Heavenly Blessed Baby: Fleeing Famine, Busy to Prosper!-Chapter 219: Distribution of Rewards and Arrangements
Qi Quanjin was just pondering this matter.
Now that it was brought up, he shared his thoughts: "As for these seeds, we should distribute the ones everyone recognizes to each household. However, other families don’t have much land either, so whether they want to rent land from us or save it for later, that’s up to them."
"Regarding these ten bolts of fabric, there’s not enough for each household to have one, so let’s distribute three feet to each. The rest can be stored at home for now, and we’ll decide later what to do with them."
"As for the golden plaque, there’s no need to say more. Let’s put up a stand at the village entrance and hang it there. It’s the pride of our Yongping Village."
Everyone kept nodding, thinking the distribution was fair.
Qi Quanli scratched his head and asked, "Fourth Brother, what about the gold? Are we sharing that too?"
With a hundred taels of gold and a thousand taels of silver, dividing it up would give each family a significant share.
But Qi Quanjin shook his head: "No sharing of the gold. We’ll exchange it for silver and Copper Coin to build the village walls."
Yi Meng added, "In the future, we can also build a school. Our Yongping Village is too far from the city, making it inconvenient for children to travel back and forth for school. Besides, we have scholars in the village, so we should first set up an elementary school, dedicated to educating the village’s children."
"That’s a great idea."
Qi Quanjin slapped his fist, saying, "In any case, these hundred taels of gold will be used for our village, not divided among each household."
No one had any objections.
"Wife, you and Erlang will handle the bookkeeping."
Qi Quanjin said to Yi Meng.
Yi Meng didn’t agree right away, instead suggesting, "Since this money is for the whole village, I propose that the bookkeeping should not be managed solely by our family."
Everyone looked puzzled.
Yi Meng patiently explained, "Currently, the village is divided into four factions. Our Qi Family is one, the group with the former junior scholar is another, Uncle Zhou and his three families form the third, and then there are the original residents of Yongping Village."
"Now, everyone gets along well, but as time passes and life improves, inevitably, small issues will arise." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞
"Therefore, I suggest that from the beginning, we involve them in the village’s developmental matters, allowing each faction to choose someone to participate in the bookkeeping."
This time, nobody voiced any opinions.
Wang Daya and her sisters-in-law believed that their family’s major contribution justifies the Qi Family taking the lead.
The men of the Qi Family, like Qi Dafu and Qi Sangui, were typical of those who didn’t care much and just followed their brothers’ words.
Although Qi Quanyin and Qi Quanli were quick thinkers, they were also accustomed to listening to their fourth brother.
Qi Quanjin didn’t immediately agree or disagree but seriously pondered before saying, "Let’s gather everyone and discuss it, see what they think."
Qi Quanli immediately raised his hand, "Fourth Brother, should I call them now?"
Qi Quanjin nodded and waved his hand.
Qi Quanli immediately dragged his fifth brother outside.
Qi Quanyin sighed disdainfully but didn’t move any slower than Qi Quanli.
The imperial decree was put away, and everyone was less tense, pitching in together to arrange the bags of seeds, opening them to reveal the contents inside.
Once everyone was gathered, the Qi Family’s hall became lively.
Everyone crowded around the table to look at the rewards, especially the golden plaque and the hundred taels of gold, almost blinding everyone with their brilliance.
After seeing everything, Qi Quanjin began speaking aloud, explaining the earlier arrangements, and finally said, "How we use the gold will be accounted for. My family’s Erlang is good with numbers; let him work with my wife. Once he’s familiar, my wife will step back."
"Besides Erlang, we’ll select three more people from the village to help with bookkeeping."
Everyone was taken aback by this statement.
Mr. Zhou Sr. was the first to speak, "Village chief, there’s no need for more than one person for bookkeeping. Why have three more?"
Others nodded, equally puzzled.
Qi Quanjin smiled, "Our village is small now, so one person is enough. But in the future, more people might move in, and just having one bookkeeper then wouldn’t be fair."
"So, I thought we should have four people from the start. This way, even if there are questions about the accounts in the future, there won’t be a situation where one person can’t explain it clearly."
Qi Quanjin wisely avoided mentioning the four factions.
Such talk was appropriate within the family but could stir trouble among villagers if said in public.
Everyone still didn’t quite understand, but they couldn’t find a reason to object.
It was the former junior scholar, Ling Liang, who first grasped Qi Quanjin’s intention and said, "Village chief, your suggestion is certainly good. But now most villagers can’t even do arithmetic or recognize words. How about leaving those three positions vacant for now?"
"Let’s first set up a school for both adults and children to learn, and then we can pick suitable people to take the positions, how does that sound?"
As the representative of those thirteen people, Ling Liang’s suggestion couldn’t be easily opposed by others.
Mr. Wang Sr. also understood, supporting Ling Liang’s proposal.
As for who would eventually fill those three positions, it would depend on how well each family’s adults and children could learn.
Even if one couldn’t keep the village books, learning skills could help them find work in the city.
Among Ji Hu and the others, only Ji Hu was literate, the rest couldn’t recognize a single character.
Seeing the heads of the other three families agreeing, they naturally had nothing to say against it.
The distribution of rewards was quickly settled, and everyone dispersed.
Before they knew it, it was a bright sunny day. Qi Quanjin led the village men in a cart, carrying the hundred taels of gold into the city to exchange it for silver.
Besides exchanging the silver, they also needed to find places that sold stones and blue bricks.
This hundred taels of gold was a tempting target; it had to be spent quickly, or else if bandits got wind of it, the whole village could be in trouble.
But it was winter and the ground was frozen, making construction impossible, so they needed to buy materials first.
The materials wouldn’t spoil, and come spring, they could start building without delay.
This trip to the city was tense for everyone.
Traveling with a hundred taels of gold was an experience they never had, nor their ancestors before them!
