The Lucky Farmgirl

Zhou Lijun said, "The merchants Fourth Uncle and I have found were previous users of our ointments and creams, and are aware of their quality. However, if we don’t have a store or workshop registered with the court, they won’t dare purchase on a large scale."

"I think that if we’re going to do it, we should do it well," she said. "Our ointments and creams are not cheap; they are intended for families with substantial assets. Therefore, this store can’t be randomly located. There’s a street in East Square in the inner city that specializes in selling cosmetics and textiles, and has silver shops and bookstores. You could say the most profitable shops in Great Jin are there. The shop I’ve chosen is actually not expensive. I inquired about pricier ones, which could cost up to 20 million coins to buy."

Old Zhou felt his heart beat intensely and asked, "How much is 20 million coins?"

Manbao said, "It’s 20,000 taels."

Zhou Lijun nodded and said, "Because I mentioned we have silver, I managed to negotiate for this shop. If we were to pay with copper coins, they wouldn’t sell for less than 9 million coins."

Silver is scarce, and gold even scarcer. Silver still circulates, while gold doesn’t circulate among the common folk and is only used in very large transactions.

Silver is convenient for transport, which is why merchants particularly favor it, and also one of the reasons why the exchange rate of copper coins for silver is always high.

Moreover, silver can be made into jewelry, making it even scarcer.

Actually, the Zhou family holds quite a bit of copper coins, but even more silver, and this is thanks to Zhou Lijun. She always tells Zhou SiLang that whenever there’s an opportunity to exchange for silver at a low price, he should do it.

When doing business, if you can settle with silver, never use copper coins.

Plus, since she often resides in the capital, she can keep an eye on the silver exchange rates at silver shops, pawnshops, and official locations. Whenever the silver price drops slightly, she exchanges the family’s copper coins for silver.

It’s not only good for storage, but when silver is needed, she can quickly provide it.

Of course, most of what she distributes to each family is also silver.

Old Zhou isn’t good with calculations; he already thought 8,000 taels for a shop was expensive, and now converting it to 9 million coins makes him feel it’s even costlier, so he remained silent.

Ms. Qian looked at them, "What do each of you think?"

Zhou Lijun spoke first, "Aunt has already agreed, she will acknowledge a ten percent share. My thought is that each of the other families should also acknowledge ten percent. Unlike Aunt, including myself, a ten percent share should require thirteen percent of the money, to account for the communal two percent. The formula belongs to Aunt, she doesn’t need to pay this."

No one objected to this, and Zhou Liwei raised his hand and asked, "Can I recognize it personally, rather than family by family?"

"You can’t," Zhou Lijun said sternly. "Even if other families don’t want shares, they should be distributed equally to each family. If a family head doesn’t want it, it should be redistributed, but only family by family."

Zhou Liwei pondered for a moment and opposed his sister, "Then how can you purchase shares alone? You’re also part of the second family."

Zhou Lichong lightly coughed, "Are you planning to fight with your sister?"

Zhou Lijun replied, "I’m married."

"Then Aunt..."

Zhou Lijun said, "At least half of the family’s business is managed by me. There’s no way I’m managing it for free. It wouldn’t sit well with me to only take wages; I want the right to buy shares."

Manbao nodded repeatedly, that’s right, working for you all for free!

Zhou Liwei nodded, "Alright."

Ms. Qian remained silent, and after they finished speaking, she looked at her sons and daughters-in-law present, asking, "What do you all think?"

Ms. Fang pondered for a moment then said, "The children’s father mentioned before he left that if the family wants to buy a shop, we should follow."

Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang also didn’t object. They knew since childhood, while playing with Manbao and Zhou Lijun siblings,

The smartest in the family is Manbao, followed by Fourth Brother and Lijun. Not to mention Fourth Brother, he’s the trickiest; but Lijun is an expert at accounting, more stable than Fourth Brother. Following her lead at least ensures a minimal risk of loss.

Ms. Qian nodded, and the second family’s Zhou Liwei and third family’s Zhou Ligu also mentioned they had no issues, her gaze fell on Zhou Dalang.

Zhou Dalang said, "I have no objections."

So the matter was settled.

Zhou Lijun was refreshed, saying, "Since that’s the case, each family should gather their money. Tomorrow I’ll pay the deposit, and on the sixteenth we must collect enough funds to purchase the shop, aiming to open it before Double Ninth."

The crowd dispersed.

Ms. Qian called after Zhou Dalang, asking him to stay and talk.

Once everyone else left, she asked him, "How much private money do you and your wife have?"

Zhou Dalang scratched his head and said, "Over eight hundred."

Ms. Qian sighed, "That’s still quite short. I’ve been managing Third’s money, it’s also just over eight hundred. Considering Datou’s wedding previously spent a lot, you probably also lack a lot. How do you plan to cover the shortfall?"

Zhou Dalang said, "Manbao came by last night to speak with the children’s mother, saying she would lend us the missing five hundred taels."

Ms. Qian frowned slightly, "Manbao is about to get married, she needs to prepare her dowry."

She turned to ask Old Zhou, "Do you know how much money Manbao has?"

Old Zhou shook his head, "I don’t know, Lijun might know."

Ms. Qian pondered for a moment then said, "Fine, since she wants to lend it to you, just take it."

Zhou Dalang nodded and withdrew.

Once her son left, Ms. Qian said to Old Zhou, "Don’t keep those funds stored away, use them all to prepare Manbao’s dowry."

Old Zhou glanced at her and said, "I’ve already prepared it, did you really want to lend our private money to them?"

Ms. Qian pinched him, "What are you bitter about? What am I doing it for? It’s for this family. If we don’t keep things balanced, this family will fall apart sooner or later."

She said, "Didn’t you hear Erya say? The shop makes money. Now, when taking money, it might not seem like much, but when it starts making money later, if one family gets less, thinking back to today’s matter, it will surely cause resentment. Regardless of right or wrong, resentment makes arguments likely, and arguments damage relationships. Once relationships are damaged, this family will fall apart. Otherwise, do you think Erya wouldn’t let people recognize shares individually?"

"If individual recognition were possible, Manbao could easily take them all. There’s Fourth Brother, Lijun, Liwei, even Wulang and Liulang have leeway. That way, the first and third families would weaken. As the shop’s business grows, the gap between them would widen further. It’s not just the next generation, this generation would start fighting."

So she needed balance, at least, whatever shares other families had, the first and third families needed to have the same amount, especially the first family. They would manage the family in the future, so they couldn’t be inferior to the younger siblings, otherwise their words would be ignored.

Feelings are important; the Zhou brothers have good relationships, but interests must be properly aligned too.

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