The young man was happy to hear this and said, "Okay, then we'll assemble the cart for you, and we'll install the roof when we get to the village. I'll take the receipt back."
In less than half a quarter of an hour, a cart was loaded behind the horse. Because it was customized for cows and donkeys, it was a bit too short for the horse.
She drove the carriage to the iron shop and loaded the two baskets onto a cart. The people from the carpentry workshop followed behind her carriage, and they also pulled the rest of the carts and went back to Changzhen Village with her.
Tong Wen Yao rode her horse towards the city gate. When she arrived at the gate, she thought she would be checked to see why she bought so much iron, but unexpectedly the guard just glanced at her and let her go.
What Tong Wen Yao didn't expect was that when the guard went to the county magistrate's mansion, he happened to see her coming out of the county magistrate's study. She was someone the county magistrate knew, and if he picked a fight with her, he would probably die without knowing how.
On the way, she happened to see her second brother riding a donkey towards her. Tong Bo breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her. Uncle Du went into the mountains to look for him last night and said that the young master had not returned. The city gate was closed at that time and he could not enter the city. After dawn, he came out of the mountains and rode a donkey into the city, intending to find her. Now he happened to meet her here.
"Second brother, I'll talk to you when we get back!" Tong Bo glanced at the young man pulling the goods behind him, nodded, and followed Tong Wen Yao back slowly.
After returning to Changzhen Village, Tong Wenyao dismounted and called out at the workshop door, "Uncle Du, the cart is here. Please have someone take it and install it."
A voice came from inside, "Okay." After a while, Uncle Du brought A Qiu out, and after exchanging greetings with the young man, he took the young man and the cart to install it. By the way, he also dismantled Tong Wen Yao's cart and installed it on the donkey. Fortunately, the stable was big enough, and after the installation was tested, the cart could be unloaded, so it would not take up too much space.
Inside, Tong Bo and Tong Wen Yao were sitting at the table. Tong Bo asked, "What happened?" Tong Wen Yao poured herself a glass of water and gulped it down before saying, "Second brother, the county magistrate's wife had a difficult labor last night, and I was trying to save her, so that delayed us quite a bit."
Tong Bo's face looked unhappy. He glared at her and said, "If you have any problems in the future, just ask someone to tell us, otherwise we will be worried about you." Tong Wen Yao scratched her head and said, "I didn't think it through." Tong Bo looked at her like this and felt helpless, so he didn't say anything else.
Tong Wenyao continued, "Building a house at home needs to be put on the agenda. Today we're going into the mountains to get the cement. The cart is ready, and we can bring the bricks and lime back when the time comes."
Tong Bo frowned and asked, "Why are you in such a hurry?" Tong Wen Yao said with a guilty conscience, "I met with the county magistrate yesterday and discussed with him about being the spokesperson!" Tong Bo disapproved after hearing this, "Wen Yao, you're taking this step a bit too hastily."
Tong Wenyao asked, "Then do you know who this county magistrate is?" Tong Bo said without even looking up, "Ji Shikang, Lord Ji?" Tong Wenyao nodded, "Second brother, do you know that Lord Ji was exiled to the frontier because of the quarrel between Lord Ji and the Regent in the court? You know, Lord Ji is a royalist. Although we don't know what was said in the court, why was he exiled to Yuguan County, and why were we exiled to Yuguan County?"
Tong Bo was thinking on the side. Tong Wen Yao continued, "When we talked in the study this morning, he gave me two thousand silver notes and asked me if I was willing to take the position of the city gate lieutenant." After hearing this, he was shocked and said in disbelief, "Sister, do you think it is possible that this was instructed by the people above? The people in the court are divided into three factions, one is the regent, one is the royalist, and one is the neutral faction. Ever since my uncle died in the battle, they have been accused of being greedy and reckless. It's really ridiculous. However, now the regent faction should be the only one in power, and the other two factions have become weak.
Tong Wenyao asked, "Second brother, who do you think will be the best to take that position in the future?" Tong Bo shook his head. "We know too little, so we are in a passive position. The Regent is in his prime now, and there is no guarantee that he does not have the intention to take the throne. The emperor has too few children. Although the crown prince is both talented and virtuous, and extremely intelligent, he is also weak and sickly. The second prince is a playboy and likes to be a playboy. The third prince is still young, but you can vaguely see that he has a domineering temperament."
Tong Wen Yao knew that several of the emperor's children were murdered by the regent. The crown prince died on the frontier, the second prince died in a brothel, and the third prince died in the imperial flower pond.
Tong Wenyao said, "Second brother, let the eldest brother be the captain of the city gate. That way we can get the news from the court faster." Tong Bo nodded. I was thinking the same thing. Tong Wenyao had never been asked for his consent. Even if he disagreed, Tong Wenyao would have pushed him down to make him agree.
Tong Wen Yao continued, "After dinner today, we will go into the mountains to develop cement. Lime and cement are similar, but cement may be more difficult to make. We will need cement when the time comes to build houses." As for iron, she didn't want to think about it for the time being, but there were a lot of bamboos here, so she could use bamboo mixed with cement to build the roof, which could also replace steel bars.
After the conversation, Tong Wen Yao gave Aunt Shu an acupuncture treatment. Now Aunt Shu's condition has improved a lot and she can even go out to the yard to bask in the sun. She was supposed to give her an acupuncture treatment yesterday, but she was in the county at that time, so she gave her the treatment this time after she came back.
After lunch, Tong Bo and Tong Wen Yao rode donkeys into the mountains. The cart was carrying gypsum. The servant delivered it in time after receiving her instructions. She remembered that cement was made of gypsum and limestone mixed with clay in a certain proportion. As for how she knew it, it was during the zombie era. They hid in a cement factory and saw the materials for making it, so she knew it. If Tong Wen Yao had asked the people in the cement factory how to mix the materials at that time, she wouldn't have to figure out the proportions herself now.
After entering, she asked someone to mix and grind the ingredients together. Clay was plentiful in the mountains, and since limestone was large, she had grinding tools, which made things much easier. By dusk, they had finally ground the mixture into powder. Tong Wenyao looked at the resulting fine sand, which was similar to what she had seen at the factory, except for the color. She guessed it might be the color of the limestone! Then, the ground material was placed in the kiln for calcination.
Tong Wen Yao didn't make much. Firstly, she couldn't figure out the ratio. Secondly, it would be a waste if she made too much and failed. She failed for three consecutive days. The flame temperature of the calcination was not high enough, making it difficult to burn the powder. Or the temperature was too high, and the kiln turned red.
Even her originally beautiful hair had a hint of dryness and curls because she stayed in the brothel all day.
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