When Zhou Laoda returned home in the evening after finishing his work, he was so shocked to learn that his wife and children had dug up so much money on the mountain that his jaw almost dropped. He said in a trembling voice, "If I had known this would happen, why would I have helped build houses? It would have been more worthwhile to go up the mountain to dig up vine seedlings."
"No way, you still have to go to work tomorrow. We can't flaunt our wealth. We have to keep it hidden so that certain people don't covet it. Otherwise, it's questionable whether we can keep it." Not to mention that the villagers would be envious if they found out, the most troublesome people are the Zhou family.
Although Zhou Laosan was disfigured and Zhang Cui became crippled, the couple became much more low-key and usually dared not go out to meet people, hiding at home. But if they knew that Zhou Laosan's family had dug up so much money, they would definitely come over and make a scene immediately.
It's really annoying to be bothered by these people every day.
Old Zhou chuckled: "I was just saying. How can we really not work? We have a lot of kids, and Chen Shunping needs to take medicine to stay healthy. There are many places where we need money. We can't just sit around and do nothing. But if we have money in our coffers, we won't be under so much pressure."
I used to always think about how much money I needed to earn to feel at ease, but now even if I earn less, I won't feel so lost anymore.
After dinner, Zhou Laoda, Zhao Guihua, and Zhao Guizhi sat in the main room, discussing how to arrange their future life. Zhao Guizhi, who knew some characters, took out a brush and paper and wrote down the details one by one.
Zhao Guihua said, "We'll leave 600 taels untouched for now, and use the remaining 400 taels on the blade's toughness."
Old Zhou felt his wife was getting arrogant. "How could we possibly need four hundred taels? Poor families spend at most one tael a month, and less than ten taels a year. You just casually mentioned wanting to spend four hundred taels. How come I never knew you were such a spendthrift?"
"You don't know anything! You're just a peasant, that's all you've got," Zhao Guihua said, pinching Zhou Laoda's arm hard before adding, "Dafu and the other three are all ten years old, but unfortunately they still can't read a single word. I've decided to send them all to the private school in town, including Xingxing and Ruru. Even though they're girls, it's good for them to learn some books and characters. It's a huge disadvantage if they can't read."
They say the heroine's virtue lies in her lack of talent, but all she knows is that she can't read a single word and can't understand anything. She even has to ask someone to write a letter home, and after receiving the letter, she can't understand it and has to ask someone to read it to her.
It was truly frustrating; her daughter had to go to school and couldn't be left illiterate.
She didn't want her children to suffer the same fate as her husband and daughter, toiling in the fields year after year. They had to be better off than them in some way.
As for taking the imperial examinations, let fate decide. The most important thing is to be literate and good at accounting. Being a bookkeeper in the city is better than being a peasant. I didn't dare to dream of it before because I was poor, but now that I have money, I will definitely put studying first.
“Guihua is right. We were poor before, but now that we have money, raising our children is the most important thing.” Zhao Guizhi agreed with her sister. It is really necessary to learn to read and write. Back when she was sold into the Chen family as a maid, she was also completely illiterate.
Later, she made a difference by secretly learning some characters from the steward and accountant of the household. The steward was Chen Shunping's father, and the accountant was Chen Shunping's uncle. Chen Shunping was a servant born into the Chen family.
At that time, Chen Shunping's father and the accountant probably thought that Chen Guizhi was pretty and ambitious, so they had long intended to marry her to Chen Shunping. Chen Shunping also liked her, so Zhao Guizhi lived a pretty good life in the Chen family.
In addition, she was clever and quick-witted, and had a sweet tongue, so she quickly became the eldest mistress's maid. If the Chen family hadn't suddenly suffered a disaster, she and Chen Shunping would have been married long ago.
"After sending the children to the private school, we'll find time to build a few more houses, brick and tile houses." Back then, Zhou Laoda and his wife really didn't have any money, so they could only barely build three thatched houses. However, when they were building the wall, they set aside a large open space, which they reserved for building a house later when they had more money.
After all, they have many sons.
Back then, Yegou Village was an abandoned village with only three dilapidated thatched huts. It was incredibly desolate, and there were mass graves on the mountain, so no one wanted to build a house there.
Only Zhou Laoda and his group, who were refugees back then, had no choice but to settle in Yegou Village. They could only grit their teeth and dig foundations to build houses, but it wasn't without its benefits.
At least the people from their village had all fled together. If they hadn't come to Yegou Village, they would have been scattered and sent to different villages. At that time, they were very united and preferred to suffer rather than be separated from each other.
Another advantage is that no one cares how big a plot of land they want to build a house on, and they can clear as much wasteland as they want. The government has abandoned them here to fend for themselves, but they have also given them enough freedom.
So there's no need to worry about not having land to build a house. Zhao Guihua has no other ideas for the time being. "Now that the children's schooling and the house building are settled, I can focus on farming. Sister, have you decided what you want to do?"
After pondering for a while, Zhao Guizhi said, "My best skills are needlework and cooking, but it's obvious that it's impossible for us to open an embroidery shop. My skills aren't up to that level, and even if I were, we wouldn't have that much money to invest. So I'm thinking of going to town to sell food."
"Going to town to sell food is too hard. It takes two hours to go back and forth. Wouldn't you have to get up in the middle of the night to make food?" Zhao Guihua didn't quite agree. It was one thing for her sister, a woman, to go out in public, but she was more worried about the trouble and danger she might encounter on the way.
However, after thinking about it, she felt it was too hard for the children to travel to town for school, and she was worried about them. "Sister, you can go to town to sell food," she said. "Chen Shunping's condition is stable now, and he can get up and walk a few steps."
As long as you take good care of them, there's not much to worry about. You can run your business in town and cook for the children on the side. Once the land at home is finished being planted, my husband and I can go help out. So why don't we just rent a house in town and you can all live there? It'll save you from having to commute every day; it's too unsafe.”
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