The Farm Girl and the Executioner (Rebirth) 49

Chapter 49: Changing the Cooperation

Lin Shuang returned home and told Jiang Huaizhen what Ping’er had said.

“There’s no secret recipe for the dough. We can let the two aunts knead it at home, and we’ll just provide the oil pastry and sauce. That way, we only have to deliver the goods every few days. I can take the small path to deliver them, so others won’t see, and there will be nothing to talk about,” Jiang Huaizhen said.

Lin Shuang nodded. “I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time, but the two aunts didn’t agree. Since the villagers are envious of the cart coming in and out every day, we have no choice but to do this. As for the oil pastry and sauce, we’ll provide them by the catty, which is equivalent to them buying our sauce to make the flatbreads.”

“How much should we sell a catty for?” Jiang Huaizhen asked.

Lin Shuang took out a piece of paper and a brush to calculate, and finally said, “The cost of the sauce is high, and it’s our unique recipe, so we can sell it for a hundred copper coins per catty. The oil pastry can be sold for fifty coins. This way, even if they only sell twenty or thirty flatbreads a day, the money they earn will be about the same as before.”

“And after deducting the cost, we can still have an income of ten taels a month.”

Old Madam Jiang, who was next to her, grumbled, “We could earn a dozen or two taels a month before. How come it’s so much less now?”

Lin Shuang smiled. “That was during the new year, when the streets were full of people. We were making over a hundred catties of dough a day, so of course, we sold more. Now that it’s not the holidays, twenty or thirty a day is normal, so the income will naturally be halved.”

And since it was a cooperation, they had to give their partners some profit, or the business would not last.

Hearing her explanation, the old woman finally swallowed her words.

Lin Shuang added, “This way, we won’t have to get up before dawn to knead the dough anymore. The sauce and oil pastry can be stored, so we can just make them in advance.”

Hearing this, it seemed pretty good.

Jiang Huaizhen said, “Let’s do it then. We’ll go to the city tomorrow afternoon to discuss it with them. From now on, we can just deliver the sauce every two or three days.”

With Jing Lei in the future, it would be no problem to deliver dozens of catties of sauce.

The matter was thus settled.

By the time they were having dinner, there was a commotion outside the door.

Old Madam Jiang had already learned from Lin Shuang about the argument between Ma Guihua and Old Woman Hao, and her heart jumped.

She wiped her mouth and stood up with her cane.

“I’d like to see who is so shameless as to dare to cause trouble in our West Mountain Valley.”

How could Jiang Huaizhen let her go out alone? She quickly put down her bowl and chopsticks, stood up, and followed her out.

Lin Shuang drank her soup slowly, unhurriedly.

When Jiang Huaizhen reached the door, she suddenly turned her head, and her eyes fell on her calm and composed appearance.

Seeing her stop, Lin Shuang looked up and looked at her with a leisurely expression.

For some reason, Jiang Huaizhen saw a hint of the charm of a mature woman in this look. Her eyes flickered, and she didn’t dare to meet her gaze. She turned and followed the old woman’s footsteps.

The newcomers were Ma Guihua and Lin Mancang. They were standing outside the main door but had not entered.

Seeing them from a distance, Old Madam Jiang cursed as she walked out, “You can’t even have a peaceful meal. What do you want?”

This was the first time the couple had entered the valley.

Remembering that two executioners had once lived here, Lin Mancang couldn’t help but feel a little scared.

Ma Guihua looked at her husband’s wooden expression and stomped on his foot.

Lin Mancang had no choice but to brace himself and shout, “Is my niece Lin Shuang here? I have something urgent to talk to her about.”

The old woman’s face fell, and she said grumpily, “What niece or not? She’s been sold to our family, so she’s not a member of your Lin family anymore!”

Lin Mancang was choked for a moment and had to change his words. “Is Lin Shuang here? Can you ask her to come out?”

Old Madam Jiang glared at him, not giving an inch. “She’s a member of our Jiang family now. If you have anything to say, you can just tell me.”

Lin Mancang glanced at Jiang Huaizhen, who was standing behind the old woman like a door god, and stammered, “It’s a private family matter. It’s better to talk to her in person.”

Old Madam Jiang tapped the ground with her cane and said sternly, “She’s not even a member of your family anymore. What private matter could there be?”

Seeing Lin Mancang’s cowardly appearance, Ma Guihua couldn’t stand it anymore and retorted, “So what if she was sold to you? As long as she was born in our Lin family, she has to take care of her ancestors’ affairs. Come out and talk to us in person!”

The old woman sneered. “Pah, she’s already been registered in our family’s household. What’s there to talk about ancestors? If your ancestors knew that you had sold your brother-in-law’s daughter, they would have kicked you out of the family.”

Lin Mancang smiled. “We’re all from the same village. The family was really short on money at the time. We knew she was from the same village, so we felt at ease letting Shuang’er come over.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. If it weren’t for my girl getting there in time, she would have been sold to a brothel long ago. Don’t think that just because this old woman doesn’t go out, you can fool me with your lies,” Old Madam Jiang said with a sneer.

Ma Guihua also became anxious and shouted into the house, “Lin Shuang, you stole the Lin family’s ancestral secret recipe. Give it back to me! If you give it back now, I won’t pursue the matter. Otherwise, this is not over!”

Only then did Lin Shuang slowly walk out of the house, pretending to be confused. “What ancestral secret recipe?”

“What are you pretending for? Didn’t you bring the secret recipe for making the flatbreads from the Lin family? You ungrateful thing. We raised you for so long, and you secretly passed on the family’s good things to others. If the Lin family’s ancestors knew, they would strike you dead—” Ma Guihua said angrily.

“Oh, you mean the method for making the sauce flatbreads,” Lin Shuang said, as if she had just remembered. “Didn’t Grandma tell you? That’s the Jiang family’s secret recipe.”

Hearing this, Old Madam Jiang was immediately energized and shouted in a shrill voice, “I haven’t had a chance to say it yet, and this woman is already cursing. So you’re saying that our Jiang family’s secret recipe is your Lin family’s. Where do you get the nerve?”

Hearing this, the Lin couple was stunned for a moment.

Jiang Huaizhen had not sold flatbreads for all these years. Even when the old woman was sick, she would rather go from house to house to borrow money than use this skill. It was only after Lin Shuang came that they had started to sell flatbreads in the city. It was obvious that this secret recipe was not the Jiang family’s at all.

Thinking this, they said it out loud.

Old Madam Jiang sneered. “How ridiculous. The Lin family’s ancestral secret recipe, and you, the main branch, don’t even know about it, but you let a little girl master it? I remember that during the plague, this girl was only three years old, and Lin Dahe and his wife were long gone. Her parents also died at that time. Which of your ancestors would pass on a secret recipe to a three-year-old girl? If your ancestors were so capable, why didn’t they go and sell flatbreads themselves to earn money?”

The couple was so speechless they couldn’t say a word.

Ma Guihua simply threw a tantrum. “It is our Lin family’s secret recipe. If you don’t give it to us today, I’ll lie here at your door and not leave!”

Jiang Huaizhen looked her up and down and said faintly, “If you want to lie down, then lie down. No one is stopping you.”

Hearing this, Ma Guihua’s heart skipped a beat. She remembered that this woman was an executioner who had chopped off eight or nine heads. Her dead father had killed over a hundred people in his lifetime. She suddenly felt her scalp tingle and a chill run through her.

“You… don’t go too far—” Ma Guihua’s voice was clearly trembling.

The corner of Lin Shuang’s mouth curled up. “So what if we’re going too far? What can you do?”

Ma Guihua’s eyes widened. She couldn’t believe that the person who used to be so timid in front of her and didn’t even dare to breathe loudly would now dare to say such things to her face.

“You—are you possessed—” she said through gritted teeth.

“Yes, I’m possessed. I’m not a member of your Lin family anymore. Why are you still here? If you’re going to leave, then leave quickly. If you don’t, don’t blame us for being impolite!” Lin Shuang retorted without any courtesy.

Ma Guihua stuck her neck out. “What can you do to us?”

“What can I do to you? It’s just that the executioner of our Changping County is worried about not having a place to practice her saber. If you’re not afraid of being accidentally injured, then you can stay,” Lin Shuang said nonchalantly.

Lin Mancang had seen the scene of Jiang Huaizhen beheading someone and shivered in fear. He grabbed Ma Guihua. “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go—”

Ma Guihua was a hundred times unwilling. On her way here, she had been happily thinking about how to get rich after getting the secret recipe for the sauce flatbreads, and how to show off to her parents’ family. Now, she hadn’t gotten a single hair and had even been scolded. How could she swallow this?

But it was getting dark, and she was afraid of this place. She could only be pulled by Lin Mancang and stumbled out of the valley.

Looking at their retreating figures, Lin Shuang let out a sigh of relief.

“When wealth is exposed, it will indeed arouse envy. The matter of the dough has to be settled tomorrow.”

After this matter was settled, the next step was to deal with the mohele.

…

The next morning, when Old Hu came to get the goods, Lin Shuang had him pass a message to the two aunts, Lu and Wang, in advance. As for the specific operation, they would discuss it together when they went to the city in the afternoon.

Old Hu quickly agreed and drove the ox-cart away.

After noon, Lin Shuang and Jiang Huaizhen went to the city.

It was now the spring plowing season, and there were few people on the street. Lu Erqiao and Wang Zhimei had been doing this for two months and were already skilled. They could completely manage a stall by themselves, so they discussed taking turns, one person a day, and then both of them on holidays.

After talking to Old Hu in the morning, Lu Erqiao, who was originally at home today, came over in the afternoon when she knew that Lin Shuang and Jiang Huaizhen were looking for them.

When Lin Shuang arrived, the two of them were packing up their stall. Seeing them come, they had Old Hu take the things back first, and the four of them went to a teahouse, got a private room, and sat down to discuss the future cooperation.

In the few months since the new year, the two families had earned a lot of money. They were all beaming with joy, and they were extremely warm to Lin Shuang and Jiang Huaizhen, even fighting to pay for the tea.

“Old Hu came back and told us. We have no problem. After all, it’s not good for you if the villagers are envious of you coming in and out every day. From now on, we’ll make the dough ourselves,” Lu Erqiao said.

Lin Shuang quoted the price of the sauce and oil pastry. “From now on, we won’t be involved in the flatbread business. We’ll just supply the sauce. You can decide how much to sell and where to sell it.”

The two of them had been making flatbreads for two months and had long been familiar with how many flatbreads a catty of sauce could make. The price Lin Shuang had given was not high, and it could even let them earn a little more.

Most importantly, if they did this, the two of them could also sell separately. How much they sold would be their own, which would be much more convenient.

“Alright. We’ll do as you say.”

Lin Shuang said, “The dough is just like the dough we usually knead at home, with a ratio of six catties of flour to four catties of water. You two aunts have made a lot of pasta at home, so you know much more about this than I do.”

The two of them smiled. They had refused before because they were avoiding suspicion, but now that it was settled, there was nothing to be shy about.

“Then we won’t prepare the dough from tomorrow. From now on, we’ll deliver the oil pastry and spices every three days. If there are any changes, you can just let us know.”

The two of them agreed and, after discussing some more details, they parted.

After leaving the teahouse, the sister and sister-in-law were clearly a little excited.

Lu Erqiao said, “I said before that I wanted to set up another stall in the north of the city. It wasn’t good to tell them at that time. After all, it’s their business, and we can’t make the decision. Now, according to Shuang’er’s meaning, we can open it however we want, as long as we get the sauce from them.”

“Where else can we get the sauce if not from them? No one else can make this sauce. The customers only recognize this taste.”

“Alright then. After we’re done planting the rice, we’ll set up the stall over there. We’ll each have one side, so the customers don’t have to run from east to west. Sigh, I was even thinking of having our Dacheng go to the prefectural city to sell. I just don’t know if he can take the hardship.”

“What’s so hard about it? If it weren’t for my two little ones being so young, I would have sent them out to earn money long ago.”

“We’ll see then. But if we set up another stall, we’ll have to get another pot. The one we have now is still theirs. We’ll have to see if we should get another one or just buy it from them.”

“Then we’ll talk about the pot next time we meet.”

“Sigh, these two girls are really good people. Just with this flatbread, we can earn a few taels of silver a month. We wouldn’t have dared to think about it before.”

“The people in their village are also stupid. They’re not relying on such a good money tree and are instead taboo about some executioner. In my opinion, an executioner is more merciful than a pig butcher. A pig butcher kills all pigs, good or bad. An executioner beheads people, but they are all criminals approved by the court. They are not afraid of a pig butcher, but they are afraid of an executioner. They are so stupid.”

Wang Zhimei smiled. “If they weren’t stupid, how would we be able to earn this money?”

“That’s true,” Lu Erqiao smiled. “We have to hold on to this money tree. Their sauce is good, so they won’t have to worry about not finding someone to sell the flatbreads. But we can’t do without them. We shouldn’t have any crooked ideas and just honestly sell their sauce.”

“Oh, sister, don’t I know that? The customers are very picky. If we usually put a little less oil pastry, they can tell if it’s crispy enough just by tasting it, let alone the sauce. You can’t fake it at all,” Wang Zhimei said.

“Alright then.”