The Earl of Suiping's Residence Was Poor
She shoved the ledger at Xu Xi with a flourish. "You do the math on all of these."
Xu Xi glanced at the books and found there were only about a dozen ledgers. He readily agreed, "Okay, I'll finish within half an hour." Then he asked, "Is that enough time?"
Ancient characters were written in large characters. A dozen or so account books may seem like a lot, but they actually don't contain much content.
"There's enough time. No rush, we can calculate it slowly." The First Madam stood up, looking refreshed. "I'll go see your grandmother."
Xu Xi said it would take half an hour, but it didn't actually take that long. She finished calculating the accounts in just 45 minutes.
After calculating all that, she looked at the Zhao Family's assets as recorded by the First Madam in the general ledger and found that the Zhao Family did own 200 hectares of farmland, scattered in several counties around the capital. In addition, they also owned six shops—the accounts she had just calculated were for these six shops.
Aside from these fields and shops, the Zhao Family had no other assets listed in their accounts.
One qing is equal to fifteen mu, so two hundred qing is three thousand mu of land, which seems like a lot. However, in ancient times, extensive farming yielded low harvests, and the value created by the land was not high. The six shops were in the grain business, selling the grain produced from their own land. The business was neither good nor bad, and the profits were average.
In an ordinary family, having that kind of financial foundation would allow them to live a very good life.
However, the Earl of Suiping's Residence was a noble family, and in order to maintain appearances, they kept many servants. Each master not only had to receive a monthly allowance, but also had to have clothes and jewelry made every season.
Xu Xi used the remaining fifteen minutes to roughly calculate the accounts for the Earl's mansion, and couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement.
The monthly allowance is four or five hundred taels of silver. This does not include the daily necessities of so many people in the mansion, the clothing they need to buy each season, the expenses for the masters to make clothes and jewelry, the cost of banquets held from time to time, and the social obligations throughout the year.
After doing the math, Xu Xi felt a headache coming on for the First Madam: the family was spending more than they were earning.
At this Xu Xi couldn't help but feel relieved that the Earl's Mansion was going to split up.
After the family split up, the main branch consisted of only the old lady, Zhao Yuanxun and his wife, and herself and Zhao Jingtai— a total of five people. The number of servants they had to support was also reduced by more than half. Although half or even more of the farmland and shops had to be given to the second and third branches, they didn't need to put on such a grand show. They lived within their means and were able to make a good living.
Weddings and funerals are the most expensive things. The second wife has four children, all around the same age, and they all need to get married within two or three years. Whether they are getting married or not, it will cost a lot of money. And that's not all, Zhao Yuanliang also needs to get married. This will all have to be paid for by the first wife.
The dowries for the three men, Zhao Yuanliang, Zhao Jingli, and Zhao Jing'an, were paid from public funds, but the dowries their wives brought were their own. This cost a large sum of money, with no income coming in; not to mention the dowries of Zhao Ruyu and Zhao Rurui.
Now that the family has separated, the First Madam doesn't need to worry about these things anymore; otherwise, it would be a real headache.
At this moment, the First Madam also returned and asked Xu Xi, "How did the divination go?"
"It's all calculated." Xu Xi pushed the ledger towards her. "The totals are all done. I've compiled a booklet with the monthly and annual revenue for each shop. You can take the master booklet when we divide the assets later."
After saying that, she reported the accounts she had just calculated to the Madam and asked, "Mother, is that right?"
The First Madam and Matron Zhou were already pleasantly surprised that Xu Xi could do the accounts, and so quickly at that. When they heard her recite the numbers, they looked at Xu Xi as if she were a rare jewel.
"What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?" Xu Xi touched her face. Had she gotten ink on her face?
"Why are people so different?" the First Madam sighed with regret.
"Your second sister, Ruzhu, who recently got married, is not the mistress of the house after marriage, but she still needs to be clear about the expenses of her own courtyard, as well as the accounts and profits of all the estates and shops in her dowry. Even with an accountant and a maidservant helping to keep an eye on things, she, as the mistress, must know the general situation."
The First Madam sighed, "Before she got married, I taught her how to manage the household, how to do accounting, and how to calculate the expenses of the mansion. But your second sister spent several days doing the calculations and she's still completely confused, with a jumbled mess of accounts. When I ask her about the various expenses, she either doesn't know or gives me the wrong numbers, and the mistakes are quite outrageous. It's giving me a real headache."
Xu Xi looked at her with pity— Zhao Ruzhu must be terrible at math. Plus, the household probably focused her education on music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Mathematics wasn't very advanced in this era, and the household accounts were so tedious; it must have been tough on her.
"Unlike you," the First Madam said with a look of satisfaction. "It's one thing that you're good at math, that's just natural intelligence. What's most commendable is that you also have a broad perspective. Just ask you to do the accounts, and you can figure out the situation in the manor perfectly. Now I know better than anyone what a wise person is and what a foolish person is."
Xu Xi blushed.
Can these be considered the same?
Zhao Ruzhu was just a child in ancient times. All she could see and hear was her small plot of land, and she didn't even have many books to read.
She is a modern person. In modern times, regardless of age, anyone with a computer can know everything about the world and give orders. Just grab any teenager, someone who has played games, and they can talk to you about how to build infrastructure and develop cities and countries. They all have a grand vision of the world in their hearts.
Besides, she's mentally older than Zhao Ruzhu.
"Mother, how do you plan to divide the family property?" she quickly changed the subject.
The First Madam was troubled by this matter. Hearing Xu Xi ask, her eyes suddenly lit up.
Her daughter is exceptionally intelligent. Just from her analysis of the situation in the mansion, it's clear that she understood everything, not to mention that she discovered all of Lady Wei's schemes.
"How do you think the family should be divided?" she asked.
"Are there any rules or regulations when a wealthy family splits up?" Xu Xi inquired about the rules first.
"There's no fixed rule," the First Madam sighed. "When there are elderly people living, the eldest son, who also holds a title, should take at least half of the property, and the rest should be divided among the other brothers. But there are also those who are stingy and domineering, taking the lion's Datou and only giving a small portion to their half-brothers; and there are also those who are generous, dividing the property equally with their brothers, but those who divide it equally with their brothers are all their own brothers."
In short, it's a complete mess.
Dividing up a family property is the most damaging thing, both financially and emotionally.
Upon hearing this, Xu Xi shook her head. "In that case, let's listen to Grandmother and Father."
The First Madam sighed, "Your father is alright; he doesn't care much about money, so a little isn't a problem for him. He also doesn't want to be accused of mistreating his brothers. But your grandmother won't allow it. The Zhao Family family's wealth is all thanks to the dowries brought by the first wives of each generation, and the careful management they put in. For the sake of the household's food, clothing, and daily necessities, and to ensure the family has more land and wealth, each wife has poured countless efforts into it."