After listening to the story, Song Yun did not force the villagers to come to work. Instead, he settled all the wages that had not been paid in advance.
This has left those who were worried about the mine defaulting on its debts somewhat confused.
However, He Tiantian never believed the rumors in the village from the beginning, so she came to the mine as usual.
She also brought Liu Yonghe, Wang Dazhuang, and Zhao Neng with her.
"Sister-in-law He, what brings you here? There's no one left in the mine." Mo Zhu was quite surprised when she saw He Tiantian.
There was no one in the mine, but he could tell that although his family hadn't said anything, they were extremely bothered by the matter.
Mingming already had Chief Zhao notify the whole village yesterday. Besides, the mine exploded once, leaving a mess that needs to be cleaned up.
With no one to help, the people sent by Magistrate Liu alone were far from enough to complete these tasks.
“Why can’t I come? Director Song said he would take three days off, but it’s been seven days already. I came to work yesterday as soon as I saw Director Song come back. Look, the other villagers are here too.” He Tiantian smiled and pointed to Liu Yonghe and his group.
Just then, Song Yun arrived, and he heard the conversation from quite a distance.
"Sister He, I have written down everything you mentioned yesterday and had it all sent to Magistrate Liu. The mine is starting operations today, so I need your help to check if there are any problems."
Song Yun walked up to He Tiantian and clasped his hands in a salute.
In the following days, He Tiantian continued to supervise the miners as usual. When she encountered anything she felt was inappropriate, she would offer her opinions.
However, she learned all of these on the spot. When she didn't know something, she would secretly open the store and search for it.
Song Yun is also a quick-witted and resourceful person. As long as He Tiantian gives him a general idea, he knows what to do.
A few days later, Magistrate Liu sent someone to deliver the iron tools for making honeycomb briquettes.
Before that, He Tiantian had researched how to make honeycomb briquettes in the mall. She crushed all the coal into powder and then mixed it with loess.
Invert it into the prepared container, dip it once in the mixed charcoal mud, and then step on the pedal to make a honeycomb briquette.
After waiting for them to dry, light a fire to ignite the honeycomb briquettes. Then, simply replace one briquette with the next when it's almost burned out, and the fire will never go out.
He Tiantian first conducted an experiment using the mine's stove, attracting a large crowd of curious onlookers. Even Zhao Tingzhang, who had traveled a long way, came to watch.
He Tiantian opened all the kitchen windows and added more coal to the stove. A large pot of water was boiling in the pot, and soon the whole house became warm.
"Goodness, Maruko's mother, your method is brilliant! Look how beautiful it is, burning so red!" Zhao Tingzhang rubbed his hands excitedly, his eyes fixed on the burning coals under the stove.
The others were also seeing such a strange thing for the first time. "Sister He, your method has really benefited the common people."
"Yes, this looks good, it's even warmer than burning firewood."
Song Yun was also very excited. He was already thinking about how to record the methods of making honeycomb briquettes and their specific uses, so that he could send them to the imperial court by fast horse.
Of course, he wouldn't take credit for it himself. It was all Sister He's idea, and he would report it truthfully.
That day, Zhao Tingzhang and He Tiantian took a lot of honeycomb briquettes back with them.
The thought of baking in the oven that evening filled He Tiantian with immense joy.
The four children looked at the black coal with great curiosity. Zhao Wanzi asked curiously, "Mom, what is this thing called? Why is it so black?"
He Tiantian smiled and gave the four children a brief explanation, "Director Song, let's call it a coal ball for now. It's made from black gold stone from the mine. It's known as black gold."
Sister-in-law Yulan also stood to the side, listening intently. Goodness, so many new words; she had never heard of them before.
Once a few briquettes are burned, the whole dilapidated temple becomes warm and cozy.
Kids are naturally hot-tempered, and right now they're so hot they want to go outside to cool off.
"Sister, let's go out and play for a while. It's too hot inside." Zhao Wanzi pleaded, pulling on Zhao Denglong's hand.
Liu Shuixian looked at her older sister Liu Yulan; she also wanted to go out and play…
Zhao Denglong saw that all the chores at home seemed to be finished, and there was nothing else to do.
"Alright then, let's take a walk around the village and come back before dark."
When Sister Yulan lived at her own home, she was quite reserved with her two young girls. But when she came to He Tiantian's house, she found that He Tiantian never restricted the two children and cared a lot about their opinions.
Over time, Sister-in-law Yulan stopped paying so much attention to Liu Yulan and Liu Shuixian.
The four children walked hand in hand toward the village, where almost all the other children their age were in groups.
However, the other children unanimously refused to play with Zhao Denglong and Zhao Wanzi, and Liu Yulan and Liu Shuixian were naturally abandoned by the other children after they joined Zhao Denglong's group.
"Sister, look what they're playing!" Zhao Wanzi asked curiously as she saw several little girls jumping and skipping around in the distance.
Zhao Denglong glanced over and immediately saw Zhao Xiaocao.
In the open space, several children were hopping on hopscotch.
"It's just hopscotch, we can play it when we get back. But didn't you say it was hot? Wouldn't it be even hotter if we got all sweaty playing this?" Zhao Denglong wasn't interested in the girls playing at all, and as he spoke, he tried to pull Wanzi away.
Zhao Xiaocao and Zhao Erhua happened to overhear what Zhao Denglong said.
Zhao Xiaocao scoffed disdainfully, "Don't act so high and mighty. It's clearly us who didn't want to include you. The way you put it makes it seem like you look down on us."
Zhao Xiaocao's sharp and sarcastic tongue is just as biting as her mother, Cheng Shi's.
"Yulan, Shuixian, you two are so ungrateful! I've always let you have fun, and you're still not satisfied. You insist on hanging out with those two unlucky guys!" Zhao Erhua said fiercely, her eyebrows furrowed.
Startled, Yulan and Shuixian shrank behind Zhao Denglong.
"Zhao Xiaocao! You're not allowed to talk to your older sister like that! My house is so warm, I don't need to play such a silly game like yours to keep warm. You bounce around like a frog." Zhao Wanzi refused to admit defeat and retorted stubbornly.
Zhao Xiaocao was furious. They only came out to play because they were cold at home.
In this freezing weather, we can only keep warm by shivering.
"And you, Zhao Erhua, if you keep talking nonsense, I'll tear your mouth apart! With me here, let's see if you dare to bully Sister Yulan and Shuixian again." Zhao Wanzi turned to look at Zhao Erhua again, revealing an even more vicious expression than her.
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