Chapter 59 Chapter 59 Harvest Pill
Lu Zhi and her companions returned with a full load, and the backpacks on their shoulders were already filled to the brim.
The widows were carrying things in both hands, Liu Fei was holding his sister Liu Yue's hand, and Lu Zhi was holding a basket in one hand and holding her youngest son Liu Ying tightly with the other.
There were so many people in the city that she was afraid they would get separated and her son would be kidnapped. She only breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the door of her home from a distance.
"Father!" Liu Ying immediately saw Liu Ji standing at the door, and suddenly shook off Lu Zhi's hand and rushed over like a fly.
When Lu Zhi's palms felt empty, her heart instinctively tightened.
She looked at Liu Ji picking up Liu Ying and the scene of the father and son happily asking and answering each other, and her eyes turned cold.
Liu Ji asked them what they bought, and he couldn't help but sigh that Lu Zhi must have made a lot of money in the past few months, otherwise she wouldn't dare to spend it so lavishly.
He put Liu Ying down and reached out to take the thing from Lu Zhi's hand.
Liu Ying was not very satisfied: "Father, please hold me."
"Okay, I'll help your mother carry the things." Liu Ji coaxed casually, and Lu Zhi handed all the things in her hand to Liu Ji without hesitation, and turned around to help Widow Cao share half of the burden.
Liu Ying pouted and said, "It's not like my mother can't lift it, why does she need my father's help?"
Lu Zhi gave him a cold look, and Liu Ying shrank his head back.
When the family came in, Lu Zhi put the things in the kitchen and Widow Cao hurried to prepare dinner.
Liu Ji had been pulled away by Liu Ying. Although Liu Yue also wanted to talk to his father, he stayed and helped Lu Zhi tidy up things after seeing his mother and aunt busy in the kitchen.
Lu Zhi couldn't help but look at her. This daughter has always been considerate and helped her share a lot of household chores.
Lü Zhi's expression softened, and she whispered, "You will be going to school tomorrow. Study hard and listen to your teacher. Ask questions if you don't understand anything."
"If someone bullies you, come back and tell your mother, and she will support you."
Liu Yue had never heard her mother speak so softly and caringly to her before. She felt a little flattered and said, "Okay, okay."
Of course, Lu Zhi saw the surprise in her eyes and sighed in her heart, thinking that she had indeed neglected her daughter.
She didn't value her as much as Liu Ying, but this was normal. After all, in this era, sons were the foundation of their existence.
When a daughter grows up, she has to get married.
Lü Zhi did not treat Liu Yue badly, and provided her with food and drink, but her treatment could not be compared with Liu Ying's. However, Lü Zhi thought of the school that was about to open, and the announcement specifically stated that both men and women would be accepted.
Thinking about the one or two words that the national teacher occasionally mentioned to her, Lu Zhi could guess that she would be a woman in the future and might also become an official in the court. This made her heart suddenly burn with excitement.
In the past, she only had Liu Ying as her hope, but now she not only has Liu Yue, but also herself.
In the past, Lu Zhi would not have such delusions, but after following Zhu Dan for a few months, her thoughts have changed dramatically.
My father said that Liu Ji would have a great future, and if she married him, she would be able to enjoy wealth and status thanks to her husband.
But now she feels that she doesn't need to rely on Liu Ji, she can do it herself.
Lu Zhi gave a sarcastic smile. Liu Ji had been unreliable in the past, so what would the situation be like in the future?
The next day, Lu Zhi and her family got up very early. Even Liu Ji did not sleep in. He dressed himself neatly and the whole family put on new clothes.
The three children all had school bags on their backs. Liu Fei nervously pulled the straps of their backpacks and asked, "Mom, am I really going too?"
Liu Fei is twelve years old this year. At this age, many families start making plans for their children. They first look for a suitable family to meet and get engaged, then prepare for one or two years, or two or three years, and then get married when they are fifteen or sixteen years old.
After all, the average life expectancy at that time was not long, especially for the common people. They had poor food, and worked hard under the wind and sun. A man of thirty looked like a man of fifty or sixty in later generations, and could be a grandmother or grandfather.
As a result, he had to sit in the school and study with his younger brothers and sisters, which made Liu Fei feel a little ashamed.
Before Widow Cao could say anything, Lü Zhi spoke up, "Don't be nervous, Fei'er. We've already agreed that we'll register you today. Your family can still afford the tuition."
Then he looked at the other two children and said, "You must not slack off. You must study hard and teach us when you come back."
Liu Ji looked calm and was not surprised at all.
Even if he and Lu Zhi did not agree on it, since the simplified Chinese characters were approved by the imperial teacher and promoted by the king, they had to master them.
These two people are more knowledgeable than the average people and know the importance of writing.
Widow Cao, on the other hand, looked surprised and nervous: "Should I, should I learn too?"
"Xue, didn't you say that your manager values you very much and intends to hand over all the kitchen work to you? Although you are not in charge of purchasing, you should have an idea of the ingredients used every day." Lu Zhi said.
Upon hearing this, Liu Fei immediately said, "I will definitely study hard and teach my mother when I get back."
Widow Cao did not refuse. Although her knowledge was not as good as Lu Zhi's, she also knew the benefits of reading and writing.
Now her son will study hard in order to teach her, and she cannot hold him back.
The family soon arrived at the school. Lu Zhi occasionally passed by this school when she followed Zhu Dan around, and she almost witnessed its construction with her own eyes.
But now, standing at the entrance of the neatly-kept and cleaned school, she was still shocked: "How neat!"
"Wow, this house is so beautiful. Are the children going to study in it next?"
It was not only their family that was shocked. Almost every parent who came with their children stopped for a while.
Lu Zhi saw many people with patches on their bodies, with their heads down, being urged and driven inside by county officials like a flock of sheep. Some of them even had whips in their hands, and would swing them on the ground from time to time.
She knew that if the officials had not forced them to do so, many people would not have sent their children in.
They didn't know the benefits of reading and writing, and they were afraid of the Qin officials like tigers. It was such a great thing to study for free, but it turned out like this. Lu Zhi was very helpless.
She heard from Zhu Dan that the officials initially sent runners to the countryside to mobilize them to sign up, but there were only a few names on the list, so they had to use force.
Liu Ji was busy with this matter some time ago.
In addition to the runners from the county government, he also selected some obedient and sensible strong laborers from the prisoners who had previously opened up wasteland. In the words of the national teacher, those people had been successfully reformed and knew how to be obedient.
Lu Zhi sighed softly. When the workshop that the national teacher planned to open started recruiting people, they would know the benefits of reading and writing.
"Let's go and sign up." Liu Ji came back after greeting everyone with a smile as bright as spring breeze on his face as he greeted everyone.
Seeing him greeting the volunteers in uniform along the way, Lu Zhi admired his ability to make friends.
Even though you don't know each other, you can still shamelessly try to make friends with them.
"The arrows along the way are so big and bright. Even if you can't read, you know where to register." Although she had never seen the scenery inside the school before, the noisy crowd broke the shock and awe in Widow Cao's heart. She sighed to Lu Zhi.
Lu Zhi nodded, but did not tell them that the rules for today's school opening were made by her under the guidance of the imperial teacher.
She praised the national teacher for his ability and for taking all aspects into consideration, whether it was the volunteers or the indicating arrows. The national teacher smiled and said that he was just repeating what others had said.
Seeing that everything was in order amidst the chaos today, and even if problems arose, volunteers or officers would quickly come forward to resolve them, Lu Zhi curled the corners of her mouth.
After registering and receiving relevant information, the three children were assigned dormitories.
After Lu Zhi and Liu Ji went to see and learned about the relevant rules of the dormitory, they felt relieved and felt at ease to leave their daughter there.
The male and female dormitories are not in the same building, and both have strict access control and are closed at designated locations. The dormitory manager counts the number of people every day, and there are also relevant personnel patrolling at night...
In fact, Zhu Dan had thought about not distinguishing between boys' and girls' schools before, but later gave up the idea.
If girls' schools are deliberately separated, it will certainly protect the girls' reputation, but this overprotection will be detrimental to their future integration into the officialdom.
In the future, they will compete with men for interests, so they must be thick-skinned.
Furthermore, separating the girls' school would seem to be a waste of resources. Perhaps some people would do something for convenience, and the girls' school would exist in name only, becoming a face-saving project for some people.
The children who are going to school now are still young, and the separation of boys and girls in Daqin is not that strict. If we don’t do it now, we may not have the chance to do it in the future.
"This dormitory is quite good. Each person has a separate cabinet. You just need to buy a lock to lock it." Lu Zhi walked around the room and said, "There are sleeping areas on both sides. You will have three days off every ten days."
The three-day period is set to facilitate those people whose homes are far away.
Because it is a large bunk bed, there is no need for each person to buy bedding. They just get a whole bed that has been prepared in advance.
Widow Cao touched it and said worriedly, "This quilt is too thin. Why not bring some from home?"
She couldn't think of whether this would make her unsociable and cause her child to be excluded.
Lü Zhi shook her head: "No need to cover yourself with a thick blanket. Look at this brick wall..."
Widow Cao looked puzzled, but Liu Ji explained, "This brick wall is a specially constructed fire wall. When the fire wall burns in winter, the house will be warm."
This is just like the collective heating in the north in winter.
Liu Ji also participated in the construction of this school, but he had gained a lot of experience and was thinking of hiring workers who were good at building firewalls after the school was completed, and then tearing down the old building and rebuilding it.
When Liu Ji mentioned this, Lü Zhi and Cao Widow were both confused: "Why do we suddenly have to build a new house?"
Their house is not too old.
"After the houses were demolished, they were all replaced with cement houses like this. They're thick and windproof, and they can even have some special designs. For example, water from the well can be piped into the house, so when you need water, you just flip a switch. It's said that Xianyang also has a kind of colored glass window that makes the house very bright. Unfortunately, this glass is too heavy and not suitable for long-distance transportation, so those merchants didn't buy it..."
Lü Zhi's mind moved: "I heard that the Imperial Master plans to build a glass workshop and sell glass windows in the future."
Liu Ji was immediately delighted: "This is good news. We don't need to rush into it. We can just finish it before this winter."
He added, "Although there is a way to build a kang without moving the house, our family is not particularly poor now. This cement house has many advantages, so we might as well build it now." The sooner it is built, the sooner it can be enjoyed.
The family was discussing building a cement house and were all looking forward to it.
Lu Zhi asked Liu Ji to inquire about the cost of the cement house, but she didn't know that he had already found out. When the price was mentioned, Lu Zhi and Widow Cao became excited.
If you calculate carefully, it is only slightly more expensive than the mud-brick house they originally built.
They were only in the planning stage, but they didn't know that many wealthy families in Pei County had already come to them.
Whether it was Zhu Dan building a workshop or those officials building a school, everyone saw it, and that was the best example.
At that time, cement houses were rare, unlike wooden houses in later generations. Instead, they scrambled to build a two-story cement house. The officials were not surprised at all and responded to every request.
The orders can be scheduled for two months later. If you go a little later, people will not accept them for the time being. This is also a way to make money.
After all, education requires high investment in any era. Although the national finances can still support it, it may be possible to reduce the pressure on the government a little.
Zhu Dan only drew some house styles when they came to her door and then put the matter aside. She was now concerned about another matter.
Some plants planted in early spring are growing very well. Some have a short growth cycle and are not far from harvest. So should we put the harvest pill on the agenda?
The Harvest Pill is an elixir refined with Xiao He's luck. Zhu Dan analyzed Xiao He's life and felt that he was indeed a capable man with the talent to be a prime minister.
Liu Bang fought many battles outside and suffered many defeats, but he was able to get up again and again, all thanks to Xiao He who helped him monitor the logistics.
Its ability to stabilize the rear and accumulate capital is unique.
Then his elixir can be used to ensure a good harvest.
Zhu Dan asked Tangyuan to collect Xiao He's luck, and after some analysis and design, he finally hung the Harvest Pill in the starry sky. Now it was just a matter of finding all the materials and asking Xiao He to cooperate in refining it.
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