Divorce with three kids? I'll build a house and eat meat, driving my in-laws crazy.

Chapter 139 With your mother's back, don't be a coward or afraid!
He Dajiao went back, picked up a hoe, and dug a large opening in the ditch.

That door faces Li Ruru's backyard.

"You damned woman, it's all your fault that my cow tripped and broke its hoof."

He Dajiao dug and cursed at the same time, full of energy.

In no time, he had completely destroyed the canal.

Now, this ditch is completely useless for drainage, and it even allows water to flow into Li Ruru's backyard.

Li Ruru's whole family was happily eating, completely unaware of He Dajiao's actions.

After the meal, everyone gathered together to discuss how to make good use of the 1800 taels.

Yinyin spoke first: "Mom, let's sell candied hawthorns. We can afford the hawthorns and sugar. The ones sold on the street only have 8 hawthorns on a skewer, but we can make 10 or 12 skewers."

Li Ruru listened with great interest: "That's a good idea."

Encouraged, Yinyin continued, "Also, hawthorns are for children, but they're too big and can choke if you eat them, so you can flatten them and sell them."

Sprinkle some black sesame seeds or sunflower seeds on top, and it will definitely taste better.

Li Ruru's eyes lit up; she had eaten flattened candied hawthorns before.

I never expected that Yin Yin would have such advanced thinking at such a young age. It's amazing!

"Yinyin is so smart. I'll give you 20 taels of silver as start-up capital. You can try it out, just think of it as... starting a business and earning your first pot of gold."

The word "entrepreneurship" sounds modern, but Yinyin understood the concept of earning her first pot of gold. She nodded like a chick pecking at rice: "Mom, just you wait, the candied hawthorns I make will definitely be the biggest and most delicious."

Xiao Yishan was the most supportive. He pinched her rosy cheeks and said, "Once Yinyin finishes making them, your brother will come to buy them from you every day."

"It's a deal then." Yinyin took Xiao Yishan's hand, their hands, big and small, fair and dark, solemnly signing a small promise.

"Chaochao, Peipei, what are your thoughts?" Li Ruru asked.

Chaochao lowered her head and thought for a moment, then looked up and whispered, "Let's keep the money for pocket money and deposit the rest in a money exchange."

She felt that earning interest was the safest option, as money could generate more money and then generate even more money, making it more reliable than a hen laying eggs.

Before Li Ruru could say anything, Chu Xiu frowned and said, "Saving money in a bank isn't necessarily a safe bet."

"Huh? That's a money exchange." Chaochao didn't understand. In her mind, money exchanges had the same authority as government offices.

They're running a big business; they wouldn't cheat ordinary people out of their small change.

What she didn't understand, Chu Xiu understood very well. He said, "First of all, money houses are affected by many external factors, which can lead to their inability to make payments. For example, theft, famine, war, etc."

At that point, not only will you not be able to withdraw your funds at any time, but you might not even be able to get your principal back.

Seeing that everyone was listening attentively, Chu Xiu continued, "Secondly, money shops will also offer low interest rates but charge high deductions. They will create various pretexts to increase storage fees, management fees, and so on. As a result, the interest we receive in a year may not even be enough to cover these fees."

Moreover, these deducted items are not disclosed in detail, but are hidden in complex contract terms.

Ordinary people don't think that much, and few have the patience to read through those thick contract terms. When the other party produces evidence, ordinary people can only suffer in silence.

"Is there anything else?" Li Ruru asked eagerly.

"Some money changers will even forge or alter the contents of deposit certificates. Adding a dot or omitting a stroke will change the amount."

"Huh? But don't we keep a copy of the deposit slip ourselves?" Chaochao asked. She had never deposited money before, only seen people in the county town carrying a piece of paper when they came out of a money exchange.

That must be a deposit certificate. Like a deed, both parties should have a copy.

Li Ruru: "Tampering with the content is actually not difficult. It can be done with clever writing techniques, and there are also some chemicals that can make the words disappear."

One thousand taels can become ten taels, and 3% interest can become 2%—anything is possible.

Chaochao stuck out her tongue: "There are so many twists and turns in the world of money shops."

She didn't know that people who run money shops have been studying these intricacies for generations. Everyone looked at Chu Xiu with admiration, never expecting him to know so much.

Chu Xiu scratched his head sheepishly, "I learned all of this from my dad. He's a businessman, you know."

His father was a businessman, and he was the son of a businessman, so naturally he knew these things.

But his father was the county magistrate, and several money shop owners in Pingchuan County were arrested by his father.

He only learned a little about these cases after hearing about them from his father.

Seeing that the children were listening attentively, Li Ruru added, "Some money shop owners will embezzle funds to lend money at high interest rates, buy land, etc., and some will even abscond with the money."

There are many businessmen in China who abscond with money. Alas, no matter the dynasty, there are always some people who don't know how to behave.

After being analyzed by her mother and Chu Xiu, Chaochao blushed and lowered her head.

She was too naive and made too many assumptions.

Chu Xiu comforted him, "Don't think too much about it. You like reading, so why not open a bookstore and sell books at the same time? That would be great."

He thought that women could just earn a little money to make a living and didn't need to work so hard in front of others.

But then he remembered that his godmother was always busy outside, so he kept quiet.

Chaochao looked up incredulously and asked, "You... how did you know?"

How did he know she wanted to open a bookstore? She hadn't even told her mother about it.

Chu Xiu shrugged and said, "Turning your hobby into a way to make money is something anyone would do."

The others stared at Chu Xiu with blank expressions; they had no idea.

They only knew that Chaochao liked to read, but they didn't know that she actually wanted to open a bookstore.

Li Ruru said boldly to Chaochao, "I'll give you 200 taels of silver. Do whatever you want. If you lose money or make a mistake, I'll cover for you. Don't be a coward or afraid!"

Chao Chao is honest, conservative in his thinking, timid, and always thinks things through before acting.

Li Ruru encouraged, "Mom has money, our family is not short of money."

Chaochao's eyes were a little moist, and she nodded silently, "Mm."

Since her mother has said so and given her a large sum of money, she has to show some attitude and achieve something.

"What kind of business are you two thinking of starting?" Li Ruru asked Xiao Yishan and Xiao Wu.

Xiao Wu scratched his head, "I...I want to open a martial arts school, is that okay?"

"Fine my foot! You've got some nerve. What do you want? Abandon me? And you dare ask your godmother for money? I'll break your legs!" Chu Xiu roared in fury.

Li Ruru watched the two bickering with amusement. The irritable young master was still very irritable today, and the servant who had been bullied got beaten up again.

However, this hot-tempered young master is usually very amiable to everyone and polite to the villagers, but he is very irritable towards Xiao Wu.

Ah, what's that saying? You can only be like a child and relax to be yourself in front of the person you love.

Indeed, they are truly in love.

While shipping the couple, Li Ruru didn't forget to ask her second daughter, "Peipei, what are your thoughts?"

Peipei said solemnly, "Mom, I think we should expand the scale of konjac tofu production. Right now, only Grandma Pan and Third Grandma's family are making konjac tofu with us. If Grandpa Village Head joins in, or if the whole village makes it together, wouldn't we make a fortune?"

"Even if we give away 90% of the profits, 10% will be enough for us to live on."

We don't have any farmland, right? Once we make money, we can buy a large tract of land and lease several hills. Konjac can be grown, can't it?
We'll set up a large workshop, produce and sell our own konjac tofu, so people in the surrounding counties can enjoy it.

"Mom, what do you think?" Peipei asked, feeling uncertain, as everyone was looking at her and Li Ruru remained silent.

(End of this chapter)