Top Scholar

Chapter 237 Goodbye Hongzhi, Hello Zhengde

The uncle quickly helped his aunt up and pinched her philtrum hard to bring her back to her senses.

"Two thousand five hundred and twenty taels? This is all our money now?" The eldest aunt was so happy she almost fainted. "Husband, help me up too."

"Look at you two, so useless." The uncle looked at the two sisters-in-law with disdain.

“So what if I’m useless? You’re so successful you bring money home!” Auntie immediately perked up and retorted sarcastically.

"I've told you so many times, our family is respectable now, and there are some kinds of money we can't take," the uncle said helplessly.

"Then stop acting like a toad yawning—so arrogant!" Auntie snorted.

"Who are you calling a toad?" Uncle said angrily, his big belly making him quite the perfect example.

His aunt ignored him and looked expectantly at the landlady, asking, "Lanlan, can our family's income sustain us?"

"Yes, there will be even more," the proprietress said confidently. "Next year, I plan to separate the three employees of Sweet Water Shop. I'll transfer one to the county and take another to the prefecture, opening a branch in Hejiang and Luzhou respectively. The income of Sweet Water Shop will definitely reach a new level."

“Indeed, we’ve made progress in both the county and the prefecture now. It would be a waste to just sell wine. We can sell some sweet water on the side, killing two birds with one stone.” The eldest uncle nodded and said, “Second sister-in-law is very clever.”

"This is what Qiu-ge taught me. He said that the sweet drink business should be... a chain operation," the proprietress said with a smile.

Su Lu quickly waved his hand. "I was just talking nonsense."

"Furthermore, although the distillery's dividends are the lowest among the four sources of income, even less than Sweetwater Diner's, in the long run, the distillery will definitely be the main source of revenue." The proprietress reassured her aunt again:
"Because it involves sales in three locations, and the accounts were merged in the second half of the year, the specific details are too complicated, so I'll just give a rough overview... This year, Erlangjiu's sales reached a total of 14,200 taels. All sorts of miscellaneous costs totaled 7,200 taels, so the profit from this part is as high as 7,000 taels!"

"Of that, our family should get a little over 20%, around 1,500 taels. That's already the highest of all the business," the proprietress explained.

"The reason for the low dividends is that the family and clan have paid off all of Su Ji's debts together. We don't have to pay off the debts next year, so our income will naturally increase."

"So, does that mean there will only be more in the future?" Auntie asked.

"If nothing unexpected happens," the proprietress nodded.

“Then I’ll dare to hire someone.” The eldest aunt finally made up her mind. “I’ll ask the human broker after the New Year.”

Speaking of which, the eldest aunt and the boss's wife are a perfect match. One can earn money from outside, and the other can save money at home. How could the Su family not have a good life?
~~
At night, the eldest aunt neatly arranged all the silver coins and laid them out all over the floor.

She sat cross-legged on the carpet with a big smile on her face, looking at the 'army' surrounding her, and laughed heartily with satisfaction.

The eldest uncle, reclining on his canopy bed, looked at the silver scattered on the floor and said, "You have more soldiers than the commander of a thousand."

"Lord of the Thousand Households? I am the Grand Marshal!" The eldest aunt picked up the only large silver ingot worth fifty taels.

"Isn't your title of Grand Marshal priced at ten taels each?" the uncle joked.

"I can't be the one anymore, I can only step down and give way to a more capable person." The eldest aunt smiled as she straightened the large gold ingot, then said with worry, "You have to help me figure something out."

"What's the matter?"

"Now that we have three thousand taels of silver in the family, I can't keep it all to myself. I need to share it with everyone." Then I heard my aunt say, "Should this money be divided according to the house or the number of people? Should it be given all at once or in installments? I can't make that decision."

"I can't make this decision myself; it's up to the family to discuss it together," the eldest uncle said. "The key is what the old man and my second sister-in-law say."

“They’ll definitely say they’ll listen to us, but we need to come up with a plan first,” the eldest aunt predicted. “Husband, this is a big deal; if we don’t handle it right, the family will fall apart.”

“This is the hardest thing to do in running a household,” the eldest uncle said after a moment of thought. “Our family can’t be like wealthy families and give out monthly allowances. If we take a fixed amount of money, it will only encourage lazy people.”

“Yes, yes. It’s not just about supporting lazy people, it also prevents us from saving money.” Auntie wholeheartedly agreed. “That’s how we squandered our wealth when things were good.”

She said fiercely, "This time, we absolutely cannot go back."

"Then let's not divide it into monthly allowances, but distribute it once at the end of the year, and let each branch of the family manage their own accounts." The eldest uncle was now a wise man, so he said, "It can be divided into two parts, one is the annual allowance, given per person. The other is the bonus, given according to each branch's contribution. In addition, the children's school fees are not included, they are all paid from the public account."

"Mmm." Auntie still relied heavily on her husband when it came to important matters, and pressed on, "So, how much exactly?"

"That depends on the harvest that year. It's fixed for one year at a time, otherwise we'll just be asking for trouble." The eldest uncle calculated, "This year, keeping 1,500 taels in the public accounts should be quite a lot, right?"

“That’s quite a lot,” Auntie said. “Even if we don’t have any income in the future, with this money, our family won’t be in a bad situation.”

"Then let's divide it into 1,500 taels," the uncle said. "One hundred taels each for the two elders is enough, fifty taels for the adults and twenty taels for the children."

"Hmm, aren't Qiu-ge'er and Xia-ge'er adults?"

"Of course," the uncle said. "Starting to attend academy means you're an adult."

The eldest aunt counted on her fingers and said, "That's seven hundred and eighty taels."

"The remaining half will be distributed as a bonus according to our contributions," the eldest uncle said. "For example, the second son's family contributed the most, so we'll give them four hundred taels. The third son also did well this year, so we'll give him one hundred and fifty taels. Actually, our contributions are not small either, but we can't take more than that, so we'll just give him the same amount as the third son."

"No one can find fault with your allocation." The eldest aunt had no objections. In her mind, the head of the household had to suffer some losses, otherwise how could he gain the respect of the people?
Besides, she still has 1,500 taels of silver in her hands, so how she spends it is entirely up to her.
The eldest aunt then generously waved her hand and said, "The remaining eighty taels will be used to save up for my aunt's dowry!"

As the Su family's fortunes rose, the youngest sister's long-stalled boat also gained popularity, and matchmakers started coming to her door again. However, she still harbored resentment and refused to agree to any new suitors.

~~
Early on New Year's Eve, my uncle led the younger generation to put up Spring Festival couplets at the door.

The eldest aunt then told the old man and the families of the second and third sons about the couple's thoughts.

As a result, the old man said, "We two old folks can't eat or drink anymore, what's the point of giving us so much money? It's just showing off!"

The eldest aunt replied, "Your grandsons will be lining up to get married next year, and then they'll be having a whole bunch of great-grandsons. You'll have plenty of time to spend money then."

The proprietress said, "I've already set aside money for the business, so you don't need to give us that much. Just give us the same amount as everyone else."

“That won’t do. The more you work, the more you should earn.” The eldest aunt said without room for discussion, “If your second branch doesn’t contribute more money, the whole family will become lazy.”

The aunt said self-deprecatingly, "I didn't do anything. The horse was just used for running errands. We don't need to give us extra money..."

Birds of a feather flock together; everyone in the Su family is sensible, and even Auntie is almost completely influenced by them.

“You didn’t do anything, but Youma is more than just running errands. He’s improved a lot this year,” Auntie said with satisfaction, looking at her half-son. “Consider it an encouragement to him.”

"Is this alright, sister-in-law?" the aunt asked the proprietress.

"Of course," the proprietress nodded. "This year, all three of our businesses—the Erlangtan winery—relyed on horses to run back and forth. That's how we managed the business and kept things in order."

"My second sister-in-law has already given me a reward, so there's no need for so much," the younger brother said, feigning reluctance.

“If you’ve already given me a reward, then that’s fine,” the eldest aunt said, making a gesture.

"No, sister-in-law," the younger brother said with an awkward smile, "you should still give me a little something."

"Take it, and keep up the good work next year." Auntie smiled and waved her hand.

"I won't take the money," the aunt waved her hand and said, "I really didn't do anything."

"Nonsense! We sisters-in-law have been working day and night, busy with all sorts of things. Doesn't that count as a contribution?" The eldest aunt said matter-of-factly, "Take it. If you can't spend it all, save it for your dowry. Who knows what kind of person you'll marry into?"

"..." The younger sister blushed to the roots of her ears and lowered her head, saying nothing more. In truth, she really didn't want to be a stepmother; she'd rather stay home and serve her own family.

Finally, everyone asked the eldest aunt if the eldest son's family had received too little. The eldest aunt waved her hand and said generously:

"'Being willing to suffer losses and make amends' is how a leader should act, otherwise no one will be convinced!"

Before anyone could dissuade her, the eldest aunt declared resolutely, "It's settled then, let's divide the money!"

Then he emphasized, "But let me make this clear: the next money split won't happen until this time next year. Everyone's been careful with their spending; you think you can expect me to ask you for money? No way!"

“Yes…” Auntie knew this was referring to her again.

So the eldest aunt distributed the silver, which was wrapped in red cloth, to the whole family.

"Two hundred taels for the old master and old lady, three hundred and twenty taels for the four of us, six hundred and twenty taels for the second son and his family of five, two hundred and ninety taels for the third son and his family of four, and one hundred and thirty taels for the youngest sister-in-law!"

Actually, the younger sister-in-law received the largest share based on the number of people, which shows that the older sister-in-law has a sharp tongue but a kind heart.

The aunt was overjoyed. Firstly, she hadn't expected the couple to receive so much this year, more than her father…

Secondly, the fact that the eldest sister-in-law gave the same bonus to the eldest and third wives shows that she wasn't targeting me personally, but was just being sarcastic.

This relieved her greatly, and she no longer had to be suspicious.

That's why they say it's easy to manage a wealthy household. As long as you're not too selfish, everyone will be happy and the whole family will be harmonious!

~~
After dividing the money, the whole family happily celebrated the Spring Festival...

On New Year's Eve, the Su family set off the most firecrackers and the most beautiful fireworks in the entire county!

The firecrackers and the red fireworks went off from dusk till midnight. Watching the colorful fireworks bloom in the sky, Su Lu suddenly realized that this was the first proper Spring Festival he had ever experienced.

Last year during the Spring Festival, a sudden attack occurred on New Year's Eve at Baisha Water Village, and the whole family was on tenterhooks and didn't have a good time.

The year before last, I was still at the He family compound collecting debts on New Year's Eve. I hadn't even paid my tuition, so I didn't have a good time.

Once is never enough, twice is never enough, and this third year has finally brought things back to a completely good state.

very nice.

Goodbye Hongzhi, hello Zhengde...

P.S. The rest hasn't been checked yet.

(End of this chapter)