At the beginning, the whole family fled from famine, and I used a milk bottle as a koi carp

An Laoer and several young men in the village left amidst the eager expectations of the villagers and embarked on the journey to plant tea gardens to learn from the experience. The Chinese New Year is only a month away, so I have to come back before the end of the year.

An Ningning also wanted to go, but she knew that the journey was far away and her family would not let her go.

She couldn't bear to watch An Lao'er go away. When An Lao Er saw her, he picked up her daughter lovingly, sat on her neck, and coaxed her up and down.

Recently, Mr. An has been burning bricks. After the villagers have burned enough bricks to build houses, they go to other places to sell bricks. Mr. An also found a way before. Their bricks are made by themselves, which is cheaper. During this period of time before the year, there were more houses, so the bricks were bought well.

When I get busy, I inevitably don’t have time to spend with my children. The Chinese New Year is coming soon, and the brick-making is almost finished. In addition, An Laoer and several other young men have gone on a long trip, and the brick-making has temporarily stopped. In the next period of time, Not so busy anymore.

An Ningning looked at the suddenly cooling sky. The temperature suddenly dropped by nearly ten degrees. Originally, wearing a thick coat was enough, but now she had to wear a cotton-padded jacket.

An Ningning shivered, remembering that the brick kiln could not burn some coal.

The weather is getting cold, and the knitting stuff is freezing on my hands. Moreover, it has been on sale for a while, and the nearby places are almost saturated. Before An Laoer left, he also suggested that bamboo weaving should be stopped temporarily and start again next year.

An Ningning took An Ningning to the place where the kiln was fired. In fact, brick burning was similar to coal burning kiln. It could be used with slight modifications. I also cut a lot of wood before making bricks, so I happened to have all the materials.

An Ningning communicated with Boss An about the difference between burning coal and burning kilns. She wanted to give it a try and make some money a year ago.

Old man An was very interested. She had known about her daughter's intelligence for a long time. It was her daughter and the second child who started making bricks and burning charcoal. She had heard the second child mention it before. Maybe they had discussed it before.

Boss An greeted Liu Erhu and An Zhenghe, the youngest son of the village chief. Upon hearing this, the two of them said without saying a word that they would definitely follow suit.

Needless to say, Liu Erhu did it together with the brick-burning. Although he hasn't paid a penny yet, he knows that there must be a lot of people turning around.

An Zhenghe is the youngest son of the village chief. Boss An can call him because he is selling face to the village chief. The village chief takes good care of their family, especially when a few children got into a fight last time. Regardless of bias, Boss An thinks the village chief is quite good if he can handle it fairly.

The main reason is that the family is so troublesome, and the village chief is considered to have caused trouble.

Burning charcoal is much simpler than burning bricks. The key is to make it breathable and just keep burning. After trying it twice, it basically works, but the carbon burned is ordinary carbon, not the smokeless carbon used by wealthy people.

It will definitely be used in ordinary homes, hotels, or places where fires are often fired such as blacksmithing or brick-burning. No matter how much carbon is used, it is better than firewood.

The village chief knew that Lao An's family was in trouble again, so he came over to check. A pile has been burned, and a shed has been built to put the carbon in. This thing cannot be exposed to rain. The village chief walked over, picked up a broken piece, squeezed it, smelled it specially, took it to the fire next to it, and lit it.

"It is indeed carbon, it can be burned, and the smoke is not that big. Boss An, you have made a lot of good stuff!"

Old man An followed him over to see. A few days ago, when the boss said he wanted to burn coal, he was still surprised. How could the boss start doing this without his second brother? It turns out that he underestimated his boss. He didn't expect that this careless person could do great things!

Old Man An met the village chief's envious eyes and straightened his back, "Brother, what's wrong with you? Don't forget that I didn't bring the brick burning to your house this time. I'm doing it with Ke!"

The village chief was still a little regretful that he didn't bring the village chief's son with him when he burned bricks last time.

Alas, the main brick-making was just a mess at the beginning. Who knows if it will work? The boys who were making bricks together all saw An Laoer and the others making bricks and strongly asked for help. They wanted to help. It would be bad not to help them. Hey, I really didn’t intentionally not take anyone with me!

Of course, the people in the village wouldn't believe it.

But this is a fact. They are all fellow villagers, especially since Lao An’s family is all related to the same clan. What other things can be done to upset the situation?

Boss An was smiling naively next to him. He didn't know much about that. He only knew how to work.

They also agreed to sell charcoal and let Erhu try it. It was actually easy. An Ningning listed some places for them. They only needed to go to the shopkeeper one by one to send some samples. If the price was cheaper, they could still sell a batch.

Especially when the weather is cold, even if you shout along the street, some people will buy it.

An Lao Er, who was bumpy on the road, didn't know that An Lao Er could still start the charcoal-burning business while he was away.

An Ningning followed the donkey cart selling charcoal to Shitai County. It may be a little far away from the previous drought areas. It seems that the previous drought did not affect the lives of people in Shitai County.

Even Mr. An lamented, "I wonder what was going on in Xiushan Village before? We were escaping from famine all the way, and there were droughts in many places along the way. The Chinese New Year is coming in a few days, so I don't know what it's like?"

At this time, there was little information, especially since it was the fiefdom of the feudal lord, so it was even harder to find out the information.

I just heard that many people died, and many victims who fled the famine were suppressed. But who knows the specific situation? They were under the jurisdiction of the imperial court, and to put it bluntly, any bad rumors would be banned, and the imperial court strictly prohibited discussing these in private.

For the Liu family and the An family who escaped from Xiushan Village, their lives are stable for the time being. The houses have been built. For ordinary people, once the house is built, they have a stable home.

The New Year is about to come, and the village organizes young people to go hunting in the mountains. No one goes to Lao An's family. Mr. An is busy burning charcoal. Mr. An does not have the strength and cannot shoot arrows. The younger ones are either reading or playing around all day long.

Liu Erhu and the others went to sell charcoal, and the sales were indeed good. Shitai County is in the south where double-cropping rice can be grown, and the cold weather is only a short period in winter. They don’t even use the kangs used by northerners. It’s damp and cold in the south, and even if there’s no wind, it’s the kind that makes people shiver.

We all have charcoal pots to burn at home, and it doesn’t get cold very often, unlike in the north where the weather is cold for half the year.

It is during these cold times that charcoal can sell well. Boss An and the others started burning charcoal day and night again. Although the price of burning charcoal is low, the cost is also low. The wood comes from the mountains, and it only needs to be cut down manually. When burning, it only requires some labor, which is hard work.

They didn't stop until it was almost New Year's Eve. They sold everything they could in the surrounding towns. Now almost everyone knows that there is such a village that can make charcoal and sell bricks.

As long as there is an opportunity, when selling charcoal, I will also publicize the remaining charcoal so that I can continue burning it next year.

After their village was registered, they were almost destitute, and some people still owed money for registration.

People who sell charcoal, sell bricks, and engage in weaving are still satisfied with their new life. Even in Xiushan Village before, there were not so many ways to earn money.