Traveling through troubled times to escape famine and cultivate crops as a grain merchant

After thinking for a while, he said, "If anyone has the ability to earn money in the future, I won't take it all. I'll let you pay part and keep part."

Xu's mouth, which had just opened, closed again.

Zhou Guo took it without hesitation. Now she had fifty-five taels in her hand. Oh, it felt really good to save money bit by bit.

Zhou Da Cang said, "Mom, forget it. My brothers are not here. I am the head of the family now. It is my duty to earn money for the family. How can I take it? Besides, it is useless for me to take it."

He has no place to spend money. There are so many children in the family now. If he doesn't support the family, who will?

Huang said, "Just take it. You have earned so much for the family. Mother also said that whoever earns money in the future will be given a portion of what he hands over. This is the rule."

This silly boy, he still has to get married, how can he not have a penny? He asks his future wife for money to buy a handkerchief?

Since it was the rule, Zhou Dacang thought about it and took the money. After careful consideration, it would be the same if he kept it with him. He could just buy whatever the family needed later.

Now everyone is happy.

Mrs. Xu had been secretly thinking about how much money she could keep if she embroidered handkerchiefs and made needlework and sold them. She had the most children, and her eldest son and eldest daughter were about to get married. She couldn't be penniless, and with the children's father not around, she had to buy something for them.

Zhou Guo turned around and gave the five taels of silver to Li, and also gave her the plain round gold bracelet in his hand, "Mother, here, take this money, and this bracelet, Master, don't give it to me, wear it yourself."

As he said that, he put it on her wrist.

Li stared at the golden bracelet on her wrist in a daze. She turned it over and over again, her eyes moistened unconsciously. After a while, she said, "My hands are as rough as those of an old woman in her seventies or eighties. How can I wear such an expensive bracelet? I'll keep it for you and let you wear it when you grow up."

As he spoke, he took it off carefully, fearing that the thick calluses on his hands would scratch the precious bracelet.

Zhou Guo said, "It will be many years before I grow up. This bracelet will just gather dust if left alone. If you like it, wear it. It looks so pleasing with its golden luster."

The Zhou and Mai brothers looked over. Wasn't it a pleasing sight? It was golden and looked very expensive.

Li said, "That's impossible. This bracelet is so expensive. I'm busy working all day. I'd be sad if it got scratched, let alone lost. Besides, we are farmers. We don't have the luck to wear a gold bracelet. We'd be laughed at and remembered."

Definitely not wearing it.

Zhou Guo stopped persuading her and thought to himself that if he made more money in the future, he would buy a lot of jewelry bracelets so that his mother wouldn't have to worry about them getting scratched. Who in the world doesn't love beauty?

Huang turned a blind eye to her behavior of giving the money to Li, and she had no control over how the mother and daughter spent the money.

But Xu's eyes turned red with envy and jealousy. That was five taels, a full five taels. She had been saving for so many years and still didn't have five taels. The second son's wife was really lucky. Thanks to her daughter, the money she had in her hands was now more than what she had saved for so many years.

The more he thought about it, the more upset he felt, to the point where he didn't notice anything was wrong with his little girl.

After Zhou Guo handed the things in her hand to her mother, she ran to Zhou Dacang's side and started to work despite her mother's objection. She felt that her wound was not that serious, and it felt better after she found some herbs to apply on it.

Everyone is discussing what to do with these thieves.

Our family has been buried, but it seems not good to just leave these thieves on the roadside.

Mr. Zhao suggested that they could just find a hole in the mountains to dump them in. Would they really have to go through the trouble of digging a hole and burying them?

But the village head and his people were all poor people who had lived honest lives for many lifetimes. What they valued most was that people should die in a dignified manner, and they could not bring themselves to abandon corpses in the mountains.

They were discussing while Zhou Guo and his companions were cleaning up the battlefield.

In addition to the large bag of silver and money, the eighteen people left behind many other good things.

First of all, there are the dozen or so horses. Horses are not cheap. A lower-quality horse costs fifty or sixty taels, and a better one costs hundreds or thousands. How much would a dozen horses cost?

The key is that with horses they no longer have to rely on human power to push the carts!! They got more than a dozen carts!

It's such a cheap and profitable business, we have to get those horses back no matter what.

Zhou Dacang picked out a few people and each of them took a few people to look for horses. No one knew where these things had gone.

Zhou Guo followed the head of the village and led people to carry several corpses into the woods. The fallen sword was picked up by them, and all the things found on the bodies, including the purses, were put into the arms of the people. If the clothes were not stained with blood and were too dirty, they would even want to strip off the clothes.

These clothes were at least better than theirs, but they were too dirty. The men were a little disgusted. They must have not been washed for a long time. They were even dirtier and smellier than those worn by those who did farm work.

Some people's faces could not even be seen clearly. Everyone suppressed their nausea and covered them with branches, thinking of choosing a secluded place in the mountains, digging a shallow pit, and then throwing all the people in at once and burying them with soil. This would be the most they could do.

Zhou Guo looked at the eighteen swords and happily picked the best one for her uncle. He was so envious of her sword that he kept repeating in her ear that he would make one when he had money.

Look, it’s delivered to your door.

Holding a knife, she watched the men who were dealing with the corpses. From time to time, they would search out half a silver coin from their bodies and put it into their arms with joy, or they would search out a ten-liang silver note from the soles of their shoes. After a discussion, they decided to divide the money slowly later.

No one wanted to do this job originally. They were chosen out of necessity. They never expected to get such a bargain. No one would compete with them for the money. Although it is not a small amount, it would not be that much if each family were to get it separately.

Zhou Guo looked curiously at the calm old man standing aside and asked, "Master, didn't you search these people already?" How could they still find money among them?

The old man said angrily, "I'm not a coroner. I searched everyone. I only searched the four people in front. They were obviously the leaders. As for those in the forest, in such a critical situation, should I kill one and search one? Is your master so greedy that he doesn't know the importance of things? He doesn't even care about your life?"

Zhou Guo said with a smile: "I am just curious. I think you are so powerful, and nothing can stump you. I feel sorry for you for losing so much money."

The old man glanced at her sideways, snorted and said, "You don't need to worry about me. You should worry more about yourself. What you get is not even as good as what they get."

Zhou Guo: “…” She touched her chin and looked at the old man’s reaction. They were a few more leaders. The old man must have obtained more treasures than her.