The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure
Chapter 505 - 503: Dividing Money (Part 1)

Chapter 505: Chapter 503: Dividing Money (Part 1)

With such a hefty sum of silver, it was more than enough to build a new house and for Wang Yongping to get married.

Everyone in the Wang Family knew that today was the day to settle accounts with Boss Zhang, and all the mountain goods had been handed over. Whether their hard work over the past half a year was fruitful depended on today.

One by one, they were all distracted, even Wang Laozhu couldn’t help but look out the door several times.

Not to mention the kids at home, who had been waiting at the entrance of the village ever since Wang Yongzhu and Song Chongjin had left.

Finally seeing the shadow of the Wang family’s carriage, they immediately cheered and swarmed up to it.

Back at the Wang household, upon pushing open the courtyard door, the whole family crowded around, "Sister, how did it go?"

"Sister, how much money did we make?"

...

"All of you scatter, what’s all this shouting about? You afraid people outside won’t hear us or what?" Old Granny Zhang, as always, kept her composure, scolding everyone to disperse.

Once seated in the main room, everyone eagerly awaited Wang Yongzhu’s word.

First, Wang Yongzhu took out the specialities Boss Zhang had brought from the Capital City to check them over, including pastries, sweets, and tea, various colored silks, and two jars of fine liquor, as well as some southern dried goods.

The products from the Capital City were naturally incomparable to what the countryside offered, and their packaging was much more exquisite. The pastries, sweets, and tea were packaged in boxes. The boxes themselves were carved with patterns and were probably worth quite a bit of money.

Old Granny Zhang, holding the boxes, chanted Buddhist prayers several times and praised Boss Zhang for his generosity.

Then there was the pile of colorful silk on the kang bed, shiny and softly gleaming. Boss Zhang was a considerate man; the silks he sent were bright and cheerful, as well as some in sober colors suitable for the elderly.

Wang Laozhu clung to those two jars of fine wine without letting go.

As for the pile of dried goods from the south, they included dried fish and various fruits, none of which the family had even heard of before, let alone seen.

After marveling at Boss Zhang’s gifts for a while, Old Granny Zhang finally put the silk, pastries, sweets, and tea into the cabinet.

The dried goods, especially the dried fish from the south which smelled rather peculiar, were promptly stored away in a side room.

Only those two jars of wine, Wang Laozhu refused to let go, leaving Old Granny Zhang with no choice but to relent.

After putting everything away, everyone’s hearts settled somewhat. Just by the gifts Boss Zhang had sent, they hoped everything must have gone smoothly, right?

In the gaze of the family, Wang Yongzhu pulled out the account book she used to keep track of sales, and read aloud each entry to them: how much they spent on the first batch of mountain goods, how much they sold for, what the profit was, and so on with the second batch... When she reached the end, she tallied up the household expenses, and they were left with a remaining five hundred and forty-three taels of silver.

None could believe their ears.

Just over this half year, had they really earned five hundred and forty-three taels of silver?

The jars of wine in Wang Laozhu’s arms nearly slipped from his grasp as he steadied his spirit. "Yongzhu, did you count correctly? Did our family really earn this much money?"

Before, such a notion was virtually unimaginable.

The Wang Family combined might not have earned this much silver in the past several decades, right?

"Dad, rest assured, I’ve checked several times, there’s no mistake! Our family really does have this much silver, and there’s no shortage of money for Fourth Brother’s wedding and building a big house!" Wang Yongzhu said. And to convince the family, she pretended to fetch the silver note from the bedroom, but in reality, she took out the silver note and scattered silver coins, all saved from selling mountain goods, from the storage chest.

And with today’s final settlement, the money cascaded down onto the kang bed.

Half of the kang bed was covered in silver notes, silver, and copper coins.

It dazzled everyone’s eyes.

Wang Yongzhu called over Jindou and Jinhoo to count the silver notes, silver, and copper coins in front of everyone.

In total, there was five hundred and forty-three taels of silver and four hundred copper coins.

The hearts of the Wang family members were ablaze with excitement, for no one had ever seen so much money before.

"Has our family struck it rich?" Wang Yongfu, a grown man, asked, his face flushed with excitement.

Not to mention Qilidun, even in other villages, no one had heard of a family with so much silver.

It goes without saying for the others; their eyes were glued to the silver on the kang bed, not even blinking once.

Wang Yongzhu let everyone get used to the sight before she spoke, "Our family needs to spend money too. We’ll soon start building the big house, buying materials, and paying for labor, which will cost quite a bit, plus the furniture and such. I estimate it should be about three hundred taels." As she spoke, she counted out three hundred taels of silver notes and set them aside.

She then asked Old Granny Zhang, "Mother, how much silver do you think Fourth Brother’s marriage will need?"

Old Granny Zhang contemplated briefly, and considering the wedding banquet, sugar, firecrackers, and such, she estimated that twenty taels of silver should suffice.

Wang Yongzhu counted out thirty taels of silver notes and placed them aside, explaining, "Our family is different from before. There will likely be more guests coming to the door, so it’s better to prepare more silver, just in case, and set up an extra couple of tables for the banquet."

Everyone agreed with that sentiment, and no objections were raised.

The remaining two hundred and thirteen taels drew everyone’s attention. Lady Lin subtly nudged Wang Yongfu a couple of times.

She wanted her own man to speak up. After such hard work for half a year, and with so much silver at hand, surely it was time to reward everyone?

Wang Yongzhu, of course, knew what everyone was thinking. She counted out one hundred and fifty taels of silver, "This amount will be set aside for business purposes, and under no circumstances should it be spent!"

That was only natural, and there were no objections from anyone. They all nodded their agreement.

Looking at the remaining silver, Wang Yongzhu smiled, "Everyone has worked hard over the past six months. I’ve always said that as long as everyone puts in the effort, I’d give out generous red envelopes at the end of the year. And I keep my word."

Everyone’s eyes lit up, looking at Wang Yongzhu.

Wang Yongzhu spoke quietly with Old Granny Zhang and Wang Laozhu for a moment before looking up and saying, "Of the remaining sixty-three taels of silver, we’ll keep fifty taels for the family expenses. We can’t spend it all at once, as we need money for the New Year and for next spring. It’s always good to have some silver in hand. After discussing with Mother, we decided that the remaining thirteen taels of silver will be distributed among everyone."

Thirteen taels of silver was enough to cover a regular family’s expenses for half a year; no one could say it was too little.

In the past years, despite their hard work, the family members would end the year without a single penny to their name. Now that they could each receive such an amount of silver, even Lady Lin felt contented.

"Regarding this year’s business, Brother Song’s family has more hands and has contributed a great deal, so they will receive three taels of silver; Third Brother’s family returned late but they achieved merit twice this year, so they get two taels of silver; Fourth Brother bore the brunt of the hardship, even got injured for the family business. Besides, the most profitable aspect of our business was the batches of mountain goods Fourth Brother brought back from Chongzi Gou. Not to mention, it’s only proper for Fourth Brother to have some silver on hand as he’s about to get married. This year, let’s give him a little more, four taels of silver; father and mother will each get one tael of silver. The remaining two taels of silver will be split between me and Brother Song, one tael each. If we distribute it this way, does anyone have any objections?" She looked around at everyone with a beaming smile.

Only a fool would object.

Over the past six months, everyone knew that when this family’s daughter or sister said something, it was as firm as a nail in a board. Her asking was just a formality to show respect to everyone. If anyone dared to voice an objection, Old Granny Zhang would be ready to serve up a slap before she even had to speak up.