After discussing it, Chen Lao Er and Chen Lao Die decided to stop taking on jobs from the villagers for a while and let Chen Lao Er focus on making folding stools.
For the next ten days or so, Chen Lao Er made folding stools at home every day.
Every morning, everyone went about their work as usual. In the afternoon, Old Man Chen would have his eldest son and fourth son stay home to help his second son by cutting down the wood he needed from the mountain, trimming it a little, and then carrying it home.
The eldest son of Chen Laoda's family, Da Ya, and the eldest son of Chen Lao Er's family were responsible for sawing the wood into suitable planks and strips, while the younger ones were responsible for moving the sawn wood to Chen Lao Er's side for his convenience.
Often, after a long day of work, Da Ya and the others would be so tired that their backs ached, and their hands would tremble when they ate, but even so, they never complained.
After more than ten days of hard work, all forty folding stools have finally been completed.
That evening, after dinner, the adults held a meeting in the hall, sending the children out to play in the yard. After the children were gone, Old Man Chen first encouraged everyone, and then said, "I plan to take the second and fourth sons to sell folding stools. Do you have any objections?"
After a while, no one spoke, and so the matter was settled.
Because Chen Kai was of a higher generation, he was also held by Zhou Shi during the meeting.
Seeing that no one was talking and everyone was preparing to leave, Chen Kai grabbed Zhou Shi's arm and said in a cute manner, "Mom, I want to go to town to play too."
Zhou stroked Chen Kai's head and said with a smile, "Baby, your brothers are going to town to sell things, not to play. Be a good boy, okay? Mom will ask the fourth brother to bring you something delicious when he comes back. We won't go this time, alright?"
When Chen Kai heard Zhou Shi say this, his eyes widened, and he looked at Zhou Shi with tears in his eyes. He said in a coquettish tone, "Mom, I've never been to town before. Please let me go. I promise I will behave and not cause any trouble."
Unable to resist Chen Kai's tearful advances, Zhou agreed with a soft heart. Then she turned to Old Man Chen and said, "In that case, let's all go to town tomorrow."
Everyone was delighted to hear what Zhou said.
Then Zhou said to Chen Kai, "Since you want to go to town so much, then you should go and inform your nephews and nieces."
When the children, including Daya and Erya, heard me say that we could go to town to play tomorrow, they were all very happy. They immediately started discussing how much money they had saved up and what they could buy tomorrow.
Chen Kai has a total of six nephews and nieces.
The eldest son, Chen Shi, and his wife had one son and three daughters: their eldest son, Chen Shi, was 15 years old; their three daughters were Da Ya, 10 years old; Er Ya, 8 years old; and San Ya, 7 years old.
The couple, Chen Lao Er and his wife, only had two sons: their eldest son, Chen Nong, who was thirteen years old, and their youngest son, Chen Xiaotian, who was five years old.
Since the whole family was going to town, Old Man Zhou went to the village chief's house that evening to discuss the cost of renting an oxcart. The next day, before dawn, the eldest son's wife and the second son's wife began preparing breakfast and the provisions for lunch. After the Chen family woke up and had breakfast, they drove to town.
Chen Kai woke up amidst a jolt, and as soon as he opened his eyes, he saw that Zhou was holding him as he sat on an oxcart.
When Zhou sensed Chen Kai waking up, she immediately asked, "Baby, you're awake! Are you still sleepy? Are you hungry? Here are some dark brown steamed buns and an egg that Mom specially boiled for you this morning." As she spoke, she took out the still-warm steamed buns and egg from her bosom.
After another violent jolt, Chen Kai was fully awake. He took the egg and said, "Mom, I've slept well and I'm not sleepy anymore. An egg is enough for me."
After finishing his egg and drinking some water, Chen Kai asked Zhou Shi, "Mother, how much longer until we reach town?"
Zhou looked around at the scenery and said to Chen Kai with a smile, "Don't worry, baby, we'll be in town soon."
Sure enough, we arrived at the town entrance in no time. As soon as we entered the town, we parted ways. The eldest couple pushed their tofu cart to their usual tofu stall.
The tofu was made by the eldest son's wife. When they weren't busy, the eldest son and his wife would bring two or three blocks of tofu to town to sell. The inns and wealthy families in town had their own special supply channels, and only ordinary people would buy the tofu they brought. Moreover, each block of tofu was quite large, and usually several families would buy one block to share. Every time they brought tofu, they never sold out, and there were often one or two blocks left over, which were eaten by the family.
Old Man Chen and his second and fourth sons went to see where they could set up a stall to sell the folding stools they had brought, and see if anyone would sell them.
Zhou and her second son's wife took their daughters, Daya, Erya, and Sanya, to buy the grains and seasonings needed for the family, and also went for a stroll in the market.
Zhou asked Chen Laowu to take Chen Kai, Chen Xiaotian, Chen Shi, and Chen Nong to wander around the town. After noon, they would meet at the town gate.
Since Chen Kai and his group rarely came to town, once they couldn't see Zhou Shi and the others, Chen Laowu couldn't control the few unruly people who were like wild horses. They touched and looked around, squeezed into wherever there were many people, and wanted to see everything that was exciting. It took Chen Laowu a lot of effort to control them.
After strolling around for a while, Chen Kai's stomach started to rumble with hunger from the aroma of steamed buns. So, Chen Kai tugged at Chen Laowu's clothes and said he wanted to eat steamed buns.
Chen Laowu touched the money he had brought and bought a few vegetarian buns, which the group shared.
Around noon, the group headed towards the town entrance, where the whole family gathered. Chen Kai looked at the empty oxcart and asked his father excitedly, "Are folding stools easy to buy?"
Old Chen was also very happy and excitedly told us, "The folding stools sold out very quickly, and many people who didn't manage to buy any asked us when they would come to town again next time."
At this moment, Old Man Chen suddenly changed the subject: "However, everyone, don't be too happy. This is just a short-term business. Everyone is just looking for something new for a while. Besides, folding stools are not difficult to make. Experienced carpenters can quickly imitate them. After a while, there will be competitors in this town. We should take advantage of this time to make more folding stools and earn more money."
Everyone understood what was going on, so they all agreed that if everyone worked harder during this period, they could earn more by doing one more job.
On their way home, the family saw several stray dogs following the oxcart at a distance. Old Man Chen told his eldest and second eldest sons to be careful, and also told us that there had been several incidents of stray dogs stealing food in the nearby villages recently, so we should be careful when traveling this road in the future.
We arrived home safely as it was getting dark.
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