Chapter 1346: Instructions
As soon as Feng mentioned that silk could be exchanged for tea, she brought over four pieces of silk from her room right after dinner.
She asked Zhou Silang, "Is the money earned from exchanging this silk for tea considered public or ours?"
Zhou Silang looked at his parents.
Qian said, "Have the second one keep a good account. According to the old rules, 30% of the weight of tea you exchange will belong to the public, and the rest will be yours."
Feng was delighted when she heard this and urged her son, "Ertou, remember this quickly."
Zhou Liwei took a pen and wrote down the patterns and colors of the silk and satin his mother brought, and then marked his name in front of them.
Feng leaned over and took a look. Although she didn't know many characters, she still remembered Sanya's name. She pointed to a line and asked, "Why are you writing it down separately?"
Zhou Liwei said, "Isn't this Third Sister's satin? My second sister and I chose it for her."
Feng: "...We are one family, how can we record it separately? Just put it all under your father's name."
Zhou Liwei said, "I've written it all down. Corrections will cost extra paper."
Old Zhou, who had originally not cared about their dispute, immediately said, "Why change it? Since it's already written, let's just leave it as it is."
When Feng heard this, she immediately stopped talking.
The other families also immediately brought over silk and satin to be recorded, and even Daya brought over two pieces of her own colorful silk.
Among all the cloths, her two were the most valuable.
Zhou Liwei knew it was a tribute, and asked her quietly, "Sister, are you really going to change it?"
Xiao Qian also advised her, "You should keep it as a dowry."
Daya shook her head. "This silk is so beautiful. I'll be working in a shop in the future, so I won't be able to wear it much. I might as well exchange it for tea leaves and make money. It's more practical to keep the money."
Old Zhou praised: "That's right. Besides food, money is the most practical thing in this world. When you go to the Guan family, you must tell your son-in-law the same thing. It's best if you keep his money, so that he won't spend it without restraint. After all, you are in charge of his food and clothing, so it's only right that you should be in charge of his money."
Xiao Qian: ...
She gave the colored silk to Ertou to record, pulled Daya out, and quietly warned her, "Don't listen to your grandfather. You just got married and you're not familiar with your son-in-law yet. You can't bring up money all of a sudden."
She said, "Your family hasn't split up yet, and your grandfather is still the head of the family. Your parents-in-law probably don't have much spare money. Anyway, your food and clothing are all provided by your family, so you just need to take care of your own little family. The only thing is that you have to keep your dowry yourself, and you have to know how much money you have."
Manbao sat on a small stool nearby and listened to her sister-in-law whispering to Daya how to get along with her husband's family. When Xiao Qian looked down, she saw Manbao looking at her seriously with his face supported. She didn't care, thinking that her sister-in-law was not young anymore and it was time for her to learn these things.
Just drag her over to listen.
"Remember, your private money can only be used for you and your wife. For example, you can give some to your son-in-law to buy books, pens, ink and paper, but if your parents-in-law need it for other purposes, you can't give it to them."
Xiao Qian whispered, "If they need money from you for other purposes, come back and tell me so we can talk to them about it. Don't refuse them yourself, okay?"
Daya didn't expect that just getting married would lead to so much knowledge just by spending money. She couldn't help but feel anxious for a moment, "Mom, didn't you say that the Guan family is similar to ours and we are very harmonious? Why..."
Xiao Qian tapped her forehead, but there were many people in the yard at the moment, so she couldn't explain in detail. She could only say, "I'll go to your room to find you later. Manbao, you should go too. I have something to teach you."
"Aunt, I've written down all the patterns. Do you think it's okay?"
Xiao Qian squeezed in to take a look. The patterns and colors of the silks Manbao gave them were all different, so they were easy to record and would definitely not be confused.
After that, when you exchange the cloth for tea, there will definitely be differences, but you can just write down how many kilograms of tea and the quality of the tea each person exchanged for. When you transport it to the capital and sell it, the profit will be deducted from the travel costs.
Even Qian brought out the silk from her own room to record it. Obviously, they had no intention of using the cloth to make clothes.
Manbao looked at it and always felt that something was not right. She had brought these cloths back from the capital city all the way to make clothes for them, so how come they all turned into money in the end?
Perhaps Qian knew how depressed she was, so she reached out and touched her head and said with a smile, "We can't wear silk clothes yet. They get scratched too easily when we walk on the ground. Cotton and linen are fine."
Manbao scratched his head and asked, "Then I'll give you cotton cloth in the future?"
Old Zhoutou immediately said, "No, we will buy the cotton cloth ourselves. You should just give us the silk."
Manbao: ...
Seeing that everyone had taken note, Qian smiled and said, "Alright, it's getting late. Let's all pack up and get some rest. The Guan family should be coming tomorrow to deliver the betrothal gifts, and we need to start preparing the food at home."
Old Zhou then remembered, "Oh, where's our new cow? Boss, be careful at night and don't let the bullocks in the cowshed fight with her. She's pregnant with a calf."
Zhou Dalang agreed.
As soon as everyone dispersed, Xiao Qian pulled Manbao and Daya back to talk in private. Sanya was also pulled away by her mother to talk. Ertou did not escape either and was also pulled into the house.
Manbao guessed that the second sister-in-law would ask Ertou for some private money to keep, but the second sister-in-law might not get anything.
Xiao Qian closed the door. Because Manbao was still young, she only let her listen in. But she pulled Daya aside and started to lecture her, "Mother is telling you, when you go to the Guan family, you must be diligent and work hard. That way, your mother-in-law will like you. Do you understand?"
Daya nodded and said that Xiao Qian often said this.
"But you can't be blindly diligent. Don't get involved in things that aren't your business. At home, you just need to clean the yard and help out in the kitchen. When you're out in the fields, do whatever your in-laws ask you to do. Don't get involved in things that aren't your job, okay?"
Daya continued to nod.
Seeing that she was obedient, Xiao Qian was relieved and began to talk more deeply. "The family gave you a shop, and the Guan family bought you a small house in the county town. The house was bought with public funds. He has a younger brother and a cousin. It would be too difficult for the Guan family to treat everyone equally. So you have to understand that this house is yours and it's not yours either."
Daya seemed to understand, "It's for us to live in, but it's still a public school?"
Xiao Qian nodded, "That's right."
"You know the profit of the shop. Even if we deduct the 30% that goes to the public school, the remaining 70% is still quite a lot for the two of us. This money is all earned by you, so you have to keep it for yourself. But if you work in the shop, you won't be able to take care of the family in Dali Village or the work in the fields. So you have to make up for it from other places, such as buying paper, books, pens and ink for Guan Yong."
See you tomorrow
(End of this chapter)
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