Chapter 30: Starting Training Today
“I’ve asked Uncle Zhang. Red bricks are cheaper than green bricks. Building five red brick rooms would cost at least forty taels of silver. Adding the kang base, heated wall, stove… all sorts of miscellaneous things would probably come to fifty taels. Including new furniture, it would be over sixty taels.”
“Not just that,” Shang Wan said. “We have five people. Regardless of room size, we need five bedrooms, plus the main hall, study room, and kitchen—that’s already eight rooms, not to mention the pigsty and outhouse.”
Xiao Huan felt Shang Wan hadn’t calculated correctly. “Sis, we only need three bedrooms. Yuan Yuan is still small and has to sleep with you. Shi Tou and I can each have one—that’s three in total.”
“What about Lu Chengjing?”
Xiao Huan: “The young master will of course sleep with you.”
Husband and wife naturally sleep together.
Shang Wan: Could that pure-hearted boy Lu Chengjing, who could make her blush with one sentence, really be willing to sleep on the same kang with her?
Thinking of that certain person’s truly good-looking face, Shang Wan scratched her right cheek. “You calculate based on what I just said—figure out roughly how much money we’ll need.”
Xiao Huan calculated for a good while before saying, “Around one hundred taels or so.”
“How much money do you and Shi Tou have left?”
“You gave us a total of twenty taels of silver. House repairs cost seven taels three mace, buying wine cost one tael four mace, city entry fees and such cost fifty wen, gathering herbs used five mace of silver. We still have four taels three mace left.”
Shang Wan had twenty-five taels from the government plus three taels left from selling the wild boar. Adding them up came to less than forty taels total.
Although the Chen Family still owed her fifty taels, it still wouldn’t add up to one hundred taels.
Even if it were enough, they couldn’t spend all the money on building a new house—the family still needed living expenses.
If they lived like they did now, they could get by with just two bedrooms, which would indeed save money on building a new house. But since they were building a new house anyway, Shang Wan still wanted everyone to live comfortably.
Hunting brought in money quickly, but she’d just sold a wild boar a few days ago. She couldn’t very well carry two more to sell, right? It would attract too much attention.
Small animals didn’t fetch much price, and she couldn’t go up the mountain every day to hunt them recklessly.
Shang Wan scratched her head. She needed to quickly find a sustainable source of income for the family—something legitimate.
The little turtle crawled leisurely past her.
Shang Wan squatted down and poked it. “Aren’t you the guardian turtle? Come on, turn two ingots of gold for me to see.”
The little turtle retracted its head into its shell, ignoring this strange human.
Shang Wan picked it up and tossed it back to where it came from, clapped her hands, and shouted toward the kitchen: “Xiao Huan, Shi Tou, come to the side room for a meeting right away.”
Three cobblers together make a Zhuge Liang. With a group brainstorming session, they ought to come up with a reliable way to make money, right?
The four family members gathered in the side room, sitting on both sides of the kang table.
Shang Wan looked serious: “Building a new house costs one hundred taels of silver. We don’t have enough money at home. Everyone think together—what are some ways to make money.”
Shi Tou raised his hand. “Go to the city and carry heavy loads. Twenty wen a day.”
Shang Wan: “Too little. Next.”
Xiao Huan suggested: “Sell embroidery. I can embroider ten handkerchiefs a day. Each embroidered handkerchief sells for fifteen wen. After subtracting the cost of blank handkerchiefs, I can earn one hundred wen a day.”
Shang Wan: “Embroider that many handkerchiefs every day? What about your eyes and hands? Next.”
Shi Tou and Xiao Huan lowered their heads and racked their brains.
Shang Wan poked the distracted person beside her. “What talents… er, skills do you have?”
Lu Chengjing thought for a moment. “Calligraphy and painting.”
Shang Wan was surprised. “You can write and paint with your left hand?”
Lu Chengjing: “I can start practicing from today.”
Shang Wan’s mouth twitched. “You’d better rest, sir.”
It would take forever to practice that to a sellable level.
“Sis, the young master’s calligraphy and painting are very popular at the county school.” Shi Tou couldn’t help chiming in. “One piece can sell for several dozen taels of silver.”
Shang Wan’s eyes lit up. “Really?”
“Really. The young master studies quickly, and books cost money. When Madam wouldn’t give him any, he’d trade calligraphy and painting with the bookshop boss to save silver.” Shi Tou spilled his young master’s secrets. “When Madam fined him by docking his monthly salary, the young master would sell calligraphy and painting, and people at the county school would scramble to buy them.”
Shang Wan thought of the pile of scrolls in her space and turned to look at Lu Chengjing. “Can those calligraphy and paintings in your study room be sold for money?”
“Of course.” Shi Tou answered quickly. “Those calligraphy and paintings in the study room are the ones the young master couldn’t bear to sell—they’re painted beautifully!”
“Wait for me a bit.” Shang Wan rushed out the door, ran to the bedroom, took all the scrolls out of her space, and hugged them back to the side room.
“Eight in total.” Shang Wan plopped the scrolls on the kang table and grinned at the three of them. “Tomorrow we’ll go to the city and sell paintings at the county school gate.”
Even if each painting sold for twenty taels, eight paintings would come to at least one hundred sixty taels—more than enough for the new house.
Lu Chengjing glanced at the scrolls on the kang table, his eye corner twitching slightly. “You didn’t open them to look?”
What’s so good about paintings?
Shang Wan eyed him suspiciously and casually picked one up to unroll it.
Xiao Huan and Shi Tou both leaned over to look.
“Where’s the painting?”
The three of them were dumbfounded at the same time.
The scroll was completely blank—not even an ink dot.
The three quickly unrolled the other seven scrolls—they were all blank too.
Lu Chengjing said helplessly, “Those paintings were taken away long ago by my fa… Master Lu’s men. The scrolls in the study room are all ones I bought new.”
The three who had been excited for nothing: “…”
Seeing the three who had been thrilled moments ago now looking like frostbitten eggplants, Lu Chengjing cleared his throat lightly: “Actually, I have a way to make money.”
Shang Wan tossed the blank scroll aside and walked back to sit down.
Xiao Huan and Shi Tou also sat back in their places, perking up their ears to listen.
“I know a bit about processing medicinal herbs.” Lu Chengjing said. “We can go up the mountain to gather herbs, process them, and sell to the apothecary. As long as we don’t dig them all up, the herbs will grow back every year. It’s a sustainable source of income.”
“Besides, there are plenty of herbs on this mountain, including precious ones like ginseng. If we can find some, the money for the new house shouldn’t be a problem.”
“I can find them.” Shang Wan spread her hands. “But herbs and weeds look the same to me. Which of you two can identify them?”
She directly ruled out Lu Chengjing. In his current state with a broken arm and lame leg, how could he possibly go up the mountain with her to gather herbs?
Xiao Huan shook her head vigorously. She could identify wild vegetables or mushrooms, but distinguishing herbs? No way.
Shi Tou opened his mouth, thought of something, and swallowed his words.
Lu Chengjing glanced at him and said to Shang Wan: “Shi Tou often gathers and decocts medicine for me. He knows all the common herbs.”
Shang Wan was somewhat surprised. The boy had this skill too?
“Young master, I’m no good.” Shi Tou waved his hands repeatedly. “Processed medicinal herbs look different from fresh ones, and I’m always careless. What if I pick the wrong ones? It would be a waste of effort.”
“Experience comes from practice. Just be careful and learn to recognize them properly, isn’t that fine?” Shang Wan encouraged him, nodding her chin toward Lu Chengjing. “His leg injury hasn’t healed yet. Do you want him to go up the mountain with me?”
