instrument
People grind tea near the water to enjoy the fragrance, and the shadow of the ancient tower is reflected on the bow of the boat.
When Zhao Mingyan brought Xiaozhu to a paddy field on the outskirts of Yongnian Town, looking at the water mill that was crushing grains, the poem written by the poet Guan Ne emerged in her mind.
Looking around at the bamboo forest, she suddenly felt a sense of being "living among bamboo trees by the water".
"When I am old and frail, it will be a wonderful thing to settle here."
She smiled at Xiaozhu beside her and walked towards the self-operating water mill.
She had never worked in the fields since she was a child, so she was not very familiar with grinding grain with a stone mill. She only knew that a donkey was needed to pull the millstone to make the stone mill turn and grind the grain.
As for water mills, even less is known.
After getting closer, she looked carefully and finally saw the structure of the water mill.
It is mainly composed of upper and lower fan millstones, a wooden rotating shaft, a water wheel and a bracket.
The upper millstone is suspended on the bracket, the lower millstone is installed on the rotating shaft, and a water wheel is installed at the lower end of the rotating shaft, which is parallel to the millstone and suspended above the water surface. The potential energy of the water rotates the water wheel, thereby driving the rotation of the lower millstone to crush the grains.
"What makes it move is the flowing water." Zhao Mingyan quickly figured out the method.
"But the core of lanterns is fire. Besides airflow, how can we use equipment to animate the fire and thus create a myriad of changes in the lanterns?"
This was something she couldn't understand at all.
Then, she looked up at a house hidden in the bamboo forest, guessing that it was the home of Master Wang who made this water mill.
After straightening her clothes and composure, she walked towards the house in the forest.
"Excuse me, is Master Wang home?"
She knocked on the gate, and when it opened, she explained her purpose.
"Become my disciple?"
The old man who opened the door was Master Wang, but after learning the purpose of her visit, he frowned and looked her up and down.
"I make all kinds of farming tools. What do you want to learn from me?"
Zhao Mingyan smiled calmly, "I'm learning how to make instruments to improve the shape of our lanterns."
"Lanterns?"
Master Wang looked a little surprised, but soon his face darkened. He said, "Women shouldn't show their faces in public," closed the gate, and turned back to the house.
Zhao Mingyan opened his mouth wide, stunned.
Xiaozhu, who was standing by, was also dumbfounded. After a moment, she stamped her feet and complained, "What's the saying that women shouldn't show their faces in public? Just now, along the way, most of the people working in the fields were women."
"It's okay for a woman to do farm work, but it's not okay for her to learn a trade from a master?"
"Even suing is no use. It's because men are in power in this world!" Zhao Mingyan sneered.
With a wave of her sleeves, she strode away.
"Miss, wait for me!"
Xiaozhu hurriedly followed, "So what should we do now? How about asking again, is there anyone else who knows how to make equipment? I don't believe that in such a huge Xuzhou Prefecture, there is no one who can teach you how to make equipment."
"Miss?"
Seeing Zhao Mingyan rushing forward without saying a word, Xiaozhu couldn't help but feel a little worried.
"I want to be alone."
Zhao Mingyan waved her hand, got on the carriage, and then lay on the low table, sobbing softly.
"What happened to the young mistress? Was she bullied?"
Seeing this, the driver Li Si quickly pulled Xiaozhu aside to ask about it, and then said, "Which scoundrel dares to bully her? I'll go and teach him a lesson!"
"Why!"
Xiaozhu sighed, "He's not a lecher, but an old man with no sense."
"Old man?" Li Si blinked.
I thought, with the courage of the young lady who could only eat three bowls of rice, could she be bullied by an old man?
However, Xiaozhu urged him to return home quickly, so he did not ask any more questions. After returning to settle the horses, he found Tan Linshuang and told her about this.
"Bullied by an old man? What kind of old man?" Tan Linshuang was puzzled.
Li Si said, "It seems to be an instrument maker named Wang."
"Equipment maker?" Tan Linshuang was surprised.
Why did she go to the toolmaker? Did she want to make weapons?
At that time, the equipment was mainly used for military and medical purposes.
For example, muskets, falconets, and doctors' treatment tools.
He planned to ask her during dinner. During the cold war between the two, they would only say a few words to each other during breakfast and dinner to avoid being discovered by Fan Wenlan and Tan Mozhu.
However, Zhao Mingyan did not come for dinner tonight for the first time, which surprised him greatly.
"Xiaozhu said she's not feeling well. Could she be suffering from morning sickness?"
Since Zhao Mingyan was not present, Fan Wenlan simply looked at Tan Linshuang and asked directly.
"mother!"
Tan Mozhu didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "Why do you always think that way?"
"What else can I think of? Yan'er has always been in good health. She's been married for so long and hasn't even had a headache or fever. How could she suddenly feel unwell?"
Fan Wenlan glanced at him and looked at Tan Linshuang again, "Lin'er, don't you think so?"
"hehe."
Tan Linshuang smiled perfunctorily, put down the bowl and chopsticks, and said to her, "I'll go back to my room to see Mingyan first."
"Go quickly!" Fan Wenlan nodded with a smile.
After returning to the room, Tan Linshuang saw Zhao Mingyan lying on the bed, her face half covered by the silk quilt, her messy hair covering her face, and there were still traces of tears in the corners of her eyes.
What happened?
He frowned, having never seen Zhao Mingyan so depressed. He then left the bedroom and found Xiaozhu to ask.
Xiaozhu did not hide anything and told the truth with a pout.
“So I wanted to make a mechanical lantern.”
Tan Linshuang felt it was unheard of.
"Can the equipment operate the lanterns?"
He scratched his chin, turned around and walked towards the study, and then after a while of rummaging, he found "Wujing Zongyao" and "Kaogong Ji", two books on machinery that had been kept in his box for many years.
“Here!”
Taking the two books, he returned to the bedroom and handed them to Zhao Mingyan.
Zhao Mingyan hesitantly lifted the silk quilt and looked at him with her red and swollen eyelids. "What are you doing?"
“If no one teaches you, then you learn it yourself.”
After placing the two books beside her pillow, Tan Linshuang turned and left again.
This time, he left in a very free and easy manner.
No need to thank me!
After leaving the bedroom, he asked Xiaozhu to prepare a midnight snack.
"Miss, do you want to eat something?" Xiaozhu's eyes lit up.
Tan Linshuang raised her lips and nodded, "She will soon feel hungry."
Xiaozhu was confused and went to the east kitchen.
Ah Yun came close to Tan Linshuang and asked in a low voice, "Master, have you and the Young Mistress... reconciled?"
He had only heard of "fighting at the head of the bed and making up at the foot of the bed", but that night the young master and the young mistress fought from the head of the bed to the foot of the bed, and ignored each other for several days in a row. He was once worried that the two would divorce soon.
Now, seeing that his young master was looking for books and arranging midnight snacks, he must have taken the initiative to seek peace.
Tan Linshuang folded her hands and looked at him, "I'm just helping her solve the current problem."
"But I don't hold out much hope that it can be solved."
"Every job is like a mountain of difference. For example, I know how to grow bamboo, but I don't know how to weave bamboo lanterns, and I have only a vague understanding of the tools."
"As for her, it's not easy for her to understand the contents of the book, let alone apply them to making lanterns."
…
"Miss, isn't this about woodworking, metalworking, and coloring? How does it help with making lanterns?"
While serving Zhao Mingyan a midnight snack, Xiaozhu curiously picked up the "Kaogong Ji" whose pages had already turned yellow and flipped through it, and suddenly felt confused.
Zhao Mingyan swallowed the food in his mouth and said slowly, "The carpenter mentioned that the wheel should be 'combed to make it round.' The same principle applies to making lanterns."
"The "goldsmith" mentioned that sword blades should be forged with 'one-third gold and one-third tin,' and the "colorsmith" mentioned how to extract and combine the 'five colors,' both of which can serve as references when making lanterns."
Xiaozhu understood a little bit, but was still confused.
"So, Miss, you're planning to study on your own instead of becoming a disciple?"
"Um!"
Zhao Mingyan nodded, her eyes bright, "I want to study in seclusion."
Tan Linshuang was quite surprised when he heard this.
"How could she actually read such a boring book?"
Out of curiosity, he came to the outside of the bedroom and peeked in through the window. Sure enough, he saw Zhao Mingyan sitting at the table, flipping through the two books, writing and drawing. There were many snacks on the table, and her mouth was not idle either.
Xiaozhu was boiling water to make tea next to her. There was a book in front of her, which seemed to be a storybook.
Tan Linshuang couldn't help but laugh.
"Looking at how they are doing, they should be sent to take the autumn exam."
Hearing this, Ayun, who was standing behind him, said quietly, "Master, the autumn exam is coming soon, isn't it time for you to retreat and prepare for it?"
Tan Linshuang stepped away from the window, hands clasped behind his back, "I have more important things to do than take the exam."
In the following days, Zhao Mingyan and Tan Linshuang still lay back to back on the quilt.
But they no longer ignore each other. Apart from breakfast and dinner, they occasionally chat for a few words in bed.
Tan Linshuang: "The weather is getting hot. Let Xiaozhu change to a thinner quilt tomorrow."
Zhao Mingyan: "Okay."
…
Zhao Mingyan: "Tell Grandma to tell the East Kitchen to stop making stews and instead make cold dishes with ginger vinegar or mustard."
Tan Linshuang: “Yeah.”
…
The trees are lush in the summer, and it is midsummer in a blink of an eye. The days are long and the nights are short. Except for breakfast and dinner, Zhao Mingyan hardly leaves the house. If he wants to contact the outside world, he does so by letter.
That day, after Ayun handed her a letter from the Chastity Hall, he took the other two letters to the study and handed them to Tan Linshuang.
One letter was a reply from a local government, and the other was a letter from Ari.
After reading the two letters, Tan Linshuang was overjoyed and couldn't help but excitedly said to Ayun: "They are all good news!"
Ayun smiled and asked, "Are the local authorities going to investigate this matter thoroughly?"
“That’s right!”
Tan Linshuang smiled and nodded, then continued, "Ari has also found Zhang Kaigui's whereabouts."
"Is he really not dead?" Ayun widened his eyes.
"Oh!"
Tan Linshuang sneered, "Not only is he not dead, he's alive and well! Ah Ri said in the letter that he not only married another beautiful wife, but also had two daughters and a son."
"hateful!"
Ah Yun pounded his fist on his palm, indignantly saying, "He's living a carefree life, while his first wife and their children have to live in the countryside day and night."
"And he caused my parents to die so tragically!" Tan Linshuang's eyes were bloodshot.
He clenched his fists, his eyes blazing, "Once Ari catches him, the truth behind my parents' murder will be revealed!"
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