Anyway, he just didn't believe that the Lin family only had that little money, and he was unwilling to go find it himself, asking Old Man Lin to take it out himself.
He was not afraid that Mr. Lin would fool him, as the villagers were crowded at the door watching, and the uncles standing behind him were also powerful.
If Mr. Lin doesn't handle it properly, he will be embarrassed and the family division will not be able to continue.
When the Zhang family brothers heard their brother-in-law's words, they took a step forward in cooperation.
The onlookers saw their demonstrative actions and talked about it.
When the family splits up, inviting the maternal uncle is mostly just a formality. It is rare for someone to be as threatening as the Zhang brothers. After all, it is just a family split, not a complete cessation of contact.
Does Lin Anxiang's attitude of not stopping them mean that he wants to sever ties with Mr. Lin?
Mrs. Lin raised her eyelids and looked directly into her second son's eyes: "Oh? Then how much silver do you think the family should have?"
Lin Anxiang frowned. How could he answer this? If he said it was less, would it be considered the amount he mentioned? Then he would be the one who suffered the loss in the end.
"Come on, why don't you say anything?" Old Madam Lin pointed at him and pressed him, "Why? You were talking loudly to your father, and you refused to say a word when your mother asked you."
One by one, he has become so arrogant that he doesn't know how high the sky is and how deep the earth is. His wife thinks these children are good in every way and wants to stay with them and not split up the family.
You see, he was just a little late in dividing the family property, and his eldest son had already pissed him off so many times. He wasn't afraid that if he got angry a couple more times, he'd end up in the coffin early.
"How would I know exactly how much silver there is? But it can't be as little as six strings of silver."
Lin Anxiang dodged his mother's fingers and shamelessly avoided giving a direct answer.
"Tsk~"
Old Mrs. Lin curled her lips in disdain.
"Six strings of cash is too little? I thought six strings of cash was too much!"
Lin Anxiang curled his lips, looking like he didn't believe you.
Even Lin Anji showed a look of disbelief, only Lin Anru remained the same.
"You don't believe it? Then tell me, how does the entire Lin family save so much money every year?"
Old Mrs. Lin walked back to her chair, leaned back and closed her eyes.
Lin Anxiang didn't want to follow Mrs. Lin's idea, so he refused to cooperate and turned his head away. His meaning was very clear: no matter what you say, I just don't believe that his family is so poor.
Lin Anji was trying hard to recall the sources of income for his family over the years. Apart from the harvest from the fields, the money he earned from eggs every year, and the money he earned from selling the piglets his third brother's wife bought for them to raise, he could also think of some other sources of income.
He was torn: If the family had no other source of income, had he wrongly blamed his parents? Had he done something wrong?
They didn't speak, and the lobby was so quiet except for the sound of breathing that it made people feel a little uneasy.
Old Madam Lin opened her eyes, which had been closed. She glanced at her three sons with her calm eyes before speaking:
"Since you can't think of it, then let me tell you. If not, feel free to bring it up with you so you don't keep it in your heart and make it stink."
Her words had a hidden meaning, and as for who feels uncomfortable, that's up to them.
"First, there's the harvest. Every time we harvest grain, after paying taxes and saving for seeds, the rest isn't even enough for our family's daily needs. Is there any objection to that?"
The three Lin brothers all nodded.
Not only them, but also the villagers who were watching were the same. Everyone in the village could see the harvest and population of each family, and then they could roughly know the situation of each family by making an estimate.
"The second is the piglets that the third daughter-in-law buys every year. The family can earn about 800 coins a year. Everyone knows this." Mrs. Lin continued.
Liu used her dowry to buy the piglets, and gave them to other members of the Lin family to raise. In the end, the money from the sales was divided equally between the two parties.
A pig raised from the beginning of the year to the end of the year only sold for two thousand coins.
The reason why Old Lady Lin said it was eight hundred coins was because her daughter had previously raised the pigs and she would give her two hundred coins every year to save for her dowry.
Everyone in the Lin family knew about this, but the other people in the village didn't know. They all envied their family for being able to raise pigs, and they thought their life must be good.
But when they heard Mrs. Lin say that a pig only earned 800 coins a year, they all felt that it was not right.
They have never raised pigs, but others have!
Is this old lady trying to fool her sons with the small amount of silver she mentioned?
But seeing that her sons seemed to think there was nothing wrong with the money from selling the pig, they became puzzled.
I really want to ask clearly, but they are dividing the family business now, so it’s not appropriate to ask, so I can only keep it to myself.
Mrs. Lin didn't want to pay attention to the villagers' doubts. She continued to list:
"Finally, there are the three hens I raise at home. The silver I can get from their eggs, after deducting the cost of food, drink, and gifts, can probably be exchanged for a hundred or so coins!"
Three hens can only lay about a thousand eggs a day, but hens don't lay eggs 365 days a day.
So three hens can lay six to seven hundred eggs a year. The family eats about ten eggs every month, and the rest are used for social interactions, and finally sold for money.
If a daughter-in-law gives birth and is in confinement after childbirth, we will need twenty or thirty fewer eggs. The eggs that can be sold are saved.
Hearing that the money earned from selling eggs was so little, the eldest and second sons of the Lin family frowned. When they estimated it in their minds, they found that what Mrs. Lin said was not a lie.
"Finally, the money you all earn from doing odd jobs is less than five hundred coins a year." Mrs. Lin paused for a moment to let them digest the information before continuing, "This is all the income of our entire Lin family. You can calculate how much you earn."
"The annual income should be at least 1,500 wen. How come it's only been 6 wen for so many years?" Lin Anxiang questioned.
"You only see the income. Why don't you calculate the annual expenses?" Old Mrs. Lin said unhappily.
"Don't you need money to buy food and oil at home?"
"And what are you wearing? You picked it up on the street, and you didn't have to spend money on it?"
"Every New Year and festival, the gifts you bring to Yue's house are like falling from the sky. They don't require money, right?"
…
The more Mrs. Lin thought about it, the angrier she became. The angrier she became, the louder her voice became. The louder her voice became, the more excited she became, and the more ferocious her expression became. The younger members of the Lin family were so frightened looking at her that they almost forgot to breathe.
Old Mrs. Lin, who was tired of talking, felt everyone's eyes on her and couldn't help but calm down a little.
Lin Lao Er was so shocked that he didn't know how to refute for a moment.
He was stunned for a moment, and Zhang beside him pulled his sleeve. Then he saw his wife pointing at Lin Anru, and his eyes immediately lit up.
"Mother, it's not that I don't believe you, I just don't know how I can believe it!" He kept it a secret, and when Old Lady Lin looked at him straight in the eye, he continued, "If our family is really that poor, what do you say about the dozen or so strings of cash that the third son took to take the imperial examination?"
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