Xu Huaqian was completely unaware that he had passed the Xiucai exam. At that moment, he was on the mountain, listening to the exclamations of the charcoal burners.
"Incredible, incredible, it really works!"
The temperature in the kiln had reached the maximum point Xu Huaqian had specified the previous day, so they had invited him to come.
Even though Xu Huaqian was now blind and couldn't see, this was his idea. He needed to be present.
When Xu Huaqian arrived, the long-burning kiln was so hot it warmed his body, which hadn't felt real warmth since his illness.
He immediately ordered the kiln to be opened.
They pulled out the charcoal, which was still at its peak temperature, and buried it in sand and soil to force rapid cooling.
About an hour later, everyone dug out the cooled charcoal from the sand. Sure enough, the charcoal hadn't turned to ash. Instead, it was covered with a layer of white powder.
Chen Liejiu described it to Xu Huaqian: "It was white at first, then turned grayish-white after a while. It's very light, half the weight of regular charcoal."
"Mm." Xu Huaqian's hand was guided to touch a piece. A palm-sized piece felt as light as a feather. He nodded. "Try burning a few pieces."
Chen Liejiu brought a brazier, selected a few pieces, and tried to light them. He made a surprised sound: "It's hard to ignite!"
Hearing this, Xu Huaqian smiled slightly: "If it's hard to ignite, it means it burns longer, doesn't it?"
"Exactly!" Chen Liejiu agreed. He blew on it a few times, but the white powder on the surface of the white charcoal wouldn't catch. He then moved the brazier closer to the kiln, using its residual heat to ignite the white charcoal.
Once all the pieces in the brazier caught fire one after another, the scorching heat made everyone realize the difference.
"Wow! It's truly hotter than black charcoal!"
"No smoke! Doesn't choke you! Excellent charcoal!"
"Not just that! It seems to burn longer than black charcoal!"
They had just seen how long it took Chen Liejiu to get it burning. It had been burning for a while now without showing signs of burning out quickly, unlike black charcoal, which turned to ash after a short time.
"Not just that," Chen Liejiu's perspective was different. "Haven't you noticed that producing this charcoal takes less time than black charcoal?"
Black charcoal needed to cool in the kiln for several days. Large kilns could take over ten days. But this charcoal, as Xu Huaqian described, only required controlling the temperature, stopping the fire at its peak, opening the kiln, and pouring sand—dramatically reducing waiting time.
"It really does!"
Hearing this, everyone understood. Their eyes lit up: "Then let's produce this charcoal! It's made faster than black charcoal. Will we earn more money?"
Since they operated like a large cooperative where everyone was a shareholder, more profit meant higher dividends for each person.
Though blind, Xu Huaqian could feel the palpable joy. He turned his head and smiled at his husband, who was still holding his hand.
My husband is so clever!
"Not necessarily," someone said, not to be discouraging but holding the incredibly light white charcoal. "This charcoal is just too light. How many kilns would we need to produce just one cartload?"
He had calculated: one kiln of black charcoal yielded two or three cartloads by weight. But one kiln of this white charcoal might barely fill one cart.
It was too light. Producing several kilns to match the weight of one kiln of black charcoal wouldn't be any different from producing one kiln of black charcoal.
Chen Liejiu felt Xu Huaqian's hand and acknowledged the praise. Hearing this objection, he paused, remembering Xu Huaqian had said this charcoal could fetch a higher price. Without hesitation, he rebutted: "The light weight doesn't matter. We just increase the price."
The man frowned: "Increase by how much?" Three taels per cartload for black charcoal was already high. Even increasing by one tael wouldn't match the profit from one kiln of black charcoal.
And who would buy it?! Who would buy a cartload for four taels when they could get black charcoal for three?
The man thought increasing by one tael was already greedy, but Chen Liejiu was even more ambitious: "Increase it to ten taels per cartload!"
That would match the profit from one kiln of black charcoal and even allow for a slightly higher profit.
"Ten taels!"
The crowd erupted: "Will it sell?!"
Frankly, if it were them, they would never buy charcoal for ten taels a cartload. It was too expensive. Before producing charcoal, it would have taken them years to earn ten taels.
Now, though better off, they weren't wealthy enough to spend so freely. Ten taels for a cartload of charcoal was astronomical to them.
Limited by their perspective, they believed no one would buy at such a high price.
But Chen Liejiu, who had been to the prefectural city and beyond, knew there were plenty of people in the world who would spend extravagantly for their own pleasure. Ten taels for a cartload of charcoal was mere pennies to them—it was just that those people were far removed from Xinghua Village, too distant for the villagers to even imagine.
"Whether it sells or not, we won't know until we try!" Chen Liejiu disliked dismissing ideas before even attempting them.
Rejecting every idea, never taking action—when would they ever make a fortune!
While he spoke sense, ten taels was too high for Mishan County. Probably not even wealthy families in the county could afford it.
Chen Liejiu was also pondering this. He didn't think ten taels was too expensive for charcoal. Wealthy families could use dozens of cartloads in a winter without it costing them much.
The problem was, where could he find these wealthy families?!
Initially, he thought the prefectural city would be the best market—nowhere had more wealthy people!
But Xu Huaqian's illness served as a warning. Don't chase money blindly. The prefectural city had many wealthy people, but also many black-hearted ones.
The corrupt officials in the exam hall dared to embezzle so brazenly, showing how corrupt the prefectural officials were. Selling white charcoal there would be like walking into a wolf's den.
Xu Huaqian didn't know what Chen Liejiu was thinking. He had heard every word of their discussion. While other points didn't stick, he was curious about the first person who had thoughtfully compared the weight and price of white versus black charcoal.
"What's your name?"
"—Huh?" The man was still thinking about how to sell charcoal at ten taels per cartload. Startled by the question, he stammered, "I'm Chen Qiang."
"Then I'll call you Xiao Qiang," Xu Huaqian said (unable to see his age, but since most on the mountain called Chen Liejiu 'Boss,' it seemed appropriate). "From now on, come see me daily to learn two characters, like Chen Wu does."
He felt that as Chen Liejiu's business expanded, they needed to start building their own team. Most educated people in this world were in academies pursuing the exams.
Only a small portion, influenced by their fathers, learned characters through exposure and became clerks or shop managers.
Most, like the villagers of Xinghua, were completely illiterate. Sometimes finding someone who could read took half a day, and hiring outsiders wasn't always easy.
Especially in his current situation—blind—he had to have Chen Liejiu write down the characters for Chen Xiaomei and Wang Wanwan to teach them daily.
Hearing Xu Huaqian's words, the man was even more stunned, turning from normal to stammering: "Wh-Wh-What? Teach me to read?!"
"Unwilling?" Xu Huaqian asked with a slight smile. It was fine if he wasn't. He just thought the man seemed thoughtful and clever. Learning some characters might make him useful to Chen Liejiu later. If he refused, he would find someone else.
"Willing! I'm willing!" He was more than willing! Hadn't Chen Wu only learned to read for a few months? When Xu Huaqian went to the prefectural city for the exams, the clan elders, knowing he could write, hired him as an accountant to record the number of charcoal cartloads produced and sold.
Though his handwriting was messy, having a record prevented arguments during profit distribution.
He also wanted to be an accountant. It was much easier than burning charcoal—just sitting in a shed built by the clan, writing and calculating, sheltered from wind and sun, far better than eating dust in the kilns.
Hearing his agreement, Xu Huaqian smiled: "Then I'll expect you at home."
Coincidentally, he was convalescing at home with plenty of free time. He couldn't teach directly now, but Chen Xiaomei and Wang Wanwen had been learning with him for a while. They could be little teachers, teaching one another slowly.
When his eyes recovered, teaching would be less complicated.
Regardless of Chen Qiang's excitement, after instructing the workers to continue producing white charcoal in the small kilns, Chen Liejiu transported all the freshly produced white charcoal down the mountain to their courtyard.
He wanted to save this white charcoal for Xu Huaqian to use in winter.
Hearing Xu Huaqian planned to teach Chen Qiang to read, he instinctively looked at the bandage covering Xu Huaqian's eyes: "Can you see now?"
"Not yet?" Xu Huaqian shook his head, not minding potential teasing. "I'm finding something for Xiaomei and the others to do!"
Lately, with him blind, the girl had been slacking in her studies. Having her teach Chen Qiang—an illiterate adult eager to learn—was perfect.
Adults, unlike children, were less easily distracted and learned faster. Once Chen Qiang learned all the characters Chen Xiaomei knew, she would feel pressured to learn more herself.
This was much more effective than him pushing her daily, which risked turning her initial willingness into aversion to learning.
"You always have a way!" Chen Liejiu said. Since Xu Huaqian couldn't see, Chen Xiaomei had been repetitively reading the few characters he taught her until she was bored. With this method, she would have to study seriously.
"If only my eyes could heal faster," Xu Huaqian touched the bandage over his eyes. Having Chen Liejiu by his side constantly made being blind somewhat bearable, but it was still inconvenient.
"They will get better!" Chen Liejiu observed Xu Huaqian's face. Recently, with good food at home, no exam pressure, and days spent eating and sleeping without even reading, free from worries, he seemed to be doing even better than before.
His skin even seemed fairer.
Not a sickly pale, but a healthy, luminous fairness that made him look like a willow branch revitalized—fresh and tender.
The faint red on his thin lips was particularly captivating, as if his words held some magic, drawing people to kiss him.
Especially Chen Liejiu, who had already tasted those lips, found it hard to resist such temptation.