They've all separated, so what does it matter to me if they get poorer and poorer?

Chapter 205 Threshing Machine and Windmill
Xu Zhichun looked at Aunt Hua: "Aunt Hua, you're spreading these idle rumors and harming people. I want to ask you, what good does this do you? What benefits do you get from it?"

Aunt Hua's lips moved, but she remained silent.

The Yang family members found Xu Zhichun's words too harsh, and their faces turned rather unpleasant. Yang Feng, the second son of the Yang family, couldn't help but point at Xu Zhichun and glare at him, saying, "Watch your mouth!"

Aunt Liang scolded, "Yang Feng, don't you know what your mother did? How dare you ask someone to be polite? If this isn't polite, what is? Why don't you check if your mother has been polite at all?"

Xu Zhichun gave a slight sneer: "Don't worry, I will be polite. I can't afford to offend the Yang family, so I'll just avoid them. I will not have any dealings with the Yang family in the future. All the uncles, aunts, elder brothers and sisters-in-law here are witnesses. I will have no further contact with the Yang family from now on."

"In front of everyone, I, Xu Zhichun, swear once again that I will never remarry in this life. If I break this vow, may I be struck by lightning and die a horrible death. Uncle Yang Ming, Xiao An, you can continue doing the work for our family. We will pay you the same way you always have. You can do whatever you want. It's all aboveboard, and we have nothing to fear from others' slander."

Uncle Yang's eyes welled up with tears, filled with gratitude: "Good, good."

Yang Xiaoan's eyes also reddened: "Thank you, Sister-in-law Zhichun."

He was so scared and conflicted. The best course of action after this incident was to avoid suspicion; he and his son shouldn't take this job anymore. But he couldn't bear to give it up. Two hundred coins a month was enough to buy fifty jin of pure white rice. Fifty jin of rice could feed them for a month without them having to be frugal.

Liang Lizheng frowned: "Let's leave it at that. Sister-in-law Hua, you should watch your mouth. Brother Yang, you should watch your mouth too. We're all from the same village, why bother? Just like Zhichun said, what good will it do you to say such harmful things? Stop doing things that harm others and don't benefit yourself."

Yang Laosan was filled with resentment.
He glared at Granny Hua with annoyance. Why was she dragging him into this mess with her foul mouth? What had he said? He was innocent!
"Let's all go, everyone go!"

Aunt Zhu'er and the others also arrived and accompanied Xu Zhichun back. Liang Lizheng called two people to help Yang Ming back with Yang Xiao'an.

With all this commotion and delay, Xu Zhichun didn't have enough time to make the ice jelly, so she had to ask Chunfen to help cook. She quickly got to work.

The more I think about it, the angrier I get.

I'd heard that Aunt Hua was a gossip, always talking nonsense about this and that, but I never imagined she'd say something so outrageous about me.

She and Uncle Yang Ming? How can this old woman have such a wild imagination?

It's not a hole, it's a skylight.

On the day she went to town to set up her stall, Xiao Yan and the others, united in their hatred, helped her curse the old woman all the way, which amused Xu Zhichun.

That night, Xu Zhichun's consciousness entered the warehouse space, searching for books among the vast amount of supplies.

Because the rice harvest was approaching, she was able to see the tools used for threshing and winnowing.

In short, it's too primitive.

The foot-operated threshing machine is an antique to modern people, but now even this antique she remembers doesn't exist anymore; everything relies entirely on human power.

The ripe rice was cut down and threshed entirely by strong adult men who swung the rice handfuls and pounded it against the sides of a wide-mouthed, narrow-bottomed square wooden bucket. This thing had a name: the rice bucket.

It's purely physical labor; even strong men can't handle it, so it takes several people taking turns to do it.

There are no strong adult men in her family, so her arms would probably break if she did this work.

Of course, she wasn't that stupid; she had no choice but to hire people.

The threshing machine was quite advanced.

There were also wooden windmills used to sift out empty grains and mixed fine straw. But that wasn't there either.

Winnowing grains one by one with a winnowing basket is inefficient, tiring, and ineffective. It's nothing compared to a windmill. A simple crank turns the handle, and the creaking wind blows all the empty grains away, filling the baskets with plump, golden rice.

Pounding rice is also quite laborious. Wouldn't it be much easier to build a watermill by the river?
Xu Zhichun was conflicted, feeling that he had been too high-profile lately. He thought it best to stop doing anything, keep a low profile, and quietly make a fortune.

Threshing and such wouldn't tire her out, because she never intended to do it herself. Having earned so much money, she was naturally going to enjoy herself; she could just hire people.

But now, she has changed her mind.

I've already thought of my explanation: I saw it by chance in some book, but I couldn't quite remember how the blueprint was drawn before. After trying different approaches for the past two or three years, I've finally perfected the blueprint, so I'm presenting it now.

Anyway, she damaged her brain and couldn't remember her origins.

Even if the magistrate cannot completely dispel his suspicions, this thing will still be useful to him, right?

Someone as intelligent as him would naturally not get stuck on trivial matters.

Xu Zhichun needs the magistrate's commendation.

The more capable she is and the higher she stands, the better she can protect herself.

Otherwise, even if she made so much money, wouldn't someone like Aunt Hua still be full of malice and spout nonsense that harms others without benefiting herself?
That was dangerous.

If Uncle Yang hadn't gone so far as to hang himself under the eaves of Aunt Hua's house, the whole village would probably be buzzing with rumors about him and Aunt Hua within a couple of days.

There's simply no way to clarify this kind of thing.

Having found the relevant books, Xu Zhichun used an eyebrow pencil to trace the patterns on rice paper, placing the two books in an easily accessible storage room. After tracing the drawings, she still needed to memorize the principles thoroughly.

It took two days to finally get it done.

After delivering tomatoes and ice jelly to Manager Tang that day, Xu Zhichun took the blueprints and went to the backyard of the county government office again.

The gatekeeper already knew her well and greeted her politely with a smile, "Madam Xu!" He then invited her inside, saying, "Looking for Granny Ji? Madam Xu, please come in and wait. It's hot outside. I'll have someone inform Granny Ji right away."

Xu Zhichun smiled and thanked him, then drank tea in the gatehouse.

Soon a little maid came running over, "Madam Xu, the nanny wants you to come in."

"Hey!"

Xu Zhichun followed the little girl to the familiar little flower hall.

With a kind face and bright eyes, Granny Ji smiled with great interest: "What good things has Madam Xu brought this time? We brought some homemade ice jelly, which Madam and Master both love. And the tomatoes, sweet and sour, are very appetizing whether used in cooking or eaten raw. Madam and Master also like them very much."

Even though she was used to being calm and composed, she couldn't help but feel a little expectant when she saw Xu Zhichun arrive.

Over time, she got to know Xu Zhichun a bit better; she wasn't the kind of person who would come out and try to get attention for no reason.

(End of this chapter)