Because there was no man in the family, Wang and Xu Lanzhi were still very worried about the future of their seven daughters.

Xu Lanzhi wanted to save up dowries for her children, and Wang Shi naturally had the same responsibility.

After discussing it, the two of them also felt that it was necessary to expand the chicken coop. Besides, the children had all grown up, and there were only two bedrooms in the house.

The three sisters, Zhaodi, Yindi, and Jiedi, shared a room with Wang Shi, while Sidi, Niandi, Pandi, and Qiqi shared a room with Xu Lanzhi.

Each room has only one large communal sleeping area, offering no privacy whatsoever. It wasn't so bad in the past, but now that the younger sisters-in-law are all grown up, it's really inconvenient for them to be crammed together every day.

If you take all the livestock out, you can build two simple houses in the space that's available. They're not too bad for Zhaodi and the others to live in during the summer.

So Wang went to Tang Yongnian herself and told him about wanting to rent the opposite mountain.

Tang Yongnian said, "Using that mountain is not a problem, but can you two women handle such a big business?"

Wang still didn't have a friendly expression: "Village Chief, just tell me if I can use that mountain!"

Tang Yongnian said, "Sister-in-law, of course you can use it. I was just worried about you. Now that you've made up your mind, just use it as you wish. There's no need for rent or anything. It's just a barren mountain!"

Wang said coldly, "Then thank you, Village Chief."

After Wang finished speaking, she took a step to leave, just as she bumped into Tang Yongnian's wife, Shen, who was bringing over tea. She politely said:

"Sister-in-law, sit down and have a cup of tea!"

Wang snorted coldly, "I can't swallow your tea!"

Shen's face flushed red and then turned pale as she was rebuked. She said unhappily, "So many years have passed, why is Wang still like this? It was my elder brother who volunteered to go in your place, so it's not our fault. You should also put on some dignity and not always give in to her!"

Tang Yongnian immediately straightened his face and scolded, "Shut up! I was cowardly and timid back then, and I almost caused a disaster. My elder brother died in my place. The people of Tangjiagou were all saved by my elder brother. We owe them this debt."

The dissatisfied members of the Shen family said, "They've been bringing up such trivial, old issues for so many years! I've put up with this for so many years!"

Tang Yongnian angrily retorted, "What's wrong with taking a little anger? If it weren't for your older brother, you'd be the one dragging the child around by yourself right now!"

Only then did Madam Shen shut up and storm out.

Wang and Xu Lanzhi got right to work. Erzhu said he would go up the mountain to cut down some trees and build a simple house, since he would live alone anyway.

Xu Lanzhi didn't want to make him suffer too much, so she had him hire craftsmen to build three wooden houses.

Tang Qiqi then inspired Xu Lanzhi to hire a few villagers to help Erzhuzi build a chicken coop so that the chickens could safely overwinter.

The chicken coop was built quickly, and Erzhuzi moved all of Xu Lanzhi's chickens there.

From then on, Erzhuzi became a long-term worker for Xu Lanzhi's family, wholeheartedly raising chickens for them.

Of course, there was no shortage of gossip, but Erzhuzi didn't care much. He was a bachelor and didn't care about anything.

He was just worried that it would be bad for Xu Lanzhi, but Xu Lanzhi said apologetically, "Erzhu, I'm so sorry to have wronged you. Don't take those gossiping people to heart."

Erzhuzi smiled innocently and said, "I'm fine. I'm all alone. Let others talk. It's just that I've dragged you into this."

Xu Lanzhi said nonchalantly, "Hey, I'm used to it. As long as my mother-in-law trusts me, I really don't care what others think."

In this way, the two of them reached a consensus and decided to ignore the matter.

However, Xu Lanzhi never went up the mountain alone. Most of the time, it was Wang who took her granddaughters up the mountain to collect eggs.

As the number of chickens they raised increased, the restaurants in town could no longer handle the demand. Looking at the mountains of eggs and the chickens roaming the hillsides, Wang was extremely worried.

Xu Lanzhi was also a little upset. The mountain was open and easy for the chickens to forage for food. They laid a lot of eggs and reproduced very quickly. In just a few months, the number of chickens had increased several times.

Everyone knew that the Wang family had too many chickens, so they all tried to drive down the price. Although they sold a few more chickens, they didn't make much money. What was worse, they didn't know where to sell the chickens.

Wang and Xu Lanzhi were always frowning. The sensible Zhaodi took Yindi, Jiedi, and Pandi to the city to sell eggs every day, but that didn't help much.

The villagers were all waiting to see them make a fool of themselves, since for many years they had been self-sufficient, only occasionally selling any surplus grain or livestock.

No one had ever seen anyone raise chickens on such a large scale as Xu Lanzhi's family, let alone do it. Everyone was skeptical, thinking that Wang Shi and Xu Lanzhi, these two widows, were restless.

But seeing the endless stream of people coming to her house to buy chickens, everyone became extremely envious. Now that she has hundreds and thousands of chickens that she can't sell, everyone has started to gloat.

The chickens have lost their market, but we still have to use a lot of grain every day, resulting in huge losses.

The Wang family mobilized almost their entire household, taking turns to promote their products in the town and city. However, the potential customers had already been largely exhausted, so the results were minimal.

As the eggs spoiled day by day, and the chickens kept opening their mouths to eat them, Wang and Xu Lanzhi couldn't sleep at night. Their older sisters also lived in fear and anxiety.

Tang Qiqi hadn't expected that people's purchasing power was so low these days. Her chicken farm was only just beginning to take shape when it was already experiencing a sales slump.

One boss suggested that if all else failed, they should dispose of some of the chickens themselves; once the supply and demand relationship changed, the price would naturally go up.

Xu Lanzhi and Wang Shi had been frugal their whole lives, and they couldn't bear to waste those chickens like that. They decided that if they really couldn't sell them, they would have to give them away to the villagers.

With a worried look on her face, Wang asked Tang Qiqi, "Qiqi, weren't we too greedy this time? Even the heavens can't stand it anymore!"

Tang Qiqi nestled in Wang's arms and said, "Grandma, don't worry, we'll find a way. We'll sell it further away!"

Wang sighed in despair, "Silly child, we've already sold them in the county town, how far could it be?"

Tang Qiqi insisted, "Further!"

Erzhu and Xu Lanzhi both felt that this was the only way, but finding buyers in distant places was not so easy. Nowadays, transportation was inconvenient and it was not easy to travel, not to mention that they had to carry sample chickens. Moreover, would anyone be willing to travel a long way to buy chickens?

The situation is not optimistic; they even feel that going there would be a waste of time.

Xu Lanzhi gritted her teeth and said, "We'll dispose of a batch of chickens ourselves to minimize our losses!"

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