Chapter 112

Shuiqing also wanted to visit her parents’ home.

They hadn’t seen each other for almost a month since their last visit.

These days, traveling was very inconvenient, and communication was difficult. Usually, messages were delivered through people passing by.

Most people in Shanshui Village were busy building houses with mud bricks at home, rarely going out.

Shuiqing was eager to know how her mother and younger brother were doing with selling their rice wine. She was seriously considering Fan Jin’s suggestion.

However, she hesitated, “Since we have guests, wouldn’t it be improper for us as hosts to leave?”

Fan Jin understood hospitality etiquette and asked, “Do you think our ‘guests’ need us to entertain them?”

Shuiqing thought of Bai Ziqian, who was enthusiastic about chopping wood with Fan Jiang every day. Li Huyu had become addicted to fishing, waking up earlier than roosters and sleeping later than dogs just to fish.

The overwhelming amount of fish in the house was all her doing!

As for Bai Manshan, he was even busier.

Every day, he would leisurely observe rabbits, piglets, and sheep, inspect the vegetable garden to see how each crop was growing, and then chat with Jin Niu and the others at the foot of the slope.

His schedule was packed, never a dull moment.

Fan Jin continued his analysis, “We came back early today, just finished lunch. If we drive the ox cart a bit faster, we can make a quick round trip. As long as we make it back in time to cook dinner, we won’t be neglecting anyone.”

In fact, he knew Bai Manshan and Li Huyu wouldn’t feel neglected regardless.

Though they had only been together for a few days, they felt like old friends who had known each other for years, comfortable and relaxed in each other’s company.

Shuiqing also felt that even if they were late, Bai Manshan and Huyu wouldn’t mind much. She nodded in agreement, “Alright, let’s go and come back quickly! It’s also a good time to ‘bring in some goods.'”

Pork was fine, as Fan Jin could spend silver to bring fresh meat from the prefectural city every day.

But rabbits couldn’t be bought!

Most importantly, they now had over 1.3 million silver in the store, just for looking but not buying, and it was really itching.

The two decided to go out alone for a while and then bring back a full ox cart of “supplies.”

After making up her mind, Shuiqing went to instruct Yan Qiuxing, while Fan Jin went to harness the ox and prepare the cart.

Before long, the two set off with the fish they had caught!

Along the way, they secretly bought rice, flour, and eggs from the market and loaded them directly onto the cart.

When they arrived at Niutou Town, they saw people coming in and out of the Hu family’s house from afar.

As the ox cart approached, Hu Wenhua was the first to spot them and called out loudly, “Sister, Brother-in-law!”

Upon hearing this, Mrs. Hu rushed out of the house.

Seeing the rice, flour, and eggs on the cart, she felt extremely distressed.

She scolded them, “You brought quite a lot last time. Why did you bring more? We can get by with coarse grains. Save these fine grains for the children.”

Fan Jin smiled gently, “We still have plenty at home, enough for several children.”

Shuiqing chimed in, “Yes, Mom. The rice wine at home is selling well, with daily income coming in. We thought of bringing some for you. The eggs are from our own chickens, so no silver was spent. The fish were caught without spending silver either. We brought them for you to eat and stay healthy. By the way, Mom, how’s the rice wine selling?”

Mrs. Hu’s face lit up at the mention of the rice wine. She glanced around cautiously and lowered her voice, “It’s doing well! Let’s talk inside.”

Hu Wenhua helped to drive the ox cart into the yard.

With his strength, he effortlessly carried two sacks, one in each hand, containing the white rice from the cart into the house.

Mrs. Hu was worried about his strength and carried the eggs into the house by herself.

Fan Jin first took the fish into the kitchen, then turned around to go back to the yard to feed the ox.

Shuiqing followed Mrs. Hu into the house.

Inside, both Mrs. Hu and Hu Wenhua had exceptionally joyful expressions. Hu Wenhua exclaimed excitedly, “Sister, the rice wine is making more money than we expected!”

“How much can we earn in a day now?” Shuiqing asked eagerly upon hearing the good news, relieved.

Mrs. Hu’s smile deepened the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes as she calculated, “Originally, we thought earning one or two taels of silver a month would be very good. But now, on good days, we can earn one or two taels of silver a day! On slower days, it’s still around four or five qian.”

Although earning one or two taels of silver a day was not common, most days they earned seven or eight qian, and occasionally four or five qian. This was much higher than they had anticipated!

Shuiqing thought about her own family’s income of three or four taels of silver a day. For her mother and younger brother to earn between four or five qian to one or two taels of silver a day in Niutou Town was also quite good.

She affirmed, “That’s great, really good.”

Mrs. Hu beamed, “More than just great, it’s incredible. Qing’er, you don’t know. Your brother and I have only been selling rice wine for twenty-five days. I calculated last night, deducting the cost of rice, we’ve earned fourteen taels of silver!”

Fourteen taels of silver, in less than a month.

She and Hu Wenhua had actually earned fourteen taels of silver, a sum they had never dared to dream of before.

No, she still felt like she was dreaming.

Hu Wenhua also felt incredulous.

“Sister, I used to work as a laborer, carrying grain sacks all day from morning till night, and I only earned forty-three wen a day. Now, with Mom, in just over twenty days, we’ve earned fourteen taels of silver. It’s like a dream!”

Even Dad was stunned to hear how much they had earned.

Watching their joy at earning silver, Shuiqing reassured them, “It’s still over a month until Chinese New Year. By then, you’ll probably have earned over thirty taels in total.”

Mrs. Hu wasn’t greedy. She said to Shuiqing, “Our business is stable now, mainly thanks to your brother finding ways. But he says he learned a lot from you. Mom thinks that before the New Year, we’ll have many opportunities to sell more. After February, sales may slow down, but with these three or four months, we could save up about forty to fifty taels of silver.”

With that forty to fifty taels of silver, plus what they had saved before, their family would have a small fortune. If they encountered any disasters or unrest in the future, they wouldn’t need to panic.

Having money brought peace of mind.

Originally, they had planned to buy some land and houses, but considering what their son-in-law had said about potential unrest, Mrs. Hu thought they should wait and see.

When Shuiqing heard that it was Hu Wenhua who found the ways, she looked at him curiously.

Hu Wenhua, with his sturdy and solid build, stood up straight, scratching his head in embarrassment as he explained, “I followed Dad’s lead, first visiting all the restaurants in town, then going to various wealthy households to let them taste it. It turns out Mom brews really tasty wine, so they became regular customers.”

Shuiqing thought to herself… It wasn’t in vain for her to teach Fan He, and to let her brother follow him to learn on-site.

But it was also Hu Wenhua’s own merit. With his intelligence and diligence, earning money was just a matter of time.

She was very pleased that her mother and younger brother were diligent and willing to learn, earning some silver. Even though they couldn’t make money from brewing wine for at least the next four or five years, this sum of silver ensured a secure life for her parents and brother.