Ye Wenxue ignored him and walked along the path behind the bamboo house to the charcoal kiln. As soon as she saw Dazhuang in the crowd, she heard cheers, which were particularly enthusiastic and loud in the night.
"It's done! It's done!"
"Each kiln produces at least 300 catties of charcoal, and there are more than a dozen kilns here, which means..."
"Quick, quick, put it on the ground and burn it to see how much smoke it produces!"
Immediately, a bandit came out, picked up a piece of black charcoal, placed it on the open ground, and gathered some easily flammable grass and wood chips to burn together.
When the bald man came over, the charcoal hadn't been lit yet. He didn't know anything about quality or grade, so he picked up a piece of charcoal, looked at it, and thought it was about the same as the charcoal he bought last year for three coins a pound.
After the straw and sawdust that had been used to start the fire had burned out, the charcoal was finally lit. The bald man's face lit up with joy: "It really is! There's less smoke than the charcoal I usually buy! Haha, this will fetch a good price! The mountain stronghold won't have to worry about money anymore!"
Overjoyed, he turned to hug Grandpa Xu, but was glared at by Ye Wenxue.
Everyone present was very satisfied.
Especially Mr. Xu, who has never received praise and has even been repeatedly criticized for trying to lower prices.
Xu Lin noticed the old man's complicated emotions and patted him on the shoulder reassuringly.
Ye Wenxue mentally estimated the amount of charcoal needed. She figured that one sparsely populated town probably couldn't handle it all, and she would have to find a way to expand to other towns.
After calming himself down, Old Master Xu quickly got to the point: "Last winter, even three copper coins a pound of charcoal was considered too expensive by many people. This year, I'm afraid..."
The bald man shook his head: "Three copper coins a pound won't do, that's too cheap. Wouldn't that be a waste of the charcoal you burn? Besides, this year has already been a disaster, and the prices of meat, vegetables, and grains have skyrocketed. Three copper coins a pound probably won't even cover the cost."
“I sent my brother to inquire in the town down the mountain. Charcoal is currently selling for five coins a pound. In my opinion, this batch of charcoal is of much higher quality. Why not set the price at twelve coins a pound?”
The people, including Dazhuang, glanced at him sideways but didn't say anything.
Xu Lin composed himself: "No, it's too expensive, ordinary people can't afford it."
Or rather, very few people can afford it.
Zhiwang, emboldened, offered a terrible idea: "Why don't we sell it at the price we've had in previous years? That's cheap enough. Then everyone in town will come to buy our charcoal, and then..."
Ye Wenxue, Dazhuang, and Xu Lin spoke at the same time: "No."
Dazhuang, being a half-teacher in Zhiwang, spoke first: "If we sell it too cheaply, we'll cut off the livelihoods of other charcoal burners. They might be relying on selling charcoal to earn a few copper coins to buy food. We don't need to deprive them of their means of survival."
Xu Lin nodded solemnly, "That makes sense."
Ye Wenxue raised an eyebrow, not making her point too clear:
We can't go too far in doing things. Besides, we don't have enough manpower; the old man is the only one burning charcoal, which isn't enough to keep up with everyone. Naturally, we need to set a slightly higher price so as not to monopolize the market and cut off others' opportunities, while also earning more money.”
The price of charcoal is set slightly higher so that people who value quality can afford it, while those who don't have enough money can buy charcoal from others.
Zhiwang awkwardly shrank back into the crowd, not daring to utter a sound.
Ye Wenxue did not blame him. His low-price monopoly of the charcoal market, which caused no one to burn charcoal to sell, and then gradually raised the price to make huge profits, was not a problem on the surface.
Even without the five children like Dazhuang and Shuangshuang, Ye Wenxue's first reaction would be to engage in monopolistic practices through low prices.
But this is because she's afraid her children will go astray like in the original book. As their mother, Ye Wenxue naturally has to set a good example and consider the people's livelihood more.
Ye Wenxue glanced at the bandits whose faces still held excitement: "Here's what we'll do. This batch of higher-quality charcoal will be priced at eight copper coins per pound. In the future, you'll also need to check the quality of the charcoal you make yourself. Higher-quality charcoal will be priced at eight copper coins, while lower-quality charcoal will be priced at the market price."
Xu Lin and Grandpa Xu had no objections, but they were worried that the price would be too high and the product wouldn't sell.
Ye Wenxue comforted Grandpa Xu: "You make such good charcoal, it wouldn't be right to sell it cheaply. If no one in town really wants to buy it, we'll sell it in Longxing Prefecture or Tanzhou County. There will always be someone who will buy it."
After hesitating for a long time, Grandpa Xu finally agreed.
Both sides agreed, and the bald man's weak protest was almost nonexistent.
He then happily led his men to dig a pit and bury the body.
After the bald man left, Old Master Xu slyly called Ye Wenxue to the charcoal kiln in the far corner, pointed to a pile of charcoal and chuckled:
"Xiao Lin specially asked me to make this for you. It's bamboo charcoal, made from bamboo. It has a slight bamboo fragrance when it burns. I, the old man, never thought bamboo could be made into charcoal. Luckily, it didn't burn badly. Xiao Lin is so clever, otherwise how could she have passed the exam..."
Before the old man could finish speaking, he was startled by Ye Wenxue's intense gaze: "You... what is this?"
Ye Wenxue blinked: "Grandpa, do you know how to burn other kinds of charcoal? Like silver wire charcoal, red basket charcoal, gold wire charcoal?"
Grandpa Xu was confused: "What is that?"
Seeing that the old man didn't seem to be faking it, Ye Wenxue's excitement gradually cooled down: "I heard that the charcoal is specially supplied by the imperial court. If you know how to make it, we'll be rolling in money!"
Dazhuang, Xu Lin, Old Master Xu, and the bandits who hadn't left: "..."
Ye Wenxue's mind raced, and she quickly came up with another idea. She continued to stare intently at Old Master Xu, making his scalp tingle: "You can make bamboo charcoal, but can you make walnut charcoal?"
Grandpa Xu: "??? No way."
In a short time, Ye Wenxue had already come up with a plan: "Why don't you try making walnut charcoal? If it works, sell it at a high price along with bamboo charcoal, exclusively to those refined and wealthy officials and merchants in the prefectural city!"
Zhiwen was eager to try: "How high a price can it be?"
"Fifty coins a pound!"
Everyone took a deep breath, and countless pairs of eyes stared intently at Old Master Xu, as if they were looking at a god of wealth.
Xu Lin couldn't see it, but he could feel the piercing gaze on his back: "...My dad and I will give it a try."
Old Master Xu felt aches and pains all over his body and couldn't muster any energy. He looked at the bandits who were learning charcoal making quickly with particularly sharp eyes: "No, you guys shouldn't go back to the stronghold for a while. Help me day and night. This old man can't do so much work by himself!"
With money dangling in front of them, the bandits responded with lightning speed.
The remaining charcoal-selling matters were left to Baldy to handle, and Ye Wenxue took Dazhuang back to the valley overnight.
Looking out the window, I saw that the children were indeed awake and happily eating.
"Second sister, I want to eat roasted sweet potatoes again. They're so sweet and delicious." Siwang had an ear of corn tucked into his arms and was holding a persimmon in his hand, which he was taking a bite of with relish.
Shuangshuang fed Yuanyuan ripe persimmons, occasionally taking a big bite for herself: "No, Mom said we have to save the sweet potatoes for another plant, otherwise we won't have any to eat later."
"Just a few. If you don't tell and I don't tell either, Mother won't know."
Sanyuan glanced at Shuangshuang and Yuanyuan, then at Siwang, sighed, and was about to speak when he suddenly heard a gentle voice coming from outside the window:
"Oh? Is that so?"
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