Chapter 18 Survey: What are your opinions on the rules and regulations? ...

Zhu Youchuan entered the woodworking shop under Mo Jingchun's guidance.

The whole yard smelled of wood, with wood shavings and wood powder scattered all over the ground.

A dozen or so men were working, sawing wood, cutting planks, hammering nails, carving blocks of wood...

Mo Jingchun greeted the uncle at the door, ran into a room, and called out Li Yan, the person in charge of the wood workshop.

Zhu Youchuan walked into the courtyard through the wood dust and took a walk around.

"So you're the new young master of the Zhu family?" A young carpenter of about seventeen or eighteen years old spoke to him, flashing a smug grin. "Would you like to see the results of our lumber mill's work?"

Zhu Youchuan became interested. "What are you making?"

The young carpenter pointed to the room next door, "They're all in the room, go and see."

Zhu Youchuan then checked each room one by one.

Eight Immortals Table, Long Bench, Square Stool, Low Stool.

Desks, coffee tables, and school desks.

Grand master chair, round-backed chair, official's hat chair, lamp-hanging chair, rocking chair.

Zhu Youchuan reached out and touched it, then sat down on the stool and chair for a while.

"These tables and chairs are all very nice. Have you thought about selling them?" Zhu Youchuan asked Li Yan this question as soon as he met him.

Li Yan waved his hand, "Firstly, we don't have enough furniture for our own people right now; secondly, the roads are bad, making it inconvenient to transport it out; and thirdly, the merchants from our five counties still prefer to sell tea."

Zhu Youchuan thought about it and agreed. The wood was heavy, and it might not fetch much money if it was transported out. Tea, on the other hand, was light and expensive, so it was definitely more profitable to do business in tea.

Li Yan said, "Xiao Mo said you came here to investigate... research? Then make yourself at home, you can look around our lumberyard."

Zhu Youchuan nodded, "Thank you."

"What do you think?" the two men assembling the benches replied while busy with their work. "No bullying, no starting trouble, no seizing other people's land, no stealing other people's things, that's about it."

"Pretty much, aren't these the kinds of little things that happen between neighbors?"

"Some troublemakers were dealt with by the city guards."

"Hey, everyone's working hard. It's one thing for them to try to slack off, but they're also disturbing others. They're going to get in trouble."

"Speaking of rules..." a middle-aged man sawing planks thought for a moment, "Does that include children's marriages? My daughter is sixteen or seventeen, she's old enough to consider marriage, shouldn't we establish rules for marriage between men and women?"

His gaze fell on Zhu Youchuan's face, and he casually asked, "Little Zhu, are you married?"

Single guy Zhu Youchuan: "..."

He nodded quickly, "You're right. Weddings and funerals are major events, and they should be reflected in our rules and regulations. I'll talk to the goddess."

There was no one at Shifang; the men were all at the construction site working on stones.

Mo Jingchun took Zhu Youchuan to the construction site.

"Heave-ho! Heave-ho! Heave-ho!"

"One, two, three, push!"

On the construction site, a group of men were working enthusiastically.

Zhu Youchuan stood not far away and watched for a while, then Mo Jingchun called over Li Ping, the person in charge of the stone archway.

Li Ping scratched his head. "Speaking of ideas, Xiao Zhu, do you think we should set up separate rules for our stone workshop? Like when to start work, when to finish work, and not to slack off while working?"

Zhu Youchuan nodded, "Okay, although some things are generally agreed upon, it would be better to record them on bamboo slips."

Li Ping chuckled, "Then can I trouble you? I can't read, and we stonemasons are all roughnecks."

Zhu Youchuan: "..."

Just like in the woodworking and stoneworking workshops, the women in the laundry workshops included women of all ages.

Upon hearing Mo Jingchun and Xue Guizhi, the person in charge, say that Zhu Youchuan was coming to ask for their opinions, the woman hanging quilts nearby laughed and said, "Mo girl, even if we do the hard work, do you expect us to be asked for our thoughts?"

"Yes, to be honest, we in the laundry workshop do all the rough and tiring work, unlike the people in other workshops who can do useful things."

Mo Jingchun laughed, "You can't say that. Have you all forgotten how everyone smeared the Goddess back then?"

Xue Guizhi burst out laughing.

The women around them all laughed.

Indeed, due to the water shortage, no one washed their hair, bathed, or even rinsed their mouths, let alone washed their clothes regularly. They stood before the goddess, filthy and smelly.

After the goddess bestowed a heavy rain, she made a special request that everyone wash themselves clean before going to see her.

Mo Jingchun shrugged. "So you see, how important it is for you to wash the clothes and bedding? If it weren't for your logistical support, Brother Hu and the others would be training in dirty clothes, going out into battle in blood-stained clothes, and sleeping in smelly blankets at night..."

Xue Guizhi nodded, "That's right, what we're doing is very important, and it's all for the future of the five counties in Yunhe."

Everyone went to see Zhu Youchuan with smiles on their faces.

To increase their workload, the embroidery workshop sewed trousers and shirts without embroidering anything special on them.

"The goddess said that she will open a cloth workshop and a dyeing workshop next spring, and then she can provide us with beautiful cloth." Qin Dongkui showed Zhu Youchuan the fruits of their labor.

Zhu Youchuan touched the pants; the fabric was rough, but there was nothing he could do about it. It was good enough that they had them, and no one was picky.

The young woman laughed and said, "The goddess also said that when we have more fabric, we can make many beautiful dresses, just like the one she wears."

Zhu Youchuan smiled and said, "Let's take it one step at a time."

"As for opinions, we have no other opinions, we just hope..." a young woman said, "that some men can control themselves and stop bullying women."

"Yes, yes, don't molest women, don't flirt with women." The women around them agreed.

"Actually, things are much better now. In order to leave a good impression on the goddess, the city guards are keeping a close watch on things, but..." A middle-aged woman frowned, "No matter how strictly they control things, they can't completely prevent this kind of thing from happening."

“Therefore, we need to increase the penalties,” a young woman chimed in.

Zhu Youchuan listened and nodded, taking notes of their opinions.

The teahouse had both men and women. When Mo Jingchun brought Zhu Youchuan there, everyone was patiently frying tea.

Seeing that Zhu Youchuan was interested, the person in charge, Aunt Feng, took him on a tour and explained to him how to make tea.

"It's actually quite simple. Just pay attention to the heat, and you can get a good pot of green tea in a day."

Zhu Youchuan picked up a few leaves, lowered his head and took a light sniff; the delicate aroma of tea lingered around his nose.

Aunt Feng smiled kindly, "Would you like to try some tea brewed with the freshest tea leaves?"

Aunt Feng took a teacup, poured in the boiled spring water, and added tea leaves.

They watched as the roasted tea leaves slowly sank into the boiling water and then unfurled.

Aunt Feng handed a cup to Zhu Youchuan and Mo Jingchun each.

Zhu Youchuan took a sip and couldn't help but exclaim, "The person who came up with this tea-brewing method is truly a genius!"

They chatted while sipping tea.

Aunt Feng said, "Our tea shop is doing alright. The biggest problem is controlling the heat and the strength of our hands. But we can usually make tea in one or two days."

“Their paper mills have it tough; it takes them months to get a single sheet of paper.”

"A paper mill?" Zhu Youchuan asked in surprise, "They even have a paper mill here?"

Mo Jingchun said, "Everywhere needs paper, so naturally we should set up paper mills to make our own paper." Moreover, the goddess also said that paper could be used to make books, so we should set up a printing plant.

Zhu Youchuan was very curious, so Mo Jingchun took him to the paper mill.

Men and women are crushing bamboo strips that have been soaked and steamed with ash, and then washing them.

They used wooden rakes to crush the bamboo fibers and washed them again and again with running water.

The person in charge, Kang Mao, said, "The main thing is to wash the lime slurry clean."

He couldn't help but complain, "Actually, the later work is fine, but the initial lime soaking of bamboo takes one or two months. Basically, it takes at least three months to make one sheet of paper."

Mo Jingchun said, "Then we'll come and see it after you've made the paper."

Kang Mao nodded. "We'll definitely send them to the administrative office and the academy first." He paused, "And to the printing shop next door too."

Mo Jingchun's eyes darted around. "They've been carving wooden boards lately, haven't they?"

Kang Mao smiled as he recalled the scene he had witnessed a few days earlier. "Yes, since there was no paper, they could only try their best to carve wooden boards and blocks."

Zhu Youchuan watched as the people at the paper mill pounded the cleaned bamboo fibers into paper pulp.

He asked Kang Mao, "I remember that tree bark and grass can also be used to make paper."

“Yes,” Kang Mao said, “Rice straw can be made into straw paper. Xuan paper can be made from the bark of the Qingtan tree and rice straw from Shatian. Ramie can be used to make hemp paper, and cotton can be used to make cotton paper.”

"The papermaking methods are all similar; they all involve extracting the fibers from these plants and turning them into pulp. It's just that we don't have that many raw materials right now."

Zhu Youchuan listened attentively, then suddenly paused, "Cotton?"

What is cotton?

Kang Mao raised his voice, "The goddess said it's a plant that can be used to make cotton clothes and quilts, and it's like a cloud!"

Cotton-padded clothes and quilts? Mo Jingchun exclaimed in surprise, "For winter?"

Kang Mao nodded, "However, this kind of cotton is planted in March or April, or April or May, so it's too late this year."

Zhu Youchuan was slightly disappointed. He clicked his tongue in admiration, "The goddess is indeed a goddess. She can bring out many things that we have never seen before."

Kang Mao smiled and said, "You'll be even more impressed when you go to the academy."

Qinglan Academy.

“Ask us?” One of the teachers pointed to himself and, seeing Zhu Youchuan nod, said, “I think it’s quite good that the goddess forces the children to study.”

Another teacher strongly agreed, saying, "It's also good that it doesn't distinguish between men and women, because our five counties are sorely lacking in literate people."

"There probably aren't many talented people willing to come here, so we'll train our own," Qian Shiwen said with a smile. "We'll teach them some useful knowledge, and once they graduate, they can start working right away."

Zhu Youchuan asked, "So your suggestion is to send all eligible boys and girls to the academy?"

The teachers nodded.

It was also because the goddess was adamant that all children, regardless of gender, were sent to study.

Some people were unwilling, but the goddess controlled everyone's food, and others supported her, so those who were unwilling had no choice but to grit their teeth and compromise.

"Furthermore," a young teacher hesitated before speaking, "could we make it clear in our rules and regulations that elders in the family are not allowed to beat or kill children at will?"

Everyone present turned to look at him.

The young scholar swallowed hard. "Children already have a hard time growing up, and our five counties don't have a large population. If we kill them indiscriminately, wouldn't that be..."

Zhu Youchuan thought for a moment and said, "Yes, that's acceptable."

Qian Shiwen said, "There is also the age for men and women to get married. Some of the children in our academy are teenagers. It is not acceptable to send them to get married after only a few days of study."

Zhu Youchuan nodded. "Someone has already mentioned this. I'll go talk to the goddess and see what she has to say."

It was already evening when we came out of Qinglan Academy.

Zhu Youchuan and Mo Jingchun agreed to go to the road construction site the next day to ask for the opinions of everyone involved in the road construction.

However, Mo Jingchun did not see Zhu Youchuan the next day.

"The goddess said she gave Zhu Youchuan two sets of books, one about how countries are established and how they perish; the other about morality and ethics," Mo Jingchun said to Cheng Hui. "Could it be that Zhu Youchuan is so engrossed in reading that he hasn't woken up yet?"

Cheng Hui: "..." One set of history talks, the other set of moral education talks?

He gave a pitying smile. "Perhaps he's still reeling from being struck by lightning."

Mo Jingchun: "Huh?"

A note from the author:

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