lcionline Chapter 194 Unexpected Wealth: "Stolen Silver"
Chapter 194 Unexpected Wealth: "Stolen Silver"
"Good! Good!"
With an excited heart and trembling hands, the village chief held back for a long time before finally managing to utter those two words clearly.
Gao Mengli nodded, and just as she was about to turn back, she suddenly caught a glimpse of a dark wooden board on the lotus base, which was different from the exquisite ones around it.
"what?"
Gao Mengli immediately stopped and turned around, placing her hand on the wooden board.
With a "click," the dark wooden board suddenly sank inward, and a hidden box popped out from under the base.
Gao Mengli: !!
This mechanism is ingeniously designed!
Hearing the sound, everyone quickly gathered around to take a look, and what they saw there was quite alarming.
However, the silver in the popped-out box emitted a light that almost blinded everyone.
"Good heavens, what's going on?"
The village chief rubbed his eyes, thinking he was hallucinating, and looked again and again.
The hidden box was filled with loose silver coins, some as light as half a coin and others as heavy as ten taels.
Lin Xi also stepped forward and rummaged through the silver with her hands. At the very bottom, there were even silver notes!
"Could this be the incense that these people tricked believers into offering?"
It has to be said that Lin Xi's accidental but correct observation was spot on.
Upon hearing that it was "dirty silver," the village chief was immediately unsure of what to do and looked at Gao Mengli with some nervousness.
I hope Gao Mengli can come up with a good solution.
Gao Mengli tucked a silver coin from the hidden box between her fingers and looked at it, showing no intention whatsoever of handing it over to Dou Weiyi.
After all, it was our village that had a grudge against the Lotus Sect.
It's unrealistic to expect the government to protect their village if they hand over the stolen silver to the authorities.
After all, the skills of those government officials were not as good as those of the village outlaws.
Gao Mengli casually tossed the silver into the hidden box, clapped her hands, and said, "Xixi, count how much it is in total."
"Okay!" Lin Xi quickly pulled out the hidden box and squatted down to count the contents with great enthusiasm.
"Mengli, this silver note plus loose silver totals seven hundred and twenty taels."
Gao Mengli turned to look at the village chief, "Village chief, allocate a portion of this silver to build the Guanyin Temple."
The rest we need to do is repair the road leading out of our village to make it easier for horse-drawn carriages to pass.
Once the temple is built, it will be more convenient for people from other places to come here!
Then he took out one hundred taels of silver and distributed it among the bandits, after all, they had contributed greatly in terms of manpower and effort.
Upon hearing this, the village chief's eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but re-evaluate Gao Mengli.
The Lin family is knowledgeable and quick-witted; they're working for the benefit of the village!
The heroes of the outlaws contributed their time and effort; they are the greatest contributors and deserve to be rewarded!
Tomorrow, he will have the villagers raise funds to buy a pig, slaughter it, and thank these heroes once again.
With this hero in their village for as long as he is there, their safety will be more guaranteed!
The village chief nodded at Gao Mengli with satisfaction, his eyes full of approval.
As long as the villagers follow Gao Mengli's lead, they can't go wrong!
"Alright! We'll do it your way. I'll go and arrange for everyone to go up the mountain to pry up the stone slabs tomorrow!"
The village chief immediately set off, full of vigor and high spirits, to make the arrangements.
Upon hearing the sound of prying up the stone slab, Gao Mengli paused for a moment.
Paving the road with stone slabs would require too much manpower, material resources, and financial resources.
And it's also time-consuming.
Gao Mengli immediately called out to the village chief who was turning around, "Uncle Village Chief, wait a minute."
Upon hearing this, the village chief quickly returned with a beaming smile.
Gao Mengli thought for a while before speaking, "Uncle Village Chief, the road is not paved with stone slabs."
The village chief looked curious and somewhat puzzled. "That paved area with gravel?"
Gao Mengli shook her head, "No, we'll lay the bricks!"
"Paving bricks?!" the village chief exclaimed in surprise!
The cost of paving bricks is much higher than that of stone slabs. After all, they can go up the mountain to make stone slabs, but they have to buy paving bricks!
The journey from Wangyue Village to the county seat is more than ten miles long; how much would that cost!
The village chief, feeling a pang of heartache, looked at Gao Mengli with some unease, "The Lin family's bricks are too expensive... won't they..."
Isn't this a bit too extravagant...?
Gao Mengli understood what the village chief meant and immediately waved her hand, "Uncle Village Chief, laying bricks doesn't cost much because we can make the bricks ourselves!"
She only had a general idea of how to build cave dwellings and fire bricks, but she had coal!
The efficiency of firing bricks is far greater than that of burning firewood.
The village chief was shocked again, "Making bricks? But we don't know how!"
That's true. Building a kiln for this is a real challenge. Only the pottery village knows how to fire it; they don't.
Gao Mengli smiled confidently: "Uncle Village Chief, what's so difficult about this?"
It's just making bricks, right? We've never done it before, but we can give it a try! Besides, aren't there plenty of clay around our village? That should provide the raw materials, right?
Besides, we've only arrested about fifty people; we can't just let them work for free every day.
These fifty people will become the main workforce in their village from now on.
After all, these people have committed many sins and deserve to be reformed through labor.
Upon hearing this, the village chief slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Oh, right, that makes sense! Then let's have them dig cave dwellings tomorrow and give it a try. What if it works?"
If this works out, it will be a great blessing for the village!
After all, once the bricks are fired, it will be easier for them to build houses in their village!
Moreover, they can be sold, but it's unclear whether the pottery village will agree...
After listening to the two finish their discussion, Lin Xi quickly took out the silver and banknotes from the box, wrapped them in a piece of white silk, and handed them to the village chief.
The village chief carried a bag of silver notes back home, and his once hunched back was now standing straight!
After everyone leaves.
Gao Mengli and Lin Xi also headed towards home.
Lin Xi asked curiously, "Mengli, won't the brick floor get damaged under the weight?"
Gao Mengli smiled and said, "If it's laid out flat, the oil mill will probably break down every day!"
However, the bricks are definitely laid side by side, one next to the other, so they can last for decades without breaking. And they won't accumulate water.
It just requires a larger quantity, but if we burn it ourselves, it should be fine!
A thousand taels might be enough!
But she wasn't sure she could say that, since she really didn't know how to cook.
Lin Xi didn't suspect anything and just nodded happily to herself!
After all, by saving money, he wouldn't have to use his family's money to make up for it, which would bring him one step closer to having a gold and silver bed made.
Hehehe!
On their way home, the two encountered villagers who were returning home from construction work at the old house next door.
Everyone greeted the two of them with smiles.
These two are the village's gods of wealth; if they could, they would even want to worship them!
Gao Mengli and Lin Xi nodded in response.
The two looked at the courtyard being built next door and estimated that it would be completed in about ten days.
After all, there are very few "idle people" in the village, so the process is a bit slow.
Lin Xi originally intended for Lin Yong to move in first, but Lin Yong refused and continued to live in the paper mill with his family.
Because there were many people and many children, and the paper mill was actually much better than the old house.
So the two of them went with them.
Pushing open the courtyard gate, the bandits, having received their silver, were vividly recounting the scene to Da Niu under the chayote trellis.
Upon seeing the two return, everyone rushed out in a swarm.
Da Niu quickly got up and ran towards Gao Mengli, shouting, "Father, Mother, you're back!"
Lin Xi's outstretched arms embraced nothing again.
Looking at the big ox clinging to Gao Mengli, Lin Xi said with a look of disgust, "Hmph, who cares if you hug me?"