Song Sanniang's Journey to Wealth

The first batch of mooncakes made 49 taels of money, the second batch made 106 taels, 4 qian and 2 wen, the third batch made 275 taels and 6 qian, the fourth batch made 568 taels, the fifth batch made 269 taels, and the last batch made 509 taels, 9 qian and 6 wen.

My family had a total of 1,777 taels, 9 qian and 8 wen on hand. After taking into account some expenses that were not included, the total amount was more than 1,770 taels, which was considered a sudden wealth overnight.

Hearing about the money the family had now, not counting the money from selling sweet soup and the jewelry given by Miss He, his family was now considered a small wealthy family in the village. How could they be better than the landlord Li, the family that Song Dasao wanted to arrange a ghost marriage for Song Sanniang.

So the family discussed how to distribute the money. Song Laoer's family did not regard Qin Haodong and his family as outsiders. Song Sanniang calmed their hearts with a few words.

"When we go to the capital, you will definitely go with us, so you should make arrangements to find your sister. Also, don't leave your house empty. You can rent it out and collect extra rent every month."

As soon as Song Sanniang finished speaking, the hearts of Qin Haodong and his brother fell. Song Sanniang's words were directed to Qin Haodong, so he replied, "Okay, I will arrange it when I get home." His tone was full of joy.

"Okay, let's first think about where to build our house and how to build it," Song Sanniang continued.

"Everyone in the village has built almost everything. Now that we have more money, we naturally want to build a bigger house. It seems that we can't choose a place in the village." Song Ersao said,

"Isn't there a large piece of land in front of Lotus Mountain? Let's build it there. We can see the stream flowing down the mountain right outside our house, and the scenery will be great." Song Lao Er suggested.

Lotus Mountain is the mountain where we could shorten the distance to the city and go to pick snails and jujubes with our family.

Si Niang and Wu Niang jumped up first, "Okay, okay, I can go play every day from now on."

“I like to go there and play, too.”

Song Sanniang and Song Ersao thought about it and thought that place was good, so they decided to stay there. The next step was to discuss how it would look like.

"We need to build a pig pen and raise a few pigs. We can kill them for New Year's Eve and make sausages and bacon." Mrs. Song said what she wanted.

"We need to build a study room so that we can study in it while my sister is teaching us." Si Niang said.

"I want a wardrobe of my own." Wu Niang looked at everyone expectantly.

"What you said is very simple." Song Lao Er laughed.

Song Sanniang actually had a rough plan in mind. She looked at the buildings in the city and planned to build a two-story farmhouse with blue bricks and black tiles and a wall.

There is a yard at the entrance. The kitchen and bathroom are built in the yard, and the dining room is also here. If it rains, we can eat in the dining room, and if it doesn’t rain, we can eat in the yard.

Then, through a moon gate, you will reach the living area. The entrance is the living room, and the first floor is the room of Song Laoer and his wife. The study and guest room are also on the first floor, and there is a bathroom on the first floor.

Then on the second floor is the room for Song Sanniang and other two people. There are several windows facing the direction of Lotus Mountain. When you open the back window, you can overlook the scenery of Lotus Mountain in the distance. When you go out of the balcony, you can see the pastoral scenery of a large farmland and a stream at the door.

There is also a bathroom in the backyard, and then there is a large vegetable garden. A pigpen and a chicken coop are built near the wall of the house. After listening to Song Sanniang's description, everyone couldn't help but yearn for it.

So we discussed who would be in charge of building the house and what the general arrangement would be.

Because Song Laoer's family was going to stay in the capital, they had to find someone they could trust, so the first choice was Song Lao Da, who was to be the supervisor.

Then it just so happened that I didn't bring my fourth uncle with me on this money-making mission, so I let his family take charge of building the house. It just so happened that his two sons were in charge of this business.

Let Fourth Uncle and his men ask the village chief to choose someone to build the house. After all, we have to give the village chief some face.

As for the clan leader and his family, they agreed that the people who would be selected to build the house must come from the clan leader's family, and the cooking work would be given to my grandfather's family.

This kind of thing can benefit everyone.

As for Niu Laosan, Song Sanniang planned to ask him to go to the provincial capital with Qin Haodong and others to help.

After arranging the house construction, they started to discuss the renovation of the store. In fact, Song Laoer and his wife thought that it would be enough to have tables, chairs and benches for cooking. Why go to so much trouble?

Song Sanniang explained it to the two of them again, and then the couple racked their brains to think about how to make the store look better. In fact, Song Sanniang already had a rough idea, so she put forward her own idea.

After hearing Song Sanniang's idea, everyone felt that it was much better than what they could come up with, so no one objected.

After discussing these, we also need to discuss what to buy in the capital the next day. After all, the day after tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the family will invite a large group of people to dinner. The dishes must be beautiful and delicious. Some ingredients must be bought in advance, otherwise they may not be available on the day.

The people to be invited include the Song clan leader, the village chief, and the fourth uncle. Coincidentally, they also want to invite two sons. The Song clan leader's family now only has the third and fourth sons at home, namely Song Datong and Song Dazhi.

The village chief has only two sons, and the fourth uncle has two sons and two daughters.

His eldest son is already fifty years old, and he already has a great-grandson. His second son is also forty-six years old.

But in rural areas, people in their 40s and 50s are sometimes more useful than young people in their 20s.

I plan to invite my grandfather's entire family, but I don't know if they will all come, including Niu Laosan's family and Song Dazhuang's family.

If you calculate this way, there are more than 30 people, so we need to set up about three tables.

We decided on the dishes first. Each table had five meat dishes, three vegetarian dishes, and a jar of wine, almost the same as a wedding banquet.

Finally, the dishes were decided: braised pig's trotters with soybeans, scallion chicken, steamed tilapia, braised duck with bamboo shoots, steamed pork with preserved vegetables, cold cucumber salad, stir-fried lettuce, fried egg, lean meat and straw mushroom soup.

This soup was suggested by Song Lao Er. During the two days when Song Ersao and her daughter went to the capital, he and his fourth and fifth wives went to their own fields and wastelands to check.

The cassava planted in the wasteland has grown. The family did not burn all the rice straw after the harvest, but left some for growing straw mushrooms.

When he went to see it, all of them had grown out. The taste of the straw mushroom is very delicious, whether it is in boiling soup or stir-fried, it is so delicious that it will make people drop their eyebrows.

After deciding, the family went their separate ways to notify the people they wanted to invite.

At the village chief's house,

The village chief sent Song Lao Er away and returned home. His wife Feng asked curiously, "What did Song Lao Er come to see you about?"

"His family wants to build a house and asked me to select people. They invited me and the eldest brother to have dinner together on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival so that we can discuss it." The village chief replied, puffing on his pipe.

"It seems that the second Song family has made a fortune recently. I often see donkey carts coming in and out of their house. The eldest Song and the third Niu are also at his house every day." Feng said with envy.

"It's good that you know about it. Don't learn from those chatterboxes. He is a man who knows how to get things done. He even wants to help an old man like me, which is a great honor for me."

After beating his wife, the village chief turned to his two sons and said, "Since Song Lao Er is willing to support you two, you should work hard and don't embarrass me. Maybe you can benefit from his family's fame in the future."

"I understand, Dad." His two sons Song Fuping and Song Fuan replied.

Liu Dali's home,

"Hey, it's so late, why are you here?" Chen Fang asked in confusion when she saw Song Ersao come in.

"Dad, Mom, I'm here to invite your whole family to dinner on Mid-Autumn Festival. Haven't the eldest and second brothers come back yet?"

Song Ersao said,

Chen and Fang came out upon hearing the noise. Chen smiled and replied, "Mid-Autumn Festival is coming. They will probably be back tomorrow."

Fang also smiled. The two sisters-in-law had earned dozens of taels of silver in the past few days. Seeing their younger sister-in-law was like seeing the God of Wealth.

Hearing that the whole family was invited to dinner, Liu Dali couldn't help but ask, "Why are you thinking of inviting us all to dinner?"

"Dad, we are planning to build a house. We have invited the village chief, clan chief, fourth uncle and many others. Let's talk to everyone first, explain everything clearly, and have a meal to liven things up."

Hearing this, everyone suddenly realized that this was the case. However, thinking that if they invited so many people, there would probably not be enough space for their family to go, Liu Dali refused immediately, "Just wait for your eldest brother and the others to come back and let them go."

After a long struggle, Liu Dali was finally persuaded by the determined Song Ersao and decided that the whole family should go to eat, which made Liu Zezheng and others who were nervously waiting for the conclusion very happy.

Late at night, Song Laoer's family gradually gathered. Everyone took turns washing up, and then fell asleep as the candles everywhere went out.