Thinking this through, Tong Cheng'er decided to take immediate action, so she called Ru Lan over: "Are there any craftsmen in the manor?"

Rulan was a little confused by the question. She had only been there for a few days and was currently getting familiar with the various rules and people in the Fourth Prince's residence. She hadn't yet become familiar enough to know everything about the Fourth Prince's residence!

"This servant is not entirely clear."

Tong Cheng'er didn't blame her, and only said, "Go and ask. If there are any craftsmen, bring them over. If not, have Gao Wuyong go out of the manor to find some reliable workers, sign contracts with them, and bring them over."

Although Rulan didn't know what the Fujin was going to do, she still did it.

Yinzhen's residence was very exquisite, and a lot of effort was put into its construction. After its completion, it also required various maintenance, so the Fourth Prince's residence actually employed a group of craftsmen.

Rulan didn't know which kind of craftsman the Fujin wanted, so she brought all the craftsmen with her, including gardeners, wood carvers, clay sculptors, stone carvers... a whole series of craftsmen were summoned.

Tong Cheng'er was somewhat surprised to see that Ru Lan had brought so many people.

The Fourth Prince's mansion was very large, and she was rather lazy. Although she knew that there would be many people serving in such a large house, there were still as many as thirty craftsmen.

She couldn't help but marvel at how wealthy her husband was! He was incredibly extravagant.

There were thirty craftsmen, and they did all sorts of jobs.

Tong Cheng'er asked them what kind of work they did, and after asking, she kept five of them.

These five craftsmen include one skilled at painting roof beams, a carpenter, someone adept at working with clay, and a craftsman skilled in carving.

The reason she kept these five was because they seemed honest. Tong Cheng'er's sixth sense was incredibly accurate, and she trusted her feelings.

The five people left behind were a little uneasy. Everyone in the manor said that the master doted on his wife, and they didn't know what she wanted them to do.

Tong Cheng'er instructed Ru Lan, "Prepare a small courtyard, clean it up, and let the five of them move in."

Rulan: "Yes, Madam."

Tong Cheng'er looked at the five of them and asked, "How much is your monthly allowance?"

Among the social classes of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, artisans also held a low social status. Yinzhen treated them fairly well, giving them a monthly allowance of five taels of silver, with additional rewards for doing more work.

Upon hearing this, Tong Cheng'er said, "From now on, the monthly allowance for the five of you will be ten taels of silver. If you can meet my requirements, there will be additional rewards. If you can produce what I require, I will reward each of you with one hundred taels of silver."

Don't be fooled by how generous Yinzhen is, giving Tong Cheng'er two shops worth millions of taels of silver. In fact, silver is very valuable. For an ordinary family of five, ten taels of silver is enough to live on for a year.

So Tong Cheng'er paid a really good monthly salary, and if they did well, there were extra rewards, which made the five of them even more motivated.

Looking at their exceptionally bright eyes, Tong Cheng'er thought to herself, "It's good that they have drive and energy. As long as they work hard, I'll reward them handsomely, provided they work hard."

None of the five people are young anymore; the youngest is thirty and the oldest is forty-five.

The oldest of the five was named Dong Cheng. Because of his age, he was more mature and thoughtful.

He knew that since the princess had given them such generous treatment, she would not let them be idle and would have to give them some tasks.

So he spoke first, asking, "What does Your Highness wish to instruct us servants to do?"

Tong Cheng'er said, "You should go back and rest for a day. I will send someone to tell you tomorrow."

The main thing was that she suddenly remembered that pencils are mainly made of graphite and clay mixed in a certain proportion, but the key was that she didn't know if the manor had these two things.

She remembered that clay was mostly used to make bricks in ancient times, and that the ink in brushes, inkstones, paper, and inkstones today is also made from graphite.

Whether or not the manor has these two raw materials, they are not hard to find.

After the five craftsmen left, Rulan asked in confusion, "Madam, why did you decide to hire craftsmen?"

Tong Cheng'er casually said, "Make something good."

After saying that, she instructed, "Find two people to go out of the manor and buy more raw materials and clay for making ink."

Rulan was a little confused: "My lady, I can find the raw materials for making ink, but what is this clay?"

Tong Cheng'er didn't know how to explain, so she just said, "It's a kind of soil that can be fired and reused. If all else fails, you can have someone bring over all the soil that can be used to make bricks. Anyway, this stuff isn't that expensive."

Rulan nodded, seemingly understanding, "Yes, this servant will go and have someone make the purchase."

After giving instructions to Rulan, Tong Cheng'er went to the kitchen, startling everyone there. The most senior nanny in the kitchen asked tremblingly, "I wonder if the Madam has come to the kitchen in person because she has something to instruct you on?"

The kitchen is where food is prepared, and everyone in the kitchen assumed that she would come over because she wanted to eat some dishes; otherwise, there was no other reason!

Tong Cheng'er smiled and said, "You all go about your business."

After saying that, she went to the fire-starting area and asked the maid who was tending the fire, "Do you have any charcoal?"

The girl tending the fire stammered, "We...we have charcoal."

As she spoke, the little girl hastily wiped her hands and then began to pick up the charcoal.

Charcoal is the byproduct of burning wood but not completely burning it; there's quite a bit of this stuff in the kitchen.

That little maid was honest; when she heard that the Princess wanted some, she took out a lot, which pleased Tong Cheng'er greatly.

Then he said to Ruxue, "Pack it up, and take it to the study later."

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!