"The money to the village head will have to be repaid later, and in installments."
The amount of silver owed to the headman was huge, as much as five taels of silver. It would be too conspicuous if it was paid out all at once.
"I know. It doesn't matter if it's a little later."
Despite saying this, Liu still took out five strings of silver from the jar and put it in another place.
In this way, the silver in the jar belongs to their family, and they feel satisfied no matter how they look at it.
Lin Anru laughed at his wife's actions, but did not stop her.
"I plan to give it a try next year. During this time, you three will have to work harder."
Since he was a Tongsheng, he did not need to go through the county examination in February, but only needed to take the provincial examination in April of the following year.
With just over a year to go, it's a bit urgent and he needs to prepare early.
"Just focus on your preparations. There's nothing to worry about at home."
Someone sent them firewood, and they had their own well for water. The most they needed her husband's help with was work in the fields, but he didn't have to help them all the time. Things like weeding and catching insects were something they could handle with some effort from the three of them.
The couple was talking when Xiaopang's voice was heard outside the door.
"mother?"
"Go ahead, take your sister with you."
Liu was in a rare good mood and agreed with a smile to give her son and daughter a holiday.
"Aren't you going out for a while too? The weather is nice today, so go out early and come back early."
Liu turned to her husband and said.
Lin Anru wanted to continue taking the exam, so she needed books. Since her family couldn't afford to buy them, she had to borrow them.
It was so hard to find someone who was willing to lend her books. How could Liu not urge him?
Lin Anru hesitated for a moment, wavering between copying books at home to earn money and going out to borrow books to review. In the end, she chose to go out to borrow books.
He was also afraid that the other party would go back on his word and not lend him the book.
After everyone in the house left, Liu closed the door and went back into the house.
She had been smiling at her husband and children, but that smile had long since disappeared. Now she was leaning against the wall with a pale face, her brows furrowed, her lower lip bitten with her upper teeth.
When Lin Shiyu went out, she put all the copper coins in a backpack. When she arrived at the gathering place, she put down the backpack and poured out the copper coins.
"Wow! That's a lot of money."
“Is all this money ours?”
“I’ve never seen so much money in my life!”
…
Several children gathered around the pile of copper coins, touching them with their hands as if they were looking at something rare.
Lin Shiyu pointed at the copper coins on the ground and said, "There are two hundred and forty coins here."
"How much is two hundred and forty wen?"
"One, two, three... ten."
"What's the number after ten?"
…
Please forgive them for not knowing how to count. It was Lin Bowen who taught them how to count from one to ten.
Only Xiaopang learned arithmetic from his grandfather and was still counting seriously.
"Hmph!" Lin Shiyu cleared her throat, drawing everyone's attention. "We agreed that I'd take 40% of the silver, or ninety-six coins."
She counted the money in front of the children and put it back into her small backpack.
Although the children did not know how to count, when they saw a small pile of copper coins being distributed, they felt the meaning of "more" for the first time.
"There are still one hundred and forty-four coins left in this pile, for the six of you, twenty-four coins each."
Lin Shiyu divided the money into six parts and each child took one part. There was one part left for Shi Tou. He was ordered by his family to stay in bed and could not go out today. Xiaopang would give it to him later.
"Count them and see if you get it right."
Among the remaining five people, except Lin Boyu and Xiaopang, the remaining three can only count to ten, but this is not difficult for them.
"That's two tens and a four, right?"
After counting, they still unconfidently compared the numbers with each other, and only when they found that they were all the same did they happily put them away.
It was the first time in their lives that the children received such a large sum of money. They were very excited and couldn't wait to take it back to show off to their families.
Especially Xiaopang, he immediately wanted to throw the money to his grandfather and let him call him a spendthrift every day? Humph! Now he is also a person who can make money.
The five people who had no intention of playing or making money by digging for cattle dispersed immediately after they gathered and went back to their homes.
"Digging for ground bulls makes money faster than collecting herbs. Why don't we just dig for ground bulls in the future?"
Lin Boyu sincerely believed this, but there was also some selfish motive. Digging for cattle allowed him to play with his friends, which was more interesting than collecting herbs with his mother.
"Go back and discuss it with mother."
"OK."
Lin Boyu tossed the copper coins in his hand. He thought that as long as he earned enough money, his mother would definitely agree.
The two chased each other back home, but the gate of the house was locked and no one came to open it no matter how hard they knocked.
"Is mother asleep?"
Lin Boyu guessed: "Why don't we go out and play for a while, and come back when mom wakes up."
Lin Shiyu frowned and did not answer. She recalled that there seemed to be something wrong with Liu's expression when she left.
At that time, because Liu was facing the light, she couldn't see clearly. At Liu's urging, she went out without thinking much. Now the more she thought about it, the more she felt something was wrong.
"Brother, squat down. I'll go in and take a look."
Lin Boyu didn’t know what his sister would think, but he always doted on her, so if he didn’t understand, he would just do what his sister said.
As soon as he squatted down, he felt his shoulders pressed down, and then he paused for a moment...
A sister as old as him, disappeared?
Lin Boyu: ???
I don’t understand, but I’m shocked!
Lin Shiyu climbed over the wall and entered the house. It was quiet inside and there was no sound at all. She went straight to her parents' room and saw Liu lying on the ground.
Her heart skipped a beat and she quickly ran to Liu, took her hand and felt her pulse, then she breathed a sigh of relief.
She rolled up her sleeves, carried Liu, who was lying on the ground, to the bed, covered her with a quilt, and immediately ran to her small pharmacy.
The medicines inside were neatly organized by her. She grabbed the required herbs into the bowl casually but actually very precisely, and began to boil the medicine familiarly, completely forgetting about Lin Boyu who was still outside the door.
Lin Boyu squatted at the door and waited and waited but no one came out of the house, and he began to panic.
He raised his hand and knocked hard on the door, hoping that the person inside would respond to him.
But one person in the room fainted, and the other one was concentrating on giving acupressure massage to the fainted person, and didn't hear the noise outside at all.
"It seems that silver needles should be put on the agenda."
Without tools, nothing can be done easily.
Lin Boyu, who was almost crying outside, suddenly heard a voice behind him:
"What are you doing?"
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