.”

“Um.” Chuchu nodded.

She knew that Aunt Xu was just saying that to make her feel better because Chu Mountain Village and the town were not in the same direction.

The cart was driven by Yingbao this time.

The mule listened to her commands well, it ran off with its hooves clattering quickly without having to be whipped, not slacking off at all.

The cart soon arrived at Chu Mountain Village and stopped in front of Chu Lao Shi’s house.

Chuchu had just jumped off the cart when she saw her younger brother Chu Qing rushing towards her. “Sister! Sister!”

Chu Qing flung himself into his sister’s arms and began to sob.

Chuchu also started crying, holding her brother and asking him questions.

Yingbao took one look and drove the mule cart away.

When she passed by a young man, she couldn’t help but gaze at him for a moment.

Chuyan?

It was indeed Chuyan!

He was tall and had stern brows, although he still had a childish face, there was no mistake in his demeanor.

The young man turned to look at her and then quickly redirected his gaze and ran towards Chuchu.

The mule cart brushed past him, moving further and further away, gradually disappearing in the distance..