Chapter 490 Leave it to You
The three brothers all planned to follow Manbao's advice and send their children to school, so Old Zhou naturally would not object anymore.
Although he is the head of the family, he would not object too much if his children made the same decision.
He just didn't want to pay for it himself.
However, although he did not pay any money, he agreed to Qian's idea of dividing the money again.
Last night, not only did Zhou Dalang and his wife have a meeting, but Old Zhou and his wife also talked quietly for half the night.
If you want to know how important reading is, just look at Manbao.
Did they know about Ligustrum lucidum and Chinese yam before? Did they know how to grow ginger?
Not to mention selling the wheat as wheat seeds to Mr. Bai at a high price.
In the past, they thought that studying could help them become officials, teachers, or accountants, but they never expected that studying could have so many benefits.
So deep down, Old Zhou also wanted to send his children to school.
But there are too many children at home!
Not to mention the ones he already has, they will have more in the future, and he still has two sons who are not married yet.
If a precedent is set now, will we give birth to children born in the future as gifts?
If I have to give them all away, my family doesn’t have that much money.
Even though the family has nearly four hundred taels of silver now, if you really use it for studying, this amount of money is not much at all.
Moreover, the number of children born to each child is different. There is no conflict between the children now, but when they have children in the future, they will bring up the old issues.
Even the smallest thing can cause a huge quarrel.
Qian also felt that it was not a good idea for the family to pay, so she discussed it with Old Zhou and said, "Each branch will have a lot of expenses in the future. We can't always let them take money from us. What I mean is that we should divide some of the money this time and change the rules at home. From now on, in addition to the output from the land, each branch will hand over 50% of its own earnings, and keep the remaining 50% for themselves."
Old Zhou thought about it and nodded.
So the next day, everyone in the Zhou family heard the good news.
Manbao was so excited that he asked happily, "Dad, how much money can I get?"
"You have so much money, why are you so happy?"
"I have a lot of money, but I also like money. Who wouldn't be happy with a lot of money?"
Old Zhou thought about it and said, "Last night, your mother and I discussed it and decided to follow the last arrangement. The eldest, second, and third sons will each get 15 taels, the youngest will get 40 taels, and the rest of you will get 5 taels."
Everyone was happy.
Old Zhou advised, "Even though you have money now, don't spend it recklessly. The children need a lot of money for school. You don't need to buy books. Ask Manbao to copy a few for you. You can make do with them. But you still need pens, ink, and paper. As for the inkstone, you can just use one between the two of you..."
Manbao: "...Dad, Datou and Daya have to go to school, so I will have to copy for a long time."
"What are you afraid of? The teacher won't start teaching until after the Lantern Festival. There are still about ten days left. Just try and see how many books you can copy."
Manbao felt that her previous thoughts were extremely wrong. How could she think that her father had become generous? He was still so stingy.
She snorted and turned away, then said to Zhou Dalang and the others, "Brother, if you go to the county town, just buy pens and ink. I'll buy the paper."
Manbao has always bought paper from the mall. It is cheap and easy to use, and it saves a lot of money compared to buying it from a bookstore.
So she has always been able to use paper as she pleases.
Zhou Dalang and the others thought about it and said, "Why don't we just give you the money and take your nephews and nieces to buy it? We don't know much about this either."
Old Zhou immediately said, "Yes, you take them there. You're familiar with the bookstore owner, right? Ask him to give you a lower price. We have so many things to buy."
Except for the first time when Zhou Erlang carried her school supplies to the bookstore, Manbao bought them by herself every time thereafter.
Whether she was led by Zhou Silang, Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang, or she was with Bai Shanbao, she could choose the books, pens, ink, paper and inkstone she wanted to buy.
Therefore, the Zhou family has great confidence in her vision and bargaining ability in this regard.
The main reason was that the bookstore owner looked like a scholar, and when they met him, they couldn't help but be weak and were even more cautious when bargaining.
So it’s better to study.
After reading this book, you can bargain with confidence no matter who you meet.
Manbao had no objection. When he took the money handed over by his brothers and sisters-in-law, his eyes rolled and he had an idea.
The next day, she took a stack of paper and a few strings of copper coins and ran to find Bai Shanbao and Bai Erlang, and asked them excitedly, "Do you want to copy books and sell them?"
The two were very interested, "What book are you copying?"
"It's just a simple copy of the Thousand Character Classic and the Analects of Confucius," Manbao said. "I brought paper and money."
Bai Shanbao and Bai Erlang were not short of money, but they were very interested in making money by copying books.
Manbao chuckled happily, put the paper on the desk, and said, "Twenty cents for one copy."
Bai Erlang nodded repeatedly and pulled the paper over, but Bai Shanbao knew how much a copy of "Thousand Character Classic" sold for in the bookstore.
The worst handwritten ones cost one hundred wen, not to mention the printed ones, which cost three hundred wen on the best paper.
Regardless of the former or the latter, Manbao's price is almost comparable to that of cabbage.
So Bai Shanbao was unhappy, "This is too little."
"It's quite a lot. I don't mind if there are ink spots in your books, or if your handwriting is not neat, as long as the handwriting is correct."
Bai Shanbao thought about it and felt that the request seemed very low.
Manbao had asked the bookstore owner about the rules and prices for copying books, so he confidently said to his two friends, "The bookstore has very strict requirements for books. There can't be any typos or ink spots, and the books have to be neatly arranged, and the handwriting has to be beautiful..."
Manbao once thought she had copied many books for Mr. Zhuang, and she wanted to take some copying jobs from the bookstore for fun. Unfortunately, after seeing her handwriting, the owner of the bookstore cruelly rejected her.
She felt that when it came to copying books, she was already better than Bai Shanbao and Bai Erlang, but she didn't even get the job from the shopkeeper, so it was even less likely for them.
She was the only one who would use the books they copied.
But she also had some requirements, "This is a book for teaching and educating people. You must copy it carefully. There must be no typos or omissions."
Bai Shanbao was convinced by her and nodded, "Don't worry, if there are any typos, we can just rewrite them."
Anyway, you just copy it page by page. If there is a typo on any page, just throw it away.
Manbao was delighted and took out his writing brush and ink from his bookcase. "I'll copy with you guys."
Bai Shanbao was very curious, "Why do you need so many books?"
"For my nephews and nieces. They are also going to school."
Bai Erlang couldn't help but stare, "Wouldn't that mean there would be another ten or so people in the school?"
"How can there be so many? Five and six can't go up, so there are only seven."
(End of this chapter)
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