Chapter 105 Papermaking
The village chief’s eldest grandson is studying in the school in town, how could he not know?
Every month, he spent hundreds of coins on pens, ink, paper, and inkstones alone. If his son didn't have a job as an accountant in the county town, even he, the village chief, wouldn't be able to afford such expenses. "Ordinary straw paper costs twenty coins a piece, and if you want writing paper, it's ten coins more. The town school requires hemp paper, which costs fifty-eight coins a piece."
Gu Jiayue nodded repeatedly. The village chief was right.
It seems that there was no bamboo paper in this era. Straw paper was commonly used, and scholars used hemp paper.
In the early days of papermaking, hemp paper was primarily made from rotten fishing nets and rags. Because it was readily available, easy to make, and inexpensive, it was widely used as a writing material.
The government would reprocess the hemp paper by adding the juice of crushed and boiled cork to the paper, which would be infused into the paper to extend its life and prevent it from being eaten by insects. This paper was often used for copying Buddhist scriptures and producing official documents.
“What if the village could make its own paper?”
What?
The village chief stood up excitedly and walked around the yard with his hands behind his back.
If the village could make its own paper, it would not only be used to feed the children in the village, but the surplus could also be sold. In this way, the villagers would not be so tight on money.
"Is what the girl from the Gu family said true?"
It's no wonder Zhou Huangping was skeptical. Although papermaking wasn't controlled by the government like salt and iron, and one needed government authorization to engage in the industry, the production method was in the hands of the aristocratic families, making it inaccessible to ordinary people like them.
"Girl, are you really willing to show me your papermaking skills?"
Gu Jiayue smiled faintly and nodded.
The village chief turned around even faster.
Even this couldn't calm him down, so he walked under the eaves, picked up his pipe, and started walking around while smoking.
The village is too poor.
Taohua Village is too far from the county town. Even a bullock cart takes two hours to get there, let alone walking. Not to mention going to other places, which is even farther away. Therefore, most people in the village rarely go out.
There is no other source of income in the village except farming.
Except for a few families who have some skills, most families live a tight life.
There were even a few families where the whole family couldn't even get two sets of clothes together. Normally, they didn't go out much, so when they really had to go out, whoever was going out would wear clothes, while those who stayed at home would just lie around naked.
Alas, he, the village chief, is also worried.
"This... girl, have you thought about it carefully? Are you really willing to give this kind of family heirloom to the village? But the village can't give you an equivalent return." The village chief was really tormented at this time.
He hated himself immensely at this moment. Why was he such a village chief with a clear conscience? Not only did he not have the urge to rob, but he actually felt guilty for not being able to give Gu Jiayue the appropriate compensation?
Really...
"Don't worry, village chief, I've thought this through carefully."
Gu Jiayue thought very clearly that her main purpose in this world was not to make money, but to survive.
But now the life value she has obtained is enough for her to live for six or seven years. Now that life has no sense of urgency, what she wants to do is to realize the value of life and do the things she wanted to do but couldn't do in her previous life.
"Okay, okay, well...what should we do next? Grow raw materials? Or do we need something else?" The village chief was already a little incoherent.
He is just a small village chief, and his annual job is to manage household registration and collect taxes.
Who would have thought that this year we would not only help buy land, build a school, but now we would also make paper.
Zizizizi, this was something I couldn't even imagine before.
Gu Jiayue looked at the village chief and felt a bit amused. "Uncle village chief, please don't get too excited." She was really afraid that the village chief would get too excited and cause harm.
Where will she find such an open-minded village chief to cooperate with her in her business?
"Come on, village chief, take a deep breath with me. Oh, yes, that's it. Exhale... inhale..."
When Gu Jiayue reminded him, the village chief felt his breathing become a little rapid.
He quickly imitated Gu Jiayue and took a deep breath, then drank some water and felt better.
Seeing that the village chief had calmed down, Gu Jiayue continued. "We don't need to grow raw materials. Does the village chief know where there's a large bamboo forest on Dawai Mountain?"
The village chief nodded. "I know. It's not just there, it's in almost all the surrounding mountains. But it's true that the bamboo forest there is the largest. The bamboo is the best."
Although the village chief didn't know what Gu Jiayue was doing with the bamboo, he still told her what he knew.
Gu Jiayue pointed at the paper on the table. "My recipe uses bamboo to make paper."
"What?" The village chief stood up and shouted excitedly again.
Duan, who was peeling peanuts in the kitchen, was so frightened that she ran out immediately. "What happened?"
The village chief quickly waved his hand and asked Duan to come into the house.
"Using bamboo? I've never heard of it. Jiayue, are you sure it can be done?"
Gu Jiayue directly unfolded the papers on the table, which were filled with steps densely written on them.
The village chief looked at each one carefully, as if he had found a treasure. "It can be done! It will definitely be done! Hahahaha..."
The steps are detailed and the tools are clearly drawn. The village chief couldn't imagine that if paper couldn't be made in this way, then what kind of mystery was paper?
The village chief's undisguised laughter scared the birds around his house away.
Duan came out again in a hurry, holding a pig food ladle that was steaming hot. "Boss, what's wrong with you? Are you feeling unwell? Jiayue is here, can you ask Huzi to drive the carriage to take you to the county town?"
Duan was really worried. What if the head of the family went crazy? The whole family depended on him.
"It's okay, it's okay. Haha, we're going to get rich." The village chief pushed Duan to Gu Jiayue. "Girl, give me a rule. What should we do?"
Alas, it seems that the village chief can’t calm down no matter what.
"Uncle Village Chief, the papermaking technique is here, but you have to think carefully. The process is very complicated and laborious. It's not something that one or two people can do. It may require the efforts of the entire village."
The village chief listened carefully. He thought Gu Jiayue was going to tell him some conditions, but it turned out that she was just giving him these instructions.
He smiled indifferently. His left hand slapped his right arm vigorously. "Girl, you don't know, the thing we farmers have the most is strength."
Gu Jiayue nodded in agreement. "Okay, since the village chief agrees, let's talk about the profit sharing."
The village chief naturally agreed. This was originally someone else's property, and it was already great that they were willing to share it with the whole village. What else could they ask for? "You say it, I'll do whatever you say."
Gu Jiayue smiled. "I'll provide the technology and one hundred taels of silver for start-up capital, and the village will provide the land and manpower. So, the Gu family will take 30% of the profits. The academy will use 30% for daily expenses. The remaining 40% will go to the village for infrastructure development. Does the village chief think this distribution is problematic?"
The village chief was startled. He looked at the young girl in front of him in amazement. He thought Gu Jiayue had brought this up in hopes of getting the lion's share. After all, this was a lucrative business.
The raw materials are right on the mountain, so there is no need to spend any extra effort, just the labor.
Even so, he was willing to give 4% of the interest to the villagers?
From the surface, she alone accounts for more than half.
But 30% of that goes to schools. Who are the students there? The children of the village. And then there's the food, supplies, and housing the schools provide. Isn't that money? Isn't that money benefiting the children? So, ultimately, the villagers are the ones who benefit.
This... is simply a living Bodhisattva who saves all living beings.
"No problem, but you'll be at a disadvantage. After all, our village can't make any money without your secret recipe."
Gu Jiayue said with a smile: "It's okay, I sincerely hope that our Taohua Village will be well."
"Okay, I feel relieved with what Gu's girl said. I will remember her kindness in my heart."
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