The road to wealth of a peasant widow

What Chen Cui didn't know was that Chen Shangen accepted the idea of ​​growing corn more smoothly than she had imagined.

Chen Dahai took the seeds back and told his father about it. He thought his father would say that his sister was fooling around and ignore the seeds.

Unexpectedly, Chen Shangen called Chen Dahai and asked him about the process of buying the seeds. It only took them half an afternoon to make a decision: they would plant the corn!

As for how much to plant, Chen Shangen also did the math. His family has two acres of land, the terrain is a bit high, and the crops cannot retain water. Anyway, it is dry this year, so he just planted corn on the two acres of land.

Of course, in order to show democracy, Chen Shangen told his decision to his three sons and let them express their opinions.

The three sons looked at each other: Dad, you have already made the decision, isn’t it a bit redundant to ask us now?

Chen Dajiang still plucked up the courage to make some suggestions: "Dad, why don't we just plant one acre and try it out, and plant beans on the other acre as in previous years."

Chen Shangen glanced at his second son and said, "Why, those two acres of land are adjacent to each other, and you want to grow two crops?"

After harvesting wheat, the fields could be planted with either peanuts or beans, and there were only these two options.

Because beans are drought-resistant and have high yields, and the imperial court also encourages the planting of beans, and they can be used as concentrated feed for horses, so people generally choose to plant beans, which is also convenient when it comes time to deliver autumn grain.

Chen Dajiang muttered, "We can't just follow Cuicui's advice. What if nothing grows after the seeds are planted?"

Chen Shangen glared at his second son fiercely: "When your sister was taking us to make money by burning charcoal, why didn't you tell us not to listen to her? You must know where the money for our ox cart and those newly built houses came from! Why do I believe her? Because she made our family earn more money in one winter than we could have earned in the past ten years. If you have this ability, I will believe whatever you say. Do you have this ability?"

Chen Dajiang immediately lowered his head and dared not speak.

He was already in his thirties, and his son was going to get married soon. He felt very embarrassed when his father scolded him like that, but what his father said was the truth, and he had no way to refute it, so he could only keep his head down and say nothing.

Chen Shangen looked at his two silent sons and waved his hand. "Since you all have no objection, it's settled. Dahe, go to your sister's house tomorrow to get the seeds and ask her how to plant them."

Chen Dahe agreed promptly.

He had no objection to growing corn. After spending several months together, he had become accustomed to supporting his sister's decisions.

Chen Cui was a little surprised at Old Man Chen's open-mindedness about growing corn. No matter what the reason was for him to support her, she was happy. In the autumn, the harvest from the fields would tell them that their choice to grow corn was correct.

Soon, with the help of Chen Dahe and Chen Jinzhu, Chen Cui's family's five acres of land were all planted with corn.

As Liu Youcai's family also planted corn on three acres of land, the news of this new grain crop gradually spread in Liujiaping.

There were all kinds of things said in the village, and most of them were pessimistic, thinking that the widow Chen was just messing around and would end up with nothing.

But because the Muramasa family was involved in this matter, the villagers did not dare to say anything too harsh, and at most they could only murmur behind their backs.

Liu Youliang naturally heard about it as well. He frowned and spat out a mouthful of thick phlegm, feeling that it was really unlucky!

Changsheng failed the examination for the title of Tongsheng again this year, and then his wife gave birth to a girl as their first child. Wende said that he would try to find a job for Changxing, but he has not found one yet. In this year, nothing has gone his way.

Even Chen from the second house always does things that make people gossip and bring shame to their family's reputation. Can't she just stay at home and take care of the children!

Two days after Chen Cui's family planted corn, the first heavy rain of the year finally came.

The whole sky was filled with lightning and thunder. Heavy rain started at lunch time and didn't stop until dark. It rained all afternoon, soaking the ground.

Everyone in the village was smiling. Now they no longer had to carry water for irrigation, and the newly planted crops were guaranteed to germinate.

This is what is meant by "depending on the weather for food". After all, human power is limited. Carrying water for three days is not enough to keep up with the rain.

Although the sky cleared up the next day after the rain, the rain still gave everyone confidence, and they felt that there was at least a guarantee for the autumn crop harvest.

Most of the busy farming season holiday for Changping and the other two has passed. Because of the busy days, the three children's faces have been tanned, and the calluses on their hands that had originally faded have grown back.

Although they had to work in the fields every day, once they had free time, the three brothers would read and write together.

After practicing for a few months, the brothers' handwriting has gradually become neater. Even Changfu and Chen Cui, who have the worst handwriting, cannot compare with them.

However, because I have been practicing calligraphy so diligently, the ink sticks and paper at home have been almost used up, and it is time to replenish them.

Seeing that their brushes were gradually splitting and shedding hairs, and their tips were not as tight as before, Chen Cui regretted that the pens she had bought were of poor quality and not durable enough. She planned to replace them with better brushes that would at least be smoother to use.

So, after it rained for three or four days, when the road was completely dry, Chen Cui took the children to the county town to buy a series of supplies.

They bought a thick stack of paper for practicing calligraphy, six ink sticks, and a few better mixed-hair brushes, which were made from a mixture of wolf and goat hairs. They were of moderate hardness and softness, suitable for beginners like them.

This purchase cost nearly three taels of silver.

When paying, the three brothers didn't say anything, but their silent expressions said it all.

They all secretly made up their minds to study hard and make a name for themselves, at least to justify the money their mother spent.

Over the past few months, Mr. Chu has praised them in class more than once and thinks that the three brothers are very smart.

Changping, in particular, perhaps because he was a little older and more stable, understood the meaning of the book the fastest and most thoroughly, and was better than his two younger brothers.

In fact, Changping was very nervous when he first went to school. He felt that it was embarrassing for him to be in the same class with six or seven-year-old children at such a age.

However, he wanted to study so badly that once he really started studying, he no longer had time to care about those things.

In particular, receiving praise from the teacher many times strengthened his determination to study hard, and he was determined to learn faster and better than his classmates of the same period.

Now the teacher has adjusted his learning progress. According to the current level, he is expected to finish learning Three Hundred Thousand before the autumn harvest, and then he can start learning the Four Books.

According to Mr. Li, it usually takes these ordinary children a year to complete this task, but he managed to do it in just over half the time.