Chapter 97
"Is Zhang Fangyuan crazy? It's so hot today that he feels like he's rolling in boiling water, and he actually went up the mountain to collect firewood and brought it back. If he can't find anything to do, he shouldn't waste his time like this."
"Who knows what these rich people are thinking? Are they planning to build new houses?"
"What kind of house are you building? The wood you brought back is not good wood. Maybe it was firewood sent to the guest house."
See, Zhang family's sturdy servant Wu Zi has returned from the guest house. He drives three horses up the mountain all day, carrying wood back and forth from the mountain again and again. The villagers who are irrigating crops in the fields are all watching the fun.
"What's the point of that? Hey, your family made a lot of money from selling the grain this time, right?"
"No, the Wu family still sells the most. What we have is nothing."
The villagers were talking about it, but at this time a large thatched shed was temporarily built outside the Zhang family's house, which was used to store firewood.
"Go up the mountain, go up the mountain!"
Brother Li watched Wu Zi driving the horse pulling firewood down every day, and heard that his father and fourth uncle were chopping firewood in the mountain. He pulled Xu He's hand and jumped and clamored to go to the mountain to play.
Xu He thought that the mountain was covered with lush trees and was much cooler than the village. The two little ones had never been to the mountain before. It would be unreasonable for a child born in the village to have never been to the mountain or fished in the pond. So he agreed to take the two of them up.
But it is not easy to climb up with two heavy babies. Carrying one is not a problem, but carrying two is impossible.
Xu He had no choice but to take advantage of Wu Zi's time to come down the mountain and ask him to take a message to Zhang Fangyuan on the mountain.
His son also wanted to go up the mountain, so he asked him to come down to pick him up.
While waiting for Zhang Fangyuan to leave, Xu He asked the two boys to roll up their sleeves, stretch out their white arms, and apply mosquito repellent which was sold at an extremely high price in the city.
On ordinary days, Xu He would be reluctant to take it out and use it. Although it is cool in the mountains, it is humid and the mosquitoes are big and poisonous. If a child is bitten, he will get big pustules.
After Xu He applied the medicine to Rui Jin and Rui Li, he changed the children into long sleeves and long pants. After taking care of the two guys, Zhang Fangyuan came back on horseback.
"You naughty boy are going to play in the mountains again. Aren't you afraid that the big black bear will take you away?"
Zhang Fangyuan walked into the room, picked up the child, leaned over and kissed him: "Oh, it tastes bitter."
"I just applied mosquito repellent to Xiaoli, but the child didn't rub it off, but you did."
Zhang Fangyuan laughed and said, "Bring the medicine with you. There are many mosquitoes in the mountains."
The couple each held a little one and went up the mountain together.
During the hot summer this year, not only did the crops die of drought, but many old trees on the hills also died as there was no rain. The villagers were busy picking up the crops, and there was plenty of firewood, so it was very difficult to collect.
In just ten days, the family had collected over a thousand kilograms of firewood. However, if they wanted to burn a thousand kilograms of charcoal, they would need six or seven times more firewood.
Ruijin and Ruili went up the mountain and ran around happily like fish back to the pond. The couple let the child make noise, but Zhang Shicheng became nervous, fearing that the child would get bumped into something. How could he have the heart to chop wood?
Fortunately, Xu Helai replaced him, so the labor force is still the same.
"These two little guys are full of energy."
Zhang Shicheng ran with the child for a while, his forehead covered with sweat. He felt even more tired than chopping wood.
But he also loved the two chubby, fair and tender children very much. There were few children in the village who could be raised as well as these two, so they were especially loved.
In the past two years, the child has grown faster than the crops in the dry land. He has sprouted some branches and no longer looks like the winter melon in the field like when he was over one year old.
The farmers in the field were very strong. Zhang Shicheng picked up a baby with one hand and said, "Don't run around or you'll fall. Uncle just found a nest of birds. Go and have a look!"
The two little guys were very excited. It was the first time they saw a round bird's nest made of wood scraps. Inside, two pairs of baby birds that couldn't fly yet were chirping with their mouths wide open.
Little Carp's round eyes widened: "Little bird, little bird!"
"There are four!"
Ruijin looked at the young bird. Although his reaction was not as intense as Xiaoli's, his eyes were still flickering and he was talking to Xiaoli.
Zhang Shicheng was shocked for a moment, then turned to look at Zhang Fangyuan and his wife: "This child can actually count!"
The couple were also a little surprised. They had noticed that Ruijin was a bit quiet, but he liked to learn from adults. They didn't expect that he would make such a big splash and actually be able to count birds.
"This child is very smart, he should be sent to primary school as soon as possible!"
Zhang Shicheng's eyes lit up and he was very happy.
"The child is only two years old. If he wants to start learning, he should be over three years old. It's too early now."
Zhang Fangyuan was happy that the child was smart. After all, many people in the village had privately said that Ruijin was stupid. But he didn't want to force the child to grow faster just to prove that the Zhang family's child was not stupid but smart.
"Now that my family is well, I have to send my child to school anyway, so it doesn't matter if it's earlier or later."
Zhang Shicheng wanted to hold the children and twist them for a while, but the two children's hearts had already flown to the bird and they were shaking their legs to get off.
"You can't touch baby birds, understand?"
Zhang Shicheng let the two cubs go only after they nodded obediently. They immediately surrounded the bird's nest, squatting side by side, chattering something, and sometimes Xu He couldn't understand what they were saying.
Zhang Shicheng looked at the two boys squatting there, looking particularly chubby, and looked back every few steps before going back to chop firewood.
Zhang Fangyuan shook his head: "Si Uncle loves his grandson so much, just hug these two guys and kiss them for a while."
"It's very noisy. I am too old to take care of it."
"Then find a husband for Xiaomao as soon as possible so that he can have his first grandson sooner."
Zhang Shicheng glared at Zhang Fangyuan and scolded him for being disrespectful. In his heart, he had already felt happy about it, but he was too embarrassed to say it out loud, so he changed the subject.
"Then again, why are you hoarding so much firewood? It would be better to hoard food and sell it in Wojiang County. You might even make some money."
Zhang Fangyuan said, "Store some firewood for the winter, and also make some charcoal."
Zhang Shicheng had been irrigating the fields the past few days, so he came over to help chop firewood for two days when he had some free time.
Zhang Fangyuan was even more puzzled when he heard what he said: "It's as hot as being in a stove pit, why are you storing charcoal?"
"Fourth uncle, don't you see that the weather is always dry in summer and snowy in winter? It's too late to sell the rice now. Can I still make some money from coal and fire?"
Zhang Shicheng cut a dry tree trunk and said, "It is true that the summer is dry and the winter is cold, but it is not always like this. It is just a coincidence. You should stock up appropriately. Be careful not to stock up too much. This winter will be as warm as last year. Not only will the coal fire be sold at a low price, but no one will buy it."
Zhang Fangyuan smiled and said, "Just listen to me."
The Zhang family chopped wood and made charcoal for the entire summer.
There was a severe drought this year. Although Siyang City was not affected by the drought to the point of having no harvest, the harvest was greatly reduced compared to last year.
The farmers quickly cleaned up their crops, and many people were carrying baskets to pick up the leftover ears of grain in the harvested rice fields.
"I lost money. I lost money. The price of rice in the grain store in the city has increased by another five cents. If I had sold it later, I would have made a profit."
"Oh my, there's a severe drought in Wojiang County. We barely survived the summer, and then we encountered a locust plague in the fall. It's really tragic. The harvests are poor everywhere this year, so how can food prices not go up!"
"The price of grain is so high now, why don't you get some more grain to sell?"
"I dare not sell it this time. I should listen to Zhang Fangyuan."
The villagers who had returned from the city were talking about it, and the villagers in the fields also came up to inquire about the current situation in other counties. When they talked about the disaster, they all sighed with a sense of crisis.
"You are still here talking and laughing. The Zhang family just said they want to buy charcoal. Anyone can send it to sell. The price is a little lower than the market price, ten cents a pound."
Suddenly, a villager at the entrance of the village who was holding a hatchet and preparing to go up the mountain saw the excitement and shouted.
The villagers immediately fell silent, and asked: "Is this true or not? Don't talk nonsense!"
"Who would say this for fun? If you don't believe me, go to the Zhang family and ask them!"
After saying this, the villagers went on their own.
The villagers were furious: "What on earth is Zhang Fangyuan trying to do? He has been collecting firewood and charcoal for a month or two, and now he wants to collect it!"
"Whatever he does, I'll go and take a look! The busy farming season is only for a short period this year, and I'm worried about having nothing to do. It would be great if I could find something to do at the Zhang family."
Xu He watched as more and more people came to inquire about the situation. Even if he asked everyone to tell others, Xu He felt that the matter was a little outrageous. Even after being informed by his fellow villagers, they still came to his house to ask.
Thousands of kilograms of firewood have been stored in the front and back yards of their home. Now they have dug a number of earthen stoves and kilns behind the house to make charcoal. They are no longer planning to go up the mountain to do the work themselves.
Zhang Fangyuan was very satisfied with everyone's active response and prepared to invest more money.
"What's wrong? Are you still worried?"
He looked at Xu He who was somewhat absent-minded. Although he had absolute confidence, others, not knowing the whole story, naturally thought that he was a little unreasonable.
I only mentioned it to Xu He once. He hesitated a little, but after being encouraged by my explanation, he agreed without hesitation. He couldn't help but be moved.
"I am worried, but since I have done it, I might as well take a gamble."
Although Xu He was afraid of hoarding too much charcoal and then being burdened with it, he thought carefully that charcoal would always be needed in winter. Since he had so much on hand, the worst that could happen was that he would open a charcoal shop and sell it slowly.
It just means that the return on investment is slow and you can’t make much money.
He looked at the villagers coming and going, and an idea came to his mind. It was actually very unsafe, but when he saw Zhang Fangyuan's confident look, he also felt that this year would definitely be a very cold year. If so, then their family would really make a fortune by taking this opportunity.
"I thought that since we need to stockpile so much charcoal, the villagers can stockpile a lot of it, but if we want to get more quickly, it would be better to go to the charcoal shop in the city to negotiate business and buy more at a low price. Wouldn't we be able to stockpile a lot very quickly this way?"
"Besides, most of the charcoal stored in the city is in our hands. Wouldn't that make it easier to sell? It's just like you selling toothbrushes before."
Zhang Fangyuan paused after hearing this, then laughed out loud: "Brother, you really have the talent to do business. I have never thought of buying charcoal directly from the charcoal shop in the city!"
It is still autumn now and the weather is still hot. The charcoal business in the city is in a downturn. The current price of charcoal is the cheapest. The price will go up in winter, and it is not easy to stock up because those merchants are very picky.
He was so excited that he held Xu He's face and kissed him: "I'll go right away!"
Xu He looked at the person who ran out excitedly and wanted to call out to him, but he disappeared in a flash. He couldn't help but shook his head, and for a moment he didn't know whether his idea was good or bad.
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