Twenty thousand strings of cash, calculated based on the prices of the fourth year of Zhiping, would be roughly equivalent to 10 million yuan in later generations. Chen Ge mentally calculated that, doing business in partnership with the state, only making this much money in a year was indeed not much.
"But even if it's only 20,000 strings of cash a year, after all these years, you should have saved at least 100,000 or 200,000 strings of cash. How can you be so short of money that you can't even afford to build a house?"
"Young Master, the Chen Mansion is such a large family business after all, and the expenses are high. The wages of the maids, guards, and servants, the rouge and powder for the young ladies, the young Master's pens, ink, paper, and inkstone, and the Master's business affairs... if we can save 5,000 strings of cash a year, it's considered a good year."
"Also, the young master has seven sisters... Most of the money the master saves every year is used to buy dowries for the young ladies. The Chen family was once one of the most wealthy and powerful families. Although it has declined now, it cannot be looked down upon. For each young lady, the master prepares a standard of 10,000 strings of cash."
"I understand, I understand." Chen Ge suddenly remembered that this was the social characteristic of this era.
The custom of giving a large dowry was popular in Song Dynasty society. People in the Song Dynasty generally had a mentality: dowry was a woman's status in her husband's family. The more dowry, the higher the woman's status in her husband's family.
Furthermore, in the Song Dynasty, daughters' dowries were also compared with each other. If a commoner's daughter's dowry was not as large as that of her neighbor's daughter, she would be ridiculed by her neighbors.
Involution + comparison, how terrible!
Song Dynasty historical records state: "Adopted daughters should save clothes, bedding, and dowry early on so that when they are sent to marry, there will be no need for effort. If you ignore this, when the time comes, what will you do? You will only be able to sell your land and house temporarily and not care about your children, which is shameful to see in public."
The general meaning is that you need to start saving dowry for your daughter from the day she is born. Otherwise, if you wait until your daughter is about to get married before worrying about the dowry, then you will need to sell your house and land to get enough dowry.
Su Che, a famous "Haidilao" in the Northern Song Dynasty, almost went bankrupt because of his daughter's marriage. He sold the most fertile land in his family to make enough money for his daughter's dowry.
Sadly, Su Che had five daughters in total. In order to marry off his daughters, he sold his only house and ended up being heavily in debt.
"Fortunately, I'm a younger brother." Chen Ge breathed a sigh of relief, because the laws of the Song Dynasty stipulated that older brothers also had to prepare dowries for their younger sisters.
This is not a solution. We have to find a way to make more money. Otherwise, by the time my sisters get married, my dad’s health will be drained.
Where can I get the money?
Chen Ge narrowed his eyes and suddenly became excited.
There is a way to make money!
"Let's go to the [Medical Hall] and take a look."
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