CHAPTER 76: CHAPTER 1 BUYING LAND AND BUILDING A HOUSE

Mr. Gu waited until everyone had left before putting down his tobacco pipe. "A few days ago, when Xiao Bao discovered honeysuckle, he also found a piece of ginseng and sold it in the county today." With that, he stopped talking.

Gu Chengyu was a bit speechless, realizing his dad was trying to keep everyone in suspense again, see, everyone was about to get agitated.

Gu Chengyi had a feeling of "I knew it," no wonder they wouldn’t take him to the county. Exactly! Without a good source of income, would his dad really let the fifth one go to school? So today’s discussion about the fifth one going to school was to test him? Did his dad think only the fifth was his son? Thinking of this, Gu Chengyi’s eyes almost burned with anger, although he suppressed it.

"Oh my! Is that true? How much Silver was the ginseng sold for? I told you! His Little Uncle is truly lucky, look at that, even casually going to the mountains can dig up ginseng, I heard from my dad, that ginseng is worth a lot!" He couldn’t care less about the previous displeasure; upon hearing about the Silver, she dashed forward quickly. Gu Chengyu was curious how her plump body moved so swiftly.

Mrs. Fang perked up her ears to listen; even a single piece of ginseng could sell for at least a dozen taels of Silver, right? That’s equivalent to two or three years of income!

"Dad, how much was the ginseng sold for?" Gu Chengyi didn’t want to beat around the bush anymore.

Mr. Gu saw everyone was focused on him, so he no longer kept them in suspense and didn’t hide the fact since the eldest already knew; it wasn’t good to keep it from his other sons. "Sold for five hundred taels."

Everyone gasped, "What? Five hundred taels?" Gu Chengyu only heard He’s high-pitched soprano.

"How much is five hundred taels? What can you buy with it?" He’s couldn’t imagine it, she had hardly ever touched Silver before. "Dear, wouldn’t five hundred taels pile up into a heap? How did they bring it back, anyway? I didn’t see a bundle like it contained Silver!"

"Second sister-in-law, the Dayan Dynasty has silver notes! They brought back a silver note." Gu Chengyu felt poverty had limited her imagination; she grew up never seeing a silver note, maybe even barely touching Silver.

"Dad, is it really five hundred taels? Can ginseng really sell for so much?" Gu Chengyi also hesitated to believe it, was a piece of ginseng worth that much Silver?

"Mm, this ginseng is over eighty years old and is of excellent quality. Manager Liu, in honor of Doctor Li, offered five hundred taels."

"Dad! Why don’t you take out the silver note and let us have a look? We’ve never seen one!" He plastered a smile toward Mr. Gu, while on the side, Gu Chengyi also wanted to see the silver note; he had only seen one at Manager Zhou’s in town.

Mrs. Lv couldn’t stand He’s greedy expression. "Of course, the silver note was put away; didn’t a thief break in a few days ago and eat the rabbit meat in the kitchen? There’s no way the silver note could be taken out." Actually, Mrs. Lv had long suspected He’s was the one who ate the rabbit meat, but without catching her in the act, she had to let her off. She would find a chance to catch her later, to stop losing their food supply; that lazy woman even liked to steal food, who knows how the He Family taught her, raising a daughter so lazy and greedy, she shouldn’t have agreed to marry He’s in the first place.

He was a bit guilty when Mrs. Lv mentioned the rabbit meat, as she and her two sons had eaten most of it but had left two or three pieces uneaten.

Gu Wan watched her second brother’s demeanor today, knowing he was reluctant to allocate money for Xiao Bao’s schooling; indeed, not being from the same mother could mean no reliance there. As dad said, when a girl marries, if she can’t rely on her brothers, isn’t she doomed to be bullied by her in-laws? But with her second brother like this, he wouldn’t care for her, right? Xiao Bao was genuinely kind to her as his second sister, so in the future, she should be better to Xiao Bao.

"Dad, what are you planning to do with all this Silver?" Gu Chengyi only wanted to know how the money would be allocated; with so much Silver, whether for buying land or building a house, it was enough.

Mr. Gu deeply looked at Gu Chengyi before speaking. "This Silver is intended to be saved for Xiao Bao’s schooling, education costs Silver, you all know that. Besides, it was Xiao Bao who dug it up from the mountain, he should rightfully use it."

Gu Chengyi frowned, so that means all this Silver was intended for the fifth? That wouldn’t do, as the Gu Family previously never followed a rule where the one who earned the Silver spent it, so why say these words now? Was this rule only applicable to the first and second branches?

Gu Chengyu didn’t want to stir up unnecessary disputes over this bit of Silver, plus the Gu Family consisted of not just the second branch but so many people. To ensure those he cared about could live well, he had to find the family profitable businesses, therefore this amount of money was only a start, taking it out was no big deal. However, after today’s events, he realized that eggs should not all be placed in one basket; he needed personal assets. Otherwise, just to use a bit of Silver, he’d encounter problems, causing endless headaches every time.

Having figured it out, Gu Chengyu spoke up: "Dad! Let’s use these five hundred taels to buy some farmland for the family, and the house must be built, all deducted from these five hundred taels. I’ll keep the funds needed for my schooling this year, and I’ll find a way to bring some income for the family; you won’t need to worry about school expenses next year."

"Xiao Bao, you little child, what are you worrying about income for? Is this your concern? A large family isn’t going to rely on you for support, that’d be absurd. Besides, who knows if you can make money again? Is earning Silver so easy?" Mrs. Lv wouldn’t agree; this money was Xiao Bao’s, and no one should try to take it.

"Mom, don’t you believe me? I said there’s a way, and there is. Our family has so many people, soon the third brother will propose; the household is already crowded and cannot accommodate more. Besides, I’m older now, to go to school I need my own study room, right? A house must be built, and it ought to be a brick house. Land needs to be bought because storing money will only devalue it; better to buy land, yield from the land will generate Silver! Dad, what do you say?"

In fact, Mr. Gu was swayed by Gu Chengyu’s words. What concerns a farmer the most? Is it not land and crops? With land, one would have surplus grain, and with surplus grain, there’s no worry of starvation. "Then perhaps purchase a little less land at first? The best paddy fields now cost eight taels per mu, so buy 35 mu?"

"That sounds great, with more grain, no more eating plain wheat porridge all day. Eating porridge easily makes me hungry, rice is more filling!" He imagined their family already owning dozens of acres of land, eating rice at every meal, or cooking porridge from refined rice like Landlord Zhao, with white flour pancakes; the flavor must be incredibly appetizing! With such thoughts, the dinner she had just felt insufficient.

Everyone unanimously ignored He’s comments, especially Mrs. Lv, who thought her a family-wasting woman who never had enough to eat.

"Old man, if all the Silver is used up, what about Xiao Bao’s education? Won’t you care for Xiao Bao?" Mrs. Lv got anxious upon hearing Mr. Gu agree.