The Lucky Farmgirl

Old Zhou and Ms.Qian did have some private savings. They had originally thought that if the eldest branch and the third branch were short of money, they would help out. But since Manbao had taken the initiative to lend to them, the two elders couldn’t very well interfere anymore. Mm, that way the water was held level in the bowl.

The couple, who prided themselves on holding the water level, took out their own account books and carefully went over the numbers on them. Old Zhou said, "I’ve already inspected quite a few manors and fields. Sigh, land in the capital is too expensive, Yongzhou’s isn’t cheap either, and there aren’t many people selling. I’m thinking we should still buy that place in Yongzhou. It’s not a manor, but it’s being sold by a big household, and it’s a full eighty mu."

Old Zhou took out a slip of paper, scratched his face, and said, "Seven taels of silver per mu. I asked Fifth Head before, he did the math for me, but I’ve forgotten it again. Anyway, it’s over five hundred taels. Once we pay this part, we won’t have much left. What else are we going to buy for her?"

Ms.Qian couldn’t figure it out either, but that wasn’t a big problem. She said, "Still buy land."

She said, "As for cloth, the palace and those nobles have already rewarded her with quite a bit, and we can’t buy anything better. We’ll just buy two more bolts of red cloth, pay off the custom-made wedding dress at the embroidery workshop, and spend whatever’s left all on land for her."

Manbao didn’t lack for a house, and with this amount of money, it was impossible to buy a shop in the capital, so they could only buy land.

"The official fields are, after all, the court’s property, they’re not very stable. She should still have a few plots of her own," Ms.Qian said. "Later you should ask around again in that area of Yongzhou. Once we buy the land, we’ll rent it out to tenant farmers just the same. As long as you have land, you won’t starve."

Old Zhou agreed, then brought up another matter. "What do you think the Bai Family will give as betrothal gifts?"

Ms.Qian looked up at him and said, "It certainly won’t be little."

"But we haven’t seen them buying anything lately. Are they even preparing the betrothal gifts?"

After walking out of the courtyard, once his uncles and aunts had all gone back to their rooms, Zhou Lichong bumped Zhou Liwei with his shoulder, waggled his eyebrows, and said, "Not bad, you’ve learned to play the bad cop for Lijun."

Zhou Liwei’s face reddened slightly. "I was just putting the unpleasant part out there first. There are more people at home now, we naturally have to explain more, so there won’t be any misunderstandings."

Zhou Lichong nodded, then turned his head to grin at Zhou Lijun. "We’ll leave this matter to you then. But won’t opening in the ninth month be a bit early? How about waiting until after Little Aunt’s wedding?"

Zhou Lijun shook his head. "That would be too late. The ninth month is just right. Autumn is dry, it’s exactly the time to use moisturizing cream and whitening cream."

Zhou Lichong nodded repeatedly, then frowned, having the same question as his grandfather. "Right, is the Bai Family preparing the betrothal gifts? I’ve come back several times and haven’t seen them adding anything over there."

Of course they were. Old Madam Liu had begun having things moved, bit by bit, into the newly purchased residence since last month.

Every few days, she would take Ms.Zheng out with her to the new house to inspect the items that had been delivered.

Leaving aside the title deeds to houses and land, all sorts of ornaments, jade pieces, porcelain, as well as some antique paintings, calligraphy, and books she had ordered prepared were being sent one after another from Longzhou and Qili Village.

Of course, when she moved house most of her belongings went with her to Qili Village. Only some things were too heavy to move and had been left in the old house back in Longzhou.

She hadn’t expected Bai Shan to marry in the capital. For the sake of making the betrothal gifts look good, she had people go back to Qili Village to bring some things over, and together with the items left in Longzhou, they would all be used as Bai Shan’s betrothal gifts.

Never mind other people, even her daughter-in-law Ms.Zheng was scared witless when she saw it all and couldn’t help asking, "Mother, are all these going to be betrothal gifts?"

Old Madam Liu smiled and nodded. "Times are different now. Whether it’s Manbao or Shanbao, the people they’ve befriended are neither low in status nor few in number. Looking at that, we have to make some preparations for the future, so Shanbao’s betrothal gifts must not fall short. Only then will Manbao’s dowry be able to stand up to them."

She said, "I know what people outside are thinking. Nothing more than believing that our Bai Family has declined, that Shanbao has no father or brothers to back him, while Manbao was born from a poor family. Though she is greatly favored by His Majesty now, after all she’s still a bit short compared to the great clans. For this wedding, I’ll let them see the foundations of these two families."

The Zhou Family might not have any deep foundations, but the Bai Family did.

With what Old Madam Liu knew of the Zhou Family, however much betrothal gift she sent over, in the end aside from the ready cash, the rest would likely come back as part of the dowry.

And the ready cash could be turned into other, more presentable, dowry items.

Although these things, after going through one turn, would go from belonging to the Bai Family to becoming Zhou Man’s personal property, she only had the one grandson; what belonged to the granddaughter-in-law still belonged to the grandson anyway, didn’t it?

Old Madam Liu’s gaze was bright and sharp. It was also time to let those of the main clan see whether this branch of theirs had really fallen. Hmph.

Separated from Old Madam Liu by a covered corridor and two courtyards, Manbao was in her room, just about to climb up and close the window. Once she shut it, she sat cross-legged on the bed and entered the space, then began counting her money.

Back in the sixth month, Zhou SiLang had returned to the capital and handed her the money from selling gemstones and spices, most of it silver, the rest copper coins.

Manbao hadn’t stored the copper coins in the space; they took up too much room. Generally speaking, she would only keep a dozen or so strings of coppers in there, and when that wasn’t enough, she’d go home and stuff some more in.

The rest of the copper coins were kept in the side room next to hers, which she used as a storeroom, filled with valuables that she wasn’t convenient putting into the space.

Among them, the copper coins alone filled several burlap sacks.

Manbao went to open the chests. Several of them were filled with silver, some neat official silver ingots, some irregular lumps of silver, but all of reasonably good quality.

Manbao had everything accounted for. She’d written labels on the chests the last time she’d counted, and she also had her own account book, so it was very easy for her to know exactly how much money she had.

After counting, she found that she had quite a bit of money and let out a breath of relief. She then took two chests out of the space and just left them in a corner against the wall.

The next day, Zhou Dalang and Junior Ms.Qian were secretly called over to count the silver.

Five hundred taels were not light. Zhou Dalang used two big baskets to load them, then covered them with lids on top. He and Junior Ms.Qian each carried a basket home.

They even greeted people along the way. No one knew that the big baskets were filled with silver.

Manbao thought this method was particularly good. So she also took out two baskets, loaded them with silver, and went to look for Zhou Ligu. "You have to write an IOU for me on your father’s behalf."

Zhou Ligu had also been fretting over not having enough money. When he heard this, he immediately nodded. After seeing the silver in the baskets, he asked curiously, "Why put it in baskets?"

"This way it doesn’t stand out, no one will notice it."

When Zhou Ligu heard that, he immediately lowered his voice and asked, "Little Aunt, can’t we tell the family about this?"

Manbao asked, "What would you tell the whole family for? Just tell your father and mother."

Zhou Ligu hesitated. "But we can’t hide it from Third Brother either, can we? I’m closest with Third Brother, there are so many things I can’t keep from him."

"Then tell him," Manbao said. "He owes me money too."

Zhou Ligu was stunned. "How much does he owe?"

"Same as you, five hundred taels each."

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