September!
Nangong Qing hasn't returned yet, so this month's bonuses have been delayed. Su Luo is in charge of paying the wages of the staff and the head chef at Fumanlou.
The courtyard at the entrance of the village is taking shape. The frame of the house and the surrounding walls have been completed. All that's left is to buy the tiles and install the blue tiles.
The rooms inside are also made of a combination of blue bricks and wood, with blue bricks for the walls and wooden doors and windows.
Large wooden windows increase light transmission, and openwork windows add a touch of sophistication.
"Madam Su, I suggest that the wooden parts of the house be coated with another layer of varnish. The south is humid, and varnishing will better protect the wood, and it may even prevent it from rotting for a hundred years."
The lacquer used by the ancients was natural and non-toxic. It required people to go deep into the mountains to find lacquer trees and then use the sap secreted from the lacquer trees to make it. Some people would also add a little tung oil to the lacquer.
The output is low and it requires a lot of manpower, so the cost is quite high.
"Master Fan, considering the large amount of wood in this courtyard, how many kilograms of paint would it require?"
Fan Gaocen had calculated that the main courtyards of the three courtyards were all two stories high, with a boudoir, while the other smaller rooms were only one story high.
The paint needs to be applied manually, which uses more paint. So, all things considered, about 1,800 jin (500 kg) is needed.
“Mrs. Su, it weighs about 1,800 jin. Paint itself is heavier than water, so a jin of paint doesn’t amount to much.”
Su Luo knew this; she had seen industrial paint in her previous life.
"And the price?"
"For lacquer collectors, one tael of lacquer is equivalent to one tael of gold. Of course, it doesn't actually sell for one tael of gold. Finished lacquer costs sixty wen per jin, which is more than one hundred taels of silver."
The paint wasn't included in Su Luo's contract price, which is why Fan Gaocen wanted to talk to Su Luo about it.
"One hundred and eight taels, can you handle buying this much for one hundred taels?"
Normally, if you buy things in large quantities, they will be cheaper.
"Of course, I'll take care of it."
One hundred taels is not a small amount, but based on Fan Gaocen's experience, one hundred taels can still get you good paint.
With the painting issue resolved, several of the people building the house have taken leave in the past two days.
When it's time to harvest the rice at home, if no one is home or only elderly people are there, they should go to the fields first to harvest the rice.
Just like Chen Ping'an, only he and Liu Fangfang were able to work at home, so Chen Ping'an went to harvest rice first, but he only took a day off before returning.
The couple only had three mu of land. They couldn't finish harvesting on the first day, so they harvested under the cover of night. They were so tired that they had no energy to work.
Su Luo asked the village chief to call everyone over and said, "Everyone, these days every household needs to harvest rice, so we'll give you two days off so you can finish harvesting the rice before you come back to work."
Su Luo didn't want the villagers to be too tired. She had the bricklayers and carpenters brought by Fan Gaocen doing the work; they were the main force.
“Yan Chuan’s mother, some of our family members are harvesting rice, so we don’t need to take a holiday.”
"Yes, Yan Chuan's mother, my wife and parents can go and collect the goods. I can also work."
Some villagers didn't want to take a holiday, because two days meant losing sixty coins, but the rice could still be harvested slowly.
"Fellow villagers, after you have harvested the rice, you can come back to work. But I promise you, we won't be working for the next two days."
I will still pay you your wages, so everyone can go back home and help your families harvest rice tomorrow.
They had never encountered anything like receiving wages without doing any work in their lives.
At the same time, they also understood that Su Luo genuinely wanted to help everyone.
“Yan Chuan’s mother, I thank you on behalf of the villagers, from the bottom of my heart.”
The village chief said to Su Luo.
“My mother-in-law and I are also going to harvest rice, as are you, village chief. If we miss the best time for the autumn harvest, even if it doesn’t rain, the rice will be eaten by sparrows, and then everyone’s hard work this year will be for nothing.”
Throughout the year, the villagers rely on the rice in the fields. When the fields are golden, that's when they're happiest.
The next morning!
Su Luo prepared to carry the rice bed to the field as soon as possible. The rice bed was made of wooden planks, shaped like a square one meter long and one and a half feet high.
Its bottom is also sealed with wooden boards. When the rice bed is placed upright, it looks more like a large square water vat.
The item was too big, so Su Luo had to use a piece of wood about the thickness of a calf to wedge it between two corners, turn it over, and carry it away.
The rice paddies covered Su Luo completely, leaving only her legs sticking out. Using her familiarity with the path, she slowly made her way into the field.
"Luo Luo, slow down, gently lower this rice bed."
Upon reaching the paddy field, Zhao Ruyun put down the baskets and sickles, asked Yan Chuan and Yi Huan to stay away, and then came over to help Su Luo unload the rice stalks.
With a 'bang', the two women finally put the rice bed down.
"Luo Luo, this is the first time you've carried something so heavy. Can your shoulders handle it?"
Su Luo is thin, but she is very strong. This rice bed only weighs about 80 or 90 pounds.
"It's okay, I can carry it."
He twisted his shoulder, and he and Zhao Ruyun picked up their sickles and began harvesting.
"Chuan Chuan, Huan Huan, go sit over there in the field and memorize the multiplication table I taught you."
Yan Chuan, holding Yi Huan's hand, said, "Mother, I can recite it all now."
“Then you should teach your sister to memorize it. If she doesn’t understand something, you can teach her. Today, you will be her teacher.”
He became extremely excited when the topic of having Yan Chuan as his teacher came up, and immediately pulled Yi Huan to sit at the other end of the field.
The little girl had one hand behind her back and was chattering away, asking Yi Huan to recite it for her.
"Brother, I can recite it now, you don't need to teach me!"
Yan Chuan didn't believe him: "No, then recite it for me first."
Yi Huan sat on a grassy mound, hugging her knees, and said, "One times one equals one, one times two equals two..."
Throughout the entire process, Yi Huan recited it word for word without a single mistake.
Yan Chuan felt a sudden sense of frustration. He hadn't even started teaching yet, and he already found that his students already knew everything.
"It's good that you can recite it. I'll test you and see if you can still recite it."
What is six times nine?
"Sixty-nine, sixty-nine..."
Distracted by the order, Yi Huan couldn't think of a solution right away, her eyes darting around.
"Little sister, look, you don't know how, do you? Your big brother will teach you."
Yi Huan felt wronged and wanted to cry, but it took her a long time to find the answer.
Su Luo and Zhao Ruyun don't have time to deal with them right now. This acre of land isn't much, but it would take the two of them a whole day to harvest it.
They cleared a space, and together they pulled the rice paddies from the embankment into the field.
A gentle breeze brushed away the beads of sweat on my forehead, the leaves rustled in the mountains, and flocks of sparrows flew across the fields.
Flying from one field to another, chattering and timid, yet forced to compete with people for food.
"Luo Luo, you go and harvest the rice, I'll thresh it."
Hold the straw in your hand and use your arm strength to thresh it into the rice bed. The greater the impact, the cleaner the rice will be threshed.
“Grandma, this is hard work, let me do it, I’m stronger than you.”
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