Allure of a Country Maiden-Chapter 38 - 37 How to use 500 taels

Chapter 38: Chapter 37 How to use 500 taels

Chapter 38 -37 How to use 500 taels

At dusk, brothers Jingrui and Jinghao came home, each carrying a food box of pastries, and a grass carp strung through its mouth with a straw rope, and a wooden box.

Seeing only the two of them, Xiao’er asked, “Where are Brother Zixuan and Young Master Lai?”

“Young Master Lai had something to do at home, so he left early.

He said he would visit again next time.

These pastries are made by his family, and he also gave us two sets of ink and pens.”

“We’d prepared a basket of fruit for him.

Since he has already left, we’ll have to return the favour next time.” Mrs Liu quite liked Lai Zhewei, thinking he wasn’t arrogant.

Xiao’er stepped forward to take the fish from Jingrui’s hand, “Tonight, we’ll have pickled fish.”

She planned to cook a dish of pickled fish and a pot of fish soup.

Lately, Mrs.

Liu had been breastfeeding her younger sister.

Because her diet was well-rounded, her milk was also sufficient.

Because her younger sister ate well, she had grown visibly thicker. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓

As she would sleep after eating and play by herself when she woke up, crying only when she was hungry, she was rather unnoticeable.

During cooking, Xiao’er switched the fish with the ones she raised in her spatial space.

The taste was simply irresistible.

“I originally said that our family couldn’t finish eating two such large fishes.

I didn’t expect that I could eat another one.”

In the main room, the old master and Mrs.

Shen, who didn’t particularly like fish, ended up eating it, even swallowing the fish bones.

After dinner, Xiao’er washed a plate of fruit and put it on the table.

She took out the pens, ink, paper, inkstone, books, and silver she bought and earned today.

As she trimmed the paper and made accounts, she said, “I bought two introductory books, one is the ‘Three Character Classic’, the other is the ‘Hundred Family Surnames’.

Today, I sold two porcelain design sketches and made a total of 500 taels.

After the start of spring next year, brother and younger brother can go to school, but before that we can learn at home.”

“Father can recognize two characters, and will teach you two in the evening.

However, Xiao’er should save the money she earns for her dowry.

We won’t use it.” Shen Chengyao expressed his thoughts.

Xiao’er didn’t expect Shen Chengyao to think this way.

When Manager Yao gave her the silver banknotes before, she thought that Shen Chengyao gave them to her because he felt that the money would be safer with her.

After all, no one would think that a child in coarse clothes would be carrying several hundred taels of huge sum on her body.

Mrs.

Liu and the two brothers nodded.

Their mother was always bullied by their grandmother because she didn’t have any dowry.

A dowry could enable a woman to stand tall and live with dignity in her husband’s family.

Xiao’er couldn’t help but once again praise the character of this family.

However, now that they were a family, those who had the ability had to put in more effort.

Only by working together to prosper would make sense.

“We’ll talk about my dowry later.

I’m still young, and it’s too early to talk about dowry.”

“How is it too early?

The other girl has been saving since she was born!” Jinghao felt that his sister started saving too late.

“Now that our family has money, I want to send brother and Jinghao to study at the academy in the county next year.

Then we can also buy some farmland and build a new house.

What do you think?” Xiao’er directly circumvented the issue of dowry and laid out her own plan.

“Reading, buying land, and building houses, is our money enough?” Jingrui was worried that they would spend all the money.

“If it’s not enough, we can earn it!

It’s not like we can’t make money.

Mother can make silk flowers, Father and you can go hunting and dig herbs.

I can paint.

There are many ways to make money, as long as we are diligent enough.”

“I will definitely be very diligent, next time when Mantou invites me to play, I won’t go.” Jinghao quickly promised.

“How about buying some farmland first?

Having our own fields gives us peace of mind.”

The truth was, Xiao’er wanted to build a new house and move out.

She wanted a relatively quiet and peaceful living environment.

Here, with so many people living together, every now and then Mrs.

Li would cause trouble.

Although she wasn’t scared, it felt like a waste of time and life to deal with it.

And she treasured both her time and life very much.

“We have to buy the farmland and the homestead, if we build a new house, we could also build a chicken coop and pigsty.

We could raise more chickens and pigs.

We can sell the chicken eggs and the pigs when they grow.

This would bring in more income.

Moreover, the room where my brother and I live is too small, and uncle only has one room.

Once we build a new house, we can give our current one to our uncle.

Now that it’s the farming off-season, it’s convenient to hire people to build a house.

We can move in before the New Year.

By next spring, my brother and I could have our own study room for studying without being disturbed.”

After listening to this, Shen Chengyao and Mrs.

Liu also thought of Mrs.

Li, and they all want to move.

They need to focus on studying, so he nodded his approval, “Let’s build the house.”

He loves his children very much.

Seeing them starve and freeze, their faces yellowed and thin, he always felt heartbroken that his children are suffering with him.

Even their clothes are either modified from adults’ old clothes or picked up from their nephews or nieces.

They never had new clothes, while his nephews and nieces have new clothes every New Year.

He wants his kids to have this too.

Now that they have separated families, he can make decisions for the family, considering his children’s wishes first and compensating for the past deficiencies.

“Dad, where in our village is there a suitable place for a new house?

It should be big.”

Shen Chengyao thought for a while, “There are no large unclaimed lands in the village, but there is a piece of wasteland a the head of the village.

We can buy the wasteland to build the house, but the wasteland has many stones and grasses.

In the past, villagers tried to cultivate it for grains and vegetables, but the grass grew faster than the crops, so no one tried to reclaim it anymore, wasting seeds and energy.”

“How much does the wasteland cost per acre?” Xiao’er knew that the wasteland is large, uneven, and should be more than forty acres, and it’s connected to two small hills.

“Wasteland costs one tael of silver per acre.”

“Dad, let’s buy the whole wasteland and those two small hills too.” The two hills look like twin mountains.

Xiao’er plans to reclaim the land to plant fruits and herbs.

In the future, the fruits and herbs from the space can be sold and have an outlet.”

After hearing this, Shen Chengyao was shocked, “That’s too much, isn’t it?

How much silver would that cost?

Do we have enough?”

Mrs.

Liu was also startled after hearing this, “Xiao’er, wasteland is hard to manage.

If we buy too much, we can’t handle it, buying two or three acres for building a house is enough.”

After thinking about it, Xiao’er decided to buy the wasteland first, and buy the two hills later on, “Let’s buy the wasteland first.

Then hire people to reclaim the land, and I have a way to enrich the soil.”

Shen Chengyao originally didn’t agree, but after hearing this, he didn’t object anymore.

If there’s a way to enrich the soil, then buying wasteland would be extremely lucrative.

“Alright, let’s buy everything then.

After all, farmland is much more expensive than wasteland, let’s not buy any farmland.”

Xiao’er laughed bitterly, Shen Chengyao must be used to being frugal if he suggests to buy wasteland instead of farmland.

Mrs.

Liu thought about how her family could now sell land to build a house due to Xiao’er, and that her son could study.

She really felt that heaven was treating them kindly.

She remembered the matter of visiting the temple to fulfill their vows, so she said, “The fifteenth day is the hundred-year temple fair of the Five Gods Temple.

Let’s go to worship and donate some money for incense.”

Upon hearing this, Shen Chengyao quickly agreed, “Yes, everyone should go, no one should be left behind.”

“Tomorrow, I have to go to the neighboring county to inquire about Yun’er, it will take a few days round trip.

You’ll have to take care of the house.”

Xiao’er was about to say she wasn’t interested in going, but after hearing this, she just nodded her head.

Suddenly, Shen Chengguang’s voice came from outside: “Dad, Mom, we’re back.”

Xiao’er was startled.

They were returning so late, what could it be?

Shen Chengyao was also worried that something might have happened to the shop, so he stood up, “Let’s go see what’s happened that made big brother come back so late.”