The villagers' eyes lit up instantly, and they rubbed their hands together excitedly. Lin Ermu then called out the first person's name: "Lin Fengnian, who has received a dividend of 41 taels and 761 coins."
Since she needed to record names and her husband had died, Song Anxin simply had the persimmon workshop record Lin Fengnian's name, after all, Fengnian was her eldest son.
Everyone knew this was Aunt Lin's house. Aunt Lin alone owned 30% of the persimmon cake workshop, but no one said anything at the moment. They knew that this was the business that Aunt Lin had given them. Without Aunt Lin, where would they get the opportunity to make money? Besides, Aunt Lin was now a lady of the imperial court, the highest-ranking person in the village, with the same rank as the county magistrate.
The village head was right; this money slipped from Aunt Lin's hands and was given to them. This money should belong to her family!
As Lin Ermu's voice fell, a young woman slowly walked out from behind the crowd. She was wearing a simple peach-colored jacket, and her hair was styled in a way they had never seen before, adorned with a plum blossom hairpin. She was accompanied by an old woman, and this woman was Song Mei.
She greeted familiar women and old women with a smile, and many villagers whispered among themselves.
"It's unbelievable that Zhang Mei, once an abandoned woman, has now become the daughter-in-law of an official."
"What nonsense are you talking about? Her name is Song Mei now. Yes, look at her clothes. They may be simple, but they're all made of good material."
"Oh my, what clothes? If you ask me, Meizi's whole demeanor has changed. She looks like a noble lady in charge."
"Yes, tell me, who's as lucky as her these days? She manages her own business, runs the household, and has servants and maids by her side."
"Oh dear, I regret it so much. Why didn't I look down on Aunt Lin's family before and marry my daughter to Fengnian?"
A woman said with a face full of regret.
Not to mention her regret, most of the women in the village regretted it. Lin Fengnian had passed the age for marriage and had not yet found a wife. One reason was that the original owner was unwilling to spend money, but the main reason was that everyone looked down on Lin's second aunt's family. They were poor and had many sons, so they would not even be able to get a small plot of land. The most important thing was that the future mother-in-law was so mean and had a bad temper.
Who would have thought that Aunt Lin would become so wonderful, transforming herself into a court lady with an official title? If they had known this would happen, they would have married their daughter off even without a dowry. Now, Song Mei has gotten a lucky break.
Aunt Lin's family has three sons. They had previously considered arranging marriages for them, but Aunt Lin refused to budge. Now that Aunt Lin is a seventh-rank lady, it's even harder for them to find a suitable match.
Some young women of Song Mei's age were so jealous that their fingers were practically rubbing together and sparks were flying.
Someone said sarcastically, "I think Fengnian's hairstyle is nice, but it's too plain with just a wooden hairpin. Last time I saw that Aunt Lin's family received a lot of precious jewelry as a reward, why didn't they give it to Fengnian? Maybe Aunt Lin is just reluctant to part with it."
A young woman who was on good terms with Song Mei rolled her eyes at her and said, "What nonsense are you talking about! Meizi doesn't like to wear those expensive jewelry. I heard that the wooden hairpin was a gift from Fengnian. Meizi has a good mother-in-law who treats her well and a man who dotes on her. It's normal for you to be a little jealous."
Some of the young women were immediately struck by her words, their faces flushed with embarrassment, their lips pressed even tighter, thinking resentfully, "So what? No matter how well she dresses, she still can't have children. A woman who can't have children is nothing!" But then they felt a sense of satisfaction; at least they were better than her in this respect.
Song Mei and Granny Sun stepped forward with smiles. The two of them took the heavy strings of copper coins and exchanged them for silver. The village head and several clan leaders had prepared half a box of silver to exchange for. The reason for preparing so many copper coins was twofold: first, to show the villagers, and second, because some families had contributed money together, so that they could divide it equally.
Song Mei signed her name with Liu Erbo. She was one of the few women in the village who could write her own name. When the other women saw this, they all started to blame their husbands and mothers-in-law for not letting them learn to read. They didn't want to be illiterate country bumpkins either. They were both envious and extremely jealous. They were all village women, and Song Mei was not as good as them. Why didn't they have such good fortune?
Then Lin Ermu announced another name: "Lin Dazhu, who received a bonus of twelve taels and five hundred and twenty-eight cash!"
Sister-in-law Lin didn't come; instead, her husband came to pick her up. Brother Lin came out, his face relatively calm, but his eyes, though dark-skinned, revealed his joy.
They had no concept of the amount of money Lin Ershen's family received as a 30% dividend, because most of the villagers were illiterate and only knew the meager sums they had. But they knew how much money Lin Dasao's family had invested, and now they were receiving more than ten taels of silver as a dividend. Even if they couldn't do the math, they understood that this dividend was definitely several times more than what they had invested.
Suddenly, the villagers below erupted in an uproar.
"My goodness! Dongzi's mother only put in two taels of silver, right? She actually got her money back with interest, and even made so much more!"
"Yes, then my family's... oh my, it must be at least a hundred coins! Why didn't I invest more back then? This is simply a get-rich-quick scheme!"
"......."
The villagers became even more excited, urging Lin Ermu to quickly announce the names. Lin Ermu continued, "Han Shitou received 2.784 taels of silver, Zhao Zhuangniu received 1.809 taels... Liu Yousheng received 515 taels, Liu Youdi received 637 taels..."
The villagers couldn't wait to step forward and receive their money. Their faces were beaming with joy. After receiving the money, they cheered and jumped for joy. They didn't care about the winter cold and were reluctant to leave. They gathered there chatting and laughing excitedly. They felt their hearts were burning with excitement. They never expected that they could earn so much money in just three months by investing a few dozen coins and putting in some effort to build adobe bricks.
Lin Li was also very happy. In previous years, the villagers' annual income was at most two taels of silver, let alone being able to save any money. Now, things are much better. The income from the persimmon cake workshop alone is enough for the villagers to have a good New Year.
Aunt Fangtou, standing in a corner of the crowd, was filled with both hatred and anxiety. She hated herself for being so busy carrying loads that she hadn't invested a single penny. What angered her even more was that her daughters-in-law, You Sheng and You Di, had secretly invested so much money without her knowledge. She never expected that these two young girls could still save so much money after handing over their share. However, she couldn't make them hand it over now, since both daughters-in-law had grievances against her because she had brought Xiu Hong back.
What's worrying is that almost everyone in the village got a share of the food, but she didn't go back, and her husband will probably scold her to death.
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