Aunt Fang had no idea that Lu Qiqi was so easy to talk to. If she had known earlier, she would have invited her to her home sooner.
When Lu Qiqi heard Aunt Fang mention charcoal, her first thought was that Aunt Fang's son, Dalang, knew how to make charcoal.
And on the high mountain behind her house, there are so many trees suitable for charcoal making, the people of Lijia Village could easily make and sell charcoal together.
With the weather so unusual, Lu Qiqi was certain that this winter would be a harsh one.
In this way, the charcoal produced will never have to worry about selling.
Aunt Fang had no idea what Lu Qiqi was up to, so she took Lu Qiqi home.
Once inside the main room, Aunt Fang put all the snacks on the table.
Looking at the table full of snacks, Lu Qiqi couldn't help but click her tongue. It seemed that Lu Shi's statement that Aunt Fang's family was wealthy was not without basis.
Take the pumpkin seeds on the table, for example. Who doesn't save the pumpkin seeds after eating pumpkin so they can plant them again next year?
Aunt Fang simply stir-fried them in a pan. Lu Qiqi picked one up and tasted it; it was even stir-fried with salt! She couldn't help but exclaim, "She really knows how to eat!"
Lu Qiqi sat and chatted with Aunt Fang for a couple of minutes, but she didn't see Aunt Fang's son, Dalang.
Lu Qiqi didn't want to wait any longer and asked directly, "Auntie, where's your Dalang?"
Lu Qiqi's words stunned Aunt Fang, who hadn't expected Lu Qiqi to speak so directly.
Lu Qiqi was about to ask another question when a man dressed in coarse black clothes walked in.
"Look, he's back now," Aunt Fang said with a smile. "Dalang, hurry up and wash your hands, then pack some charcoal for the Lu family girl to take home."
Li Dalang looked at Lu Qiqi sitting at the Eight Immortals table, smiled sheepishly, and then turned to go to the kitchen to fetch water to wash his hands.
"Wait a minute," Lu Qiqi called out to Li Dalang, "Aunt Fang said you know how to make charcoal?"
"Yes!" Li Dalang nodded seriously. He didn't know why Lu Qiqi would suddenly ask this, but he still answered honestly.
Lu Qiqi asked, "Would you be willing to lead the whole village in burning charcoal?"
Lu Qiqi had to ask the person involved for their opinion, since she didn't know whether charcoal burning was something everyone could do in ancient times, or a skill for making a living.
"Everyone knows a little bit about charcoal making, so it's hard to say who teaches whom," Li Dalang said.
Aunt Fang finally understood what Lu Qiqi was saying. She said, "Girl, do you want Dalang to lead the whole village to burn charcoal and sell it?"
“Yes,” Lu Qiqi nodded and said, “Auntie, it is better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish.”
"You just said that in this situation, no one is willing to lend grain. What will you do if someone comes to borrow tomorrow, the day after, and every day?"
"If we don't lend it, we'll become enemies. If we do lend it, we might still become enemies in the future, and we won't be able to get the grain back."
"It would be better to let them make their own charcoal and earn money, so they won't always be eyeing other people's grain," Aunt Fang said after a moment's thought.
Lu Qiqi nodded with a smile, "That makes sense. As the saying goes, you should lend to those in urgent need but not to those who are poor. But right now, everyone is having a hard time, so it's the right thing to do to make money together when there's an opportunity."
Aunt Fang knew that Lu Qiqi was doing it for everyone's good, but she was still reluctant to let Dalang lead the whole village to burn and sell charcoal.
Aunt Fang said, "Girl, I don't consider you an outsider, so just say what you want to say."
“There are many people in the village, and there are always a few bad apples. I don’t want Dalang to do this kind of thankless task.”
Lu Qiqi hadn't expected Aunt Fang to think that way. She chuckled and said, "Auntie, you see, when I gave the cabbage to everyone in the village, there were people like Aunt Qian who took advantage of my kindness, but there were also people like you who understood the coldness and warmth of human relationships!"
"If I had hidden all the cabbages back then and only fed them to my own family, I wouldn't have had the chance to be invited home by you today to eat melon seeds!"
Lu Qiqi's words struck a chord with Aunt Fang, who no longer hesitated. She laughed and said, "Look at your clever little face. If any family can marry you, they'll be incredibly lucky."
Lu Qiqi felt pleased by the praise and said with a smile, "I don't want to get married. My third uncle said he'll find me a husband in the future."
Aunt Fang was stunned for a moment because she didn't expect Lu Qiqi to so openly bring up the matter of finding a husband.
A moment later, Aunt Fang, realizing her plan had failed, glanced at her son standing dumbfounded at the door and secretly lamented her lack of good fortune.
After confirming that there was no problem with Li Dalang, Lu Qiqi went with Li Dalang and Aunt Fang to find the village chief and tell him about the matter.
After listening to Lu Qiqi's plan, the village chief thought for a moment and found it feasible. He said, "Let's do it your way!"
“But…” the village chief hesitated, “you said you wanted to bring the remaining soldiers from the veterans’ village to help with charcoal making. Charcoal making is hard work, and we also have to go up the mountain to chop firewood. Can they handle it?”
Lu Qiqi had already thought this through. Since the veterans in the old soldiers' village could farm, digging kiln pits would definitely be no problem for them.
Lu Qiqi laughed and said, "Then we'll just have them dig the kiln pit and burn charcoal with Li Dalang."
“Alright,” the village chief said firmly, “Go and talk to Zhang Weiguo about your idea later, and see if they are willing to work together.”
“If you’re willing to work together, I’ll have the villagers go up the mountain to cut firewood and make charcoal tomorrow.”
After Lu Qiqi left, the village chief began to gather people for a meeting in the afternoon to discuss going up the mountain to cut firewood and make charcoal.
Lu Qiqi arrived alone at the tiled house at the entrance of the village. She asked a one-armed old soldier sitting at the door and finally found Zhang Weiguo's house.
Lu Qiqi knocked on the open door, but no one answered.
She called out again, "Uncle Zhang, are you home?"
Not long after, Lu Qiqi saw Zhang Weiguo walk out menacingly, holding a kitchen knife in his hand.
Lu Qiqi, "!!!" She was just a little loud, but it wasn't a serious offense!
When Zhang Weiguo saw that it was Lu Qiqi, he was about to ask what was wrong when he looked down and saw the kitchen knife in his hand. Afraid of scaring the girl in front of him, he quickly hid the knife behind his back.
After putting his hands behind his back, Zhang Weiguo asked, "What do you want from me?"
Lu Qiqi explained her purpose, and Zhang Weiguo was overjoyed. He said, "Okay, sure, no problem at all."
“We retired veterans may seem useless, but digging holes and starting fires are definitely not a problem for us.”
At this moment, Zhang Weiguo looked at Lu Qiqi as if she were a goddess descended to earth, specially sent to save them, a group of veterans.
When he got home that day, he counted his pension. After years of helping veterans, it was almost gone.
It's simply impossible to help all the veterans get through this winter.
Zhang Weiguo never expected that a few days later, a beautiful young girl would come to his house and say that she wanted to lead them, a group of disabled people, to make money by burning charcoal and help them get through the winter. How could he not be happy?
Thinking of this, Zhang Weiguo put down the kitchen knife in his hand, knelt on one knee, and gave Lu Qiqi a military salute.
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