Whether it works or not, Lu Yang will let him give it a try.
When it comes to these matters, Xie Yan is a bit of an intellectual. Only when a person has vitality and spirit can they live a good life.
It’s just a try. Whether it makes money or not, we’ll see. Anyway, they still have a shop.
He looked at Zhao Peilan: “Mother, I don’t know many characters, and I didn’t know about these things before. What do you think?”
She recalled for a moment. Since Xie Yan’s father passed away, she had suffered a series of major setbacks, trapped in self-justification and unable to move on, unable to understand. When asked a question, she couldn’t skip over the causes of one, two, and three; she had to start from the beginning to explain the results of four, five, and six.
She said, “When Xie Yan’s father was studying, he had to write essays every day. From the day I married him, I never saw him put down his pen. I remember him saying that these essays all looked the same, but there were many subtleties involved. So even when the format was set, there were still so many poorly written essays and words.
“Later, he started teaching, instructing young scholars on how to write essays, explaining the first paragraph, second paragraph, third paragraph… He said a lot, but I didn’t understand. At the time, I wasn’t very literate, and he was too busy to teach me much. I only remember that there was a period when he stopped teaching, saying that he couldn’t even write his own essays well, so teaching would be misleading the students.
“He stayed home for months, telling me he was researching how to write articles. Ayan’s idea should be feasible. His father did it before, and later used it for teaching. The headmaster of that private school was a juren, who praised it and even increased his father’s monthly salary.”
Then it can be done.
Lu Yang also served her some food: “Mother, Ayan is as talented as his father and can also earn money to live a good life in the county.”
Zhao Peilan smiled and agreed, “He has been talented in his studies since he was a child. His father used to teach him with a stern face, always saying there were shortcomings, but in front of me, he only praised him.”
Lu Yang listened, thought for a moment, and decided not to follow this example.
They counted the copper coins every day when they returned home and recorded the amounts.
Today they closed early, but Wu Ping was generous. He came by to support the business and bought three baskets of buns, which was sixty buns.
He said he wanted to treat the cloth shop clerks to a meal. It was the end of the year, and they were rushing to finish a batch of goods. With some oil in their bellies, the clerks would have more energy.
They didn’t take any dried goods, as their family didn’t lack such items, and buying them would have been too deliberate.
Xie Yan said, “I’ll take some time to make a big ledger, something more formal, to record all the daily income and expenses. We’ll calculate the accounts every month, reconcile them quarterly, check them again at the end of the first half of the year, and then again at the end of the year.”
Lu Yang felt embarrassed upon hearing this: “Such a small shop, such a big ledger—people will laugh at us if they see it.”
Xie Yan still remembered the day the shop opened. Lu Yang walked back and forth on the street, just to look at the arrangement in front of the shop, adjusting it several times inside and out. After finishing, he was reluctant to go inside, sitting on the steps outside the door, his eyes fixed on the passersby on the street, his eyes particularly bright.
He felt that although their shop was small, it was worth using a large ledger. The daily income and expenditure details were small amounts, and most days, like today, didn’t even amount to a tael of silver. But when they opened it and looked inside, both of them were happy.
He was busy, so Lu Yang let him be.
After counting the money, Lu Yang counted the total amount of silver in the bamboo basket again.
He would take it to the shop tomorrow and go next door to find Mr. Ding to exchange it for silver.
Copper coins were heavy, and it was inconvenient for them to carry around. Exchanging them for silver was more practical.
Now they had five and a half taels of silver. They didn’t need to buy supplies for a while, and they had enough to make dumplings for the rest of the year. With daily income, they would soon have enough to pay for the tuition. That’s great.
Xie Yan still has a little left. He has three and a half taels of silver from copying books and his monthly allowance, but he spent one tael and three cash on medical expenses. One tael was for medicine, and three cash was for three consultations. Two of those times were when Lu Yang felt unwell after taking the medicine, and Xie Yan was so worried that he went out of his way to spend the money.
Xie Yan refused to give him the money, saying he needed to save it for medicine and medical expenses.
Lu Yang muttered a few words to him, but his heart was soft, so he didn’t insist.
After meeting his younger brother last time, he briefly mentioned the Chen family to Xie Yan.
He didn’t talk about the hardships of the past, only saying that the Chen family was his foster parents’ family. How are they doing now?
Lu Yang counted the copper coins, checked that Xie Yan had recorded the accounts correctly, took a look at the ledger, and didn’t mention Chen Lao Ye’s workshop for the time being.
In any case, he would save up enough for Xie Yan’s tuition first.
Xie Yan mentioned again that Wu Ping had asked him to go to school and that he didn’t need tuition.
“You can save a lot of money, so don’t worry.”
Lu Yang agreed, but he still wanted to save money.
After Xie Yan enrolled in school, he wouldn’t touch that tuition money either.
Xie Yan had dropped out before, so he wanted to set aside some silver just in case.
He would set aside a few taels of silver as a backup, then save money later to rent a small courtyard, separate his workplace from home, and they could have a child.
As he placed the copper coins into the bamboo basket, Xie Yan suddenly kissed him on the cheek.
This truly startled Lu Yang, who abruptly raised his eyes and asked, “What are you doing?”
Xie Yan kissed him again and said, “I saw your face turn red, so I wanted to kiss you.”
Lu Yang touched his face and asked, “Is it red? It must be from the heat.”
Xie Yan laughed: “Yang Ge, you’re so… so…”
Such a fine scholar, suddenly at a loss for words.
Lu Yang waited for him to speak, but when he couldn’t say anything, the more he stammered, the more Lu Yang wanted to know. After Xie Yan stammered for a while, Lu Yang frowned: “Did you not prepare your words well?”
Xie Yan had something good to say. He said: “You looked so beautiful just now.”
Lu Yang scolded him for being smooth-talking: “It’s not like you’ve never seen me before. You’re only complimenting me on my beauty today, so it’s obviously not sincere.”
Xie Yan was easily manipulated by him. As soon as he heard that, he grew anxious, and in his anxiety, he wanted to circle around him.
When Lu Yang looked to the left, he crouched on the left. When Lu Yang looked to the right, he crouched on the right.
Lu Yang rolled her eyes, and he even stood up to look down at her.
This angle was really unflattering, and it was late at night, so it was a bit scary.
Lu Yang slapped him, “You idiot. You scared me.”
Xie Yan saw him smile and followed suit, “You scared me.”
Outside, Zhao Peilan finished tidying up the kitchen and heated up the medicinal soup, intending to ask Lu Yang to drink it. Hearing the two of them laughing outside, she felt too shy to go in. After waiting for a while, they were still giggling endlessly, and she felt happy inside. She wiped the corners of her eyes. If the medicinal soup hadn’t been getting cold, she wouldn’t have gone to disturb them.
The medicine was brought to the table, and Xie Yan hurried to prepare the sugar water.
Lu Yang drank a bowl of bitter medicine with half a bowl of sugar water. The sugar water was usually left over, and Xie Yan would drink the rest to avoid wasting it.
After drinking all that liquid, he couldn’t even squat down; his stomach felt so full he wanted to vomit.
Xie Yan led him around the house in circles to aid digestion, and the family chatted for a while in the main hall.
Xie Yan had studied painting before, and he wanted to draw a door god to hang on New Year’s Eve, so that demons and spirits would dare not enter and cause trouble.
At the Lu Jia Tun intersection, he had clearly said he wasn’t afraid of ghosts and spirits. Now he believed it again.
He wanted the new year to start off well.
Lu Liu and Li Feng returned to Li Village, first going to the new village to discuss the procurement situation with Chen Guizhi and staying for dinner.
