Transmigrated into the Scumbag Ex-Wife of the Prime Minister - Chapter 6

Lu Village, Lu Family Distillery.

“What?! The wine has all gone sour?”

Lu Sheng followed the Village Chief Lu into the distillery. Before they even entered the courtyard gate, she heard a sharp female voice coming from inside.

Lu Sheng had heard this voice yesterday; it belonged to her cousin, Lu Huaying.

The Lu Family Distillery was set up by Village Chief Lu’s father, Lu Yuan. Lu Yuan had two sons and one daughter. The eldest son was Lu Sheng’s grandfather, Lu Guangming; the second son was Lu Huaying’s father, Lu Guangzhi; and the youngest child was Village Chief Lu.

Lu Guangming died young, and Lu Guangzhi was unambitious and indulged in pleasure, so Lu Yuan had always entrusted the distillery to Village Chief Lu to manage.

Before Lu Yuan died, he divided the family distillery into three parts. Village Chief Lu’s branch was responsible for managing the distillery and took a fifty percent share of the profits. The remaining fifty percent was split equally between the first and second branches of the family.

Hearing Lu Huaying’s voice, Village Chief Lu furrowed her brows, leaned on her cane, and quickly took a couple of steps forward.

“How are you people working?! How could perfectly good wine suddenly go bad? One vat of wine is one and a half taels of silver—that’s a full one hundred and fifty taels! And you’ve ruined it all!”

“The Lu family pays you wages, and this is how you work?!”

“We provide you with food and drink, and you make this kind of wine for me?!”

Lu Huaying stood with one hand on her hip, pointing at the distillery workers with the other, loudly scolding them. She looked vulgar, aggressive, and unreasonable.

Lu Hualin took a step, blocking the workers, and pulled down Lu Huaying’s hand. “Ying, Yingzi, you, you should, should say, say, two, two, less, less, words. The, the matter, matter, hasn’t, hasn’t been, been clarified.”

Lu Hualin was Village Chief Lu’s eldest son and the master brewer at the distillery. He had been the manager of the distillery since Lu Huacheng’s death.

He had a natural stutter, and the more anxious he became, the more severely his speech was broken.

“What hasn’t been clarified?! It’s these lazy bums who forgot to seal the vats yesterday, that’s why the wine went sour!”

“No, no, that’s not right. Yes, yesterday, be, before I, I went, went home, I spe, specially, specially checked. They, they were, were all, all fine.” Lu Hualin was sweating anxiously.

“Then how did perfectly good wine go bad? It can’t be that a rat sneaked in at midnight and made off with the lid, can it?!” Lu Huaying was relentless, slapping his hand away.

“I don’t care. In any case, the wine is ruined now, and you all have to compensate for the money! If you, Elder Brother, want to shield them, will you make up for this hundred and fifty taels?”

“You, you!”

Lu Hualin was an honest and simple man. Confronted with a rogue like Lu Huaying who was shouting and causing a scene, how could he possibly argue with her?

At this point in the argument, a thought flashed through Lu Huaying’s mind, and she was ready to pin the whole incident on Lu Hualin.

“That’s right, Elder Brother is now the manager of the distillery. It’s reasonable that you should be responsible for the ruined wine. I think this money…”

Village Chief Lu heavily struck the ground with her cane, interrupting Lu Huaying’s words. The crowd in the courtyard also saw the group of people who had just walked in.

“Village Chief Lu!”

“Chief!”

“Mother!”

Everyone was anxious after discovering the wine had soured that morning. Moreover, Lu Huaying’s clamor for them to pay compensation had terrified them and left them completely lost.

The distillery had a total of eight workers; the highest-paid among them made less than one tael a month. If they really had to pay compensation, there was no way they could afford it.

Now that they saw Village Chief Lu, every person felt as if they had seen a savior.

Seeing her, Lu Huaying’s earlier arrogance disappeared, and she lowered her head slightly to greet her aunt.

Village Chief Lu glanced at her and asked in a grave voice, “Yingzi, since when was I unaware that you were in charge of this distillery?”

The Lu Family Distillery had always been managed by Village Chief Lu’s branch of the family. Lu Huacheng grew up with her and also worked at the distillery, but the people from the second branch had never been involved with the distillery’s affairs.

Lu Guangzhi had no assets but possessed a handsome face, and he used that face to marry the daughter of a major tea merchant in the county.

Compared to an ordinary family like the Lu family, the second branch preferred to cling to their maternal grandparents’ family for a living.

For the first few years, Lu Guangzhi’s three children all worked in the tea business with their maternal grandparents. It wasn’t until the maternal grandparents’ family declined that this family returned to Lu’er Village.

Some people even set their sights on the Lu family distillery, which they had previously looked down upon.

“Aunt, I, I was just anxious. It’s just that these loafers were lazy, and our perfectly good wine was ruined!” Lu Huaying explained hastily.

“Do you have evidence that they were lazy and forgot?”

“If they weren’t lazy, how could the wine have gone bad?” Lu Huaying muttered, trying to justify herself. “The wine went bad; someone has to be responsible, right?”

Village Chief Lu squinted at her. Lu Huaying averted her gaze and said no more.

“Mother, I, I specifically, specifically checked, when, when I left, yesterday. They, they were, were all, all sealed.” Lu Hualin saw Village Chief Lu walk beside him and explained anxiously.

“Your mother trusts you.” Village Chief Lu patted his shoulder, her voice gentle. “Let’s go look at the wine first.”

As soon as she said this, the distillery workers and Lu Hualin all sighed in relief.

“Yes.”

Lu Hualin smiled in response and led her to the wine cellar.

Rice wine brewing generally involves mixing the rice with yeast starter and then sealing the vat for fermentation. According to the weather in Binhe County in October, it takes about fifteen days from sealing the vat until the rice wine fermentation is complete.

After seven days of fermentation, the distillery workers open the vats sequentially after coming to work each day to check the fermentation status. After checking, they must promptly reseal the vats; otherwise, if the rice wine is exposed to the air for too long, it will over-ferment and turn sour.

When the workers arrived at the wine cellar this morning, they discovered that the seals on all of the more than one hundred vats of rice wine in the cellar had been thrown to the side, and the rice wine inside the vats had already developed a sour smell.

Lu Sheng, following along, now understood the sequence of events.

The workers checked the wine vats one by one. If they had forgotten to seal them, they would only forget one or two; it was impossible for every single vat to be open.

Combined with the fact that Lu Hualin had checked before he left yesterday, the truth was most likely that someone had sneaked into the distillery at night and opened the wine jars.

Thinking of this, a sentence popped into Lu Sheng’s memory.

‘Then last night I saw Ding Laizi go to the distillery. He was being sneaky; you could tell he was up to no good.’

This was what the sparrow said in the tree in her courtyard this morning.

Ding Laizi was a local ruffian in the village who didn’t work a proper job. He hung out with a group of scoundrels in the county, spending his days drifting between gambling dens and brothels.

Sparrows are simple and inherently timid birds, they don’t lie, and their powers of observation are especially sharp. Since they said they saw Ding Laizi, it couldn’t be wrong.

Ding Laizi had no known connection with the Lu Family Distillery. Since he was at the distillery last night, he was now the prime suspect.

Village Chief Lu examined the vats one by one, pointing to a dozen or so. “These vats don’t have a sour smell. You can jar them directly; they will be fine after being re-distilled once.”

“Then, then what, what about the re, rest?” Lu Hualin asked anxiously.

Village Chief Lu sighed deeply and said helplessly, “We can’t keep them.”

“Can’t keep them?” Lu Huaying shrieked. “Can’t the rest be jarred and distilled? I don’t think the sourness is too strong. Just distill them and sell them off.”

“How can we sell wine that has already gone sour?! If we sell it, it will ruin the Lu family’s reputation!” Village Chief Lu scolded, her face stern.

Lu Huaying quieted down, muttering somewhat unwillingly, “Then, then this ruined wine…”

“Cousin-Aunt, when it’s time to make money, your second branch wants a share. How can you expect Grandma-Aunt’s family to cover the loss when it’s time to pay? That’s not fair.”

Lu Sheng couldn’t stand Lu Huaying’s calculating, miserly look and directly challenged her.

For so many years, the first and third branches had provided the labor and effort, while the second branch received dividends for free every year. Now that there was a loss, they didn’t want to share the burden? There was no such easy deal.

“You wasteful girl! The elders are talking here! Where do you get the right to speak?!”

Lu Huaying had been rebuffed by Village Chief Lu and was full of anger with nowhere to vent. She seized the opportunity to scold Lu Sheng fiercely.

“You wretch who’s so poor you’re about to lose everything! Don’t come here acting all high and mighty! What are you trying to prove by putting on airs? Without your tiny share of the distillery’s profit, your whole family would be left to starve!”

“No matter how poor our family is, we get what we’re entitled to. We are not like some people who are crooked at heart, constantly calculating, unable to eat well or sleep soundly, just scheming to take advantage of others and coveting other people’s belongings.”

Lu Sheng was not going to tolerate her, directly exposing the ulterior motives in her heart.

“Before the Wang family fell, you were clinging to them and acknowledging them as ancestors every day, practically wishing you could change your surname to Wang. Now that the Wang family is ruined, why don’t you go to jail with them? That’s your maternal grandfather’s family. Why don’t you go and be filial to them?”

“You! What nonsense are you talking about?! I’ll beat you, you foul-mouthed bastard!”

Lu Huaying was enraged and embarrassed. She stretched out her hand to grab Lu Sheng. Lu Sheng reacted quickly and immediately dodged behind Lu Hualin.

“Don’t, don’t, stoop, stoop to, to her, her, level, with, with a, child.”

Lu Hualin was tall and large. Standing in front, he completely blocked Lu Huaying, preventing her from reaching Lu Sheng in the slightest.

“That girl’s child is three years old! How is she a child?! Elder Brother, don’t stop me! I must teach this wretched girl a lesson today!”

Lu Sheng saw her stomping her feet in a fit of exasperation, deliberately made a face at her, and smiled triumphantly.

Just then, Lu Sheng noticed a familiar figure standing behind Village Chief Lu.

This person was dressed in white, with a tall, slender figure, handsome and delicate features, and an elegant and refined temperament, like a green bamboo.

Who else could it be but Qi Zhenshu?

Judging by where she was standing, Lu Sheng thought the person must have been there for a while.

She had been busy bickering with Lu Huaying just now and hadn’t paid any attention to the movement behind her.

Oh dear, oh dear! It’s all over!

When did Qi Zhenshu arrive? Did she see her completely losing her composure while arguing with Lu Huaying?!

Lu Sheng’s smile froze on her face. She immediately stood up straight, clasped her small hands in front of her, gently twisting them together, and offered Qi Zhenshu a shy smile. She looked exceptionally reserved and well-behaved.

Qi Zhenshu pursed her lips.

“You brat, with a mother who didn’t raise you right! Today, I’ll teach you a good lesson on your mother’s behalf!”

Lu Huaying was still being unreasonable, determined to grab Lu Sheng, and her insults grew increasingly vulgar.

Village Chief Lu narrowed her eyes and shouted, “Huaying!”

“Aunt, Lu Sheng is disrespectful to her elders. You can’t keep spoiling her.”

Lu Huaying had failed to grab Lu Sheng and was full of pent-up anger. She immediately changed her approach and tried to sow discord with Village Chief Lu. “She can speak to me like this today, and she’ll be slandering you behind your back tomorrow.”

“If a junior says something wrong, just correct them. Why such a fuss? You know you are an elder. You should act with discretion. Don’t you know what should be said and what shouldn’t be said?!”

Village Chief Lu looked displeased; it was clear she was angry. Lu Huaying wanted to retort but was somewhat afraid. Yet, to swallow this grievance was also something she was unwilling to do.

“Lu Sheng, apologize to your Cousin-Aunt! No matter how wrong an elder is, it is not for a junior like you to criticize!”

Village Chief Lu’s words were ostensibly fair to both sides, but her partiality was obvious.

Lu Sheng knew when to stop and accepted the situation. “Cousin-Aunt, I was wrong. Please be the bigger person and don’t hold a grudge against an ignorant junior like me.”

Lu Huaying folded her arms and snorted coldly, preparing to say a few more hurtful words.

“Yingzi, the money for this ruined wine will be charged to our third branch’s account, not to the public funds. Are you satisfied?” Village Chief Lu interjected.

A surge of joy rose in Lu Huaying’s heart, and the unpleasant words she was about to say were swallowed back.

When she heard that over a hundred vats of wine were ruined this morning, her first thought was how to pin the blame on the managing branch—the second branch—to prevent her own family from incurring a loss. Now that she had gotten what she wanted, her trip was not in vain.

Saving these dozens of taels of silver made her feel much more comfortable.

“That settles it.”

Lu Huaying readily agreed, smiling so broadly that her teeth showed, a complete transformation from her earlier vulgar and aggressive demeanor.

“Mother, I…” Lu Hualin wanted to say something.

Afraid that he would say something to make Village Chief Lu go back on her word, Lu Huaying quickly cut in ahead of him, “It’s getting late. I need to go back and make lunch for my grandson. Aunt, I’m leaving now.”

With that, Lu Huaying darted out of the wine cellar and ran away quickly.

Lu Sheng rolled her eyes at Lu Huaying’s retreating back in exasperation. Turning around, she met a pair of eyes as still as water.

Cough. Lu Sheng pretended to cough, lowering her head to cover her embarrassment.

How could Qi Zhenshu see her in such a bad light again!

Seeing the wine vats beside her from the corner of her eye, Lu Sheng suddenly remembered what she had wanted to say. She walked over to Village Chief Lu and said with a smile, “Grandma-Aunt, even though this rice wine has turned a bit sour, we don’t need to pour it out. I have a way to turn it back into good wine.”

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