Reborn as a Landlord-Chapter 71 - 41 Lian Manman Settles Accounts_1

Lian Manman asked Lady Zhang if she knew about Lian Shouren’s family’s annual expenses in the town.

This topic was even more difficult.

"Your uncle lost his government granary allowance, with only a dozen or so silver from teaching a year, and that’s during the good times. It’s not always possible to find a position, as I remember there were four or five years without one. There are schools in other villages, but he refuses to go, complaining that the pay is too little and the locations are inconvenient. He also dislikes the cramped living quarters provided, and the food doesn’t suit his taste. Furthermore, he has a whole family to provide for, so he rents a courtyard in the town, which costs six silver a year for rent. Your elder cousin, following your uncle in his studies, doesn’t earn any money."

"If that’s the case, shouldn’t your uncle’s family be living very frugally?"

Lian Manman was taken aback. Based on such income, the Lian Family main wife living in the town could only manage to maintain sustenance, and that too by living as frugally as the Lian family. They could really be considered true "poor scholars," so how could they afford to wear silk, carry gold and silver, and enjoy such levels of food and clothing?

"Our family’s thirty acres of land, after keeping aside enough for our consumption and paying taxes, the rest is sent seasonally to your uncle in the town," Lady Zhang explained to Lian Manman.

Which meant, Lian Shouren was actually living beyond his means. The only way he could maintain such a lifestyle was through the Lian family’s scrimping and saving.

Lian Manman asked Lady Zhang a few more questions and began to calculate in her mind.

Considering the Lian family’s current thirty acres of land, because Old Master Lian was diligent and skilled, and an excellent farmer, their harvest was better than average. Just calculating at a yield of three hundred catties of sorghum per acre per year, thirty acres amounted to nine thousand catties. With nineteen people in the family, including seven adult males like Lian Family Dalang and Erlang, and given the family’s frugality in their daily meals, which consisted mainly of porridge and less of solids, and with Lady Zhou running a tight ship almost like a rationing system, by averaging six catties of food per person per day, they would consume four thousand one hundred sixty-one catties a year, with the addition of vegetables and melons from the garden fulfilling the Lian family’s yearly food needs.

The taxes during the Great Ming Dynasty were not heavy, and the Lian family’s land ranked above average. After some calculations, simply put, the tax was about five percent of the yield of two hundred fifty catties per acre. This meant, for thirty acres, they had to pay about three hundred seventy-five catties in taxes.

Thus, more than half of the harvest was surplus.

Assuming half of the surplus grain was sent to town, some was used to feed Lian Shouren’s family, while the rest was sold for silver.

"Your uncle’s family, including Niuniu who’s not even two years old, totals seven people, also counting six catties per person per day; they need over fifteen hundred catties of food a year, leaving three thousand catties surplus. Taking the average price of sorghum as five wen money per catty, that’s a surplus of fifteen silver," Lian Manman asked Lady Zhang, "Has uncle sent back that fifteen silver, and the money he earns from teaching, does he give it to grandmother?"

"In these years, they’ve never brought money home," Lady Zhang said, which would explain the tightness in the household finances. "Oh, they have brought money back a few times, like this time for Huahua’s wedding, and when your Jizu brother got married. But what they brought back had to be returned several times over. What do you do when there’s no money? Sell land. That’s why the Lian family now only has thirty acres left."

"We give them our entire income every year, and he’s never brought any back?"

"Your uncle comes back for the holidays and buys gifts for your grandparents and your aunt; like today," Lady Zhang said.

"That’s still wool coming out of the sheep’s back!" Lian Manman muttered to herself.

"What does that mean?"

"That means the money for the gifts is also earned by our family. Grandfather wouldn’t even indulge in a couple of ounces of liquor normally, but today he’s so happy with a jar of pear blossom white, yet it’s still the family money being spent," Lian Manman said.

Lady Zhang was taken aback for a moment. This reasoning was quite simple, and not something she hadn’t considered before; it’s just that she hadn’t really delved deep into it or clarified it before.

"Your uncle is a scholar, so it’s only natural for him to live a better life," Lady Zhang said, like most rural people, she held respect for educated individuals, always believing they should enjoy more blessings and better lives than those who farmed. "However, well..."

Lady Zhang hesitated and seemed hesitant to continue.

"Mother, just say what’s on your mind, there are no outsiders here."

"Alright... In my opinion, your uncle’s family really doesn’t know how to live frugally. Take their housing for instance; a few rooms would have sufficed for them, but dissatisfied with the cramped space and claiming it was inconvenient, they rented a whole courtyard instead. I once passed by and saw it; was it two sections or three? There had to be at least twenty or thirty rooms. Your uncle’s wife was talking about dividing it into the front courtyard and inner rooms, all according to the customs of the city’s big households. I don’t understand all that. And about the food, it can’t be calculated as you said, your uncle’s family doesn’t eat coarse grains. The grain we send is all sold to buy rice and fine flour."