In the morning light, the tiles on the eaves of Pingji Oil Mill, the easternmost part of Xuancheng Prefecture, stand out against the glow of the warm sun.
The mulberry paper workshop at the east end of the city is right next to Pingji Oil Mill.
A middle-aged man with a beard was leaning on a bamboo pole in the mule stable, half asleep and half awake. In front of him stood a huge kiln facing upwards. The kiln mouth was covered with a pointed bamboo lid like a hat. The firewood burning in the kiln was very strong, and the misty whitish steam rushed straight up to the bamboo shed. After being blocked by the shed, the steam then fled away anxiously and worriedly like birds in the forest when a disaster came.
The middle-aged man had excessive beard on his face, which completely covered the tip of his nose and his chin. The early sunlight of mid-autumn finally caught up with the pace of the bamboo shed, and radiated confidently and directly onto the man's drooping and loose eyelids.
The man rubbed his eyes, was stunned for a moment, and immediately got on all fours to look at the fire. His nervous expression finally eased under the reflection of the blazing fire.
"Butler! Butler!"
A servant rubbed his eyes and stumbled in, "Someone is coming!"
The man's legs were stiff from sitting all night. When he tried to stand up, he tripped over his stiff feet and nearly fell.
"Open the shop when people come! Why are you yelling?" The man had to stand up with the help of the pillar.
The more anxious the servant became, the more he could not explain himself. He stamped his feet and shouted, "No, no! I'm not here to buy paper... The Chen family... He... A woman... Oh my! Manager Zhao, go to the front door and answer it!"
When the servant's so-called Manager Zhao heard this, he was no longer anxious. He laughed and lowered his head to straighten his clothes. "The new shopkeeper He, come if you want. He is in charge of the three shops in Xuancheng. Old Qu from the Jixi workshop was forced to run around the city every day. Old Lin from the Dengxuan workshop was even worse. He was forced to go back home... Now, you want to move against us?"
The boy shook his head vigorously, his eyelids darting around.
Manager Zhao slapped the servant on the back of his head, "Are you possessed by evil spirits?"
The servant stammered, "Don't...don't say..."
"Don't say it? Don't say what? I, Zhao Deji, walk upright and sit upright. I am neither lazy and greedy like the old Qu from Jixi, nor stupid and bold like the six Chens from the workshop in Jingxian County! I, Zhao, have come to this point step by step, one footprint at a time, one spit at a time! What can't I say?"
Zhao Dezheng was probably a little irritable because he had been guarding the steamer all night and was sleep deprived. He raised his hands high and recited as if he was writing a poem, "Even if that witch Chen Laosan confronts me, I will still tell you! Not only will I tell you! I will also tell you loudly! Tell you everything!"
The servant's smile was full of bitterness.
The boy turned his head and smiled at the girl who was getting closer and closer, and said loudly, "You are Shopkeeper He, right?"
It’s not because he knows Manager He, but because of Li Sanshun who follows behind Manager He.
Master Li Sanshun's name is still very famous in the entire Chen family.
After all, he is the son of the strongest master of the Chen family.
Behind Li Sanshun, there was an unfamiliar master with a square face.
The servant's mouth was almost stretched to the back of his head as he continued to shout, "Boss He! You are finally here! We have missed you for a long time! I am Nan Xiaogua, the night shift janitor! I just came to the Chen family last month, and this is my first time to keep watch with Manager Zhao!"
Suo'er behind Xianjin had a blank expression on his face: The way you draw a line is so simple and crude.
"Hello - Nan Xiaogua -" Xianjin felt that after saying this name, he became a little cuter.
When the clear and gentle female voice came out, Zhao De felt like a goose with its neck strangled in mid-air.
Zhao Da'e's mind was empty for three breaths.
It is true that he is upright and it is also true that his words offend people.
But when you say bad things about people behind their backs, others can hear you.
No matter how funny he was, there was still a hint of embarrassment on his face - it had nothing to do with his quality, it was simply because he was caught off guard.
Xianjin smiled and walked around the pillar. He leaned his head out and nodded solemnly to Manager Zhao, performing a junior salute as a formal greeting. He then looked at the steamed sandalwood bark in the steamer, turned his head and said to Manager Zhao, "This is the first batch of Qingtan trees before the leaves fall in late autumn... You have been steaming it for a day and a night, right? It looks like the branches are shrinking by half an inch... Turn off the fire and take out the sandalwood branches. If you steam them any longer, they will become old and need to be soaked for a longer time."
Zhao Dezheng came back to his senses, and Da Goose stiffened his neck, "Are you teaching me how to do things!?"
Xianjin shrugged and said indifferently, "Then you can keep steaming. The longer the production period, the slower the shipment and the smaller the store. It doesn't matter if you lose money, and it doesn't matter to me either - I still have two other shops to make money for me."
Zhao Dezheng held his breath, and his nostrils flapped four or five times. After enough air entered his big nostrils, he let it out in one breath, turned around and roared, "Don't let me turn off the fire! Pick up the branches!"
The servant smiled flatteringly at Xianjin, then ran quickly to the outer courtyard.
After a while, two tall and strong masters came, one on the left and one on the right, lifted the round wooden barrel, and then took out various bundles of branches one by one.
Zhao Dezheng took out the sample rod and took a look at it.
I have to say that this little girl made a very correct judgment - the cutting edge of the sample branch had shrunk to almost half its size, the sandalwood bark had separated from the bone, revealing the wooden stem of the branch.
It's time to turn off the flames.
Zhao Dezheng pursed his lips: Even a blind cat may catch a few dead mice, but this one doesn't count.
While Zhao Dezheng was observing the branches, Xianjin also picked up a branch that was steamed and warm, and seemed to be muttering to himself, "It's a three-year-old qingtan wood, cut using the 'Yuanbaokou' method. Although this method is labor-intensive and time-consuming, it can ensure that it will continue to sprout and grow vigorously in the second year... In this world, only real paper craftsmen would do this..."
Zhao Dezheng was stunned, hunched his jaw and turned his head to glance over.
This girl of about seventeen or eighteen was indeed observing the cut on the branch carefully, and she was sighing sincerely.
Yes, he knew he shouldn't.
But at this moment, he did feel a sense of mutual understanding, that it is hard to find a true friend at the end of the world or at the corner of the sea.
The little girl raised her head, revealing a pair of beautiful eyes with slightly upturned corners, which were as bright as quiet stars. Her whole body was covered in a dark brown coat and a linen skirt without any embroidery. She was so quiet that she seemed to be sinking into the earth.
Zhao Dezheng was stunned again.
It seems a little different from those girls who are seventeen or eighteen years old.
"You still know Yuanbaokou?" Zhao Dezheng asked for some unknown reason.
The girl smiled and said, "When felling a Chinese cedarwood tree, you need to cut three times to determine the joint, each cut at its own angle, to form two extremely inclined surfaces. Such slopes cannot hold water. Jing County has plenty of rain, and if the felling is not done well, water will easily accumulate at the joints of the felled Chinese cedarwood, which will greatly affect the growth of the wood strips next year."
Zhao Dezheng looked at Xianjin blankly.
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