133 Bamboo Sink
"From now on, you can't call me Sun the Carpenter anymore. You should call me Sun the Clerk."
The Dongxiang people had been busy laying fish nests in the river these days. Since Ye Yunzhao had said pine and cypress branches were better, they had been going up into the mountains to collect them. She, on the other hand, spent the entire day at the county government office, racking her brains to figure out how to increase the hatching rate of the fish eggs.
It is definitely not a good idea to throw fish eggs directly into the paddy field. It is best to hatch them in one place first and then put them into the paddy field after they become small fry the size of a fingernail.
She sat in the yard, looking at the plump hens in the chicken coop, holding her chin and thinking hard: There is no oxygen concentrator and no glass tank, so where is the best place to put them for incubation?
Before she could think of a solution, someone knocked on the gate.
"Liu Yayi, why are you here?" Ye Yunzhao opened the courtyard gate and looked at Liu Mazi in front of him. "Is there something wrong? Is the Dongxiang Village Head here again?"
Liu Mazi hurriedly shook his head and said with a smile, "He didn't come. It was Carpenter Sun who came. She said she wanted to work as a clerk in the workshop..."
Before he could finish his words, Ye Yunzhao remembered what he had agreed to with Sun Ning a few days ago and slapped his thigh repeatedly: "I forgot, I forgot. I've been busy with Dongxiang's affairs these days and forgot about her. Where is she now?"
Liu Mazi replied, "Wait in the front yard, I'll take you there."
She quickly closed the gate, and the two of them walked out one after the other.
Liu Mazi glanced back several times, seeing that he seemed to be hesitant to speak. Ye Yunzhao took the initiative and asked, "What's the matter? Do you have something to say?"
He waved his hands repeatedly: "No, no..."
"It's okay, just tell me if you have something to say."
"Then I will..." He hesitated, "Really?"
"Speak." Ye Yunzhao smiled, "Speak boldly."
No wonder he was so hesitant, because what he wanted to say was related to his own monthly salary.
Liu Mazi blushed and said embarrassedly, "County Magistrate Ye, if Carpenter Sun also came to the county government to work as a clerk, would the county government have enough money to pay us monthly salaries?"
Without waiting for Ye Yunzhao to speak, as if afraid that she would misunderstand, he quickly explained: "It's not that I don't want Carpenter Sun to come, but because of something going on at home these days, I'm afraid that I won't be able to get my monthly salary this month. I'll come when the time comes..."
Ye Yunzhao then remembered that the amount of money in the county government's account was relatively small. She had already planned to go to Yuezhou City to ask the prefect for money. However, she had been so busy these past few days, like a spinning top that couldn't stop. Coupled with the rejection of Chen Jingshan, she couldn't deny that she seemed a little overwhelmed.
Seeing the tension and worry on Liu Mazi's face, she quickly comforted him, "Don't worry about this. Your monthly salary will be paid to you on time. It won't be affected by the arrival of a clerk. Don't worry, I'll go see the prefect in the next few days and try to give you a little extra every month."
Ye Yunzhao's words were full of confidence. She wasn't entirely sure about getting the money from the prefect, but whether it was the teachers at the county school or the runners at the county yamen, who wasn't genuinely working for Lingnan County? Who didn't truly trust her?
She didn't want to let them down, and she didn't want them to work for her with such sincerity that they had to endure hardships. Ye Yunzhao already had a plan in mind: in three or five days, she would go to the prefectural government to collect her salary. If the prefect was unwilling to allocate funds, she would use her own salary to make up for it, giving everyone a little more hope in life.
Ye Yunzhao's expression changed slightly, and he patted his shoulder gently: "You have worked hard during this period."
Liu Mazi's eyes welled up, and he was quite moved and said, "Thank you... County Magistrate Ye."
He had always been a rough man, and this was the first time he had shown vulnerability in front of others. Ye Yunzhao felt something was amiss and asked indirectly, "But what happened at home?"
Hearing this, he quickly wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes and put on a smile on his face: "It's nothing, County Magistrate Ye, let's go, don't let Carpenter Sun wait anxiously." Even so, the smile was stiff and the reluctance in it could not be ignored.
Sure enough, something happened.
Everyone has secrets. Since he didn't want to tell, Ye Yunzhao naturally pretended nothing happened and didn't continue to ask.
When the two of them reached the front yard, Sun Ning was pacing in the courtyard. When she saw them, she immediately came forward to greet them: "County Magistrate Ye, Yamen Runner Liu, I'm here today to discuss the matter of the clerks in the workshop..."
Before she finished speaking, Ye Yunzhao felt a little sorry: "Originally, I should have gone to look for you, but I've been too busy these days. I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
"Nothing." Sun Ning didn't take it to heart, pursing his lips and smiling, "It's just that I don't really know what the workshop clerks are supposed to do."
"Right now, I really need your help to think of something." Ye Yunzhao said to Liu Mazi, "By the way, a few days ago, I asked County Magistrate Han to write a letter of engagement. Could you please bring it to me? I'll have Carpenter Sun fill it out."
Liu Mazi smiled and nodded: "From now on, you can't call me Sun the Carpenter anymore. You should call me Sun the Clerk."
The three of them laughed together, and after he left, Ye Yunzhao mentioned what was in his mind.
"This is a bit troublesome." She frowned slightly and asked, "Do you know if you can make a sink out of wood or bamboo?"
"Sink?" Sun Ning asked.
Ye Yunzhao nodded.
After a moment's thought, Sun Ning replied, "If a wooden stake is thick enough, digging a hole inside it can be considered a water trough. As for bamboo, splitting it in half and breaking through the joints can also be considered a water trough... I just don't know how big a trough you want."
It sounds like bamboo won't work; it's too small and too shallow. As for wooden stakes, although they are the right size, with so many fish eggs, I don't know how much wood will be wasted.
Ye Yunzhao looked worried and said to her, "I'm afraid we'll need an enormous water tank."
Sun Ning was confused by her words. When she made the tripod plow and waterwheel before, she had a very accurate grasp of the dimensions and could explain them clearly. But why did she seem hesitant when it came to an ordinary water tank today?
"How big is enormous?"
"Maybe..." Ye Yunzhao scratched her head. Based on the astonishing spawning rate of grass carp and carp, the bigger the better. She made up her mind and said a shocking number, "Maybe ten meters wide? Ten meters long?"
"What? County Magistrate Ye, are you kidding me?" Sun Ning stood up suddenly, startled by the number she said, and blurted out, "Is this a sink? This must be a big pool?"
Ye Yunzhao also knew that he was thinking too idealistically, so he felt embarrassed to look at her, and even more embarrassed to tell her that one might not be enough.
When Liu Mazi came over with the letter of appointment, he saw this scene. The atmosphere was quite strange. He laughed to himself, put the letter of appointment on the table between them, pointed to a place and said to Sun Ning, "Carpenter Sun, write your name here and put your fingerprint. From now on, you will be a clerk in the county government."
Sun Ning sighed and looked at the silent Ye Yunzhao. She thought that the ten-meter huge water tank was really not a joke. She closed her eyes, made up her mind, picked up the pen, wrote her name, and pressed her fingerprint.
Liu Mazi smiled and handed one of the sheets to her: "Put this one aside for yourself, Sun Xuli."
Sun Ning immediately smiled and bowed to him. After sending him away, he put away his smile. Although he already had the answer in his mind, he still asked unwillingly, "County Magistrate Ye, do you really need it to be this big?!"
Ye Yunzhao responded without much confidence: "Yes..."
She slumped in the chair, then sat up straight after a moment. She leaned closer and asked, "A water tank this big would definitely leak if it were made of wood or bamboo. Why not just dig a ten-meter-wide pit? That would be more feasible."
Ye Yunzhao sighed softly. This was something she had considered before. After digging such a large pit, the water quality would definitely be poor in the early stages. However, it was almost spawning season, and she couldn't let the eggs wait...
"It's quite complicated."
Sun Ning pressed on, "What's the purpose of such a large tank?"
"It's a long story," Ye Yunzhao said. "To make it short, the water tank can be used to hatch fish eggs. If you dig a pit, firstly, the water will be stagnant, and secondly, the water quality will be poor. If the fish eggs can't hatch, then the Dongxiang people will have to spend a lot of money to buy fish fry."
Sun Ning was puzzled: "But even with a large water tank, wouldn't it still be a pool of stagnant water?"
Seeing her like this, Ye Yunzhao thought she seemed to be quite interested, so he quickly explained to her: "I originally planned to make two water wheels and place them on the side of the water tank. In this way, when the water wheels are turned, the water will become running water, and the water quality will be guaranteed. I think some of the fish eggs will be able to hatch successfully."
Sun Ning nodded in understanding, as if thinking, and muttered, "For raising fish..."
After a while, an idea suddenly occurred to her, and she asked, "What if we put this trough in the river?"
Ye Yunzhao was stunned at first, but then he understood what she meant. "You mean, taking advantage of the bamboo's leaky nature, we can place part of the water tank into the river, and then put the fish eggs into the tank. That way, the water will be both fresh and good?"
"That's right!" Sun Ning knew she was smart, so he wasn't surprised. Instead, he was delighted by the tacit understanding between the two of them, which didn't need to be stated. "County Magistrate Ye, what do you think of this method? This way, the bamboo trees can grow parallel, and there's no need for a waterwheel."
Ye Yunzhao thought carefully about the details in his mind. If he used bamboo, it would not work. It would be better to weave the bamboo into a huge water tank. Then he could put the fish nest with collected fish eggs into it. It seemed feasible.
However, she wasn't sure how big grass carp and carp eggs were. If they were too small, they might fall through the cracks in the bamboo weaving. Ye Yunzhao was also a little worried. Fish eggs were fragile, and if there were thorns in the bamboo trough, they might be damaged.
But she soon came up with a plan and explained it to Sun Ning in detail: "I'll have to trouble you to do this. Go to Dongxiang and measure the width of the river. If we lay bamboos parallel to each other, it will be too shallow. Can we weave them? It would be best if they were half a meter high."
"Bamboo weaving is my forte," she said with a smile. "I'm going to teach them bamboo weaving at the county school in a couple of days, so this is a good opportunity."
Ye Yunzhao nodded with satisfaction: "But the waterwheel is still needed. I will tell you the reason when the time comes."
As soon as she finished speaking, she stood up, bowed formally to Sun Ning, and said with a smile, "Thank you, Mr. Sun."
The two hit it off immediately, and the matter was settled.
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