The items at the stall were all sold out. Zhu Shouyi tidied up the stall and instructed Zhu Pingchuan to wait with Zhu Ping'an while he went to the grocery store to sell the rabbit skins.
Since Zhu Shouyi was a regular at the grocery store, they wouldn't let him suffer any losses, so Zhu Ping'an didn't insist on going along.
After a while, Zhu Shouyi returned with a total of five rabbit skins, each worth twelve wen, totaling sixty wen.
Seeing his father put all the money into the basket, Zhu Ping'an's eyes lit up, and he happily said, "That's a lot of money! When we go ho and give it to Mother, she will definitely be very happy."
"No, we can only keep twenty-four wen; the rest has to be given to Grandmother," Father Zhu explained, laughing as he ruffled Zhu Ping'an's hair.
Oh, he rembered now.
The Zhu family's rules stated that any inco earned during the dayti, which should have been used for farming, had to be turned over entirely. As for any inco earned privately at night or during other tis when farming wasn't necessary, eighty percent also had to be submitted.
In ancient tis, if a family had not divided its property, private ownership was not allowed, as society was still patriarchal.
Going up the mountain was done during the dayti farming hours, so all earnings from the mountain had to go to the communal account; as for the bamboo weaving, since most of it was done by his father at night, eighty percent of the inco had to be submitted.
The money from selling the rabbit skins was also to be turned over entirely to Grandmother for the communal account. Besides the rabbit skins, the fifty wen earned from selling wild ga also had to be submitted completely.
Of course, the money from his father's bamboo weaving also had to be submitted at eighty percent. This ti, his father's bamboo weaving earned one hundred twenty wen, which ant that around one hundred wen had to be turned over.
In other words, all the earnings this ti were from his father's hard work, but in total, about two hundred wen had to be submitted. If it weren't for the honeysuckle, his father would only end up with around twenty wen this ti.
From what Zhu Ping'an knew, it seed that his first uncle's family had never contributed a single penny to the household; instead, they often withdrew money from the family account. His uncle spent on books and ink and entertained friends. His third uncle's family did contribute, but it was very little. As for his fourth uncle's family, forget it—both his fourth uncle and fourth aunt were always trying to take advantage of the family account.
Despite contributing more, his grandparents often favored first his uncle and fourth uncle's family.
Whenever there was sothing at ho, Grandmother often asked his father to pay, and Father readily handed over the money. For this reason, Chen had been angry with Father multiple tis.
Filial piety is important, but one also needs to take care of the family. His older brother would be getting married in a few years, and they needed to save money for his brother to get a bride. His grandparents were constantly favoring his uncle's success in the imperial examinations, fearing that they wouldn't have much money to contribute. Moreover, in case there were any changes in the family situation, it was necessary to be prepared.
So, it was essential to give his father a wake-up call.
"Why do we have to give it to Grandmother?" Zhu Ping'an asked, tilting his head.
"Because we need to eat, and all our als co from the household," Zhu Shouyi explained.
He pouted.
"The honeysuckle was promised to by Grandmother, so I'm keeping that money, and the silver ingots were also given to by soone else." Zhu Ping'an made a childish, mischievous face.
Zhu's father thought for a mont. Yes, indeed, when we ca back from the mountains, the whole family made fun of Zhu'er for picking the flowers, and his mother did say the honeysuckle belonged to him.
"Alright, fine." Zhu Shouyi nodded.
"Father, when we used to sell bamboo crafts in town, how much could we sell at a ti? How much did you give to Grandmother?" Zhu Ping'an, seeing his father agree, felt his father could still be saved, so he casually asked another question.
While tidying up the household items, Zhu Shouyi replied, "We used to sell about sixty or seventy wen each ti, and I'd give around fifty wen to the family."
"Then, this ti let's give Grandmother an extra ten wen from the bamboo crafts, and give her sixty wen." Zhu Ping'an acted like a dutiful, filial child.
In this way, apart from the money for the honeysuckle, they could keep 60 wen from this inco.
"Huh?" Zhu Shouyi was stunned for a mont and then laughed, "That's not how it works, Zhu'er. This ti, we sold more bamboo crafts."
"Yes, Zhu'er, you're still young and don't know how to calculate." Eldest brother Zhu Pingchuan chid in.
This thod didn't work, so Zhu Ping'an had to change his approach.
"Both First Aunt and Fourth Aunt have silver hairpins, and Mother has been envious for a long ti, but she hasn't saved enough money." Zhu Ping'an's eyes seed to project the image of his mother, Chen, envying his aunts, which was quite compelling.
Zhu Shouyi also thought of Chen back ho, who had contributed so much to the family. It was indeed ti to save so money to make his wife happy. Besides, this ti they handed over more money than usual to the family by ten extra wen.
In the end, Zhu Shouyi nodded in agreent, carefully dividing the money into two portions. He set aside the amount for the family and wrapped up the other portion, including the money for the honeysuckle, carefully placing it in Zhu Ping'an's small backpack, covering it with the leftover grass the cow had eaten.
Before heading ho from town, Zhu Shouyi picked up so cheap items from the market, such as oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea, as well as other household goods.
Zhu Ping'an also bought two at buns, wrapped them in paper, and carefully placed them at the bottom of his backpack, covering them up.
Zhu Shouyi, thinking his son was just being greedy, asked him about it.
Unexpectedly, Zhu Ping'an replied, "The at buns we had this morning were delicious, and I want to take so ho for Mother to try."
This made Zhu Shouyi's face flush slightly. His young son rembered to bring sothing for Chen, yet he himself hadn't thought of buying anything for her.
Fortunately, it was not too late to make ands. Because Zhu Shouyi didn't have much money left, he couldn't buy jewelry or other expensive items to please Chen. However, he could buy so fabric for her to make a couple of new outfits. Imagining how Chen would look wearing new clothes, Zhu Shouyi couldn't help but grin widely.
Not far from the stall was a fabric store, and Zhu Shouyi led his two sons inside. The store was much larger than the pharmacy, and as soon as they entered, they were dazzled by the colorful fabrics on display.
"Are you here to buy fabric, sir? Please co this way."
The store attendant was sharp and didn't direct Zhu Shouyi and his sons to the silk section. Instead, he led them to the more reasonably priced cotton section.
"This is authentic cotton fabric from Songhu, directly sourced from Songjiang Prefecture. It's exquisite, durable, and beautiful. Whether you're making clothes or bedding, it's highly sought after, and the price is very reasonable," the attendant said smoothly, with keen insight into Zhu Shouyi's thoughts, emphasizing how affordable it was.
Indeed, Songjiang Prefecture was known throughout the country for its textiles, thanks to Huang Daopo's legacy. It seed that Songjiang cotton had even made its way to this mountain town of Khaosan.
"How much for this fabric?" Zhu Shouyi pointed at a bolt of peach blossom white cotton cloth.
"120 wen for a bolt," the attendant replied. "This bolt can make eight tops, or twelve skirts or pants. It's very cost-effective."
In the Ming Dynasty, a bolt of fabric was equal to four zhang, and one zhang was ten chi. One chi is roughly 0.31 ters in modern units, so a bolt of fabric was about twelve ters long.
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