In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 150 New Schoolbag

After receiving the money from Wu Hanfa, the young men left with smiles on their faces. Each of them received 150 coins, which, while not enough to make them rich, was enough to feed their families. It was better than doing manual labor for others, where they would be exhausted all day and only earn 20 or 30 coins a day, not even enough to fill their stomachs.

After the able-bodied men left, Wu Han said to Xu Zhiwen, "Your Excellency, would you like to come to my house for a simple meal?"

"no need!"

Xu Zhiwen shook his head and refused.

Seeing this, Wu Han didn't say much and got on the donkey cart with the three Zhang brothers and the two Li brothers, heading home.

Xu Zhiwen stared at their retreating figures, remaining silent for a long time.

Today's trip to Chenjia Village truly broadened his horizons. The wheat seeds that could grow in the cold winter climate, the countless chickens and ducks in Chen Dao's backyard, and the chickens with their peculiar appearances—all of this left Xu Zhiwen, a man of broad knowledge, feeling somewhat bewildered.

"Zhang He".

Xu Zhiwen looked at Zhang He beside him and asked, "What do you think of Chenjia Village?"

“Very special.”

Zhang He pondered and said, "This Chenjia Village is full of strange things, but it is generally clear that the villagers of Chenjia Village live a very good life."

Although Chenjia Village appears quite impoverished, it is undeniable that the villagers live very well, with plenty of steamed buns to eat every day. To Zhang He, who was once a refugee, this life, while not quite like that of immortals, is pretty much as good as it gets.

"Is it……"

Xu Zhiwen lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then said, "I noticed you seemed particularly interested in Wu Han just now? What, are you also thinking of doing some business?"

"To be honest, Your Excellency, I do indeed want to do some business."

Zhang He bluntly said, "Although I have this job as a constable and don't have to worry about food and drink, the expenses for martial arts training and daily life are still quite high. I was thinking, since business is so good in Chenjia Village, why don't I try it out?"

"I'm afraid that won't be easy!"

Xu Zhiwen didn't think there was anything wrong with Zhang He wanting to do business. Instead, he said, "Wu Han is obviously trusted by Chen Dao and the villagers of Chenjia Village, which is why he was able to obtain the right to buy these white-feathered and yellow-feathered chickens. If it were someone else, the people of Chenjia Village probably wouldn't be willing to sell."

"There's always a way."

Zhang He's eyes showed a thoughtful look: "Chen Dao's family has so many chickens and ducks, there must be a place for them to come from, Wu Han may not be able to eat them all."

Actually, what Zhang He really wanted to do was the business of blood-feathered chickens. Although white-feathered and yellow-feathered chickens also earned a lot of profit, they were ultimately ordinary chicken breeds, and the profit per chicken was limited.

But the Blood Feather Chicken is different. That day at the Fuhu Boxing Gym, Zhang He heard the county magistrate mention the price: 20 taels for a Blood Feather Chicken. If Zhang He could buy them from Chenjia Village, the profit would definitely be enough to support his martial arts training and even allow him to make great strides in the martial arts path!

As they spoke, Xu Zhiwen and Zhang He reached a fork in the road. After saying goodbye, Xu Zhiwen headed towards the wealthy area, while Zhang He returned to his temporary residence in the West Market.

"Brother Zhang, you're back?"

As soon as Zhang Heyi returned to the house, Skinny Monkey, who lived with him, came up to him and said with some concern, "I thought something had happened to you when you came back so late!"

"I'm fine!"

Zhang He shook his head, went inside with the skinny monkey, and sat down. He then recounted his experiences of the day.

After hearing this, the skinny monkey unsurprisingly showed a shocked expression.

"Brother Zhang!"

The skinny monkey's eyes gleamed as he asked, "Is Chen Family Village really that wealthy?"

Zhang He gave the skinny monkey a deep look and said in a deep voice, "Stop thinking about it! We are now constables of the government, and we can't do those kinds of robbery and plundering!"

Zhang He discovered that since the massacre of the entire Zhu family, his men had inevitably become more ruthless. Even the usually shrewd and rational Thin Monkey was no exception; he would immediately have bad thoughts upon hearing that a family was wealthy.

Upon hearing Zhang He's reprimand, the skinny monkey quickly dismissed his ulterior motives. In fact, it was just an instinctive reaction; he didn't really intend to plunder Chenjia Village, nor did he have the ability to do so.

It's easy to tell from Zhang He's description that Chen Dao is someone even the county magistrate and Master Li treat with respect, not someone that Skinny Monkey can afford to offend.

"Brother Zhang, do you want to do business in Chenjia Village like that peddler named Wu Han?"

Once he regained his senses, the skinny monkey immediately understood Zhang He's inner thoughts. In fact, after hearing Zhang He's description, he had the same thought, for no other reason than that they were simply too poor.

Just look at the house they live in; it's cramped, narrow, and has only one bedroom, so two adult men have to squeeze into one room to sleep.

Zhang He and Skinny Monkey were considered relatively well-off. Many of Zhang He's men, seven or eight of them, lived in one house, so cramped that they didn't even have room to stretch their legs when they slept.

"Not bad!"

Zhang He nodded and said, "Although we have enough to eat and drink now, we are not rich. Now that we have such a good way to make money in Chenjia Village, we must seize it!"

After saying that, Zhang He looked at the skinny monkey and said, "Skinny monkey, I'm thinking of letting you do this business. What do you think?"

Among Zhang He's men, Skinny Monkey was definitely the most shrewd and the most suitable person to do business.

"Of course I have no problem with it, but..."

The skinny monkey frowned and asked, "Would Chenjia Village be willing to sell their chickens to us?"

"I'll figure something out!"

Zhang He said this.

…………

…………

The next day, just as dawn broke, Chen Fei, who was lying in bed, was woken up by Li Ping.

Chen Fei, awakened from her sweet dream, rubbed her eyes and mumbled, "Nang, what are you doing?"

"Get up quickly."

Li Ping smiled and ruffled Chen Fei's hair, saying, "Today is the first day of school, don't be late!"

"The school is open?"

Chen Fei then remembered that today was the day Chen Dao and Li Zheng had agreed to open the school. All the children in the village who wanted to learn to read and write needed to go to the school to listen to Li Zheng's lessons.

Chen Fei didn't have much resistance to reading, after all, she wasn't a child from China and had never been to school, so she hadn't developed a dislike for studying.

On the contrary, Chen Fei was actually looking forward to going to school, and the reason was...

The little backpack that's on her bedside table!

This is a slanted backpack that Li Ping sewed out of cotton cloth according to Chen Dao's instructions. Chen Fei jumped off the bed, put the backpack on her back, and said to Li Ping with a big smile, "Mom, isn't my new backpack pretty?"