Lu Yan grabbed Ma's wrist, his eyes flashing with anger, and slammed the door shut behind him.
He lowered his voice and gritted his teeth, saying, "You stupid woman! Do you know you almost caused a huge disaster? Are you trying to kill me and my son?"
Ma was startled by his sudden outburst of anger, but remembering that she already knew about it, she straightened her back and said loudly, "So what if I know the truth? Anyway, we're not children of the Lu family, why can't I tell the eldest son's family?"
"Tell them?" Lu Yancai sneered, looking at her as if she were a fool. "Do you think we'll gain anything by telling them? Have you considered that if we reveal that we're not Lu's biological children, wouldn't that just give the eldest branch of the family a reason to sever all ties with us forever?"
Mrs. Ma was stunned. She opened her mouth, but couldn't say a word. She had never thought of it from this perspective before.
Seeing this, Lu Yancai continued, "It's one thing for you to be stupid, but don't get me and Tianbao into trouble! Didn't you see that the old man and Lu Yanzheng are trying to get rid of our family? If we lose our status as brothers, how are we going to get anything out of them?"
Ma's face turned even paler. She lowered her head and said in a trembling voice, "I...I didn't think that much..."
Lu Yan released her wrist and glared at her fiercely. "Don't mention this again, or don't blame me for being rude to you!"
Did she think he was such a diligent person? But in order to change his image in the eyes of Old Man Lu and Mrs. Chen, he now works hard from dawn to dusk, just to prevent things from coming to light in the future, so that the old couple would let Lu Yanzheng and his wife continue to live with him, considering that he has reformed.
Ma nodded repeatedly, but her heart was filled with resentment.
She gritted her teeth inwardly, extremely annoyed. Was she supposed to keep this secret forever? What was worse, she couldn't bear to see Jiang Qinyu make a fool of herself anymore!
...
Jiang Qinyu was completely unaware of this. She had just made nutritious lunches for her two children when a familiar mechanical voice suddenly rang in her mind.
[Ding! Congratulations, host, you have received a random mission! Please find ten types of ore within thirty days, and submit twenty jin of each type! Hint: You will receive a large reward of points upon completion of this mission!]
Jiang Qinyu's eyes lit up, filled with excitement and joy.
This mission came at just the right time; she was worried about how to quickly find a coal mine.
She quickly called Shufan and Pan'er to eat, her mind already racing with ideas on how to exploit the system bug to maximize the benefits of this mission.
Based on previous experience searching for minerals in Yunshan, Yukang Prefecture should have abundant mineral resources.
The system's built-in task item map hints are a super cheat code. If you make good use of this, you can not only solve the fuel problem this winter, but also secretly note where there are gold, silver, copper and iron mines for future use.
More importantly, she'll get a lot of points after completing this mission, which she can use to buy lots of cotton and cloth!
Jiang Qinyu quickly finished her meal, went next door to call Yunzhu and Hu Po over, told them to keep a close eye on Shufan and Pan'er, and then left.
She went straight to Village Chief Li's house.
Village Chief Li had just finished lunch and was strolling out of his yard when he saw Jiang Qinyu approaching. He greeted her warmly, "My dear niece, where are you going?"
"Uncle Village Chief, I have something I'd like to discuss with you," Jiang Qinyu said with a smile.
Upon hearing that the person had come to see him, Village Chief Li quickly led him into the house, saying, "What's the matter? Just tell me, and I'll definitely get it done for you!"
He knew that Jiang Qinyu wouldn't mention anything that would put him in a difficult position, and he could certainly handle other things.
Jiang Qinyu smiled and said, "It's not a big deal, but it should allow everyone to earn some money to celebrate the New Year."
"Making money isn't a big deal?" Village Chief Li looked at her with surprise.
It has to be his eldest niece! Making money is no big deal to her. He can only say that capable people really do think differently from them.
Jiang Qinyu thought for a moment and said, "It might require some effort from everyone, and it will be quite tiring."
"Hey, all we have is strength, right? If we can work hard to earn money, they'll definitely be happy to oblige," Village Chief Li chuckled, then asked, "Niece, what exactly is it about?"
Jiang Qinyu glanced at the Li family's woodshed before speaking, "Uncle Village Chief should know that this winter will definitely be colder than before, right?"
“Oh, that’s right. Look at how quickly my family has put on our thick cotton-padded coats. These are the same fabrics you helped buy last year. This winter, our village needs to be careful, especially the elderly and children. We don’t want anyone to die if we’re not careful.” Village Chief Li said with concern.
Although the village had tried its best to get the elderly and children to bring firewood home, the firewood around Yunshan Mountain was limited, and the trees couldn't be cut down indiscriminately. The elderly and children couldn't go into the deep mountains, so the matter was delayed.
He had originally planned to organize a group of people to go into the mountains to get some firewood in a few days, but recently everyone's work in the fields has been heavy, and he figured some families would want to make do, so he simply decided not to send anyone.
Jiang Qinyu nodded, "I learned from a book that there is a kind of ore that can burn. I saw it when I went hunting in the mountains last year, so I would like to ask Uncle Village Chief to mobilize everyone to go into the mountains and bring back more of that ore to the village. After simple processing, it can be burned, which is more convenient than burning firewood."
"A combustible ore?" Village Chief Li's eyes lit up, but then he said with a bitter face, "But the imperial court stipulates that we ordinary people cannot mine minerals privately. If we are discovered, we will be beheaded!"
Jiang Qinyu smiled and said, "Uncle Village Chief, don't worry about that. I'll talk to Lord Wei about this. Maybe our village can even mine for free."
Besides, if they mine secretly, no one will know, right? But it's something they'll eventually use, so it's hard to say what will happen then. It's better to do it legitimately.
"Yes, yes, you know Ah Zheng and the magistrate well, you two will definitely be able to do it!" Village Chief Li immediately perked up, saying excitedly, "Then I'll talk to them when everyone comes back tonight, and we'll calculate work points for those who go up the mountain, and they can collect the kind of firewood you mentioned according to their work points..."
As he spoke, Village Chief Li hurried back, not even having time to continue talking to Jiang Qinyu.
Jiang Qinyu watched his retreating figure with amusement, feeling a sense of peace.
If people from Dingshui Village go to the mountains to mine coal, Xiao Rui will soon see the benefits of coal, and then he will definitely find a way to promote coal briquette heating throughout Yukang Prefecture.
That's right, Jiang Qinyu didn't plan to burn the freshly dug coal. She wanted to sort and process it, and make it into coal briquettes to maximize profits.
Moreover, with coal, we can attempt basic industrialization.
Just as Jiang Qinyu was envisioning the future applications of coal, Liu Yuqing, dressed in new clothes, swaggered into the Hu family's house.
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