The whole family traveled through ancient times to start a new business

Old Lady Su welcomed Zhou Lizheng into the main hall and poured him a glass of water. Then she said as they had agreed: "Brother, Anton once read in a travel book how to build a kang. I wonder if you know about kangs."

Zhou Lizheng shook his head and asked, "What is this, a fire bed?"

There is a lack of information here, and some people may have been to the north, seen it, but never thought of reporting it back.

Mrs. Su explained: "A kang is a heating device. It is made of adobe or bricks. It is larger than a bed and can be sized according to your needs. There is a hole under the kang that connects to the chimney, so you can burn fire to keep warm in winter."

Zhou Lizheng roughly understood what he meant and said, "It's only cold in winter here for three months, not as cold as in the north. Why bother with this?"

Old Madam Su disagreed, "Brother, although it's not that cold, it's not that hard to live these few months. You can't even work! With the fire bed and fire wall, the house is warm in winter, and working is not painful. And the weather is not so accurate. Look at how hot it was the other day. It's the first time I've seen such a hot day in my life. There's no guarantee that it won't get colder in the winter. Look at the weather in the past few years, it's very unusual."

Zhou Lizheng felt that his sister's words made sense. It was unusually hot the day before, and it was hard to say what the weather would be like in the future. Zhou Lizheng was persuaded by his sister and agreed to build a kang.

Mrs. Su and her friends discussed that if Zhou Lizheng agreed to build a kang, many people in the village would agree. Although they couldn't tell others directly that this winter would be very cold, they still tried their best to make some changes.

Old Mrs. Su told Zhou Lizheng about the kang mat. Because the kang surface is made of sand, it has to be covered with a kang mat.

Kang mats are usually made of sorghum straw or reed straw strips. They are breathable and do not affect heat dissipation; they are also easy to wipe and keep clean.

When Mrs. Su told Zhou Lizheng about the kang mat, Zhou Lizheng immediately understood what she meant. Isn't it similar to a cool mat? Most farmers can weave baskets, backpacks, etc., so this kang mat is no problem.

Zhou Lizheng: "Don't worry, I know how to do it. I'll ask the boss to make one for you later."

Of course Mrs. Su was relieved because Boss Zhou was a carpenter himself and was very skillful, so there would naturally be no problem.

Old Lady Su continued, "Brother, I was thinking that after we have finished making the kangs in our homes, if the villagers think it is good, we can let the Anton brothers teach the villagers how to make them, and whoever wants to make them can do so. If it is done well and spreads, maybe they can go out and make kangs for others and earn some money. If that happens, I think there will be people who will buy kang mats."

Zhou Lizheng thought that Mrs. Su thought it was too easy and said, "It's not that easy to spread it."

Zhou Lizheng didn't know, but Old Lady Su had a clear premonition that this winter would come early, the temperature would be very low, and it would last for a long time. It would be a long winter. When the temperature dropped, everyone would see the benefits of a kang and think they would all make one. But Old Lady Su couldn't tell Zhou Lizheng directly about this.

Old Mrs. Su did not insist on her own idea, but suggested to Zhou Lizheng: "You can prepare more materials for weaving kang mats. If there are many families who want to build kangs, you can weave them directly. In fact, I think you can also weave a moderate amount and keep them. You may be able to sell them for money. If not, it will just be a waste of effort."

Zhou Lizheng felt that what Old Lady Su said made sense, and it was okay to prepare less: "Okay, I'll go back and tell the eldest brother to prepare less at home. If it doesn't work, I can spend some time on it. If it really doesn't work, I can keep it for my own use!"

After seeing Zhou Lizheng off, Old Lady Su asked Su Guoguo to call Su Anping home.

After Su Anping made some adobe bricks today, he followed Su Antong to make charcoal. He didn't know what his mother wanted him to do, so he hurried back home.

As soon as he entered the main room, Su Anping poured himself a glass of water and drank it. The current Su family has been corrected by the old lady Su's habit of drinking raw water. Now they boil water every day and pour it into the kettle for the family to drink daily.

Su Anping drank a glass of water, wiped the sweat off his head and said, "Mom, why did you call me back?"

Old Mrs. Su looked at the sweaty Su Anping and felt a little regretful. Why was she so anxious? She could wait until the eldest brother came back in the evening.

Now that everyone has been called back, let's talk: "Boss! How are the crops in our fields growing?"

"It's pretty good. I went to the fields to check on them a couple of days ago. It was hot a while ago, and the crops were indeed a little wilted. But since there has been plenty of rain and it hasn't been that hot recently, the crops have recovered. They are growing well."

Old Mrs. Su nodded and said, "Big Boss! Please keep an eye on the crops. If they are ripe, we can harvest them earlier this year."

Su Anping said somewhat disapprovingly: "Mom, why do we have to harvest so early? Wait a few more days, the crops in the fields can still be grown, and we can harvest more food by then. Don't worry, there is still enough time to plant winter wheat."

According to the original plan, the Su family was going to plant a crop of winter wheat this fall. Old Mrs. Su thought: With this weather this year, planting winter wheat would be a waste of seeds, and the seedlings would freeze to death in the ground.

Mrs. Su couldn't explain to Su An Dong now, so she didn't say much. She just said, "Let's talk about it later. I just want you to keep an eye on the fields and pay more attention to the crops. Tell me once the crops are ripe."

Su Anping nodded obediently: "Don't worry, mother."

"Okay, go ahead!"

Su Anping drank another bowl of water and went to work.

The reason why Old Mrs. Su wanted to harvest the crops early was that she was worried that the weather would turn cold early this year, and it would be difficult to harvest the crops then.

Everyone in the Su family is busy now. Some raise rabbits, some make dried rabbits, some burn charcoal, and some make adobes. From the oldest to the youngest, no one is idle.

What the Su family didn't know was that someone was plotting against the Su family. They wanted to reconcile with the Su family, and that was Zhang Dengke's family.

The Zhang family has been thinking about this matter since they knew that Su Andong passed the imperial examination. The Zhang family thought that if they could reconcile with the Su family, their son could study under Su Andong. Su Andong's ranking in the imperial examination was so good, so their son would definitely get a good score in the next imperial examination.

The marriage with the landlord that the Zhang family had been thinking about was completely hopeless. The landlord's daughter had already been engaged to a scholar who passed the exam. The Zhang family was very unwilling to see the duck in their mouths fly away. However, they did not have the courage to reason with the landlord, let alone to make things difficult for him.

Recently, seeing that the Su family's life is getting better and better, I have been thinking about the Su family in my heart.