Zhou Xue said aggrievedly: "Brother Congyu and Sister Yue'an both have small private warehouses, and Sister Chen Xi also has one. Many brothers and sisters in the village have saved private money. Sometimes when the peddler comes to the village, they can buy what they like."
Zhou's mother was really shocked. Only wealthy families would let their children carry money these days. Who would dare to give money to their children? The children in the village could save money by themselves, which showed that the villagers were really wealthy.
She thought about it and decided, "Then you just keep it for yourself and don't spend money recklessly."
"That's great! Thank you, grandma!"
The two children quickly ran into the house with the purse.
Ye disagreed, "Mom, they are still so young, how can you let them manage their own money? What if they lose it or spend it carelessly?"
Zhou's mother shook her head and sighed, "The children in the village are all rich. They have no money, so they feel inferior when they go out. You should pay close attention to them for a while. As long as they don't do anything wrong, just let them go."
She only has these two precious grandchildren, so naturally she has to pamper them.
Since the mother-in-law had spoken, Ye had no choice but to agree.
For the next half month, as soon as the children opened their eyes, they ran to the back mountain without even having breakfast. If the adults didn't remind them, they would work hard in the strawberry field all day long.
Ye thought that her two children were only enthusiastic for a short time and would not be able to hold out for more than two or three days. However, they followed the children in the village and persisted for half a month, saving up almost one and a half taels.
Seeing how hard the two children worked, Zhou's mother felt very distressed, but she didn't ask them to stop working.
Mrs. Ye had originally opposed her children saving money on their own, but now she no longer mentioned it.
It was really difficult for her to take away the money that the children had earned through their own hard work.
After half a month of busy farming season, the children were sent back to school. They were all dark and thin, but everyone was in good spirits and became closer to each other.
Zhou Ran saw this and felt very relieved.
After the first batch of strawberry jam was processed, the caravan transporting wool sweaters and strawberry jam set off again.
This is the first time the caravan has gone out on business this year.
Hundreds of horse-drawn carriages carrying goods marched out of the village.
Such a grand ceremony really shocked the Zhou family. They finally understood why Shenjiazhuang was so rich.
The caravan had just gone out and Watermelon was about to lose.
Chu Heng and Shen Ying discussed it and decided to let the children go over to help for three more days.
The children took the opportunity to earn some extra coins.
The hot summer is accompanied by juicy and thirst-quenching watermelon, which is a special experience.
Su Tai knew that the children were working hard, so she specially sent fifty watermelons to the school and asked the teacher to share them with the children.
The children sat in a row in the yard, each holding a piece of watermelon, taking a bite and saying a word. They competed with each other to see who could recognize more words. This aroused the children's competitive spirit, and the winner could get an extra piece of watermelon.
In such an atmosphere, the learning effect is doubled.
Chu Heng and Zhou Ran discussed it and decided to let students from different classes compete with each other. The first place winner would be rewarded, which would instantly boost the children's enthusiasm for learning.
In this learning atmosphere, autumn harvest arrived in a blink of an eye.
Zhou Ran felt that it had not been long since the last busy farming season, so how come a new round of busy farming season is here again!
This time it is about harvesting grain, a major event concerning the villagers’ food rations.
The children will work hard even if they don't earn any money.
By the time everyone had harvested the grain, the weather had turned cold.
Shen Yi took the yamen runners back to the village and was surrounded by villagers as he walked home.
Halfway through the journey, he discovered his twins and shouted.
The twins pulled Zhou Yi and Zhou Xue over and ran over, "Dad! Dad! You're back!"
Shen Yuean let go of Zhou Xue's hand and threw herself at Shen Yi.
Played till he was all dirty.
Shen Yi didn't despise her. He held her in one hand and picked up Shen Congyu with the other hand. He took another look at the Zhou brothers and sisters, "They look a little unfamiliar. Whose family are they?"
"It's Mr. Zhou's brother Zhou Yi and sister Zhou Xue." Shen Yuean pointed at Zhou Ran who was not far away.
Zhou Ran hurried over to greet him, "Greetings, Mr. County Magistrate."
Shen Yi smiled, "Mr. Zhou, there's no need to be polite. I'll bring people back to do the work, you guys get busy."
Shen Yuean was carried home by Shen Yi, and kept gesturing and shouting at the Zhou brothers and sisters, "I'll play with you later!"
Shen Yi looked at the little guy in his arms with amusement, "You made such a mess, aren't you afraid that your mother will punish you?"
"Mom wouldn't do that!" Shen Yuean raised her little chin proudly.
The father and his two sons entered the house.
The first thing Su Tai said was disdain, "You're so dirty. Are you playing in the dirt again? Wash yourself clean before you come out."
The twins struggled to get off the ground and ran to the bathroom.
Shen Yi asked with amusement: "I thought you would beat them."
Su Tai scolded angrily: "It's just dirty. Compared with what they did before, I should be happy."
“Hahahaha” Shen Yi laughed and turned to get some water to wash his hands.
Seeing that he was in a good mood, Su Tai curiously asked, "How is the coal business going?"
Chen Yi said with an expression that said, "Lord Lu was cautious. He asked someone to test it for half a month. After confirming that it was indeed coal, he immediately wrote a letter to inform the prefect. The prefect personally brought people here and studied it for another ten days before sending the memorial to the imperial capital.
The imperial envoy arrived quite quickly. Our house has been demolished and dug out. The good news is that there is coal all over the ground. The bad news is that the money used to buy the house will not be returned."
"Ah? The government dug up our house and refused to compensate us? How can this be justified?" Su Tai grumbled in dissatisfaction.
Although she didn't need that little bit of money, whose money came from the wind? How could the government officials be so shameless!
Shen Yi touched his nose awkwardly, somewhat helplessly, "I am the county magistrate, so I must set an example."
"Lead by example?"
Chen Yi's expression gradually became serious. "We suspect that the coal mine is very large, and now we have dug more than ten feet, like a bottomless pit. Lord Lu means that we should dig outward from our house to see how large the coal mine is. Do you think the people nearby will agree to it?"
Su Tai shook her head without even thinking, "If it wasn't for the fact that we found it in a pond and it was so smelly, I wouldn't have agreed to dig it!"
Chen Yi spread his hands helplessly, "Even someone as righteous as you think so, let alone others. The court wants to solve it with money, but the money has to be advanced by our county. There are so many families, and it may also involve shops on the street. We may have to move the county. This kind of thing is beyond our ability. We need the court to send people to support us. I have been busy with these things these days, and I can only come back in time for the autumn harvest."
Su Tai heard this and could only admit that she was unlucky. "I can let the house matter go, but if the county wants to compensate you for the land, you can't be so stupid as to give it up."
"I understand." Shen Yi breathed a sigh of relief.
After having a meal at home, I packed my winter clothes and left again. (End of this chapter)
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