I was a stepmother in ancient times, and I led my whole family to wealth.

Chapter 129 Meeting Gu Yumei

Aunt Gu: "Your grandfather was the clan head. I heard that when the Sun clan was choosing a clan head, it wasn't your grandfather, it was Sun Kui's grandfather."

Your second grandfather was on good terms with Sun Kui's grandfather and also supported him.

But somehow, the old clan chief passed the position to your grandfather.

This has led to a rift between Grandpa Sun Kui and your second grandfather.

Although there have been no conflicts over the years, it has all been just a matter of maintaining appearances.

Now, you are also considering choosing the next clan leader between your second uncle and his son.

Your second grandfather's attitude has finally improved.

Yang Zhu sighed: "The Sun family only has these three branches. Now the older generation is all gone, and only a few of my grandfather's generation remain."

Grandpa has done a good job over the years; he's always the first to rush out when someone's family is in trouble.

As you know, Grandpa Sun Kui has asthma, and he always coughs when it comes to winter.

And here, in winter... with that wind blowing so strong, everyone needs to reinforce their roofs.”

"Alright, now if your family hatches the chicks, your grandfather will have even more prestige in the clan..."

"Grandpa said that when we choose a clan leader again, we will choose between my third uncle and my fifth uncle."

"Didn't your aunt make a fuss? Last time I heard your mother-in-law say that her vegetables also didn't sprout, is that true?"

"Yes, she was reluctant to burn more firewood in the house. You didn't see it, but she was scolding her two sisters-in-law like they were her grandsons."

After Yang Zhu finished speaking, she covered her mouth with one hand and whispered, "My grandma said that she is almost as good as Old Madam Gu now."

My grandma even said that she knew this was her distant niece; anyone who didn't would have thought she and Granny Gu were sisters.

"Hey, she wasn't like this before..."

Dongfang Jin listened quietly as they chatted about their daily lives. There were four major families in Lingwu Village.

The Xu clan was the most united and had the best conditions because Grandpa Xu often sent clan members to the mountains to find medicinal herbs. Although they only went to the surrounding mountains, it was enough to make them financially secure.

Next are the Sun family, the Lin family, and the Gu family, who are the least united.

However, there are reasons for this.

The Lin family had the most members, followed by the Gu family, while the Sun family had the fewest.

Seeing that Dongfang Jin liked to listen to these things, Aunt Gu said, "The Lin family is going to be very lively now. The village head's family is in the Lin family. They found a few honest and law-abiding families to work in their old house."

With Lin Min's family also involved, the Gu family is now extremely envious of their hard work.

Aunt Gu looked at Dongfang Jin and said with a smile, "You don't know, this Lin Lizheng encouraged the children in his clan to go up the mountain to cut firewood. One load of firewood cost three coins, while other children in the clan received five coins for two loads."

Gu Yongsheng even went to Lin Lizheng's house to make a scene because of this, saying it was unfair.

Lin Jiang said that his family didn't need to send anything; if they were dissatisfied, they could file a complaint with the county government.

The reason his family also accepted firewood from other villagers was because his father was the village head; otherwise, they would only accept firewood from the Lin clan.

The others, fearing that the village head's family wouldn't accept their firewood, also followed Lin Jiang's lead, criticizing him for being unreasonable.

Upon returning, Gu Yongsheng went to the clan chief's house to argue, but was eventually dismissed by Gu Yucheng.

He said if he felt the Lin family had handled things unfairly, he could refuse to sell the firewood to them.

Yang Zhu scoffed: "I've heard about that too. Tell me, how come the Gu family keeps producing people like this?"

I heard from the head of the family that Lin Li is encouraging his clan to start clearing land next spring.

Everyone works together to cultivate the land, and the land cultivated belongs to the clan. Whatever is planted on the land, the harvest and the money from the sale will all be managed by the clan.

Afterwards, the money was distributed to each household, and the remaining money went to the clan to be used for repairing the ancestral hall, as well as to cover the expenses of any family whose children needed to go to school if they didn't have enough money.

If a family's child does well in school, the clan will reward them with two taels of silver every year.

My grandfather also wanted to do that, but he said he'd wait until the ancestral worship ceremony during the Lunar New Year to discuss it further.

Dongfang Jin just smiled when she heard this, it seemed that Lin Li had taken her words to heart.

With such a clan leader, the prosperity of the Lin clan is just around the corner.

"Isn't this a good thing? In the future, every household will have money and be able to afford to send their children to school. Who will still be fixated on that one child?"

Furthermore, studying is not just about passing the imperial examinations and becoming an official; it's just that a literate child and an illiterate child have different perspectives no matter what they do.

Another thing is that the child is literate, so it will be easier for him to find a job outside, and he won't be easily fooled.

Even if we arrange a marriage later, it'll be easy. What father-in-law or mother-in-law wouldn't want their son-in-law to be literate? Don't you think that makes sense?

At this point, Aunt Gu gave a disdainful smile: "You don't know, do you? Gu Yaohui hasn't come back at all."

You know, even with someone like that, the clan leader hasn't given up yet.

A few days ago, I heard from the head of the family that the clan chief had called a meeting of the clan elders and asked each family to contribute some money.

They said Gu Yaohui was still young and had little experience in society, so it was inevitable that he would be deceived.

With Gu Yaohui's intelligence, it's only a matter of time before he becomes the top scholar in the imperial examination. Even if he doesn't become the top scholar, he can still become an official by passing the provincial examination.

In the end, Gu Yonghe's family contributed two taels of silver, while the other families contributed either a copper coin or several tens of coins.

The clan chief was so angry that he threw a huge tantrum, even scolding those people for being short-sighted.

Even so, the clan elders remained unmoved, saying that my family only has this much money, and we can't sell our children to raise it.

The clan chief said they wouldn't take any money, and they wouldn't help Gu Yaozong even after he became an official.

Gu Yusong's grandfather objected, saying that he had given Gu Yaohui more than ten taels of silver for all this.

If they don't take care of him, then return the money they gave him before.

The clan chief said that he hadn't spent any money, so why should he return it?

Grandpa Gu Yusong said that the clan chief asked them for the money, and he kept records.

The clan chief said he hadn't spent any money and wouldn't give any, adding that Grandpa Gu Yusong had eaten back what he'd vomited up.

Because of what he said, one or two other businesses that had initially wanted to give him more money gave up on the idea.

Aunt Gu didn't say that the clan leader not only scolded Gu Chenglin that day, but also scolded Dongfang Jin.

Looking at Aunt Gu's uncomfortable expression, Dongfang Jin could easily guess what she was thinking.

Chief Gu must hate her to death now, right?

Hate all you want, the worst is yet to come.

That's interesting. I wonder how he became the clan leader.

He hasn't spent any money yet, so whoever spent it should go find him.

If you don't hold meetings for people and don't make empty promises, will they be willing to spend money?

To be honest, there's no right or wrong here, it's all about investment.

Both carry risks.

The saying "you get what you pay for" holds true.

……

The three chatted for a while longer before heading to Aunt Hui's courtyard, as they had important business to attend to.

The three entered the house, and when Aunt Gu saw Gu Yumei's appearance, she started to cry.

Dongfang Jin looked at Gu Yumei, who could be described as skin and bones, comparable to Fang Jin back then.

At 1.6 meters tall, in ancient times, this height was considered quite good for a woman.

Seeing her hand, Dongfang Jin took out a box of Wan Zi Qian Hong, which contained a little water from the Five Elements Spring.

These colorful flowers were specially collected by her because her grandparents' heels would crack and sometimes bleed every winter.

I don't know where they heard it from, but they think applying this is good.

To be honest, it really helped a lot, so she bought them by the case.

Gu Chenglin only said that her hands were frozen, and she didn't expect them to be so frozen. What had she done?