The Lucky Farmgirl
Chapter 437 - 426: Money, Who Takes It?

Chapter 437: Chapter 426: Money, Who Takes It?

Zhou ErLang said, "Third Uncle, in the county city, it takes one thousand two hundred wen of copper coins to exchange for silver, and for the ones with good quality, it sometimes takes one thousand three hundred wen to exchange for one tael."

Third Uncle Qian, who had once loitered in gambling dens, understood immediately. He sighed and exclaimed, "I remember a long time ago, in the county city, you could exchange copper coins for silver with only nine hundred wen. I didn’t expect copper coins to be so worthless now."

Eldest Uncle Qian reached out for the carrying pole, and upon seeing this, Third Uncle Qian jumped to the side and hurriedly called out, "Big brother, big brother, I know I was wrong, I was just saying, just saying."

Eldest Uncle Qian snorted coldly.

Third Uncle Qian, dripping with sweat, took refuge behind Manbao, but alas, he was too wide and Manbao couldn’t cover him. Trying to appease Old Zhou, Third Uncle Qian smiled and said, "Brother-in-law, then what do you think..."

Old Zhou said, "We’ll have to clip the silver, I do have copper coins here. Manbao, work out how much your eldest uncle and second uncle get first."

Manbao calculated for a good while and double-checked before saying, "Erlang’s is twelve thousand one hundred and fifty wen, which exchanges for ten taels of silver, with a surplus of one hundred and fifty wen; Dalang’s is sixteen thousand nine hundred wen, which exchanges for fourteen taels of silver, with a surplus of one hundred wen."

Eldest Uncle Qian’s eyes nearly squinted shut with his smile.

Third Uncle Qian couldn’t help but feel sour, "Big brother, your family brought in quite a lot of wheat seed. If I had known, I would have had the kids and their mother come with me too."

Second Uncle Qian glanced at him and said, "Who told you not to have more sons? Both of our families have three sons each."

"As if I could have more if I just wanted to?"

Old Zhou couldn’t help but side with Second Uncle. "Third brother, didn’t you say back in the day that having more sons also meant spending money to marry off daughters-in-law, better not to have any at all?"

It appeared that everyone knew about this matter. Zhou Dalang and the younger generation turned their heads away, unable to bear looking directly. Even Manbao nodded in agreement, gripping Third Uncle Qian’s hand and saying, "Third Uncle, it’s not too late to realize your mistake. When you get back, treat your cousins better so that they will bear you more grandsons. It’s all the same, all the same."

"What do you, at your tender age, know about having grandsons?"

"I know, my third sister-in-law and fourth sister-in-law just gave me two more nephews."

Of course, Third Uncle Qian knew about it, but as the children’s one-month celebrations had coincided with the busy spring season, his side had not yet been to visit. He had been planning to visit during the Dragon Boat Festival and present a basket of eggs as a gift.

Just a few days ago, Third Uncle Qian had been fretting over the eggs at home, feeling that his big brother-in-law was being too inconsiderate. Just how many eggs had been given away in this lifetime just because their family had new babies?

But now, Third Uncle Qian’s heart didn’t ache as much, and he couldn’t be bothered to argue with Manbao, the child, any longer, simply smiling at his brother-in-law.

Old Zhou knew what he wanted, and without ambiguity, began to divide up the silver.

Just as he took out a silver ingot, the front door slammed open. In fact, the noise wasn’t very loud, but as everyone had quieted down, not speaking and wholly focused on the silver, the slight sound seemed much larger.

This caused Old Zhou’s heart to tremble and his hand to shake, subconsciously clutching the silver ingot tightly, as though afraid someone would snatch it away from him.

The others were also startled and turned to look, only to discover that Ms. Qian and her group had returned.

Ms. Qian, utterly confused, looked at them, "...What are you all huddled together for? I heard at the big Yuan’s house that Old Master Bai has passed away, dad, did you speak ill of me outside? Why..."

Ms. Qian’s words were only halfway spoken when she saw the silver in the midst of everyone and, for a moment, lost her voice as well.

Those behind her naturally also saw the silver, and as they hadn’t seen the sale of the wheat seed, they were startled by the sight of so much silver, nobody thinking it belonged to their own family.

Not until Old Zhou started dividing the silver.

It was easiest to divide Second Uncle Qian’s share because the silver Old Master Bai brought was in ten-tael ingots. He simply gave him ten taels and counted out one hundred and fifty wen from the copper coins.

For Eldest Uncle Qian, Old Zhou likewise directly gave him an ingot of silver and one hundred wen, then took out another ingot and worriedly asked Eldest Uncle Qian and Third Uncle Qian, "Should I just cut it open?"

Eldest Uncle Qian nodded, but Third Uncle Qian called out, "Don’t! I know that this kind of whole ingot exchanged for loose silver is more expensive because there’s loss in the loose silver. Brother-in-law, you give it to me, I’ll take it to the county city to exchange. You just give me one tael of loose silver."

Old Zhou wasn’t about to listen to him and instead looked to Eldest Uncle Qian.

Eldest Uncle Qian nodded and said, "Don’t listen to him, just cut it open. If it comes up short, our two families will just make up the difference."

Third Uncle Qian couldn’t help but cry, "Big brother!"

Eldest Uncle Qian glanced at him and said, "Don’t think I don’t know. Last time you said you were going into town to buy cloth, but you ended up loitering around the gambling house instead. People in the village saw you. I’m telling you, you can’t hold on to this money either. Let Dalang take care of it."

After speaking, he turned to Third Uncle Qian’s eldest son and said, "When you get back, take care of the money properly. Don’t give it to your dad even if he asks, and don’t give it to your mom either. After you get home, discuss with your brother how to divide it up, or you could keep it with the village fund if you want. Your home still has enough wheat to last until the summer harvest if you’re thrifty, and if you really need to, you can mix in some bran."

Eldest Uncle Qian straightforwardly managed the third household’s finances, "Don’t create trouble just because you have a little money. Think about your children back home. In a few years, you’ll be beginning to arrange their marriages. To marry a decent daughter-in-law will cost upwards of five taels of silver, and you should prepare some dowry if you’re marrying off a daughter, right? In total, you only have a bit over seven taels. How much can you brothers really keep once it’s divided?"

The eldest son of the third household nodded in acknowledgment. Third Uncle Qian was so angry his nose almost smoked, but when his eyes met Eldest Uncle Qian’s gaze, his finger hurt and he immediately recoiled, saying nothing more.

Eldest Uncle Qian said, "When your mother asks later, just say I arranged the money."

The two brothers of the third household nodded.

Eldest Uncle Qian then said to Old Zhou, "Go ahead and cut."

Old Zhou called Manbao over to draw a line. Manbao looked at the scissors they had with doubt, "Dad, can those scissors cut silver?"

"We have to try anyway. If it doesn’t work, we’ll put it on the chopping board and hack it with a knife." Their family wasn’t rich enough to buy special silver-cutting scissors.

Manbao finally understood why there was loss on silver. She scratched her head and asked, "Don’t we have silver nuggets? Last year, when we sold ginger to the medicine shop, didn’t we get paid with silver nuggets?"

Upon hearing this, the sons of Eldest Uncle Qian and Third Uncle Qian hurriedly agreed, "Silver nuggets are good, silver nuggets are good. This way we wouldn’t need to cut them open when we get back. With one cut of the scissors, slivers of silver will fall off; that’s where the loss comes from."

Third Uncle Qian was so frustrated he put his hands on his hips and shouted, "That’s why I said you should go to the city to exchange for silver nuggets! One ingot can be exchanged for ten taels worth of nuggets, not to mention you’d get some extra copper coins, don’t you understand?"