The two of them traveled through the Tang Dynasty to open a supermarket, and the little Sizi was sup

Chapter 344 Xiao Ran Goes to Class!

On the podium, there was a basin of water, some paper, and other things.

Xiao Ran said, "Today we'll learn how to make paper."

As he spoke, Xiao Ran picked up the scrap paper beside him.

"These are all used papers. Now, we're going to soak them in water."

As he spoke, Xiao Ran asked the children to leave their seats and moved the tables to both sides of the classroom, leaving the middle empty.

Then, Xiao Ran brought the basin to the center of the classroom, and all the children surrounded him.

Xiao Ran put the paper into the water and said, "Once the paper is soaked, we'll tear it into pieces."

As he spoke, Xiao Ran took out the already soaked paper and asked, "Anyone want to join?"

The little princess was the first to raise her hand.

"Woo wo ya~"

Xiao Ran smiled and handed a piece of paper to the little princess.

"The rhinoceros should be torn into small pieces, the smaller the better."

The little princess nodded with a tense expression, as if she had been given a very important task.

Afterwards, Xiao Ran distributed the paper to the other children.

"Come here, put the torn paper into the basin of water."

After seeing that the children had almost finished tearing the paper, Xiao Ran asked them to put the paper back in, and then called out the names of a few other children.

"Now you can reach in and crumple these papers into tiny pieces."

Children generally love playing in water, and kindergarten children are no exception. At first, they were a little cautious, but later, two or three children would gather around the basin and grab things in the water.

People kept urging, "It's my turn! It's my turn!"

Fortunately, Xiao Ran was watching over them, so they didn't have a water fight.

When it looked like it was about time, Xiao Ran called for a stop.

Then take out a wooden stick and a bottle of glue.

"Next, we'll pour the glue in and start stirring with this little stick."

This step was performed by Xiao Ran himself.

After all, it wouldn't be good if children accidentally got it in their eyes.

After seeing that the water was completely murky, Xiao Ran stopped and took out a filter from the side.

"Now, we're going to fish the stuff out of there."

At this moment, a child suddenly raised his hand and asked, "Teacher, this is full of water and the paper is torn. Can it still be fished out?"

Xiao Ran replied, "Of course you can. Look, the holes in this filter are very small. Even though the paper is torn, it can still be scooped up."

As he spoke, Xiao Ran demonstrated it to him.

"Then, we need to put the pulp we've scooped up onto this board."

This board is just an ordinary plastic board.

After covering the board with pulp, Xiao Ran took out another plastic board and placed it on top.

"Now, all we need to do is wait for it to dry."

Then, Xiao Ran took out a few plastic boards and had someone bring over several basins of water.

"Everyone, form groups of three. You can take out the paper you've used or use the paper the teacher has prepared. Let's start doing it ourselves. If you need anything, just come to the teacher, understand?"

"We know!" the children responded loudly.

These small experiments were very novel to them, and it was a completely different experience from Xiao Ruoying's handicraft class.

Xiao Ran sat at the front of the classroom, watching them divide into groups and proceed step by step according to his instructions.

Occasionally, children would come and ask Xiao Ran if what he did was right.

The three little princesses were naturally together.

Every now and then you can hear the little princess's silvery laughter.

When the class was over, all that could be seen on the windowsills in the classroom were plastic boards, which were all made of paper.

Xiao Ran said, "These papers should be ready by tomorrow. They may not be very good, but they were all made by everyone."

After saying that, Xiao Ran announced the end of get out of class.

After this class ends, it's like school is over.

So Xiao Ran carried the little princess back to the villa.

The three little princesses went to do their homework, while Xiao Ran watched from the side.

After the three little princesses finished their homework, Xiao Ran played with them until dinner time.

Sweet potatoes will be served for dinner tonight.

Xiao Ran only remembered this after he and Xiao Ruoying started talking about sweet potatoes.

Although it's not the season for sweet potatoes to ripen, they are still available for sale.

The method was very simple; Xiao Ran simply had Yu Shu and Xiangcao steam it.

"Sizi, try this sweet potato."

Xiao Ran placed a sweet potato on the little princess's plate.

Sweet potatoes, also known as yams, are the kind Xiao Ran bought – the honey sweet potatoes, which are large and very sweet.

The little princess loves sweet things, and after taking a bite of the sweet potato, she exclaimed with delight, "It's sweet!"

Xiao Ran smiled. "Yes, it's sweet. Does Sizi prefer this or potatoes?"

The little princess smacked her lips, "I like them all~"

Xiao Ran had expected this answer, but he was still amused.

After finishing the meal, the little princess looked at Xiao Ran.

"Little Nang-kun~ I want to play Fruit Ninja~"

Xiao Ran took out his tablet.

"Okay, let's play Fruit Ninja then, but we can't play for too long."

The little princess held the tablet and nodded.

Even if you play, you can't play for very long because you'll have to go to sleep soon.

The little princess held the tablet, her fingers swiping across the screen.

Princess Gaoyang watched from the side.

"Sizi, hurry, there's another one over here."

The little princess nodded earnestly.

"Jidao La~"

However, in the end, the little princess still failed.

But the little princess wasn't upset; instead, she handed the tablet to Princess Chengyang.

This was something they had agreed upon from the beginning: whoever failed would take over for the other person.

Xiao Ran watched the three little princesses play games while he discussed the plastic running track with Xiao Ruoying.

Xiao Ruoying said, "Normally, there are construction teams for plastic running tracks. We should now study how to lay this plastic running track."

A synthetic running track isn't like a carpet, which you can just lay directly on the ground.

Xiao Ran nodded. "But where should we conduct our research?" This was indeed a problem; we couldn't just take the workers directly to the Tang Dynasty.

Xiao Ruoying sighed, "It seems I'll have to handle this."

Xiao Ran looked at Xiao Ruoying with a puzzled expression, "What, you know people like this? I never knew you had such a wide network of connections."

Xiao Ruoying tossed her hair.

"That's easy. Even though no one in my WeChat Moments knows how, we can ask when we buy it."

Xiao Ran then realized what was happening.

"Yeah, my brain seems to be rusted right now," Xiao Ran chuckled.

Xiao Ruoying patted Xiao Ran on the shoulder, "Anyway, leave everything to me."

After saying that, Xiao Ruoying went to contact the seller.

The laying of the plastic running track will have to wait a while because the cement has not yet dried completely.

Even before the plastic running track, the laying of cement streets was the next step.

That day, after dropping the three little princesses off at kindergarten, Xiao Ran went to the cement factory for a visit.

This area is still guarded and prepared by the guards.

They have now mastered the cement formula, but the problem is that without modern large-scale equipment, many things can only be done by manpower.

Putting aside the quality of the finished product, which is unavoidable and as long as it works, the problem is that the efficiency is too low.

Guards are human too, and humans get tired.

Moreover, due to the limited number of people, the production capacity is destined to be limited. In that case, when will it be possible to lay cement roads?

Xiao Ran frowned and looked around the cement factory for a while. He felt it wouldn't work, so he went back to find Li Shimin.

"His Majesty."

Xiao Ran knocked on Li Shimin's door.

Li Shimin opened the door, let Xiao Ran in, and asked, "What brings you here at this hour?"

Generally speaking, after Xiao Ran drops the three little princesses off at school, he won't come back at noon unless something comes up.

Xiao Ran said, "I have something to discuss with Your Majesty, it concerns cement."

Li Shimin frowned. "But what happened over there?"

Xiao Ran shook his head. "No, it's just that the cement production is too low, and it might be difficult to speed up the process. But I was thinking that we could hire more people, which would increase production. However, this would inevitably increase costs as well."

Regarding costs, Li Shimin pondered for a while and concluded that it mainly involved increased labor costs.

"How many people do you plan to hire?" Li Shimin asked.

Xiao Ran shook his head, "Of course, the more the better."

Li Shimin thought about it and realized that the guards also needed to be paid, but their job had changed from protecting the imperial city to making cement.

Their salaries are not low, and frankly, it's a bit of a waste of their talents.

So Li Shimin said, “Recruiting people is certainly possible. Here’s what you’ll do: go and discuss this with the Crown Prince. I agree. But after you’ve discussed it, you should still let me know the specific results.”

Xiao Ran nodded and went to find Li Chengqian.

Upon hearing the news, Li Chengqian frowned.

"Young master, do you have any good ideas? What if costs rise?"

That's right, what they care about most is the cost. Although the Tang Dynasty's treasury is not empty, money is needed everywhere. What if war breaks out or there is a natural disaster? Of course, they should save as much money as possible.

Moreover, in addition to cost, there are also concerns about manpower.

Although spring planting has ended, watering, fertilizing, and other tasks still require manpower. If everyone comes to work at the cement factory, what will happen to the fields?

We can't let it go to waste.

Xiao Ran thought for a moment and said, "What I'm thinking is, why not use those refugees and beggars?"

Li Chengqian was stunned for a moment, then nodded after realizing what he meant.

"That's a good idea."

Migrants are people who have been displaced due to natural disasters or wars, and who have no land or houses.

Some of these people would be resettled in nearby villages by the imperial court, but they would still need to cultivate the land themselves.

Once the village was full, the imperial court had no choice but to turn a blind eye.

And then there are those people who have lost their household registration; the imperial court has no way to resettle such people.

So these people could only survive on the rice porridge provided by disaster relief, or try to find work, or become beggars.

The imperial court also had a lot of headaches dealing with these people.

After all, there is only so much land in the surrounding area, and without land, there is simply no way to resettle them.

We can't make them travel thousands of miles back again. You have to understand how many lives have been lost along the way. If we force them to go back, probably less than one in ten will make it back.

Therefore, the imperial court could only leave it to them and let them figure out a solution themselves.

Now that Xiao Ran is suggesting hiring these people, it is indeed a good idea for Li Chengqian.

This not only solved the resettlement problem but also reduced costs.

After all, the wages for hiring these people are much cheaper than hiring ordinary people.

Even worse, some people are content as long as they have food to eat.

Of course, Li Chengqian wasn't that heartless, but the salary was definitely low.

Xiao Ran said, "Now the guards know what to do. Once the people are recruited, one guard can be in charge of one step. The recruited people can also be divided into several groups, with each group in charge of one step. This will form an assembly line and make the process faster."

Li Chengqian nodded, "That's good, but we still need to discuss the wages further."

In the Tang Dynasty today, ordinary people can earn at most five strings of cash a year, and that's for middle-class people.

Those at the bottom earn even less.

As for those who have no land, they can only work as porters at the docks or do other odd jobs.

If you work for a shop, you'll earn more per month, but if you're just doing manual labor, you might only earn twenty or thirty coins a day, and even that kind of work isn't available every day.

In summary, being able to work for two weeks in a month is already considered very good. Even if you earn thirty coins a day, that only adds up to six hundred coins.

This is when things are good. If things are bad, you might not even earn 300 coins a month, because there are always times when you don't need people and wages are low.

At the cement factory, the work was relatively stable. Unless there were personal reasons, one would not lose their job. In addition, food was provided, and the work was not too strenuous. Moreover, the people hired were vagrants and beggars. Therefore, in the end, Li Chengqian set the price at three hundred coins per person per month.

This cost is entirely within the reach of the imperial court.

Looking at the price set by Li Chengqian, Xiao Ran sighed inwardly, "Sure enough, no matter what, labor is always the cheapest."

However, he only sighed and said that, in the end, Li Chengqian was a ruler, not a saint.

Xiao Ran took the final results of the discussion to Li Shimin.

Li Shimin nodded, which was taken as agreement.

So Li Chengqian summoned all the ministers to discuss the matter together.

All the ministers present had already experienced cement, after all, they had been to supermarkets quite often, especially Cheng Yaojin, whose son was still there, so it was perfectly normal for him to go.

The first thing you notice is how flat and solid it is.

And then there's cleanliness.

Moreover, it's said that it wouldn't be very expensive, but it hasn't been sold to outsiders. The ministers who were interested in this matter had long been puzzled by this, and only now did they realize that it was because there wasn't enough cement.

That makes sense. We finally managed to accumulate some inventory, but it was all used to purchase supermarket stock. We've accumulated some more recently, but now we're going to use it to purchase kindergarten stock. Our inventory is in dire need of funds.

(End of this chapter)