"Grandpa Zhang, how do you plan to divide these two hundred taels of silver?" Lu Qing asked.
"Of course it's divided equally. Every household in the village gets the same amount," Grandpa Zhang said matter-of-factly.
Lu Qing nodded.
The saying goes, "It's not scarcity that's worrisome, but inequality." When it comes to money, the worst thing is favoritism; dividing it equally is the best approach.
"However, it's not easy to exchange these banknotes for real money," Grandpa Zhang said, somewhat troubled.
Lu Qing thought about it and understood what the old man meant.
To exchange silver notes for silver, you have to go to a silver exchange.
Silver banks are only available to county governments.
As for asking the villagers to take the silver notes to the city to exchange for silver, not only would they not dare, but even Lu Qing would not feel at ease.
The county government is so far away, and with such a large sum of money in hand, if someone with ulterior motives targets us, it's questionable whether we can return safely.
“It was my oversight, Grandpa Zhang, please give me the silver notes,” Lu Qing said. “I will go to Master Ma tomorrow to exchange the silver notes for silver.”
"That's for the best." Upon hearing this, Grandpa Zhang immediately handed the two silver notes to Lu Qing.
"I'll give you the money tomorrow."
After Grandpa Zhang left, Lu Qing returned to the house, opened a small box, and saw a dazzling silver light inside—the box was full of silver.
This box of silver was one of the gifts that Magu brought not long ago.
Last night, Magu and his men ransacked Happy Village.
It's unclear how long the Happy Village had been saving money without sending it to headquarters, but Magu and his men certainly made a fortune.
After counting, Ma Gu brought over what he believed belonged to Lu Qing.
Lu Qing couldn't refuse, so he accepted it.
Lu Qing began taking silver from the box.
Ma Guzhuang's box of silver was quite well-made, mostly consisting of silver ingots.
The large ones cost ten taels, and the small ones cost five taels.
Lu Qing took out forty five-tael °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° silver ingots directly from the box, and in one go almost took out all the small silver ingots in the box.
The next morning, Lu Qing took the silver and went to Grandpa Zhang's house.
"Grandpa Zhang," Lu Qing called out from outside the Zhang family's house.
"Aqing's here, come in quickly!"
Grandpa Zhang didn't sleep well last night, and he stayed at home this morning without going anywhere, just in case Lu Qing came looking for him and wasn't home.
It wasn't that he was greedy and coveting the money, but rather that the money was meant to be distributed by Lu Qing to everyone in the village, and it was a matter of great importance, so he dared not be careless.
Lu Qing carried the silver and followed Grandpa Zhang into the house.
"Aqing, what brings you here?"
As it happened, Grandpa Zhang and his family, including his two sons and daughters-in-law, were also home.
Everyone stood up when they saw Lu Qing come in, quite surprised.
Especially Zhang's two sons, who looked at Lu Qing with a somewhat restrained expression.
They were all there when Han Wu and his men arrived yesterday, and they witnessed firsthand how Lu Qing killed those villains.
Therefore, both of them now feel a certain unspeakable awe towards Lu Qing.
"I'm here to deliver silver," Lu Qing said with a smile.
"Give money?"
Mr. Zhang's son and daughter-in-law were puzzled.
Lu Qing poured the silver ingots from the cloth bag onto the table. The dazzling silver light made everyone in the room dazzled.
Amidst the stunned gazes of Grandpa Zhang's son and daughter-in-law, Lu Qing said, "Grandpa Zhang, I've exchanged all the silver notes for silver. Here are forty silver ingots, each worth five taels. Please distribute them to everyone."
"Alright, alright, I'll go and gather everyone together to divide the silver."
Grandpa Zhang was also shocked by the pile of silver, but having lived for decades, he had much better composure than his son and daughter-in-law, and quickly regained his senses.
"Father, what about distributing the silver?"
At this moment, Mr. Zhang's eldest son finally realized what was happening.
"Aqing said he wanted to distribute the silver notes he got from those thugs yesterday to everyone in the village. He exchanged these silver notes at Master Ma's in the market," Grandpa Zhang explained.
"So much silver, it's all been divided up?"
Mr. Zhang's sons and daughters-in-law were surprised.
"Stop talking nonsense, you two, hurry up and call everyone to the ancestral hall. Don't talk about dividing the silver yet, just say I have something to tell everyone." Old Zhang glared at them.
"Okay, I'll go now."
The two sons immediately ran out.
"Grandpa Zhang, I won't participate in the distribution of the silver; you can take charge of it."
Lu Qing then stood up, preparing to take his leave.
“How can this be? The money is yours. What kind of behavior would it be if you weren’t there?” Grandpa Zhang said hurriedly.
"It's nothing, just a little silver. Grandpa Zhang, don't be too nervous. Just distribute it normally to everyone. I have important business to attend to later, so I won't be going."
Lu Qing distributed the money hoping everyone would be happy; if he were to appear anywhere, he would inevitably face a barrage of polite thanks.
So it's best if it doesn't happen.
Seeing that Lu Qing had already said this, Grandpa Zhang could only say, "Alright, since Dr. Chen has something urgent to attend to, you can go ahead and take care of it."
Only after seeing Lu Qing leave did Grandpa Zhang sigh.
He had no doubt that Lu Qing was reluctant to go to the ancestral hall; the boy was shy and embarrassed to face his uncles' gratitude.
He didn't know how to advise him on this matter, so he could only let him be.
Grandpa Zhang is quite respected in the village.
Hearing that he had something important to discuss, it wasn't long before the villagers began to gather at the ancestral hall, even those who were still working in the fields rushed back.
"Old Zhang, what's the matter? Why are you in such a hurry to call everyone over?"
When they arrived at the ancestral hall, the villagers were surprised to see that Grandpa Zhang had called over all the heads of the households in the village. They thought something big had happened again.
An elderly person of the same generation as Grandpa Zhang immediately called out.
Upon hearing this, the others also became somewhat agitated.
After what happened yesterday, everyone is a bit terrified and can't take any more frights.
"Don't be nervous. I've called everyone here because I have some good news to announce."
Grandpa Zhang shouted, signaling everyone not to panic.
On the table behind him was a bulging cloth bag, and no one could tell what was inside.
There was also a small scale and scissors next to it, but I don't know what they were for.
"What good news?"
Hearing that it was good news, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and quickly asked.
"Yesterday, didn't Ah Qing get some silver notes from the villains he killed? Then he decided to distribute most of them to everyone."
Grandpa Zhang carefully poured out the silver ingots from the cloth bag behind him.
"Here is the silver that Aqing exchanged, a total of two hundred taels. In our village, apart from Aqing's family, there are a total of thirty-seven households. If divided equally, each household will receive about five taels of silver."
When everyone in the ancestral hall saw the huge pile of gleaming white silver ingots, they were first stunned into silence.
Upon hearing what Grandpa Zhang said, they couldn't help but gasp in astonishment.
Lu Qing, who was on his way to the small courtyard on the hillside not far away, smiled when he heard the commotion.
