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墨書 Inktalez
"Look at this, what do you think?"
Seeing the fine steel wire in Shen Muhan's hand, Xia Muxin's eyes lit up. She took it over and quickly twisted two strands together. Then she picked up another tool from the ground and used the twisted wire to secure both ends of the tool. With that, all the tools needed for brick-making were ready. (I wonder if everyone knows this; when I was young, a certain someone's father made a living by making bricks, which was both tiring and dirty work.)
A few days ago, Er Dan Ge had called a few young people from the village over. Xia Muxin noticed that they were all malnourished yet full of confidence, so she decided to make a few molds for them to try out. Just as she finished preparing her materials, Er Dan Ge arrived.
"Uncle, Aunt!"
As soon as he entered the house, he greeted Aunt Xia and her husband.
Aunt Xia and her husband were quite fond of Er Dan, but unfortunately, there were no suitable girls in the family; otherwise...
"Muxin, the ground is all leveled now. What else do we need to do?"
Er Dan genuinely admired Xia Muxin. Just look at her—a girl in her teens who had transformed the house in just two or three months.
Which villager wouldn't envy her? Just a couple of days ago, he overheard many uncles and aunts inquiring about her birth date, probably hoping to arrange a marriage proposal.
"Oh, that's not necessary. Let them go home. Er Dan Ge, do you know if those older brothers you found a few days ago are free today?"
Xia Muxin walked to the door and glanced at the newly leveled ground before returning to ask.
"Oh, Xiao Tian and the others? They're free; they're just waiting for your instructions."
Upon hearing this, Xia Muxin nodded and asked her father to find Aunt Liu and Sister Swallow.
Summer Forest, unsure of what his daughter was planning, didn’t dare to delay and went to fetch them.
Aunt Liu had just finished hanging up the laundry. When she saw Summer Forest asking her and Swallow to come over, she wiped her hands and led Swallow along.
“Aunt Liu, Sister Swallow, could you help me find five or six capable and well-regarded older sisters? It would be best if they could come in the afternoon. I want to hire them for a few days. They can rest assured about the pay; I’ll give it to them right after they finish. It’s forty wen a day without meals and thirty wen a day with meals.”
Aunt Liu and Swallow were taken aback, their eyes widening in surprise. They immediately agreed and happily set off.
“Aunt Liu, I hope they can stay at my house; my mother can help keep an eye on them.”
Aunt Liu, hearing this, blinked back tears and led Swallow away.
“Er Dan Ge, call those brothers over for a meal. Bring shovels and dustpans; I have some arrangements to make.”
After giving those instructions, Xia Muxin turned to Er Dan and then washed her hands to start cooking.
Half an hour later, Er Dan brought over six young men in their twenties. Perhaps accustomed to the pressure from the Wang family, each of them showed clear signs of timidity upon seeing Shen Muhan.
Xia Muxin had just finished serving the last dish, boiled fish, into a large basin. Over the past few days, her brother had made a large round table that could comfortably seat ten people. Ming Yi helped bring the dishes to the table while Xia Muxin filled a small basin with some boiled fish and poured some wild chicken soup into a bowl for her father to take over to Aunt Liu's house.
Considering that Sister Swallow was essentially a widow raising her father alone, it would likely be uncomfortable for her to dine with these men and might even attract gossip. The best solution was to prepare some food for them so that their family could enjoy it comfortably.
“They’re all from the same village; the brothers can eat casually.”
Aunt Xia and her husband greeted everyone warmly, and soon the lingering fears were cast aside as they all took their seats.
The meal prepared by Xia Muxin was quite sumptuous. The main dish was boiled rain fish, which had been purchased in town the day before and weighed five pounds. There was also mushroom and wild chicken soup, spicy chicken offal, stir-fried pork, ginger sautéed apple snail, boiled amaranth, stir-fried string beans, cold marinated purslane, and a plate of steamed buns.
At first, the guests were a bit uneasy, but Xia Muxin was a lively spirit. With just a few words, she managed to ease their tension, and they began to eat heartily.
“I told you there’s no need to be so stiff; it’s not like we’re strangers. You all plan to have children with your wives after all.”
Seeing that everyone had relaxed, Xia Muxin teased again. Shen Muhan paused while serving food, shot her a heavy glance, and then shoved a large piece of chicken into her incessantly chattering mouth.
“Eat more and talk less; your future husband is going to have a tough time.”
His affectionate yet gritted remark made several of the men blush. They were all experienced in these matters, and throughout the meal, Shen Muhan had been serving Xia Muxin food, especially the fish, even picking out the bones for her.
Xia Muxin shot him a fierce glare, drank a bowl of chicken soup, then put down her chopsticks and dashed into the house.
When she returned, she was holding a thick notebook and an oddly shaped writing instrument.
Indeed, it was a pen—though not the traditional brush pen from ancient times. She found brush pens cumbersome and labor-intensive since they required constant ink grinding. This pen only needed some herbs to extract their juices for ink.
The nib was made from a swan feather from Feathered Arrow, fashioned into a small pen tip filled with fine cotton to absorb the ink.
Seeing that everyone had finished eating, she called them into the courtyard and asked Songzi to brew some tea.
“What are your names, brothers?”
Everyone looked at her in confusion, and Xia Muxin felt helpless. The bricks were counted individually, and she had to record each one carefully; otherwise, she would have to count them one by one when calculating!
"I am Black Bull!"
The first person spoke up, and everyone laughed. Xia Muxin turned to look at him, and his name suited him well because his skin was indeed very dark. If he went out at night and flashed a few teeth, he would scare a lot of people. Moreover, among them, he was the tallest and most robust.
"I am Er Bai!"
"I am A San!"
"I am Guazi!"
"I am Three Dogs!"
Xia Muxin stifled her laughter as she wrote down their names one by one. During this time, Shen Muhan quietly approached her from behind, watching as she meticulously recorded the names with neat strokes, her handwriting elegant and precise, just like her character.
At the same time, he fell into contemplation about why she could write...
Not just him; everyone else was puzzled too.
"Uncle, I'm quite impressive, right? Look, you taught me for just a month, and now I can write all these characters."
After finishing, Xia Muxin realized that everyone's gaze was fixed on her as if she were a monster. Suddenly, an idea struck her, and she turned to Shen Muhan behind her, giving him a meaningful glance that seemed to say: If you don't admit it, you'll be in trouble.
Shen Muhan shrugged with amusement, acknowledging her claim. Only then did everyone breathe a sigh of relief.
Seeing this, Xia Muxin said, "I have an Agreement here. If everyone finds it suitable, just put your fingerprints on it. Starting today, you will be employed by me. If you disagree, I won't force you."
As she opened a small notebook filled with dense text, the others exchanged glances, their hearts pounding. Xia Muxin continued, "The meaning of this agreement is quite simple. This brick was invented by me, Xia Muxin. I will teach you how to make it step by step. However, once you learn, you cannot start your own Brick Factory. If you do want to open one, that's fine, but I must receive fifty percent of the profits. The bricks will be priced at One Coin each, but they must be finished products—meaning from the moment they are made until they are dried. If it rains and you fail to protect them in time, causing them to fall or crack, you will bear the loss. Of course, if natural disasters like floods or landslides occur, I will still pay for those."
In ancient currency terms, One or Two refers to Sixteen Coins; One Qian equals one hundred sixty wen. Therefore, one hundred sixty bricks would equal One Qian. As long as they became skilled and were willing to work hard, they could produce five hundred bricks in a day, which would earn them Five Hundred Wen—a considerable sum for them.
Of course, this work was seasonal; it couldn't be done in winter due to the cold—standing barefoot in the muddy water would be quite uncomfortable.
After hearing Xia Muxin's explanation, hope shone in everyone's eyes as they nodded in agreement.
Seeing this, Xia Muxin had them place their fingerprints on the agreement.
She then led them to the second piece of land she had purchased.
"Today, let's clear these weeds first. Tomorrow morning, I will wait for you all at home. For half a day's work, each person will earn forty wen; you can come back in the evening to collect your payment."
Looking at the muddy soil, Xia Muxin smiled and divided the area among them. After giving her instructions, she hurried back home and found Aunt Liu had already brought over several capable-looking women.
Without delay, Xia Muxin led everyone out of her yard and stopped by a pile of Stalks. She then took the prepared Grass Rope and a Bamboo Stick that was six centimeters wide and four to five meters long. She began attaching the Stalks to the Bamboo Stick bit by bit and secured them with the Grass Rope.
"Does everyone understand? Initially, I planned to calculate payment by day; now we will calculate by piece—four wen per piece. Once you've completed your work, stack your piles together. When you leave, I will count them and settle your wages right away."
As soon as she finished speaking, no one dared to express any reluctance; they quickly found their spots and got to work. Additionally, she asked Ming Yi and others to help gather these Stalks at a price of ten wen per thousand jin.
As soon as she announced the news, the villagers hurriedly brought their stalks over. Xia Muxin then fetched a large scale and gave some silver coins to her father, asking him to take care of the matter.
"Girl, what on earth is going on in that head of yours? What if I want to put you in my pocket and carry you around every day?"
After finishing everything, Xia Muxin sat down in the courtyard to rest. Shen Muhan noticed the deep fatigue etched on her brow and stepped forward to massage her shoulders, leaning close to whisper in her ear.
He suddenly felt useless, only able to watch as she directed and instructed everyone.
Moreover, such a radiant lady made him wish time would pass quickly—ideally three years or five years into the future...
"Uncle, take it easy for a few days; soon enough, you'll have plenty to do."
Xia Muxin glanced at him a few times before teasingly responding.
The next morning, Xia Muxin arrived at the new land with several older brothers and instructed everyone to start digging the soil and building long steps.
These steps were not like those used for farming; they were about a meter wide and similar in length to the field ridges. She also created channels for water drainage because the bricks couldn't be laid flat like regular soil. The elevated steps were meant for placing bricks.
Everyone was used to working in the fields and had experience making mud bricks in the village. With Xia Muxin's guidance, they quickly understood what needed to be done.
While they were still preparing to make bricks, Xia Muxin resolved the water issue. After all, making bricks required both mud and water. She had a few people dig a large pond nearby and used bamboo pipes to channel water over based on the principles of irrigation.
When they officially started working, she supervised for several days, pointing out any flaws so that everyone could improve as much as possible. After a few days, they became adept at their tasks.
In just a short span of time, Xia Muxin established her first Brick Factory.
He set up a shed next to where the few people from the Black Bull were working and had them move in the Rice Racks he had prepared over the past few days. If it rained, they would cover the Rice Racks with bricks to prevent them from getting wet.
This earned him continuous praise from everyone, who remarked on how thoughtful he was for solving their concerns. Even if it rained at midnight, since everyone lived nearby, they could simply run over to cover the items.
Moreover, she would prepare ginger water for everyone every day, and sometimes Mung Bean Porridge, claiming it could help prevent heatstroke.
The daughter-in-law and her family were immensely grateful to the Xia Family; they finally saw a glimmer of hope in their lives. Additionally, Miss Muxin had even advanced each person two taels of silver, saying that the work was tiring. While this silver wouldn’t allow them to feast lavishly, it would at least ensure they could eat well for a short time.
Each of these strong men, having lived for twenty or thirty years, was experiencing such a good boss for the first time and worked diligently with misty eyes.
One morning, Xia Muxin got up and went to the riverbank to wash clothes. It was the first time she saw Zhou Cailian in several days, and she looked noticeably more haggard than before.
As she carried a basin of clothes to the riverbank, she noticed that Zhou Cailian was filled with resentment towards her.
Now that summer was coming to an end, although the heat hadn’t completely passed, the mornings and evenings were cooler. It was still two pieces of clothing for her mother in the early morning and evening.
- End of Chapter -
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