Chapter 13 Planning a Small Home
"I am mainly in charge of two garment shops. The accounts are submitted to my father for review regularly every month. The cloth shop and the teahouse are managed by my father himself. He is also the one who negotiates business. Now he takes me with him occasionally." Chen Zhi replied.

As Xu Shuhe listened, he had a rough idea in his mind.

At present, Chen Zhi is still in the state of an employee, equivalent to the owner of two garment shops. He listens to Chen Huaiqian in everything and has never done anything independently.

"So second brother doesn't care at all?" Xu Shuhe asked.

When Chen Jin was mentioned, Chen Zhi's face turned colder. "Eat, drink and have fun. If he runs out of money, he will withdraw some from the account."

"Fourth brother also doesn't get involved in the family business at all?" Xu Shuhe continued to ask,

Chen Zhi nodded, "Old Four only studies and doesn't care about these things."

Xu Shuhe listened with a thoughtful look on his face, and then asked, "Then how are the daily expenses of the people in our mansion arranged? It should be managed by the mistress, right?"

"As for meals, the rule is five dishes and one soup, with snacks and fruits in the morning and afternoon. If you want to eat something, just ask the kitchen to make it. The ingredients are too expensive, and if the kitchen doesn't have it, you have to pay for it yourself. For daily necessities, there is also a quota every month, and people are sent to get them as needed. As for clothes, our family runs a cloth shop and a ready-made clothing store. Every quarter, a steward will come to your house to measure your clothes, and the money will be paid by the mansion. At other times, if you want to make clothes, you have to spend money yourself. These are all managed by my second sister-in-law."

Chen Zhi answered very carefully, and after saying this, he added.

"Besides these, now that we are married, each of us will have ten taels of silver per month for pocket money. We can withdraw it from the account in the mansion on a monthly basis."

"Just ten taels?" Xu Shuhe was slightly surprised.

Chen Zhi glanced at her and said, "Well, unmarried people, like my fourth brother, only have six taels a month."

In fact, it is quite a lot. For ordinary people, the basic food and clothing expenses for a family is only twenty taels a year.

However, as Xu Shuhe was the only daughter of the Xu family, Zheng doted on her very much and gave her twenty taels of silver per month for pocket money. Apart from that, she was basically given whatever she wanted.

After getting married, Xu Shuhe was naturally surprised that the monthly salary suddenly increased from twenty taels to ten taels.

But on second thought, the Chen family is large, but not wealthy. They are just ordinary merchants, unlike the Xu family, where only Zheng and her mother and daughter are involved. This is understandable.

It doesn't matter. Xu Shuhe had already counted her dowry yesterday. It was very generous. She doesn't expect the Chen family to give her pocket money every month.

Perhaps sensing that Xu Shuhe was somewhat dissatisfied with Yueyin, Chen Zhi paused and continued.

"I have saved some money over the years. If you don't have enough, let Zhang Ping give it to you."

"That's not necessary." Xu Shuhe smiled, "I just thought that now that we are married, we have a small home that belongs only to the two of us, don't you think?"

As he said this, Xu Shuhe stopped, stood still, and looked at Chen Zhi seriously.

"Although the mansion can provide us with food, clothing and daily necessities, we will also have our own social expenses in the future. We have to pay for these out of our own pockets, so it is not convenient to ask the mansion for money, right?"

"That's natural." Chen Zhi nodded.

Xu Shuhe continued, "So, I was thinking, should we also have some way to earn our own money?"

"We haven't divided the family yet. Unless we hide it from the people in the mansion, all we earn will be turned over to the government." Chen Zhi frowned.

To be honest, he is also thinking about this problem right now.

In his previous life, he was like a selfless devotionist, working hard in business to earn money for his family and provide them with food and drink. Chen Jin lived a life of debauchery, Chen Xun studied and took care of things everywhere. The gold and silver jewelry, silks and satins worn by female relatives such as Feng and Li Mingzhu, and even the betrothal gift for Chen Xun's marriage to a noble lady from an official family after he passed the imperial examination, which one of them was not earned by his hard work?
But in the end he ended up like that.

I was really a servant, but I was never treated as a human being.

Even if Xu Shuhe hadn't mentioned it today, he was already thinking about how to put all the money into his own pocket. But he hadn't found a good way yet.

So when he talked about the difficulties of not dividing the family, he also wanted to hear what good ideas Xu Shuhe had.

And Xu Shuhe really has an idea here.

She raised her eyebrows slightly and asked with a smile, "Dowry is considered a woman's private property, and the husband's family cannot touch it, right?"

"Of course." Chen Zhi nodded.

Xu Shuhe continued, "If a woman has children, her dowry will be divided equally among her children after her death, and will be considered her children's private property in the future. If she has no children, her family can ask for it back. To be disrespectful, the mother-in-law in the mansion is now the stepmother, so when the mother-in-law passed away, did she not leave anything for the husband?"

This reminded Chen Zhi. Yes, his biological mother, Zhou, was from a well-off business family. How could she not prepare a generous dowry for her daughter?

However, his mother suffered a difficult labor and died less than a year after giving birth to him. At that time, his elder sister Chen Yurong was still young, so the two siblings were raised by their stepmother Feng. As a result, no one had ever mentioned his biological mother's dowry to him since he grew up.

Chen Zhi thought for a moment and said in a deep voice, "I really don't know much, but when you have time, you can ask my elder sister. When she got married, according to the rules, half of my mother's dowry had to be given to her. Maybe she knows something."

Generally speaking, the dowry that wealthy families give to their daughters includes shops and farms. With these, they can start their own business, and the money they earn naturally goes into their pockets.

Xu Shuhe had the same idea. Once she saw through the true colors of the Chen family, she had no intention of letting Chen Zhi tinker with the Chen family's business.

They must have worked hard and made some money, and in the end the three brothers divided it, but Feng's two sons took away more than half of the benefits.

Not only did Xu Shuhe not want Chen Zhi to work for the Chen family, he also wanted to split up the family.

However, dividing the family property while parents are still alive is considered an extremely unfilial act nowadays, so it is not a good idea to bring it up. I will slowly think of a solution later.

So at this moment, he curled his lips and said, "Okay, it just so happens that we are getting married. I haven't met my sister properly yet. When we get back and find a chance, we can sit down and have a good chat."

After hearing what Xu Shuhe said, Chen Zhi hesitated for a moment, as if something was on his mind.

"What's wrong?" Xu Shuhe noticed his change in expression and asked.

Chen Zhi shook his head again, "Nothing, I think it's pretty good."

"Then it's settled." Xu Shuhe turned around and continued walking forward, "But this is our little family matter, don't tell anyone else!"

Although I had already sensed Chen Zhi's dislike for Feng and the others, I guess he wouldn't say it, but I still had to give him some advice.

Chen Zhi followed her and nodded, "Don't worry, I know."

As he spoke, he glanced at Xu Shuhe. He always felt that this girl, who was younger than him, always seemed to treat him like a child.

The two of them walked around in the garden before wandering to the kitchen to help Zheng who was making snacks.

Before they knew it, it was noon. The three of them sat down to have a meal and exchanged a few pleasantries.

Then Chen Zhi said he wanted to take a nap and was taken to rest by the servants.

But he was not really sleepy. He just walked away on purpose to leave some time for Zheng and Xu Shuhe, the mother and daughter, to have a private conversation.

(End of this chapter)