Chapter 59

After dividing the silver and money, everyone returned home with the heavy copper coins.

Fu'an and Funing, a brother and sister, were lying on their grandmother's bed, with their feet curled up and swaying.

The two pairs of gently swaying feet also showed their current joy.

Both brother and sister were counting the ten and twenty copper coins in front of them.

Fu An counted his own and then looked at his sister's.

His sister counted one and he helped shout it out.

"Eight, nine, ten..."

After counting, Fu An found that he seemed to have ten more copper coins than his sister.

He looked at the handful of copper coins in front of him, and then at the copper coins in front of his sister.

After hesitating for a moment, he counted out five coins from his own and put them into his sister's coins.

Fu Ning looked at his brother with a pair of confused eyes.

Fu An said, "Brother, give me fifteen coins, and sister, fifteen coins too. That way, we will have the same amount of coins."

After hearing this, Fu Ning thought about it and immediately smiled brightly at his brother.

Mrs. Luo looked at her grandchildren, who were full of innocence on the bed, and a smile appeared on her face.

She looked at the two strings of copper coins in her hand, pondered for a moment, and then hid the two hundred copper coins together with the twenty copper coins that Liu Niang had given her before.

She is just an old woman and doesn't need much money. It's better to save it first and give it to Erlang and his wife when they need it.

After Fu Zhen brought all the silver and money back into the house, the couple quietly looked at the more than a thousand coins on the bed.

It wasn't until some time had passed that Fu Zhen came to his senses and spoke, "We'll give 700 wen to my sister-in-law, leaving about 500 wen for her. What do you think?"

Wen Xing was stunned for a moment. She asked doubtfully, "Do you really need to keep so much?"

Fu Zhen explained to her, "After all, all the oil, salt, rice, vegetables, and clothes in our home were bought with my sister-in-law's money. We naturally can't use the excuse of repaying her to continue spending her money."

Wen Xing also reacted and replied, "Yes, An An and Ning Ning still need to be taken care of, and A Niang still needs to be filial to her, so we have to leave some money."

Fu Zhen glanced at the rickety bamboo bed and added, "There's another bamboo bed that needs to be replaced."

Wen Xing glanced at the bamboo bed and blushed again when she thought of what happened that night.

He really brings up things that are not related to the topic!

She said angrily, "Don't talk about this."

Fu Zhen sighed secretly.

Although I was not allowed to say it, I still thought about it in my heart.

——Fu Ning is still young, but Fu An has grown up and he still needs his own house.

The room next door where the herbs were stored has been cleared out now, so I guess there won't be too many herbs piled up for the time being. Maybe I can let my son stay there for a few days...

Because Fu Zhen was a person who rarely showed his emotions, Wen Xing had no idea that her husband had so many calculations in his mind.

She put away her shyness and squatted down to count the copper coins.

The copper coins were worth one hundred coins per string, so the couple didn't need to count them carefully, they could just take seven strings.

After taking seven strings of money, Wen Xing looked at the remaining silver and money, which was about five hundred coins.

She still felt it wasn't real.

"Da Lang, I still feel like I'm dreaming. Do you want to pinch me and see if it hurts?"

Fu Zhen looked at his wife's thin arms and legs and thought to himself, if he really pinched them, they would definitely swell up, right?

He sighed, "I'm not dreaming. We no longer have to worry about where we'll have food to eat, let alone the issue of household registration."

Wen Xing still felt it was unreal. She reached out and pinched her husband, then asked expectantly, "Does it hurt?"

…

Fu Zhen felt no pain, only a slight itch: ...

But in order to prevent his wife from asking more questions, he nodded calmly: "It hurts."

Wen Xing was relieved, and then she and her husband took the silver and money to find her brother's wife.

*

Yu Ying threw the charming atmosphere before nightfall out of her mind and told Fu Wei her thoughts afterwards: "No drug dealer wants our herbs right now, but we still need to collect them. We can stockpile them, but we definitely can't collect them so frequently."

Although I have a little money now, it is not enough to support the purchase of large quantities of medicinal materials.

Fu Wei knew that she was stockpiling herbs to be prepared for any eventuality, so he agreed. "What about you? What do you want to do next? Make a facial cream?"

Yu Ying nodded and said, "I'll try it first and make some to see how it goes. I sold two kilograms of medicinal herbs to Shopkeeper Luo. Although it's not much, it's enough to make a lot of facial creams, and I won't have too much inventory."

Yu Ying didn't dare to rush into stockpiling too many herbs. After all, they were too expensive. She could only sell them for fifteen or twenty wen per jin, but buying them back would cost forty wen per jin, which was too expensive.

Fu Wei: "It's always better to be safe."

After thinking for a moment, he reminded, "When I was collecting herbs today, I saw many villagers outside the yard from the window. They saw with their own eyes how much the Fu family sold. After all, one person's wealth brings resentment from thousands of families. You better be careful."

Yu Ying thought of those eager eyes today, and her heart was filled with worries.

At this time, the eldest brother and his wife came and said they wanted to return the money.

Outside the door, the two men returned the silver and were about to leave when Fu Wei suddenly walked to the door with a cane.

He asked, "Would it be convenient for Big Brother and Big Sister-in-law to come in and talk for a few words?"

The couple nodded and entered the house. Fu Wei calmly put down his cane and sat down. He then spoke slowly, "From today on, everyone in the village will know that our Fu family has made money and helped the He family and Song Sanlang. After this, the villagers will definitely feel very unbalanced, and trouble will ensue."

Fu Zhen said, "Then I'll be more cautious recently."

Fu Wei said, "That's one point. Another point is that many people will come to help or lend money. Will you help or not, will you lend or not, brother and sister-in-law?"

Fu Zhen was silent for a moment, then said truthfully, "If it was a relationship like Song Sanlang's, I would probably help, but I would only do what I can. Besides, in Lingshui Village, I only have a closer relationship with Song Sanlang and the He family."

Wen Xing also hurriedly shook her head and said, "I don't know either."

Fu Wei heard this and said, "But it's inevitable that some people will harbor resentment, so we should first calm them down and say that we will collect herbs from them when we can discuss a bigger deal later."

Fu Zhen nodded: "That's what I said."

Fu Wei instructed again: "Patrol the fields more often. If necessary, build a thatched hut there and have several families take turns guarding it."

When Fu Zhen heard his second brother's words, he understood that some people had been in trouble for a long time and had already been worn down to a state of abnormality. If they had a grudge, they would not dare to do anything in front of others, but would definitely do something dirty in secret to vent their unhappiness.

"The He family is going to pick up He Erlang, so they will definitely be busy these few days. I will first go with Song Jun and patrol once or twice a night."

Yu Ying warned: "If you encounter any danger, don't worry about the fields, your own safety is the most important."

Fu Zhen nodded.

After discussion, the eldest brother and his wife went back.

After his elder brother and sister-in-law left, Fu Wei looked at Yu Ying and said, "What I just said is not a long-term solution. Instead of being on guard and appeasing them, it is better to give them some hope."

He pondered for a moment, then continued, "Lingshui Village is too poor. The villagers live in extreme poverty. They're starving like wolves in winter. If someone else has meat in their bowl, they'll covet it. And we're the ones with meat in their bowl. When winter comes, some will starve to death. When that happens, people, when they're desperate, will do anything."

Yu Ying understood what Fu Wei said.

She thought about moving to Yu County to avoid the villagers, but her fields were still in Lingshui Village. Besides, no matter where she went, she would be resented by thousands of families for her wealth. It was not feasible to just hide away.

Yu Ying pondered for a moment, and after a moment, she made a decision: "When the world becomes chaotic in the future, medicinal herbs will definitely be in short supply. Various forces may purchase them at high prices. Why not give it a try? Even if I can't make much money, I can at least buy a place to live."

Yu Ying decided to take a gamble and paid money to rent land so that the villagers could grow some medicinal herbs before the unrest.

After the medicinal herbs were harvested, she collected them all.

If the bet is right this time, she might be able to get through the unstable situation safely, but if something unexpected happens, all the money she has will be lost.

Fu Wei nodded. "That's exactly what I was thinking. Instead of guarding against the villagers, why not use their manpower to grow more medicinal herbs, preferably ones that can be harvested in about a year? Barren land doesn't require grain taxes, and renting it is cheap. However, planting will be twice as hard as on fertile fields. If they can endure the hardship, they'll get their share."

Yu Ying carefully considered the things that needed to be considered. After a long pause, she said, "We need to discuss this matter with the village head and let him make the first move."

Fu Wei nodded, but then added: "This needs to be done, but not now."

Yu Ying was slightly stunned: "Why?"

Fu Wei: "Wait a little longer."

Yu Ying raised her eyebrows and asked in confusion, "What are you waiting for?"

Fu Wei looked at her with his dark eyes and spoke slowly: "Wait for an opportunity."

Seeing his mysterious look, Yu Ying couldn't help but wonder what the opportunity was.

Could it be that this opportunity is related to his letter?

A month ago, Yu Ying sent his letter to Yu County.

Because she was afraid that people would know that the letter was sent by the Fu family and it would be intercepted, Yu Ying cautiously asked the shopkeeper Chen for help. She sent a gift and asked him to help find a postman.

And that letter was sent to Wuling County.

The "Yunhai Study" in Wuling County was taken away by Huo Mingming.

The name Huo Mingming doesn't sound like a person's name at all.

Since he didn't say anything, Yu Ying didn't ask what the opportunity was. After all, the things they just discussed still needed to be thought about carefully and some time would be spent on preparations. It was just right to wait a while.

*

The next day, Uncle He and Aunt He walked to Yu County to find the yamen runner Huo and began to prepare to go to the quarry to pick up He Erlang.

Because the ox cart would not go to Yu County until tomorrow, and Shopkeeper Luo said he would rest in Yu County for two days before leaving, Yu Ying was not in a hurry to go to Yu County to find Shopkeeper Luo to buy medicinal materials.

The news that the Fu family sold a large amount of medicinal materials spread like wildfire.

The people at the Yu County Medical Clinic knew that the drug dealer surnamed Zhao would come to Yu County again in October this year, so they were all asking about Zhao's whereabouts.

Today, someone found out the whereabouts of the drug dealer named Zhao and wanted to wait for him outside the inn.

This would be a good opportunity to meet the drug dealer named Zhao, or the shopkeeper Luo, to discuss the sale of medicinal materials.

But after waiting for half a day, they saw Manager Luo leading two fully loaded carriages to a stop outside the inn, and then called for people to move the sacks on the carriages into the inn.

They are drug dealers, so it goes without saying what is in those sacks.

The people who were waiting there immediately realized that someone had gotten there first.

He immediately rushed back and informed the director of the clinic about this.

The director was about forty years old, with a goatee and a plain robe.

Upon hearing that the drug dealer surnamed Zhao had already purchased the herbs, he couldn't help but frown and asked in confusion, "I've had people keep an eye on several medical clinics in Yu County, but I haven't heard of any of them preparing large quantities of herbs. Which medical clinic are these coming from?"

After thinking about it for a while, he asked someone to find out the opinions of several other medical clinics.

But the information we got was that several medical clinics did not do business with the drug dealer. Instead, the person who did business with the drug dealer was an unknown woman.

The news that Yu Ying had made a big deal in medicinal materials spread like wildfire. The villagers in several nearby villages all knew about it and were even more excited about the ability of the new bride of the Fu family.

Some people are optimistic, but most are pessimistic.

When nearby villagers brought medicinal herbs to the clinic for purchase, they told the clinic about this matter.

Within a few days, Yu Ying's story spread to several medical clinics.

People in the clinic also began to ask people to inquire about the information about this woman.