There is An Apocalyptic Man in the Village

Chapter 23- Charcoal Burning Idea

Dumplings are delicious but not easy to make, but for those country folks like Lin Laogen and Zhou-ger, making dumplings is very simple. 

Kneading noodles and chopping stuffing, division of labor and cooperation, half an hour of moving around, and the kitchen stove was filled with dumplings, when the water boiled, the dumplings were thrown down and rolled and it was delicious. Just by looking- Wu Qingyuan’s appetite was excited.

Other people in the kitchen were also drooling. Lin Tianbao, who came back from buying pig’s feet, jumped up happily. The food in the village was poor like wotou and wild vegetable porridge but fragrant pork and cabbage dumplings- this is something you can only eat during the Chinese New Year.

After the pots were served and the vinegar was poured, everyone gathered in front of the stone platform under the big tree in the yard.

Lin Laogen was still angry about the pig’s feet and decided not to sit in the same room with his mother. He was so hard-tempered, but he called the two little girls from the second family to eat dumplings together. 

“Brother Wu, you will be able to live in your house two days after drying. Uncle Gaiming will help you to see and pick a good day before moving…”

Lin Laogen said while eating dumplings, the villagers are superstitious, and they have to pick a date when starting a wedding, much less moving into a new home.

“Both I and Zhou-ger don’t understand this. Uncle, you can help me oversee it, but there is something I want to discuss with you, Uncle Lin.”

Wu Qingyuan didn’t believe this, but he went to the countryside and nodded while eating dumplings.

Lin Amo, Zhou-ger, and a few children also ate, listening to the conversation of the two elders, and then the two teenagers took the time to make dumplings for Lin Laogen and Wu Qingyuan respectively. The atmosphere on the table was warm and lively.

“What do you want to talk about, if you have something, you can just say it.”

Lin Laogen was happy, and discussing matters with him at this time, he was basically very responsive.

Wu Qingyuan was not hypocritical. While eating dumplings, he slowly said that he wanted to build a carbon kiln and burn charcoal to make money. 

He had this idea when he heard the villagers mention carbon when he was repairing the house. It was just that during this period of time, he had been busy with resettlement and house repairs, and he never had a chance to say it.

The amount of gold he brought from modern times is large enough for him to live a lifetime, but it is not his character to live on savings like this. Whether he has money or not, he has to find something to do. Money is not too much for anyone.

He had a little idea about his future life plan. After living so long in the previous life, he had been in multiple fights with people on the base after the end of the world. He was tired of that complicated life, and now he wanted to live a peaceful life.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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This phenomenon has caused wealthy employees to get richer and richer even if they sit outside without working, while poor families can only struggle with food and clothing, and their ancestors had been doing the same unless the descendants of that generation get the opportunity to rise up- the difference in wealth is obvious.

Although Wu Qingyuan is a little sympathetic, this is the social phenomenon of such an era, and it cannot be changed overnight.

He naturally didn’t want to have his own future descendants working hard in the soil, so he planned to slowly buy some land in the future to become a rent collector. 

Then, like other landlords, open some food shops, restaurants, etc. in the town or the county. If future generations are competent, they won’t have to worry for several generations. His supernatural powers are also well suited in him developing his wealth here.

But these things can’t be done in a short time. Now that there is another opportunity to make money, he has no reason to give up when he encounters it.

When he first found out that this is an ancient world from Old Man Zhou, he had an idea and downloaded a lot of information on the Internet. Whether he thought it was useful at the time, it was a pen in the ancient world where he settled down with thousands of years of advanced knowledge. Information was a treasure- all of the information was printed as materials and stuffed into the space, anyway, a few sheets of paper don’t take up space.

As the old man Zhou was here, he had limited contact with things, so he told him most about the life of the common people here- how they lived a difficult life, the lack of food and clothing, etc. It made him think that almost all of them are behind in technology here. It’s almost a primitive world, so most of the information he prepared was about daily life, such as food, clothing, housing, and transportation. 

He has a good memory and a lot of information. Although he can’t write down all of them, he has a general impression of what he has prepared and passed through his mind.

He remembers that there are some ways to burn carbon in the materials he downloaded.

In the past few days, he has been inquiring about it without leaving much of a trace. The people here can actually burn carbon, but to be able to burn it well was a skill not most have. The quality of the carbon burned by ordinary villagers is very poor, and they refrain from using it too much. In other words, there is a huge amount of smoke when it is used, which makes it impossible to use it indoors at all, otherwise, it would cause carbon poisoning and kill people.

So when winter comes, villagers can only spend money to buy expensive carbon for the winter. Even if it costs more than ten copper coins a catty, they have to bite their teeth, otherwise, they will not be able to survive the winter. 

Therefore, such a large amount of demand has led to huge profits in selling carbon here. If anyone can burn charcoal, then they will make a fortune. Of course, it is only a small fortune, because this charcoal-burning business in a radius of a hundred miles is all taken by a few executives. With the monopoly, ordinary people can’t shake the foundation of making money outside of them, and can only drink some broth.

“Brother Wu, don’t blame your uncle for talking too much. Burning charcoal is a technical skill. Before, the Chen family man in our village was a man who could burn charcoal. He burned it for his own household and then sold some to the villagers to make a lot of money, but the Chen family- the man had a big heart and went bankrupt in order to build a carbon kiln, ready to do big business, but burning with the kiln is not that simple. If the carbon in the entire kiln is good and you make a lot of money, but if you accidentally burn it out, you will have to pay for it. The Chen family was originally the richest in our village, but now it has become the poorest in our village. The fields and good houses are all gone, and the family lives by helping out in the town…”

Lin Laogen was a little worried and disagreed after hearing Wu Qingyuan’s idea of ​​burning charcoal to make money.

If Wu Qingyuan really knows how to burn charcoal, it would be good for him to burn some and sell it by himself every year, but Wu Qingyuan wants to build a kiln to burn charcoal. You have to use hundreds of thousands of kilograms of wood to burn. If this is not done properly, the loss will be huge. 

Lin Laogen was worried about Wu Qingyuan. Lin Amo and Zhou-ger also looked at him. The two teenagers didn’t understand these business matters. However, they knew about the Chen family’s burning of carbon and how they lost money, and they were even more worried. Repairing the kiln, and then burning the carbon, you have to invest a large sum of money in the early stage before making money.

“Brother Wu, don’t you know how to treat illnesses? You’ll make money when you become a doctor in our village or town, and you’ll have a reputation…”

Lin Laogen helped him think about it. Previously, Brother Wu had promised Lin Amo to treat his face and it made him mistakenly think that Wu Qingyuan would heal the disease. Since such good craftsmanship is still considered doing business, being a doctor can be compared to being a businessman.  He remembers that the lowest status in this society is a businessman.

“Uncle Lin, while I do have medicinal skills- I don’t have enough to be a doctor. I have considered the pros and cons of burning carbon. I want to try it.” 

His own powers do have therapeutic effects, but the scope is limited. It is okay to treat some trauma and poisoning, but it is not enough to treat people with medical treatment. He is a supernatural person, not a god, and not almighty. Besides, being a doctor has a great responsibility. It is easy to get a lawsuit or be sworn at by ordinary people.

As for the pros and cons of the carbon-burning business, Wu Qingyuan had already considered it, and he was also prepared to lose money.

But overall he is still very confident. He also heard about the Chen family that Lin Laogen said when he inquired. He carefully analyzed according to the information provided by the villagers. Working in a carbon kiln, he learned the craft of burning charcoal first-hand. The reason why he failed and lost money was that when he went home to start a business, he didn’t have enough capital.

In addition to the method of burning, the most important point of carbon burning is the wood. The carbon quality of good wood is good. The carbon burned by the villagers is not good because the wood is not right. The Chen family failed to burn charcoal because of this. After repairing the kiln, there is no capital to buy the wood, and the carbon burned out is naturally not good. It is not surprising that they lost money. 

This is the difficulty and sorrow of a person with no money to start a business, but he is different, he has enough money to do this business, and even if he fails in the end, it will not cause a fatal blow to him, the most is a loss of several hundred taels. It’s only silver.

“Well, since you are so sure, this uncle won’t stop you, but you really spend too much time repairing the kiln yourself, and it’s a waste of time. The two carbon kilns built by the Chen family are still there. I will take it to discuss with the Chen family man, let him sell you the ready-made kiln, if you do well, you will be able to make money this winter.”

Seeing that Wu Qingyuan did not intend to change his mind, Lin Laogen did not persuade him even though he was worried.

Looking at Wu Qingyuan’s appearance, he is also assertive, and the things that have been decided will not change. If the other party is really confident to get things done, that is also a good thing. 

“Thank you, Uncle Lin, I really have to trouble you…”

Wu Qingyuan smiled and nodded. He was so lucky to meet Lin Laogen who is so enthusiastic and always worrying about others. If he is replaced by someone else, who has so much spare time to help an irrelevant person, he would’ve run away.

Although a large part of the reason Lin Laogen has been helping him is that he promised to treat Lin Amo’s face, he is still very sincere. Every time he has something, Lin Laogen is very attentive to help him. He figured out a way to take care of him like a junior.

“No need, no, our village is close to the town anyway, just go to town tomorrow…” 

Lin Laogen was very impressed by Wu Qingyuan’s polite and austere attitude. His old face smiled, even saying you’re welcome. 

After the Chen family’s charcoal-burning business failed, the whole family went to the town to help people with their lives. They had to take a trip to town to meet them.

“Father, you don’t have to go to town, just go to Zhang’s house tomorrow.”

Lin Amo, listened for a long time, and finally found a chance to interject. He looked at each other with Zhou-ger and raised his head and said something. 

“Go to Zhang’s house?”

Wu Qingyuan didn’t understand the reason. The carbon kiln belonged to the Chen family. Why did they have to go to the Zhang family?

Lin Laogen also looked over, but he didn’t quite understand.

“Father, I heard that Uncle Chen’s family is going to live in the village again. Aunt Chen is going back to the village to clean up the old house, and now lives in Brother Dazhu’s house…” 

Lin Amo continued to answer, already forming an idea in his head.

“The Chen family’s wife and Dazhu’s mother are sisters since the two are relatives- it’s okay to go to the Chen family’s woman and say this.”

His child knows best. How could Lin Laogen not know what Lin Amo was playing? Paying attention to his words, and thinking about how he gave birth to a scheming son- he put a dumpling in his son’s bowl before nodding to Wu Qingyuan.

“Yes, cousin, Aunt Chen is Dazhu’s relative.” Zhou-ger also nodded shyly. 

“Oh, it’s the Zhang Dazhu who helped us repair the house before, right…”

Wu Qingyuan looked around at the grinning Lin Amo and the shyly flushed Zhou-ger. Finally, his gaze fell on Lin Amo, and his heart suddenly became clear.

If you don’t find the Chen family man for such a big matter as buying and selling carbon kilns, you have to lead him to the Zhang family, and then discuss it with the Chen family woman- that means that he, Lin Laogen, and Zhou-ger would have to meet with Dazhu’s family.

What an idea! 

Wu Qingyuan stared at Lin Amo who was sitting opposite him and winking at Zhou-ger secretly, put down his chopsticks, and a slight smile appeared on his handsome face.