Transmigrated into the Scumbag Ex-Wife of the Prime Minister - Chapter 18

Turning to look, everyone saw two people walking into the courtyard. As they got closer, Lu Sheng recognized them.

The person walking in front was around sixty years old, dressed in a dark red brocade robe with a precious floral pattern. He held a jade-handled paper fan in his left hand, and a birdcage in his right. Humming a tune, he happily sauntered with slow, relaxed steps, crossing the threshold and walking inside.

This man was Lu Guangzhi, the village head Lu’s second elder brother. Following behind him was Lu Huaying, whose face showed displeasure.

“Second Granduncle, Cousin,” Lu Zheng greeted them with a slight smile and invited them to sit. “Please sit here.”

After Lu Guangzhi sat down, he placed the birdcage on the side table, lifted the cage cover, and took out a bird-teasing stick. He made two soft sucking sounds towards the cage, and the caged Hwamei bird fluttered its wings and flew to the side, chirping impatiently twice.

‘Go away, you old coot!’

The Hwamei bird’s call was clear and loud. Lu Guangzhi beamed with joy and teased it a couple more times.

“Oh! That’s lovely, sing a couple more for your granduncle!”

The Hwamei, annoyed, dodged his actions and loudly sang in the cage.

‘Stupid old man, why are you poking me, it hurts like hell when you poke me. You like hearing me curse, do you? Let me curse you to death, you rotten old man, you look like a fat-headed pig with a mind full of fat, all you do is eat, drink, and play all day, you prodigal son! You good-for-nothing! You useless fop!’

“Wonderful, wonderful!” Lu Guangzhi closed his eyes, shaking his head, thoroughly enjoying the Hwamei’s ‘melodious singing.’

The scene before them was truly comical and ridiculous. Lu Sheng couldn’t hold back and let out a chuckle.

Everyone turned their heads to look at her. Lu Sheng cleared her throat, suppressed her laughter, and complimented seriously, “Second Granduncle, your bird is truly special, especially its singing. Marvelous, simply marvelous.”

Lu Guangzhi had spent twenty taels that afternoon to buy this Hwamei, which had earned him a lot of scorn and complaints from his wife. That’s why he brought the bird out. Unexpectedly, he met Lu Sheng, who praised the bird. He felt as if he had met a soulmate and couldn’t be happier.

He gave Lu Sheng an approving look and said proudly, “Only Little Sheng knows good stuff. I paid a high price for this bird from…”

“Father.”

Seeing Lu Guangzhi about to go off on a tangent, Lu Huaying quickly spoke up to remind him not to forget the purpose of their visit.

Lu Guangzhi glanced at her with distaste and said to Lu Sheng, “I’ll tell you all about it properly when we have time!”

Lu Guangzhi ignored all matters, ate three bowls of rice, and worried about nothing. He was essentially an unambitious person. If his daughter and wife hadn’t forced him to come today, he wouldn’t have bothered with this trip.

“Little Sister,”

Lu Guangzhi put down the bird-teasing stick, drawing out his words and speaking lazily to the village head Lu.

“Second Elder Brother, coming over so late, is there something important?”

Although the village head Lu wasn’t particularly close to her second elder brother, she understood his nature well: lazy, opportunistic, and someone who never visited without a purpose.

“I’m here to talk to you about the winery again,” Lu Guangzhi took a sip of tea, slowly. “I mentioned it to you before, you’ve always managed the winery.”

“I was thinking that you managing it is quite good. From now on, I’ll withdraw and hand over the winery to you all. What do you think?”

Upon hearing this, the village head Lu’s face darkened, and she asked in a low voice, “Second Elder Brother, do you mean you want to split the winery assets?”

Although Lu Guangzhi was two years older than the village head Lu, he was generally a bit afraid of his younger sister.

He smiled ingratiatingly, “It’s just that your Second Elder Brother is in a bit of a predicament. Look at the situation of your sister-in-law’s family now. The household has no income, and things can’t go on like this indefinitely. Little Liang and the others are thinking of finding a new source of livelihood.”

“I was thinking that the winery doesn’t lack manpower, and we wouldn’t be much help even if we wanted to. It’s better to withdraw now. That way, I’ll have some silver to provide my children with start-up capital. What do you think?”

Lu Guangzhi’s words were polite, but his underlying meaning was clear: his family was in trouble. Either the village head Lu would split the winery assets so he’d have capital for other businesses, or the village head Lu would arrange for his children to work in the winery.

Lu Guangzhi had brought up splitting the winery several times after the death of the old master Lu Yuan. However, at that time, his wife’s family hadn’t fallen on hard times. Each time he proposed withdrawing from the winery, it was because he wanted to buy some new, curious trinkets, and his wife disagreed, so he wanted to come to the village head Lu to withdraw his share of the winery in exchange for silver to spend.

Although the village head Lu was bothered by his antics, she always remembered Lu Yuan’s dying wish: not to split the winery unless absolutely necessary, to leave a fallback for the First and Second Houses. So, she never agreed to split the winery.

This time, however, Lu Guangzhi’s reason was legitimate, which made the village head Lu hesitate.

Lu Guangzhi’s three children had been following Wang Shi’s (his wife’s) family in the grain business and knew nothing about the winery’s affairs. Letting them join the winery would not only be unhelpful but could also cause a lot of complications.

In the past, the Second House wasn’t short of money and rarely inquired about the winery. But ever since the Wang family fell, the Second House started trying to get involved every now and then.

The village head Lu pondered for a moment, then sighed, and said helplessly, “Second Elder Brother, since you’ve said so, have you thought about how to split it?”

Seeing her silence for a long time, Lu Guangzhi thought he was about to be rejected again, but he didn’t expect the village head Lu to agree so readily.

Lu Huaying, who had been unhappy since entering the door, immediately brightened up at her words.

Lu Guangzhi was overjoyed and quickly said, “We won’t ask for too much, just split it according to the ratio our father set.”

Lu Yuan had spent nearly a thousand taels to establish the winery. If they split it according to the set proportion, the Second House, if it wanted to withdraw from the winery, could get two hundred and fifty taels of silver. If they added the current year’s profit on the books, they could get about three hundred taels.

“Second Elder Brother, have you thought this through?” the village head Lu asked again.

Based on the proportion, the Second House received an annual dividend of forty to fifty taels. Three hundred taels was essentially five years’ worth of dividends. Withdrawing like this was clearly a bit of a loss.

She remembered her father’s final instruction and, in her heart, did not wish to split the winery.

“Yes, I’ve thought it through, I’ve thought it through,” Lu Guangzhi repeatedly agreed, then mentioned the most important point. “If Little Sister thinks it’s alright, we’ll invite the clan elders tomorrow to witness it and split it directly. How does that sound?”

“Why the rush?” the village head Lu said, somewhat troubled. “I don’t have that much cash on hand right now.”

“No matter, no matter. We’ll finalize the split first, and you can give me the silver in a few days when you’ve managed to gather it,” Lu Guangzhi waved his hand, acting as if he wasn’t in a hurry for the money.

The village head Lu felt uneasy and said again, “Let me think about it some more, Second Elder Brother.”

As soon as she said this, the faces of Lu Guangzhi and his daughter changed, and Lu Huaying quickly tugged at Lu Guangzhi’s sleeve.

“Little Sister, we just agreed, why do you want to think about it again?” Lu Guangzhi said anxiously. “If tomorrow doesn’t work, we can do it the day after tomorrow.”

Having been the village head for over twenty years, whenever someone in the village needed to divide their family property, they would invite her to witness it.

She had seen many such events and had a clearer understanding of things.

Considering Lu Guangzhi’s actions and Lu Huaying’s behavior at the winery a few days prior, the village head Lu quickly understood the situation after a moment’s thought.

With this realization, the lingering thought of kinship and the desire to persuade them to change their minds immediately vanished.

She waved her hand wearily, “Tomorrow it is then.”

Lu Guangzhi and his daughter were secretly relieved to get the confirmation and left happily without saying much more.

The father and daughter’s behavior was too obvious, and even the most straightforward Lu Hualin noticed that something was amiss.

“Mother, Second Uncle, they, they are, aren’t they, just know, knew that Boss Liao, Liao came, came to ask, ask for com, compensation.”

The Second House’s rush to split the family assets under the pretext of needing capital for other businesses was false. The truth was they had heard about Boss Liao coming for compensation today and wanted to withdraw their share early to avoid this loss.

The village head Lu sighed deeply, remaining silent.

In the past, the Second House was greedy for small advantages, and the village head Lu, considering their kinship, always yielded when she could.

Now, knowing the winery was in trouble, the Second House not only didn’t come to discuss solutions but instead wanted to seize the opportunity to withdraw early, completely disregarding family ties.

This time, the Second House’s actions truly disheartened her.

Lu Sheng reached out and held the village head Lu’s hand, softly calling her ‘Grand Aunt.’

The furrow between the village head Lu’s brows eased slightly. She took Lu Sheng’s hand and patted it, but she was still a little sad.

Lu Zheng went to the main hall, brought the two little sisters who were playing, and quietly whispered a few words in their ears.

The little ones scampered over to the village head Lu, calling out joyfully, “Great-Grandmother, Great-Aunt,” and clung to her affectionately. The old lady’s brows finally relaxed completely, and she held the two children, playfully teasing them.

As it was getting late, Lu Sheng prepared to leave but didn’t see Qi Zhenshu in the room. When she went to look for her, she happened to hear her talking with Lu Zheng in the courtyard.

“Are you truly not going to the academy anymore?” Lu Zheng asked. “If it’s because of the tuition fees, I can lend you some silver first.”

“It’s not entirely because of the tuition. Tangtang also needs looking after, and commuting to the academy every day is inconvenient. I can study at home as well, so going to the academy isn’t a major issue.”

“That’s true. For you, there’s not much difference whether you go to the academy or not. But don’t be too lax. Some household matters you can let Sheng’er handle, and she will. I think she has matured.”

“Mhm, I know. Lu Sheng is very good now.”

The current Lu Sheng was indeed very good. In the past few days, she had been the one preparing the meals and sweeping the courtyard, no longer living a life of having everything handed to her.

“That’s good,” Lu Zheng comforted, then cautioned, “After the new year, don’t forget to go to the academy to get the recommendation letter for the White Crane Academy.”

The Liang Kingdom’s provincial examination is held every three years. The various prefectures set their own exam questions, decided in consultation between the prefectural education commissioner and the prefectural official school.

The official school of Qingzhou Prefecture is the White Crane Academy. Stepping through the gates of the White Crane Academy is equivalent to having one foot on the list of successful provincial examinees. Therefore, being able to study at the White Crane Academy is a dream for every scholar in Qingzhou.

The White Crane Academy holds a unified recruitment exam every March. To enroll, one must first obtain a recommendation letter from their local academy. They must then pass the academy’s unified test, and only the top twenty scorers are qualified to attend lectures.

Seeing her hesitate, Lu Zheng grew slightly anxious, “It’s fine if you don’t go to the county school, but you absolutely cannot delay the matter of studying at the White Crane Academy!”

“You don’t need to worry about the silver; I’ll lend it to you first. If you’re still concerned about Tangtang and Lu Sheng, when you go to Qingzhou, you can have them move in with me.”

“You cannot be careless about the Imperial Examination. If you miss this opportunity, it will be another three years. You must think it through clearly.”

Support