Concubine Lu spoke of the mansion that Mrs. Zou used to educate Zhong Cuilan and the others in. Zou Yuzhen was shocked: "Auntie, you mean... the second brother might still have a chance, but how could the eldest brother?" Mrs. Zou gave birth to two sons, the second one was somewhat unruly, but the eldest was always an old-fashioned man, famously affectionate with the elder sister-in-law. In his room, besides two concubine maids, he had not even taken in a single concubine, let alone any bastard sons or daughters. Concubine Lu disdainfully said, "Those who seem upright to the face are the most indecent behind the scenes. No matter whose spawn that is, it cannot possibly be the old man’s." Zou Yuzhen frowned slightly and asked, "Auntie, why are you so certain?" He always felt that Auntie was hiding something from him, something she didn’t want him to know. "There’s no need for Third Young Master to dig too deep, you just need to know that everything Auntie does is for your and Fifth Miss’s benefit," Mrs. Han said somewhat forcefully, but Zou Yuzhen did not dare to ignore Mrs. Han’s words. This Mrs. Han was full of schemes; Concubine Lu had been favored for so many years, all thanks to Mrs. Han. He heard from his auntie that Mrs. Han seemed to have some background, having come from a noble family and served as a nanny who had previously attended to a marchioness, being very formidable. Zou Yuzhen didn’t know that this was a lie from Concubine Lu — Mrs. Han had never served any marchioness; she was specialized in teaching women how to serve men. And it was precisely the methods taught by Mrs. Han that allowed Concubine Lu to remain favored for so many years. However, they couldn’t openly speak of such matters. If it became known to outsiders, not only her but also Brother Zhen’er and Sister Wan’s reputations would be ruined. "Brother Zhen’er, you don’t need to worry about this. With Auntie and Mrs. Han around, what you should do now is to study well and become a Scholar," Concubine Lu dreamed that Zou Yuzhen would pass the imperial examination and obtain an official position. Yet for so many years, Zou Yuzhen remained a student and had not passed the examination to become a Scholar. Speaking of which, Zou Yuzhen suddenly turned to Concubine Lu, telling her about his plan to send Zou Yuwan to serve the Magistrate. Concubine Lu was greatly surprised, "You want to send Sister Wan to serve the Magistrate? How can this be done? I heard that the Magistrate is already in his forties, and besides, this is to become a concubine, your sister is supposed to be someone’s official wife." Zou Yuzhen sneered: "Heh~ Auntie, a concubine daughter of a minor official like Sister Wan, what decent family would take her as an official wife? If she is to marry into a good official family, she can only be a concubine." "Otherwise, she would marry the bastard son of an official family. But the bastard sons of officials are suppressed by their legitimate mothers; how many years must we wait for a brother-in-law to become accomplished?" "Master Qi has already abandoned us; we must find a new patron in the prefecture, and the Magistrate is the best candidate." He further persuaded: "Auntie, don’t be reluctant to part with her. Once we take over the Zou family, we’ll compensate Sister Wan well." Mrs. Han was ruthless. Upon hearing this, she said to Concubine Lu, "Auntie, Third Young Master is right. In the future, you will rely on the Third Young Master, and as for Fifth Miss, it is not bad to be able to serve the Magistrate – at least he is the chief official of a prefecture, and it will bring more benefits to you and the Third Young Master than marrying those inexperienced young men as an official wife." If Zou Yuwan did not want to become a concubine to the Magistrate, then she would have to find a man with a higher official position and better family background than the Magistrate to marry. But which young man of high official rank and good family background would take a fancy to Zou Yuwan? Concubine Lu, persuaded by Zou Yuzhen and Mrs. Han, was moved as well, and bit her lip, saying, "Alright, let’s do as you say." Zou Yuzhen smiled, "Auntie is wise; your son will surely pass the exam and win an official position, allowing Auntie to become the wife of an Old Sealed Lord." While Zou Yuzhen was scheming against his own sister, the families of Qin, Gu, Luo, and Tian were dividing silver at Gu Jinli’s house. Three boxes of silver and two silver notes of one hundred taels each, spread out on two large tables joined together. The families gazed at the silver and notes, both tense and excited. Mrs. Chen’s eyes gleamed with avarice, and she nearly drooled as she kept muttering, "We’re rich, we’re so very rich." "Lei Family’s Trading Team purchased two thousand four hundred catties of seasoning spices from our workshop. Including capital and profit, we received one thousand five hundred and twenty taels of silver. After deducting three hundred and thirty-six taels for herb costs and eighty-four taels for labor, we made a net profit of eleven hundred taels." The workshop hired Mrs. He Yang and others to grind the spices. Easy-to-grind herbs were twenty cents per catty, and the harder ones were eighty cents per catty, which averaged out to thirty-five cents of labor cost per catty ground. "My family owns forty percent, so we can distribute four hundred and forty taels. The remaining six hundred and sixty taels will be divided equally among the uncles’ houses, with each family receiving one hundred and ten taels." After Gu Jin’an announced the distribution for each family, people were thrilled, "Just from Master Wu and his team, we made one hundred and ten taels. That’s too much!" A hundred or more taels of silver is the lifetime savings of an ordinary farmer, and they made it with just one deal. Besides that, they would also have profits from the tofu stand, white tofu, and the sale of loose seasoning spices. "Master Qi took three hundred catties of seasoning spices. After deducting fifty-two taels for the cost of goods and labor, we made a net profit of one hundred and forty-eight taels," Gu Jin’an continued with the accounting. Soon, after he finished calculating, Third Grandpa asked, "Except for Dashan’s family, tonight each of our families can receive a dividend of one hundred and twenty-five taels of silver. Do you want it in silver notes or in actual silver?" "Actual silver, my family wants actual silver!" Mrs. Chen was the first to shout, her voice shrill with almost a crack from excitement. Gu Dewang, accompanied by Gu Defa, and the other children from several families squatted in the corner on the right side of the hall. Watching their mother’s excitement, they wanted to remind her that because of Sister Yu Mei’s issue, their family was fined two hundred taels of silver. Third Grandpa had clearly stated that the two hundred taels would be deducted from the workshop’s dividend. So, for tonight’s one hundred and twenty-five taels of silver, their family wouldn’t get a single cent. But Gu Dewang dared not speak out, for fear his mother would beat him to death. Gu Jinniu from Gu Damu’s family asked, "How much meat can you buy with more than a hundred taels of silver?" Gui Niu, not yet three years old, followed with the question, "How much meat?" Jinniu and Gui Niu, who were intensely hungry on the road, cared little for sweets but craved meat, loving it dearly. Gu Qingxi pondered, counting on his ten fingers for a while, but still couldn’t figure it out, "I don’t know, brother, do you?" Gu Qingtian laughed and said, "You could buy several thousand catties of meat with that." "How much is several thousand catties?" Jinniu and the others still didn’t understand. Gu Qingliang, being the eldest, explained softly, "Enough to fill the house, piled from the floor to the beams. It would last us for a few years." "Wow, that’s a lot!" The children from Gu Damu’s and Gu Dalin’s families all exclaimed, their eyes shining. Gui Niu had a gleam at the corner of her mouth, lisping, "Meaty, eat meaty~" Gu Qingtian held her and said, "Keep it down, don’t disturb everyone. If we miscount the silver, we won’t be able to buy any meat." Gu Qingtian was Gui Niu’s older brother, and along with Gu Qingxi, they were the children of Gu Dalin. And after the incident with the Evil Man’s murder, only Gu Qingliang and Gu Jinniu were left from Gu Damu and Ms. Yan’s children.