Chapter 100 [VIP]
After visiting the Tzu Chi Hospital, the two went to Xiangxuelou Restaurant. Even though the New Year celebrations weren't over yet, the restaurant was already bustling with activity.
Knowing that Ji Wanyun and the others were watching the performance upstairs, Mi Yao went up for a stroll, chatted for a few minutes, and then went downstairs to find Xiao Chuan.
"After the divorce, Lady Ji is living a much more comfortable life than when she was with Gu Yunxiao. She is radiant, which makes the other ladies envious. Upstairs, they are comparing you to their husbands, saying that if a husband can't be as good as you, then it's better to get a divorce."
Men are not allowed to enter or leave Xiangxue Tower. Mi Yao was afraid that Xiao Chuan would get impatient waiting downstairs, so she praised him as soon as she saw him.
Although it was to please Xiao Chuan, she didn't make up any lies.
A few days ago, Xiao Chuan went around tearing down people's plaques to vent his anger on her behalf, which terrified the noble families who intended to form a marriage alliance with him. They thought that if he sent them a beautiful woman, he would wipe them out.
Later, when she learned that Xiao Chuan was only avenging Mi Yao and had no intention of making a big fuss, she felt relieved but was still afraid of the couple.
From now on, even if Mi Yao and Xiao Chuan divorce, they probably won't dare to play matchmaker for Xiao Chuan.
After Mi Yao finished speaking, she noticed that Xiao Chuan's gaze was still fixed ahead and he didn't turn around to look at her. Confused, she followed his gaze and looked ahead.
After reading the words posted on the wall, Mi Yao blinked.
She overheard Yu Xiu and the others mentioning that some pedantic scholars knew that only women were allowed to enter and exit Xiangxue Tower, and that most of the women who entered and exited were ladies and wives of high status in Yizhou City. As a result, some people used this wall near Xiangxue Tower as a place to display their literary talents.
At first, only one or two people posted articles, but later more and more people posted them, covering an entire wall and creating a unique scene.
Mi Yao knew about this but hadn't read the article on the wall carefully.
Looking at it now, it's clear that many people had their own agendas mixed in. One of the articles Xiao Chuan was reading praised her beauty and kindness, saying that as a woman, she had done many things that even officials couldn't do.
"Maybe it was written by Xiu'er. She wrote me a similar article for my birthday before, and it was full of praise for me."
"Besides this one, there are many others, and each one has a different handwriting."
Hearing Xiao Chuan's deep voice, Mi Yao tugged at his sleeve: "Are you jealous, or are you feeling proud?"
Both are true.
Xiao Chuan grasped her hand, his face clearly trying to force a smile, but he couldn't manage it.
Of course he was jealous; he was petty to begin with. Seeing his treasure being watched by others and having these things written down, even though the articles were frank, he still felt the writer deserved to be punished.
But at the same time, I can't help but feel proud.
She was dazzling, a gift from heaven, yet she only reciprocated his affections.
After leaving Xiangxuelou, Mi Yao took Xiao Chuan to visit several factories that were still under construction under her management.
Realizing she was short of money, besides sending Xiao Chuan to rob the rich and help the poor to stir up trouble among the aristocratic families, she also thought about how to make money in her spare time.
To make money, you need to be unique.
Just like the shops she runs, they sell unique items that people want to imitate but don't know how.
As she thought about it, several things came to mind.
After she transmigrated, she really wanted to use toilet paper and have a mirror where she could see her face clearly.
The paper industry in Daxing is very prosperous, especially the hemp paper and bark paper from Yizhou, which are famous throughout the country.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have so many storybooks to read.
Besides Yizhou, Daxing also boasts the finest Xuan paper from Xuanzhou and rattan paper from Yuezhou.
She had bought and examined both Xuan paper and rattan paper, and the so-called high quality was only relative; there was still much room for improvement compared to later generations' techniques.
As for toilet paper, not even a precursor has been invented yet.
As for mirrors and other glass products, they were even further away, taking at least half a century to be introduced to China by sea.
She worked in the humanities after graduation, but she studied science.
Although I didn't study much during my university years because I was running a studio, I still have a general understanding of the materials used to make mirrors.
Anyway, it's not like she's creating things out of thin air in ancient times. She has money, power, and ideas, so she can gather skilled craftsmen to make things with her.
"Since there is stiff paper in this world for people to write on, it is natural to also make soft tissues that are as soft as cloth, but cheaper and more convenient."
Mi Yao originally wanted to finish making the item before telling Xiao Chuan, so that he would be amazed by her skill and worship her as a goddess.
But he wasn't leaving, so she could only tell him her thoughts and plans in advance. "I'm not exaggerating when I say you won't lack supplies for the war. At most, I'll turn my imagination into reality in six months. With these things, I can earn enough money to support you and your army."
Xiao Chuan had never doubted Mi Yao's abilities, but at this moment, he was still stunned for a moment by her idea.
He began to feel even more eager to make a name for himself. He not only had to be strong enough to protect Mi Yao from the wind and rain, but also had to catch up with her abilities. Otherwise, he feared that if Mi Yao still wanted to stay by his side in the future, he would only feel that he was wronging her.
After visiting the factory, Mi Yao's ambition was rekindled. Not wanting to keep putting off her work, she didn't think about spending more time with Xiao Chuan.
Xiao Chuan adapted well; since she didn't stay at the mansion, he followed her everywhere.
Aside from factory research, disaster relief and resettlement...
After reviewing the official documents compiled by the officials, she took some time to go through them.
The resettlement site was built as temporary dormitories not by family but by gender. When the dormitories were first built, some troubles arose. Some people from the same village wanted to take more space and bullied other people, treating the dormitories as their private territory. There were also idlers who spied on the women's dormitories and tried to take advantage of the women.
They killed more than a dozen people, hung their bodies up as a warning, and then disappeared without a trace.
When she took on the disaster relief mission, Zhao Tianhe gave her a hard number of people who could survive, with only one in six remaining.
Based on the food and lodging she could provide, she had already achieved the goal Zhao Tianhe had given her, so she wasn't afraid to use strict laws and kill some animals to make most people behave.
Because of her decisiveness, the number of petty, unreasonable troubles at the resettlement site decreased significantly.
The day Xiao Chuan left was uneventful. When he woke up early in the morning, Mi Yao saw him off out of the city. He reminded her to read the letters he had written, and she told him to come back early, otherwise she would be too lazy to reply.
Because they had started feeling reluctant to part so many days in advance, neither of them experienced much emotional fluctuation when the time for separation actually came.
Watching Xiao Chua's figure disappear, Mi Yao didn't rush back to the manor. Instead, she sat in the carriage and gazed at the endless green mountains in the distance for a long time.
"Madam, is this the road the town officials are supposed to take?"
Seeing that Mi Yao seemed to be staring in a daze, Qi Niang felt sorry for her, but still pointed in another direction, afraid that Mi Yao would look for nothing after gazing for so long.
"Just get the gist of it."
Realizing she had misjudged the situation, Mi Yao didn't try to make amends. Instead, she simply told the coachman to head back home. It wasn't like they were never going to see each other again. Given how frequently Xiao Chuan went on business trips, she was bound to have a chance to make the right decision.
*
After Xiao Chuan left, Mi Yao devoted all her energy to making mirrors and glass.
Her idea was that the supply line from Yizhou to Youzhou was too long and could easily be ambushed along the way, so it would be best if she could open up a commercial route.
Pu Qing had already been sent out to find suitable shops in various places.
She plans to model some of her shops in various locations after Xiangxuelou, focusing on selling women's products, primarily various fragrant dews and skincare items.
Once she gets things like toilet paper and mirrors out, she can establish the shop's reputation and get one step closer to her envisioned supply line.
Now there's only one problem left: the thing hasn't been built yet.
Compared to the glass factory, the paper mill gave Mi Yao a good result first.
Compared to hard paper, soft paper only has an extra layer of wrinkling process. As long as you have the time and space to experiment, it is not difficult to make.
Besides soft paper, the craftsmen also created kraft paper and various gold-flecked stationery based on Mi Yao's ideas.
When Mi Yao received Xiao Chua's eighth letter, the glass factory finally produced high-purity glass products, including a silver-plated mirror that was much clearer than a bronze mirror.
It wasn't that the factory was too slow, but rather that Xiao Chuan was writing letters too frequently.
He doesn't like reading papers with lots of text, and he also doesn't like writing letters with too many words.
The letter delivered to her contained very few words; its structure was basically a greeting to let her know she was safe, followed by a short summary of the current situation to reassure her.
She initially replied to him, but later felt that it was all the same, so she handed over the task of replying to the three younger ones.
Xiao Liang was very interested in writing letters. He treated replying to Xiao Chua's letters as a diary, recording what he did every day. As a result, he learned to recognize characters much faster and received praise from his teacher several times.
As for Xiao Shan, if he was in a good mood, he would put a flower in the letter; if he was in a bad mood, he would put a stone in it.
Only Xiao Yi was a filial son, knowing what his father wanted to know, and the whole book was about Mi Yao's actions.
On one occasion, Mi Yao glanced at the letter they had sent and saw that Xiao Yi had even written about her going to the garden to admire the flowers and seeing the blooming hibiscus with a smile on his lips. Intrigued, she picked up a brush and drew a portrait of her and her three children and sent it over.
It's called a miniature because neither the original owner nor her drawing skills were good; it was actually just a tall stick figure plus three short stick figures.
When she sent the letter, Xiao Xu was vying for power with the forces in Hedong, and it took him two or three months to reply.
He repainted a new picture in the style of Mi Yao, with two large stick figures and three small stick figures. As for Mi Yao's painting, he framed it and placed it in a place where he could see it every day.
Knowing that he had framed her scribbled ugly things, Mi Yao was speechless.
To scare him, I drew him a pregnant stick figure, and in case he couldn't understand, I added an arrow and wrote, "Whose surname will the child take?"
He's been away for a year; it's time he got a little nervous.
This time, he added a large stick figure to the paper again.
He replied that he would take some time to return to Yizhou to fulfill her dream of getting pregnant and to let her give birth to a beautiful baby with the surname Xiao.
Seeing that she had brought trouble upon herself, Mi Yao was nervous for several days, but after waiting for more than a month, the man who said he would get her pregnant did not return. Instead, she heard the news that Emperor Xingwu was going to marry the princess to Xiao Chuan.
She lost interest in painting, so she simply wrapped a stone in her letter, just like Xiao Shan.
The stone was sharp, but unfortunately I couldn't smash it on his head with my own hands.
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