Small?

On the way home, Xu Huaiqian kept thinking about this sentence, and couldn’t figure out where he was small?

Age?

In his previous life, he was already 27! He had been single for 27 years, and finally got a beautiful wife. Who made him ten years younger, so that now he couldn’t even have sex with his wife.

As for other places——

He had never seen them, so why did he say he were small?

Xu Huaiqian felt a little wronged. He was a little thin, but he was still a normal man. It hurt his self-esteem to be called that by his wife.

Chen Liejiu didn’t know that Xu Huaiqian had such a rich inner drama. He drove the ox cart back home as fast as possible. The night breeze was a little cold in autumn, and he was afraid that Xu Huaiqian’s body couldn’t stand it.

Wang Wanwan and Chen Xiaomei had already prepared dinner and were waiting for them at home.

As soon as they got home, the two came out to greet them.

 Wang Wanwan opened the door of the fenced yard, and Chen Xiaomei came out: “Big Brother, Second Brother, you are finally back. I almost fell asleep waiting!”

Chen Liejiu, who felt that he had done something bad on the road, coughed awkwardly and said nonsense: “The old cow nibbled on the tender grass on the road, which delayed some time.”

Hearing this, Xu Huaiqian glanced at Chen Liejiu, thinking that this cow is not old. It is young and beautiful, and he is willing to be nibbled on tender grass.

“Huh?” Chen Xiaomei didn’t understand the wit in Chen Liejiu’s words, and asked in confusion, “There is still tender grass at this time of year?” It’s autumn now, and the grass in the field has begun to turn yellow. Where can tender grass grow?

 Children don’t have so many twists and turns in their minds. Xu Huaiqian was afraid that if she asked a few more questions, Chen Liejiu’s straightforwardness would be seen through, so he quickly changed the subject: “Is there hot water? I want to wash my hands.”

“Yes, there is always hot water in the kitchen.” Wang Wanwan replied. Since Chen Liejiu went to pick up Xu Huaiqian in the afternoon, she has never stopped the fire in the kitchen.

Wang Wanwan wanted to help Xu Huaiqian get water, but Xu Huaiqian refused. He had hands and feet, and he didn’t need a girl younger than him to serve him for such a small matter.

He walked straight to the kitchen and found a lot of charcoal piled in a corner of the kitchen. Even the stove for boiling water was filled with charcoal. He used cold water mixed with some hot water to wash off the blood on his hands, thinking, when did the family buy charcoal?

 While he was washing his hands, Wang Wanwan had already prepared the meal. When he came out of the kitchen, she called him, “Brother, it’s time to eat.”

“Okay.” Xu Huaiqian walked to the main hall with candles, sat down side by side with Chen Liejiu, and asked him, “Did you buy charcoal?” Half of the kitchen was filled with charcoal, so he had to remind Wanwan to be careful when making fire.

Chen Liejiu did not answer directly, but imitated Xu Huaiqian and said vaguely, “Guess?”

Xu Huaiqian picked up the bowl and saw the corners of his eyes and eyebrows that he could not hide, and suddenly understood, “Did you make charcoal?”

“Hehe.” Chen Liejiu smiled, did not answer, and picked up some dishes for Xu Huaiqian, “Eat first, eat first, and talk after dinner.”

Xu Huaiqian glanced at him and ate without saying anything.

While eating, he saw Wang Wanwan opposite them. He thought of something, and suddenly asked, “Has Xiaohu not come home yet?”

He remembered that when he first crossed over, Chen Liejiu told him that Chen Jinhu would not be back until next month. He had been here for four or five months, so four or five months had passed, but he still hadn’t seen Chen Jinhu.

“Soon.” Chen Liejiu always ate very quickly out of habit. “The people from their escort agency sent someone to tell me that he had taken another order without taking a break after taking the previous one, so he should be back soon.”

Wang Wanwan had a happy smile on her face, but after hearing what Chen Liejiu said, she was so discouraged that she even ate much slower.

“Eat slowly, no one is competing with you, be careful not to choke.” Xu Huaiqian saw that he was still talking while eating so fast, and kept reminding him. At the end, when he finished speaking, he continued, “Then when you wait for him to come back, you have to talk to him. You can’t give up your family for money.” Girls who fall in love early can’t afford to be hurt.

 “I know.” After hearing what Xu Huaiqian said, Chen Liejiu slowed down his eating speed and glanced at Wang Wanwan, “I have already told the people in the escort agency that he must go home after completing this mission, otherwise he can never come back.”

In fact, his original words were: If he finishes this mission and doesn’t come back, he will marry Wanwan off!

Anyway, the laws of the Jin Dynasty support women and gers to divorce and remarry. For someone like Chen Jinhu who hasn’t returned home for several months without saying anything, it is very likely that his wife and mother will run away when he returns.

Wanwan is virtuous and capable, and many families in the village are watching her. Anyway, they have only worshipped heaven and earth and have not consummated their marriage, so why can’t they remarry?

People in the countryside are not as particular as people in the city. Some poor families even want a fool to have a wife, let alone a beautiful and capable Wanwan.

Xu Huaiqian nodded. He should be scared. He should come home after completing a mission.

 Chen Xiaomei saw that Xu Huaiqian had asked Wanwan, but didn’t ask him. She took the initiative to speak while eating: “Second brother, why don’t you ask how much silver our chicks sold for?”

Xu Huaiqian put down his chopsticks and asked her obediently: “How much silver did our chicks sell for?”

“Sixteen taels!” Two months later, Chen Xiaomei’s arithmetic obviously improved a lot. She kept talking while eating, “Second brother, we earned six taels the month you left home! It was too hot in June and July, and many kinds of eggs were bad, so we earned one tael less. It was agreed that half would be given to second brother, that is eight taels!”

After she said that, she put down her chopsticks, ran to her room and gave eight taels of silver to Xu Huaiqian with sparkling eyes: “Here, second brother!”

This is the money for hatching chicks. Xu Huaiqian didn’t get involved in anything except the technology. Chen Xiaomei and Wang Wanwan were the ones who were tired. Xu Huaiqian looked at the eight taels of silver in her hand shining brightly by the candlelight and felt unworthy: “You have been busy these past few months. You can use this money to buy candy. I won’t take it.”

“How can this be!” Chen Xiaomei disagreed with everything. She took Xu Huaiqian’s hand and forcefully stuffed the silver into his hand. “We agreed to half each, so it must be half each. Businessmen can’t go back on their words!”

She added: “Even if it’s family, you can’t be perfunctory. Brothers have to settle accounts!”

Xu Huaiqian, who was about to say ‘We are a family, it doesn’t matter who has the money’, was speechless.

 He was stunned for a moment. Since Chen Xiaomei said so, he did not force it and accepted it. He smiled at Chen Xiaomei and said, “Our Xiaomei is so principled and can endure hardships. She will definitely do something big in the future!”

“Of course.” Chen Xiaomei raised her head proudly.

Just when she was happy, Xu Huaiqian changed the subject: “But before you do something big, shouldn’t you learn to read?”

This was when he was teaching Chen Wu to read.

Chen Liejiu asked Chen Wu to bring him food and teach him to read. Xu Huaiqian used the time to get food every day to teach Chen Wu two words. After two months, he knew about a hundred words and could read some bills and IOUs.

He suddenly thought of Chen Xiaomei, who was not very good at calculating at home.

In modern times, eight years old should be old enough to go to school, but in the countryside of this era, it is really difficult for a girl to go to school.

 Let’s not talk about whether the teacher will accept her, just say that people here believe that boys and girls should not sit together after the age of seven. If he lets Xiaomei go to school, those who don’t want their children to go to school with girls will make a fuss.

Instead of causing trouble everywhere, Xu Huaiqian thought it would be better for him to teach in person.

It just so happened that when he went to the countryside to help the poor, he had also taught in the village.

When Chen Xiaomei heard what Xu Huaiqian said, she was stunned: “What? I still need to learn to read?”

Even Chen Xiaomei, who was taught by Chen Liejiu to be out of tune with other girls, knew that girls were not qualified to learn to read. Even if there were girls, they had to be girls from wealthy families. What qualifications did she have?

 Xu Huaiqian saw her so surprised and asked: “Why? Don’t you want to learn to read?”

“No,” Chen Xiaomei shook her head and looked at Xu Huaiqian in confusion, “Why should I learn to read?”

“To do better accounting.” Xu Huaiqian certainly wouldn’t tell an eight-year-old girl that it was for the sake of understanding things, and he directly started from her hobbies, “So that you can do your big business more smoothly in the future.”

Xu Huaiqian met her eyes: “Don’t you want your business to grow bigger and bigger in the future, but you can’t count the number of eggs and still can’t do account books.”

Chen Xiaomei also said directly: “I have money now, I can find someone who can read to help me.” She asked, the shopkeeper in the town only paid 500 wen to one tael of silver a month, and she can afford it now.

Xu Huaiqian, who had a plan for dealing with it, asked her: “If he deceived you and gave you less silver, would you know?”

Chen Xiaomei was silent.

 Xu Huaiqian patiently persuaded: “So it seems that it is better to learn to read?”

Chen Xiaomei nodded in agreement.

Seeing that one person was persuaded, Xu Huaiqian asked Wang Wanwan: “Wanwan, do you want to learn with me?”

Wang Wanwan was stunned for a moment: “Can I, too?”

“Of course!” Teaching one person is the same as teaching a group. Since we have already paid for teaching, why not teach them all together?

Wang Wanwan’s face was rarely filled with a happy smile: “Thank you, second brother.”

Seeing this, Xu Huaiqian also smiled: “We are a family, you are welcome.” Girls should be bright and cheerful.

After washing up in the evening, Chen Liejiu asked Xu Huaiqian who was sitting on the bed: “Why did you think of teaching Xiaomei to read?”

“It just so happens that I have time after the imperial examination. I am idle at home anyway, so I might as well find something to do.”

After this imperial examination, whether he passes or not, the academy will give a long vacation. It’s so that those who pass the exam can adapt to their new identity, and those who do not pass the exam can adjust their mood.

Xu Huaiqian felt that whether he passed or not, he had to find something to adjust himself, and he could not read books all the time. He had a little psychological stress reaction to reading recently. He wanted to vomit blood when he saw the imperial examination books. After the imperial examination, he wanted to take a good rest.

 “Thank you, Ah Qian.” Chen Liejiu sincerely thanked Xu Huaiqian. He originally wanted to teach Chen Xiaomei to read, but he was running around all day and had no time to rest.

If it goes on any longer, Xiaomei will grow up!

Fortunately, there is Xu Huaiqian at home who can help him share some of the burden.

Chen Liejiu looked at Xu Huaiqian with gratitude, and there was a little complacency in his gratitude. It must be that he has a good eye and the man he chose is not bad!

-Ah Qian.

Here, the husband’s intimate name for the husband.

 “——No.” Xu Huaiqian moved his fingertips, and the impolite words were on the tip of his tongue. He paused, suddenly changed his mind, and pursed his lips, “Just thank you verbally?”

Chen Liejiu saw that Xu Huaiqian seemed a little unhappy, and hurriedly moved to his side and took the handkerchief he was twisting his hair with: “I’ll help you twist your hair to thank you.”

Xu Huaiqian pursed his lips: “No actual expression?”

Chen Liejiu instantly understood what he meant and smiled: “Do you like kissing so much?”

Before Xu Huaiqian nodded, a warm touch covered his lips.

He pursed his lips on his lips. Even a kiss that only touched the skin was enough to make Xu Huaiqian’s heart palpitate.

Chen Liejiu let him go: “Is this enough?”

Xu Huaiqian felt the numbness from his lips to his heart, and was happy: “Enough!”

After being kissed by his wife twice and sleeping with his wife all night, Xu Huaiqian finally felt alive. 

He is himself at home, but he is a tight spring in the academy!

“Are you up? Do you want to sleep a little longer?”

The next day, Chen Liejiu, who was feeding cattle in the yard, saw that Xu Huaiqian had gotten up early and asked.

Xu Huaiqian shook his head. He got up at this time in the academy. He had developed a habit and couldn’t fall asleep.

“After breakfast, do you want to go to my treasure mountain?” Chen Liejiu invited Xu Huaiqian. He heard that the imperial examination was very hard. He didn’t want to persuade Xu Huaiqian, who had worked so hard for so long, to give up, but he could still help him adjust his mood.

Treasure mountain?

As soon as he heard the name, Xu Huaiqian knew that he must be burning charcoal. He guessed it last night.

 Therefore, after breakfast, Xu Huaiqian, who was invited by Chen Liejiu to see his treasure mountain, asked on Chen Liejiu’s oxcart: “How did you think of burning charcoal?”

“It wasn’t me who thought of it, it was you who thought of it!” Chen Liejiu drove the oxcart out of the village road, and couldn’t help but raise the corners of his lips. Oh, his young husband is so good that he can’t count them all. What should he do?

“I thought of it?” Xu Huaiqian was full of doubts, “When did I think of it?”

Seeing that he couldn’t remember, Chen Liejiu curled his lips and didn’t rush: “Think about it again?”

Xu Huaiqian flipped through his memory. He was very sure that he had never told Chen Liejiu about burning charcoal. His wife wouldn’t put all the credit on him just to coax him, right?

 Facing Xu Huaiqian’s suspicious eyes, Chen Liejiu smiled and finally stopped keeping him in suspense: “You forgot. What did you mutter when I asked the master to come make the kang?”

Xu Huaiqian really had no impression at all: “I don’t remember.”

Chen Liejiu said what he muttered: “You said at that time, ‘If you can make a kang, can you make a kiln? If you make a kiln to burn bricks and charcoal, wouldn’t the earth and wood all over the mountains be gold that you can pick up at will?'”

He said this. Xu Huaiqian seemed to be a little affected, but he immediately rejected it after he finished speaking, because he remembered that the earth and wood here are not something you can move whenever you want. It’s okay for the original owner’s parents to go into the mountains to collect firewood and sell it, but if you use the country’s land and trees to burn bricks and charcoal for profit, do you think you will be sanctioned?

But what surprised Xu Huaiqian was that Chen Liejiu remembered this sentence he muttered casually.

 Facing his young husband’s look that could be seen through at a glance, Chen Liejiu smiled: “I’m not that amazing, it was Chen Wu who reminded me.”

He briefly explained Chen Wu’s whimsical imagination: “I just felt that his words were so familiar, and then I remembered your words.”

“That’s also amazing.” Xu Huaiqian sighed sincerely. For example, he couldn’t remember what he said or did ten days ago, and it was a very small thing. If Chen Liejiu was in their era, he would not believe that he would not do a big business.

Being praised by his young husband, Chen Liejiu’s expression was beyond words.

“Then what?” Xu Huaiqian began to be curious about the direction of the plot, “How did you take over the mountain and start the charcoal burning business?”

He never got tired of listening to stories about people getting rich from nothing.

 “I didn’t take it!” Chen Liejiu was full of pride, “They gave it to me on their own initiative!”

This story started two months ago when he came back from visiting Xu Huaiqian at the academy.

At that time, after being reminded by Chen Wu, he thought of the method of burning bricks and charcoal, and wanted to bring everyone back to discuss how to do this.

As soon as he entered the village, he was surrounded by a large group of people, all of whom were clan members who wanted to settle accounts with him. They held sticks and hoes and demanded that their clan elders give an explanation for his behavior!

Originally, we are all clans, and there are always some shabby things in every clan. Chen Liejiu brought people to directly expose all the shabby things in their clan. They not only had to pay taxes, but also lost credibility in the village.

Without clan members to take care of their fields, what would they eat and drink?

Of course, this statement is definitely a bit exaggerated. After all, it is a clan that dominates the township. How could there be no one to take care of the fields? At most, it would just lose some rent.

But they are all clans, so how could they be willing to let Chen Liejiu ride on their heads and bully them? What’s more, Chen Liejiu is a ger, and the elders can’t tolerate it.

So several clan members decided to join forces to make trouble in Xinghua Village and demanded that the Chen clan members give them an explanation.

 To be honest, at first the Chen clan didn’t want to care at all, because Chen Liejiu had been asking for debts all year round. From time to time people came to the village to make trouble, which Chen Liejiu could handle by himself.

But this time it was really a bit of a big deal, and several clan leaders came.

The Chen clan elders had to come forward.

But the key is that it’s useless for them to come forward. They don’t know when Chen Liejiu offended so many clans. It doesn’t seem to be worth it for them to offend so many clans for Chen Liejiu. Therefore, they, like other clans, blocked Chen Liejiu who always wanted to go back to the village at the entrance of the village!

Who is Chen Liejiu?

He thinks he is a fearless person!

At that time, so many people surrounded him at the entrance of the village, and even some people from the Chen clan wanted to call back the people behind him and let him solve it himself. He just glanced at them coldly, without any fear.

He didn’t believe that these mobs could do anything to him.

 As expected, a group of rabble would only hold sticks and yell: “Chen Liejiu! You are a bastard! Too lawless! If you don’t give us an explanation today, don’t even think about letting it go!”

Chen Liejiu laughed at the time: “Explanation? What explanation? You owe taxes to the government office, and it is only natural for me to help the government office collect taxes. What explanation do you want? Is it enough to say that you are rich and unkind, have no respect for the law, and bring disaster to the village?!”

A group of clansmen were so angry: “Chen Liejiu, don’t be so arrogant. Do you think your clan can protect you with so many of us gathered here today?!”

The clans in the countryside are formed by the clansmen of the same surname over thousands or hundreds of years. The Jin Dynasty was only founded for more than 40 years, and the bandit spirit of many clan leaders has not yet dissipated. They thought they could intimidate Chen Liejiu.

 “Really?” Chen Liejiu just curled his lips, with a look of disbelief, “How about we make a bet? I can make the clan continue to protect me in just three words.”

They don’t believe it!

At that time, all the clan members looked at Chen Liejiu as if they were looking at a fool. How could it be possible? How could they ask him for help? Who did he think he was? In the village, the county magistrate had to look at their face, let alone a ger.

And the elders of the Chen clan were also confused. Chen Liejiu would not think that he had caused such a big mess, and they would have to do their best to protect him, right? Even if he was protected, their Chen clan would collapse. The clan could not sacrifice so much for a ger.

Chen Liejiu took in the expressions of these people one by one, without any fear.

The world is bustling for profit, and the world is bustling for profit. Their conflicts today are all for profit, why can’t they go for profit?

 When he thought of this, he raised his lips and said slowly, “What if I have a way to make the whole clan earn thousands of taels of silver without spending a penny, and every household can earn at least three or five taels of silver every year?”

——Wow!

The crowd exploded!

How is this possible!

Even if they are a clan, they are not very rich. Otherwise why do they embezzle the taxes paid to the government every year? It is because they don’t have any. If they have, it’s just a few dozen taels of grain tax, who cares.

Thousands of taels! Chen Liejiu is really bold to say that. He helps the government collect their taxes. It’s hard to say whether he has earned twenty taels, let alone thousands of taels. Does he know how much thousands of taels are? He dares to speak up.

In short, no one from other clans believes it. They think that Chen Liejiu is here to deceive them, just to prevent them from trouble with him today. If they let him go, they will be really stupid.

 Other clans didn’t believe it, but the elder of Chen clan was completely shocked after Chen Liejiu finished speaking, because he knew that Chen Liejiu was not a boaster at all, and he always kept his word.

A person’s reputation is like a tree’s shadow.

If someone else had said this today, the elders of Chen clan would have left without hesitation, but since it was Chen Liejiu who said this, they hesitated.

After thinking for a moment, he asked Chen Liejiu, “Liejiu ger, are all your words true? If they are false, do you know the consequences if we do our best to protect you…”

“Of course it’s true!” Chen Liejiu immediately took out his dagger and held it in front of everyone, “I, Chen Liejiu, swear here that if I tell a lie, I will be stabbed with three knives and stabbed six times, and I will let the clan deal with me!”

Three knives and six stabs is a very heavy oath for the people of Chen clan, and almost no one can survive these three stabs.

 Swear to death, and repay the promise!

Then the people of other clans saw that the people of the Chen clan drove them out like crazy, and threatened to fight them every time they came. If they dared to touch Chen Liejiu, they would be against their entire Chen clan!

Chen Liejiu still feels very happy when he recalls the unbelievable expressions on the faces of those clan leaders of other clans.

He likes to see others hate him but can’t do anything about him!

However, he was not so arrogant in front of Xu Huaiqian. He cut off the beginning and the end and said vaguely: “Anyway, they heard that I have a way to make a lot of money and need mountains, so they came to me with mountains.”

Xu Huaiqian always believed what Chen Liejiu said: “You are so powerful, the tribe actually trusts you.”

Facing Xu Huaiqian’s admiring eyes, Chen Liejiu’s vanity suddenly burst: “Of course, who is your husband? Your husband can lead the tribe to collect debts in the village at the age of seventeen. Why don’t they trust me!”

Xu Huaiqian’s admiration for Chen Liejiu immediately increased to a higher level.

His wife is really powerful.

 When he was seventeen, he was still studying for the college entrance examination, and his eyes were red from studying. Now he is repeating what he did when he was seventeen. Even after changing time and space, he still cannot escape the fate of exams…

Xu Huaiqian was very curious about Chen Liejiu: “Why are you so confident that you can succeed? Aren’t you afraid of failure?”

It is not easy to do a joint business, especially a business with clansmen. If it is done well, it is good, but if it fails…

In his previous life, Xu Huaiqian had seen many brothers and fathers become enemies in a joint business, not to mention this kind of clansmen  who have no blood relationship. Chen Liejiu dared to boast to them that he would make money 100% when he had nothing. Is he really not afraid at all?

“No, I believe in myself.” Chen Liejiu touched his nose guiltily when he met Xu Huaiqian’s eyes. In fact, he was still a little afraid.

But he was already there at the time. What could he do? He could only bite the bullet.

 If he fails, he will die. At worst, he can pack up and run away with his family. But it will be hard for Xu Huaiqian to live in exile before he can live a good life with him.

He even thought about it. If he ran out of money on the road, he would go begging with Xu Huaiqian. He would be in charge of shouting, and Xu Huaiqian would squat there without doing anything. His sickly appearance would attract a group of sympathetic people to throw money into his bowl.

But God still favored him!

He first found the master who made the kang and asked him if he could make a charcoal kiln. The master was dumbfounded when he heard it. He had made kangs for so many years and had never heard of a charcoal kiln. But Chen Liejiu insisted that he make one to try. What could he do? He could only make one.

 It was not smooth at the beginning. The wood in the kiln could not produce charcoal at all. It was either extinguished or turned into ash. There was charcoal, but it was the lowest grade stove charcoal, with thick choking smoke. It was okay to use it for making a fire in winter, but forget about selling it. Who would buy it? !

Every household usually saves it for burning fire.

What Chen Liejiu wanted was the kind of shaped ash charcoal, which had less smoke, was not choking, was easy to sell, and was expensive!

He thought that if he could make charcoal by burning fire at home, why couldn’t he make it by using a kiln?

Doesn’t this kiln look similar to the stove for burning firewood? Since the stove can make stove charcoal, why can’t the kiln make ash charcoal?

This is also the reason why he firmly believes that the kiln burning method mentioned by Xu Huaiqian must be feasible, but he has not found the right method yet.

 He led people to dig a kiln in the mountains, and they almost dug the mountain bare. During this period, he wanted to go to the academy to ask Xu Huaiqian how the kiln was built, but when he thought that he would disturb Xu Huaiqian’s mind, he gave up and told Chen Wu not to tell Xu Huaiqian anything. He didn’t believe that Chen Liejiu couldn’t figure it out by himself.

Later, he finally figured it out. It turned out that he only needed to leave a vent under the kiln wall facing the fire mouth, just like the chimney of the stove, and let it exhaust.

It was so simple, but he and everyone else spent half a month to figure it out. He was so stupid.

Fortunately, he didn’t go to Xu Huaiqian to ask. If he had asked, he would know that Xu Huaiqian would definitely look at him as if he was a fool. Others can look at him like this, but his husband can’t! It will make him feel useless!

 Later, he led people to burn charcoal in the mountains. He sold a cart of charcoal for three taels of silver. He split the profit with his clan members 30% to 70%, with 30% for him and 70% for the clan members. He didn’t take a bath for a month and a half to make money. When he came out, he was as black as coal.

Wanwan boiled water for a day, and he soaked in the water for a day before washing himself and running to see Xu Huaiqian.

Xu Huaiqian didn’t dislike him last night, which proved that he was still quite clean, hehe.

Chen Liejiu was explaining the charcoal burning to Xu Huaiqian, and the villagers were also talking about it.

“It looks like Chen Liejiu’s business is up now.”

“It must be up now. I don’t know how much money they make from pulling so many carts of charcoal out to sell every day.”

It’s autumn, and it’s a good time to sell charcoal. Many families start preparing charcoal at this time. Otherwise, when it’s cold and freezing, who will deliver charcoal? And the price of charcoal will also increase by then.

 It is said that several shops in the county have ordered dozens of carts of charcoal from Chen Liejiu.

One cart costs three taels, even if there are only ten carts, it must be thirty taels! The Chen clan has been rooted here for hundreds of years, and the forests are all theirs. It doesn’t need money, and they can cut them at will. It is simply a business with no cost.

“Who doesn’t envy the people of the Chen clan now? There is such a capable ger who can make a fortune for the whole clan!”

When talking about this, the villagers sighed. If they had known that Chen Liejiu was so capable, they would have given him a husband. Otherwise, how could they take one of their family members to do the charcoal burning job now?

It is said that those who go to burn charcoal are paid three hundred wen a day, not to mention those who don’t need to burn charcoal. Those who have forests at home can make money by sitting at home and waiting for people to collect wood.

 It’s a pity that they don’t accept people outside the clan. Even the foot of the mountain is guarded day and night to ensure that not even a mosquito can fly in, for fear that this way of making money will be found.

When they thought of this, many people regretted it. They regretted that they didn’t know the gold and jade and mistook the pearls for fish eyes, letting Xu Huaiqian, the sickly boy, get this big bargain for nothing. Now, who among the men in the village doesn’t envy Xu Huaiqian? He won without doing anything!

But when they thought that there were people who were worse off than them, they felt relieved: “Fugui, do you regret it? If you had talked to Huaiqian and let him marry into Chen Liejiu’s family in a grand manner, wouldn’t you be able to get in touch with them now?”

“Let’s not talk about the charcoal, just hatching chicks, you can also earn a little money and make life better for the family, right?”

Bullshit!

Ma Cuifen was sitting under a tree making slippers, and she rolled her eyes when she heard this.

If they had talked to Xu Huaiqian properly, would Xu Huaiqian, a grown man, agree to marry into the family? What’s the point?

“No regrets!” Ma Cuifen didn’t regret her decision. She never felt that she was sorry for others, only others were sorry for her. “He stayed at home and ate and drank at my house. What’s wrong with letting him marry into the family and help us pay off our debts? If he had a conscience, he should have taken the initiative to marry into the family!”

The Jinchao land system required men over 18 years old to obtain land granted by the court. It was not much, just five acres of mulberry fields and five acres of open fields. Mulberry fields could be passed down to descendants and could also be bought and sold but open fields could not be bought and sold and would be returned after death.

 Her second brother, Xu Ronghua, only had five mu of mulberry fields and five mu of dew fields. When he died, Xu Huaiqian was not old enough to be granted land, so the dew fields were returned to the court, and the mulberry fields were sold by Xu Huaiqian to hold funerals for the couple.

His family had nothing but a house, and Xu Huaiqian was a sickly man. It was hard to say whether he could live to the age of being granted land. What he ate and drank during this period, he had to ask for from their family.

They had difficulty supporting themselves, and they finally saved some money to buy a house for the family to share. Chen Liejiu came to collect the debt. He was not without money. He had owed him for so many years anyway. What would happen if he owed him a few more years?

And they did not ask Chen Liejiu to rob Xu Huaiqian. They just went along with it. Xu Huaiqian had agreed anyway. What was wrong with helping his uncle’s family? They did not think it was unlucky to help his parents with the funeral. 

In Ma Cuifen’s heart, Xu Huaiqian was not a good person, but an ungrateful person.

She looked like she was right and reasonable, which stunned the villagers. They didn’t expect Ma Cuifen to be such a person.

Ma Cuifen looked at the chicks that were looking for insects under the tree and pursed her lips: “The chicks hatched by that sick, hanged, ungrateful person must have problems. I won’t get involved.”

——Huh.

Her words made the villagers despise her.

Many of them bought the chicks hatched by Xu Huaiqian. Few of them died after feeding them but now they looked energetic. They should lay eggs after another month of feeding. They don’t have to be reluctant to kill chickens because they can buy chicks. How great. Moreover, the chicks hatched by Xiaomei in the next two months are sold to neighboring counties. There is nothing that can’t be sold except for those that can’t be snatched. Is there any problem?

 Besides, if Ma Cuifen really didn’t want to raise chickens, why would she come out every day to watch them raise chicks?

Ma Cuifen took her eyes off the chickens and started a conversation again, this time with a look of watching a good show on her face: “Don’t envy Xu Huaiqian. In the past, Chen Liejiu had no choice but to marry a sickly man. Now he is rich and has a lot of men waiting for him to choose. Will he still marry a sickly man?”

Ma Cuifen knows men too well. She knows that all the shit he has never tasted is fragrant. When he sees a slightly pretty girl, his legs lose their direction. Is this guy not the same?

People are the same. Men love pretty girls, women love handsome men, and gers love handsome people who are both handsome and capable.

Xu Huaiqian, that sickly boy, has no looks and no abilities. Chen Liejiu found him because he couldn’t find a man and had no other choice. Now that he is capable, can’t he find a good one?

 With his bully character, if he wants to change a man, can Xu Huaiqian, the sickly man, stop him?

Maybe in order to continue staying in the Chen family, he has to endure being cuckolded.

Just thinking about that scene makes Ma Cuifen so happy.

“Is it impossible?” Hearing her words, the villagers didn’t believe it, “Chen Liejiu has sent Xu Huaiqian to study in the academy. Xu Huaiqian is a little weak, but he has also figured out a way to hatch chicks to make money. Instead of just eating white rice, why would Chen Liejiu abandon him?”

“It’s just a way to hatch chicks, how can it be compared with burning charcoal?” Ma Cuifen pouted, “Besides, Xiaomei has already learned how to hatch, even if he is driven away from the Chen family, he has nowhere to complain. Who made him look sick and ugly.”

As she was talking, Chen Liejiu drove the ox cart carrying Xu Huaiqian past them.

 They looked up and saw Xu Huaiqian wearing a light blue robe, sitting on the oxcart like a modest gentleman, talking and laughing with Chen Liejiu. His face was too handsome and delicate. They almost stared with their eyes wide open, and some even rubbed their eyes in disbelief.

Is this still the sickly Xu Erlang? ! ! !

This change is too big!

Except for the outline that can be seen in his previous appearance, he looks like this now. Even if his parents are alive, they are afraid they will not recognize him, right? !

 Someone asked Ma Cuifen, who was also stunned, “Didn’t you say Xu Huaiqian is ugly? If I were so ugly, I would rather be ugly.”

“That’s right. The clothes he’s wearing are the school uniforms of the academy. It looks really good on him. He has a scholarly air, like a young man from the city.”

“If he were to marry into my family, I would be willing to support him no matter how much money he spends. If not for anything else, just to make him look good at home!”

The villagers now had no trust in Ma Cuifen’s mouth, which kept talking all day long. She never said a single accurate word, and was always slapped in the face by Xu Huaiqian and Chen Liejiu.

She was stubborn.

They were going to cling to them.

 Didn’t you see that after Chen Gui was slapped in the face for saying that Xu Huaiqian couldn’t hatch chicks, she didn’t even go out of the house now, for fear of being embarrassed; and Chen Zhu, who was close to Chen Liejiu sold a cart of firewood to Wang Wanwan every few days, and she has made new clothes since she started eating meat! 

Someone thought about it, and someone asked enthusiastically: “Liejiu, is your Huaiqian back from studying in the academy?” 

“Yes.” Chen Liejiu had sharp ears and had heard the villagers praising Xu Huaiqian’s good looks. When he heard their questions, he curled his lips and threw two more bombs at them, “In two days, my Huaiqian will take the imperial examination, and the academy will be closed for holiday.”

“It just so happens that the method of burning charcoal in the mountains was thought up by my Huaiqian. I’m taking him there to have a look and relax before the exam.”

The villagers who were just chatting were all dumbfounded: “——What?!!!”