Chapter 94 Enlarged Book
In order to get a good price for the villagers, the village chief of Xiahe Village took the lead and placed an order with Qin Yao, and paid her a deposit of five taels in advance.
The two parties simply signed an agreement and the sun set.
Wang Yu enthusiastically wanted to drive the ox cart to take Qin Yao and others back, but Qin Yao was embarrassed to trouble him and politely declined.
The main reason was that she and Carpenter Liu had something to discuss on the way back, and outsiders were not allowed to listen.
Wang Yu had no choice but to send them to the village entrance, and repeatedly reminded them: "Madam Qin, after you finish drawing the blueprint of the mill, you must remember to ask someone to send it over immediately!"
"Don't worry, I'll deliver it to you personally after I finish painting it." She still had to communicate with the craftsman herself about some details before she could feel at ease.
After hearing Qin Yao's words, Wang Yu immediately breathed a sigh of relief, waved his hand, watched the three people walk away, and then turned around and went home.
The orange sunset hung in the sky. Liu Ji didn't know when he came back. He was holding a bunch of eggplants in his hand and asked in a very good mood:
"Madam, is everything settled?"
Qin Yao hummed and asked him where he had been just now.
Liu Ji held up the eggplant and said, "I went to Shunzi's house and found this from his mother. I'll go back and make braised eggplant for you tonight."
This was true, but the reason he went to Shunzi's house was not for the bunch of eggplants, but to pull the man's ears and scold him for betraying him.
They said they were good brothers who would live and die together, but he ended up forgetting his brother because he had a sister-in-law. He wanted to break up with him!
Qin Yao saw Liu Ji's guilty look and didn't bother to care what he did behind his back. She took two quick steps to walk parallel to Carpenter Liu and talk about business.
Carpenter Liu couldn't hold it in any longer. Now that there were no outsiders around, he immediately asked Qin Yao:
"We are asking for fifteen taels, isn't that a bit too much?"
He was very afraid that the people in Xiahe Village would beat him if they knew the real cost.
Qin Yao didn't think it was a big deal, she smiled and said, "It's not too much!"
She did the math for him. "Wood costs money. This much wood, good quality wood, costs four ounces of silver."
"The deadline is tight. We both agreed to deliver the goods in half a month. Now you don't have any ready-made materials. You have to start from scratch. It's definitely too much for you to handle it alone. Do you have to pay someone to help? You have to pay half a tael of labor."
"And here, the stone mill is not that easy to grind. If it were someone else, ten men would work together to find the materials and beat them into a millstone, and finally they would have to transport them from Liujia Village to Xiahe Village."
"Thirty coins per person per day, that's four ounces and five cents of silver for half a month!"
This is equivalent to each of them investing 4.5 taels of silver as capital, and the remaining 6 taels of silver is profit.
The two of them divided it equally, three taels each.
Buying an exclusive technology for just two dollars is such a great deal.
Qin Yao was right, but Carpenter Liu always felt something was wrong.
What's wrong?
Yes, he could use the wood he grew himself, and he could hire his own family members to pay for the work. In fact, if you really counted it, the seven taels and five cents of silver could all go into his own pocket.
"Madam Qin, I really admire you!"
When they parted on the river bank, Carpenter Liu sincerely hugged Qin Yao and then went home happily.
Qin Yao touched the five taels of deposit in her arms. The heavy weight made her feel at ease.
As soon as the couple returned home, it was completely dark.
The lights were on in the main room and the kitchen. The children heard the noise. Sanlang and Si Niang came out from the main room and greeted them, "Mother, Father~"
Qin Yao asked: "Where is my brother?"
The twins pointed to the kitchen and saw that Dalang and Erlang had already cooked dinner.
Liu Ji walked in carrying eggplants, touched his two sons' heads in a good mood, and took over the cooking job.
Qin Yao washed her face in the yard, and the four children followed her to the main hall. Dalang asked,
"Auntie, has Xiahe Village promised to build the water mill for you?"
Qin Yao smiled and nodded, and the four children shouted happily, "That's great!"
As long as there is work, there is money to be made, even children understand that.
Liu Ji shouted frantically in the kitchen: "Da Lang and Er Lang, set the table and prepare to eat!"
Dalang and Erlang responded with an "oh" and shrugged at Qin Yao like little adults, then ran to the kitchen to get the dishes and chopsticks.
Sanlang went to drive the chickens in the yard into the chicken coop, and took Si Niang to wash her hands. The family of six sat in the main room to have dinner.
Knowing that Qin Yao had taken over the job in Xiahe Village, the whole family was very happy and the dining atmosphere was very pleasant.
It would have been more perfect if Liu Ji hadn't been so shameless as to test how much money she could make.
"You just need to study hard in the future and don't have to worry about money." Qin Yao warned in a stern tone.
Liu Ji thought, if there was a mirror in front of him, his expression would be exactly the same as that of the young wife who was despised by her husband!
After dinner, Erlang and Sanlang washed the dishes in the yard. Although it was agreed that the four brothers and sisters would take turns, Dalang was always worried about his younger brothers and sisters, so he helped wash them too.
Si Niang naturally couldn't let herself be left behind, so the work that was originally supposed to be done by two people was now done by four people together.
Qin Yao did not interfere with the arrangements of the four brothers and sisters, as long as they did not fight, it was fine.
Come to think of it, she seemed to have never seen four siblings fighting. They were so sensible that it made people feel distressed.
Qin Yao's gentle gaze swept across the four little heads huddled together in the yard, and then her sharp gaze turned to Liu Ji, who had just finished his meal and was still dozing off on the bamboo chair in front of her.
"How many books did you copy?"
She didn't ask loudly, but as soon as her tone became deep, Liu Ji could instantly feel a chill.
It was really refreshing in the hot summer, and he shuddered so much that he opened his eyes and sat up straight in his chair.
"You copied three books, right?" Oh no, he forgot where he copied from!
Qin Yao frowned immediately, "It's been a week, and you've only copied three books?"
Among those nine books, the shortest one had more than a thousand words, and the longest one had less than 40,000 words. Even if he copied for eight hours a day and copied a thousand words an hour, he shouldn't be able to finish copying only three books.
"Let me see it." Qin Yao said coldly.
Liu Ji thought to himself that something bad was going to happen, but he didn't dare to disobey. After all, his life was at stake. He quickly ran to his bedroom and took out the three copied books.
Fortunately, there was a copy of the Book of Songs with more than 32,000 words.
The remaining two books are "The Great Learning" with more than 1,700 words and "The Doctrine of the Mean" with more than 3,500 words.
Add to that Mr. Ding's original study notes, and it can't be considered as being lazy.
Because there were no pens as fine as ballpoint pens, the smallest brush Liu Ji used could only write very large characters, so each of the three books he copied was an enlarged version.
The paper pages are the size of A3 paper. It is a very strange sight to hold a book in your hand that can completely block a person.
But I have to say that the large version looks much more comfortable than the small version. The large characters are less tiring to read, there are more blank spaces for excerpts, and it is also convenient for taking notes.
Just a bit of waste paper.
Qin Yao flipped through the book. The handwriting wasn't very beautiful, but it was getting more and more neat. It seemed that copying books was helpful for practicing calligraphy.
He returned the book to the anxious Liu Ji and barely passed.
She raised her chin to signal him to continue copying.
Qin Yao got up and went back to her room, lit the oil lamp that she had been reluctant to light in the past, and stayed up late at her desk to draw drawings.
(End of this chapter)