Chi Erchuan started teaching several children to read and write at home, including Leshan Leshi.

The other men continued to burn charcoal.

After being fired, two large cartloads were given to the village chief.

"...Village chief, this is charcoal that we made ourselves. We've been using it for a while now and haven't found any adverse effects on our health. So we thought we'd give you some. Please distribute it to the villagers as you see fit."

Old Man Chi said with a smile.

Although the family has five hundred taels of silver, it has never been obtained through legitimate means, and we do not want to take it out for the time being.

There's also the forty taels of silver from the seller.

Secretly, Mr. Chi wanted to keep the money to buy a house and land.

However, we'll have to wait until the eldest son is born next year to decide where they will live.

Therefore, the Chi family has decided to start by trading charcoal.

"Wow, you guys are really amazing! Just that little bit would have been enough. Why did you need so much?"

The village chief was overjoyed as he looked at the mountain of charcoal.

He thought to himself: Luckily, when someone came to complain to him a couple of days ago about the Chi and Li families cutting down too many trees, he managed to suppress their anger. Otherwise, how embarrassing would that have been!

"Hey, we used trees from the mountains, all from the same village. We figured it out ourselves, so we're sharing it with everyone."

He wouldn't have been willing to separate if he hadn't wanted to stay in Meihe Village until his eldest son grew up.

Thinking back to what happened last time, I still feel a bit uneasy.

"You're too kind..."

Despite saying that, the village chief still accepted the charcoal.

It wasn't that he was greedy for these things, but he was worried that if he didn't share them with the villagers, they would cause trouble later.

After leaving the village chief's house, Chi Sanhe asked, "Dad, why didn't you tell the village chief about those people trying to imitate us and make charcoal too?"

Making charcoal itself is not very difficult, but people had never thought they could make it themselves before, let alone know what to use to make it.

With all the noise they've made while cutting down trees lately, how could the villagers not know?

In the past two days, they have noticed several groups of people watching them make charcoal and even cutting down trees to learn how!

If someone learns this technique, how much money can they make?

"What are you talking about? The hill is unclaimed. If people want to cut down trees, what business is it of ours?" Old Man Chi glared at his son.

However, he had already made up his mind.

The method of making charcoal is not something that can be told to others, nor can it be used to recruit others. Their family and the Li family are enough.

It's good to have good intentions, but you should also consider whether you have the ability to handle the consequences!

"So we just let them do what they want?"

Chi Sanhe kicked a stone on the ground hard in anger to vent his frustration.

Unexpectedly, the stone was too hard, which tripped him and caused him to fall flat on his face!

"Ah! My tooth!"

Chi Sanhe lay on the ground, covering his mouth, tears welling up in his eyes from the pain!

Oh no, is his tooth loose?

"What's wrong with you, kid? How did you fall down while you were walking? You're really something!" Old Man Chi said irritably, giving him a merciless dressing-down.

Then he went over, helped his son up, and asked with concern, "Are you alright? How are you?"

"You won't die!"

Chi Sanhe grumbled, shook off his father, and limped back home.

I fell and got myself all bruised up, and my dad is still scolding me!

Can't you even think about yourself first?

It really is.

Old Man Chi, who remained where he was, glared angrily.

The father and son went back one after the other.

When we arrived at the house, Aunt Chi was chopping minced meat.

"What, are we making dumplings today?"

"Are you out of your mind? Today is the Winter Solstice! After today, we can start counting the nine cold days, so of course we have to make dumplings."

Perhaps because she was happy, Aunt Chi chopped the filling with unusual vigor.

Sister-in-law Chi sat on a small stool on the ground, chopping cabbage.

Old Man Chi seemed to be thinking of something, and his expression went blank for a moment.

But after a while, he started playing with his grandson.

After finishing their meal, Old Man Chi and Old Man Li took the dumplings together and delivered them to the jailers at the county government office.

They didn't expect their son to eat dumplings on this day, but they sent some to the jailer, hoping that he would be treated more leniently and have a chance to catch his breath.

"Mom, why does Dad seem a little unhappy today? He only ate three dumplings." Little Fifth Brother asked quickly.

Chi Tang also looked up at her mother.

She could sense that her father was unhappy.

"snort."

Aunt Chi snorted coldly, looking displeased.

Finally, it was Sister-in-law Chi who hesitantly uttered a word to clear things up for everyone: "Today is Grandma's... her birthday."

Because it happened to be the winter solstice, she remembered it clearly.

Actually, everyone else knew this too, but men are always careless and didn't take it to heart.

"Still thinking about that old geezer!"

Aunt Chi got angry just thinking about it.

That old hag Zhou has done so many despicable things, and the man still remembers her!

Didn't you see it?

Even dumplings don't taste as good anymore!

"Mom, Su Yuan, my dad... he forgot about you so quickly, he forgot about his mother, and he doesn't care about you anymore. Are you happy?"

Chi Tang tilted her head and asked.

Perhaps it's because she had no relatives in her previous life and longed for family affection, that she felt family ties weren't so easily severed.

Especially biological parents.

It always takes a long time for many contradictions to accumulate before a decision is made.

Just like when she later learned that Zhou had schemed against her and sold her out, her father chose to break ties with Zhou.

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