Fifty thousand taels of silver—Niu Da felt his head spinning.
Although he was already a worldly businessman, these two beads solved the cash shortage crisis of his entire commercial street. It really felt like a windfall.
"Manager Baili, I want 50,500 taels, or I won't sell it!" said Xiao Fubao. The little guy was already four years old and knew how to bargain.
"Furthermore, our family also raises pearls, so we can cooperate with Manager Baili in the future!"
Actually, the pearl fish she keeps at home are kept together with the grouper. There are only a few hundred of them, which don't even fill two tanks.
But she brings good fortune!
Manager Baili said with some reluctance:
"Alright, fifty thousand five hundred taels it is!"
Fifty thousand taels of silver notes, five hundred taels of silver.
It's quite heavy.
Without hesitation, Xiao Fubao grabbed five hundred taels of silver and said, "Father, give this to me!"
Niu Da was amused by her little money-grubbing appearance:
"Okay, here you go!"
Niu Da and Shen Yu never asked Xiao Fu Bao where her money went. They felt that the little girl had her own little secrets, and if she didn't want to talk about them, then she wouldn't.
Xiao Fubao herself didn't expect that just those two beads would solve the family's financial crisis so quickly. She secretly regretted that she shouldn't have sold both beads at the same time; she should have kept the pink one.
That way, she'll have an excuse to get involved in the family business in the future! Otherwise, her father would definitely not allow her to work hard to earn money!
Is it too late to regret it now?
It's too late.
Speaking of which... she hasn't dreamed of wealth in a long time.
She exchanged five hundred taels of silver for fifty gold leaves, enough for Zhaocai to eat for more than a month.
The Wealth-Bringing Tree grows on the back mountain. It can bless Niu Shan Village so that anyone who doesn't oppose her family can make a fortune. Therefore, Niu Dayou, who came to forge iron, and Niu Er, who makes ceramic jars, both have good businesses.
Even the mortality rate of piglets raised by Niu Xiaocao's family has dropped to zero. Others who don't do business or work as farm laborers are also seeing their incomes improve because several households help Xiaofubao's family raise fish and do chores, plus the profits from their investments.
Some people in the village have also built new houses.
A doctor came to announce the good news: Niu Xiaomei had given birth to a daughter.
Xiao Fubao and Niu Baolan held hands and followed Chen Yu and Niu Da to the Xue family to visit Niu Xiaomei.
Niu Xiaomei's mother-in-law held the baby and happily greeted the guests, while Xiao Fubao stood on tiptoe and looked at her chubby little cousin.
"My little cousin is so cute!" Xiao Fubao said in a clear voice. Niu Xiaomei was well-nourished, so the little girl weighed seven pounds and eight ounces at birth. Her little face and skin were clean, fair and tender, without any wrinkles.
Xue Huaimin sat by the bedside, carefully feeding Niu Xiaomei her medicinal diet.
Shen Yu was also overjoyed.
"Sister-in-law, we're having a three-day celebration in three days. You and my brother absolutely must come!" Xue Huaimin said with a smile. As he spoke, he put down his chopsticks and tucked Niu Xiaomei in with a blanket. "You talk to your sister-in-law for a bit. I'll go to the front yard first."
After Xue Huaimin left.
Shen Yu asked softly, "Little sister, Huaimin and your in-laws didn't mind, did they?"
Niu Xiaomei laughed:
“When I first found out it was a girl, I was a little scared. I often thought about the Huang family’s faces, but Huaimin and my parents-in-law didn’t have those thoughts.”
Huaimin said that both sons and daughters are precious to their families, and that because of my health issues, he plans to have only one child.
It's generally not customary to hold a banquet when a baby girl is born, but some families who particularly love baby girls will hold one.
"Then I'm relieved!" Chen Yu said, "But you should mention those people and things less often in the future."
"I won't mention it again, sister-in-law," said Niu Xiaomei.
Three days later, the three-day celebration.
Niu Xiaomei's mother-in-law, Wen, had been preparing longevity porridge for the children for a long time. Longevity porridge is made by cooking rice from one hundred families into one pot, symbolizing a long life of one hundred years.
The Xue family held a banquet and also set up a porridge distribution point to provide food for the elderly, weak, sick and disabled beggars who had no one to support them.
"What's the occasion for this banquet?" an old beggar woman asked, carrying a bowl as she approached the Xue family steward.
"This is the young mistress of our family clinic. She gave birth to a daughter, and we're holding a christening celebration for her," the butler said.
"You hold a banquet for the birth of a girl?" the old beggar woman said.
Wen heard this and came out carrying her child, saying, "What do you mean by holding a banquet for a little girl? If people don't like little girls, then where are the mothers? Some people are women themselves, yet they discriminate against little girls. "There is so much injustice in the world towards girls. As a woman myself, I should cherish little girls even more!"
"Grandma, Grandma, can we see my little sister?"
The old beggar woman looked at the two little girls circling around Wen Shi; they were her own granddaughters, Zhao Di and Jian Ya.
Thinking that if it weren't for all that had happened in the past, she wouldn't be reduced to begging for a living now, and she would have several granddaughters surrounding her, calling her "Grandma."
Her son wouldn't be struck dead by lightning, she would still have a daughter-in-law, and if that child hadn't been trampled on like a little girl, she wouldn't be without a grandson.
Yes, how could I forget that I am a woman too?
"This child is so beautiful," Chen Yu said as she walked to the door, teasing the baby girl in Wen Shi's arms.
Madam Wen smiled and said, "The child's mother is beautiful, and the child takes after her!" Seeing that the old beggar woman hadn't left yet, Madam Wen instructed the steward:
"I suppose one bowl of porridge isn't enough, let's give her another bowl!" said Madam Wen.
The old beggar woman received the porridge and turned to leave.
I never came back.
During the third-day celebration, the Niu family presented a hundred-year-old gold lock.
"Has the child been named yet?" Shen Yu asked Xue Huaimin.
“Reporting to my sister-in-law, I have chosen her name, Xue Simiao,” Xue Huaimin said. “It sounds the same as Sun Simiao’s name. I thought it would be best if she could inherit my mantle like her two older sisters.”
Ke'er and Qiao'er both studied at the county school and learned medicine from Doctor Xue in the county on weekdays.
Speaking of children, the topic inevitably turned to Chen Yu's children. Wen Shi asked, "Your Cuihua is twelve this year, isn't she? Has the official matchmaker come to arrange a marriage yet?"
Chen Yu said:
"The official matchmaker came once at the beginning of the year, saying she wanted to arrange a marriage for a young master from the prefectural city. I thought the child was still young, so it was better to postpone the arrangement! Although her sister made the arrangement first, it was because my husband was drunk and did something foolish, so it's hard to deny it." "Besides, judging from Cuihua's ideas, she wants to carry on our family's legacy. Her father and I don't have a son, so we share that idea."
When a woman inherits the mantle, she is called an adopted daughter.
Madam Wen smiled and said, "If there is a suitable family that can keep their daughter with them and prevent her from marrying out and suffering, that would be good too."
According to the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty, although women could inherit property, if there were no heirs, all the daughters combined could only inherit half of the property, and the other half had to be added to the national treasury.
If there is an adopted daughter or son, the adopted son shall inherit two-thirds of the family property, and the other daughters shall jointly inherit one-third of the family property.
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