It was Li Mai who first proposed that the ancestral hall pay for the tuition at the school.
When the clan elders heard that the teacher's tuition was to be paid, they were initially against it, saying that it was disrespectful for the Zhou clan ancestors for a woman like Xiaomai to make such a suggestion.
However, because Li Mai was the first person in the Zhou family to donate five hundred taels of incense money in recent years, and seeing how stubborn they were, Li Mai wanted to take back the money he had donated. The clan elders got anxious and refused to give it back no matter what.
Zhou Quan and Zhou Shizhou took the opportunity to suggest that this matter could be decided by their ancestors, asking whether they were willing to use their incense money to raise the Zhou family's descendants.
The clan elders, not understanding, asked, "How do we ask our ancestors?"
Zhou Quan said that you should light three sticks of incense in front of the ancestral tablets and ask this question three times. If the ancestors are willing, the incense will not go out; if the ancestors are not willing, the incense will go out and that's it.
At that time, all three incense sticks burned out successfully, and the clan elders knew that this was the will of their ancestors, so they had no choice but to agree.
Later, as the amount of incense money collected increased, the clan elders were also happy. It was only three taels a month, which was a drop in the ocean compared to the silver in their accounts. Therefore, they were all pleased and went to give Zhou Wencong his donation on time every month.
Zhou Quan and Li Mai later heard Zhou Shizhou talk about this and laughed for a while. These clan elders are quite adorable.
In any case, these days, the daily routine of the elders who look after the Zhou family ancestral hall is simply to happily drink tea, count money, play chess, count money, offer incense to the ancestors, and count money.
After listening, Zhou Shizhou's eyes lit up. "Xiaoquan, that's a great idea! Who wouldn't want to erect a monument to their merits? Who wouldn't want to be praised by future generations?"
Zhou Quan nodded with a smile, "Yes, who wouldn't want to accumulate merit and be remembered for generations?"
"Don't worry, I'll arrange these things. I'll take people to find the scholar. You can go ahead and do what you're busy with. You've already paid for it, so I can't let you put in any more effort. I'll take care of the rest. Don't worry, I'll make sure the accounts are clear and transparent for you." Zhou Shizhou patted his chest and assured him.
Zhou Quan smiled and said, "Okay, I'm busy at the dye shop too. I also have to accompany my wife to try out the colors. She's pregnant, and I don't feel comfortable letting her go alone."
"Good lad, I never knew you were so good at taking care of your wife." Zhou Shizhou laughed and patted his shoulder. "But your wife is worth it. She's a capable and kind-hearted girl. Your sister-in-law raves about her to me all the time!"
Zhou Quan was very happy to hear someone praising his wife. He said he knew and thanked his sister-in-law for praising his wife.
The two laughed and then parted ways to go about their own business.
Zhou Shizhou went to the ancestral hall to talk to the elders about this matter, while Zhou Quan hurriedly returned home.
Wheat won't go to the dye shop this afternoon; he'll stay home to meet the embroiderers who do their embroidery work, and he'll have to help them finish up.
After Li Mai finished her work, Zhou Quan brought her tea and told her about Zhou Shizhou's visit to him.
Li Mai chuckled after hearing this, "You're quite clever; it's amazing that you came up with the pretense of a merit monument."
"Do you remember that monument to merit at our old base? I just suddenly remembered it, that's why I brought it up." Zhou Quan smiled as he washed his hands, then sat down at the table to peel grapes for Li Mai and chat with her.
“Yes, that’s good. The person receiving the money is happy, and the person paying the money feels more at ease.” Li Mai nodded.
“Our names will be engraved on it too.” Zhou Quan looked at her and said gently, “I told Brother Shizhou to have our names engraved together, next to each other.”
Li Mai chuckled, "Just remembering you is enough, why would I carve it on my face?"
“No, the money we contributed back then was the money you earned. Add to that the donations we made to the villagers several times, plus the two hundred taels I gave you today, we have more than a thousand taels. Besides, next time we move to the village for the first anniversary, won’t we have to pay for incense again? Both of our names can be written on the bill.” Zhou Quan sat up straight and said seriously.
He suddenly became obsessed with this matter, "Wheat, don't you want to be engraved on it?"
His wheat had also done a great deed, and he didn't want her to be forgotten. If people talked about Li Mai in the future, they would only mention Zhou Li Shi, how terrible that would be!
Li Mai shook her head. "Whatever, I have no objection. But I think the elders will definitely shout again, 'How can a woman's name be engraved on it? I'm just a wife that Zhou married, and I'm using your surname.'"
“If they dare say a word, I’ll replace them with a new batch of elders. There are always some who aren’t stubborn old fogies,” Zhou Quan said, his eyes turning cold.
"Calm down, there's no need to get angry about this. I don't care. I don't care about that little bit of merit. Look at my soul now, do I need that little bit of merit?" Li Mai's state of mind was calm and peaceful.
“On the contrary, you seem to be a bit darker in color,” Li Mai said with a light laugh.
"Yes, after we agreed to turn the school into an academy, and after Brother Wencong wrote the words 'Wende Academy,' I saw their souls turn pale gold, and I myself felt warm all over. This must be the result of accumulating merit!"
“Yes, don’t worry, we have a long life ahead of us. I’ll stay with you, and we’ll do more good deeds and accumulate more merit together!” Li Mai reached out and rubbed his head, saying with a smile.
“Actually, your soul is golden now, which means you have no more karmic debts. You’ve probably paid off all the debts from your past life. Don’t put any more pressure on yourself!” Li Mai fed him a grape and said softly.
“Okay,” Zhou Quan swallowed the grape, looked back to see that no one was at the door, leaned over and kissed his wife, and said happily.
In the following days, they tried dyeing blue and green respectively. They were already very skilled at dyeing, so when they dyed large fabrics later, they no longer used small basins, but instead used the row of large dye vats.
This was something he had done before; the dye vat was located under a hearth, and when heating was needed, charcoal could be added directly to the hearth.
Once the temperature is sufficient, push the fire-blocking iron plate in, and the temperature will gradually decrease or be controlled, which is very convenient.
After using up the dye in the large vat this time, they simply covered it up, intending to use it again a few days later when dyeing.
She had asked Zhang Ang before, and he said that if the dyeing soup is stored properly, it can last for several months without spoiling and can be reused.
On the last day, Li Mai and her family played with some dyeing patterns, mixing two or three colors to dye small pieces of fabric, and produced some unexpected colors.
In the afternoon, we tried some new tricks, folding, bundling, and dyeing the cotton fabric with wax patterns, and surprisingly, we produced some white and colorful floral fabrics.
Li Mai's skill surprised Zhao Shi and Old Man Zhou, who exclaimed that Li Mai was clever.
Li Mai smiled and simply said that she was just giving it a try.
Of course, she also carefully chose the placement of the wax patterns so that when the clothes were being cut, the flowers would be perfectly placed on the sleeves and hem, which would look very nice.
When Zhuzhu saw it, she was tempted again and told Limai that she wanted to make a floral dress, which made the whole family laugh.
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