Wenren Sheng had spent all these years saving, yet he had only accumulated seven hundred taels of loose silver. It was stored in sealed ceramic jars in a hole five meters beneath the floor under his bed. Water seeped in at five meters deep.
He only checked on it and added to it once every three months.
Even if thieves wanted to dig for it, it would take them half a day. By then, people would have arrived long ago.
He was not far from reaching one thousand taels.
The main reason was that he had not used any special methods to save money. He had relied entirely on the most conventional, most world-appropriate means of accumulating wealth.
Working hard, living frugally, conducting himself well, and building good relationships.
Of course, the greatest advantage was that Wenren Sheng knew some medicine. He did not fall ill himself, and his two children were still young and had not gotten sick either.
A Guard Team Captain earned two hundred taels of silver a year, but he also needed to buy all kinds of Medicinal Cuisine and meat to maintain his external martial arts. Those expenses were considerable.
Saving fifty taels a year was already quite good.
Accumulating one thousand taels over a decade or so was extremely difficult.
Even if one could earn some extra money, food, drink, and all kinds of expenses still cost silver.
And when certain unexpected events arose, the spending became even greater.
For example, giving gift money, or spending silver to avert disaster when something major happened.
Like several years ago, when the Great King of the imperial court celebrated his birthday and every county town had to offer Birthday Tribute.
The poor commoners were exempted.
That was an order from the immortal sects. Poor families could