After being jilted, the entire neighboring village was filled with deep regret.

Chapter 292 Split the money

Tang Yu shook his head and smiled, "One tael of silver might be a lot in a county town like Lizhou, but it's not much in the capital. Here, a pound of grain costs sixty wen, and in bad years, a pound of grain can sell for over a hundred wen."

Fortunately, there was one advantage to working for the government: if the price of grain outside rose too much, the county government would distribute a certain amount of grain to ensure that we wouldn't starve.

I've done the math. Living here, just buying vegetables and grains costs tens of coins a day. One or two taels of silver isn't enough for our family to live on for a month. But the advantage is stability, and we can quickly build connections.

In my spare time, I would take on odd jobs at the bookstore, writing books for people to earn some money, or I would do odd jobs as a tutor, which was enough to support them.

Tang Yu carefully explained her plan.

Su Chuan patted his shoulder with satisfaction and said, "It's good that you're so devoted to your family. If you're willing to do business, you could do some small business. At least you'd make money faster."

Tang Yu shook his head with a wry smile, "Now that I've gone to the government office, I shouldn't get involved in business anymore."

Su Chuan could understand.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Xi quickly replied, "Brother-in-law can't do business, but I can! I helped my god-sister with her business when I was in Shenjiazhuang, so I can!"

Su Chuan was overjoyed. "Our Xiao Xi is really ambitious! Alright! I'll ask your god-sister later and see if there are any good business opportunities she can let you run."

"Thank you, Brother Su Chuan!" Xiao Xi happily picked up Tang Cheng and spun him around.

She was determined never to marry and would stay by Ke Yunyun's side, relying on Tang Cheng to take care of her in her old age and see her off in death. Naturally, she also wanted to earn more money so that she and Tang Cheng could make a living together.

Tang Yu knew a little about Xiao Xi's abilities, and immediately surrendered upon hearing this, saying, "With Xiao Xi around, I feel useless!"

Xiao Xi grinned and said, "Brother-in-law is useful! With brother-in-law around, no one dares to bully us."

Seeing that they got along well, Su Chuan was completely relieved.

The next day, the person who had arranged to come and inspect the goods arrived early in the morning.

Seeing that Su Chuan's place was nice, they guessed that they were also quite well-off, so they put aside their contempt and carefully inspected the goods and negotiated the price.

In the end, everything brought by Su Chuan and Su Zhan was taken away by the other party for 30,000 taels of silver.

With the money they earned from selling brown sugar and cloth, they could be said to have returned home with a full load.

On the day of departure, Ke Yunyun was very reluctant to leave, and her family saw them off outside the capital city.

Tang Yu put his arm around Ke Yunyun's shoulder and walked back, saying, "From now on, we'll support our family. You can write letters to your relatives and friends in Lizhou from time to time. Acheng and I can write for you. If you feel bored, Acheng can teach you and Xiaoxi to read and write, so you can write letters yourself and say whatever you want."

Ke Yunyun felt much better.

Su Chuan and Su Zhan would at least go back. Having made money this time, they weren't at ease and planned to travel day and night, only resting in big towns and not stopping at other times.

Su Zhan was forced to learn to ride a horse, and by the time he returned to Lizhou, his horsemanship was already quite superb.

After redeeming their oxcart, the two brothers hurried home. When they passed through Zhaohua County, Su Chuan stopped for a day to inquire about the latest happenings.

Seeing their lavish spending, the restaurant owner was incredibly open and honest with them.

"To be honest, there's not much new happening around here lately. But the Zhu family is acting strangely. I heard that Master Zhu has bought up several houses next to the Zhu residence, saying he's going to expand. Tsk tsk tsk. The eldest son of the Zhu family hasn't returned yet. I wonder what the Zhu family is planning with all this construction."

What else could they do? They were just busy arranging to marry their new bride.

Su Chuan sneered, thanked the shopkeeper, and immediately left with Su Zhan.

The two first went to Shenjiazhuang to see Su Tai. Su Tai was scolding her child in the yard. When she saw them return, she didn't even want to tidy up the child anymore and hurriedly invited them into the house.

"You came straight here as soon as you got back? You're all in such a hurry!" Su Tai scolded them as she prepared food for them.

After finishing two large bowls of steaming hot braised beef noodles, Su Chuan and Su Zhan let out a comfortable sigh.

Su Tai urged them to go to the bathhouse and take a good hot bath.

The twins chimed in, complaining about their uncles' stench, saying things like "the uncles are unhygienic" and "they fell into the latrine," forcing Su Chuan and Su Zhan to wash up.

When the two brothers finished cleaning up, they came out.

Only the twins were willing to play with them and linger around them.

They call their uncles "uncle this" and "uncle that," their words as sweet as honey.

Su Zhan was amused and exasperated. He hugged the two little ones and teased them relentlessly. The two children shouted and laughed, acting like crazy.

Su Tai shook her head speechlessly and looked at Su Chuan, "Cousin, was your journey smooth?"

"Successfully! Very successfully!" Su Chuan said, opening all the bundles he had brought back. "The capital city truly lives up to its reputation as the richest place in Langya Kingdom. The things we brought not only sold for high prices, but were also in short supply, especially the jade. Those few boxes were exchanged for 30,000 taels of silver."

As previously stated, the two brothers would receive six thousand taels, with three thousand taels going to him. Adding the money from selling cloth and brown sugar, it would be more profitable than farming.

"So much!" Su Tai exclaimed in astonishment. She carefully took out the silver notes and counted them, her expression somewhat dazed. "No wonder he could make a fortune in business. A few trips like this and he'd be set for life!"

Su Chuan agreed wholeheartedly, “My cousin’s husband found a job in the capital, with a monthly salary of one tael of silver, which is not enough to support his family. Xiao Xi said she wants to do business. You can consider cooperating with her. You supply the goods, and Xiao Xi sells them. Then we can decide how to split the profits.”

Su Tai fell into deep thought. To be honest, she was tempted, but it was still not appropriate for her to cooperate with Xiao Xi. First of all, delivering goods and collecting money would be a troublesome matter.

After thinking for a moment, she looked at Su Chuan and asked, "Cousin, would you like to consider joining as well?"

Su Chuan raised an eyebrow and glanced at Su Zhan, who was playing around with the child.

The three siblings got together and finally came up with a plan: Su Tai would supply the goods, while Su Chuan and Su Zhan would be responsible for transporting the goods to the capital with the caravan and handing them over to Xiao Xi to sell. The profits would then be divided among them.

Having made up her mind, Su Tai immediately wrote a letter to the capital.

The strawberry harvest season arrived just as this matter was settled.

The weather this year is significantly better than last year; at least the rainfall is normal, and most days are sunny.

The strawberries, nourished by plenty of sunshine, thrived, growing large and exceptionally sweet.

The quality is so good that Shen Ying couldn't bear to use it to make strawberry jam.

He called the villagers together to discuss the matter, and they all agreed that they wanted to sell strawberry jam, since strawberry jam was more profitable.

Shen Ying had no choice but to go along with the villagers' wishes, and the village courtyard was once again turned into a strawberry jam processing workshop.

Thinking about Xiao Xi's situation, Su Tai discussed with Su Chuan and the others about sending a batch of strawberry jam over this year as a trial.

Su Chuan and Su Zhan were eager to make a big splash, so naturally they had no objections.

Because of this decision, Shenjiazhuang's supply of strawberry jam decreased by more than half, causing prices to skyrocket.

Last year, a can cost 300 coins, but this year it can sell for 400 or 500 coins.