The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure
Chapter 278: I’m Just Asking

Chapter 278: Chapter 278: I’m Just Asking

The Wang Family must establish good connections for future business dealings.

"Alright, you have more experience outside, so you make the decisions! We can’t be stingy at times like these. Mother may not understand much, but she does know that having more friends means having more paths to take. It’s tough for a young girl like you to run the household and deal with men outside. If there’s any way I can help, I’d even cut off my own flesh for you! Don’t worry, by tomorrow morning, everything will be prepared properly for you!"

With Old Granny Zhang’s assurance, Wang Yongzhu didn’t have anything to worry about.

She then took out the remaining silver and settled accounts with Old Granny Zhang.

"Mother, it cost one hundred and twenty taels to redeem our original land, plus five taels in deed tax. My little over five acres cost fifty taels, with two taels for the deed tax. To include your name and that line in the documents, I gave the Yamen officer handling the property transfer nearly three taels. For hosting guests at the restaurant, a table of fine food only cost five taels," she reported to Old Granny Zhang.

"This morning you gave me a silver note of one hundred and fifty taels, plus the twenty taels from the wolf meat sale, and the remaining fifty taels from the gratitude gift from Boss Zhang last time, which totals two hundred and twenty taels. We spent one hundred and eighty-five taels, and the rest is all here." As she spoke, she pushed all the remaining silver ingots toward Old Granny Zhang.

Old Granny Zhang felt the silver, thought for a moment, left Wang Yongzhu with five taels, and put away the rest, whispering a warning, "Keep this silver in case there’s an emergency. Don’t put money into the house anymore. Now that the land’s been redeemed and the harvest is coming, we’ll be more comfortable at home. And that deposit from Boss Zhang, you must keep it safe, no matter what—even if the sky falls or your father dies, you can’t touch it, understand?"

Wang Yongzhu nodded; she understood, which is why she hadn’t given Old Granny Zhang the one hundred taels deposit silver note.

Now, with land and a business, and still having around thirty taels of silver, let alone anything else, in Qilidun she alone had quite the wealth.

As soon as Old Granny Zhang and Wang Yongzhu came out, Lady Jiang quietly took the children from the third branch back to her room.

Wang Laozhu grabbed Wang Yongping and questioned him in detail about the day’s land redemption process. Wang Yongping grew impatient after a couple of questions and pointed at Jinpan, "They went along too, just ask these two brothers! Besides, if you don’t trust how our sister manages things, what’s there to ask?"

With that, he left too.

Jindou stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to say, but Wang Yongfu came to his rescue, "Father, Jindou and the kids don’t understand these things; they just went along for the look. What could they know? Laosi is right. With our sister handling things, what’s there for you to worry about?"

Old Wang’s eyes widened, "...I just want to know... how much money was spent..."

Jindou opened his mouth to speak but was pulled aside by Jinhoo, "Sir, we don’t understand these matters. Anyway, we must have spent quite a lot of silver. Just ask old auntie; she earned the silver herself, so how could she have made a loss? Sir, today is a cause for celebration. I need to ask mother what’s for dinner, to mark the occasion!"

Saying so, he pulled Jindou and Jinguan along and headed outside.

Once outside, Jindou whispered, "Why didn’t you let me tell sir how much silver was spent?"

Jinhoo gave him a look, "Do you even know how much was spent? We weren’t inside when old auntie and the gentlemen from the Wu Family were transferring the property. Besides, isn’t that banquet considered an expense? While we were waiting outside, I asked around. Buying land and houses, one must pay taxes to the Yamen, which I heard isn’t a small sum. Do you know how much was paid? Casually mentioning a figure isn’t a big deal, but if there are expenses we don’t know about and the amounts don’t match up, causing sir and old auntie to get angry, won’t we be stuck in the middle and seen as troublemakers?"

Upon hearing this, Jindou realized there was a lot more to the situation, patted his chest, "Good thing you pulled me out!"

Back inside, it’s unknown how long Wang Yongfu persuaded Old Wang, but by dinner time, his expression had improved significantly.

During dinner, Old Granny Zhang commanded, "Zhuzhu discussed with me, we owe Shopkeeper Wu and Landlord Wu a huge favor for redeeming the land. I’ll pack up some things tonight, and Laosi, you and Jinhoo will deliver them early tomorrow. It’s also a gesture of goodwill from our family."

Wang Yongping promptly agreed, and Jinhoo, surprised to be included, quickly stood up and accepted excitedly, with a gleam in his eyes.

Wang Laozhu had always heeded Old Granny Zhang’s advice on social dealings. Now, seeing Wang Yongping and Jinhoo had gone to town, he gave a thought and then called out to Jindou, "Jindou... tomorrow... come with me... to check on the fields."

He couldn’t wait to go out and spread the news.

Old Granny Zhang couldn’t be bothered to manage him.

That night, everyone finally had a sound and settled sleep.

Early the next morning, Old Granny Zhang sent Wang Yongping and Jinhoo to town, with their goods already packed separately.

Wang Yongzhu gave a few instructions, and the two set off excitedly.

After breakfast, Wang Laozhu, leaning on Jindou and followed by Jinguan and Jinpan, slowly made his way out of the house.

As Old Granny Zhang watched Lady Jiang tidy up the table, she muttered, "Yesterday he was so off his game, and today, even though he can barely talk straight, he’s all eager to go out and show off!"

Lady Jiang, being a daughter-in-law, didn’t dare to join the conversation and simply played dumb.

Meanwhile, Wang Yongzhu was preparing the fuel needed to start the dye workshop. With the autumn harvest not yet begun and the dye workshop not yet operational, she needed to prepare several dyes in advance.

Nowadays, Old Granny Zhang was Wang Yongzhu’s assistant in the dye business, and aside from Old Granny Zhang, Wang Yongzhu truly didn’t trust anyone else with this task.

Sure enough, before half a day had passed, news that Wang Laozhu’s family had come into unexpected wealth and redeemed the fields sold by the Wang Family’s Second Child had spread throughout the village.

Some skeptical old ladies, under the pretense of visiting, ran to the Wang Family to inquire.

Old Granny Zhang was also full of pride. After all, the Wang Family had always been well-off in Qilidun. Even if she had been worn down by her mother-in-law in the past, outside the house, she had always been confident.

Recently, because of the incident involving Wang Yongan, she had suffered from a lot of gossip behind her back.

She stayed home most of the time, venturing out less—why? Because she was lacking confidence!

With no land or income, an ill husband, a disabled son, and everything going awry, she had to suppress her temper out of necessity.

Didn’t she rush to brag in the village when she heard Wang Yongzhu talking about starting a mountain goods business?

In this respect, she and Wang Laozhu were truly cut from the same cloth as family.

At this moment, as she watched an endless stream of gossip-seekers coming to her house, Old Granny Zhang found herself reliving past sensations.

No matter what others said, she stuck to her old ways—alternating between lavishly praising her own daughter and appearing humble but actually boasting about herself.