CH 39

Zhou Shuren was surprised, “You have no memory?”

Zhulan shook her head, “The original body doesn’t have these memories, I don’t think the original body has paid much attention to them.”

Zhou Shuren reminisced about his deceased wife, and said with a smile, “Only a small part of the books were copied by my original self. The majority of them were passed down from our ancestors. The Zhou family had produced a juren in the imperial examinations, and our collection of books grew slowly over time. My original self’s father and grandfather were also scholars, but unfortunately, they did not possess the same level of natural talent, so they passed on their aspirations to my original self. During the chaos at the end of the dynasty, we were afraid that our books would be lost, so we made additional copies of the Zhou family’s collection, which is why we have so many books at home.” 

Zhulan couldn’t be more impressed, “They were quite visionary!”

“It was really far-sighted, but it’s a pity that there are still few people who want to buy books for the imperial examination.”

Zhulan, “It’s all about money. I really have no choice. As for my understanding of the ancient times, I’m just blind and I can only rely on you.”

Zhou Shuren tapped his fingertips on his palm and said, “The society has four parts: scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants. Not all of them can engage in business. Since our family has not been divided and we have three scholars in the household, we cannot afford to be labeled as merchants. Therefore, the most reliable way for us to generate income is to buy land and property and rent them out.” 

Zhulan twitched the corners of her mouth, “You can’t make a lot of money by buying land with a low yield. In case of a disaster, it’s good to buy a shop and rent it out, but it’s not enough for a family who has just a hundred taels. If we buy a shop, it can only be a small shop, and the annual rent will not be enough to sustain our family.”

Zhou Shuren sighed, “In ancient times, it is difficult to make money without doing business!”

Zhulan thought of the hidden treasure, “If you can’t do it, we can use the hidden jewelry. If we have enough money, we can buy a bigger shop or Zhuangzi. It’s a lot of money in a year. It should be enough for imperial examinations and other expenses! What do you think?”

The more she thought about it, the more feasible it became!

Zhou Shuren felt like he was eating soft rice. (1) He wanted to be Zhulan’s support. He thought carefully about what he could do, and suddenly smiled, “Wu Chun mentioned that there will be a dart car going to Jiangnan after the autumn harvest, and I plan to go with it.”

Zhulan couldn’t keep up with Zhou Shuren’s rhythm, “What are you going to do?”

Zhou Shuren pointed to his head, “Have you forgotten my major? Archaeology. As an archaeologist, it will be naturally easy for me to identify fake and real, and I am very talented in this aspect. There are many rich people in the economically developed south, and businessmen give bribes for benefits or accept bribes. I know how to spot antique calligraphy and paintings, and fakes are rampant in the south. I want to go check it out, check for fakes, or help people appraise the real ones. I can make a lot of money with just a few handfuls of such appraisals. The money I earn this way will be enough to buy a shop and buy Zhuangzi. We can have a stable income then.”

Zhulan envied Zhou Shuren’s professionalism, but had to fight it, “Don’t think for the better, in case you don’t find a fake? Or if no one is looking for you to appraise it?”

Zhou Shuren smiled meaningfully, “I thought you already knew me to some extent.”

Zhulan, “…”

She really had a deep understanding of Zhou Shuren. This person was very shrewd, so she had nothing to worry about.

Zhulan didn’t have to worry about money anymore, she felt relieved and sleepy, and said sleepily, “Then I’ll wait for you to earn money to come back to support the family and sleep.”

Zhou Shuren’s smile became deeper and deeper. He had enough to feed his family, and no one was hungry. Now that someone was waiting for him to raise her, he felt a little itchy and satisfied, “Okay, wait for me to make money and come back to raise you.”

Zhulan didn’t realize that Zhou Shuren only talked about raising her, not raising her family, and fell asleep in a daze.

After breakfast, the second child went out to look for someone. There were many children in each family in Zhoujia Village, and not all of them had large lands to harvest. There were quite a lot of people who were idle during the autumn harvest.

Zhulan saw Fourth Wang at a glance and was really surprised. In her memory, Fourth Wang did most of the work in the Wang family during the autumn harvest every year. “Your mother let you go out to work?”

Fourth Wang scratched his head cautiously, “A few girls in the family are enough.”

Zhulan, “…”

Fourth Wang had completely angered Wang Zhang shi several times. This time, only Fourth Wang’s family was tasked to do the autumn harvest. Without Fourth Wang, there were only three girls left. The Wang family had ten acres of land, which was enough for adults to be busy for a few days, let alone three weak girls!

Did this indirectly increase Wang Ru’s hatred? Even if the plot was deviating, the Zhou family was still accumulating Wang Ru’s hatred! 

T/N I have created a family tree for the Zhou family (which will be regularly updated as characters are introduced). Please take a look if interested. Also, as one reader kindly pointed out, I made a mistake regarding the name of the eldest and second sons of the Zhou family, which I will rectify in the next update to this tree.