Chapter 294: Eating the Rich
Next, Lu Songli and the others became busy, making plans and preparations for the main businesses of the Chen, Zhu, and Lu families, which were about to become chaotic.
She was about to have lunch when Manager Ye came to announce the good news.
"You said you got it out of a foot-operated threshing machine?"
"Yes."
Lu Songli thought about it and decided to go and take a look. She mainly wanted to see the progress of the woodblock printing that Lu Mingzhi and his team were developing.
When Lu Songli arrived at the fourth courtyard in the North District, she first went to Zhou Congguang's courtyard, where she saw Lu Mingzhi who came to visit.
Lu Songli looked at him and thought, the reason why woodblock printing had not made any progress has been found. Could it be that Lu Mingzhi has learned to slack off?
"Brother Zhou, you figured out the foot-operated thresher so quickly?"
Zhou Congguang said modestly, "What I made this morning is not something very difficult."
Lu Songli looked around the yard, only to see it filled with all sorts of materials and oddly shaped parts made of different materials. In the middle stood a large object. "Is this it?"
"Yes."
Lu Songli went forward to check and found that the foot-operated thresher consisted of five parts: a wooden barrel, pedals, gears, bearings and rollers. The wooden barrel was removable.
This foot-operated thresher is mainly made of wood and iron. The bearings and gears must be made of iron so that they can be durable and thresh the rice.
She even tried to step on it. She had used this thing when she was a child helping her family harvest rice.
As soon as she stepped on it, she began to pedal up and down rhythmically, and the roller began to spin.
After pedaling for a while, she stopped with satisfaction. Craft masters are different. This foot-operated thresher is exactly the same as the ones in later generations. This thing can be used during the autumn harvest.
Moreover, this thing will have a market in the south and will be very useful during the double harvest season. She wants to sell the first batch at a high price, so the target customers are temporarily set as large, medium and small landlords.
Lu Songli washed her hands and prepared to ask about Zhou Congguang's work and life. For example, was he comfortable living in Houcheng? If he had any ideas, he could boldly give them a try...
Then Lu Songli discovered that Zhou Congguang was obviously absent-minded when talking to her, and his eyes kept glancing at his own homemade operating table.
Lu Songli decided to end the conversation quickly. "Brother Zhou, if you need anything, please find Manager Ye. Manager Ye will help you solve it. If Manager Ye can't solve it, we at the Liaodong County Governor's Office will also help you solve it. Don't hesitate."
Hearing this, he knew the conversation was almost over. Zhou Congguang obviously perked up and said, "Yeah."
"Then we'll leave first."
"Then take care."
Lu Songli was about to go check on her brother. She said to Lu Mingzhi who was standing beside her, "Let's go to your place."
Zhou Congguang called out to Lv Mingzhi, "Junior Brother Lu, wait a moment."
"Brother Zhou, what's the matter?"
Zhou Congguang glanced at Lu Songli next to Lu Mingzhi with a hesitant look.
Lu Songli understood, smiled, and said to Lu Mingzhi, "I'll wait for you up front."
When only he and Lu Mingzhi were left in the courtyard, Zhou Congguang said with a bitter face, "Junior Brother Lu, can you tell our Second Sister to tell me that if she needs anything done, she can just ask someone to do it. I will do my best to get it done for her, and then she won't have to come over?"
After saying this, Zhou Congguang explained, "Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with our second sister. It's just that I don't want to be distracted when I'm working. If she comes over, I have to accompany her and talk to her, which will waste my time."
Lu Mingzhi was speechless. Wasn't it because his second sister cared about his work and life that she valued him? He knew his second sister was also very busy. But he also knew that Senior Brother Zhou was just like that, too absorbed in his own world.
"Okay, I'll tell my second sister."
"Junior Brother Lu, I'm sorry to bother you. You must explain this matter in a nice way." Zhou Congguang reminded him that the second sister of the Lu family is now his breadwinner and butter, so he must not offend her.
"Don't worry."
After Lu Mingzhi went out, he told Lu Songli about the matter.
After hearing this, Lu Songli knew that she had disturbed others. She laughed and said, "Okay, let's do as he says."
She really likes Zhou Congguang, a scientific research expert who can support himself.
After finishing the topic about Zhou Congguang, Lu Songli asked Lu Mingzhi, "Have you finished the woodblock printing?"
Lu Mingzhi's expression was strange.
Lu Songli felt that it was not right that the three of them, the master and the apprentice, had not figured it out after so long.
Lu Mingzhi showed an expression that was both proud and helpless, "Second sister, you'll know if you go and take a look."
Lu Songli was very curious, so she followed Lu Mingzhi into his yard.
In the yard, Master Zhan and Wei Wenqian were using carving knives to carve words on a square piece of wood the size of two thumbs.
At their feet were some carved movable type.
When seeing this, Lu Songli was shocked. Are they going to use movable type printing?
"Second sister, we were almost done with the woodblock printing you mentioned. But Senior Brother Wei felt that printing a book this way would be very slow, time-consuming, and wasteful, and typos would be difficult to correct."
If it needs to be modified, the entire version needs to be re-carved. In the words of Brother Wei, if it is done this way, the engraver's hands will be worn out.
Lu Songli said nothing. She certainly knew the flaws of woodblock printing.
She had originally intended to develop woodblock printing first, so they could transition to movable type printing. However, she hadn't expected them to be so capable, and to learn from her experience and develop movable type printing directly for her!
Add chicken legs, you must give them chicken legs!
Master Zhan also stopped carving and said to Lü Songli, "Look, isn't this way of doing things better than your original woodblock printing?"
Lu Songli praised them generously, "Master Zhan, Senior Brother Wei, and Mingzhi, you're truly amazing. Not only are you able to draw inferences from one example and improve the project, making the entire printing process flexible and simple, but you're also capable of engraving. You're truly multi-talented."
Upon hearing this, Master Zhan's mouth curled up, his beard stood up, and his eyes were full of pride. It turned out that they really knew a lot.
"If you have nothing to do, please don't talk next to us and disturb us. Look, every stroke of this word is wrong."
Lu Songli suppressed his laughter, took two steps back, and said, "Okay, okay, I just admire you so much that I can't help but say so much. I really can't think of anything you can't do." So, quickly use all your eighteen martial arts to contribute to the construction of Liaodong County.
Hearing these words of praise, Mr. Zhan and Wei Wenqian couldn't help but feel happy.
The most important thing is that these words are equivalent to Lu Songli's recognition of them. She herself is a very capable person, and her recognition is very important.
"And Master Zhan, you're such a great teacher. So far, I've met Senior Brothers Zhou, Wei, and Mingzhi, all of whom are very outstanding. I wonder if the other senior brothers are equally outstanding?"
Zhan Ruoshui said with rare dignity, "They are just okay."
“I really want to see their style.”
"If you want to see them, then you can. What's the difficulty? Wait for me to send a letter and ask them to come!"
Lu Songli quickly said, "Then we in Houcheng will prepare a bed to welcome you."
Seeing that his teacher was so confused by his second sister's trick, Lu Mingzhi couldn't help but cover his eyes and said, "Teacher, you were careless and fell into the trap, do you know that?"
Wei Wenqian took this scene in, smiled and said nothing, "Junior brother, how do you know that the master is not completely sure that Liaodong County can come, and then intentionally calls other brothers to come together to eat at the rich man's house?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
