On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, the Lu family gathered together again to make a new round of share purchases.
The first and second wives' joint property amounted to 350 taels of silver. Before the family was divided, they would have invested all their assets in it. But now that the family has been divided, they have to bear all the expenses themselves.
In the new year, Yu decided to keep thirty taels of silver for daily expenses, such as tuition fees for her children and food expenses for the family, and invest the rest.
Seeing Yu's actions, Qin followed suit without hesitation. Their money was the same, so there were no extra expenses. Moreover, her family had one less person than the eldest son's family, so thirty taels was more than enough.
The Lu Guilan and Shen families didn't have much money. They only had seventy taels of silver in total, which was less than a fraction of what the Yu family had. They were also worried about building a house and were feeling a bit strapped for cash.
He Jiuniang felt that their current situation was indeed not very optimistic. Although everyone was investing in business, if they used the money to build houses, even less would be invested.
They have no problem with basic living security, but the gap between them and the Yu and Qin families is too big.
If this continues for a long time, one's mindset will definitely change.
Faced with these issues, the whole family turned their attention to He Jiuniang, hoping she might have some good ideas.
"Little sister, you don't have much money right now, so why not not rush to build a house? There's enough room in the house now, and we've separated our households. Although we still eat together, each family pays for food, so overall it's the same as before. We can build a house after we've saved enough money."
He Jiuniang shared her thoughts.
Do what you can afford; if you don't have the money, don't even think about building a house.
She could understand Lu Guilan's desire to move out, but wasn't business more important right now?
“If you feel uneasy, consider the house as rent to you. You can pay us rent and stay until you move out.”
She actually has money and could lend it to them to build houses, but she doesn't want to. There's no reason for her to keep lending to them; she can't let them develop that kind of mentality.
Besides, she also wanted to buy a house in Jingzhou City, which would cost a lot of money, and she couldn't be a spendthrift.
Before Lu Guilan could speak, Madam Yu said, "How can you ask your younger sister for rent? We're all family, why are you saying such things?"
Qin echoed, "Yes, it's not worth much money, let's not hurt our relationship!"
The main reason is that our family's financial situation has improved and we earn more money, so we really don't care about those few cents in rent.
The eldest and second eldest Lu brothers shared the same sentiment. No matter what, Lu Guilan was still their younger sister, so how could they charge their younger sister rent?
But Lu Guilan thought this was a good idea. Although the rent wouldn't be much, at least they wouldn't be living there for free, which would put their minds at ease.
She said, "I think my third sister-in-law makes a good point. We really can't build a house right now, so we can only live in our current homes and pay rent. This is a good method. What do you think, sister-in-law?"
As she spoke, she looked at Madam Shen, who had no reason to disagree and nodded repeatedly: "It is time to pay rent. We have been bothering you here for a long time and we feel really bad about it. If we don't charge you, we would really feel embarrassed to stay here."
Listening to his children's discussion, Old Man Lu couldn't help but say, "Since that's the case, let's pay the rent. Even close brothers should keep clear accounts, so that there won't be any conflicts in the future."
As soon as Old Man Lu spoke, everyone knew that the matter was settled.
Mrs. Yu said, "My sister-in-law is also at home now, occupying a room in the house by herself, so I have to make her pay rent. If she doesn't have money for the time being, I'll make her work to pay off the debt!"
Lianhua now lives in the same room with Youya and the other girls, and the second wife treats Lianhua like her own daughter, so naturally they don't need to pay her any rent.
“I think it’s a good idea. Your sister-in-law isn’t exactly a peaceful person; we can’t let her stay for free.”
Lu the eldest spoke in an annoyed tone. Zhou's behavior was really at odds with the Lu family. She often tried to take advantage of Yu. He got angry whenever he saw Zhou.
Today, we had a family meeting, and everyone in the Lu family, young and old, participated, including Lianhua, but Zhou was the only one excluded.
I just don't want her to know how much money the Lu family has now, or what they're planning to do next. She might have bad intentions and could even cause trouble.
"Then... if we really want to rent it, how should the rent be determined?"
Qin asked, "It's really difficult to rent a house for your own family. Whether you rent too much or too little, it's easy to hurt feelings."
“When Brother Fugui and his family rented houses before, the larger houses cost 25 coins a month and the smaller ones cost 15 coins. My sister’s family only needs one room, so let’s just charge them 5 coins as a token. What do you think?”
He Jiuniang asked for everyone's opinion, and everyone nodded in agreement. However, Lu Guilan said, "Five coins is too little. Let's make it fifteen coins. Brother Fugui and the others are renting houses from people who have no descendants. These are dilapidated mud houses that are prone to drafts and leaks. We are living in a brick house, and the conditions are much better than theirs. We feel more at ease living here at this price."
"Okay, it's settled then!"
Mrs. Sun patted her daughter's hand. "Fifteen coins a month, that's really not expensive."
“Then let’s not build the house for now. We’ll have more money in our hands. I’ll keep twenty taels and invest the remaining fifty taels into the business.”
Having resolved a major problem, Lu Guilan felt much more relaxed, and her brows and eyes unfurrowed.
Shen did as instructed, keeping twenty taels in hand for peace of mind.
"Third son's wife, how much money are you planning to invest?"
After resolving the issues between Lu Guilan's and Lu Guilan's families, the topic returned to He Jiuniang. He Jiuniang said, "I still have some spare money. I'll invest five hundred taels. I'm thinking of going to the county town in a while to see if I can buy a shop. I'll need a lot of money then, so it's better to invest now than to run out of funds later."
Originally, He Jiuniang had considered contributing the same amount of money as the first and second wives, but that was clearly not enough. Now that the family had separated, she no longer needed to worry about so many things as before.
Her family wasn't surprised that she could come up with so much money; she's making a lot of money treating patients now.
They earned all of this through their own abilities; although they admired it, they were not jealous.
However, He Jiuniang's medical skills earned her money, which further encouraged her family members to learn a craft they liked, so that they could have extra income in addition to the family business.
To put it bluntly, as long as you have a skill, even if the family business loses money, you won't starve.
Mrs. Yu was very easygoing and said with a smile, "Then we'll continue to benefit from our third sister-in-law's good fortune!"
Indeed, the more money He Jiuniang puts in, the more dividends she receives. But similarly, because she puts in more money, the scale of the family business can be further expanded, and she can earn more money. There is nothing to be jealous of.
They're just not good enough.
According to this tally, of the total 1,240 taels of silver, He Jiuniang held 40.3 percent of the shares, the first and second wives each held 25.8 percent, and Lu Guilan and the Shen family each held 4 percent.
The remaining 0.1% was difficult to divide, so it was allocated as pension funds for Old Man Lu and Mrs. Sun.
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