The road to wealth of a peasant widow

The three of them walked through the mountains and forests for half an hour and arrived at the bamboo forest.

Chen Dahe carefully looked at the growth of the bamboo in the bamboo forest, and after some research, he told them what size and thickness of bamboo to cut, and told them the specifications and approximate quantity.

With tools like axes and machetes, they cut the bamboo very quickly. In just one afternoon, they had almost finished cutting all the bamboo needed to build the shed.

It's easy to cut, but it's a bit troublesome to transport it back.

The mountain road was narrow and rugged, with lush vegetation, so it was impossible to bring back too much at once.

Chen Dahe thought of a way. He found some vines to tie the cut bamboo into bundles, leaving a rope end as a handle so that it could be dragged along the ground.

After they bundled the bamboo in batches, they prepared to drag them back.

Along the way, dragging the bamboo was indeed much easier than before, but it still took a lot of effort to get back home.

When we got home, everyone was so tired and out of breath that they just collapsed in the yard.

But when they saw the bamboo they had cut with so much effort, they felt a sense of accomplishment.

After a short rest, they began to discuss the construction of the shed.

Chen Cui has no experience in this area and mainly listens to Chen Dahe.

When villagers were building houses, Chen Dahe often went to help, and he and his brothers also built the firewood shed at home.

Therefore, although he was not a professional carpenter, he could still easily build a simple shed.

After discussion, they decided to build the shed next to the east wall of the backyard. This way they could use one wall and have fewer pillars. In addition, the wall would block the wind in winter, and it wouldn't be too cold when burning charcoal under the shed.

So, Chen Dahe marked the location on the ground and dug a hole according to the agreed size, and buried several of the thickest bamboo poles in it to serve as pillars.

Next, tie bamboo poles horizontally to the top of the pillars to connect them together in a straight line. Then start laying bamboo poles on the top along the wall and secure them with hemp ropes.

In order to make the top more solid and stable, after laying a layer of bamboo poles horizontally, another layer is laid vertically. In this way, the entire top layer becomes a grid with horizontal and vertical intersections.

Then, they laid the woven thatched mats along the slope of the top, pasted yellow mud on them, and finally covered them with another layer of thatched mats, and the whole shed was completed.

It took them five full days to build the shed, but it was all worth it because on the third day after the shed was built, the weather suddenly changed and it started to rain.

At this time, there were more than twenty charcoal piles standing under the shed, but because the shed was sheltered from wind and rain, the charcoal burning process was not affected at all.

Changping and his uncle were watching under the shed. If they found any cracks in the mud on the outer layer of the charcoal pile, they would promptly paste it with mud to prevent air leakage.

This job is not tiring, but you need to stay there all the time, pay attention at all times, and not be distracted.

Although it wasn't raining heavily outside, it had been drizzling for most of the day, and the temperature had dropped a lot. Everyone put on thicker cotton-padded jackets, as if winter had arrived overnight.

The uncle and nephew sat in the middle of the charcoal piles. With the heat from the burning, they didn't feel cold at all. They just needed to wear their padded jackets.

Although he had seen the charcoal-making process before, Chen Dahe couldn't help but sigh: "This method is really amazing. It's possible to make charcoal without a kiln."

Changping had been warned by his mother not to reveal the origin of this method to his uncle, so he just smiled innocently in response.

Chen Dahe didn't really need an answer, he just wanted to express his feelings.

At this time, Chen Cui was sitting at the door of the main room, mending the clothes that had been torn for her brothers in the past few days.

She looked at the sky outside and couldn't help but feel fortunate that she had taken apart, washed and packed away her quilts and cotton clothes a few days ago, which were enough to prepare for the cold weather.

After mending the clothes of several brothers, she picked up a cotton jacket of Liu Eryong and planned to repair it a little and give it to Daha to wear.

He came here just to visit his sister and had no intention of staying. He did not even bring any spare clothes with him. As the weather changed, his clothes were no longer able to keep out the wind.

Fortunately, his body shape was similar to Liu Eryong's, and he didn't mind that these were the clothes of a deceased person, so Chen Cui took them for emergency use.

While she was threading the needle, she was calculating in her mind how much charcoal could be produced from the charcoal pile this time and how to sell it for money.

Maybe he could sell it directly to the grocery store owner, but that would definitely not be the price he mentioned. That was their retail price, and the purchase price would definitely be much lower, otherwise how could they make a profit.

Either you go directly to the houses that need charcoal and sell it to them directly, thus cutting out the middlemen and making more money.

But if she did that, it would take a lot more time, and she didn't know whether people would trust a stranger like her and buy charcoal from her.

Alas, burning charcoal is only the first step. The really difficult part is how to turn it into money.

However, everything depends on human efforts. There is nothing that cannot be sold, only people who cannot sell things, and she is definitely not that kind of person!

Chen Cui tied a knot on the clothes she had just sewn, bit off the thread, put the clothes on the chair, called Chang'an, and the two of them opened an umbrella and went to the backyard.

"Dahe, Changping, go to the house and rest for a while. Changan and I will watch over here."

Chen Cui said to the two people under the shed.

"Sister, I'm not tired, you can go back." Daha smiled naively and let her go back.

"Who wouldn't be tired? I relied on you to build the shed a few days ago. You are not made of iron. Go back and lie down. This is not a heavy job that I can't do. Why are you fighting with me? I have already asked for your help. I will not be polite to you when I need you. Now you just go back and rest."

When Dahe heard his sister say this, he stopped refusing and responded, standing up from the small stool.

"And you, Changping, go back with your uncle and have some rest. Changan and I will be able to watch over you."

Seeing this, Changping said "hmm" and followed his uncle back to the west room in the front yard holding an umbrella.

Chen Dahe lived in the west room next to their brothers. The room was fully furnished with beds and beddings, which were prepared by Chen Cui a long time ago.

Originally, the two western rooms were prepared for the three brothers, who were supposed to sleep separately. However, they were used to living together and did not want to separate, so the room was left empty. Now Chen Dahe happened to move in.

Chen Dahe was indeed a little tired. He was the main worker these days, and his sister and nephew could only help him. He was very tired.

Originally, he just planned to lie down on the bed and rest for a while, but not long after he lay down, he was hit by a wave of sleepiness. His eyelids closed together involuntarily, and soon, regular snoring sounds were heard in the room.