For a long time afterward, the menu at Ding Yun's small shop kept changing. It went from potato shredded pancakes and radish shredded pancakes to steamed dumplings, from lotus root cakes to shredded cucumber in a蓑衣 (suīyī - straw cape) style, from fried eggplant pockets to fried sweet potato strips, from yam cakes to preserved garlic.
It was a bewildering variety of ingredients, utterly without pattern.
One day it might be fried food, and that same day it could switch to snacks and pastries, then back to pickled vegetables.
But fortunately, the taste was always good.
And people enjoyed the novelty.
So, her business remained consistently strong.
Later, she even took the time to obtain a food production and business license. This made doing business much more secure; having the proper permits was certainly more reassuring than operating without one.
The main reason Ding Yun hadn't applied for one earlier was that she was under sixteen years old, and they wouldn't issue one.
Now, after operating for more than half a year, she had regular customers and a steady volume of business, and she had reached the required age. So, it was only natural to get the permits sorted out and put her mind at ease.
However, she still felt tired.
She felt she had no leisure or recreational time.
Every day, she was already exhausted from learning and exercising in the space. When she left the space, she had to run the business and constantly come up with new recipes and preparations for food.
In the past, she only needed to process the ingredients she cut. But recently, after she got the hang of cooking, she also had to deal with the finished products, whether successful or not, after she cooked them.
To give herself some peace of mind, at least to have some free time to watch TV or read, Ding Yun finally decided she had to hire someone, to employ help.
As for concerns about leaks or attracting suspicion,
She had also thought of a compromise, albeit a rough one.
That was to use the money earned recently to buy two large freezers. She could then store all the prepared semi-finished products in the freezers.
Then, the hired help could take things out of the freezers to defrost and cook, or sell them directly.
At the same time, when she needed to go to the backyard, she would lock the backyard.
This should minimize any risk of leaks.
Having conceived this plan, Ding Yun quickly contacted the local department store and ordered two large freezers. After waiting for half a month, the freezers finally arrived. Ding Yun only posted the recruitment notice after the freezers were installed and operational.
Finally, it took her three days.
To recruit two young women in their early twenties.
One was already a mother, with her mother-in-law looking after the child, so she could come to work with peace of mind. Her cooking skills were also decent.
The other was unmarried and wanted to save some dowry for herself, hoping to find a good match later.
Her cooking skills were average, but she was very quick and efficient.
Ding Yun's requirements for cooking skills weren't very high; as long as they could cook the food properly, without overcooking or burning it, and it was edible, that was enough.
According to normal market prices, Ding Yun even increased their salaries slightly, setting the monthly wage at forty-five yuan.
As for other benefits, there were none, naturally.
The five social insurances and one housing fund system only began in 1998.
It was only 1985 this year.
With the onboarding of the two efficient employees, Ding Yun finally felt truly relaxed. It wasn't a superficial relaxation, but genuine ease. Initially, she still handled the money herself. Once they were familiar and trusted each other, Ding Yun even handed over the tasks of collecting money and managing accounts. She was responsible only for providing raw materials and semi-finished products, handling nothing else.
And the raw materials, apart from a small portion that needed to be purchased, were mostly provided by the space. The semi-finished products also didn't require much worry from Ding Yun; with the food batch cooking and production machine in the space, setting the requirements was enough to handle it.
In this way, wasn't she much more relaxed?
...
Meanwhile, in Du Family Village.
Since the previous legal education activity, everyone in their village and neighboring villages who had been exposed for past wrongdoings was investigated. For example, the village shaman who practiced feudal superstitions and caused deaths, and the old woman who had personally sold her own granddaughter.
They were all arrested and sentenced.
It could be said that the overall atmosphere had been cleansed.
But this did not mean everyone was content.
Those who didn't get their hands on anything and suffered heavy losses, leading to family members being imprisoned – the original host's parents and relatives, as well as distant relatives connected to the original host's great-grandfather.
They were extremely unwilling to accept this.
For the first half year or so, they had indeed been quiet for a long time because the family members who had previously gone to Ding Yun's house to搶 (qiǎng - snatch) things had been arrested.
However, as they learned through various channels, and from people who went to the county town to visit relatives and buy things, that Ding Yun had also inherited a property with a shop from her great-grandfather in the county town, had become a city dweller, was living very well, and was even hiring people to work for her.
The feeling of unwillingness surged again.
Their hearts were deeply stirred by the prospect of the property.
At this time, the appeal of a city household registration was undeniable for most rural people, let alone owning a house. Even a house in the countryside was valuable, and this was a house in the city with a shop.
However, with the experience of last time.
They knew that forcibly taking it was impossible.
So, they could only gather together to discuss what to do.
Of course, their interests did not align, so they could not gather and negotiate together. The negotiation was still among the distant relatives, and the original host's immediate blood relatives formed another group.
However, the group of distant relatives was not very effective.
After much deliberation,
Ultimately, due to their lack of close ties and no one daring to take the lead and risk too much,
They did not reach an agreement in the end.
Perhaps the most crucial reason was that they had consulted knowledgeable people and knew that with their distant relationship, it was almost impossible to legally benefit from this situation.
Knowing that legal channels were almost impossible, and lacking the courage to break the law, the final outcome of their discussions was, naturally, a complete breakdown and abandonment of the matter.
However, the original host's biological parents and relatives.
They were not so easily willing to give up.
They felt that with the blood relation, even if their daughter didn't acknowledge them, it couldn't be helped. After all, there are no unfilial parents in the world; they gave her life, so what was wrong with asking for something? Not giving it would be unfilial and deserving of death.
But how to get the property,
And how to distribute it after obtaining it, were the key issues.
In the old Du family residence, Du Ruhai, Du Ruyuan, and Du Rushen, along with the adult members of their families, were all gathered.
As for their mother, she was, of course, in jail.
If their mother had not taken all the blame,
How could they be sitting here intact?
"You should all know what kind of life that jinx is living now, definitely feasting on meat and fish like a rich landlord. Why should her life be so good while we have to suffer her misfortune and hardship?
Now even our mother is in jail because of her.
Third brother, don't you have anything to say?"
At the beginning, the eldest uncle Du Ruhai had framed the situation, not only reaffirming Ding Yun's identity as a jinx but also attributing their family's misfortunes to Ding Yun.
Then, he gestured for the original host's biological father to speak.
"What can I say? You all agreed to give her away back then. You didn't agree to her being adopted by great-grandfather at first, but didn't you all agree after receiving ten yuan from great-grandfather each?
It would have been the end of the matter then.
But you had to provoke her again.
Can you blame me for this?"
Du Rushen immediately replied with some impatience. This child wasn't someone he had wanted to give birth to. Now that so many things had happened, could he be blamed? It was all due to greed.
"What do you mean by us provoking her? We provoked her for your sake. No matter what, she's your biological daughter. How can an unmarried daughter have a house and money in her hands? Does that make sense?
She's a girl destined to get married, yet she's become a city dweller first. Her father, brothers, and uncles are all villagers. Does that make sense? Regardless, she is your daughter. Even in the city, an unmarried girl should hand over her wages to her parents!
Furthermore, don't you think about your son? Do you want him to work the land like you in the future?
If he had a house in the county town, what kind of girl couldn't he marry? Finding a stable job would also be much easier.
Don't forget, many city jobs, even if you pass the exam, you can't get them without a town household registration. We've been working tirelessly for you, and Mother even went to jail for this matter, and you're still ungrateful. Are you even human?"
Seeing Du Rushen's attitude, Du Ruhai was already very displeased, and his tone became somewhat harsh. In the end, he even began to scold him, as if every word was for his own good, and not being grateful was a grave sin.
"If I had known there was such good fortune, I would have had my own daughter adopted. My daughter, if adopted, would never be like your daughter who shows no regard for family ties."
Du Ruyuan, standing nearby, also said with displeasure.
"As if you didn't benefit."
"No matter how much we benefited, we couldn't compare to what you got. We could at most benefit indirectly, allowing our children to get a city household registration. Third brother, don't be ungrateful. If you really don't want anything, then let's break up now and not bother with this matter?"
"You... I don't believe you'd be willing to!"
...
After a period of unpleasant mutual bickering.
Ultimately, their interests made them unwilling to fall apart. Without the pretense of hypocrisy, discussing matters became easier for them.
"So, what should we do next?
Going to her door directly is impossible, and your jinx of a daughter will certainly not agree. How about we directly accuse her of being unfilial and find a way to force her hand?
"Yes, call her unfilial, call her a jinx.
No, she is already a jinx.
Then spread the news that she is a jinx. Who knows, maybe her business won't be able to continue.
"Are you guys idiots?
If her business can't continue, she'll hold on even tighter to that house. It will become even more difficult for us to get the house.
"Then what? Nothing works, nothing works!"
"In my opinion, we can only go for drastic measures!"
"What do you mean?"
"Think about it, how did that dead girl get that house? She got it because her great-grandfather died, so she naturally inherited the house. If she also dies, we are her closest relatives. Then, by right, we can naturally inherit the house, can't we? It's reasonable and logical!"
"What?"
When the discussion reached this point, everyone was stunned by Du Ruhai's words. They were all ordinary people, not desperate criminals.
For a moment, they dared not think of taking a life.
So, naturally, they were all speechless.
They didn't know how to respond.
At the same time, they were all considering it in their hearts, and even felt that although the words were inappropriate.
The method might indeed work.
"This is a crime, it's taking a life!"
"It's only a crime if you get caught. What if you're not caught? Besides, I'm not saying we should openly harm that jinx's life. We can completely think of ways, strategize, use poison or accidents to harm her."
"No, no, even a tiger doesn't eat its cubs!"
"You must remember that it was your jinx of a daughter who caused her grandmother to go to jail. This is her unfilial act.
In the past, she deserved to be beaten to death with sticks.
What we are doing is avenging our mother..."
"This..."
"Why are you still hesitating? She's just a girl, and a girl who has caused our family so much suffering. Such a harbinger of doom who only harms others is a menace alive. It would be better to send her to reincarnation sooner, and it might even reduce her sins."
"But how should we do it?"
"We can't rush things like this. We need to plan slowly. We need to first figure out the current situation of that dead girl, the layout of her house, what she usually eats, where she buys things, and then, based on the specific situation, we can proceed slowly, plan slowly.
Also, we need to continue spreading the news that she is a jinx and a troublemaker. It's best to spread it in the direction of her jinx constitution causing harm to herself and others. This way, perhaps in the future, when we succeed in killing her, people won't think too much about it and will only assume she died because her jinx constitution caused harm to herself and others, which would be more beneficial to us.
"Is it necessary to be so complicated? As long as she doesn't die in a way that is clearly a result of foul play, we can quickly go and claim her body, then quickly apply for a death certificate and have her cremated."
"It's the same, nothing will happen."
"It's a pity the shaman was arrested, and she's already dead.
I heard my mother say she had some things that could silently end a life, but I don't know what they are. If only we could find something.
"Why don't we hold off on any major actions for now, just investigate the specific situation first? After Mother comes out in a couple of years, we can discuss it with her. Perhaps Mother will know some good secret remedies, after all, Mother had a good relationship with the shaman from the next village; they were practically sworn sisters."
"No, that dead girl is already sixteen this year. If it's another two years, she might be married. If she gets married, even if she dies, we might have to argue with her in-laws."
"That's true, I hadn't thought of that."
"We'll just keep an eye on her. Once she wants to go on a blind date, we'll find a way to sabotage it. If we really can't sabotage it, then we'll see."
"Alright, that's settled then."
...