Brother Chen truly puts those story writers who live in bright houses, eat exquisite food, and have countless servants to shame.

Of course, if we look at it from another angle, why was Brother Chen able to write such thought-provoking stories? The characters' dialogues and portrayals are very down-to-earth, which is the result of painstaking effort after being battered by life.

Such a life experience is something that people like Qingyunlou can never catch up to in their entire lives, unless they encounter a major upheaval.

Uncle Fu's voice choked with emotion, "Brother, from now on, your storybooks will be priced at 200 coins per thousand words, shall we?"

Chen Xian: What exactly are you imagining?

But I like it!

Chen Xian: "Thank you, brother."

On the way out, the guy complained a bit.

"Shopkeeper, didn't you say you'd invite us to stay for dinner?"

Uncle Fu scolded, "Speak! Are you a spy from the Qingping Study? Why are you trying to sow discord between me and Brother Chen?"

The guy opened his mouth and said, "Abababa."

Uncle Fu said calmly, “With so many of us, each of us needs to make about a pound of flour. You’ve seen the situation in Brother Chen’s family. For a poor family like ours, a pound of flour can last for two or three meals. They can’t bear to eat it.”

"One should not be ignorant of when to advance or retreat, thus putting others in a difficult position."

The waiter looked extremely cautious.

"Yes, yes, shopkeeper."

Uncle Fu took a deep breath.

"It seems I need to write another letter to the master."

The Chen family.

Chen Xian: I didn't expect Uncle Fu to be such a good person. He was just saying that. If we really kept more than a dozen people here, it would cost more than ten kilograms of flour.

Let's wait until the Chen family earns more money before we treat these men back.

Chen Xian held a brief family meeting.

Cuihua wiped her hands with her apron, and Dazhu put down the axe in his hand.

A yellow insect flew into the Chen family's courtyard. San Niu caught it, placed it under the stove, and pierced its abdomen with a straw stick. Soon, the smell of protein wafted out.

Chen Xian became increasingly nervous upon seeing the locusts.

"It smells so good, Dad, do you want some?"

San Niu brought the locust's head to Chen Xian's mouth. The meat on the belly was the softest and most tender, so Sha Niu ate it in one bite. The remaining head was too hard to eat.

Chen Xian waved his hand, "Dad's teeth aren't good, you eat it."

"According to past practice, after a drought, there is usually a locust plague. Now that signs are starting to appear, our family should also start to take precautions. We collected all the useless old straw mats and bought more than 50 kilograms of flour. We shouldn't tell anyone."

If someone comes to borrow grain, say you don't have any, that you only have wild vegetables at home.

The chickens, ducks, and goslings at home are let out to roam at the foot of the mountain to eat insects and find their own food. These are one of the guarantees for our family's grain production.

I'll go ask the village headman later if we should rush to harvest the wheat. If locusts really do fly over, we won't be able to compete with them."

Erzhu frowned.

"Does Father mean that a locust plague might break out soon?"

Chen Xian nodded, "There were signs of this a few days ago."

Li Niang: "Is the family business going to have to stop for a while?"

Chen Xian nodded, "Yes, the five acres of land at home are the most important thing. There's no rush to do business."

Chen Xian needed to prepare the cooking method, so he blanched the meat.

Cuihua tentatively asked, "Father, can I try?"

Chen Xian nodded.

"certainly."

Naturally, he was happy to have some peace and quiet.