After Prefect Shen left, his family gathered around, wanting to see the government's reward.
One hundred taels of gold is two gold ingots, gleaming with gold, something an ordinary person would rarely see in their lifetime. These are genuine gold ingots, bearing the official seal of the government.
One thousand taels of silver consisted of twenty silver ingots, placed in an exquisite little wooden box. The ingots also bore the official seal of the government, indicating that this was official silver, and its purity was much better than that of silver circulating in the market.
As for those fine silks and satins, they were basically worn by high-ranking officials and nobles. Rural people mainly wore coarse cloth clothes. If they really wore fine silks and satins, how could they work in the fields?
The family had ten household soldiers, and the horses bestowed by Prefect Shen came in handy. As for the oxen, they were treasures to the farmers and important tools for agricultural production at the time.
In ancient times, productivity was low, and the government attached great importance to oxen. All oxen were registered with the government and were not allowed to be slaughtered privately, even if they were privately raised. If an ox was too old to work in the fields, it could only be slaughtered with the government's permission.
In their village of Narcissus, there were only two oxen for plowing, but Prefect Shen bestowed four oxen upon the Zhao family, which made the whole village extremely envious.
As for the residence that Prefect Shen bestowed upon Qing'an Prefecture, Zhao Xian really didn't know what to do with it, since his family couldn't possibly move to Qing'an Prefecture to live.
Since Prefect Shen rewarded them with horses and oxen, it was clear that he wanted them to focus on industry and agriculture and make agriculture their foundation. But what was the meaning behind rewarding them with a mansion as well?
It seems the only option is to leave the house there for now and go check on it when I have time. If it can be rented out, I can earn some rent.
Li Chun'e stroked the smooth silk, lost in thought, then suddenly looked at Zhao Xian and said:
"Xian'er, a house cannot be without a lady of the house. When do you plan to bring Ruotong back?"
Zhao Xian was taken aback; why was his mother bringing this up again?
He did want to bring Yang Ruotong back. Yang Ruotong had lived with him for several years and suffered a lot. Now that their family was better off, he really needed a virtuous wife, so he should bring Yang Ruotong back.
But he wasn't mentally prepared, and he felt a bit awkward if he were suddenly asked to live with his wife.
“I’ll take the lead on this matter. I’ll go to Yangjiawan tomorrow to talk to the Yang family first, and then Xian’er will go and bring Ruotong back.”
Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and realized that Old Mrs. Zhao had arrived at some point.
"Then I'll trouble you to make the trip first, Mother. I'll get everything ready here and wait for your news," Li Chun'e said happily.
"Then it's settled. I'll set off first thing tomorrow morning," said Mrs. Zhao.
"Mother, do you need to bring anything with you when you go tomorrow? I'll prepare it for you in advance."
"Just bring some snacks. This time, we mainly want to see what's going on at their home. Ruotong's brother and sister-in-law are no good. They often do bad things in secret and even try to sow discord between Xian'er and Ruotong."
I heard that a rich man in their village took a liking to Ruotong and gave Ruotong's brother and sister-in-law a lot of benefits. Then, the brother and sister-in-law tricked Ruotong into going back to the village under the pretext that her mother was sick, and wanted Ruotong to marry that rich man.
Actually, Xian'er should have gone to bring Ruotong back a long time ago, but he just couldn't bring himself to go back to his parents' home to fetch his wife. It's not shameful for him.
At this point, Zhao Xian had no say in the matter. Li Chun'e and Old Mrs. Zhao quickly settled the matter with a few words.
Let's have Grandma go first and bring Yang Ruotong back.
Zhao Xian sighed and looked at Qin Yingying, giving her instructions.
"I've settled last month's wages today. You can withdraw some money later."
Qin Yingying was a little surprised. There didn't seem to be any such expenses at home. Who was she paying wages to?
Seeing Qin Yingying raise a question, Zhao Xian smiled and spoke.
"Of course, we'll pay you all your wages. You worked very hard last month and did everything very well. Zhao Cheng, Li Guang, and you two sisters will each receive ten taels of silver."
Ten household soldiers were paid one tael of silver per month. This was done because household soldiers were currently paid between five qian and one tael of silver per month, and we could not break this rule, so we paid them the highest standard.
Of course, the four of you will also receive a year-end bonus. Once you receive this money, you should save it carefully, as you will need it in the future.
Qin Yingying was pleasantly surprised. The two sisters were servants. Zhao Xian bought them from the brokerage firm, and they were to serve this family unconditionally. How could they possibly be paid? Moreover, the wages were too high. Even the current county magistrate did not earn that much in a month.
Since the head of the family has spoken, then they should do as he instructed. She and her sister must save this money so that they can support their parents when they achieve success.
Qin Yingying quickly distributed last month's wages. Zhao Cheng and the others remained calm after receiving their wages and quietly put the money away.
They knew in their hearts that Zhao Xian had already regarded them as important members of his family, and all they had to do was work hard to repay Zhao Xian's kindness to them.
The ten soldiers were overjoyed when they received their wages. They never expected that they would earn one or two taels of silver a month here. They estimated that they could not find another place like this in the entire Zhengyang County.
Besides, they haven't even worked a full month yet, but the head of the household is paying them a full month's wages. They must work hard in the future and do their job well, both within and outside their assigned duties.
Early the next morning, Old Madam Zhao arrived. Li Chun'e bought some pastries for the old lady to take with her. Zhao Cheng had already prepared the carriage and had a servant drive it.
Zhao Xian helped the old lady into the carriage and instructed the guards to be careful, to go slowly, and not to rush.
As Grandma Zhao sat in the carriage, a sense of pride welled up within her. This was her first time traveling by carriage, and it was even a private carriage with someone driving for her—it was incredibly prestigious.
The servant dared not drive the carriage too fast, fearing that the bumpy ride would hurt the old lady.
It took two full hours for the carriage to finally arrive at Yangjiawan, despite their hurried pace.
Yangjiawan is a small village next to Yingkou Town. Because Yingkou Town has mines and docks, this town is much richer than Dawan Town, and there are many wealthy people in the town.
There are quite a few wealthy people in Yangjiawan Village. While horse-drawn carriages are a rarity in Shuixian Village, they are very common in Yangjiawan Village.
When Grandma Zhao's carriage entered the village, she thought it would attract the attention of the villagers, but the villagers didn't even notice her carriage.
After all, there are so many carriages coming and going in the village every day, who would pay attention to your carriage?
The carriage stopped in front of Yang Ruotong's house. Old Mrs. Zhao got out of the carriage and came to the gate of the courtyard.
The gate to the courtyard was closed. Was no one home? Had they all gone out? But it didn't matter. It should be noon now, and someone had to come home to cook.
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