The road to wealth of a peasant widow

At noon, after asking her three children for their opinions, Chen Cui kneaded the dough, rolled out some noodles, and made noodle soup.

Although there were only cabbage and chopped green onions in the noodle soup, the noodles were chewy and the whole family enjoyed the hot noodle soup very much.

When taking the food out of the pot, Chen Cui deliberately left half a bowl of noodles in the pot and cooked it for a little longer. The noodles became soft and could be used to feed Sui Sui. The little guy already had two teeth and could eat these.

After dinner, Changping helped wash the dishes and clean up the kitchen, then walked up to Chen Cui with his head down and said, "Mom, let Changfu stay at home to help you take care of Suisui. I'll take Changan to the mountain to get firewood."

Because of the banquet, the family had originally had plenty of firewood, but now there was not much left, and they had to replenish it quickly. Once it rained, there would be no dry firewood left at home.

Chen Cui thought this was perfect, as she also wanted to go up the mountain to take a look, so she said that she wanted to go together, taking Suisui with her, and the whole family went out.

Yinping County, where Liujiaping Village is located, belongs to the Longnan region, located in the west of the Great Zhou Dynasty. It sounds like a remote and barren place, but it is not.

Because of its special geographical location, with mountains and water, no scorching heat in summer and no severe cold in winter, and rich vegetation, it is known as "Jiangnan on the Ridge".

There are two rivers passing through their Shangde Town alone, one of which flows through the fields where Liujiaping Village is located. Therefore, although the village is surrounded by mountains on three sides, the climate is suitable and there is water source, so the crop harvest is good.

However, just from the name of Liujiaping Village, you can tell that because this village is close to the mountain, there is actually not much arable land. The land that can be used for farming is already planted with crops, and people are reluctant to plant trees. If the villagers need wood, they go to the mountain to cut it.

The mountains on three sides of the village are actually connected and are collectively called Xitian Mountain.

The mountain is rich in vegetation. In addition to various tall trees, shrubs are also common in the forest.

If anyone in the village wanted to build a house or make furniture, they would go to the mountains to cut the wood in advance, bring it back and put it at home to dry in the shade. However, after cutting the wood, they had to replant it in the spring of the following year to ensure that future generations would have enough wood.

Because of this rule, even after so many years, the trees on the mountain are still lush.

The Liu family's courtyard was built by Liu Eryong's grandfather. For some unknown reason, it was built very close to the mountain and some distance away from other houses in the village.

After Liu Youliang made some money by doing business as a private trader, he rebuilt a brick house at the entrance of the village, and could no longer keep the mud house.

Nowadays, when villagers build houses, few of them build them close to the mountain. Instead, they build them at the end of the village. Therefore, their house is more than 200 meters away from the nearest neighbor, which is considered to be a very isolated place.

Although there are only three main rooms, two east rooms and two west rooms in this courtyard, a total of seven rooms, the front and back yards are very large.

Especially since you can go out from the backyard door and follow a small path, you will reach the foot of the mountain in a short distance, which is much more convenient than other families in the village to enter the mountain.

Chen Cui packed her things, locked the door, took a bamboo water pitcher, and led her three sons out through the back door.

Although it is autumn now, the weather is just a little cool and the temperature has not really dropped, so the mountains are still lush and green, and the bushes and weeds at the foot of the mountain also maintain their fresh green.

It is not summer now, so there are not many mosquitoes. But just in case, Chen Cui still wrapped Sui Sui tightly with a bed sheet and tied it in front of herself to prevent her from being bitten by unknown insects in the mountains.

Although they were close to the mountain, it still took them a quarter of an hour to reach the place where Changping and his friends usually chopped firewood.

Unfortunately, because this place is close to the village, the road is easy to walk on and the terrain is flat, the children in the village like to come here to chop and collect firewood.

The place had probably just been swept, and there was very little firewood available.

The three Changping brothers were a little disappointed. They had finally taken their mother and sister into the mountains, but the result was not smooth.

Seeing that the children were a little discouraged, Chen Cui patted Changping's shoulder and said, "It's okay. There's nothing here. Let's go somewhere else. The mountain is so big and there are so many trees. We will definitely have firewood."

Changping nodded vigorously upon hearing this, waved to Changan and Changfu, and the three of them took the lead, followed by Chen Cui and Suisui, and continued to go into another forest.

There is no real road on the mountain. You can only barely see traces of human footsteps in the woods. When walking, you have to use your hands to brush away the branches and vines on the side from time to time to avoid scratching your head and face.

Changping took the only hatchet in the house, Changan and Changfu each took a sickle, and from time to time they cut off the branches that were too troublesome.

Chen Cui regretted bringing Suisui here.

Because the adults in the village had a lot of things to do, collecting firewood was the children's task. Chen rarely went into the mountains. She either worked at home or in the fields, so she had no idea what the situation was like in the mountains.

Although the child was very well behaved and did not cry or make a fuss, this forest was really not suitable for a child of her age. When she walked, she had to watch her step and protect her head and face, and also push aside the branches nearby to avoid hitting Sui Sui.

Fortunately, the other place where firewood could be obtained was not far away and only took about ten minutes to walk there.

The three brothers looked familiar with the route, and one could tell they had been in the mountains a lot before. They found the place without much hesitation.

The good news is that there is plenty of firewood here. The fallen branches on the ground almost cover the entire surface, so there is no need to go to the trees to chop firewood.

Upon seeing this, Changfu happily reported to his mother: "Mom, my second brother and I discovered this place. We didn't tell anyone else. The bird eggs I brought back last year were found here."

If there were bird eggs in other places that everyone knows about, they would have been taken away by someone else long ago. There are few people coming to this place, and the children in the village didn't find them, so he was able to get them.

However, after he finished speaking, Changfu remembered the disturbance caused by those bird eggs. His mother was pushed down and stayed in bed for a long time. Later, his sister was born prematurely and was in poor health. The family split up. It seemed that it was all caused by this. Later, his father also...

Thinking that his father was gone and would never come back to life, Changfu's eyes were suddenly filled with tears.

What Changfu could think of, Changping and Changan naturally thought of as well. When they thought of their own father, the two thin boys' eyes suddenly became wet.

Chen Cui sighed upon seeing this. The pain of losing a loved one is not forgotten so quickly. What's more, he was their biological father, the one they had relied on since childhood. How could they adapt to losing him so quickly?

Although she couldn't empathize with them, she understood their feelings very well.

Chen Cui didn't say anything. At this moment, any more words would be redundant.

She just walked forward and hugged the three of them with great effort. With Sui Sui wrapped around her chest, the family of five was gathered together by her, forming a close little group.

For a moment, no one spoke, as if everything was self-evident.