After returning home, Old Man Chen and Mrs. Zhou went back to their room and started counting the money they had earned that day. Chen Kai also joined in, wanting to help with the counting.
The eldest son's wife started preparing dinner, while the others chatted in the yard, discussing their day's events and what they had bought.
Looking at the money that Old Man Chen and Mrs. Zhou had spilled on the table, Chen Kai calculated it in his mind.
Chen Lao Er made a total of 40 folding stools. Chen Lao Die priced them at 30 wen each, for a total of 1200 wen, which is 1 liang 200 wen.
Old Man Chen and Mrs. Zhou counted the money several times and finally confirmed that they had sold a total of 1 tael and 200 cash today. Although Zhou Kai thought this amount was a bit small, Old Man Chen and Mrs. Zhou were very satisfied.
Old Man Chen believed that money was only truly secure when it was in one's own hands. He discussed it with Mrs. Zhou and decided that after dinner, they would roughly distribute the remaining money from the confiscation to everyone. This would make everyone happy to have some money in their hands and also motivate them to continue making folding stools and earning more money.
After dinner, everyone gathered for another family meeting. Old Man Chen excitedly asked, "Guess how much money our family made today?"
The Chen family only has a few members who are good at arithmetic, and they can't count money if they don't have it on hand.
However, Chen Xiaotian was an exception. Xiaotian immediately replied, "Grandpa, I know, it's 1 tael and 200 coins in total."
Old Man Chen nodded and said, "Xiao Tian has become smarter. It really is 1 tael for 200 cash. He's made so much money. Aren't you all happy?"
Everyone around them, except for Chen Kai and Xiao Tian, was very happy, especially the younger ones who were particularly excited.
Mrs. Zhou was also very happy and said, "Let's be quiet for a while, and then we'll divide the money."
Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent.
Old Man Chen said, “It’s 1 tael and 200 cash in total. After deducting the 960 cash that was confiscated, there are 340 cash left. The eldest son’s family, the second son’s family, the fourth son’s family, and the fifth son’s family will each take a share of 78 cash each. The rest will be distributed to the children, 4 cash each. Do you have any objections?”
The Chen family members all replied, "No problem!" Although the two daughters-in-law of the Chen family felt it was a bit unfair to those of them who had started their own families, they were also quite satisfied. After all, compared to other people in their village who hadn't separated their households, their son and daughter-in-law couldn't keep any secret money, so they didn't say anything.
Seeing that no one had any objections, Old Man Chen asked Xiao Tian to count the money and distribute it to everyone.
After Xiao Tian agreed, he first counted out 28 coins for the children, and then counted out the coins for the adults. In no time, Xiao Tian had finished distributing them.
The children were very excited as they held the money in their hands.
Looking at everyone's excitement, Old Man Chen smiled and said, "Alright, the money has been divided. Now that we've confirmed that the folding stools can be sold, let's all work hard for the next while we can continue making folding stools and try to make a big profit before other imitations appear."
Driven by the desire for their secret stash of money, everyone agreed with great confidence. Old Man Chen was very pleased to see everyone so enthusiastic.
After the meeting, Chen Kai and Xiao Tian were talking in the yard. Xiao Tian asked Chen Kai, "What do you think Grandpa will buy when he makes money?"
Before Chen Kai could answer, everyone started chattering amongst themselves.
Chen Laosi spoke first, saying, "I think Dad will buy meat for all of us to eat."
Then Daya interjected, "I think Dad will cut some cloth to make new clothes for Uncle and Xiaotian."
Chen Laowu also spoke up, saying, "I think Dad will save the money, or buy a pig to raise."
Opinions varied, and then Chen Kai said with a smile, "I also think that Dad won't spend money recklessly; at most, he'll buy some practical things."
Old Man Chen was thinking that if they wanted to increase the production of folding stools and make more, the family alone wouldn't be enough. Moreover, the family had only made forty folding stools after working for more than ten days. So he discussed it with Zhou and decided to ask Chen Kai's uncles for help.
Early the next morning, Chen Laowu went to Zhoujia Village to ask his uncles for help.
Zhoujia Village is much richer than Anping Village. At least every household has three meals a day, and they can eat their fill at every meal.
Zhou was the youngest in the Zhou family and was raised by her older brothers, who doted on her. As a result, Zhou had a good relationship with her brothers. When Old Man Chen proposed marriage, Zhou's parents initially disagreed because they thought the Chen family was a bit poor. It was only with the help of her brothers that the marriage was made possible.
When Zhou's uncles were young, they would often come to Anping Village to visit Zhou, worried that she would be bullied by the Chen family. Later, after Zhou's parents passed away, her uncles divided their households and became grandfathers, so they gradually visited each other less often.
When Chen Laowu arrived at Uncle Zhou's house, before he could even speak, he was given a steamed bun and told to eat it quickly. Then Uncle Zhou asked what had happened at home recently, and Chen Laowu told him about it and asked his uncles for help.
Uncle Zhou asked the children in the family to call over his second, third, and fourth uncles.
After a while, his second, third, and fourth uncles came over. After discussing it for a while, they decided to bring their sons to help. Zhou's eldest uncle and the others were worried that the Chen family would not have enough food, so they brought their own food.
When the villagers of Zhoujia Village saw that so many of them were carrying things and preparing to leave, they asked them where they were going. Uncle Zhou just smiled and said, "We're going to visit relatives."
When Uncle Zhou and his family arrived at the Chen family's house, Mrs. Zhou was very excited and talked with them for a long time.
Seeing Uncle Zhou and his family, Zhou also missed her eldest daughter, Xiaohua, who had married out. Xiaohua married the only son of a family in a nearby village. He worked as a waiter in a tavern in town, and Zhou was quite satisfied with the marriage.
Chen Xiaohua is the third child in the Chen family. To be honest, Chen Kai has seen his eldest sister Chen Xiaohua quite often. Usually, his eldest sister is biased towards her own family and often brings things back. Although her husband's family doesn't like her behavior and always treats her like a thief, her brother-in-law can't control her either.
However, his older sister was very fertile and gave birth to four boys for their family, so his brother-in-law turned a blind eye to it.
In the afternoon, Uncle Zhou and his family started working. With their help, many folding stools were made in just a few days.
After working for several days in a row, seeing that everyone was working very hard, Chen Laosi and Chen Laowu discussed it and decided to go to the river to catch fish the next day to supplement their family's nutrition.
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