He has a spatial ability and saves three children on his escape route.

Chapter 20 Divide the money

The reason Wen Yunhong could confidently tell Hu Zi that the silver ingot he held was worth five taels of silver was because when Wen Yuxia sold the wild goat, Manager He had also given her a five-tael silver ingot.

Tiger stared wide-eyed in surprise at the silver ingot in his hand and stammered, "Fifty strings of copper coins, one string of copper coins has one hundred coins, one copper coin can buy one egg, one hundred copper coins can buy one hundred eggs, how many eggs can fifty strings of copper coins buy?"

Unable to calculate it, Tiger looked anxiously to his mother, Madam Du, for help.

Mrs. Du shook her head with a wry smile: "Don't ask me, I don't know either. Who would spend 50 strings of copper coins to buy eggs?"

“I know, 50 strings of copper coins can buy 5 eggs,” Wen Yuxia said crisply.

"5? How long would that take?" Tiger stuck out his tongue mischievously.

After dinner, Wen Yuxia said, "We got a total of 367 taels and 5 copper coins from selling the sika deer and antlers... We still have 325 taels and 5 copper coins left. Since there are nine of us going up the mountain, we will divide it into nine portions, with each person receiving 36 taels of silver plus a bonus."

Before Wen Yuxia could finish speaking, Wang Erzhu interrupted her: "Wait, Daya, you've already bought us a lot of things. You can keep the money for yourself, don't share it."

“The hunting of the sika deer was all your doing. The things you bought for the family have already exceeded my expectations for compensation for your hard work. I can’t give you any more money,” Wang Dazhu said with a serious face.

The other pillars also agreed that the remaining silver should belong to Wen Yuxia alone.

Wang Ping smiled and nodded. It was good that his sons weren't greedy. He said to Wen Yuxia, "Didn't you plan to send Hong'er to school? Keep this money for yourself. Education costs a lot of money."

Wang Wu remained silent, her heart filled with conflict. The old man and his sons were right not to accept their granddaughter's money, but the money was crucial for her family.

Her sons' marriages depended on this sum of money; she wasn't greedy, she didn't want eight portions, just one.

To marry a wife, the dowry plus the banquet cost eight taels of silver. 36 taels of silver can marry four wives, so the second, third, fourth, and fifth sons won't have to remain bachelors.

Wen Yuxia shook her head and said, "Those who see it should get a share. Since we all went up the mountain together, we should all share the money. I've already deducted the cost of the goods from the total amount. The rest can be divided however we see fit."

After saying that, he took three ten-tael and one five-tael silver ingots from the table, then took 167 copper coins and said to Wang Wushi, "Grandma, give me another tael of silver, and you can keep the rest for my uncles."

To be honest, dividing it into nine parts was a huge loss for her, but all eight of her uncles wanted to go with her, so she couldn't refuse. Hong'er wanted to go, but Wang Wu Shi refused.

“Da Ya, Grandma doesn’t feel at ease keeping this money. How about you take eight shares and give Grandma one?” The old man and his sons had no intention of dividing the money, so taking advantage of Wen Yuxia’s words, Wang Wushi spoke her mind.

Wang Ping glared at Wang Wu Shi with displeasure, but thinking of the seven bachelors in his family, he lowered his head, feeling weak and unconvinced.

Wang Dazhu thought his mother's idea was excellent; dividing 36 taels of silver would be enough for his younger brothers to get married, so he agreed and said:

"The principle of 'seeing is believing' is true, but more work, more reward. Da Ya contributed the most, so I agree with Mother's opinion. We'll take one share, and the rest will go to Da Ya."

Wen Yuxia scanned everyone in the room, including her aunt, Madam Du, and realized that they truly only wanted one share. So she said softly, "Let's split it in two. I'll take one share, and Grandma will take one share. That's it, no arguments allowed."

He deftly collected the 160 taels of silver, pushed another 160 taels of silver in front of Wang Wushi, and then pointed to the small silver ingot and five strings of copper coins on the table, saying, "The silver ingot is for Grandpa, and the five strings of copper coins are for my uncles' pocket money."

A smile spread across Wang Ping's wrinkled face; he liked his granddaughter's generous nature.

Wang Dazhu asked with a simple smile, "Mother, are you really going to give us the copper coins?"

Madam Wang stuffed the silver notes into Wen Yuxia's hand and said sternly, "You don't need that much. With 60 taels, your seven uncles' marriages will be settled. Keep the silver notes and don't refuse, or your grandmother will be angry."

Turning to Wang Dazhu with a smile, she said, "Da Ya is in charge. The copper coins are your pocket money."

Wen Yuxia generously accepted the silver notes. Nothing was safer than keeping them in her spatial storage. She could take them out when her grandmother's family needed money later; there was no need to waste time arguing back and forth.

"Grandma, tomorrow you and Auntie can help us make quilts. I'm going back the day after tomorrow, so there's no rush to make the cotton clothes."

"Why don't you stay a few more days? You've only just arrived and you have to go back already," Wang Wu said, somewhat reluctantly.

Wen Yuxia told them with a smile that the village would be organizing villagers to go up the mountain to collect wild produce in a few days, so she had to go back. She said they could come back to visit again after she finished this busy period.

"The rules in Dawang Village and Xiaowang Village should be the same, right? Each household sends two adults to collect mountain produce, which is then distributed by the village..."

Knowing that Wen Yuxia's grandparents no longer lived with them, Wang Ping wanted his sons to go and help, but he was afraid the villagers of Dawan Village would disagree.

Wen Yuxia shook her head and said, "There is no unified distribution rule in Dawan Village. The village chief divides the villagers into groups of twenty, with each group acting as its own leader. The mountain produce that a group finds belongs to that group."

The people of Dawancun are not from the same family, so of course they will not hand over their hard-earned money to the village for unified distribution. Whether they are widowed, or weak, it has nothing to do with them.

Xiaowang Village is inhabited entirely by people with the surname Wang. The elderly, weak, sick, and disabled in the village look after each other. They gather mountain produce and hand it over to the village, where the village head distributes it to each household.

Families with many members only need to send two adults to act in unison with the village, while the others can carry the mountain produce they find back to their own homes.

The next day, Wang Wu and Du divided the work, one making quilts and the other making cotton clothes, while Wen Yuxia volunteered to go to the kitchen to cook.

In the afternoon, two quilts and two sets of cotton-padded clothes were neatly arranged on the cabinet in the main room. Wen Yuxia glanced at the sky and decided to take Wen Yunhong back to Dawan Village now.

Wang Wushi reluctantly followed Wen Yuxia and her brother out of the village and headed towards Dawan Village. No matter how much Wen Yuxia tried to persuade them, she wouldn't listen and insisted on seeing them off to the entrance of Dawan Village.

"Da Ya, if you need anything, come find Grandma, okay?" Wang Wushi, worried that her two children might be bullied at home, repeatedly reminded them before leaving.

Wen Yuxia nodded obediently, agreeing to everything Wang Wushi said. After seeing Wang Wushi and her brother off, they walked home hand in hand.