The road to wealth of a peasant widow

Since Chen Cui's wallet was not deep, their options for lunch were very limited, they could only eat in small roadside restaurants or stalls.

Finally, they sat down at a roadside noodle stall and ordered five bowls of the most ordinary vegetarian noodles.

Although it is vegetarian noodles, the boss's noodle soup is made with broth from pork bones and chicken racks, so the noodles are very chewy. Finally, sprinkled with green chopped green onions, the taste is also very good, at least better than Chen Cui's.

Moreover, the portion of each bowl of noodles was quite large. The others were full after one bowl, but Changping ate one and a half bowls and fed the remaining half bowl to Suisui.

The little girl followed him out for a long time. Seeing so many new things and people, she was excited and thrilled. She waved her little hands from time to time and shouted "Ahhh" at the passers-by.

But children are children, they are young and have limited energy.

Sui Sui, who was lively and active before, started yawning non-stop in his eldest brother's arms after eating. He was already drooling in sleep before he even got on the ox cart.

On the way back, Chang'an and Changfu clamored to learn how to drive an ox cart from their eldest brother, so the three of them sat on the front edge of the cart together.

Chen Cui, Sui Sui and the things they bought today were in the back carriage. They were busy all day yesterday and got up almost in the middle of the night today. They walked around for most of the day. She was really tired and didn't care about the bumpy road. She soon fell asleep in her arms around Sui Sui.

Although the things in the car took up a lot of space and she had to curl up to sleep, she still felt that she slept very soundly and did not wake up until she was almost home.

Chen Cui stretched in the car, feeling sore all over, but also indescribably comfortable.

After the ox cart entered the village, they met several villagers. Some of them greeted them with sympathy in their eyes, while others stared at the things on their ox cart with complicated eyes.

Fortunately, because they are in mourning, no one wants to deal with them at this time. Even if someone wants to say something sour, they will probably say it behind their backs and keep silent to their faces.

Chen Cui was able to ignore all the looks and talk to people calmly, but the children couldn't do it.

The three boys who were very excited on the road remained silent after entering the village.

When I got home, I opened the door, drove the ox cart into the yard, and unloaded everything. What should be put in the kitchen was put in the kitchen, and what should be put in the west room of the main hall was put in the west room.

After unloading all the things, Changping told his two younger brothers: "Changan, Changfu, go to the back door to cut some grass and come back to feed the cows."

It's already a big favor if someone is willing to lend me the ox cart, but I can't return the oxen to them with an empty stomach.

After saying that, he took a boar bristle brush, brushed the cow's body, and cleaned the carriage thoroughly.

Seeing him caressing the cow's head, reluctant to let it go, Chen Cui stepped forward and said, "When our family conditions are better, we will buy a cow to use, and then I will hand it over to you to take care of it."

Changping shook his head and said, "When our family has money, we will let Changan and Changfu go to school."

He spent most of the day in the county town today, visited several shops, and gained a lot of new insights.

All the guys in the store were literate. Although they had to constantly smile and greet customers while working in the store, it was not hard work. Compared with farming, it was much easier and they did not have to be exposed to the wind and sun, and they could also earn a stable salary every month.

Moreover, they are all well-informed and well-mannered in dealing with people, which is something that farm boys like them cannot compare to.

No wonder my grandfather wanted my uncle and cousin to go to school. Even if they didn’t get into school, they could go to the city, get jobs, and see people and things that they wouldn’t be able to see in the village.

Moreover, now that my uncle and cousin have fixed incomes, their family will save more and more money.

In the future, my uncle's grandson will probably also go to school. In this way, their family will not have to be bound to the land and may even be able to become city dwellers in the future.

Unlike farmers who depend on the weather for their livelihood, they can still have some surplus after paying taxes, enough for the whole family.

In bad years, there was nothing left after paying taxes, and families with little financial resources could only sell their children to make ends meet.

Of course, some people choose to sell land.

That's how the landlords accumulated their land. Most of the dozen acres of land in the old house came from this.

Thinking of this, Changping lowered his head.

Chen Cui looked at this sensible boy and couldn't help but feel a little more pity for him.

"If there is a chance, Changan and Changfu are going to study, and you should go too."

She wanted to say: "You are all your parents' children. Just because you are the eldest, you can't give all the opportunities to your younger brothers. In my opinion, you are better than them."

But she said nothing.

The family is not able to support them to go to school now, so it is useless to say all this now.

It won’t be too late to let him go to school when money is no longer an obstacle to his studies. By then, I will always find a way to convince him.

When Changping went to return the ox cart, Chen Cui asked him to take a bag of snacks to Muramasa's house. They were not high-end items, just rice cakes that cost a few cents a bag, just as a courtesy.

The family was waiting for Changping to come back for dinner, but he didn't come back for a long time.

Although Chen Cui noticed that there was something wrong with his expression, she did not ask about it on the spot because she was about to eat.

After dinner, she asked Chang'an and Changfu to wash the dishes, pots and clean the kitchen, and she called Changping to the room.

"What did the people from Muramasa's family say when you went to return the ox cart?"

Changping shook his head. "No, Master Youcai was very kind. He just asked what we had prepared for Dad's seventh-day meal. He also asked me and Changan Changfu to be filial to you in the future, and told me to go to him if I encountered any difficulties."

There are more than 50 households in Liujiaping Village, and more than 90% of them are members of the Liu clan. Naturally, the village chief can only be from the Liu clan.

Today's village chief Liu Youcai is of the same generation as Liu Youliang, but is a little younger than him. He is the patriarch of this branch of the Liu clan and also the village chief of Liujiaping. He enjoys a high prestige in the village.

Liu Youcai's family is very prosperous. His father has several cousins, he himself has more than a dozen cousins, and his son has even more cousins.

But the biggest reason why Liu Youcai was able to become the village chief and had high prestige in the village was not because of his large family, but because he was fair and just. When dealing with problems, he did not look at the closeness of the relationship, but just discussed the matter and sided with whoever was right.

So, even though he was not the oldest and did not have the longest seniority, everyone respected him and no one could say anything bad about the cases he handled.

The fact that Liu Eryong was able to successfully divide the family business was largely due to the support of Liu Youcai.

If it weren't for Liu Youcai's support and the persuasion of several elders in the Liu family, according to the character of the old couple of the Liu family, Liu Eryong would never have been able to successfully divide the family.

Although the villagers thought that Liu Eryong was stupid for doing that, in Chen Cui's eyes, she was extremely grateful for his action of dividing the family property.

If Liu Eryong had not separated the family early, she would have had to be a bullied daughter-in-law for a while after coming here, living under the rule of her mother-in-law and her boss, and being bullied by her sisters-in-law!

Although she is not someone who would suffer injustice, she would naturally find a way to solve the problem, which might avoid trouble. But who wants to get involved? Wouldn't it be nice to just come here and take charge?