After looking around for a while, the women got a little bored and went home.

The Ministry of Works and its entourage stayed until it was dark before leaving.

The next morning, they came over to continue installing the hand pump well, and by noon, it was finally finished.

The Minister of Works gently cranked the handle, watching the clear water gushing out, his eyes almost squinting into slits with joy: "Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! I'll go back and report right away."

After saying that, he cupped his hands in a respectful gesture to Ye Caiping and then left with his entourage.

The following day, during the morning court session, the Minister of Works brought up the matter of hand pump wells, and it was unanimously approved without any obstacles. After the New Year, the imperial court would fund the replacement of all public water wells with hand pump wells.

Ye Caiping knew that the hand pump well would definitely be promoted after it was introduced.

So she didn't just make two sets of materials, but thirty sets.

They used two sets for their own family, gave two sets to the Shen family, the Grand Princess gave two sets, the Prince of Qi'an's Mansion gave two sets, and the rest were all sent to the palace.

Empress Dowager Shen was overjoyed upon receiving the gifts and immediately ordered the construction to replace several sets in the palace. The rest were then handed over to the Ministry of Works to replace the sets in the public wells in the capital.

The Ministry of Works acted swiftly; within five days, several public wells in the capital had been replaced with hand-operated wells.

The local people looked at the hand pump well with a mixture of surprise and admiration:

"There's such a sophisticated mechanism! Just press it and water comes out!"

"It's still for us to use!"

"That's great! My little grandson almost fell into the well last year. With this, we'll have less to worry about in the future."

"And we don't have to worry about mice falling into the well anymore!"

"I heard this was created by Ye Yiren?"

"Is she the one who discovered cassava, the future daughter-in-law of the Shen family?"

"It's her!"

The people praised Ye Caiping, saying that if they had the skill, they could easily make a fortune just by making one.

However, Lady Ye actually offered the tribute to the imperial court for free, thus benefiting them.

As for those families who had their own wells, they were all quite wealthy, so they asked the imperial court for blueprints and paid for them themselves.