Courtyard House: Rebirth of a Shopkeeper in 1937

The older man, with a canvas woodworking tool bag slung over his shoulder, covered in dried sawdust and the dust of a craftsman's work, stepped across the threshold and greeted the shop with a hearty laugh: "Manager Song, are you getting ready to close up shop and call it a day?"

Hearing the voice, Father looked up, put down his brush and account book, and stood up with a smile to greet him: "Oh, it's Carpenter Liu! What brings you two here at this hour? Is there something important?"

The visitors were none other than Liu the Carpenter, renowned for his skills in the village, and his eldest son, Liu Yingbin. The family had asked him to help them buy tung oil; although the two families didn't interact often, they had a fairly good relationship. Liu Yingbin was a straightforward and honest man who never beat around the bush.

Without much small talk, he got straight to the point: "My son and I heard at home that you're rushing to complete the task of installing ten rice transplanters assigned by the township. The schedule is tight and the work is heavy. I happen to be free of other carpentry work lately, so I brought my son to ask if your workshop needs any help. My son and I have been doing fine carpentry for half our lives, so we have solid skills and are reliable. We definitely won't hold your family back."

Upon hearing this, the father's eyes lit up, and he was secretly delighted. The production of these government-issued rice transplanters was currently under tight deadlines and involved numerous complex procedures, so they desperately needed skilled carpenters to help with the heavy lifting. Carpenter Liu had an excellent reputation in the surrounding villages; his skills were superb, and he was a reliable person. With the help of the father and son, they could save a lot of trouble.

Dad readily agreed: "That's just in time! With you two coming to lend a hand, I feel completely at ease now. It's settled then, you can come straight to work tomorrow morning at dawn, and have breakfast together at the kitchen."

"Haha, great! It's settled then." Carpenter Liu readily agreed, waving his hand and laughing, "My son and I will be on duty early tomorrow morning! It's getting late, so we won't disturb you as you close up shop and get ready to rest."

After saying this, Liu the carpenter led his silent and capable son, turned around and stepped out of the shop. The two of them slowly disappeared into the darkness of the country lane.

Watching the two figures walk away, the four siblings, having finished cleaning the shop, quickly gathered around the counter, forming a circle around their father. They all harbored the same question, and the most impatient of them, the second brother, spoke first: "Dad, you promised to let Liu the carpenter and his son come and help out, so how will their wages be calculated? We already agreed that the special payment for these rice transplanters allocated by the township would be split 50/50 with Uncle. Paying more wages would probably leave us with insufficient funds."

The usually stern-faced father smiled gently, his eyebrows curving upwards, and slowly explained, "You little ones didn't listen carefully. Carpenter Liu just said that he and his son came to help out voluntarily, and they don't need to be paid. We'll provide them with three meals a day, that's enough."

"Such a good deal?!" The four siblings exclaimed in unison, their eyes filled with surprise. Working for free and only getting food—what job could be so lucrative?

Father chuckled softly, patiently explaining the intricacies to the children: "Hehe, you just don't understand the intricacies of this. On the surface, it seems like Carpenter Liu and his son are helping us with the work for free, but to put it more bluntly, they're using the guise of helping out to become apprentices and learn the craft. Although our rice transplanter has a clever and novel design, its overall structure is simple and straightforward. Someone like Carpenter Liu, who has spent half his life doing fine woodworking, can easily replicate it after looking at it a few times and doing some thinking and deduction."

Leaning against the counter, he continued explaining, "They work in our workshop, which gives them a legitimate way to master all the manufacturing processes of rice transplanters and acquire the proper skills. Besides, our Song family doesn't just take on apprentices or specialize in carpentry. As long as they're associated with our legitimate reputation for making government-issued rice transplanters, people from all around who want to order a rice transplanter will immediately go to Liu the carpenter and his son. They don't need to formally become apprentices; they get a new business for free. No matter how you look at it, it's a win-win situation."

After hearing this, the four siblings suddenly understood. Upon reflection, it made perfect sense: such a simple machine structure didn't warrant formal apprenticeship; exchanging skills under the guise of helping out and using the reputation of the orthodox craftsman was just right. Moreover, they all knew that in terms of pure traditional carpentry skills, their father might not be as good as Liu the carpenter, who had dedicated himself to the craft.

The group felt relieved and stopped worrying about their wages. They quietly tidied up the clutter on the counter and prepared to close the door and rest.

The next day, just as dawn broke, Liu the carpenter and his son arrived at work on time with their tools. With the addition of these two experienced workers, the efficiency of the entire rice transplanter production line increased significantly, accelerating the overall production progress by nearly half. Having spent half their lives honing their skills in traditional fine woodworking, the father and son possessed solid fundamentals. They meticulously crafted standard components such as the machine frame, mortise and tenon joints, and protective panels, ensuring neatness, precision, and excellent finished products.

The only component they had little experience with was the core gears, so they were a bit rusty at it. The resulting gears had slight imperfections in their meshing pattern and didn't meet the required precision, so they weren't perfect. All other machine parts, however, were flawless.

My father has always been open-minded and never held back in his work or personal life. During a break from work, he patiently disassembled and explained the design principles and assembly logic of the entire rice transplanter to carpenter Liu, and also shared all the details of the non-standard processing of various parts and the precautions for assembly without reservation.

The overall mechanical principle of the rice transplanter is simple and easy to understand. Liu, a carpenter with decades of experience, understood it immediately and quickly got the hang of it. Only a few inconspicuous details in the workpiece processing techniques were things that others wouldn't understand and would think were superfluous—these were special process details that Xingbao had personally determined, using his knowledge of modern mechanics from his previous life.

These subtle modifications are hidden at the joints of the machinery, completely invisible after assembly, and on the surface, they have no impact on the normal operation of the rice transplanter. In reality, they effectively reduce frictional wear between wooden moving parts, distribute localized stress during operation, reduce wear and cracking of wooden components, and significantly extend the service life of the entire rice transplanter from the root. Only Xingbao fully understands the advantages and disadvantages of this unique and ingenious method.

In the afternoon, as the sun began to set and the heat subsided, Chief Zhao personally led two constables to escort the materials to the workshop in the backyard of the Song family. Two bolts of thick coarse cloth and a batch of neatly cut paulownia planks were unloaded from the cart; these were the materials that had been negotiated and reported the day before, intended for use in the outer packaging of the rice transplanter.

Beforehand, Dad wasn't sure how much cloth and wood would be needed for the entire set of packaging equipment. This batch of materials was just a trial allocation from the township. The village head conveyed the township head's message: use the existing materials to test the packaging process and finalize the standard dimensions. Once the precise usage was calculated, the township would then provide the remaining materials in full.