The wind is gentle and the fun is endless

Since she heard Xu Qu's words that day, Huan Huan has become even more low-key. She hardly leaves the house and stays quietly in Xin Garden every day. But she doesn't know that there are many people who are looking forward to her aunt's early return to the capital, and the most anxious one among them is probably Xu Qu's second uncle. He is almost counting the days with his fingers, looking forward to his eldest sister returning to her one-third acre of land in the Duke's Mansion as soon as possible.

At this moment, Xu Qu's second uncle was pacing back and forth in the main hall of his house in an anxious manner, which made his second aunt unable to bear it anymore.

"Sir, how long have you been going back and forth here? I'm dizzy!" Second Aunt held a handkerchief in her hand and stroked her forehead, then continued, "You've been absent-minded even when eating recently. What are you worrying about every day? But is there anything wrong with the counter?"

Xu Qu's uncle paused when he heard this, raised his head and sighed heavily, and said, "Madam, to be honest, it's the end of the month, and we have to start sorting out the accounts in each counter."

Second Aunt didn't take it seriously and said, "Hey, I thought it was something else. Don't we have to settle the accounts at the end of every month? Is it worth it for you to lose your appetite like this?"

My second uncle sat down on the chair next to my second aunt and said, "This month is the month we should start calculating dividends according to tradition."

Second Aunt was a little puzzled and said, "I know, because the family is so big, the mansion starts to set up rules and regulations for dividends early every year. It has been like this for so many years, and there has never been any mistakes. Why is the master so worried?"

Second Uncle leaned back in his chair, let out a long sigh, closed his eyes helplessly, and said in a long voice: "The Duke's wife has sent me a letter saying that she wants to participate in the dividend meeting."

As soon as these words were spoken, Second Aunt immediately became speechless, and the room instantly became quiet.

After a while, the second aunt sat forward and said, "Master, just tell her that this is just the beginning and it's just a rough calculation. It doesn't count. Tell her not to bother."

The second uncle opened his eyes, looked at the second aunt and said, "Madam, do you think I didn't say that? The Duke's wife said that she hasn't attended the dividend meeting for many years anyway. She just took the opportunity to familiarize herself with the situation. It doesn't matter if it doesn't count."

Second Auntie's first reaction was to snort, and then she said angrily: "It sounds better than singing, who knows what she is up to!"

After saying that, Second Aunt turned her upper body towards Second Uncle again, frowned and asked, "Master, is there no other way?"

Second uncle heaved a sigh of relief again, sat up straight, leaned slightly towards Second Aunt, lowered his voice and said to Second Aunt, "I have found reasons to postpone the date of the dividend distribution meeting again and again. Those side branches have come to me many times, and each time I found an excuse to get away with it. Yesterday they came to me and said that if they didn't hold the meeting again, they would ask the Duke's wife to preside over the meeting."

Second Aunt was very surprised and asked, "When did they team up with the Duke's wife? Hasn't the Duke's wife always ignored these people?"

The second uncle said, "In my opinion, they have not yet united. But if we really let them go to find the Duke's wife, wouldn't it be troublesome if they really united?"

After hearing this, Second Aunt silently turned around and sat up straight, muttering, "No wonder you are so anxious, Master. What should we do now? It's been almost a month, why hasn't the Duke come to pick her up yet!"

Seeing Second Aunt's attitude, Second Uncle hurriedly tried to comfort her, "Madam, don't worry. Not to mention that they haven't united yet, even if they did, I have worked hard for so many years. Now the managers of each counter are all promoted by me. How can I let them control me so easily? It's just a profit-sharing association that doesn't count. I'll just meet them. I don't think they can cause any trouble."

Second Aunt echoed with some concern: "Yes, Master, you don't have to take them too seriously, but you still have to be careful and cautious in everything."

The second uncle stood up, took the second aunt's hand and patted it gently, saying, "Don't worry, ma'am. I have my own plan."

Just like that, a few days later, the Xu family dividend distribution meeting, which had been postponed again and again, was finally held in the largest meeting room in the Xu Mansion.

Because the second branch was in charge of business, the meeting was usually chaired by the second branch. Normally, the head of the second branch should be Madam Xie, but the person who usually dealt with the shopkeepers of each store was Uncle Xu Qu, so he was the one who chaired the meeting.

Most of the male heads of the families in the eldest branch were serving as officials outside the family, and this meeting was not the final one, so the eldest branch only sent a representative to attend.

It was the appearance of Aunt Xu Qu that surprised the descendants of the Xu branch who were present at the meeting. What's more, the Duke's wife had changed her previous attitude of looking up at them and now smiled at all the attendees from the branch.

You have to know that this eldest daughter of the legitimate family is the one who looks down on them the most among the legitimate children of the second house. She always mentions legitimate children and illegitimate children when she sees them. Therefore, although the eldest aunt's smile only passed over everyone's heads, it was enough to make them feel flattered.

Seeing the eldest aunt coming, the second uncle came over to greet her out of courtesy. He smiled but didn't smile, and said, "Sister, you are here, please come over here and take a seat. My younger sister said that she and her brother-in-law are going to visit relatives, so she won't come this time. We can just follow the rules of previous years."

The eldest aunt became polite. She looked at Mrs. Xie who was sitting in the seat of honor and said, "This little sister is still so playful at her age and doesn't care about dividing the money. I'd better follow the rules of our Xu family and just sit next to her." After that, she sat down on the seat next to her.

The second uncle was just being polite and when he saw the eldest aunt sitting down, he didn't say anything else and went back to arrange related matters.

Participating in this dividend distribution meeting is a time-consuming and energy-consuming thing. The owners or supervisors of various antique shops, porcelain shops, silk shops, wineries, dyeing shops, manors, rice shops, embroidery shops and other industries will explain the business conditions of the year one by one. Some owners explain in detail and bring two assistants who are responsible for holding the account books.

Those who understood the explanation were fine, but those who didn't yawned as they listened to the lengthy explanation. A man sitting next to the eldest aunt dozed off and almost fell off his chair. The eldest aunt noticed something strange next to her with her peripheral vision, turned her head, saw his slightly dazed expression after waking up, and unceremoniously rolled her eyes at him.

The second uncle arranged all the affairs in an orderly manner, while Mrs. Xie listened and nodded from time to time. However, the eldest aunt was fanning herself slowly with a leisurely look on her face.

Although the second uncle had been urging the shopkeepers to give a brief talk, there were many industries involved, and some industries were not limited to just one shop, so there were too many people to talk about. The meeting started early in the morning and was not over until an hour and a half after noon. The audience had not eaten lunch, and from time to time there were rumbling sounds in their stomachs, which made the scene a little awkward.

Finally, the last shopkeeper finished his explanation, and the second uncle stood up and said, "Dear clan members, the shopkeepers have introduced the business situation, the dividends that have been received in the account, and the dividends that are expected to be received by the end of the year. The dividend distribution method is still in accordance with the provisions of the ancestors. One tenth will be divided by the families of the side branches according to the different ratios of men and women, and the remaining nine tenths will be divided by the direct line according to the different ratios of men and women. Time has been delayed for a long time. If everyone has no problems, go back quickly."

After saying that, those hungry people expressed their satisfaction with the business performance and the dividends they would receive this year, and they all wanted to get up and leave.

At this time, the eldest aunt stood up, raised her voice slightly but said slowly and steadily: "Wait a minute!"