RL (AT) Chapter 15: Zuiyun Plaza

Chapter 15: Zuiyun Plaza

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Sulo

 

Taking the donkey cart to town, when they reached the place, everyone got off. Lin Mo and Lin Chen followed their parents.

It was mid-morning now, and there were more people on the street. Lin Mo glanced at the other ger beside him, and saw that he was wearing rouge and light-colored clothes, and after looking away, he gave a shudder from psychological discomfort.

It was okay.for men to wear makeup, and there were many modern men who wore makeup too, but Lin Mo just couldn’t stand the thought of covering his face with a thick layer of fakeness, or wearing the ornaments obviously worn by ancient women on his head.

Fortunately, there were not many ger like this, and the streets were not full of ger with heavy makeup.

“We will go to Zuiyun Plaza first, and then go to see what Mo’ger wants to buy.” Father Lin explained.

Lin Mo nodded, and Mama Lin had no problem with the plan. After walking for half an hour, the four finally saw Zuiyun Plaza. Lin Mo followed them and looked up at the appearance of Zuiyun Plaza. From time to time, people went into or left the restaurant. Although it didn’t seem to be very popular, the business was better than other restaurants around. Lin Mo saw that the shops nearby the restaurant were so empty that the shopkeeper lay on the counter and dozed off.

When the four entered Zuiyun Plaza, the sharp eyed brother rushed to meet them, and he didn’t show disdain because they looked to be from a peasant household.

“Four guests, please come inside.” The small brother bowed and smiled as he led the way in.

When Father Lin saw that the waiter was going to lead them to the hall, he said quickly, “We are not here to eat. Is the shopkeeper here? I have something to do with him.” 

“This … Our shopkeeper is busy. What can I do for you …”

“Oh, it’s Mr. Lin!” The shopkeeper, who just came out of the backyard, saw that it was the father-in-law of the young master, so he hurried to meet him. The shopkeeper sent the waiter to meet the other guests at the door and took the four Lin family members to the backyard of the restaurant.

“Young Master and Young Lady just came to Zuiyun Plaza to have a look today. They are resting in the backyard now.” The shopkeeper explained.

“A-Lan and Ningxi are here?” Ma Lin frowned.

The shopkeeper saw this and didn’t speak. He took them there and left.

As Yan Ningxi helped his wife out, he saw his father-in-law and mother-in-law coming, and hurried to say hello.

“You’ve been pregnant for three months and are still running around. What if you let others run into you?” Mama Lin hurried up to her obviously pregnant daughter.

“It’s okay. Ningxi has been keeping an eye on me.” Lin Lan said with a smile. She was happy to see her parents and two younger brothers whom she had not seen for a long time.

When Yan Ningxi saw his mother-in-law coming, he let her handle the situation, and stood by protecting his wife.

Lin Mo and Lin Xing stood at the side. Lin Mo looked up at his Elder Sister and brother-in-law. Maybe they had a good quality of life. Lin Lan, Father Lin, and Mama Lin looked at each other in one glance, but their looks showed gaps in their quality of life.

It was not just quality of life, it was also their skin color. Father Lin and Mama Lin did farm work all year round, and their skin was a little tanned by the sun. It was very different from Lin Lan, who often stayed in the courtyard without exposure to sunlight.

However, it was no different from Lin Mo. Lin Mo’s skin was also very white, but it was more a pale and morbid white without having seen any sunshine all year round.

“Mo’ger came too. Hurry and enter the room. It’s easy to faint when standing in the sun for too long.” Yan Ningxi hurriedly said this. Although he had never met Lin Mo, he had also heard from his wife that Lin Mo was very weak.

“It’s okay. Mo’ger is getting better recently and he doesn’t get sick as easily as before. He can be in the sun.” According to Mama Lin, it was healthier to spend more time under the sun, and the morning sun was not so hot. Although Mama Lin said so, they still entered the house. It was not only the weak Lin Mo, but also the pregnant Lin Lan.

“Dad, I heard that big brother was injured. How is he now?” When everyone sat down, Lin Lan asked. She heard what the villagers in the big neighboring village said yesterday. She thought of going back to the village today, but she met her parents here instead.

“He’s all right, just needs to stay still for a few days.”

“I can help with Brother’s injuries. I’ll let you take some silver back later…” Before Yan Ningxi finished speaking, he was interrupted by Father Lin. 

Lin Mo listened to their conversation and his sister and Mama Lin’s dissuasion. He seemed to clarify the relationship between the two families and also understood why the Yan’s family had money, but the Lin family, as a relative, was so short of money.

Zuiyun Plaza run by the Yan family had branches all over the country, and the number of tourists was good, and this was not only due to Father Yan, but because the Yan family was a big family. Everything was subdivided and Zuiyun Plaza in this town was under the name of Yan Ningxi.

Father Yan had only Yan Ningxi as his only son, and this restaurant was Father Yan’s testing ground for his son.

Apart from the silver needed for the operation of Zuiyun Plaza and the daily expenses of his family, Yan Ningxi didn’t have much silver left at hand. Before that, he would give the Lin family a sum of money every other period of time, which was the expenditure to support Lin Xiu to study in college.

However, when Father Lin learned about Yan Ningxi’s situation, he didn’t take the silver from him any longer. Their family was not too poor to make a living, but they just didn’t have savings. They couldn’t live off of their son-in-law’s money.

“Mn, we don’t need a lot of money. There are so many places where you need money to open a restaurant. You should keep this money for future use.” Father Lin said with a serious face.

After chatting about the family’s routine, Father Lin finally began to talk about the business. He talked about it with his son-in-law, and then took out the things in the basket. When Father Lin was on the way, he was afraid that the road would be too bumpy and that the porcelain in the basket would be damaged. He specially padded a layer of straw inside and wrapped the porcelain with a cloth several times.

As Father Lin took the cloth away, Yan Ningxi saw the purple liquid in the white jade porcelain jar. His eyes were bright because a wine of this color was rare. If the quality of the wine was up to standard, it would be expensive and sell for a lot of money.

Father Lin opened the lid and the fragrance of the wine became stronger. Yan Ningxi leaned in closer to smell it, and indeed smelled a fruity fragrance.

“Drink some to see how it tastes.”

Yan Ningxi heard this, took a cup from the table, poured some in carefully and then closed the lid to prevent the wine fragrance from escaping.

Lin Mo knew the result of the wine, and he didn’t stare at Yan Ningxi as Lin Xing did. Lin Mo heard the conversation between Father Lin and his brother-in-law, but looked at another place, distracted. Only when they had reached an agreement did he come back and look at them.

“If brother-in-law uses some delicate little bottles to hold the wine, the price can be raised a little bit. After all, the goods are rare and expensive. At present, only one or two barrels of them are brewed at home…” Lin Mo talked to him about it, but he didn’t over explain the process. Yan Ningxi could manage the restaurant so well by himself, so he could figure out everything without any details.

After Lin Mo finished, Yan Ningxi thought for a little bit and naturally knew what he meant. However, he didn’t expect that Lin Mo, a ger who seldom went out, would know this.

It took an hour for Father Lin and Yan Ningxi to finally settle the distribution problem of the grape wine and other fruit wines, as well as the income split between them. Of course, Yan Ningxi said it unilaterally, Father Lin listened, but generally speaking, the income for the Lin family was greater.

Lin Mo looked at Yan Ningxi, and he felt less alienated from him. It seemed that this brother-in-law was sincere towards the Lin family. He didn’t take advantage of their income because they didn’t understand these things. He also gave them ten percent more.

“Dad, since the wine you make is so good, why don’t you open a wine shop? Besides, aren’t there many fruit trees in Daling Village? You can harvest fruit from the other villagers to brew more fruit wine… ” Yan Ningxi suggested.

If so, the wine source for Zuiyun Plaza could also be fixed.

“This…” Father Lin looked at Mo’ger and hesitated, he hadn’t said that these wines were made by his son, and he hadn’t thought about it yet.

Lin Mo shook his head and said, “I already had this idea, but I can’t this year. The fruit in the orchard from other people in the village is too ripe. I can’t pick it now. I can only wait for next year.” 

“I’ve forgotten that. Let me help you find which shops are going to be sold.” Yan Ningxi looked at Father Lin.

After talking about everything, thinking that they were done, Father Lin got up and was ready to leave.

“I asked the shopkeeper to prepare some cakes. When you leave, Dad, please remember to take them as a snack for Xiaonan and Xiaoya.”

“Brother-in-law, what about me?” Lin Xing asked in a low voice, and looked at Yan Ningxi with shining eyes.

“There is also your share. I asked the shopkeeper to prepare four for you. Some for Mo’ger too.” Yan Ningxi said with a smile.

Lin Mo gave Lin Xing a look, and Lin Xing and felt like he was looked at like a child. If Lin Chen was here, he would have been shot again.

“Red dates!” Lin Xing exclaimed.

Lin Lan couldn’t help laughing when she saw her younger brother like this. But Mama Lin shot him a death glare, she cared about what her son-in-law thought and wanted to scold her silly son. At home, she didn’t care but she had to keep face outside. Fortunately, her son-in-law didn’t mind.

Yan Ningxi could naturally see the meaning in his mother-in-law’s eyes, responded to Lin Xing’s request, and then looked at Mama Lin and smiled. “Okay! This means A-Xing doesn’t treat me as an outsider. Don’t scold him when you go back.” 

“Right, right, mom, don’t scold me all the time…” Lin Xing mumbled.

Lin Mo stood aside with a slight smile in his eyes.

After the shopkeeper brought the prepared cakes to them, Lin Mo and the others also left Zuiyun Plaza to go shopping elsewhere. Within minutes of walking, Father Lin saw Cheng Yan. It seemed that he came to town to sell game.

Lin Mo and the others saw Cheng Yan, and they were also seen by Cheng Yan who was not far away. Cheng Yan’s vision remained on Lin Mo for a long time before moving away, and then he walked over.

“Aunt Lin.” Cheng Yan came up to say hello, and then he had nothing to say.

Father Lin also knew Cheng Yan’s nature and asked directly, “Out to sell game?”

“Mn.” Cheng Yan nodded.

“Aunt Lin and I are going shopping. You should go shopping with Mo’ger since he hasn’t done much shopping…”

Lin Xing didn’t wait for Father Lin to finish speaking. “Brother Cheng, is that okay?”  

He looked forward to asking. He was thinking about how to persuade his parents to let him see other stalls. Unexpectedly, his father had said it first.

“Yes.” Cheng Yan looked at Lin Mo and nodded.

Lin Mo stood a little bit away and twisted his sweaty hands. Now he was sure that his parents really wanted to match them, but he couldn’t see Cheng Yan’s attitude at present.