Chapter 98

98 Planning

The next morning, Li Yu asked Butcher He to help her buy two big fat pigs and dozens of fish. She also bought cloth and brown sugar from Tongzhou.

Li Yu smiled and said to everyone, “We’ll start the holidays from today onwards. I’ve given out the salary and prepared some New Year goods for everyone. The people of Phoenix Village will have a good year this year.”

Everyone looked at the fish, the big fat pig on the chopping board, and the cloth and sugar. They all smiled. “Thanks to Xiaoyu and Mr. Zhou, everyone will have a prosperous fat year.”

“Alright, I’ll give everyone their wages and New Year goods.”

The highest wage received 15 taels of silver given to Chen Yaohui’s family. The lowest was seven to eight taels of silver. Li Yu even distributed meat, fish, two pieces of cloth, and two packets of brown sugar to every family.

The big guy carried the meat and New Year goods and thought about his life in the next year happily. Li Qing helped sell the goods in the shop and only returned to Phoenix Village with Zhao Cai on the 28th.

As soon as Li Qing arrived home, Zhou Jia pulled him over to go through his homework with him. After the revision, he praised, “Ah Qing, you’re not bad. You’ve improved greatly. Brother-in-law will reward you with a set of brushes and ink. Keep up the good work.”

Li Qing stood up and looked at Zhou Jia. He smiled and said, “Future brother-in-law, you’ve passed me. Now, it’s my turn to test you.”

Zhou Jia knocked on Li Qing. “Little brat, how dare your add a ‘future’ in front of brother-in-law. What do you want to test me for?”

Li Qing curled his lips. “You haven’t married my sister yet! Of course, you’re my future brother-in-law. Let me tell you, I also wake up every morning in Tongzhou to practice the moves my sister taught me. I’ve been practicing non-stop! Today, let’s spar!”

Zhou Jia rolled up his sleeves. “Come on! Let’s see who worked harder.”

Li Qing pulled Zhou Jia upstairs and started gesturing. The two of them fought until Li Qing was slapped to the ground by Zhou Jia.

Only then did Li Qing admit defeat. He stood up and patted the dust off his body. He smiled at Zhou Jia and said, “Brother-in-law, you’re too good at learning things. But when I reach your age, I’ll definitely catch up to you. I’ll be even better than you.”

Li Yu stood at the door and looked at Li Qing’s confident expression. She walked over happily and smiled at the two of them. “Uncle Zhou said that the two of you were competing. What was the outcome?”

Li Qing pouted and glared at Zhou Jia indignantly. “Brother-in-law was slightly better.”

Li Yu smiled when she saw Li Qing’s unconvinced expression. “Let’s go! After the venison is marinated, we’ll go down and eat roasted venison. Aunt even brewed glutinous rice wine.”

Zhou Jia looked at Li Yu and asked curiously, “When did you go hunting in the mountains again? Why didn’t I know?”

Li Yu looked at Zhou Jia and smiled to hide it. “I was lucky to meet one as soon as I went up the mountain. Let’s go quickly! We were waiting for the two of you.” Li Yu dragged Li Qing downstairs, leaving Zhou Jia shaking his head.

Everyone ate barbecue and hotpot around the charcoal basin. Li Yu drank two bowls of glutinous rice wine and sat there leaning against Li Mei.

Liu Changmin sat there and sighed. “Humans! We’re too unpredictable. We were still in Qingzhou last year today. At that time, we didn’t expect to come to Tongzhou this year.”

Zhou Jia nodded emotionally. “Yes, Uncle. Life is unpredictable. No one can predict what will happen tomorrow. However, I think it’s best as long as the family is safe and sound.”

After Zhou Jia finished speaking, he took out a banknote and handed it to Li Mei. “Aunt, this is a dividend for your family. Please accept it.”

Li Mei hurriedly pushed the banknotes back to Zhou Jia and refused firmly, “Why are you giving dividends to me when Yu’er has given us our salary? Take it back quickly. If we take more money, Aunt’s family will become greedy.”

Liu Changmin also waved his hand and rejected, “Zhou Jia, we can’t take this money anymore. The salary Xiaoyu gave is enough.”

Zhou Jia smiled and looked at Li Yu. Only then did he realize that Li Yu had already fallen asleep leaning against Li Mei. He hurriedly said to Li Mei, “Aunt, Xiaoyu is asleep. Hurry up and help her rest in the room. Otherwise, she’ll catch a cold.”

Li Mei smiled and helped Li Yu up. “This child has liked glutinous rice wine since she was young, but she gets sleepy every time she drinks it.”

Li Mei and Zhaodi helped Li Yu into the house and let her lie down. They went out to tidy up the courtyard. Li Mei thought about it and stayed at Li Yu’s house to rest.

On the thirtieth night, a crescent moon shone on the Nine Provinces. Every family in the village set off firecrackers. Everyone congratulated one another with a smile and wished each other a better year.

The moon’s curves illuminated the Nine Provinces. Some families were happy, while others were sad. In a dilapidated alley in the west of Tongzhou City, there were two straw sheds in the corner. Two families who had escaped from Green Mountain lived there. They were the Zhang family and the Zhu family.

Chen Zhaodi looked at the burnt brown rice and scolded Zhu Qiaoyu with a livid expression, “Why is my Old Zhang’s family so unlucky?! It wasn’t easy for us to obtain some food after marrying a useless pillow like you. Tsk, tsk, look at how it was cooked. Today is New Year’s Eve, and you’re not giving us any decent food to eat. It’s been more than a year...”

Zhu Qiaoyu lowered her head and stood by the stove, silently letting Chen Zhaodi scold her. Zhang Guisheng frowned and sat on the stool, looking like his soul had left his body.

Zhang Defa squatted at the entrance of the straw shed and looked at the dark alley. He thought to himself, “Could it be that the heavens can really see what the people below have done? Otherwise, why is life getting harder and harder?!”

Early on the morning of the first day of the new year, Li Yu had just opened the courtyard door when the children arrived at Li Yu’s house. Li Yu saw that the children were all wearing red woolen aviator hats with ears. They even had a braid hanging down one side.

Little Bean and her companions bowed to Li Yu. “Sister Xiaoyu, let’s make a fortune in the new year. Sister Xiaoyu is getting prettier.”

“Little Bean, you forgot to ask for the red packet,” a child shouted anxiously.

Li Yu smiled and took out the red paper bag. She took out the red packets inside and distributed them to the children. She pointed at the cakes on the table and said with a smile, “There are stir-fries and cakes on the table. Take whatever you want.”

Little Bean took the red packet and put it in his pocket. He looked at Li Yu and blushed. “Sister Xiaoyu, I don’t want to marry you anymore. My mother said that you’re Mr. Zhou’s wife. My mother said that I can’t marry someone else’s wife and that she’ll find me another one when I grow up.”

Li Yu wrinkled her nose and looked sad. She looked at Little Bean and covered her eyes. “Little Bean doesn’t want me. I’m going to be sad.”

Little Bean replied without hesitation, “I don’t want to be sad either. Mother said that you’re Mr. Zhou’s wife.”

“Little Bean, let’s go. Let’s go to Mr. Zhou’s house to pay our New Year greetings.” The children pulled Little Bean and ran away.

Li Qing came out of the kitchen and looked at Li Yu with a helpless expression. “Sister, you get confused when you drink. You must not drink outside in the future.”

“Alright, I understand.” Li Yu smiled when she saw Li Qing rolling up his sleeves. “You’re up so early?”

“Yes! I cooked glutinous rice balls. When the hot water is scooped up, we’ll eat glutinous rice balls.”

After the siblings ate the glutinous rice balls, Li Qing went out to pay his respects. Li Yu had just packed up the stove when Zhou Jia came with a box.

Zhou Jia smiled at Li Yu and said, “Xiaoyu, guess how much money we’ve earned in the past few months?”

Li Yu looked at Zhou Jia and raised two fingers. Zhou Jia shook his head and smiled. “There’s a dividend of 180 taels of wood from the carpenter’s shop in the box. We earned a total of 45,150 taels of silver from our bags and wool fabric. We’ve sold the rest of the goods for about 50,000 taels.”

Li Yu was also shocked. She widened her eyes at Zhou Jia. “It’s a little beyond my expectations.”

Zhou Jia smiled and shook his head. “You were too busy to notice. Think about it, the sweater and pants are all 158 copper coins. The shawl and scarf are 120 copper coins, the socks are 12 to 20 copper coins, and there are those hats and gloves. Our profits from these are quite considerable. There should be more people following the trend this year, but we also gained the upper hand.”

Li Yu smiled indifferently. “Since there are more people following the trend, we’ll do less retail and more wholesale to those small merchants. If we sell in large quantities, we might earn more than selling ourselves. After spring, we’ll build the pig farm and farm as soon as possible. We’ll also hire people to take care of those ponds.”

Zhou Jia held Li Yu’s hand. “Alright, we’ll do as you say. We’ll reduce the retail sales and sell them wholesale. Also, I’ve thought about it. I’m prepared to hand over all my businesses to Zhao Cai and Ji Xiang this year and let them be the shopkeepers. After the festival, I’ll go to Tongzhou to see if I can hire craftsmen who know how to weave. I’ll also order dozens of spinning carts. I’ll also hire people to do housework and needlework. I’ll take care of the fields and ponds. The stalls will expand my status as a scholar, but it won’t be able to protect our family businesses. After making the arrangements, I’ll prepare for the exam in peace.”

When Li Yu heard this, she smiled and agreed. “Alright, don’t worry. I’ll take care of the family during your examination preparation. Isn’t Ruyi going to Tongzhou?”

Zhou Jia looked at Li Yu with a smile. “Ruyi doesn’t like to do business and is willing to take care of the farmstead and the family. Uncle Zhou is old, so I’m letting him follow Uncle Zhou. In the future, let him take care of the family and the farmstead. Take care of these banknotes first. I’ll leave some spares and change the rest to silver for you.”

“Sure!” Li Yu carried the box into the house like a hamster and secretly placed it in the space.

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