Eldest Zhou stood aside. “Mom, Jinzhou City is so lively.”

Zhulan turned around. “You don’t need to come with me; you should go out and have a look too.”

Eldest Zhou shook his head. Father said that he and Second Zhou couldn’t both go; at least one of them had to stay with Mother.

Zhulan, “…”

Once outside, Zhou Shuren’s words carried the most weight!

At lunchtime, Zhulan ordered a table full of local specialities. The flavors of Jiangnan tend to be light, and Zhulan, who loves shrimp, specially ordered shrimp. Oh yes, and crab too; although it was past crab season, they were still available.

Eldest Zhou finished eating. Although the crabs were hard to eat, they tasted really good. After eating two, he had already mastered the technique of eating crab. “Mom, when we return, let’s buy some for Dad to try!”

Zhulan said, “They’ll all be dead by the time we get home. If they’re dead, we can’t eat them.”

Second Zhou said, “Mom, what if we freeze them?”

Zhulan maintained her smile. This wasn’t modern times, where you could seal and freeze things. In ancient times, it really wouldn’t work. Zhulan said, “Didn’t you say there were dried shrimp and dried fish at the market? We can buy some of those.”

Second Zhou knew that since Mother had not brought any back, it meant it wouldn’t work. Thinking about it, it made sense—on the way back to the city, they had still been in the south for the first few days, and before the crabs could freeze, they had already died and gone bad. “Mother, we’ll listen to you.”

Zhulan finished eating. “I’ll go back and rest first. This afternoon, I’ll go out for a stroll. Second brother, you and Steward Ding go to the brokerage to inquire about the estates and land.”

Second Zhou glanced at his elder brother, suppressing his joy, and quickly agreed, “Yes.”

Although his mother hadn’t said it explicitly, she had been asking him and Steward Ding to handle things all the way home, so he had a guess in his mind. Now, having him and Steward Ding in charge of inquiring was the same as telling him directly that he would be in charge of the properties in other places in the future.

Zhulan glanced at Second Zhou. Even if she let Second Zhou take charge, she wouldn’t let him be in full charge. A too-clever person wasn’t good either. The Zhou family’s status had only changed less than a year ago, and Second Zhou urgently needed to prove himself so he wouldn’t falsify accounts. But once he adapted to his status and had properties to manage, she really didn’t trust Second Zhou. Second Zhou’s confidence was growing, and his audacity would only increase.

Especially since Second Zhou’s son was still too young, and Second Zhou was currently relying on himself, it was inevitable that he might become bold and falsify accounts.

Zhulan didn’t want to test human nature, and to avoid trouble for herself, it was better to cut it off at the root. Zhulan looked at Second Zhou’s smile, which deepened, and then glanced at Eldest Zhou, who was eating crabs with his head down, before turning around and going back to her room upstairs.

Steward Ding kept his head down. Second Master was indeed shrewd, but he was no match for Master and Mistress. He had realized in the past six months that it was best not to play tricks in front of Master and Mistress. Don’t underestimate First Master just because he wasn’t shrewd; Master and Mistress genuinely liked him.

He had experienced the resale process and didn’t want to go through the trouble again. He just wanted to do his job well. Anyway, as long as he worked diligently and obediently, Mistress treated them servants well.

Moreover, he was very satisfied with his current situation. In Lizhou City, who didn’t call him Master Ding!

Eldest Zhou saw Second Zhou glancing at him, but he wasn’t jealous at all. He was even afraid that the properties in other places would fall into his hands. After thinking it through, he just wanted to stay with his parents and be a dutiful son. He really didn’t want anything else.

In the afternoon, after resting, Zhulan took Eldest Zhou and Liu Ya shopping. Having rarely come to the South, Zhulan had long been interested in the embroidery of Jiangnan, especially double-sided embroidery.

Zhulan had brought 10,000 taels of silver with her this time. When the accounts were divided initially, Zhulan had kept 7,000 taels, and she brought it all with her. The Zhou family’s accounts initially showed 5,600 taels, but after expenses, 1,800 taels remained. They only received more money after selling watermelons and apples, so after deducting expenses, the accounts showed a total of 5,000 taels. Zhulan brought 3,000 taels with her, leaving 2,000 taels at home.

Zhulan had decided to buy two estates, one in her name and the other in Zhou Shuren’s. At the embroidery workshop, Zhulan gazed longingly at the double-sided embroidered screens, her eyes filled with envy. However, the prices were exorbitant; a floor-length, double-sided embroidered screen cost over a thousand taels, and the screens Zhulan liked started at a hundred taels each.

Despite the financial strain, Zhulan bought two small screens, some fans, and handkerchiefs, spending over three hundred taels of silver at the embroidery shop.

Eldest Zhou gasped repeatedly, amazed at the sheer amount of money involved. “Mother, did we buy too much?”

Zhulan replied, “Not much. I’ve only saved for your jiejie’s and meimei’s dowries; I haven’t saved for Yu Shuang and Yu Lu yet!”

Zhulan no longer kept things from Eldest Zhou; she would tell him whenever she had the chance. Telling him now was a direct way of informing him that she had saved for Xue Mei’s dowry. Although she didn’t need to tell her sons, it showed her trust in Eldest Zhou.

Eldest Zhou’s first reaction upon hearing this news was to grin foolishly. His parents were strict with him and his siblings, but they still cared about them. Even his eldest sister’s wedding had a dowry from his mother. His second thought was that he also had a daughter, and he couldn’t rely on his parents for her wedding. He and Li Shi needed to prepare something, too. After a quick calculation, he realized they only had enough money to buy a few screens for their daughter.

Zhulan then went to a fabric shop and bought some cloth, followed by a grain shop where she bought lotus seeds, coix seeds¹, and other items.

Everything bought was delivered to the inn, sealed and packed, ready to be taken home.

As for dried fish and shrimp, they could buy those later.

Zhulan returned to the inn, and Second Zhou and Steward Ding also returned. Zhulan sat down to rest for a while before asking, “Did you find out?”

Second Zhou replied, “There are estates, but none of them are very large. The biggest is less than two hundred mu, and the smaller ones are about one hundred mu. And there aren’t any continuous plots of land—they’re all scattered, just a few mu here and a few mu there.”

Eldest Zhou asked, “Information from the brokers is usually shared. Did you ask about the nearby counties?”

Second Zhou nodded. “I did. What I’ve learned is the general situation of estates across Jinzhou. As for the land, that’s only the situation around Jinzhou City.”

“Did you ask about the price?” Zhulan asked.

Second Zhou drew in a breath. “Mother, land in the south is more expensive than in the north because it can be planted twice a year. Dry fields cost ten taels of silver per mu, and paddy fields fourteen taels per mu. An estate comes with the main residence for the owner and houses built for tenant farmers. The largest estates have two hundred mu of land, counting the residence and everything; that’s about two thousand three hundred taels. The smallest estates have one hundred mu, about one thousand three hundred taels.”

What Zhulan wanted to buy were large estates starting from four hundred mu. The bigger the estate, the more stable the returns; smaller estates, on the contrary, had more fluctuation in income.

Zhulan did not want to go further south. The farther south one went, the denser the population became, and estates would only get smaller. Of course, there were some remote areas in the south, but the roads were difficult—transport alone would be troublesome after buying. It was better to stay in Jinzhou City, where transportation was convenient, and the land was fertile.

As for large estates in the future, they would be bought in the north—after all, the population there was sparse.

Second Zhou asked, “Mother, shall we go take a look tomorrow?”

Zhulan replied, “Yes, you go and arrange with the broker. We’ll go first thing tomorrow morning. We don’t need to look at the smaller estates; let’s look at a few of the larger estates, each about two hundred acres.”

Second Zhou responded, “Okay!”

Zhulan thought to herself, although reality differed from expectations, it would be good if she could still buy some.

(End of Chapter)

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Footnote

1.