The Lucky Farmgirl-Chapter 2046 - 2021: A Bowl of Water

Old Zhou said, "Yet I’ve never seen you bring back the money you earned."

Zhou SiLang: "Didn’t I spend it all on furs, pearls, and medicinal herbs? And cattle too. Check the accounts; we earned quite a lot last year, and this year we’re bringing so much tea, we’ll only earn more."

Old Zhou asked, "And then you’ll bring back more furs, pearls, medicinal herbs, and cattle?"

Zhou SiLang had indeed planned that, but when his father questioned him, he hesitated and said, "Dad, isn’t that a good thing?"

Old Zhou replied, "Good my foot! We’re earning all this money, but what’s the point in buying and selling things endlessly?"

He said, "Datou is not young anymore; he definitely needs to get married this year. Marriages require betrothal gifts, and the Imperial Doctor Liu’s family looks wealthier than ours. We can’t have shabby betrothal gifts."

Zhou SiLang: "Aren’t you afraid that when you send the betrothal gifts, they’ll just keep everything and give you a granddaughter-in-law?"

Old Zhou said, "No, I’ve asked around. For those wealthy families that are somewhat decent, they return the betrothal gifts as dowry and even add more to it."

How could he be doing business for companionship?

Zhou SiLang: "But that’s their dowry, it has nothing to do with Datou?"

"How could it have nothing to do?" Old Zhou reached out and smacked him, "Stop talking nonsense. We are family, right? Surely her dowry will go to her husband and children in the future?"

"Moreover, she’ll be an imperial doctor someday," Old Zhou mused, "Look how much money and grain Manbao can earn in a year now? Datou marrying her is like a godsend; we can’t be stingy with the betrothal gifts. We need to give Datou a good face."

Hearing this, Zhou SiLang also pondered, "But Dad, you’re saying this too late. Before I came back yesterday, I’ve already booked tea bricks with people and used up most of the cash I had. How much money do you have now?"

Old Zhou turned and left, "I don’t have money here; what I have is communal money which has to be divided later."

"That’s impossible," Zhou SiLang chased after him, "When dividing the money, you and Mom always got a share. You both are frugal, how can there be no money?"

Old Zhou said, "That’s for Manbao’s dowry."

He added, "You also need to consider Bai Shan’s family’s situation; the betrothal gifts will definitely be high. We can’t not prepare any dowry."

Zhou SiLang schemed, "Let’s use a bit now, and later borrow money from Big Brother to make up for it."

Old Zhou glared at him, "That’s a terrible idea. There are three more sons after Datou. Marrying a wife should be done according to one’s ability; how can you borrow money to prepare betrothal gifts?"

But he couldn’t help but consult Ms. Qian once he got home, "The eldest surely doesn’t have much money; things in the capital are expensive. If we want to buy good betrothal gifts, it’s going to cost a lot. How about we give the eldest some of our private savings first?"

Ms. Qian refused directly, saying, "If we give to Datou, what about Second Son when he gets married? And then there’s Third Son, Fourth Son, and a string of children."

She said, "If the children aren’t treated equally, they will have opinions. This time when heading to the capital, we’ll bring Old Two and his wife. Second Son and Erya should get engaged too."

"What about at home..."

After a moment of thought, Ms. Qian said, "We’ll return by autumn. If Second Son and Erya’s engagements can be settled, that’s best. If not, it will have to wait until next year. When Ligu and the others want to marry, we’ll let Third Son go to the capital as well."

"A daughter-in-law should still be chosen personally; in the future, they’re the ones to nurture the daughter-in-law."

"So you’re not helping the eldest?" Old Zhou frowned, "The Liu family is a good match; preparing the betrothal gifts poorly would be embarrassing."

Ms. Qian replied, "Datou has money in his hands. He will surely find a way to deal with his own betrothal gifts. With his capability, he will have the ability to convince her. After all, it was decided that each household will handle the marriages of the grandchildren generation themselves."

This was also the crucial reason Ms. Qian had them save their own money each year and distribute communal money once a year.

Grandchildren’s marriages and education vary from household to household; whether they’re willing to study or not, their ability to study, or who they marry also differ. That’s why she simply had them save what was left after turning in some money, and the communal money was divided once each year aside from daily expenses...

Therefore, weddings and marriages were already each family’s responsibility.

Ms. Qian said, "The descendant’s luck is their own. Datou is already part of the grandchildren generation. If you help him, you’ll have to help the other children too. Otherwise, when it’s their turn to get married, they’ll complain that the betrothal gifts and dowries aren’t enough, will you give them or not?" 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Old Zhou: "Given how much money we earned each year, how could it possibly not be enough when it’s their turn?"

Ms. Qian said mildly, "How much can things in this world be considered enough?"

Old Zhou fell silent.

Ms. Qian said, "Datou’s matters will be handled by his parents. We only need to take care of our own children’s affairs."

She added, "What matters is that the seven children from Dalang to Liulang have all established careers. Now only Manbao is left. We just need to send her off in marriage. Since we’ve said the money is for Manbao’s dowry, then it’s for Manbao."

Old Zhou didn’t bring up the matter again.

Zhou Dalang and Junior Ms.Qian hadn’t thought about asking their parents for money either. They had the same idea as their parents: Use what you have for what you need. Even though they wanted to prepare the betrothal gifts well, it could only be done based on what they have.

If they don’t have enough, borrowing money to marry a daughter-in-law would be impossible.

However, they had little money, but Datou himself had money.

He turned to find Zhou Lijun, and after comparing accounts, Zhou Lichong left with a bundle from Zhou Lijun.

He brought the bundle back to his parents.

Zhou Dalang looked inside and was amazed by the money. "Where did you get this much money?"

Though it wasn’t more than what he and his wife had saved, it was still a lot.

Especially since he was one person, while they were two!

Zhou Lichong explained, "It’s what I saved before. By working with Fourth Uncle and Fifth Uncle, I got wages every month. Plus, all the money I saved was with Second Sister and Fourth Uncle. I brought it when I went to the grasslands with Fourth Uncle..."

Even when he didn’t go, he entrusted the money to Fourth Uncle to invest, so he earned a lot.

Zhou Dalang and his wife managed to save even more money while farming, mostly because the communal money was with Zhou SiLang, who made a trip for business each year and divided the money at the year’s end.

After handing over the money to his parents, Zhou Lichong said, "Dad, Mom, use my money for the betrothal gifts."

Junior Ms.Qian couldn’t help saying to Zhou Dalang, "He’s much more accomplished than you were."

When Zhou Dalang married her, the family had to prepare the betrothal gifts, which weren’t much.

In front of his son, Zhou Dalang felt a bit embarrassed.