The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 404 Snow Beauty
After sending Yuanyuan home, the mission of this trip to Suzhou was completed. After staying for a few more days and paying homage to Lin Ruhai again, Jia Huan took Lin Daiyu back to Yangzhou and began to prepare for returning to Beijing for the exam.

It is already mid-October and the weather is turning cold. A cold wave from the north has swept in, sweeping across the north and south of the Yangtze River. There was even a light snow in Yangzhou. The north wind was blowing outside, chilling the skin and bones.

The first snow of early winter in the seventh year of Qiansheng came earlier than last year!
There was a charcoal stove burning in the room, which was warm. A pot of Shaoxing rice wine was warming on the stove. The aroma of the wine was already in the air. After two cups, my whole body felt warm and I even felt a little hot.

Jia Huan took off the brocade jacket he was wearing, casually put it on the back of the chair, and then continued to carefully look through the account book that Butler Xiao had brought him.

Now the Lin family’s properties in Yangzhou have been almost dealt with. All the real estate has been sold, but there are still a hundred acres of land that have not found a buyer. They are all thin fields in remote locations, and it is not easy to sell them. They can only wait.

In addition, the antiques, calligraphy and paintings, valuable furniture, rare flowers and trees collected by Lin Ruhai during his lifetime were also basically sold. All in all, the cash value was about 110,000 taels. Together with the surplus of more than 13,000 taels in the treasury, and the 500 gold and 3,000 taels of silver bestowed by Emperor Qiansheng, Jia Huan now had more than 130,000 taels of cash on hand.

However, this was less than Jia Huan had expected. He originally thought that the Lin family's private properties in Yangzhou would be worth about 140,000 taels, but it turned out to be less than 130,000 taels. Even if the remaining hundred acres of land were added, it would still be less than 130,000 taels.

Of course, Jia Huan did not suspect that the housekeeper Xiao Lei was embezzling money, because to dispose of so many properties in such a short time, there must be a discount, otherwise it would not attract others. But he still felt the pain of losing more than ten thousand taels of silver.

It is worth mentioning here that Emperor Qiansheng also granted Lin Ruhai ten hectares of fertile land, which is one thousand acres. However, usually the actual land is not given, but it is converted into taxes and settled once a year by the Ministry of Households. Moreover, it can only be inherited by one generation. In other words, there will be no more after Lin Daiyu. It is equivalent to an alternative pension.

The tax rate in the Jin Dynasty was about 0.05 dan per mu of land, and taxes were collected twice a year in summer and autumn, which was 0.1 dan per mu. One thousand mu was only 100 dan, equivalent to about taels of silver, which was better than nothing. The advantage was that the tax was guaranteed regardless of drought or flood, and it could be collected for a lifetime, which was enough to ensure that an ordinary family had enough food and clothing.

Some people may wonder, if the annual income of one thousand mu of land is only 100 dan, wouldn't the landlords in ancient times have to eat the wind? Please note that the dan is just the tax levied by the state. The landlords rented the land to the tenants, and the rent they collected could not be so low. It was at least % to % of the output per mu, and even % to % for the unscrupulous ones. The tenants who farmed the land could only keep % or % for themselves. They worked very hard, but in the end, the landlords only got rich, and their families could barely make a living.

With the 6500 taels of silver that Jia Huan now has on hand, if calculated at 6500 taels of silver per mu of good farmland, he can buy 6500 mu of farmland. The rent from each mu is one dan, which is dan. In other words, he can earn nearly taels of silver a year.

Of course, this is only the income under ideal conditions. If the year is not good, it is possible that it will be halved. However, even if it is halved, it is enough for Lin Daiyu to live a life of luxury. What's more, these 130,000 taels are only 50% to 60% of all the Lin family's property. There are also old houses and fields in Suzhou, which may be worth 100,000 taels in total.

There is no doubt that Lin Daiyu is a small wealthy woman. Unfortunately, in the original version of the Dream of the Red Chamber, all of Lin Ruhai's inheritance was packed up by Jia Lian and taken back to the Jia family. Although Lin Daiyu could receive two taels of silver per month, her life was not satisfactory. She didn't dare to ask the kitchen for bird's nest when she wanted to, for fear of being disliked. In the end, Baochai gave her some bird's nest.

Things are naturally different now. With Jia Huan helping her arrange everything, the money is in her own hands. She has a stable income every year and is financially independent. Even if she lives in the Jia Mansion in the future, she doesn't have to look at the servants' faces. Whatever she wants to eat or wear, she can just use one word - buy it!

Let's get back to the point. Just as Jia Huan finished his accounts, he heard the crunching sound of snow outside. Ping'er in the outer room cried out, "Miss Lin is here."

Jia Huan got up and walked out of the room. As expected, he saw Lin Daiyu and Xueyan, the master and servant, flashing in with a gust of wind and snow. Lin Daiyu wore a snow hat, a crane flag, a pair of red sheepskin boots with gold and cloud patterns, a furry waistcoat on her shoulders, and a delicate glass lamp in her hand. She looked even more charming and beautiful, like a beautiful lady walking out of the snow.

Xueyan followed behind with a lantern in her hand, her face flushed by the wind. Ping'er hurried forward to take the glass lantern from Daiyu's hand and hang it on the wall, and then helped her take off her snow hat and crane flag, and shook off the snow on her body.

Jia Huan hurried to the inner room and poured a cup of warm rice wine to Lin Daiyu, saying, "I have warmed up the wine here. Sister Lin, have a drink while it's still hot to drive away the cold."

Lin Daiyu didn't hesitate to take the wine and drank it all in one gulp. Then she heaved a sigh of relief, rubbed her hands and stamped her feet, saying, "It's really cold tonight!"

Jia Huan said with a hint of reproach: "You are still here when it is windy and snowy. Be careful not to catch a cold. You are weak to begin with. If your old illness recurs, it will be very serious."

"You didn't let me come, but I came anyway!" Lin Daiyu said as she walked towards the inner room. This is the true character of Lin Duidui, she is really rebellious, a real rebellious girl.

Jia Huan followed her in, brushing off the remaining snow on her hair, and said with a wry smile: "Sister Lin is here to irritate me."

Lin Dai felt sweet in her heart. She walked to the desk, picked up the account book that Jia Huan had just read, and chuckled, "It's really hard for you, brother Huan. You are a top scorer in the provincial examination, and you are the manager of our family. You are still checking the accounts so late at night."

Jia Huan poured a cup of hot wine for Xueyan who followed in. Xueyan groaned and said, "How dare I trouble you, Third Master? I will lose my fortune."

Ping Erh laughed and said, "You are still talking nonsense. If you don't drink a cup to drive away the cold, you will be sick and your life will be shortened."

"Good sister, you are cursing me!" Xueyan took the wine from Jia Huan with a smile, drank it all in one gulp and said, "Thanks to the young lady, I was able to drink the wine poured by the Third Master himself."

At this time, Lin Daiyu was probably surprised when she saw the numbers in the account book. She obviously did not expect that she was so rich. She never cared much about money and had no idea about prices, but the amount of hundreds of thousands of taels of silver still shocked her.

Seeing this, Jia Huan came forward and teased, "Sister Lin is very wealthy. Since I am so diligent, shouldn't you give me a little more pay?"

(End of this chapter)