Chapter 317: How Did It Become a Division of Booty?
Jiang Yichun was choked and could not find any words to say. How did he turn out to be the one peeping? He felt completely helpless to defend himself.
"I came to talk to you, fearing that you would be unhappy. If that’s the case, I’ll leave first." After saying that, he put on his mask, and in a flash, he disappeared.
This made Dengdeng cry again loudly. Bai Ruozhu glared in the direction where he disappeared and muttered, "What a temper. Can’t I handle little issues like this by myself? He is underestimating me."
After saying that, she put on her breastfeeding clothes and started feeding Dengdeng. Dengdeng was crying pitifully and only calmed down after being fed.
"You little rascal, you’re siding with others and not pitying your own mom? Can’t you see that person bullying your mother? You ungrateful child!" Bai Ruozhu grumbled angrily.
Of course, Dengdeng couldn’t reply. He was busy breastfeeding.
After feeding Dengdeng and taking him back to sleep, Lin Ping’er pulled Bai Ruozhu again, looking worried, "Can we really do it this way? What if we can’t make money?"
Bai Ruozhu sighed helplessly, "Mother, even if this path doesn’t work out, I have other ways to make money. You have to trust me. Don’t worry too much. After a few days, as long as the customers feel that the Wang family’s wontons do not taste as good as ours, they will naturally come back. By then, it will be interesting to see how Wang family can do their business."
Lin Ping’er laughed awkwardly, "I’m not doubting you, I just can’t swallow the humiliation."
"Mother, let’s take these few days to prepare for my elder brother’s wedding. We have a lot of things to order." Bai Ruozhu suggested.
Lin Ping’er slapped her forehead, "You’re right. The amount of wine we ordered before is certainly not enough. We need to order more. I forgot to tell your brother to inform the wine seller. It doesn’t matter, I’ll go inform them myself."
"Also, go inform the butcher. Change the date, order double the quantity, and pay some advance money." Bai Ruozhu felt that her mother often worried about unnecessary things. She thought it would be better for her to be occupied with something else, so she would not feel upset, and her health would not be affected.
After Lin Ping’er left, Fusa came over and said, "Our stall is closed, and as I have nothing else to do, I came over to help."
Bai Ruozhu grabbed her hand and said with a smile, "Great. I’ve been too busy these past few days and forgot to ask you, how’s your needlework coming along?"
Fusa took out a half-finished hat from her bag and handed it to Bai Ruozhu to inspect, "Can you take a look for me?"
"Wow, you’ve really improved, your work is more delicate than mine. There’s absolutely no problem." Bai Ruozhu said with a smile.
Fusa blushed at her compliment, "I’m not as good as you say. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to do it."
"I’m serious. You can get started tonight. Let’s finish two as soon as possible and turn them in, and we can take our time with the other two." Bai Ruozhu suggested.
"Right, slow work ensures quality." Fusa had figured out Bai Ruozhu’s goals. Everyday items could be simple and practical, but customized orders, which are highly priced, must be detailed and well-made. According to Bai Ruozhu, that’s how you provide the best service.
Soon after Bai Zehao came back from Fengye Village, Lin Ping’er also returned from the wine and meat shops. Bai Ruozhu decided to close the stall and call Fusa’s family to go to the West Courtyard.
After Bai Ruozhu and Fusa greeted everyone, they went to see Yu Hongxiu. However, Yu Hongxiu was still asleep. She specifically asked the maid not to allow Bai Ruozhu to cook that night because she was feeling much better and would prefer to have wontons instead.
Knowing that Yu Hongxiu was worried about her getting exhausted, Bai Ruozhu left her a note and went back to the West Courtyard.
That night, the Bai and Lin families all sat together for a lively dinner. After the meal, they started counting the accounts and divided the silver.
"Let’s go to my room to share the loot." Bai Ruozhu laughed as she pulled Fusa by the arm towards her room. Fusa shook her head, "Why is it loot sharing now? That scared me."
"This is the money we women made. We won’t tell the men." Bai Ruozhu was joking. Both her father and Lin Laifu were still drinking, and the dishes on the table had not been cleared.
Bai Ruozhu opened her room for her mother and Fusa. After placing Dengdeng on the bed to play, they started calculating the accounts with a paper and pen.
They subtracted the cost of the thread bought by Lin family and then combined the money earned from selling hats over the past few days, dividing it into two parts, one for the Lin family and the other for Bai family.
"Well well, we’re earning quite fast." Lin Ping’er was surprised, because the sales in normal days were handled by Bai Ruozhu and Fusa, and she didn’t know how many hats were sold. But she hadn’t expected that they had already earned quite a lot of money.
After deducting the initial investment and adding the money made when Ding’s wife bought hats at their stall, each family received more than two taels of silver.
Bai Ruozhu started laughing, "Mother, what’s so amazing about this? We haven’t even divided the money for the orders made by Ding’s wife and Li’s wife yet!"
"Ruozhu, let’s divide that money after we have received the final payment for the orders. Who splits up the money before the business is done?" Fusa started persuading her. They trusted Bai Ruozhu with the money.
Bai Ruozhu pondered and said, "What if we each take two taels from the advance first? You can take it back to show your mother-in-law. At least, let her know that we’ve earned back our initial investment and even made some extra money."
Fusa also agreed with this. Her mother-in-law was also working hard spinning threads, so she had to give her some motivation.
So the Lin family received over three taels of silver in total. Bai Ruozhu took out the pearls given by Ding’s wife, picked two of them, and wrapped them up for Fusa, saying, "Ding’s wife said she had too many pearls and gave them to us. I counted them, and there were enough. Take these two to make earrings for Niuniu."
Fusa was quick to refuse, "Niuniu is still so young. How can she wear such expensive things? We shouldn’t waste them."
Bai Ruozhu frowned at her, "Then you keep them, and give them to her when she grows up."
Seeing that Fusa was hesitating, Lin Ping’er also joined in, "They’re for the kid, not for you. Why are you being so polite? Moreover, these are given by Ding’s wife, not us. Don’t be so formal with us."
Fusa finally accepted the pearls with a blush, but she understood that if it weren’t for the Bai family’s courtesy to them, they wouldn’t be able to earn any money, let alone possess these pearls.
On the way home, Fusa told her husband about the division of money and received Pearl. Lin Laifu was also very moved and thought they had met their benefactors. The Bai family were all good people. He repeatedly told Fusa to work well on her crochet, so as not to disappoint their good intentions.
The next day, Bai Ruozhu let her parents stall as they always did, then she and her elder brother started to buy red paper and wrote the invitations. To show their sincerity of inviting everyone from the village to the banquet, they decided to deliver the invitations one by one.
They were fast working together. After finishing the invitations, they went to Back Mountain Village and delivered the invitations to each family. Soon, they heard two shocking news.