Transmigrated as a Stepmother: Time to Bring the Family to Prosper!-Chapter 214 - 213: Outsmarted by One’s Own Cleverness

Chapter 214: Chapter 213: Outsmarted by One’s Own Cleverness

The Liu Family’s old house received 1,000 catties, and Qin Yao didn’t mention anything about transportation costs.

Old Liu and Mrs. Zhang were grateful and weren’t in a hurry to settle the payment, figuring they could help out more in the future. These social exchanges couldn’t be precisely calculated.

In town, shelled wheat was sold at twelve coins a catty, and three taels of silver could buy 1,000 catties, which made everyone at the old house quite happy.

He and Mrs. Qiu hurriedly cleared out half a room in their house to store the grain.

But Qin Yao’s side had 10,000 catties with nowhere to store them.

For now, they could only stuff as much as possible into their own bedroom, and once spring planting was over, they planned to build an additional warehouse.

Liu Bai and Liu Zhong assured Qin Yao with a pat on the chest, promising it was all on them.

They specifically mentioned that Qin Yao didn’t need to worry about meals; she just had to give them some meat, and they’d handle the cooking themselves.

Qin Yao felt a bit disappointed: Your disdain is so obvious.

In the evening, both families shared a sumptuous meal at Qin Yao’s house, prepared by Liu Ji, and left happily afterward.

Qin Yao saw the old house folks out, watched them enter the village, locked the front door, and moved around the various rooms of the house.

Seeing the bags of grain stacked in the rooms, Qin Yao let out a breath, patting her chest, feeling very relieved and comfortable.

"Wife?"

Liu Ji softly called from outside the door.

Qin Yao stepped out of the room, gestured for him to follow, and they went to the main room.

As soon as they sat down, Liu Ji handed over a bill, spread it out flat, and explained it to her item by item.

Thirty taels for the grain, each catty of wheat costing three coins, totaling 10,000 catties purchased. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Two taels for travel expenses, six nights away from home, with 600 coins for accommodation, 400 coins for food, and two packs of pastries for 120 coins, plus an expense of 850 coins for information gathering, leaving a remainder of 30 coins.

After explaining, Liu Ji consciously placed the money bag in front of her, poured it out and counted, there were exactly thirty copper coins.

Everything seemed perfect, even confronting Liu Fei wouldn’t easily reveal any flaw.

Qin Yao weighed the remaining thirty coins, looked at Liu Ji with a half-smile, making him shiver with a cold sweat before she spoke:

"Handle the living expenses for March and April yourself. Don’t ask why, you know very well why."

What accommodation cost 600 coins?

Could there be so many high-end inns along the way for such expenses!

What pastries cost 120 coins for two packs?

She figured, at most, it should be 40 coins, no more!

And that information fee, that was even more questionable, she didn’t even want to point it out.

When the money was spent, Qin Yao had already accounted for this in the budget. So, upon seeing this bill, she felt no disturbance.

If her guess was correct, Liu Ji pocketed about 800 to 900 coins.

His monthly living expenses at the academy, including paper consumption, were around 300 coins; she only counted two months worth, considering the rest as his "toil fee".

A full 300 coins as toil fee, one couldn’t find anyone more generous than her.

"I’m going to sleep." Qin Yao stood up, tossed the bill to him, took the remaining thirty coins, yawned, and went back to her room to sleep.

Leaving Liu Ji sitting dumbstruck on the small stool in the main room, emotions stirring within him, fists clenched, realizing his cleverness turned against him, almost fainting out of anger.

If he’d known, he wouldn’t have returned even those thirty coins!

The 890 coins he painstakingly hid away had to be used for living expenses, and for what reason?

For what reason!!!

Even the chickens in the yard seemed to sense the dark resentment looming over the main room, clucking quietly to avoid bad luck and being slaughtered for consumption the next day.

Da Lang led his siblings out of the shower, tiptoeing past the main room and slipping into their rooms quietly, closing the doors softly to shut out the overwhelming resentment, before exhaling collectively.

Liu Ji stood up with a grunt, blew out the oil lamp heavily, and shut the main room door with a thud.

The noise was too loud, sensing a shadow move in the master bedroom, he quickly darted back, gently closing the gap that had been jarred open.

Qin Yao heard the commotion outside for a good quarter-hour before it quieted down, a mocking smile playing on her lips as she lifted a hand to extinguish the oil lamp on the table, covered herself with a thin quilt, and slept soundly.

The March rains were continuous, falling for several days at a time, casting a dreary sky.

But with the grain stored, Qin Yao could focus on preparing for spring planting.

Liu Ji had returned to the academy, needing to register early for the May provincial exam, preparing various documents, with the rest of the time occupied by studies, his schedule packed.

Even though it was mostly about gaining experience, it was an official exam after all, and Liu Ji was confident, thinking perhaps luck would be on his side.

His optimism amused him, yet this confidence fueled his motivation to actively study, once again becoming the most diligent student at the academy, much to the chagrin of Fan Xiucai and others.

Seeing Liu Ji’s effort gave them the illusion he might actually succeed.

At home, the children were in school, leaving the farming tasks for Qin Yao alone this year.

Fortunately, she had bought a cow; with the small amount of land, it took just two and a half days to plow the fields.

This time, Qin Yao irrigated eight acres, leaving two acres dry.

A couple of days prior, while sorting through grain seeds, she stumbled upon a gourd and upon opening it, discovered watermelon seeds, recalling last year she had helped an escort agency on the road, and their leader gifted her with this jar of cool melon seeds.

It’s a good thing; having not eaten any fruits year-round, Qin Yao immediately decided to reserve two acres specifically for planting them.

Not being able to eat them all herself, the excess could potentially fetch a good price.

After all, scarcity drives value, and there weren’t any watermelons seen for sale in Kaiyang County.

Whether or not this season’s watermelon variety was good was unknown, so a bit of gambling was involved for her.

Once Qin Yao finished plowing the fields, the cow was promptly borrowed by Liu Bai.

Others looked on enviously and jealously: why didn’t they have such a capable sibling?

Look at Liu Laosan and his wife, one turning over a new leaf by studying, the other making money and valiantly defending against bandits.

The Liu Family’s old house, adjacent to the couple’s, was visibly improving, and this year they even had a cow.

The cow at his brother’s house and the village head’s cow gave completely different experiences when used.

Since Qin Yao had finished early, there was no rush to return it, which meant they didn’t have to work from dawn till dusk so intensely.

This way, the cow could conserve energy and people could rest a bit more.

The days lengthened; when Da Lang, Jinbao, and several others returned from school, before dusk, they’d grab a sickle, lead the old cow, and take it up the mountain to graze.

They’d also cut plenty to store as feed, occasionally treating it with some extra, avoiding overworking it.

Si Niang and Sanlang would hold their books and self-made blank workbooks, catching Jinhua to teach her to read.

Jinhua was used to running wild, and not having attended school, spent half the day learning weaving and needlework with her mother, and the other half helping with chores, before heading out to play with other village children, finding it hard to keep still.