After returning home, Chen Liejiu moved the things he bought for Xu Huaiqian into the house, then went to the Chen clan elders to distribute money and to the village chief to discuss whole village growing ginger.
Distributing money was simple. All the buyers were noble families from the capital buying charcoal at thirty taels per cartload—there was no reason for them to owe money; all paid in cash.
After deducting the commercial tax for Magistrate Wu and other miscellaneous expenses, from 1,500 cartloads of imitation silver frost charcoal—since Chen Liejiu raised the price to thirty taels per cartload—each of the 300 households in the Chen clan received fifty taels of silver.
Not thirty taels, but fifty taels!
A full fifty taels of silver delighted the clan members. Many families who had been so poor they had to sell children to survive immediately knelt to thank Chen Liejiu.
With this money, how could they worry about making ends meet?
"Don't thank me; thank my husband." Chen Liejiu avoided their gestures and gave credit to Xu Huaiqian. "Without the idea he gave me, we wouldn't have this life today."
Everyone was struck—the imitation silver frost charcoal was Xu Huaiqian's idea. But since Xu Huaiqian didn't go out or work the fields, they couldn't just go to his house to kowtow and thank him.
Some clansmen, thinking of his poor health, had an idea: they heard that keeping a longevity tablet at home could extend life and protect against illness and disaster.
They didn't know if it worked, but it couldn't hurt to try.
So, Xu Huaiqian, a son-in-law with no official position, ended up with longevity tablets venerated by the Chen clan in Mishan County, all wishing him peace and health to a hundred years.
The village chief of Xinghua was also from the Chen clan. When Chen Liejiu finished distributing money and found him to gather the villagers to discuss growing ginger, the whole village went crazy!
There was such good news?!
"This is my husband's generosity—he couldn't bear to see fellow villagers suffer and willingly gave up his own profit. He has poor health and doesn't want to worry about such matters. Those willing to grow ginger, register with the village chief. Each household gets only two fen of land. It won't interfere with your farming, and you can still earn money. If you want to grow more, you can, but find your own buyers. Anyway, next November, we'll only collect three hundred catties from each household."
Xinghua Village had just over a hundred households. Each household growing two fen of land—about the size of a few vegetable rows—could earn around thirty taels of silver by harvest time. This amount was a bit less than what the charcoal-burning Chen clansmen made, but it was still very good.
The villagers eagerly agreed: "We'll grow it, we'll grow it!"
"But let's be clear: if you agree to grow it, you must not disturb my husband afterward. His health is poor. If anything happens to him, I will demand a life in return!" Chen Liejiu's gaze swept fiercely over the villagers of Xinghua. If Xu Huaiqian hadn't been clever enough to lock up and leave immediately after selling the ginger, he didn't dare imagine what would have awaited him upon returning home.
"We won't disturb him, we won't disturb him, absolutely not!" People are like this: whoever brings them benefits becomes their savior. Hearing Chen Liejiu's words, they all promised they would never bother Xu Huaiqian. They even said that if anyone spoke ill of Xu Huaiqian, they would rush over and tear their mouth apart.
Especially...
The villagers looked at the Xu family, who had always bullied Xu Huaiqian.
Grandpa Xu and the others trembled under the villagers' fierce stares. What made them even more fearful was that this time, the whole village was growing ginger, but the Xu family was excluded.
Even the Chen Gui family, who had hit Little Sister, received two fen of land—but the Xu family got nothing.
The thought that in a year, every household in Xinghua would be wealthy except the Xu family, the poorest of all, made Grandpa Xu so angry he fainted on the spot. Back in the day, he was the first in the village to have a stone house—a wealthy family!
Regardless of the villagers' excitement or the Xu family's anger, Xu Huaiqian took his younger siblings home and happily opened the box of things Chen Liejiu had bought for him.
Beautiful and exquisite silks and satins that dazzled the eye, and fragrant ointments completely free of lead or mercury.
Underneath these were even fine jade pendants, crowns, and hairpins—all clearly bought for him.
But where was the money?
These things were nice but not essential. What he most wanted to see was how much his wife had actually earned. But after digging through a pile of luxurious items, he found no silver notes. Had she spent it all?
That couldn't be! He was entitled to a thirty percent share—that should be several thousand taels. No matter how expensive these things were, they couldn't have used it all up, right?
"What's this?" While he hadn't found it, Chen Xiaomei discovered something in a worn cloth bundle among Chen Liejiu's belongings. Inside were some of Chen Liejiu's clothes and a stack of silver notes, but in one of the garments, there was a clearly bulging, hard spot. She wanted to take it out and see.
Xu Huaiqian quickly took the clothes from her, felt it, and immediately knew it was his wife's hidden private savings. He covered for her: "It's nothing, just something to weigh down the clothes. Don't be curious about that—come count the silver notes instead."
Really, if you're going to hide private savings, at least hide some silver notes. These were just a few silver fragments—less than ten taels—hidden in clothing. Did she think she could hide it from him?
Forget it—he'd save face for his wife.