This Was No Ghost Fire

Old Madam Shen was really reluctant to part with it, since it was rice. She simply washed it with clean water, then mixed in some wild vegetables before feeding it to the chicks and piglets.

The next morning, she woke up to find that all six piglets and more than twenty chicks in her house were dead.

Old Madam Shen cried uncontrollably.

"You beast! You're worse than a beast! You're already gone, yet you've caused our family to suffer such a great loss."

Five taels of silver, and so many piglets and chicks... Waaah... I really don't want to live anymore.

Shen Dahai rushed back, trembling with anger. "Father, Mother, what exactly happened?"

After Old Madam Shen explained the whole story, Shen Dahai rolled his eyes in anger. "Those two bags of grain were for Zhou Wanwan, meant to kill them with diarrhea. Why did you bring them back?"

Old Madam Shen sobbed uncontrollably, "When I saw those two bags of grain, I didn't think about anything else! Waaah... What are we going to do now?"

"What can we do? I'll try to send these pigs and chickens to the Shen Clan's Restaurant; at least I can earn a few taels of silver that way."

"Don't even think about it. The house has already burned down, and they can't possibly move back in." Shen Dahai sighed.

Shen Dalu said angrily, "So we're just going to leave it at that for our family?"

"Forget it, what else are you planning to do? Let's take it slow!" Shen Dahai immediately ordered his men to take all the chickens and pigs away.

But on that very day, something went wrong at the Shen Clan's Restaurant; all the customers who ate there suffered from severe diarrhea.

It was eventually discovered that the problem stemmed from Shen Dahai's chickens and pigs, and he was removed from his position of authority that very day.

The entire Shen Clan was shrouded in gloom, while Zhou Wanwan was carefree, her current focus being on making charcoal.

Various kinds of coal; Fugui families in the city rely on charcoal fires for warmth in winter.

Charcoal braziers had to be placed in the main room and bedrooms, and they would be burned throughout the entire winter, burning several loads of charcoal in one winter.

Shops and restaurants also rely on coal for lighting when they close late at night, and for keeping the fire burning when cooking.

Even dye houses boiling dyes and blacksmith shops forging iron rely on charcoal to provide a continuous high temperature, which cannot be interrupted even for a day.

This is just like electricity in modern times; without coal, the whole winter would be unbearable.

So Zhou Wanwan began researching all sorts of charcoal. Looking at the Little Ginseng, she asked, "Besides silver double charcoal, what other kinds of charcoal are there?"

The Little Ginseng counted crisply on its fingers:

"Besides Silver Frost Charcoal, there is also pine resin charcoal, black pine charcoal, honeycomb charcoal, jujube wood charcoal, and golden basin charcoal that can keep the fire burning all night without going out, and plum branch charcoal with a pine scent."

Many methods for making charcoal are lost to time; only I remember the recipes!

Zhou Wanwan's eyes lit up, and she nodded quickly, "Of course I want it. If we can make this charcoal, there will definitely be a market for it."

The Little Ginseng looked at her with bright eyes and said, "I want to drink wine, good wine, and I also want to take a bath with all kinds of medicinal herbs..."

"You cute and handsome... little brother, I'll arrange it for you right now." Zhou Wanwan turned around and went straight into the cellar.

Zhou Wanwan's family had a wine business in her previous life, so the core disciples in the family all had to learn how to brew wine.

The wine she brews is very good, considered to be of superior quality, because brewing wine also requires mental strength.

Zhou Wanwan spent an entire night brewing more than ten jars of wine. She couldn't have done it all by herself, but fortunately, Liu Su'e helped her.

Liu Su'e looked at her and said:

"Wanwan, can our family really brew wine?"

Wine in the city is quite expensive. If it were actually brewed, how much would it sell for?

Zhou Wanwan smiled and said:

"Our family can give it a try then; selling alcohol is a good idea."

However, food is very precious right now, so we have to take it slowly.

Just as the wine was brewed, the villagers shouted:

"Master, please go and see! Our well is finished! I never expected there would actually be well water down there."

"These past few days, the people from Jiang Family Village have completely blocked off the river channel. They just don't want us to use their water. Those people from Jiang Family Village are so malicious."

Zhou Wanwan smiled faintly and said, "I'm afraid they're quite annoyed right now. After all, they've lost several hundred bags of grain and so much silver. They must be very angry."

Jiang Wu, the Jiang Family Village, has been so angry lately that he can't eat. "Still no findings? Who has such power to steal so much grain from us?"

"I think it was the people from Liu Family Village who did it. They're the only ones closest to us, and they weren't poisoned by the water. I just feel like this is too suspicious."

Jiang Wu sneered:

"You mean those idiots in Liu Family Village? Those people are full of talk about benevolence and morality, and they speak in classical Chinese."

If it weren't for the fact that the villagers were so united and extremely poor, I would have wiped them out long ago.

Do you think they're capable of doing something like that?

I don't think they... really could do it.

I also think it's impossible to do.

The people of Liu Family Village are known for their integrity.

Jiang Wu scoffed coldly:

"If they were capable of doing something like that, would Liu Family Village have ended up in such a terrible state?"

"Think about that old man back then. He lost tens of thousands of taels of silver, and they all honestly paid it all back. I've never seen anyone so foolish."

The villagers of Jiang Family Village burst into laughter. "Indeed rare! They don't even understand the principle that debts are settled upon death."

"That's right! That's why Liu Family Village is so poor."

Jiang Wu frowned and said:

"I suspect we've been targeted recently. Be careful when you go out, and also go buy some more food."

The price of grain has increased several times due to the locust plague, and I reckon it will continue to rise. Let's exchange all the money in the village for grain.

The people of Jiang Family Village were busy, and Zhou Wanwan was also very busy.

Because she brought a group of people to Three Purities Mountain, which is the location of the sheepskin scroll.

Liu Sanlang said softly, "Wanwan, they say there's a female ghost in Three Purities Mountain, maybe... maybe we should just forget about it?"

Seeing Liu Sanlang's frightened expression, Zhou Wanwan burst out laughing, "Third Uncle, are you afraid of ghosts?"

Liu Sanlang trembled and said, "I'm scared, scared to death! You can't possibly have ghosts, right?"

Suddenly, will-o'-the-wisps appeared before his eyes. He let out a "howl" and immediately hugged Zhou Wanwan.

Zhou Wanwan rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Third Uncle, put me down right now! This is just a will-o'-the-wisp, not some ghost..."

Speechless, she couldn't understand why the men of the Liu Family were all huddled together like this.

Liu Sanlang trembled violently. "Are they gone? Wanwan, can you check if they're gone?"

Zhou Wanwan said helplessly:

"It's gone, it wasn't some will-o'-the-wisp."

It is the phosphorus that seeps to the surface after the remains of plants and animals buried underground decompose.

This stuff has a very low ignition point; it ignites spontaneously upon contact with air, understand?