Chapter 222 – Work Point Conversion Rate

The old grannies didn’t ask many questions—they just loved to listen.

As long as Physician Cui was speaking, they’d perk up their ears, and since many of them were hard of hearing, they’d repeat his words to each other in turn, making sure no detail was missed.

All Physician Cui could hear was “Work Points this, Work Points that.”

He was engaged in work that required calm and concentration—once his mind was distracted, the whole task fell apart.

Madam Cui, on the other hand, went straight to the Yan family’s courtyard. Officially, she was there to keep an eye on the medicinal herbs drying in the yard. In truth, she sat herself down in the courtyard, her hands busily helping Madam Rong chop pigweed, while her eyes kept drifting toward the room inside.

“The batch we sold this time was from the herbs picked in the first three days. The silver we received… let’s see, single-item herb Work Points… labor hours Work Points… mm, now here we need to calculate the ratio first…”

Yan Yu muttered as she scribbled strange symbols across the paper with a charcoal pencil.

At first, Yan Xiangheng had tried to help with the calculations too, but it quickly grew too complex. Seeing that his sister had a clear method, he stopped trying to interrupt and waited patiently beside her.

Yan Yu double-checked her calculations several times. All accurate.

She let out a breath.

“Got it!”

Daya glanced over, then quickly returned to her own work—she hadn’t finished her daily calligraphy practice.

Yan Xiangheng didn’t bother looking at the indecipherable circles and scribbles on the paper. He simply asked, “What’s the result?”

“One Work Point equals 2.59 wen. Ten Work Points is 25.9 wen,” Yan Yu reported crisply. She was quite particular about that tiny decimal—there was no rounding allowed. For poor farming households, even a single wen of copper could be stretched thin. How could they afford to toss it aside?

And besides, accounting didn’t work like that.

Yan Xiangheng was first surprised by how precise his little sister’s math was—then utterly stumped.

“So… how do we distribute it?”

“Put it on the books for now,” Yan Yu answered without hesitation. “For the part we can’t fully convert this time, we’ll just record it under each person’s name and roll it into the next settlement. If there’s still leftover then, we’ll push it to the following one.”

Troublesome, but a sound solution.

“Big Brother, have you rinsed the silver Magistrate Tian gave us?” Yan Yu asked.

Xiangheng nodded. “All washed. It’s drying in the courtyard.”

Yan Yu: …

Aren’t you worried someone might steal it?

But then again, this was a village where everyone knew everyone. There were no surveillance cameras, true—but there was a group of elderly “security sentries” more effective than any tech, sitting on that big rock every day. No one could sneak into their yard unnoticed.

She relaxed.

“The Government Office gave us one tael and three qian of silver, plus one string of copper coins. All exchanged at the official rate. If we used market value, we actually lost a little,” Yan Yu said, frowning for a moment before letting it go. “But there’s no helping that. Thankfully, we don’t really have much silver-based trade with the outside world right now, so it’s not a big issue.”

“I’ll go let Grandpa Village Chief know,” said Yan Xiangheng. “We’ll gather everyone after dinner to distribute the money. Xiao Er, you get the ledger ready.”

Yan Yu’s eyes sparkled. “Big Brother, bring Fengnian along while you’re at it.”

Thinking she needed help verifying the Work Point records, Xiangheng nodded and agreed.

He first stopped by the Liang household across the way to call for little brother Fengnian, then went to the village square to inform everyone of the time for distribution.

Liang Fengnian had now developed the habit of carrying a satchel wherever he went. His mother had sewn it for him, modeled after the Yan family’s designs. It was neatly compartmentalized inside, with separate pockets for brushes, charcoal pencils, inkstone, ink sticks, bamboo flask, and a few stitched-together notebooks.

Of all the villagers, aside from the Yan siblings and their father, Liang Fengnian had adapted to using charcoal pencils the quickest.

If he didn’t still have to copy everything over in ink for Uncle Yan and his own father to read, he’d probably have given up writing with a brush altogether.

Charcoal pencils were light, fast, allowed for tiny, legible writing—perfect in every way.

As soon as he arrived, Liang Fengnian greeted Daya, then settled in naturally and turned to Yan Yu. “Xiao Er-jie, you called for me?”

Yan Yu beamed and pushed the papers and pen across the table in one swift motion.

“Here—this is all yours. I did the first few lines already. Just follow the format. If anything’s unclear, ask me.”

Daya paused mid-stroke and turned, surprise in her eyes.

Yan Yu flashed her eldest sister a toothy grin.

Ha! Bet you didn’t expect that—I found someone to take over for me!

Liang Fengnian, ever the earnest one, accepted the papers and sat upright when he saw they were the Work Points ledger. He carefully read over the names Yan Yu had already written.

He had been the one keeping track of Work Points for the herb gathering anyway, so he quickly figured out the format.

Only—

“Xiao Er-jie, I’m not too sure how to do the calculations for these last numbers,” he said in a quiet voice.

Yan Yu understood instantly. Triple-digit multiplication was still tough for little brother Fengnian.

“Leave them blank—I’ll fill them in later.”

With that handled, Yan Yu strolled off to check the pigpen in the yard.

The piglets had spent the past few days living at Granny Rong’s before moving over. Judging by how well they were settling in, it looked like the new pen suited them just fine.

Seeing her, Madam Cui grinned so wide her gums showed.

“Xiao Er! How’s the accounting going?”

“All done, Auntie,” Yan Yu replied. “You and Uncle just wait for the payout.”

Madam Cui was overjoyed. “Ah! We’re waiting, we’re waiting! Say, Xiao Er, your uncle’s been putting in thirty Work Points a day—how much is that worth in copper coins?”

Yan Yu clasped her hands behind her back and shook her head in mock solemnity. “Auntie, you’re aiming way too low. Just a few copper coins? That’s far too little!”

Madam Cui’s breath caught in excitement.

“Then what—over ten?! Oh my! Ten a day? That’s no small sum, no small sum at all!”

Yan Yu figured it was best to give her aunt a heads-up now. Otherwise, if the final payout turned out to be much higher than expected, she might actually faint from happiness.

She deliberately looked around. Madam Cui followed suit, her expression instantly alert. She hurried over, quickening her pace, and scanned the surroundings just as warily.

Yan Yu lowered her voice. “Auntie, you’d better be prepared. Uncle earned 30 Work Points a day. We’re settling for three days this time—that’s 90 Work Points. That’s not just a few dozen copper coins. It’s over two hundred.”

Shock!

Madam Cui’s pupils practically trembled.

She couldn’t even find her voice.

“What?! Two hundred?!” She slapped a hand over her mouth, and in her haste, managed to clamp her nose too, turning her face bright red from holding her breath.

“Auntie, don’t get too worked up yet—listen to me. That’s just for Uncle. Yours isn’t even counted yet. If we add yours in, it’ll be a few dozen more wen.”

“I… I can earn a few dozen wen too?” Madam Cui felt dizzy just thinking about it.

“Every household in the village earned quite a bit. But your family earned the most, mainly because Uncle’s skills are one-of-a-kind. He deserves to be paid more.”

Yan Yu thought to herself: And that’s not even counting the Work Points we’ve grouped under the Boy Scouts for Da Gouzi and Xiao Gouzi. If we’d divided the kids’ contributions into their households too, you’d be getting even more.

That’s right—this homebody just loves to calculate, to make every point and figure crystal clear~

(End of chapter)