From the family treasure tree to build an eternal family

Chapter 52 Finance
"Wang Wang!"

Dahei rushed to Xu Fugui and barked to drive the two men away.

"Dahei, come back soon."

Xu Fugui quickly called back Dahei, walked up to him with a smile and greeted him, "Hello, Lord Fang."

Of the two men in official uniforms, one was Fang Yue, the "mountain guard" in charge of Baihe Mountain, and the other was one of his subordinates.

Fang Yue found Xu Fugui familiar, but he couldn't remember his name. When Xu Fugui greeted him, he just nodded slightly with an expressionless face and said, "Yeah."

After Xu Fugui dragged the wild boar and Dahei away, Fang Yue asked his servants.

"That person looks familiar, which family is he from?"

"Xu Fugui, Xu family of Baihe Village."

His officers patrolled here all year round and recognized Xu Fugui.

"Have you paid the hunting tax?"

Fang Yue was in charge of Baihe Mountain, and everything in the mountain belonged to the imperial court. Cutting wood, collecting herbs, and hunting all required taxes.

"I have paid the annual tax of twenty taels this year."

"I remember now, didn't he often come here to chop wood in the winter?"

Fang Yue remembered who Xu Fugui was. A few years ago in the winter, he received a report from the villagers of Baihe Village that someone had hunted a wild boar without paying the tax, so he went to the village to collect a few taels of silver in hunting tax.

He had long forgotten that incident, and would never have remembered it if he hadn't seen Xu Fugui.

"It's him. He's a hunter now. He always gets something. He's quite capable."

"He must have practiced martial arts before, but I don't know which style of standing practice he practiced in the county."

Seeing Xu Fugui returning unharmed with a 300-jin (approximately 1,000-pound) wild boar, Fang Yue guessed that his martial arts skills were quite advanced. He was just chatting casually and didn't pay much attention to Xu Fugui.

----

It was hot at noon.

The farmhands weeding in the orchard were already exhausted, tired and hungry.

"It's time to eat!"

Xu Xiaoyun's shouts came from a distance.

The farmhands immediately dropped their hoes and ran to eat.

"Two steamed buns and an egg per person."

There were two baskets at Xu Xiaoyun's feet, one basket contained white flour buns and the other contained boiled eggs.

There are pickles and a piece of fatty pork in the middle of the steamed bun.

The farmhands rushed to get it, but Xu Xiaoyun said to one of them, "You were lazy this morning, so you'll get a steamed bun as punishment."

"Ah? Fourth Young Master, that's not the case. I just felt dizzy and rested for an incense stick of time."

The farmhand explained.

Xu Xiaoyun ignored his excuses: "You did more than 30% less work than the others this morning. Do you really think I can't see it? Working in my house means good food and good pay, but you have to follow the rules."

"..."

The farmhand could no longer argue and could only admit his mistake and accept the punishment.

A farmhand next to him whispered to him, "You've only been here a few days, so you don't understand. The Xu family pays you well, but you can't be lazy or slack off. The Fourth Young Master has a pair of eyes like a ruler. He can tell at a glance who's done too much or too little work."

After dinner, a farmhand said to Xu Xiaoyun, "Fourth Young Master, today is the day to pay your monthly salary, right?"

"Yes, finish work half an hour early in the evening and come to my house to collect your monthly salary."

"Thank you, Fourth Young Master!"

The farmhands were very happy. Another reason they were willing to work for the Xu family was that their monthly wages were never delayed and were paid on time, unlike some unscrupulous landlords who would cheat and delay payments.

----

evening.

Xu Xiaoyun and seven farmhands returned to their own house.

As he walked into the courtyard, he saw that the door of the main room was open and he could hear the sound of quarreling coming from inside.

Jiazhen sat at the desk with an account book on it and a cloth bag filled with small change and copper coins next to it.

The two maids were arguing nearby: "That's not right, you paid too much and I paid too little."

"You should get paid less."

"It's you……"

The two of them were arguing with each other, neither of them willing to give in.

Jiazhen lowered her head to count the money, wondering if she had miscalculated. "Quiet, stop arguing."

Xu Xiaoyun stopped the two people who were arguing: "What's going on?"

Both maids said their wages were too little. They were paid 800 coins a month and each took a day off.

If one person takes a leave, the other person has to do the work of two people.

So the two of them felt that their wages were only 800 wen, which was equivalent to not taking any leave.

After listening to what the two said, Xu Xiaoyun understood what was going on: according to the rule he set, one day's wages would be deducted if someone took a leave, and the other person would get a 50% increase in wages on that day.

"Do you think taking one day off each is the same as not taking any leave at all? That's not true, because one person is definitely not as efficient as two people. From my perspective, there were two days of work done by one person..."

Xu Xiaoyun explained, not caring whether the two understood or not: "Mom, just deduct half a day's wages from each of them."

"it is good."

Jiazhen knew that Xu Xiaoyun would definitely not be wrong in this regard.

At this time, Xu Fugui returned home.

He had just gone to the village butcher and slaughtered a 300-jin (approximately 100 kg) wild boar. The weather was hot, and the 300-jin (approximately 100 kg) of meat was too much to eat and couldn't be stored, so he sold over 200-jin (approximately 100 kg) to the butcher, leaving a few dozen jin (approximately 100 kg) for himself and a pile of pig bones for Dahei.

After putting the wild boar meat in the kitchen, he washed up and walked into the main room, where he saw Jiazhen and Xu Xiaoyun checking accounts and paying wages.

"I just sold wild boar meat and received 17 taels of silver."

Xu Fugui said this and put a bag of silver on the table.

Jiazhen looked at the accounts and the farmhands waiting to be paid. The wages of these seven farmhands were different, and they did not work for a full month. She couldn't help but get flustered and couldn't figure it out for a while.

"Mom, let me do it."

Xu Xiaoyun said considerately.

"it is good."

Jiazhen stood up and made way, rubbing her swollen and aching temples.

Xu Xiaoyun checked the accounts and did the math in his head. The accounts for these wages were not complicated; it was just a matter of a few days' leave and a few days' work.

"One ounce and three ounces of silver, one ounce and two ounces, nine hundred and fifty coins..."

The monthly wages for farmhands were around 1 tael and 2 qian of silver, with food and accommodation provided. This treatment was better than other families.

Xu Xiaoyun calculated carefully and concluded that hiring a farmhand was a very cost-effective option, earning him more than renting his land to tenant farmers. The only downside was the daily supervision and cooking required, which was quite cumbersome.

After receiving their monthly wages, the farmhands left one after another.

Xu Xiaoyun casually flipped through the previous accounts and found several errors in calculations, and...

"Mom, where did you buy this rapeseed oil?"

He pointed to the ten kilograms of rapeseed oil recorded in the account.

"I asked Mammy to buy it from the Zhang family who were pressing oil. Why?"

"Rapeseed oil is expensive. One jin of rapeseed oil is 25 wen. It's cheaper if you buy ten jin at once. And icing sugar is expensive too..."

He didn't say anything else. It was obvious that the nanny and maid in the house were a little greedy when buying things.

It may seem like just a few cents, but when accumulated, it adds up to a considerable amount.

"Mom and Dad, how about I take care of our family's finances from now on? I promise to keep track of the accounts, increase income and reduce expenditure, and save a fortune for our family."

Xu Xiaoyun has this confidence.

Let Xu Xiaoyun take charge of the Xu family’s finances?

Xu Fugui's eyes lit up. This was a good idea. Although Jiazhen was well-educated and well-mannered, she had only managed her own small family before.

Now that the Xu family has grown, they employ a group of people including maids, farmhands, etc. They have 280 acres of land, raise pigs and chickens, and also raise two horses. The income and expenses are high, and Jiazhen is not able to manage so many things.

Xu Xiaoyun has talent in this area and is very suitable.

Based on Xu Fugui's understanding of Siyun, he would not spend money recklessly even if he was in charge of the financial power.

"Okay, I agree."

Xu Fugui nodded.

"I was just thinking of taking it easy, so I'll leave the task of settling the household accounts to Siyun."

Jiazhen couldn't ask for more. Even though she no longer had to do housework, she was still very busy with so many accounts to calculate.

"From now on, our Xu family's money will be handed over to you!"

Xu Fugui handed over the account book representing the Xu family's financial power to Xu Xiaoyun.

Jiazhen took out a suitcase of banknotes, silver and copper coins from the bedroom.

(End of this chapter)