The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure
Chapter 506 - 504: Dividing the Money (Part 2)

Chapter 506: Chapter 504: Dividing the Money (Part 2)

When the time came, not only would face be lost, but silver would be gone as well.

Lady Lin could have minor grievances about giving Laosi more than her own child, but she dared only to mutter in her heart.

Seeing no opposition, Wang Yongzhu proceeded to distribute the silver.

Wang Yongfu took the silver and immediately handed out one tael to both Jindou and Jinhu, "You two have worked hard this year and grown up. You should have some money in hand. Take this."

Jindou and Jinhu looked at each other, surprised. Was dad being so generous? They reached out to take it.

Lady Lin was nearly driven mad, "Head of the family, how can you give the silver to them? They’re still so young, just children. Won’t they just squander it? This silver should be held by us, their parents, to save for them. It would help when it’s time for them to marry!"

Where is the logic in having parents who are still alive while an unmarried son holds money in his hand? Don’t all sons who earn money hand it over to their parents?

The old rule of peasant households: While parents are alive, there is no private property!

Wang Yongfu ignored her and pushed the silver into the hands of Jindou and Jinhu, who had withdrawn their hands upon hearing Lady Lin’s words, "Take it! Just one thing, don’t spend it frivolously, otherwise, you won’t get any more in the future!"

Upon hearing this, Jindou and Jinhu were overjoyed. Were they going to be given more in the future? Their hearts swelled with happiness. They were now on the verge of learning how to do business, and they had many ideas, if only they had the money. With silver in hand, what couldn’t they do?

Therefore, they no longer cared about Lady Lin’s fury and gripped the silver tightly in their hands, expressing their resolve, "Dad, don’t worry! We will definitely not waste it!"

Lady Lin was so angry she almost passed out.

On the other side, Wang Yonggui took the silver and hesitated for a moment before reluctantly giving one tael to Lady Jiang, "Take this, for you and the children to buy something for the New Year..." He paused. Now that his younger sister ran the household, everyone had four sets of clothes for the year, had a bit of meat every day, never went hungry, and when his sister went to town, she even brought snacks for the children.

There really wasn’t anywhere to spend the silver.

After thinking it over, he said gruffly, "Just save it."

Lady Jiang hadn’t expected Wang Yonggui to give her a tael, and holding the silver foolishly, she wasn’t offended by his command, replying meekly, "Got it." She carefully stowed it away in her bosom.

Wang Yongping, looking at the four pieces of Silver Pieces passed to him, felt uneasy about accepting, "I can’t take so much, just two taels of silver will do!"

He got clothes from home and ate well. He didn’t smoke or drink, so what did he need silver for? Besides, his wedding to Xiao Qiao, with the dowry provided by his family was so lavish, it had gratified the Liu Family’s pride, and made them respect him more.

Not to mention that his family still needed to pay for his own wedding. He understood that his wedding alone would cost at least thirty to forty taels of silver.

Even if he was slow to catch on, this past half year had taught him plenty - spending so much on himself, even if Brother Song and Third Brother didn’t mind, would probably concern both sisters-in-law.

If it were up to his old self, he wouldn’t want a single coin of those four taels of silver, which might make the sisters-in-law feel a bit better.

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But now he was about to get married, and with Xiao Qiao marrying him, as a man, he should at least buy something for his wife, right?

So after some thought, he only took two silver pieces and refused the rest.

Wang Yongzhu glared at him, "If it’s given to you, you take it. You’ve earned it with your own abilities! Why not take it? Not to mention anything else, just the mountain goods that you’ve collected from Chongzi Gou have earned our family over three hundred taels of silver. Without you, where would our family get that much money? Who would have the face to say you don’t deserve it?"

With that, she also swept her gaze across everyone present.

Wang Yonggui shivered all over and immediately stepped forward, "Laosi, just take it! You’ve earned it! Ever since our family fell on hard times, besides our little sister, you’ve worked the hardest. If you don’t take this money, even as your elder brother, I’d feel embarrassed to take anything myself! Besides, you’re about to take a wife, how can you not have any money on hand? You should at least buy your wife some flowers or decorations, shouldn’t you? I’m afraid these four taels of silver might not even be enough. If you’re short of money later on, just tell Third Brother, and he will lend some to you!"

Wang Yongfu also hurriedly made his stance known, "Laosi, take it quickly! If you don’t take it, are you afraid your brothers and sisters-in-law will take offense or what?"

Old Granny Zhang, who had been watching for a while, finally spoke slowly, "Laosi, take it. Your mother knows what you’re worried about. You think that the family has spent too much for your marriage and feel embarrassed, right? Rest assured, your elder brothers and sisters-in-law aren’t fools; they all have an account in their hearts. Take the money with ease, what’s rightfully yours is yours! And you don’t need to feel bad. When you broke off your previous engagement, you received twenty taels of silver in compensation. Subtracting this amount, your marriage is only going to cost the family about twenty taels of silver. What is there for your elder brothers and sisters-in-law to fuss about? The old lady has her own way of keeping accounts; you won’t be wronged, nor will you profit unfairly!"

Wang Yongfu and Wang Yonggui’s faces turned somewhat sheepish.

Wang Yongping didn’t quite understand, but he knew that since everyone, especially his mother, had said so, the expenditure must have been agreed upon by the family. Only then did he relax and accept the four taels of silver.

With the leftover silver, Wang Yongzhu gave Wang Laozhu his share of one tael and gave Old Granny Zhang three taels, "Mother, I’ll leave Brother Song and my silver with you."

Saying so, she turned to look at Song Chongjin.

Song Chongjin had been silent all this time; now, seeing Wang Yongzhu look at him, he quickly nodded, "Aunt, you keep it!"

He naturally didn’t care much about such a small sum of silver. It seemed only proper to win favor with his mother-in-law.

Old Granny Zhang was visibly delighted as she secured the silver. Shooting a glance at Wang Laozhu, who was tucking the silver into his own garments, she declared, "All of you are good children of mine. Tonight, your mother will cook personally and make you something delicious to eat!"

The more she saw of this son-in-law, the more she liked him. Which family has a son-in-law who hasn’t even married yet, but entrusts his silver to his mother-in-law? Spreading the word would likely make many people envious.

After the distribution of silver was complete and with four hundred large coins remaining, Wang Yongzhu decisively divided it into four parts, calling over Jinguan, Jinhua, and the others. Each was given one hundred coins, "Take care of it. This year, you all helped the family, too. This is your reward!"

The children’s eyes widened, not expecting to receive any money themselves.

They were overjoyed and, after thanking Wang Yongzhu, held the money carefully, afraid of losing it.

Lady Lin, who had not touched any money before, saw this and stepped forward to take Jinguan’s money for safekeeping, but Jinguan deftly dodged and looked at Lady Lin warily, "This is my money! Auntie rewarded me!"

Lady Lin was furious. She couldn’t control the two older ones, but she couldn’t handle a child?

She reached out to twist Jinguan’s ear, but Jinguan quickly took refuge behind Jindou, stuffing all her coins into his hand, "Big brother, you keep it for me. I’ll come to you when I need money!" With that, she ran outside.

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