There were a lot of things to deal with when entering the workshop. Zhou Banxia had no time to pay attention to what the two brothers-in-law were chatting about. On the way to the accounting office first, he asked Gu Dachang if he could arrange for the general manager.
The position of chief steward was assigned to Chang Qing after she and Gu Wenxuan discussed it. In short, Gu Dachang and other stewards could come to him to make decisions on matters they were unsure about.
Don’t be suspicious of people you use, and don’t use people you are suspicious of.
She and Gu Wenxuan hoped that Chang Qing and his wife would help train a group of loyal and reliable personnel to prevent slaves from bullying their masters one day, or even slaves joining forces to betray their masters.
Holding a bond of sale does not mean 100% safety. There have been incidents in history where slaves joined forces to kill their master's family to steal money and food.
Just like the reason why her uncle and aunt insisted on Uncle Chang Qing and his wife returning to Qinghe Village with her first, in addition to asking her to accept the dowry, the most important thing was that she bought a lot of servants, and they were worried that she would be too soft-hearted to suppress her servants.
Perhaps the character was too perfect. This worry was not limited to her uncle and aunt. Even Mrs. Qian mentioned in her letters several times that kindness cannot control soldiers and righteousness cannot control wealth.
When he came back yesterday evening and was too late to come to the workshop, Zhou Banxia had to let Gu Dachang settle the people first. It was not surprising to hear what arrangements he had made in his reply.
In terms of ability to do things, Gu Dachang is undoubtedly the number one person under her.
Basically, she just said something to him and he knew how to arrange it.
She didn't even say which courtyard of the workshop she wanted the chief steward to stay in. She just said that the chief steward and his wife were the stewards left to her by her master, and he understood.
After cleaning things up last night, I sent the roster over early in the morning, and promptly mentioned the Zhou Gu family's houses and the situation in the village.
However, if you listen carefully, you will find that he did not mention to them that during her absence, her father-in-law and mother-in-law were in charge of the accounting department.
Then he heard Gu Dachang mention that the general steward Chang Qing and Gu Dali and other guards had entered the back mountain. Her Aunt Mo Lan was still behind looking at the roster and sorting out the boxes. Zhou Banxia didn't want to disturb them.
I also know that Uncle Chang Qing and Aunt Mo Lan definitely don’t want to rest for two days to calm down before talking.
But I still got up early.
One of them went to the back mountain in person to see how the martial arts hired by her couple trained the escort team, while the other was busy sorting out the dowry account book and selecting people based on the list.
It happened that she arrived in front of the accounting office at this time, and Zhou Banxia had no intention of sending someone to inform her couple, so as not to worry about their plans and she would be busy.
The accounting department is said to be run by her father-in-law and mother-in-law. In fact, both father-in-law and mother-in-law are very principled owners.
Public is public, private is private. Apart from the income and expenses of the workshop and the manor behind, nothing has been touched so far, and even worse, the money has been subsidized.
Zhou Banxia didn't need to look through the account books in detail. When Gu Wenxuan came in, she heard that Gu Dachang had already reported that the news team came to the door. Since the day her father-in-law and mother-in-law had spent hundreds of silver taels.
One parent is in and the other is out. She is ashamed to speak her conscience. She doesn't know how much her parents-in-law have to do to care for her.
After Gu Dachang quit, when Zhou Banxia mentioned this issue, Gu Wenxuan shook his head in amusement, "Not much.
If my guess is correct, the sum of the money they earned from playing Luo Zi would not exceed a hundred taels of silver at most.
This is thanks to the low cost of supplies in the village. When we ran the running mat, it was still a partnership between four families. ”
Zhou Banxia guessed the same.
In fact, she really didn't disappoint her father. There was actually a thousand taels of cash at home, but these thousand taels of cash were left by her parents-in-law before she went out.
But every time I come back from a trip, the cash, which has ranged from five hundred taels to one thousand taels, has not even been touched. It is still in the same place.
"It's okay, my sister-in-law won't care even if she finds out. She knows you won't let your parents suffer. Open it first and see how much is saved inside." People in the north usually like to dig a cellar to hide things, but the accounting room is an inner room for rest. It's a darkroom with a wall between rooms, and the mechanism is on the ancient shelf against the wall.
Remove two of the ornaments, take off the middle plywood, put a magnet on it, and fiddle with it a few more times, and a small darkroom door that can allow one person to enter and exit is revealed on one side of the shelf.
Naturally, the room for one person to enter and exit was limited to Zhou Banxia, who was less than 1.65 meters tall and weighed less than 100 pounds. When it was Gu Wenxuan's turn, he had to bend down and step sideways in and out.
Inside the darkroom, as Liu said, there were several small wooden boxes placed on top of the original wooden box on the left hand side after entering. When opened, there were account books and banknotes.
The few small wooden boxes placed in the corner of the wooden box on the right are all filled with gold ingots and gold leaves. The remaining ten large wooden boxes are already filled with cash.
Zhou Banxia thought to herself that it was no wonder that whether it was her mother-in-law or her father-in-law, they told her again and again to leave the house alone and go to the workshop this morning.
"It's really not easy. I'm definitely worried about having to go to the county town to redeem my bank account without telling anyone, and I'm also worried that it's not safe to hide here."
Gu Wenxuan felt the same way. He didn't want to coax his wife into saying it was okay against her will. Besides, it was airtight inside, so he quickly motioned for her to put away these gold and silver ledgers.
"It really doesn't matter?"
Gu Wenxuan knew that Zhou Banxia was referring to whether putting things away like this would make his parents suspicious so quickly, and he never heard of anyone mentioning carrying things to the back yard.
"Dare I make fun of you?"
Too.
My father-in-law and mother-in-law also told them not to tell them which cellar and secret room they hid in once their things were moved. Anyone who said something was unfilial would make it difficult for them to sleep well.
As smart as they were, they wouldn't ask anyone to find out whether her couple was moving anything or where they were today.
If asked, wouldn't it be more risky to reveal that their old son and the younger couple also hid a fortune.
If that was the case, why would the couple even hide their eldest son, saying that all the money she earned went into the manor behind.
Thinking of this, Zhou Banxia quickly got started.
"I have to follow our parents' wishes. We have to put aside the manor and start school in the past few months. There is only so much left. It is best not to spend it and keep it for later."
"Understood."
Her father had almost the same idea. He was afraid that her hands would be too loose and unable to hide things, so he simply asked his old son to supervise and save some of it anyway.
It's a huge injustice. She has hidden a lot of what should be saved and hidden, okay? There is only so much gold and silver here.
Fifty taels of silver ingots, seven boxes of fifteen thousand taels; three boxes of ten taels of silver ingots, worth six thousand taels; gold ingots and gold leaves, worth ten thousand taels of silver, totaling thirty-one thousand taels of silver.
However, it cannot be compared with the gold and silver piled up in the villa, but with such a sum of 31,100 taels of silver as a backup, there is really no need to worry about her hands being too loose.
In terms of current goods, as long as there is no sharp increase in food prices during the disaster years, with thirty thousand taels of silver, not to mention anything else, the two generations of my son will have no worries about food and clothing.
However, there are obviously not only banknotes, but also cash in the account outside. Why not more and less? There just happens to be a fraction of a thousand taels of silver here?
Gu Wenxuan: "..." (End of Chapter)