Chapter 168 - Wealth and Riches (1/2)
Although Fang Zizhen was only a third-rank military official without much power, Lord Wu had heard that the emperor had favored him. In addition, Lord Fang’s master and younger martial brother had recently received the imperial decree and gone back to the capital after being sealed the second-rank Zhenguo General. A large part of the army was put under Zhenguo General’s command and before long he was going to the northwest to guard the borders.
Because military families often had both the father and son going into battle, if hostilities arose in the northwest, Fang Zizhen would definitely also be ordered there. When the military leadership was in the hands of Zhao Family’s father, son, and disciple, then they would definitely have a place at court in the future…
After considering all of the possibilities, County Magistrate Wu decided to give Fang Zizhen a favor and let his subordinate leak out the news that the shops were owned by his family in order to let the imperial envoy ask for them. However, he had never expected that the imperial envoy actually wanted to buy them for his goddaughter. It had been a busy few days at the docks so Fang Zizhen had forgotten to ask about them. Today, he finally found a chance to talk about them. County Magistrate Wu had been nervously waiting at home. Just what was the imperial envoy trying to do? Did he want to buy them or not?
Yu Xiaocao thought that this was a good idea. In her previous life, many people had earned money by speculating in real estate. Shops and stalls were a decent investment. The shops that were located in the bustling downtown area were even better and often could be sold for a sky-high price. In comparison, the shops in Tanggu Town were already considered not that expensive.
“Godfather, how much would it cost to buy those two shops?” Yu Xiaocao was afraid that she couldn’t raise that much money in a short period of time.
When Fang Zizhen saw his goddaughter agree with his idea, he became even more happy than if he was the one buying the stores. He grinned widely, “Daughter, don’t worry about the price! If you don’t have enough money, Godfather will pay it off for you. Once you have enough money, you can return it back to me!”
Yu Xiaocao rolled her eyes at him. She was well aware that if she took him up on this offer, in the future, when she wanted to pay him back, he would find all sorts of excuses to avoid it. Her godfather already treated her quite well, so she didn’t want other people to accuse her of taking advantage of his money and power! That being said, her godfather also had her godmother at home. If she ended up leaving an impression that she was an avaricious and insatiable greedy person, then she didn’t know what she could do to fix it!
The smile on Zhou Zixu’s face became even more brilliant. He spoke somewhat cautiously to Fang Zizhen, “Lord Fang, you don’t need to worry that Xiaocao doesn’t have enough money to buy the stores. She’s absolutely a wealthy little lady right now! Let’s not even talk about the dividends from the factory, just her dividends from the osmanthus duck alone would be more than enough to buy those two stores!”
The osmanthus duck had been on the market for almost two months now. For every one duck that was sold, Xiaocao got half a tael in return. Between the Zhenxiu Restaurant in Tanggu Town and the one in the capital, those two restaurants probably sold at least two hundred ducks every day. In other words, Xiaocao earned at least a hundred taels every day from this arrangement. In a month, she had an income of more than three thousand taels! To call her a wealthy woman wasn’t an exaggeration in the least!
Originally, the contract dictated that the Yu Family could get the dividends every month or every six months. Yu Xiaocao though it was too inconvenient to get it every month so she chose to get it every six months instead. Since then, she hadn’t gone into town so she didn’t even know how much money had built up by now.
Zhou Zixu gave everyone a rough outline just how many osmathus ducks his two restaurants had been selling on a daily basis. When the Yu Family found out that, from the sales of the osmanthus duck alone, they had earned five thousand taels, they couldn’t help but be stunned by this number. When had they ever seen so much money before? They had previously believed that the eight hundred taels Xiaocao had sold her recipe for was an astronomical sum. They would have never thought, or even dreamed, that they might, one day, have over a thousand taels on hand.
Little Shitou’s hand loosened its grip on his chopsticks and they pattered down onto the table. He stammered, “Second...Second Sister! Not even two months had passed and our family has earned over five thousand taels, then...then in one year, wouldn’t we get over thirty thousand taels? Someone, someone quickly pinch me right now...yeouch! Second Sister, you pinch too hard——haha! I’m not dreaming! Won’t our family soon become one of the richest families in Dongshan Village?”
When Zhou Zixu saw Little Shitou, who was dressed in scholarly attire, look so shocked, he couldn’t help but laugh at the little boy’s lack of sophistication, “Earning around thirty thousand taels in one year makes you so happy that you can’t find north anymore? That’s only the money from the osmanthus duck. If we add on the money you’re earning from the condiment factory and the future century egg and vermicelli, in a few years, let’s not even talk about being the richest family in Dongshan Village, even in town your family would be considered extremely wealthy!”
Little Shitou’s eyes glittered as if he had stars in them and his face filled with emotion, “That’s too good! In the future, I won’t have to worry about not being able to afford my school tuition! Older Brother won’t have to be sent out from home to be an apprentice! Older Sister and Second Sister won’t be sold into the Zhou Family to be maidservants...sniffle, sniffle! I’m so happy right now!”
Although he claimed he was happy, the little fellow covered his face with his hands and started bawling! You couldn’t underestimate Little Shitou for being too young. All of his family’s sufferings and difficulties had all been heavily engraved within his heart. Before they separated from the main family, his whole family had to endure his grandmother’s tyranny. They never had enough to eat, never had decent clothes to wear, and never could finish the work assigned to them. When they split from the family, the house was so run-down that it wasn’t livable and it was possible that, at any time, they might run out of food to eat. His father had been bedridden from his leg injury and his mother had washed other people’s laundry until the skin on her hands split from the cold and bled. His older brother had been beaten until he had almost died...
To him, those terrible days were still right before his eyes sometimes! At that time, he wouldn’t have ever dreamed that there would one day be a day like today. Now, he could eat white rice whenever he wanted and eat large wheat buns whenever he felt like it. From time to time, he could even eat a meal with meat in it. He never would have believed that he might one day enter the town’s most famous academy and be able to study and read books for a whole day without any worries. In addition, he never would have expected that this family might have an income of over ten thousand taels as well...
Yu Xiaocao stopped smiling and pulled the little fellow into her arms. Little Shitou threw himself into his second sister’s arms and burst into loud tears. Second Sister was like a little immortal fairy from storybooks. There was nothing that she couldn’t do or accomplish! He now had an even deeper conviction that his second sister had been blessed by the heavens and taken care of by the gods themselves. As for them, they had merely enjoyed the afterglow of her fortune!
Everyone in the Yu Family felt their hearts squeeze in pain from the sounds of his heartbroken sobs. One after another they all recalled their circumstances a few months ago. It was like the difference between heaven and hell! The old memories in the air all dampened the environment for a bit.
Fang Zizhen felt extremely uncomfortable within his heart when he saw the tell-tale red rims around his adopted daughter’s eyes. He hurriedly interrupted the Yu Family’s thoughts and cheerfully admonished, “Okay ah! Earning money is something to be happy about, why are you all crying? My daughter is so capable that she makes more money in a month than me, her godfather!! In the future, Godfather will have the shamefully ask my daughter to buy things for me ah!”