Lu Qiqi drove the carriage back to the veterans' village, and it was already dark.
"You're finally back! I was thinking of having your third uncle meet you at the village entrance," Li said, putting a pair of hand warmers on Lu Qiqi's hands.
Lu Qiqi smiled and followed Li Shi's lead. She glanced to the side and saw Lu Shi sitting at the round table counting money.
"Third Aunt, did the village chief distribute money?" Lu Qiqi asked Li Shi.
Li glanced at Lu and laughed, "That's right, your aunt has been counting all afternoon."
"Sister-in-law, stop counting! My eyes are going to go blurry if you keep counting!" Li shouted to Lu.
"One hundred, one hundred and one," Madam Lu was startled by Madam Li's shout. "Oh dear, little sister, you made me forget where I was counting!"
Li had done something wrong, and she blinked twice at Lu Qiqi.
Lu Qiqi immediately understood, put on her warm gloves, and sat down next to Madam Lu. "Auntie, is this the family's wages?"
“Yes, all the wages for the Zhou brothers, Dahai, Qingshan, and Changlong are here. Selling charcoal is really profitable. We not only have money to get through the winter, but we also won’t have to worry about not having money to buy seeds to plant next year.” Madam Lu said as she put the money into her money bag.
Lu Qiqi said, "Auntie, we'll only charge the Zhou brothers for the meals they pay for, and leave the rest to them."
Madam Lu was somewhat confused by Lu Qiqi's thinking. "The clothes the Zhou brothers are wearing were also made by us. Isn't it only right that they pay more money to the public fund?"
“You’re right, they’re willing to pay because they’re grateful, but we can’t just confiscate all their wages.”
"Grandma Zhou is getting on in years. She takes some nutritional supplements and drinks two doses of medicine regularly. Does she really have to come to the public fund to pay for all of that?"
After carefully considering Lu Qiqi's words, Madam Lu felt that they made a lot of sense. If Grandma Zhou was unwilling to come to the public fund to withdraw money, it would be bad if a minor illness turned into a major one.
Besides, that boy is only ten years old this year. His parents are gone. If Grandma Zhou also gets sick, he'll cry until his eyes are swollen.
“Okay, I’ll distribute the money to them later, and to you too,” said Madam Lu with a proud look. “You’re a hero of Li Family Village. The village chief even praised you when the money was distributed today!”
"I don't need to give you mine, keep it in the public funds."
After Lu Qiqi finished speaking, Madam Lu did not refuse. If it was kept in the public treasury, everyone would naturally benefit from it.
Thinking of this, Madam Lu happily put the money bag back in her room, then went to the kitchen to bring out the food that was still warm in the pot and called everyone to eat dinner.
After finishing her meal, Lu Qiqi went back to her room, washed up in her spatial dimension, and went to bed.
After a busy day, she was a little tired and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
In the middle of the night, Lu Qiqi was awakened by her bladder being full, and she groped around to light the candle in the dark.
Just as I put on the red cloak, I saw a dark figure flash past the window.
"Who!" Lu Qiqi shouted sharply.
Immediately, Lu Qiqi rushed out of the room, wanting to grab the dark figure.
When she rushed out the back door and went around to the window of her room, there was only the howling cold wind, and no dark figure at all!
"Could it be that I just woke up and my eyes are playing tricks on me?" Lu Qiqi said suspiciously in a low voice.
Unable to catch the shadowy figure, Lu Qiqi had no choice but to go back to relieve herself. The wind at the foot of the mountain was too cold, and Lu Qiqi's head was throbbing from the cold.
Back in bed, Lu Qiqi tossed and turned for a long time before finally falling asleep, the dark figure lingering in her mind.
...
The next morning, Monday found Lu Qiqi, wanting to hand over the wages to the company.
“If you pay it all, what will happen to Grandma Zhou? What will happen to your younger brothers’ schooling in the future?” Lu Qiqi said patiently.
On Monday, he owed Lu Qiqi one tael of silver. He was a reasonable person and thought he would pay back as much money as he could, because he couldn't keep owing her indefinitely.
"I……."
“Don’t worry about me. There will be a time for you to repay me in the future, but not now,” Lu Qiqi interrupted Zhou Yi. “They have enough people to make incense charcoal. Why don’t you come with me up the mountain today to pick some leaves?”
There was no reason to refuse on Monday. After finishing his meal, he carried his basket and followed Lu Qiqi to the high mountains.
High up in the mountains, Lu Qiqi quickly found mulberry leaves and ginger leaves, which were perfect for making dish soap.
Lu Qiqi said happily, "On Monday, go pick those triangular leaves over there, those are called paper mulberry leaves."
“I’ll pick some ginger leaves here, and we’ll go back once we’ve filled this bamboo basket.”
Monday seemed to be a carbon copy of Zhu Zi, no, he was even more taciturn than Zhu Zi. He nodded to Lu Qiqi and went to pick mulberry leaves.
Lu Qiqi ruthlessly picked a large bag of ginger leaves in no time. When she figured that was enough, she had Zhou Yi carry both kinds of leaves home.
With Monday's help, Lu Qiqi felt much more relaxed.
The only problem is that I can't put the basket into my space in front of Monday; I can only have Monday carry the basket home.
Before descending the mountain, Lu Qiqi picked a lot of wild tangerines.
On Monday, I couldn't help but remind you, "It's sour."
Lu Qiqi didn't say anything, just smiled, since she didn't plan to eat anyway.
After returning home, Lu Qiqi instructed Zhou Yi to rinse the two kinds of leaves briefly with water, then soak them in water and rub them to remove foam.
After the leaf water has fermented for a day, filter out the residue with gauze and keep the liquid.
Lu Qiqi would squeeze the juice of sour oranges into the liquid. This orange juice not only has a refreshing aroma and can remove dirt and oil, but it is also a natural preservative.
After finishing all that, Lu Qiqi, since it was still early and she couldn't stay idle, went to the factory that made charcoal cakes.
Lu Qiqi entered the factory. Everyone was busy with their own things, and some people saw Lu Qiqi and greeted her.
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