Chapter 83: Wheedling Out the Secret Recipe

Chapter 83: Chapter 83: Wheedling Out the Secret Recipe

When Ji Huan’s name came up just now, Aunt Lu still felt a sense of gratitude.

But after listening to Tian Jiao’s manipulative reasoning, a sour feeling slowly began to grow inside her.

That’s just how people are.

When you’re clearly doing the same work as everyone else, but you get paid less while others get more, you’re bound to feel resentful. It throws everything off balance.

And it’s even harder to accept when someone who was clearly worse off than you suddenly becomes wealthier and starts living a better life.

It wasn’t just envy; it was a sickness of the heart.

Aunt Lu had been completely taken in by Tian Jiao’s words. In reality, if she had just stopped to think, she would have realized she had no right to demand the same treatment as the Hu family.

Never mind the help the Hu family had given Ji Huan during her most difficult times. This time alone, Hu Liang had put in a tremendous effort with procurement, and the entire Hu family—except for the immobile Granny Xie and two small children—had basically mobilized to help.

Aunt Lu and the others were just hired hands, and they were paid for their labor. For many of the village women, it was the first time in their lives they had ever earned a wage.

Anyone with a clear head would have been grateful. Only a fool would start making comparisons.

Besides, those women had only worked for half a day. The Hu family, on the other hand, worked with Ji Huan day and night. Considering the relationship between them, how could the two even be compared?

But this world was full of muddled people, with the clear-headed ones few and far between.

You treat them well, and they complain that you aren’t treating them even better. Swayed by the slightest ill wind, they easily forget their place.

And Aunt Lu was precisely that type of person.

Seeing the change in her expression, Tian Jiao knew the time was right. She smoothly added, "To be honest with you, Aunt Lu, I also saved some vegetables a while back, and I’ve been trying to make that stuff they’re making... The Jiang family looks like we’re doing okay, but things are actually tough. I only learned after I married into the family that my father-in-law got sick last year, and we’re still in debt. My hands are tied... so I was hoping you could help me. Don’t worry, if I make any money from this, I’ll be sure to treat you well."

The rest of the villagers were still in the dark, thinking Widow Xie and the others were making pickled vegetables to sell. But Tian Jiao knew better. It wasn’t pickled vegetables at all.

The day the soldiers came to haul away the goods, she had watched them load the carts carefully. There were no clay jars, only wicker baskets. How could it possibly be pickled vegetables?

Unfortunately, the wicker baskets all had lids, and the Lords from the army wouldn’t let anyone get close, so she couldn’t see what was inside.

At first, she was just curious and wanted to see Ji Huan fail. She never thought of trying to copy her.

But ever since Ji Huan started building her house, her mother-in-law had started finding fault with her at every turn. She bad-mouthed her behind her back and even incited Jiang Wu, saying that if he had married Ji Huan, the Jiang family would be moving into a new house by now.

It was her mother-in-law who had despised Ji Huan’s reputation and feared she would jinx her son. That’s why she had turned a blind eye to her secret affair with Jiang Wu.

Now that she saw how well Ji Huan was doing, she had completely changed her tune.

’That old hag! Isn’t it just because she sees Ji Huan can earn silver? I refuse to believe it. If Ji Huan can do it, why can’t I, Tian Jiao?’

Aunt Lu hadn’t expected Tian Jiao to be harboring such intentions.

Although Tian Jiao’s words had planted a seed of resentment in her heart, she hadn’t forgotten her promise not to tell anyone what they did at the Hu family’s home.

"Jiaojiao, it’s not that I don’t want to help you. It’s just... I promised Widow Xie and the others... If word gets out, what kind of person would that make me...?"

Tian Jiao despised this kind of wishy-washy personality, but it was also the easiest type to manipulate.

"Aunt Lu, you look out for others, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be grateful. If they were, why didn’t you get a bigger share of the profits? I’m different. Our families are neighbors. You’ve practically watched me grow up. Don’t you know what kind of person I am?"

"But... I..." Aunt Lu was never good with words and was no match for the eloquent Tian Jiao. She was clearly starting to waver.

Tian Jiao fanned the flames. "Even if you don’t think for yourself, you have to think about your grandsons! They’re all grown men, still crammed into one room. And your husband, working himself to the bone all year... Other people’s sons are getting married, starting businesses, and building new houses. You’re the only one naive enough to keep their secrets for them..."

"Jiaojiao, don’t say any more!"

A sudden surge of resentment flared up in Aunt Lu’s heart.

Tian Jiao was right. Why should she keep Ji Huan’s secrets? If Ji Huan had paid her the same as Widow Xie, her family could be building a house and finding wives for her grandsons too. They wouldn’t be in such a desperate state!

Ji Huan had been unjust to her, so why shouldn’t she tell someone else.

’Especially since it’s Tian Jiao. Tian Jiao is kind-hearted; she’ll definitely treat me well...’

"I can tell you, but you can’t tell anyone it came from me..."

Suppressing her excitement, Tian Jiao quickly said, "Don’t worry, I won’t tell a soul!"

Only then did Aunt Lu spill everything she knew.

"...That’s all I know. Us helpers were all busy in the Hu family’s courtyard, just washing and chopping vegetables. Oh! Some vegetables had to be blanched in boiling water, and some didn’t. But whether they were blanched or not, once they were drained, Hu Liang and his family would take them to Ji Huan’s dilapidated shack. I’m not sure how they’re processed after that."

’I didn’t think much of it before,’ she thought, ’but now that I do, it’s clear Widow Xie was wary of us from the start.’

Aunt Lu felt increasingly upset. To hire people for help but guard against them like they were thieves—if that wasn’t insulting, what was?

Tian Jiao had only confirmed that it wasn’t pickled vegetables; she hadn’t figured out anything else.

What was all this about blanching and rinsing? When she pressed for details, Aunt Lu couldn’t clarify. She had only been in charge of washing vegetables.

Tian Jiao fumed internally. ’How can someone her age be so clueless! They tell you to wash vegetables, and you just wash vegetables? If they don’t let you watch, why don’t you sneak a peek!’

She suppressed her anger and asked gently, "The day they came to haul the goods away, didn’t you and Aunt Gao go to the shack to help load the carts? You must have seen the final product."

Aunt Lu did know about that. "It wasn’t anything strange, really. Just some dried vegetable leaves. I have no idea why the army would want them."

’Dried vegetable leaves?’

’If the army wants them, they can’t be ordinary dried vegetable leaves.’

"Think again. Were the leaves drained and then sun-dried, or..."

’It couldn’t just be sun-drying,’ she thought. ’That would be too easy a way to make money.’

Aunt Lu looked confused. She thought for a long moment before she recalled something. "Around that time, Hu Liang helped Ji Huan set up two stoves in her yard, and Hu Dacheng went over to the shack every day to tend the fires. Maybe..."

"I’ve got it!"

Tian Jiao shot up excitedly and began pacing around the courtyard.

"Wash, chop, blanch... and then dry-roast them in a hot wok! That has to be it!"

’So it was that simple! It was really that simple!’

Aunt Lu thought that sounded about right.

Tian Jiao couldn’t wait to get home and try it for herself. She rushed out of the courtyard without so much as a goodbye.

"Jiaojiao! Jiaojiao!" Aunt Lu called after her a few times, but she was already gone. Staring at the half-wrung bedsheet in the basin, she fretted, "Why did she just run off like that..."

Tian Jiao ran all the way back to the Jiang family home. The moment she was inside, she was dragging Jiang Wu out, telling him to bring up all the vegetables they had stored in the cellar.

Though baffled, Jiang Wu did as he was told.

Jiang Wu’s mother, Mrs. Mao, watched with a sullen face. She couldn’t stand the way Tian Jiao always ordered her son around in that soft-spoken manner. ’A nasty habit she picked up from that widowed mother of hers!’ she thought.

Jiang Wu hauled the vegetables out of the cellar, basket by basket. Tian Jiao pulled up a stool, sat to one side, and began peeling off the frostbitten outer leaves, keeping any that weren’t too badly damaged.

"Jiaojiao, what in the world are you trying to do?"

Tian Jiao could barely contain her excitement.

When Ji Huan had bought all those vegetables, Tian Jiao had been waiting for her to make a fool of herself, but she’d also been shrewd. She hadn’t sold the vegetables cleared from her own family’s garden, stashing them in the cellar instead.

They wouldn’t have fetched a good price then anyway, and since her mother-in-law hadn’t started giving her the cold shoulder yet, she had let Tian Jiao handle them as she saw fit.

’See? Now they’ve come in handy!’

’I’ve already figured out Ji Huan’s secret recipe for dehydrated vegetables. Once I turn all of these into dehydrated vegetables, I’ll sell them to the army too!’

’It’s a small amount, to be sure, but the important thing is to get my foot in the door.’

’Next year, I’ll buy vegetables months in advance, steal all her business, and leave Ji Huan and the Hu family with nothing!’

"Oh, just stop asking and help me wash vegetables. I’m telling you, our family’s fortunes are about to change..."