Chapter 1327 Dowry 2 (Reward for the book friend "Yanwei who loves reading books")
"It's okay," Xiao Qian said with a smile, "I'll run the business for you when the time comes, and you just need to provide food and accommodation."
"That won't work. Li Zhong and the others will be jealous." Man Bao shook his head and said, "I don't want to quarrel with Li Zhong and the others."
“They dare!”
"You also said you 'dare', not 'want', which shows that this is still not a good idea."
Seeing how difficult she was, and that she seemed determined to give the shop to Daya, Xiao Qian frowned slightly and asked, "Why did you suddenly think of this?"
Manbao said, "Yesterday, Mom hugged me and said that we are all running outside now. If it weren't for the eldest and third brothers who are always at home, she and Dad wouldn't even be able to find anyone to talk to."
"I was thinking, Dad and Mom have my eldest and third brothers to accompany them, so who will accompany you, sister-in-law?" Manbao said, "The restaurants in the capital are doing quite well. This year, my fifth brother almost couldn't get away to come back. He said that if he goes to the capital again at the beginning of the new year, he must take my fifth sister-in-law and the others with him."
Little Qian didn't know this and opened her mouth in surprise. "Isn't it said that living in the capital is very expensive?"
"It's expensive, but the annual round trip also costs a lot. So, it's better to live in the capital so that the family can see each other more often." Manbao leaned on Xiao Qian's knees and said, "How old is Li Zhong now? He will be in his prime for the next twenty years. He certainly won't return to the village to farm all the time. Can you bear to keep them at home tending to these fields?"
Of course I can’t bear to do that. Farming is too hard. Although doing other things is also hard, the hardship of farming is different from other kinds of hardship.
Xiao Qian has been running a restaurant in the county town for the past few years. He has seen a lot and has figured out the taste of food. The hard work in other things will always bring a lot of profits in the end, so it is not in vain.
But farming is different. In addition to hard work, it also depends on God's will.
God has been kind to us in recent years, with good weather and good harvests. But if one day there were severe floods and droughts like in previous years, it would be fatal.
Families like Mr. Bai's family in the village and Mr. Zhang and Mr. Liu in the county town not only have a lot of land and hire people to cultivate it, but also own shops. Even if the harvest is poor, the shops will still make a profit. They will not have to sell their children like them when they encounter major natural disasters or man-made disasters.
"And Lixue," Manbao continued, "He's a good student. I want to take him out this time and choose a good academy to send him to. It would be best if he can take the civil service exam in the future. Even if he doesn't, he will have many things to do with the skills he has learned."
"Sister-in-law, look, I'm so capable, Li Zhong is knowledgeable, Li Xue is educated, but what does Daya have?" Manbao whispered, "The other children in the family, Li Wei and Li Jun, are also away from home now, Li Xue can go out, not to mention the three girls below. When you count them all, only Daya has never been away from home, and she has no other opportunities to learn other things. Mother always says that the head of the family should treat everyone equally, but also take into account the weaker children. Like mother does to third brother, because he is honest and has no other income, she always secretly subsidizes them..."
Xiao Qian: ...Why did you tell her that the mother-in-law secretly subsidized the third child?
Manbao continued, completely unaware, "I know it's hard to treat sons and daughters equally, but now that Lizhong and Lixue have better prospects, it's okay for you to quietly support Daya."
Xiao Qian remained silent, so Manbao shook her and said, "Don't even think about giving me a dowry. I'm not your daughter, but you brought me up single-handedly. Datou and Daya have been playing with me since I was a child. In my heart, you're almost like my mother. Just think of yourself as having four children. This shop is yours. Now, whether you want to treat them equally or give them a preference, who do you want to give it to?"
Xiao Qian fell into silence.
Manbao knew that she was persuaded.
She leaned on Xiao Qian's knees, looked up at her and said, "Sister-in-law, Li Zhong is not at home. After the New Year, I will take Li Xue out to study. Then, in the future, only Daya will stay with you. Only she can take care of you and Big Brother."
When Xiao Qianshi heard this, her eyes turned red. She reached out and gently touched Manbao's hair. After thinking for a while, she nodded and said, "Okay, I'll talk to your eldest brother."
Manbao started laughing, nuzzled into her arms, and said, "Sister-in-law, if Dad doesn't agree, I'll ask Mom to talk to him."
Xiao Qian tapped her nose and said, "You clever little thing, be careful or your father will be angry with you."
Manbao said, "Our family is doing well now. My parents' problems are settled. We don't have any special expenses in the future. Everyone has a job. We can afford the dowry for this shop. Why not give it to us?"
Xiao Qian whispered, "When your eldest sister got married, her family didn't give her any of these as a dowry."
"That wasn't the case then?"
Seeing her anxious look, Manbao couldn't help but say, "Sister-in-law, don't worry. Do you know how much those two pieces of colored silk I gave to Daya cost?"
Xiao Qian asked casually, "How much?"
"One horse should cost at least one hundred and eighty taels."
Xiao Qian was stunned. She stared at Manbao with wide eyes and pointed at her room with a trembling finger, saying, "The ones given to me..."
"It's even more expensive. That's the silk gifted by the Empress. Anyway, I don't know how much it costs per piece. Erya sold two or three pieces before. She said it's not worth selling to the shops, and those rich families won't buy from us, so we have to keep it for ourselves. If it doesn't work out, we can use it as money in the future."
There was not much gold, and silver was rarely used outside. Most ordinary people used copper coins. In some large transactions, when gold and silver were not enough, silk, brocade, and cloth could be used as money.
Xiao Qian knew that the cloths that Manbao brought back were valuable, but she didn't expect them to be so expensive. Is one piece of cloth equivalent to their shop?
Seeing that she was still in a daze, Manbao ran away. When Xiao Qian came to her senses and wanted to look for her, she had already run to the Bai family.
Little Qian had no choice but to go out and find Qian and several sisters-in-law. After they said something, they started to search the children's rooms and brought all the cloths into the main room.
In fact, those colored silks were only given to Daya and Sanya, and then to the five sisters-in-law.
Qian couldn't help swallowing as she looked at the silk and satin carefully placed on the bed. She turned to look at Zhou Wulang, who had been temporarily called back from outside, and asked, "Old Fifth, tell me the truth, how much are these silks worth?"
Zhou Wulang: "...How can I put this?"
Qian shouted, "Tell the truth!"
Zhou Wulang: "To be honest, these pieces of silk here are just ordinary silk. Outside, you can buy one piece for eight or eleven or twelve taels of silver. The quality varies, so the price naturally varies."
He said, "It costs so much to buy it, but if we sell it to a cloth shop, it can only be sold for five or six taels. They will definitely sell it for some money."
The next chapter will be around 8 p.m.
Because some content in the previous chapter was messed up, I changed the second half of the chapter. You can go back and read it again.
(End of this chapter)
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