Chapter 51: Envy of Others

Erbao looked as if he was listening to a foreign language. "Mom, you're amazing! How did you manage to keep accounts? And you can even read? Didn't you say you couldn't read before?"

Dabao knocked his head off and said, "Mom used to be very secretive. You just learn what I teach you. Why are you asking so many questions?"

Erbao was speechless.

The expenditure was complicated, so Jiang Lianzhu took out an abacus and started clacking away. As an all-round agent, using an abacus was not a difficult task for him.

But Erbao was shocked again.

"Mom, you're awesome! You even know how to use an abacus."

Jiang Lianzhu smiled calmly, "There's a mnemonic, just memorize it and I'll teach you someday."

Dabao still said one word, "Okay!"

He learns whatever his mother teaches him.

The two brothers watched with admiration as Jiang Lianzhu sorted out the accounts. Erbao kept praising Jiang Lianzhu while watching, while Dabao seemed to understand something. After this round, he had learned almost everything.

Dabao pointed at the final net profit figure and said, "Mom, did we make three hundred and seventeen taels?"

Jiang Lianzhu said affectionately, "My son is awesome. Who did he learn arithmetic from before?"

Dabao said in a deep voice, "Dad. When he was still alive, he taught me some arithmetic."

Jiang Lianzhu could guess some of it. It was said that Wang Laowu used to be a bodyguard, so he should have some knowledge and should know some simple arithmetic and literacy.

She opened the bundle of silver and money and said, "Come, count how many banknotes and small change we have at home..."

A large package of silver and money was opened in front of the two little guys, and their eyes widened.

"Wow, that's a lot of money..."

They had never seen so much silver and money in their lives.

Dabao began to count the silver bills, and there were a total of two hundred and fifty taels of silver.

All that's left are small change and big coins.

The coins were in small pieces, strung together with thread. One string was one hundred coins, and there were dozens of strings.

There are one ounce of silver, five ounces of silver...

Dabao finished counting carefully, and when he found some complicated parts, Jiang Lianzhu pointed them out to him in time.

"Mother, there are more than three hundred and seventy taels in total."

Jiang Lianzhu checked it again and said, "Yes! It's OK."

There were also the forty taels left from the sale of the century-old ginseng, and the dozen or so taels robbed from hooligans.

Erbao drooled at the sight of the white silver, "Mom, are landlords as rich as us? How can we spend so much silver? We can buy so many delicious foods!" Now, if he marries a wife, he won't have to worry about her eating up all his food, right?

Jiang Lianzhu handed this difficult question to Dabao, "Dabao, tell me, how should we spend our money?"

Dabao thought about it seriously and said, "We should buy some land first. This money can buy about 30 mu of land. Even if we don't make autumn pear paste anymore, we still have the land to grow crops. We won't have to worry about going hungry or freezing in the future."

Erbao's eyes sparkled. "Brother is right! Only with land can one become a landlord. Landlords are the richest and their wealth can be passed down from generation to generation. With land, no one will dare to bully us anymore. We'll have more food than we can eat, and we can devour it in new ways every day. Hehe, I envy them to death."

Jiang Lianzhu nodded and smiled, "Okay! I'll listen to you two. Once we're done with the Qiuli Paste, we'll go buy some land from the pawnshop. Once we have the land, I'll be the landlady, and you'll be the small landlords... If anyone bullies us, we'll just pound them to death with grain!"

Erbao laughed happily.

A mother like this is exactly what he wants.

Dabao also smiled, with a bright smile in his eyes.

Then, Jiang Lianzhu continued, "After the Qiuli Paste is finished, I plan to send you two brothers to the town teacher to study. What do you think?"

Erbao was stunned. "Mom, do I have to go too? I'm only five years old. Will the teacher refuse to accept me? I heard that the teacher is very strict in teaching. If you don't learn the characters he teaches, you will be beaten with a stick..."

Dabao slapped Erbao on the head and said, "Look at how useless you are. Mom sent us to school, so we studied hard. You are afraid of being beaten."

He turned around and said to Jiang Lianzhu solemnly, "Mom, I'll go."

Jiang Lianzhu patted the heads of the two brothers, Dabao and Erbao. "Okay, let's arrange it this way for now. Mother lets you study, not to let you take the imperial examinations to make her proud, but to let you learn more. If you can pass the examination, it would be great. If you can't, at least you can gain some experience. You are all men, real men. You should be knowledgeable and understand the truth. You can't just live in the fields all your life. Do you understand?"

Erbao smiled mischievously and said, "Mom, now that you say that, I feel much less stressed. I'll read this book, hehe."

Dabao also smiled silently.

In the countryside, there are families who tighten their belts and eat and drink less to send their children to school. There are many such families, and they all hope that their children will pass the imperial examination and bring honor to the family.

There are basically no people who think like Jiang Lianzhu.

This water ghost mother is really different from others.

It is their blessing to have such a good mother.

Finally, Jiang Lianzhu looked around the house and said, "Dabao, Erbao, our house is bustling with people every day. It doesn't feel safe to keep all our money inside. Where do you think we can hide it? If it's stolen, we'll be vomiting blood."

The two guys' expressions changed!

This isn't something that would make you vomit blood just by stealing it, it's something that would make you vomit blood just by thinking about it.

The two kids woke up from their sleepiness and looked for a suitable place.

Finally, the mother and her two sons worked together to dig a hole in the kang where they slept, leaving some scattered silver and copper coins for daily needs outside, and stuffing the rest of the large sums of silver and money inside.

He then leveled the bricks on the kang and covered it with bedding.

People will feel more at ease sleeping on the bedding.

Jiang Lianzhu thought that this was still not safe enough and she needed a safe.

This house is made of mud bricks and has been there for a long time. The wooden doors are brittle and not very secure. When I have more money, I will build a new house with green bricks and tiles, get a safe, and install some mechanical devices.

Hey, that's safety.

Before Dabao went to sleep, she whispered to Erbao, "Don't tell anyone else a single word of what Mommy said to us or taught us. Got it?"

Erbao fell asleep as soon as he got to the bed, and said drowsily, "Do you need me to tell you?"

Jiang Lianzhu was sleeping under the outermost quilt, separated from Sanbao by a blanket. She heard the brothers' whispers and smiled.

***

The Jiang family is still busy making autumn pear paste.

There was a long line at the door, all of them were selling pears.

Wangjia Village has now become a well-known village far and wide. Everyone knows that the Jiang family collects wild pears, and people from miles around come here to sell pears.

There were people from other villages pulling ox carts to sell their wares, and they were willing to wait in long lines.

Suddenly, a carriage came by and asked everyone it met, "Where does Jiang, who makes autumn pear paste, live?"