Chapter 130: Dividends

After sharing a parting meal and exchanging tearful farewells with his fellow students, Su Lu returned to Sweet Water Records.

With the year drawing to a close, Sweet Water Records had finished making final home deliveries to its regular patrons. The shop was quiet and deserted, with only the proprietress and Su Youcai settling accounts behind the counter.

The two of them worked in seamless harmony: one flipped through the ledger and called out numbers, while the other clicked away on the abacus. They even exchanged lingering glances, creating a scene so overly sweet and affectionate that poor little Tian Tian looked like an eyesore standing off to the side.

Seeing Su Lu walk in, Tian Tian breathed a sigh of relief—finally, someone to keep her company while she watched this daily romance unfold. She hurried forward and took the food box from Su Lu's hands.

"Brother, are your holidays starting now?" Tian Tian asked happily.

"Yes, a whole month," Su Lu nodded.

"Then can you take me to stay at Erlang Beach for a few days? I miss little Jinbao." Tian Tian was subjected to this romantic dog food every day and her digestion simply couldn't handle it; she desperately needed a change of environment to give her stomach a rest.

"Of course no problem, but we're heading to the county town tomorrow," Su Lu smiled. "How about I take you along to spend the New Year in the county town?"

"Ah?" Tian Tian looked over at the proprietress; she couldn't make such a big decision on her own.

"Go on, go ahead," the proprietress waved a hand. "It's going to be busy right up until the New Year anyway, I won't even have time to cook for the child."

"I've been the one cooking lately..." Tian Tian muttered under her breath, then asked, "Mom, are you going for the New Year?"

"The temple fair starts on the first day of the New Year, I can't go anywhere," the proprietress called out the final number and said, "Just set your mind at ease and go celebrate the New Year with your brothers."

"Oh." Tian Tian felt a little disappointed, but still nodded obediently.

The proprietress let out a silent sigh. *Silly girl, if you don't go, how am I supposed to have an excuse to go?*

Outwardly, however, she pretended not to notice her daughter's slight moodiness, and excitedly called out to Su Lu, "Come here quickly, son, and look at this year's accounts!"

"You've already calculated them so early?" Su Lu was also eager and hurried forward.

"The last batch of goods was picked up this morning. As for the winery, the next batch won't need to be delivered until after the New Year," Su Youcai nodded, setting down his brush. "Your mother said we should clear the accounts before you boys leave, so the family can have something to be happy about!"

"Let me see just how happy we should be?" Su Lu rubbed his hands together in excitement, taking the final consolidated ledger handed to him by his godmother.

In this era, commoners had already broken through the limitations of the previous generation's single-entry running accounts, and merchants generally adopted a two-book accounting system. The running ledger recorded every transaction, receipt, and expense in chronological order, serving essentially as the "original vouchers."

Periodically, these running accounts were summarized by revenue and expenditure into a consolidated ledger, making profit calculation easy. There were also dedicated columns for accounts receivable and payable, making everything clear at a glance.

Su Lu turned to the summary page and saw that the profit column was divided into two items. The first was "Sweet Water Profit," which had generated a total annual profit of two hundred and ninety-five taels. However, one hundred and fifty taels had already been distributed as dividends, leaving the distributable profit for this sector at one hundred and forty-five taels.

"Truly remarkable!" Su Lu offered a heartfelt praise. To be able to turn such a large profit during the slow season of the second half of the year meant his godmother was simply, unimaginably capable!

"Keep looking," his godmother urged him to turn the page, looking like someone presenting a prized treasure.

Su Lu turned to the second page for "Wine Profit" and took a look at the figure at the top—five hundred and eighty taels!

He couldn't help but draw a sharp intake of breath. "Dad, did you calculate this wrong? So much?"

"How could such simple arithmetic be wrong? Arithmetic is one of the Six Arts of a gentleman!" Su Youcai shot him a look of utter confidence. "In my younger days when our winery closed the accounts at the end of the year, they used to invite me specifically to click the abacus!"

"Oh, oh," Su Lu nodded and flipped through the itemized details behind it. Indeed, it was relatively straightforward: a total of eighty thousand catties of wine had been sold, with a commission fee of ten cash per catty, resulting in a total revenue of eight hundred taels.

Various marketing, transportation, and labor expenses added up to two hundred and twenty taels, leaving a natural profit of five hundred and eighty taels.

It made one sigh with emotion—as expected, all the money ended up in the pockets of the middlemen...

"None of us expected the profit in this area to be so high. It's mainly thanks to the brothers at the winery working their fingers to the bone, actually managing to brew another forty thousand catties of wine even after the ordering fair!" the proprietress marveled. "Even if Erlang wine brews fast, human effort has to keep up with it."

"And isn't that thanks to your four hundred taels?" When it came to providing emotional value, Su Youcai was actually even better than Ma; apart from composing poetry, he knew how to praise the proprietress right down to her heart.

"Once everyone got their wages, they truly saw hope, so of course they fought tooth and nail to grab hold of it!"

While this statement applied to the clansmen, it made the proprietress's heart flutter and her autumn-water eyes ripple, a pool of spring water surrounding Su Youcai. She gently bit her red lips and murmured, "Second Brother..."

Tian Tian closed her eyes. *Too sickeningly sweet, I really can't swallow any more...*

"Cough, cough," Su Lu gave a fake cough, reminding the two of them to mind their influence since there was still a child present.

He then flipped to the third page, "Total Profit"—seven hundred and twenty-five taels.

Among this, the "Retained Surplus"—one hundred taels.

The distributable profit was six百 twenty-five taels.

"We still have to continue operations next year, we can't distribute all the money we earned," the proprietress explained. "So we left one hundred taels as capital to handle various expenses."

"Understood," Su Lu nodded. *Retained earnings, essentially,* he thought with a smile. "Distributing six hundred and twenty-five taels of silver is already plenty!"

He quickly calculated in his head: their family held a sixteen percent stake, which meant they would get exactly one hundred taels in dividends! Wouldn't Eldest Aunt be tickled to death?

But his godmother didn't calculate it that way. Instead, she said, "Lord Thousand-Householder holds a twenty percent stake, which should entitle him to one hundred and thirty taels. But I have to show a bit more filial respect on top of that, so if I round it up to two hundred taels for him, it will look very respectable, and the rest will all be ours!"

With that, she patted Su Lu's shoulder and beamed radiantly. "Well? Is your mother brilliant or what?"

"Brilliant, brilliant, simply too brilliant!" Su Lu quickly gave her a double thumbs-up, though he couldn't help glancing sideways at Su Youcai, feeling that his old man was even more brilliant.

To be able to make such a formidable godmother so utterly devoted and single-minded...

Wasn't this man also a kind of succubus? Except unlike Wang Yangming, who specialized in winning over men, his old man possessed a special attack against young matrons.

~~

Their family's income didn't end with just this venture...

Over at the Su Family Winery, in the head brewer's room, Su Daji and Su Tai were also putting their heads together over the accounts.

That very morning, Su Tai had led twenty robust young men to collect the final batch of payment for this year from Sweet Water Records. The clansmen were all eagerly counting on their dividend shares to celebrate the New Year—they naturally needed to get the accounts settled promptly.

When the proprietress and Su Tai took their stakes in the middle of the year, the accounts for the first half of the year had already been cleared. Therefore, they only needed to calculate the accounts for the second half.

"In the second half of the year, we procured a total of two hundred and three thousand catties of red sorghum at six cash per catty. The incurred but unpaid expenses altogether amount to one thousand two hundred and eighteen taels."

"Medicinal yeast plus other capital expenses totaled eight hundred taels and six hundred cash. The unpaid wages come out to four hundred taels and three hundred and fifty cash."

"So the total expenses are..." Su Daji paused and looked at Su Tai, who was keeping the ledger.

"Two thousand four hundred and eighteen taels and nine hundred and fifty cash," Su Tai rattled off without touching an abacus.

"Really?" Su Daji grabbed the abacus and clacked away at the beads. Not a single cash was off, prompting him to praise, "You rascal, you're no less capable than your two brothers."

"Hehe, far from it," Su Tai scratched his head with an honest smile.

"Next is the income that makes people happy—we put out a total of eighty thousand catties of goods in the second half, and every single cash of the payment was collected back without missing a single coin. It's truly miraculous, damn it!" Even though the money was already in hand, Su Daji still felt like he was dreaming.

In past years, didn't they always have to beg everyone they met just to get a batch of goods out, and then beg everyone all over again just to collect payment? Playing the humble servant all year round still resulted in selling very few goods and collecting very little money. How tragic was that?

And now? They didn't have to worry about a thing except brewing wine, and every coin of the accounts came right back. This was a joy they hadn't even experienced back when they still owned Langquan Well...

"At forty cash a catty, total revenue is three thousand two hundred taels. Deducting the capital, we are left with seven hundred and eighty-one taels and fifty cash." Su Tai mentally calculated the result once more and reminded Seventh Great-Uncle, "Actually, there are still forty thousand catties of red sorghum and the corresponding medicinal yeast prepared for work after the New Year; strictly speaking, those expenses should be counted toward next year."

"It's not like we're stopping work next year, no need to calculate it down to the exact hair," Su Daji waved his hand. "Out of these seven hundred and eighty taels, according to our agreement when the stakes were taken, half will be used to pay off old debts, and the other half will be brought out for dividends!"

The debts of the Su family were no small sum; if they hadn't been on the verge of losing their shirts back then, they would never have been willing to give the proprietress a thirty percent stake.

Naturally, Su Tai had no objections. He nodded and calculated, "Godmother has a twenty percent stake, so she gets seventy-eight taels. I have a ten percent stake, so I get thirty-nine taels. The remaining two hundred and seventy-three taels are for the clan to divide. My grandfather said our family won't participate in taking that share."

"Hey, business is business," Su Daji pushed back, declining the offer. "According to the rules, as long as someone is eighteen, male or female, they get a share."

"We can't take any more, or the clansmen will start gossiping behind our backs," Su Tai shook his head. "We didn't expect it to be this profitable back then, otherwise we certainly wouldn't have just taken ten percent."

"Hehe..." Su Daji thought to himself that the proprietress's twenty percent wasn't going to an outsider anyway. But he gave this money up willingly and with complete conviction. He said in a deep voice to Su Tai:

"The reason we have what we have today relies on two things: first, the recipe for Erlang wine, and second, the methods of the proprietress and your father."

"Otherwise, when the end of the year rolled around, I wouldn't even dare show my face at Erlang Beach for fear of creditors tearing me limb from limb." With that, he sighed with deep emotion.

"The proprietress could actually make even more money cooperating with her own maiden family. At least she wouldn't have to take half of the profits to help our winery pay off old debts! Our entire clan will remember this kindness for a lifetime. Whoever feels regretful about it now is a heartless bastard whose future sons will be born without assholes!"

"My godmother is my godmother, I'm talking about our Sixth Branch," Su Tai insisted. "If we say we don't want it, we don't want it! Seventh Great-Uncle, you have to let our family maintain our standing in the clan, don't you?"

"Sigh, fine, let's leave it at that for this year. I'll talk it over with the clan head later and see how we can compensate your family," seeing he couldn't refuse, Su Daji stopped pressing the matter. He then pulled out a list obtained from the clan head, which recorded the number of adults in each branch.

As it happened, after subtracting the nine adults of the Sixth Branch, the remaining seventeen branches added up precisely to two hundred and seventy-three people! Exactly one tael per person!

Don't underestimate that one tael—when distributed by household, it added up significantly, averaging about sixteen taels per household! Take the Second Branch, for instance, which still hadn't split up their household; they could receive a full twenty-eight taels!

Of course, their family also had a large population, totaling forty people counting children of all sizes...

The Sixth Branch was considered to have a very small population. The branches with even fewer people were the newly established later branches, which could still receive five, six, seven, or eight taels. Though the money wasn't massive, the number of mouths to feed in those households was also small, so it all worked out much the same in the end.

*(Author's Note: Three chapters today. Suddenly realized that three chapters also counts as an extra chapter release! The monk has always been adding extra chapters. You can still ask for monthly votes and subscriptions! (Pfft, shameless bald thief!))*