The day before going to Chunfeng Tower, Meng Zhao took some time to return to Shenjia Village. He first checked the recent production records and estimated the current maximum monthly output. Then he went to the warehouse to check the current inventory.
After taking inventory, Meng Zhao and the village head arrived at the newly built drying room. There, two people were sitting in front of the stove, diligently tending to the fire.
The village head said excitedly, "We've already tried this drying room, and it works really well."
“Wet starch that used to take several days to dry can be completely dried in three to four hours in this drying room. In the past, when we were drying starch, we had to leave the racks open at intervals, otherwise some starch would not get any sun. But now it’s different. As long as the starch is placed on the racks in layers, as long as they are not close together, it will not affect the drying.”
While listening to the village head explain the current situation, Meng Zhao mentally estimated that a drying room could hold an eight-layer rack, with each layer holding fifty catties of starch. Therefore, each room could dry about four hundred catties of starch at a time, and two rooms would dry eight hundred catties. If two rounds of drying were carried out a day, that would be sixteen hundred catties.
Although the continuous drying process would consume a lot of firewood, the production speed had indeed increased significantly. Meng Zhao couldn't help but nod in approval. Only by increasing the speed could she guarantee Xiao Youzhi's success; otherwise, if the output didn't increase, it would be useless.
The village head said to a young villager who was tending the boiler, "We're only able to get things going so smoothly thanks to Li Zhuzi. I didn't even know he was capable of this."
"What's going on?" Meng Zhao asked curiously.
The village head slowly recounted the whole story: "At first, we were very careful, putting only one tray of starch in at a time. But if the heat was too low, it wouldn't dry even after a whole day. If the heat was too high, it would start to smell burnt in no time. Although it looked fine on the outside, it had a strange smell that made it impossible to sell."
"Later, we finally succeeded once, so I told them to burn it the same way as before, but we just couldn't get it right. We only succeeded once out of three attempts. At first, we put in a small amount, so the loss wasn't too great if it burned. But if we filled the container and it burned, then hundreds of pounds of starch would be wasted. That wouldn't do. I was really worried about it when Li Zhuzi said he would give it a try."
At this point, the village head's tone was full of relief, "After trying it two or three times, he actually succeeded. He always controlled the heat perfectly and never made a mistake. Otherwise, we wouldn't have dared to put so much starch in at once."
After listening to what the village head had to say, Meng Zhao became interested and asked, "Brother Zhuzi, how did you control the heat?"
When Li Zhuzi heard the question, he raised his hand and touched the back of his head, a little embarrassed. "Actually, I don't know how to say it. I just put my hand outside the drying room and slowly touch it, and then I can feel whether the temperature inside is right or not."
"If it gets too hot, I'll take out two pieces of firewood; if it gets too cold, I'll add two more. I'll just touch it every now and then, and it'll be fine."
The village head's face was full of praise. "Your technique is truly amazing. I had others try it, but none of them achieved the same results as you."
Meng Zhao asked for a while before he understood that his hands were so sensitive to temperature because he had trained them little by little.
When Li Zhuzi was a child, he worked in a dyeing workshop for a period of time. Dyeing cloth also requires temperature control. If it is too hot or too cold, the desired color cannot be achieved. The dyer has to put his hand into the dye vat to feel the temperature.
Li Zhuzi learned this skill from a young age. The work in the dye house was not easy. If you made a mistake, you would be starved or beaten for days. Gradually, he mastered this skill.
Hearing Li Zhuzi say that he was beaten so badly as a child that he couldn't get up, Meng Zhao felt a pang of pity and asked, "If you have this skill, why don't you continue to be a dyer?"
Li Zhuzi said regretfully, "Later, the dye house closed down and I was sent home. Although I had worked in the dye house for several years, all I knew was how to stir the vat and cut the cloth. It wasn't a skill."
Meng Zhao immediately understood. This cloth dyeing technique was a family secret, and ordinary apprentices would not be taught so much.
"That's perfect. Your skill in testing the temperature will come in very handy in our workshop. It won't be a waste of your time."
He then added, "But we have an agreement: you have to teach this skill to others. You can't just keep it to yourself. Village head, find five people to learn from Brother Zhu. Once they've all learned it, give Brother Zhu an extra two months' wages."
Li Zhuzi was very surprised. He never expected that this seemingly insignificant skill would make him so important and earn him more money. He quickly said, "Okay, boss, don't worry, I will definitely teach them well and make sure they are all taught."
After Meng Zhao finished speaking, he told them to continue their work. He then went with the village head to take a look at the reclaimed land. Sure enough, the two oxen were fast; more than half of the two hundred acres of land had already been plowed.
The villagers, even after plowing the fields, didn't rest. They stayed in the fields whenever they had free time, picking out the stones and tree roots they had turned over one by one. They used hoes to break up the larger clods of soil, and used baskets to move the protruding soil to the depressions to level them out. They took good care of this hard-won land.
"Village head, how's it going with your inquiry about the village school?"
The village head said earnestly, "I have found out that although our village is not big, there are quite a few families who want to send their children to school. If I count carefully, there are about twenty households, more than half of which are working in the workshop right now."
Meng Zhao nodded. "As long as the villagers recognize the importance of education and are willing to send their children to school, then there is a need to establish this village school."
“Before, the villagers always thought that going to school was something only wealthy people could do. But now, with you setting an example, everyone in the village is very interested in education. Two families even said they wanted to send their daughters to school, saying that even if they couldn't become officials, it would be a great blessing to work with you in the future.”
Meng Zhao was very supportive of this idea, saying, "That would be great! Let's work hard to build the village school first, and while we're at it, let's also take a look at the matter of hiring a teacher."
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