A Good Country Wife

Lin Yue noticed that a long-term worker in their household named Li Chang’an had recently become dishonest. Originally, he and his wife had moved into the residence provided for long-term workers by their family. Later on, they brought their children as well. Lin Yue and Zhao Erhu saw that their family was not having an easy time and turned a blind eye, letting it go. Little did they know that Li Chang’an not only lacked gratitude, but he also became even more excessive. Recently, he had been spying around their vicinity. His wife and children must have been instigated by him, as they were loitering around their courtyard all day, probably trying to steal a glance at something.

After discussing it, Lin Yue and Zhao Erhu agreed that a long-term worker like Li Chang’an could not be kept around. Otherwise, they feared he might bring disaster. They couldn’t afford to spend so much attention on a single long-term worker every day. As the saying goes, "You can guard against a thief during the day but not a traitor inside your home." In the next few days, Zhao Erhu would find some pretext to dismiss Li Chang’an.

Although Lin Yue felt that letting Li Chang’an off so easily seemed unfair since he had been double-dealing, they now had other matters to attend to at home and couldn’t keep such a malicious person around. If he were to inadvertently witness something and then divulge what he had seen, it would certainly bring losses to their family. Moreover, the fact that Li Chang’an was doing this clearly indicated that someone had instructed him to, likely having connections with the Wei Family.

The more Lin Yue thought about the numerous times the Wei Family had schemed against their family, the angrier she became. When the opportunity arose, she would definitely play a trick on the old master of the Wei Family, letting him know that she also had her limits. Zhao Lingxiang had come to cause trouble several times, which was bad enough. Last time, she even learned how to sprout beans from Chunxi, competing with them on price. Now, they were even casting their aspirations on their family’s long-term workers. If she didn’t teach them a lesson, these people would become increasingly shameless and devise even more insidious schemes.

Lin Yue went out to the fields to check the sweet potatoes, which had grown well and were ready to harvest. By rough estimates, there would likely be a harvest of around twenty to thirty thousand catties. Lin Yue planned to store half in the cellar. Since sweet potatoes can be stored for a long time, they would not spoil for a year or two if kept properly, and some were needed for planting. As for the other half, more than ten thousand catties would be used to make dried sweet potatoes, sweet potato flour, and sweet potato noodles. These new food items would surely be popular once on the market.

In fact, making these sweet potato products was not difficult; most people could learn after watching twice. This was why Lin Yue had to be especially cautious. Although she didn’t think she could keep the production methods to herself forever, at the very least, she wanted to be the first to profit from this golden opportunity. What would happen later would depend on the development of the situation.

"Dongjia, are you there?" Liu Aniu, who usually went home early to take care of his elderly mother, did not go back today after finishing his work. Instead, he came knocking. Zhao Erhu let him into the house, where Liu Aniu stated his reason for coming.

It turned out that the Wei Family had approached Liu Aniu and wanted him to be a mole in Zhao Erhu’s household to get hold of Lin Yue’s family’s food production methods. In return, Liu Aniu would receive a generous reward.