You are unlucky and I am tough

Cheng Jinxiu felt ashamed of being subdued by Cheng Shuangfa. The villagers looked at her as if they were laughing at her.

The maid hurried over to help her up, but she covered her face with a handkerchief and ran away crying.

The people at the table started to whisper about this, saying all sorts of things, and trying to guess what Cheng Shuang had just said.

Compared with these two people, the villagers naturally prefer Cheng Shuang, thinking that Cheng Jinxiu did something to make Cheng Shuang angry.

Cheng Jinxiu ran home crying. The banquet had already started in the yard, and servants were coming in and out serving the dishes.

The guests had already gone to the front yard, and Wei Qinglang was invited by Cheng's father to the middle yard to talk, and the topic was about the two families' cooperation in the soap business.

Cheng's father spent most of his time in the city taking care of business. He had long known that something called soap was very popular in the city, so he was very surprised when his daughter said it was the Wei family's business.

As a businessman, he naturally realized that soap could make a lot of money. If the business was his, he would definitely not give it away.

However, the last time Wei Qinglang gave them such an expensive housewarming gift, it must be because he saw that his son was going to pass the imperial examination and wanted to establish a relationship with him.

Human relationships are entangled with interests, and the party that tries to curry favor will always suffer some losses. After all, the Wei family came from a peasant background, and no matter how much money they make, it cannot change that. Being able to cooperate in business with a scholarly family like them with two scholars in the family will make others look up to them. In this way, it can't be said that anyone is at a disadvantage.

Just as Cheng's father said he would pay to help build the workshop, Wei Qinglang hadn't answered yet when Cheng Jinxiu ran in crying and ran straight over to them when she saw them.

"What happened?" Cheng's father wondered. Didn't he just ask her to make friends with Miss Lu? Why did she come back crying?

Cheng Jinxiu sobbed as if she had suffered a great injustice, but her eyes were fixed on Wei Qinglang. "I just told Sister Shuang about the cooperation between our two families, and she got angry and scolded me, and even pushed me to the ground."

Wei Qinglang frowned, "When did we say we wanted to cooperate?"

Father Cheng was startled and said angrily, "Why are you saying anything about this? We haven't even reached an agreement yet."

Cheng Jinxiu cried, "Dad, didn't you say that the Wei family gave our family valuable porcelain just to build a relationship, and that as long as we propose cooperation, everything will be done naturally? I just told Sister Shuang the news, what's wrong with me?"

Father Cheng was almost mad at her words, but Wei Qinglang laughed, a speechless laugh.

"Qinglang, actually this matter..." Father Cheng's face turned pale and he opened his mouth to explain.

"There's nothing much to say." Wei Qinglang raised his hand to interrupt Cheng's father. "The housewarming gift was just an accident. I don't know the value of that thing, and I don't mean to curry favor with your family. My business doesn't need anyone's cooperation."

"Uncle Cheng, I'm sorry if I misunderstood you, but let's forget about the cooperation. I still have something to discuss with the prefect, so I'll excuse myself."

"Brother Qinglang, please don't go." Cheng Jinxiu stopped Wei Qinglang and looked at him tenderly with tears in her eyes. "Are you worried that Sister Cheng Shuang will be angry, so..."

"Cheng Jinxiu."

Wei Qinglang was annoyed and called out his full name, "No young lady would stare at a married man like you do. You act so pretentiously in front of a married man. Whether you crave attention or want to prove your charm, I am not your type. If you still have any sense of shame, respect yourself."

Wei Qinglang did not hide the annoyance in his eyes at all. After he finished speaking, he walked away without looking back.

Cheng Jinxiu was so stunned that she forgot to cry. She slowly turned around to look at the person who left and suddenly shouted angrily, "Wei Qinglang, who do you think you are? How dare you teach me a lesson?"

With a "slap" sound, Cheng's father slapped Cheng Jinxiu hard.

Father Cheng glared at her with a look of dismay, "You've brought disgrace upon the family, and you still dare to yell? Go back to your yard and don't come out, you disgraceful thing."

Cheng Jinxiu naturally refused to go back, so Cheng's father asked the servants to take her back to the yard and lock her in the room.

Cheng Jinxiu smashed everything she could in the room, then sat on the floor and broke down crying.

After arriving in the provincial capital, she suffered blows one after another, from businessmen like Xie Zhiyou, to Cheng Wanpeng's classmates, and then to the two sons of officials from the Zhu family. These people were either powerful or wealthy. She could tolerate them ignoring her and not taking her seriously, but what qualifications did Wei Qinglang have to ignore her?

He was just a country farmer, he should have looked up to her and obeyed her like other men in the village. How dare he look at her with such disgust?

Cheng Jinxiu, an overly self-centered person who has an unrealistically high opinion of herself and only likes and enjoys the attention and flattery of others, broke down today after being treated coldly for such a long time.

In the front yard, the guests were full of praise for the delicious dishes. The roasted whole lamb, pepper and salt spare ribs and pepper and salt pork belly, three dishes that had never been eaten before, were the most popular.

Mr. Lu was curious to know which restaurant the new dish came from, and Cheng's father, who was in charge of entertaining him, told him everything he knew.

Prefect Zhu also told Wei Qinglang that the cook’s cooking skills were not inferior to those of the chef in a big restaurant.

Many things between men are discussed over the dinner table while drinking. Cheng Lizheng took advantage of the good atmosphere and told County Magistrate Shen that the village wanted to build a school.

Today's four protagonists toasted everyone in the room, and then went to the threshing ground to express their gratitude to the villagers who came to congratulate them.

The fish caught by Zheng Tu and his group of scholars were also made into fish soup and served. The fish caught by hand seemed particularly delicious, and everyone was scrambling to drink the fish soup.

The main table couldn't accommodate so many people, so Zhu Yongsi was arranged to sit with Zheng Tu and the others.

Zheng Tu was very curious about Wei Qinglang. He put his arm around Zhu Yongsi's shoulder and asked, "Brother Yongsi, just tell me, who is this brother surnamed Wei, and why does the prefect favor him so much?"

As soon as this question was asked, everyone at the table pricked up their ears to hear what was going on.

Zhu Yongsi shook his head mysteriously. "I dare not say anything about this. If you don't want to get into trouble, don't ask. Anyway, this guy has some skills, so don't offend him."

The scholars had different expressions and kept their mouths shut. Only Zheng Tu was unwilling to give up and asked a few more questions. Zhu Yongsi kept his mouth shut.

Seeing that he really couldn't get anything out of the question, Zheng Tu gave up. He turned around to look at Prefect Zhu and Wei Qinglang who were still talking at the main table behind him, then lowered his eyes and began to eat absentmindedly.

When they were almost done eating, Prefect Zhu said he had some official business to attend to and took his leave. Wei Qinglang saw everyone out and put them in the carriage, then called Mr. Lu and went home first.

The female rabbit had given birth to nine little rabbits.

Lu Yinyin was so excited that she pulled her father to go to the shack to see it. Mr. Lu praised her for being cute and then went back to the yard to sit and drink tea.

Lu Yinyin followed Cheng Pan and the others out again and went to Xu Sanpo's house to ask if there were any dried bamboo shoots left.

After chatting for a while, Wei Qinglang learned that Mr. Lu came specifically for Zhao Xiuwen, so he went to call him home.

Mr. Lu happily presented the gift that he had spent half an hour picking.

Zhao Xiuwen still had many guests to entertain, so he left after a short stay. Before leaving, he said that he would visit Lu's house another day.

Mr. Lu smiled so hard that his teeth were showing, but after everyone left, he sighed softly.

"Uncle Lu, why are you sighing for no reason?" Cheng Shuang asked.

"To tell you the truth," said Mr. Lu, "I liked Xiuwen the first time I saw him, and I even thought about getting him to be my son-in-law. But now he's a scholar, and he's even won first place in the imperial examination. With such a bright future, I'm afraid my family isn't worthy enough for him. What a pity."

Cheng Shuang smiled and said, "So you want to marry Yinyin to a scholar."

"That's what I think." Mr. Lu said, "My daughter is like me, carefree and lively. If she is paired with a refined scholar, she will be more dignified and elegant."

Cheng Shuang nodded, thinking it made sense.

Wei Qinglang also smiled and said, "Uncle Lu can pick out a good one later."

Wei Nanxing, who was packing dried mushrooms in a cloth bag, listened to their conversation and silently glanced at the table several times.

Lu Yinyin is only fifteen years old. Is the Lu family so anxious to get her married?

Her family wants her to marry a scholar, so does she like scholars?

He doesn't like reading and will feel sleepy if he reads for too long.