Mu Deyi frowned slightly as he saw Mu's mother approaching alone.
"Where's Jingmei? Why didn't she come?" Mu Deyi was helping to gut fish when Mu's mother arrived. After exchanging a few words with the others nearby, she went to have her meal.
"Jingmei said she's been too tired these past few days and isn't feeling well. She wanted to rest at home today," Mu's mother replied softly.
Mu Deyi took the lunchbox, his brow furrowing, but he didn’t say anything more.
Working overtime that night was indeed extra labor, but after discussing it with Wu Zhenggui, Song Nianchu had arranged for everyone to work late, offering double the usual work points. Even though it meant staying up, everyone was enthusiastic, and not a single person was absent.
Still, it was additional work, and if Mu Jingmei didn’t want to come, Mu Deyi couldn’t force her. He had never been the type of parent to push his children too hard.
But deep down, he felt somewhat uneasy, thinking Mu's mother had raised Jingmei to be a bit too delicate.
After all, even Mu Haoxuan and Mu Yongnian had joined in the overtime work.
"..."
The workload was so heavy that Wu Zhenggui hadn’t even assigned the city folks to go out to sea.
The entire village worked tirelessly for a month, finally completing the first phase of the contract.
While everyone was pushing hard to meet production demands, the fishing nets were also delivered ahead of schedule.
That day, Song Nianchu returned to Qinghe Fishing Village with a pocket full of money and headed straight for Mu Deyi’s office.
She asked him to calculate exactly how much they had earned that month.
Mu Deyi first recorded all the accounts before starting the calculations. An old, worn-out abacus sat beside him—a relic Wu Zhenggui had dug up from his home.
The dimly lit room was silent except for the rapid clicking of the abacus beads under Mu Deyi’s fingers.
Song Nianchu and Wu Zhenggui watched him nervously.
Song Nianchu had a rough estimate in mind but wasn’t sure of the exact amount. She just hoped it wouldn’t be less than she expected.
After a while, the sound of the abacus stopped.
"How much did we make?" Song Nianchu asked eagerly.
Mu Deyi stared at the numbers he had calculated, momentarily speechless.
"What’s wrong? Did we not make any profit?" Wu Zhenggui’s heart sank at Mu Deyi’s expression.
"That can’t be. We definitely made something. Was it too little? Even if it’s small, it’s fine as long as we didn’t lose money," Song Nianchu reasoned.
Mu Deyi managed the accounts strictly, squeezing the procurement budget repeatedly. If they still ended up in the red under such tight control, someone must have been embezzling!
Growing impatient with Mu Deyi’s silence, Song Nianchu stepped forward to look for herself.
The moment she saw the numbers, her eyes nearly popped out of her head.
"This… this…"
"What? What is it?" Wu Zhenggui hurried over.
But he wasn’t familiar with the accounts and only saw a string of numbers written in the ledger.
"Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands…" Wu Zhenggui counted, his grip on his tobacco pipe faltering.
"Is this… really the money our village made?" His voice trembled.
"That’s right. After deducting all expenses, our net profit so far is… eleven thousand, two hundred twenty-three yuan, eighty-six fen," Mu Deyi enunciated slowly.
Wu Zhenggui staggered at the figure, nearly collapsing if not for Song Nianchu steadying him.
"Ten thousand? Our village… made ten thousand yuan?" His voice shook uncontrollably.
"Yes, ten thousand!" Mu Deyi, too, was surprised by the unexpectedly high profit.
"A-Chu, we’re rich! We’re rich!" Wu Zhenggui turned to Song Nianchu, his aged eyes reddening as if tears were about to spill.
"Yes, our village has money now," Song Nianchu nodded firmly.
"Accountant Mu, set aside the funds needed for the village’s future development and allocate a portion for dividends to the villagers," she instructed.
"Dividends now?" Mu Deyi was taken aback.
Usually, dividends were distributed at the end of the year after the grain was handed over, allowing everyone to celebrate a prosperous New Year.
"Yes, we’re distributing them now!" Song Nianchu emphasized.
The villagers needed to see that their hard work paid off—literally. It would boost morale and productivity for future projects.
"Alright, I’ll calculate the amounts," Mu Deyi agreed.
From an employer’s perspective, Song Nianchu was only increasing her own workload.
But from the workers’ standpoint, her decision was nothing short of brilliant.
After all, who didn’t love getting paid?
After further discussion, Song Nianchu and Mu Deyi accounted for the costs of building a factory and other miscellaneous expenses, leaving three hundred twenty yuan for dividends.
"Isn’t this too little?" Mu Deyi frowned.
Qinghe Fishing Village had over three hundred people. Divided equally, each person would get barely one yuan.
"It’s not little at all. Do you know how much our village used to make in a month?" Song Nianchu was more than satisfied with the amount.
"How much?" Mu Deyi wasn’t familiar with the village’s past finances.
"Last year, our highest-earning month brought in eighteen yuan for the entire village," Song Nianchu revealed.
Mu Deyi froze, needing confirmation.
"You mean… the whole village made eighteen yuan?"
"Yes, the whole village."
Suddenly, Mu Deyi understood why Song Nianchu considered the current sum substantial.
"Right, right! This is more than enough, especially since we’ve also budgeted for the factory. Once built, it’ll be an asset for the entire village," Wu Zhenggui chimed in, finally regaining his composure.
"Very well. If this is what you’ve decided, we’ll proceed with the dividends." Mu Deyi’s expression softened as he counted out three hundred twenty yuan and handed it solemnly to Song Nianchu.
Clutching the thick stack of bills, Song Nianchu felt an overwhelming sense of accomplishment.
In the future, she would earn even more!
"..."
News of the dividends spread like wildfire through Qinghe Fishing Village. The moment Wu Zhenggui’s broadcast ended, the entire village rushed to the square.
Song Nianchu and Mu Deyi had already set up tables and chairs, with a cloth bag full of cash placed beside them.
The sight of the money made everyone’s eyes gleam.
"A-Chu, are we really getting dividends now? Not after the fishing ban?" Wu Gang, the fastest to arrive, pressed excitedly.
"We’ll distribute some now, and there’ll be more before the New Year!" Song Nianchu announced loudly before adding, "Tell everyone to line up properly. Stop pushing—my table’s about to tip over!"
