The road to wealth of a peasant widow

"What, we have more than three hundred taels?" Changping widened his eyes, exclaimed, and then covered his mouth.

Chen Cui smiled and nodded: "That's right, we made more than 500 taels this winter. We gave 165 taels to your grandpa's family. We also spent some of it. I still have more than 300 taels. It won't be a problem to support you three to study for a few years. Besides, next winter, I will start the charcoal business with your grandpa and uncle, and then we will make money again!"

Changping was extremely delighted. His mother was so amazing that she actually earned so much money. It was unimaginable to him before. Even his grandfather and uncle's family might not have so much money!

However, "If we all go to school, what about the housework?" Changping is still worried.

"We only have a few acres of land at home. How much work can we get? We can hire temporary workers during the busy farming season. Besides, we still have your uncle and his family."

Yes, their family is rich now and can hire temporary workers, and uncles and others can come to help from time to time.

Without any worries, Changping finally showed a genuine smile on his face.

He looked up and asked Chen Cui: "Mom, are we going to the town to study like Brother Changsheng did?"

Liujiaping is a small village, and there are no schools in the surrounding villages. The nearest place to study and learn to read is in the town, and there is only one school there.

Although Chen Cui felt that the education level in the town must not be very good, otherwise why had she never heard of anyone passing the imperial examinations to become a scholar or a juren? Even for a tongsheng, it took several years to produce one.

Both Liu Wende and his son studied in the town for many years, but neither of them passed the exam. It may be because of their lack of ability, but it is probably also related to the teaching level.

However, at present they can only choose to go to the town. The county town is too far away, and it takes half a day to go back and forth, which is too time-consuming.

"Well, let's go to the town first. After two years, when our family has saved some money, we may be able to move to the county town. Then we can let you study in the county town."

Chen Cui said after thinking about it.

Move to the county town? This was too incredible for Changping. He had seen the prosperity of the county town, which was incomparable to the village and town.

There are all kinds of shops on one street, and you can buy almost anything you want. It would be great if we could move to the county town.

Changping was still a child after all, and these were the only things on his mind. He quickly ran out to tell his two younger brothers that they would be going to school after the New Year.

Changan and Changfu both ran to Chen Cui to confirm: "Mom, is this true? Are we really going to study?"

Chen Cui nodded in confirmation, and the two children immediately cheered.

Since we are going to send them to school after the New Year, we have to consider the issue of transportation.

The town was said to be close, but it was still nearly twenty miles away, and it was impossible for the children to walk there. But Chen Cui was a little hesitant about whether to buy a cow or a mule.

Cows are docile, have great endurance, and can carry a lot of weight, but they walk too slowly, about the same speed as an adult, and spend a lot of time on the road.

A mule generally refers to a horse mule, which is the cross between a male donkey and a female horse.

The mule is large, has the load-bearing capacity and resistance of a donkey, the flexibility and running ability of a horse, and a relatively docile personality. Its biggest drawback is that it cannot reproduce, and for farmers it is not as good at plowing as a cow.

Between the two, Chen Cui prefers to buy a mule, thinking it is more cost-effective than a cow.

However, Changping, Changan and Changfu have always had a great liking for cows and dream of adding a cow to their family. We still need to communicate with them about buying a mule.

Unexpectedly, the three brothers listened to her and agreed to buy the mule without much thought.

This made Chen Cui a little strange: "Haven't you always wanted a cow?"

"Mom, that's because the only two large animals in our village are cows. We've never seen other people raising other animals before, so we like cows. Since you said that mules are more suitable for our family, then of course we'll choose mules!"

Changping explained with a smile.

Chen Cui suddenly realized that she was confused. The children had rarely been out and rarely saw other animals. There were only cows in the old house, so they were naturally closer to the cows.

Now that everything has been agreed upon, Chen Cui decided to inquire about the start time of the school in the town as soon as the New Year is over and register them as soon as possible.

As for the mule and the cart, she would go back and ask Muramasa where the livestock store in the county is, and then go and buy some as soon as the market opens after the New Year.

However, she doesn't know how to pick animals and doesn't know what's good or bad. Chen Shangen knows a little about these things, so she can ask him to help her make decisions when the time comes.

After thinking about all this, Chen Cui also thought about buying furniture for the three children's rooms.

When you go to school, at least you need a table and chair for reading and writing at home, and you also need a wardrobe in the room.

Now their clothes are all kept in boxes, which makes it inconvenient to take them out and put them away.

As children grow up, they need to pay more attention to their dressing when they go to school. Buy a wardrobe that can hang clothes to avoid creases when clothes are stacked and worn.

Chen Cui thought of Uncle Youshan in the village who knew how to make furniture. He could make simple tables, chairs, boxes and cabinets. The villagers all asked him to make furniture, so he should be able to make things like this.

"Changping, come with me to Mr. Youshan's house and ask him to make two pieces of furniture for your room."

Chen Cui is a widow now, so she has to be careful to avoid suspicion when visiting other people's homes. She brings her son with her to avoid gossip.

Liu Youshan is of the same generation as Liu Youliang, but he is much younger, not even forty this year. His home is in the middle of the village, and it took the mother and son a quarter of an hour to walk there.

After Chen Cui explained her purpose, Liu Youshan didn't say anything about the table and chairs, except that they were just a little bigger so that they could accommodate three children at the same time.

I just don't quite understand what she said about the wardrobe for hanging clothes.

Chen Cui used both words and gestures to finally help him understand the structure of the wardrobe.

Liu Youshan was accustomed to carpentry work. He immediately realized what was going on and expressed a different opinion: "I'm afraid that the hanger you mentioned won't work with wood. Bamboo would be a better choice."

Chen Cui responded: "Then can you make it with bamboo?"

"I'll give it a try, it should be about the same." Although Liu Youshan said he would give it a try, his face was full of confidence, and he should be very sure of it.

"Okay, I'll leave these to you. We don't have any wood at home, so we can use your boards. Please calculate the labor and material costs, and I'll pay the deposit right away."

Wood cannot be made into furniture directly after it is cut down. It needs to be air-dried for at least several months and the water inside is almost dispersed before it can be used.

Generally, people who plan to make furniture will cut down the trees at least one year or six months in advance and leave them at home to dry slowly.

Chen Cui came up with this idea on impulse. Naturally, there were no spare boards at home, so she could only use the ones from Liu Youshan.