The evil mother-in-law does not whitewash, she only abuses her children

"Dad, Xu Yong asked me this morning if our two families should get married."

"As long as Ruinian marries into the Xu family, they are willing to give us five acres of good farmland. When Ruinian and Xinghua have a child, they will give us a son with the surname Gu for us to raise, so that our family will not be extinct."

Gu Youtian looked at Gu Ruinian's figure outside and discussed with Old Man Gu.

He felt that the reason why Mr. Gu had concerns was because if Gu Ruinian married into the Xu family, the Gu family would have one less person to carry on the family line.

Isn’t it enough to just solve the incense problem now?

The Xu family was willing to give him five acres of good land.

It was a good deal that the lame little son could be exchanged for five acres of good farmland.

Mr. Gu took a puff of his pipe, a look of hesitation on his face.

To be honest, he was a little tempted by the Xu family's promise to give the Gu family a son in the future.

Given the family's current conditions, it might be difficult to find a wife for Gu Ruinian.

As soon as Gu Youtian mentioned the marriage between Gu Ruinian and Xu Xinghua, Jia looked at Old Man Gu, and his expression made her feel nervous. She was usually afraid of Gu Youtian, but she dared to fight for anything involving Gu Ruinian.

"No, even if you give us ten grandchildren, it won't work. Ruinian's leg can still be healed, and Ruinian still has to go to school." Jia said.

Old Lady Gu snorted and said, "What kind of books are you going to read? Where can I get the money to let him study?"

Jia said in defense, "Ruinian has his own ability to earn money. Didn't he earn cotton clothes, charcoal and silver a few days ago?"

The cotton coat on Gu Ruinian's body and the charcoal fire in the house were sent by the second son of Zheng. Gu Ruinian naturally kept it a secret from his family and only said that he had taken a copying job, and that he was copying for a rich young man in the city.

Jia rekindled her hope that her son would be able to take the imperial examination again.

Old Mrs. Gu frowned and said nothing.

They all saw the wealthy families sending people to deliver gifts to Gu Ruinian.

Gu Ruinian opened the curtain, walked into the house with a chill on his body, raised his head and said to Grandpa Gu and Grandma Gu, "Grandpa and grandma, give me a few more days. I will definitely be able to earn a lot of money for the family before the New Year. If not, I am willing to go to the Xu family as a son-in-law after the New Year."

Mr. Gu thought about it and agreed.

......

Another blizzard started.

It snowed heavily for two days and two nights.

The temperature dropped so sharply that Boss Qian said, "A basin of boiling water would freeze before it hit the ground if poured out."

The entire Pingchuan County was in a panic due to charcoal shortage.

The second master Zheng stood in the corridor of Wanliu Academy, looking at the heavy snow, a smile in his eyes.

The charcoal that the Zheng family had stockpiled began to be put on the market.

This batch of charcoal is not only sold in Ningcheng, the provincial capital, but also has sales outlets in Pingchuan County and major towns and villages.

The news of charcoal for sale spread quickly throughout Ningcheng. Even people in Qinghe Bay got wind of the news, and almost the entire village rushed out to buy charcoal.

In fact, every household has charcoal at this time, but as the temperature drops sharply, the amount of charcoal used at home is three times more than in previous years. Everyone is afraid that the charcoal fire will not last this winter, so as soon as they hear the news that charcoal fire is for sale, they will go out in full force.

Soon, everyone returned to the village in despair.

The price of charcoal is beyond everyone's imagination.

In the past, thirty cents could buy a load of charcoal, but now it costs five taels of silver.

The country folks in the village could earn a living by saving five taels of silver in a year, and it was good enough. Who could afford to buy so much silver for coal?

Five taels of silver was no different from robbery to the villagers.

"Where did this unscrupulous merchant come from? He wants five taels of silver for a load of charcoal. He is like skinning and bleeding."

"This charcoal merchant said that Xu Zaohua married into the Zheng family. No wonder their eldest son died young. It turned out that he did too many immoral things."

"Even businessmen who value profit cannot be so great. I have lived to be seventy and have finally seen this."

When they returned to the village, they started cursing the charcoal merchant.

Except for the wealthy Xu family in the village who bought some charcoal, everyone else returned empty-handed.

It's really hard to buy a load of charcoal for five taels of silver.

"I really have to thank Pan Di. If she hadn't brought two truckloads of charcoal, we would probably be freezing now."

When they saw Tong Pandi coming out of the pig farm, everyone thanked him for his good deed and began to regret not stocking up more charcoal.

Tong Panddi was worried because she had memories of her past life and knew that the charcoal she had stored was enough to get through this cold winter.

What made her feel uncomfortable was that more people had no memories of their past lives and did not know how severe this extreme weather was.

She originally thought that the villagers respected Master Su and everyone was willing to listen to what he said, so she used Master Su's mouth to tell everyone that it would be very cold this year, but no one took it seriously at all.

Everyone stood at the entrance of the village, talked for a few words, and then left because the cold was unbearable.

Three days after the Zheng family's charcoal was put on the market, Tong Huaqiong and the Lu family started to take action.

......

Prefect Yao listened to his subordinates' reports with a calm expression.

The whole Ningcheng is now in chaos over charcoal fire. Even if extreme cold weather is coming, charcoal should be available at this time.

But twenty days ago, all the charcoal fire in Ningcheng seemed to have disappeared overnight.

And during these three days, a large amount of charcoal suddenly appeared and was sold at the price of five taels of silver per load.

Someone must have deliberately hoarded charcoal, regardless of the lives of the people, in order to take the opportunity to make a fortune.

Just as troubled as Prefect Yao was County Magistrate Liu.

There was a shortage of charcoal everywhere in Pingchuan County, and charcoal merchants took the opportunity to raise prices to the point of bleeding.

If this continues, people will freeze to death.

County Magistrate Liu was so angry that he wanted to kill the charcoal merchant. But killing him would not solve the problem now, because he would not be able to produce more charcoal.

The Zheng family hid behind the scenes and distributed the stockpiled charcoal to various charcoal shops, charging a unified price according to the Zheng family's.

As for the consequences of paying five taels of silver for a load of charcoal, the Zheng family doesn't care, nor is they afraid of being investigated by the government. Business is originally a voluntary thing for both parties. I set a high price, and you can choose not to buy it.

Tong Huaqiong came to Pingchuan County in the cold wind. She passed by a charcoal shop and heard a noise.

"Go, go, go, it's just the price, buy it if you want, there are plenty of people who will buy it if you don't."

"Don't even mention five taels per load. Even ten taels per load won't be a problem. The poor fellow will just freeze to death."

This shop was owned by a steward of the Zheng family. The shop assistants had the support of the Zheng family and spoke rudely when bargaining.

Hong, who came to Pingchuan with Tong Huaqiong, lifted the curtain, looked at the servant who was so complacent in front of the people, and shook her head and said, "My husband would never allow this kind of situation to happen when he was the housekeeper of the Zheng family."

Tong Huaqiong was about to respond when the waiter's loud voice rang out.

"I won't sell it for five taels of silver! From now on, a load of charcoal will cost ten taels of silver. Why don't you ask around? Not only in Pingchuan, but even in Ningcheng, we're the only family that has charcoal."

"Are you crazy?" Hong gritted her teeth in anger.

Five taels of silver for a load of charcoal was already outrageous enough, but I didn’t expect something even more outrageous to happen.

Tong Huaqiong sneered, "If God wants to destroy someone, he will first make him crazy. Let them be proud for a few days."

"Qingyou, turn the carriage around. Let's not go to Jufu. Let's go to the county government office first." Tong Huaqiong said to Qin Qingyou who was driving the carriage.

Originally, Tong Huaqiong wanted to go to Jufulai first to make some preparations and then meet with County Magistrate Liu tomorrow.

Now seeing the madness of the Zheng family, she felt that there was no need to drag it on.