Chapter 188: Arrival in the Capital
The sun was about to set.
Xingnong didn’t stay on the mountain for long, and soon went down the mountain to the workshop.
The workshop was already filled with baskets of soybeans, wheat, and other things.
The large vats and jars had also been delivered. The villagers were cleaning them.
Madam Gu, Shen Ruoxi, and Xingqing also came to help.
For nearly a month, only Madam Gu and Shen Ruoxi had been at home. There was so much to take care of at home, and Madam Gu didn’t dare leave Shen Ruoxi alone, so she took her with her to the fields.
The villagers of Peach Blossom Village wouldn’t laugh at Shen Ruoxi. Everyone knew she couldn’t stand stimulation, so they just greeted her gently and talked to Madam Gu, not forcing her to say more. Gradually, Shen Ruoxi became less afraid to go out.
Now she could even work with so many people.
As soon as Xingnong entered the workshop, she saw Zhao Yong carrying a load of water. She asked Shen Ruoxi which vat to pour it into, and Shen Ruoxi calmly pointed it out.
Although she kept her head down and didn’t dare look at anyone, this was already a big improvement.
However, she still had to find the medicinal herbs to detoxify the snake venom as soon as possible.
The Village Chief’s Wife saw that Xingnong had finally appeared and said hurriedly, “Xingnong, are all the things ready? Quickly tell us what to do now and what to do tomorrow!”
Now all the tools and raw materials were ready, just waiting for Xingnong’s guidance on how to brew soy sauce.
Xingnong said to the Village Chief’s Wife, “Soak the soybeans overnight tonight, and we can steam them tomorrow morning.”
“Okay! Did everyone hear that? Get to work, get to work! Soak the soybeans!”
Everyone quickly got busy, carrying water and pouring soybeans into wooden barrels.
Well water was fine for soaking the soybeans. When it came to steaming the soybeans and soaking the sauce embryos, Xingnong planned to try spring water, stream water, and well water separately to see which one produced the best soy sauce.
~
Xingnong woke up early the next day and went to the workshop to teach everyone how to steam the soybeans.
The soybeans, which had been soaked overnight, had fully absorbed the water and become plump.
Xingnong motioned for everyone to scoop the soybeans into clean baskets, drain the water, then pour them into wooden steaming barrels and steam them in large iron pots.
It would take about two or three hours to steam them until the soybeans were cooked through and could be crushed with a pinch.
Soon, a row of twenty stoves were all lit.
Xingnong went to check on the firewood. There was a whole room full of firewood, enough for this steaming, but everything they did afterwards would require firewood, so they needed to stock up on more.
Now the villagers in their own village had no time to go up the mountain to chop firewood, so they could only find people from other villages.
She found Village Chief Gu, “Village Chief, we need to arrange for someone to buy some firewood and have them deliver a batch of dry firewood at regular intervals.”
Upon hearing this, the Village Chief said, “I know. Now the people in our village don’t have time to go up the mountain to chop firewood. I was thinking of asking people from other villages to help with the firewood. It’s very simple. As long as we spread the word, there are plenty of villagers from the surrounding ten miles and eight villages who would be happy to deliver firewood here to earn some small change. Besides, we can also go to some lumber mills and collect some discarded wood.”
In fact, now the people in the neighboring village knew that their village had opened two large workshops and came to him one after another, expressing their desire to work in the workshops.
Xingnong thought that if they bought firewood, it would probably lead to many people going up the mountain to cut down trees. It would be fine for a short period, but not for a long time.
Although the firewood chopped by a small workshop wouldn’t be enough to damage the ecosystem, protecting trees and the environment had to start with them, from the very beginning.
When spring came, she would get some saplings and directly hire people to plant trees. They would plant as many as they cut down.
Xingnong expressed her thoughts.
Songbai and Village Chief Gu were surprised, “No need for that, right? There are so many trees on the mountain, we can’t cut them all down.”
Xingnong, “We need to be prepared. Our workshop can certainly get enough firewood from the mountain, but when there are a hundred, a thousand, or even ten thousand workshops in the future, it won’t be enough.”
The Village Chief wanted to say, where would so many people come from who could afford to open workshops!
Xingnong knew that the modern world was beyond the imagination of the people of this dynasty.
She had to explain the dangers of deforestation again. The Village Chief was shocked to hear that in serious cases, it could even cause landslides and soil erosion.
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“If you only cut down trees and don’t plant them, even the largest mountain will be cut down one day, won’t it?”
The Village Chief thought of how sometimes, when opening mountains to build roads, the excavated hillsides often experienced landslides during heavy rains. This could be a very serious matter if someone happened to be passing by. He immediately said, “Plant! We must plant!”
~
The following days were very busy for Xingnong. The brewing of soy sauce wasn’t a one-day affair. After steaming, it had to be cooled, mixed with koji, coated with flour, fermented, mixed with salt water, sun-dried, repeatedly turned, and so on.
There were batches of soy sauce that needed to be sun-dried for three months, six months, and a year. Xingnong planned to first make a few batches to be sun-dried for three months, and then make some that needed to be sun-dried for six months and a year.
After sun-drying, the sauce embryos had to be soaked, which also required repeated pouring of the sauce over the embryos, and finally filtering, boiling, and bottling.
After the soy sauce was arranged, it was the turn of chili sauce, broad bean paste, and soybean paste.
There was also the snack workshop. The fresh fruits that had been purchased had to be made into various fruit-flavored candies while they were still fresh, so they could earn a wave of candy money before the New Year. Due to the lack of manpower and raw materials, Xingnong planned to make candies first, and then gradually increase the variety of other snacks later.
Under Xingnong’s arrangement, the villagers of Peach Blossom Village were busy in an orderly manner. Everyone was so busy every day that their feet didn’t touch the ground, and they were so tired that they fell asleep as soon as they got home.
But no one complained of being tired. Instead, they felt very satisfied and their lives felt very secure.
No matter how tired they were, it was only physical tiredness. Their hearts were happy, so after waking up and resting enough, they were full of energy and enthusiasm for the next day!
~
While Xingnong was busy in the workshop every day,
the witnesses invited by Chu Tianyu to seek justice for Shen Mingzhu arrived in the capital.
There were several witnesses: the manager of the Futai County Official Kiln Workshop, two students from White Deer Academy, Zhang Wenzhong and Shen Zhiyuan, the Village Chief of Plum Blossom Village, and the Assistant Magistrate of Futai County’s manager.
In the Golden Throne Hall, these people knelt on the ground, trembling as they finished recounting what they knew about the incident.
After they finished their testimony, the Second Prince presented a petition signed by “ten thousand people” and another signed by a hundred students, “Father Emperor, this is a petition with the signatures and fingerprints of the villagers from Peach Blossom Village and several nearby villages. So many people are testifying for Shen Mingzhu. This is enough to prove that it was definitely Shen Xingnong who stole the credit for the oil-saving lamp!”
Eunuch Lao immediately took the two petitions and presented them to the Emperor.
The Emperor opened them and glanced at them, then looked at Chu Tiankuo with a serious expression, “What does the Crown Prince have to say?”
“Father Emperor, please allow your son to question these people.”
The Emperor nodded.
Chu Tiankuo addressed the people kneeling on the ground, “Regarding the matter of Shen Xingnong stealing credit for the oil-saving lamp, the Embroidered Uniform Guard has already sent people to investigate. Now, I want you to answer my questions truthfully. Otherwise, you will be deceiving the Emperor!”
After saying this, Chu Tiankuo glanced at Shen Mingzhu indifferently.
Shen Mingzhu, with her head lowered, noticed Chu Tiankuo looking at her from the corner of her eye. Her heart tightened.
But so many people were testifying for her, and even if they really found out that Shen Xingnong had someone make the oil-saving lamp first, so what?
Shen Xingnong hadn’t read any books and didn’t understand anything. Her family didn’t even have a single oil lamp. How could she have come up with the oil-saving lamp?
She could say that she had mentioned the oil-saving lamp to Shen Xingnong before.
She had been reading and writing since she was a child, she was well-read, and proficient in all the arts of zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting. Compared to someone who hadn’t even read a book and whose family was so poor that they couldn’t even afford an oil lamp, who would Chu Tiankuo and the Emperor believe?
Besides, there were so many villagers and students testifying for her!
She would definitely be able to reclaim the credit for the oil-saving lamp!
The people kneeling on the ground said one after another:
“This commoner wouldn’t dare!”
“This student wouldn’t dare!”
Chu Tianyu sneered inwardly. Did he think he could just bring up the Embroidered Uniform Guard and that would be the end of it?
He had already asked them these questions, and they simply didn’t dare to lie!
The truth was that Chu Tiankuo had colluded with Ren Zilin to help Shen Xingnong get the credit for the oil-saving lamp. He had also used this as an excuse to regain his Father Emperor’s attention and pave the way for his return to the capital!
Chu Tiankuo walked up to the manager of the Futai County Official Kiln and looked at him coldly, but said to Eunuch Lao, “Give them a piece of paper and brush and ink.”
Eunuch Lao immediately had a young eunuch arrange it.
Only then did Chu Tiankuo address the manager, “Think carefully, and then write down when this young lady brought you the drawings to have the oil-saving lamps made.”
Happy 520~
