Raising chickens and pigs and digging for wild vegetables, the county magistrate's promotion wa

Chapter 100 Lighting the Kiln, Princess Xie

Because of Zhu Laosan Zhu Gang's words, the atmosphere gradually became subtle. Jin'er walked with her head down and her face flushed. Even Yu'er, who used to like looking around, seemed like a different person. Her face was just as red as Jin'er's.

The atmosphere grew increasingly awkward, and Yang Shaofeng felt a little uncomfortable. He wanted to lead everyone around the village as before, but he couldn't help but glance at Jin'er and Yu'er.

Magistrate Yang had figured it out. One of the princesses was gentle and generous, while the other was clever and quirky. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that they each had their own merits. If one of the princesses took a liking to him, wouldn't it be better to be a lazy and unambitious prince consort than to be this lousy magistrate who was always worrying about things?

Even if it's because these two princesses are Zhu's adopted daughters, and he can't live the life of a lazy prince consort, having beauties in his arms is still better than continuing to be a single dog, right?

It wasn't until the yamen runners left at the county office rushed over and said that Wang Laowai and others had already made preparations for firing the kiln, and asked the county magistrate if he wanted to go and take a look, that Magistrate Yang was forced to stop his beautiful imagination about the future.

Then, Zhu Lao Er and Zhu Lao San, like curious children, jumped out together. Zhu Lao Er looked directly at Yang Shaofeng and said, "Sister... Brother Yang, why don't you take me to broaden my horizons?"

Zhu Shuang, the second son of Zhu Lao Er, was a year older and still knew how to save face. Zhu Gang, the third son of Zhu Lao San, however, was the type who loved to stir up trouble. Before Yang Shaofeng could answer, he said directly, "Brother-in-law, I am also very curious about the cement you mentioned."

Yang Shaofeng was completely numb.

No, Princess Jin and Princess Yu aren't adopted daughters, so why are you calling each other so affectionately?

Moreover, this is still far from being settled, and you two are already rushing to call him brother-in-law. Is this some kind of glorious tradition of your Zhu family?

While Yang Shaofeng was secretly grumbling to himself, he couldn't help but glance at Jin'er and Yu'er. He saw that one of them was looking down at the floral pattern on her skirt, while the other was looking at the farmhouse by the roadside, as if they hadn't heard Zhu Laosan calling for his brother-in-law at all.

Yang Shaofeng was torn – judging from the way the two princesses looked, it seemed they were both interested in him, but which one should he choose, Princess Jin'er or Princess Yu'er?

Moreover, I, Yang, have always been kind-hearted. If I were to marry only one of them, the other would have to marry someone else. When the two sisters were separated, they would surely be heartbroken. How could I, Yang, bear to do that?

But to marry both of them... not to mention that there has never been a precedent of marrying two princesses at the same time, even Old Zhu... even the father-in-law wouldn't be willing, right?

While internally struggling with his thoughts, Magistrate Yang smiled and said to Zhu Lao Er and Zhu Lao San, "Your Highnesses, please."

When Yang Shaofeng arrived at the lime kiln in the east of the city with Zhu Lao Er, Zhu Lao San, Jin'er, Yu'er, and the Chang brothers, Wang Laowai had been waiting there with several young men for a long time. As soon as he saw Yang Shaofeng, he went up to him and said, "Reporting to the master, the firewood and lime are ready and waiting to be lit."

Yang Shaofeng hummed in agreement, looked around a few times, then walked to the woodpile, picked up a piece of wood, examined it for a moment, and asked, "This is old pine wood, right? By the way, didn't you say that the earliest you could gather all the old pine wood was before dark today?"

Old Wang gave a thumbs up and praised, "Sir, you have a good eye. This is old pine wood. As for how quickly we gathered it, it's all thanks to you. The people inside and outside the city all helped me find it after they heard that you wanted old pine wood, so we were able to gather it so quickly."

Yang Shaofeng nodded again and instructed Wang Laowai, "Then let's start firing the kiln."

Upon receiving Yang Shaofeng's order, Wang Laowai immediately shouted to the several prepared young men, "Light the fire! Fire the kiln!"

Once the kiln was ablaze, Wang Laowai said to Yang Shaofeng, "Master, this kiln needs to be fired for six hours. After the kiln is opened, it will take several hours for the ash to cool down. Why don't you come back tomorrow afternoon?"

Yang Shaofeng nodded in agreement, then called over Limpy Five and instructed, "Limpy Five, have someone send a few buckets of water and some sand tomorrow. We'll put it here and test whether this cement will work."

The next afternoon, Yang Shaofeng led Zhu Lao Er, Zhu Lao San and others to the lime kiln in the east of the city again. Wang Laowai and the others had already taken out the cooled lime and piled it under the shade of the trees for later use.

Yang Shaofeng took the shovel from the constable, first shoveled a shovel of cement, then a shovel of sand, turned it over a few times to mix the cement and sand evenly, piled it into a small mound, then dug a small pit in the middle, added water, and then mixed it evenly.

Immediately afterwards, Yang Shaofeng shoveled the sand aside, shaped it into a large block with a shovel, and then handed the shovel to the yamen runner next to him.

"Two shovels of cement, one shovel of sand."

"Three shovels of cement, one shovel of sand."

"One shovel of cement, two shovels of sand."

"One shovel of cement, three shovels of sand."

"..."

Under the direction of Magistrate Yang, the yamen runners began to mix sand and cement in different proportions, then mixed them with water, and then, imitating Magistrate Yang, piled the sand into square shapes.

Zhu Lao Er glanced at Magistrate Yang, then at the busy yamen runners, and asked, "Is that all?"

Yang Shaofeng shook his head slightly, looked up at the sun in the sky, and said, "Whether it will work or not, we'll have to wait until evening to see how the sand is."

"If it can solidify and withstand the pressure of oxcarts and horse-drawn carts, then cement will be completely ready. All we need to do is quarry stone, dig soil, and fire it in a kiln to pave roads."

"If it crumbles when pressed, it means the material is not good enough. We can only slowly adjust the ratio of clay and limestone in the cement until we can produce durable cement."

Zhu Lao Er and Zhu Lao San nodded, both looking expectantly at the sand under the shade of the tree. Zhu Lao San said without hesitation, "Brother-in-law, you two go back to the county government first. I want to stay here and wait for the results."

As Zhu Laosan's address of "brother-in-law" became increasingly natural, Yang Shaofeng felt a secret sense of satisfaction, but at the same time, he couldn't help but steal a glance at Jin'er and Yu'er.

Then, to everyone's surprise, the usually shy Jin'er, perhaps noticing the dust on Yang Shaofeng's face, actually handed him a handkerchief. She glanced at him first, then lowered her head and whispered, "Young Master Yang, wipe the dust off your face."

Looking at Jin'er, whose face was flushed and whose voice was so soft it was almost inaudible, Yang Shaofeng inexplicably took the handkerchief from Jin'er's hand, gently wiped his forehead, and then returned it to Jin'er, saying, "Thank you, Your Highness."