Chapter 438: Calligraphy
Jiang Wanru and Tang Qingluan had never gotten along, but she didn't say anything at this moment, her eyes full of approval.
Cao Jing said calmly, "Tang Qingluan, you're wrong. If Aunt Xu hadn't scared us out of our wits first, how could we have obeyed?"
On the way out from the capital, Aunt Xu treated the noble ladies harshly in order to soften their arrogant tempers. Some of them were even physically punished and scolded, and suffered extreme humiliation.
Cao Jing clearly remembered that because she was not talkative, Aunt Xu forced her to sing little songs.
They used to be of noble status. If they had not become criminals, they would never have obeyed the orders of a nanny.
Now that she and others have gained the limelight, she is no longer a timid sinner and cannot help but make a few sarcastic remarks.
Aunt Xu was not too angry. She thought that these self-righteous women would learn their lesson after getting hurt.
What puzzled her was: Madam Wu Ya obviously didn't like these maids, but why did she treat them so well? Shouldn't she send them away and reward them immediately?
Whether in the palace or other wealthy families, any maid with ambition would be driven away immediately.
But how could Tang Qingluan, Cao Jing, Jiang Wanru and others be treated with such courtesy?
She looked at Tang Qingluan and the others who were so excited that they almost lost themselves in joy, and wisely kept her mouth shut.
Nanny Xu never expected that Madam Wuya would use such a trick. According to the customs of the Di people, it was just a matter of sending people into the tent and hoping that they could give birth to children.
It was Song Liyun who thought of making the best use of talents.
Wan Youyou was arranged by Song Liyun to live with Yuquan and also to teach her the Di language.
In addition, they found a craftsman who was good at carpentry and worked with Wan Youyou to make a wooden machine that could control two plumb bobs.
Several noble ladies have been arranged and each has something to do.
In the white tent, Song Liyun was also scratching her ears and cheeks.
Zhao Tingduo returned from hunting, changed his clothes, and sat down beside her. He put his arm around Song Liyun's waist, looked at the spread-out papers, and said with a smile, "I heard from my mother that you've been staying in the tent all day. What are you thinking about?"
Song Liyun showed him the blueprint she had drawn: "Do you still remember our waterwheel in Suijin Town?"
Zhao Tingduo certainly remembered the waterwheel that could pound wooden pulp day and night. He was the one who personally went into the water to help install it that day.
His eyes lit up: "You want to install a water truck in the tribe?"
There was indeed a river in the Kala Valley, but the water flow was too slow to drive the waterwheel.
But now it has frozen into thick ice early on, and even getting water requires digging a hole.
Song Liyun smiled and shook her head: "The river here is flat, how can it possibly turn the waterwheel?"
"What is that for?" Zhao Tingduo rested his chin on Song Liyun's shoulder and looked at the blueprint beside her ear. He only saw a few long wooden boards and a circular rotating wheel.
"I want to be a big windmill!" Song Liyun turned around and kissed Zhao Tingduo on the cheek.
"I've mentioned before that there was a country that installed giant wind turbines everywhere. The wind spun the blades, which in turn turned the rotating disk below. This could grind flour, produce rice, and make wheat... In short, with the ingenuity of the craftsman, the power of that rotation could be harnessed for anything you needed."
Zhao Tingduo became interested and quickly took a few pieces of paper and carefully examined the various components on them. As he looked, he asked, "What's this? ...The fan blade! Oh! ...This is the axle. I know, it's the same as the axle of a large wheel."
"Ayun, the windmill we installed on Kala Mountain will be the first windmill on the Dilu Grassland!"
Song Liyun nodded and smiled: "It's just that the workmanship is complicated. I still have to ask the craftsman to find out!"
The Wuda tribe had carpenters who could only make carts and simple furniture.
This time, there are craftsmen sent by Duke Anguo. Although they are best at making cabinets and exquisite jewelry boxes, they can also build large items such as houses.
Thinking about the spinning wheel with Wan Youyou, it can be seen that he has a good brain.
"That's easy. Go wait over to Auntie's place. I'll have Lang Mu and Master Zheng look at the blueprints."
Zhao Tingduo didn't feel tired at all. He put on his clothes and shoes immediately, turned around and went to find the tribe's carpenter and several craftsmen who were sent there.
When Song Liyun arrived at Madam Wuya's tent, Madam Qi was also there, talking to Madam in a lively manner.
Seeing Song Liyun come in, Madam Wuya smiled and said, "Ayun, come here quickly. Aunt Qi was just talking about the double thread hammer. I tried using it on the winding machine today and it can twist three threads."
Song Liyun smiled brightly as she sat by the fire pit. "Oh! Miss Wan and the others are quite quick! They just said yesterday that only two were allowed."
The beggar woman said, "It's troublesome. One person has to crank the loom while the other wrings the wool. It's not much faster than before!"
Reform cannot be achieved overnight. We have to go from being unfamiliar and clumsy to being proficient and mastery.
Song Liyun said, "As long as we don't have to crank the machine manually, we can just twist six threads!"
Beggar Mama laughed and said, "Young Madam, you are joking. If you don't shake the machine, how can the thread hammer turn? Otherwise, you need to throw the hammer down."
At this moment, Yuquan came in. She also heard Song Liyun say that she could twist six threads, and was surprised and said, "Young Madam, is this true? It's good enough to be able to twist one more thread. If two people can twist six threads, they will have to grow a few more hands."
The beggar woman laughed: "What silly children! That would turn you into a spider."
Zhao Tingduo, who had gone to find the carpenter, quickly came back with news that perfectly solved the problem.
Large windmills can be built, but they require a lot of wood.
It happened that in the spring, the tribe cut down trees from the mountains and piled them up in order to settle in the Kara Valley. Then the young people in the tribe stopped going out hunting and all worked in the open space.
The tribe also became lively. The children played and fought with the adults carrying trees, and chased the dogs around the yurts.
The sounds of laughter and noise spread into the yurt where Aunt Xu and others lived.
Tang Qingluan dropped his pen, rubbed his aching wrist, and muttered, "This damn place is poor, dirty, and noisy.
There's not even a good pen, and the paper is too rough, worse than what servants use!" He stood up and looked outside.
Across from her, Jiang Wanru also put down her pen, looked at her own handwriting, then at Tang Qingluan's, and sneered, "Did the Grand Secretary teach you that too? I heard that the Rongguo Mansion, just to make it look good, advertised that they had hired a Grand Secretary as their tutor. Now it seems like it was a complete waste of money!"
"You're talking nonsense! Jiang Wanru, who is like you? You say every day that you can write poetry, and you write poems and paint with a bunch of poor people, showing off your shamelessness!"
Tang Qingluan knew that he had not studied seriously before. Not only was his handwriting ugly, he couldn't even recite the Book of Songs from memory. Now he could only write three-character essays, and Jiang Wanru had laughed at him so much that he was shameless.
Jiang Wanru wasn't embarrassed or annoyed, but instead said complacently, "You're envious. Those are all students who went to Beijing to take the imperial examinations. Three years ago, the top three students wrote a poem with me, and the runner-up even came to propose marriage..."
Having said this, she suddenly stopped talking, looked at the ink-stained paper in front of her, and suddenly felt as if all her strength was drained away, and she collapsed to the ground.
Those days are gone!
Seeing Jiang Wanru suddenly stop talking, Tang Qingluan felt guilty about being exposed, and couldn't help but curse inwardly: "Bitch!"
The noise outside was getting closer and closer, and she finally couldn't stay there any longer, so she ran to the door and lifted the curtain to go out.
(End of this chapter)
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