After hearing about this, Yun Changyu took the initiative to leave.
Later, he encountered his former subordinate, and with his help, he reclaimed his property.
However, he no longer wanted to stay in this town and wanted to leave. Before leaving, he packed three jars of things that he thought could help the villagers and took them to Zhoujia Village with his men to thank the young man who had helped him before he left.
To his surprise, he couldn't even get into Zhoujia Village. He was blocked at the village entrance because one of the young men who had rescued him had also died of illness.
This time, even those who hadn't blamed him before started to hate him.
Yun Changyu didn't know why this was happening. Was he really destined to be cursed? His parents passed away when he was young, and his grandparents raised him. After he took over the family business, his grandparents also passed away.
Thinking about it this way, he also felt that he was an unlucky person.
Heartbroken, he took the three jars and went around to the back mountain of Zhoujia Village. He buried the three jars near the land of the deceased young man, as a gift to him.
He once went with the young men to weed his family's fields.
If his family finds out, consider it compensation for his family.
Old Man Zhou and Mrs. Zhao had their mouths open and forgot to close them.
"Dad, have any young people in our family passed away?" Zhou Lei asked his father in surprise.
Old Man Zhou thought for a moment, "Fifty years ago, before I was even born, but I did hear your grandparents mention that I had a little uncle who often traveled around. He passed the imperial examination at the county level and never took the exam again. Later, for some reason, he suddenly fell ill and died."
"But I've never heard of anything about Yun Changyu. Maybe people consider it bad luck and haven't talked about it?"
"Father, what should we do about this? According to his letter, do you know whose family those people who saved him belong to?" Li Mai asked.
Old Man Zhou nodded, of course he knew.
"Of these three jars, one contains books, including those on business, literature and history, and some about spices and dyes. Another jar contains silver, ingots, and jewels, totaling about ten thousand taels. The third jar contains stones. He used to be in the stone business, and these are the stones he considers valuable. He wants the Zhou family descendants to be able to sell these stones if they run out of money, so that several generations can live on without any problem."
"Dad, what should we do with these things? Should we move them back to our house directly, or should we discuss it with the descendants of those other families?"
After Li Mai finished asking the question, Old Man Zhou fell silent.
Yes, what should we do? If it were ten or eight ounces, he would have taken it home directly, but that's no small amount, and it's definitely impossible for him to take it home on his own.
But if we try to negotiate with those companies, won't a fight break out?
Seeing money that could be obtained for free, wouldn't everyone be green with envy?
"There's an old clan chief here too. I'll go find him. I'll also call the other families here and we can discuss it. Just leave the things here for now." Old Zhou sighed and walked away in silence.
Li Mai and Zhao Shi exchanged a glance and silently sat down on the ground.
"Sigh, I thought our family had found something good again. Well, it's good, but not all of it belongs to our family. Sister-in-law, are you trying to make the whole village rich this time?" Zhou Lei said with a helpless smile.
Li Mai shook her head. "I don't know either. Let's wait for Dad and the others to come and discuss it. The letter they wrote also included a detailed list of the items, so it's impossible for us to take anything by ourselves."
Zhao said in a low voice, "No matter what, we'll take whatever we get. After all, this is unexpected wealth. Now that it's been formally registered, it's only natural that we'll contribute any money that Xiaomai makes in business with Madam Yu in the future."
At this moment, Zhao's excitement had subsided, and she began to think about the future.
Li Mai nodded, "Mother is right. Such a large sum of money is not something we can keep all to ourselves. It's better to divide it up. We can keep whatever we have, and the money we earn in the future will be legitimate."
“However, Mother, if possible, we should get more books, books about business, about spices or pigments, or about technology. Those are the hidden wealth that can generate money. Silver, on the other hand, is gone once it’s spent.” Li Mai leaned close to Zhao Shi and whispered to her.
She was afraid that her mother-in-law wouldn't see the long-term benefits and would only focus on the money in front of her.
Zhao nodded, "Okay, I understand, I'll listen to you."
Half an hour later, a group of people came staggering up the small hill.
Walking in the very center of the crowd was the clan chief, Zhou Changping, with his two sons, Zhou Shifan and Zhou Shizhou, beside him.
In addition, there were Zhou Quan's neighbors, Uncle Wangcai, Uncle Youcai, Uncle Yougen, Uncle Lincai, and even Zhou Daniu, as well as a few other people, but Li Mai didn't recognize them.
A group of women followed behind, chattering away.
Zhao frowned. So many people had come?
Soon, they arrived in front of Li Mai and the others. The group's eyes first went to the three jars. Seeing that the lids were on, they all breathed a sigh of relief. They were really afraid that Zhao and the others would hide the things first.
The clan chief first looked at the letter in Li Mai's hand.
Li Mai looked at Old Man Zhou, who nodded. "Xiaomai, your clan chief uncle is literate too. Give the letter to him!"
Li Mai nodded and handed the letter to the clan chief.
The clan chief took it, saw the handwriting, and nodded, "That's right, this is Changyu's handwritten letter."
After saying that, he looked up at the three jars, sighed, and began to read the letter aloud in a low voice.
The names of the young men who saved him, mentioned in the letter, are: Zhou Changping, Zhou Yongxin, Zhou Qiong, Zhou Liao, Zhou Yuan, and Zhou Yongping.
There were six people in total.
Zhou Changping was the clan chief.
The clan chief is seventy years old this year, but he was twenty years old back then.
The clan chief glanced at everyone present and said, "Listen to me. When I call out the name of someone's father, you all stand together in a line."
The crowd responded.
Soon, they split into six families.
Old Man Zhou's father was named Zhou Yongxin.
Youcai and Lincai's father is named Zhou Qiong.
Wangcai's father is Zhou Yongping.
Uncle Yougen's father is named Zhou Yuan.
Zhou Daniu's father was named Zhou Liao.
The other people included Uncle Wangcai's brother and Uncle Da Niu's two younger brothers.
The women were the wives of several of them, including Aunt Wangcai, Aunt Youcai, and Aunt Da Niu.
These three people were all on good terms with Zhao. After they arrived, they stood next to Zhao to greet her and asked her how they had discovered it.
Zhao whispered that Zhou Lei and Zhuzhu had dug up something hard while digging for wild vegetables. At first, they thought it was a stone, but later they found out it was a jar.
Zhao intentionally helped Li Mai conceal her and Zhu Zhu's good fortune, so as to avoid gossip from the villagers or trouble for them.
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