Chapter 64: Must Be Extraordinary
Xingnong welcomed Zhang Zheng into the courtyard.
Zhang Zheng put down the back basket and took out unique and exquisite oil-saving lamps one by one. Excitedly, he said, “Sister Shen, the oil-saving lamps you asked me to make are done!”
He eagerly took out the oil-saving lamps from the back basket as if presenting a treasure, wishing he could show them all at once.
Xingnong couldn’t help but say, “So many?” as she watched him take out the oil-saving lamps one by one like presenting a treasure.
“Not many, they all need to be fired anyway. Sister Shen, this thing is very good, I tried it, it can save almost half the oil. It’s just a little difficult to control during firing, and it will fail if you’re not careful, but it’s not difficult for me!”
Moreover, not all of them could save nearly half the oil. He had tried many methods and specially selected the ones that saved nearly half the oil to bring to Sister Shen.
Xingnong nodded, “Thank you, how much silver are these?”
Zhang Zheng waved his hand: “No need for silver. Sister Shen, can I make some of these oil-saving lamps and sell them at the market? This thing saves oil, it’s a good thing for ordinary people. With this oil-saving lamp in the future, every household can use oil lamps.”
Xingnong nodded indifferently: “As you wish.”
Zhang Zheng said happily: “Thank you, Sister Shen. Then I’ll go back first! I’ll come to play with you later.”
Sister Shen is such a good person! He will give her half of the silver he earns in the future.
“Wait a minute.” Xingnong went to the kitchen and brought him a basket of strawberries and a few freshly steamed corn cobs. “Picked from the mountain, take them back and eat.”
She also put a piece of paper at the bottom of the basket, on which she wrote a method for making glaze, hoping it would be useful to him.
There were no strawberries or corn in ancient times, and people didn’t know them either. Zhang Zheng had never seen them before, so he thought they were really wild fruits from the mountains. He happily took them: “Thank you, Sister Shen, I’m going back!”
He came out secretly and couldn’t stay out for too long.
After speaking, he carried a basket of wild fruits and went home happily!
~
After the young corn was steamed, Xingnong called Shen Ruoxi and Xingqing out to eat. They both exclaimed that it was delicious, fragrant, and sweet!
After the few of them finished eating, Xingnong left two corn cobs in the pot for Madam Gu, then took two corn cobs, carried a back basket, and went into the city to buy grain seeds.
These two corn cobs were for Xinghui. He was now an official student of the academy and had to live in the academy from today onwards, only returning home during breaks.
Xingnong happened to be going to the city to buy wheat seeds to try to improve them, so she brought two for him to try.
In addition to the two cooked corn cobs, there were also a few oil-saving lamps in the back basket.
On the way, Xingnong continued to collect young corn and strawberries with her mind while walking.
Xingnong always felt like she had forgotten something, but she couldn’t remember.
And on the mountain, the wild bull fell fast asleep in a shady spot after eating its fill of grass and peach leaves.
~
County City
Shen Mingzhu returned to the residence. She hurried back to her room and drew a blueprint of an oil-saving lamp, then ran to find Madam Yao.
Main Room of the Shen Residence
Nearly half of the Shen Family Winery had been sold, and their family’s reputation had also been damaged. Madam Yao had been sick in bed for the past two days due to anger and anxiety. At this moment, she was lying in bed, resting while thinking of ways to salvage some of their reputation.
Shen Mingzhu ran in: “Mother! I’ve thought of a way to greatly enhance our family’s reputation.”
Madam Yao said listlessly: “What way?”
Shen Mingzhu handed the blueprint to Madam Yao.
Madam Yao looked down: “This is, an oil lamp?”
Shen Mingzhu was a famous talented woman in Futai County, excelling in all aspects of music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. In this painting, she depicted an oil lamp in the style of “Immortal Child Offering Birthday Wishes.” The immortal child was lifelike and full of blessings.
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Shen Mingzhu shook her head and smiled mysteriously: “Wrong, this is not an ordinary oil lamp, it’s an oil-saving lamp, it can save nearly half the oil! Mother, don’t you think this is a blessing for poor scholars?”
Madam Yao’s spirits lifted upon hearing this. She sat up and said in surprise: “Save nearly half the oil?!”
That would save a lot of silver in a year?
Madam Yao had also come from poverty, she knew all too well what saving nearly half the oil meant!
This was not just a blessing for poor scholars, it was a blessing for the entire population of Chu!
“Can this really save nearly half the oil?”
Shen Mingzhu became a little unsure, but it was certain that it could save oil: “Almost, but it can definitely save oil!”
Shen Mingzhu explained a bit.
Madam Yao understood, “I’ll find someone to make it right away and see how much oil it can actually save.”
She excitedly hugged Shen Mingzhu: “My precious daughter is so smart and clever, Mother knew you would be extraordinary in the future! Didn’t you just do a great deed that benefits countless people? I’ll go find Assistant Magistrate now, he has a relative who I heard works in the Ministry of Works in the capital. Let the people from the Ministry of Works announce the blueprint to the world, benefit the people, and you’ll be famous throughout the country! Then the Emperor will definitely know about you, and your chances of being selected to enter the palace will be guaranteed!”
Shen Mingzhu smiled, but also felt a little worried: “But it’s not certain. An oil-saving lamp isn’t something amazing.”
“It will definitely work! When the late Emperor was on the throne, during one Grand Selection, a candidate was favored by the late Emperor because she invented a weaving loom and successfully entered the palace. Do you know what happened to her later?”
Shen Mingzhu shook her head, with a hint of anticipation: “What happened?”
Madam Yao whispered: “After entering the palace, she was deeply favored and rose all the way to become the Empress! The current Emperor is her son, but unfortunately, her beauty was short-lived. She didn’t live to old age and died in childbirth, otherwise, there would be no place for the current Empress Dowager!”
No one dared to mention these things after the current Empress Dowager became the Empress. She heard them from the wife of the Assistant Magistrate.
Of course, the reason why the current Empress Dowager was able to become the Empress Dowager was because she had no children at the time and proposed to the late Emperor to raise the newborn current Emperor by her side. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have become the Empress Dowager.
Shen Mingzhu’s eyes widened. She really didn’t know these things, but with her beauty, it was inevitable that she would be favored after entering the palace. An image of herself wearing a phoenix robe and ruling the world immediately appeared in her mind.
Madam Yao got out of bed, her whole body energized, and she even felt her illness had subsided: “Draw a few more blueprints, I’ll give this one to Assistant Magistrate. Draw the other blueprints with simpler designs, so that they are suitable for ordinary people. Then I’ll find someone to make the oil-saving lamps and have your elder brother give them away for free to the students of the academy. Then we’ll go to the students of other academies, and also to the poor people in the city and villages, to build up our reputation!”
The more Madam Yao thought about it, the more ideas she had, and she quickly figured out how to build up their reputation as quickly as possible.
Shen Mingzhu immediately stood up: “Okay! I’ll go draw them right away! Mother, do you think we can ask Assistant Magistrate to rescue Grandmother while we’re at it?”
“Your grandfather has already divorced her, and Assistant Magistrate has already separated our household registrations. It’s better not to stir up trouble, I’ll go to the county yamen to find Assistant Magistrate first.” Madam Yao hurried out.
Shen Mingzhu was also worried that if the credit for the oil-saving lamp was used to rescue Li Shi, it would be offset, so she thought it was better to forget it.
Poor Li Shi huddled in a corner of the prison cell, hungry and cold, feeling like she was going to die.
She waited and waited, but no one came to rescue her, and even someone to visit and bring her food never appeared!
The food in the prison was the worst, she couldn’t get used to it at all, she would vomit after eating it, and only wanted to wait for her family to bring her food.
Next time the yamen runner brought her food, she wouldn’t say she wouldn’t eat it anymore.
So hungry!（_）
