BXBX NOVEL Chapter 78 - This was truly killing two birds with one stone
Chapter 78: This was truly killing two birds with one stone
So, he lit the oil lamp and wrote more.
Shi Qingluo sat opposite his desk and wrote her plans for the sugar workshop, the paint workshop etc.
The two of them wrote quietly, while the dim yellow light illuminated them warmly.
It was a little late. Shi Qingluo finished writing the plan and shouted to Xiao Hanzheng, “Old Xiao, I’m sleepy.”
After Xiao Hanzheng finished writing that paragraph, he put down the pen and raised his head. “Then let’s rest together.”
The two of them washed up and went to bed together.
Shi Qingluo touched the pillow and felt the breath of the person beside her.
She dozed off very soon.
Xiao Hanzheng reached out and smoothened Shi Qingluo’s scattered hair on her face.
He used the tip of his finger to point at her nose.
With a smile on his face, he quickly closed his eyes.
With his little wife by his side tonight, as expected, he fell asleep very quickly.
He did not suffer from insomnia like before, or need medication to fall asleep.
The next morning, the heat woke Shi Qingluo up.
She slept late last night.
Now the sky had already brightened. Xiao Hanzheng wasn’t by her side.
Shi Qingluo got up and opened the door.
Xiao Hanzheng was practising martial arts. It was very pleasing to her eyes.
Xiao Hanzheng saw his little wife coming out and didn’t stop practising martial arts. He said, “I have already boiled water for you to wash up.”
With the current hot weather, his little wife would use water to wipe her body in the morning and take a bath at night.
It was the same for him. Otherwise, he would feel uncomfortable after sweating.
Shi Qingluo was full of smiles. “Thank you for your hard work, Brother Zheng!”
She gave her little husband, who had woken up early to boil water for her, a thumbs up.
She warmed herself with hot and then with cold water and used a handkerchief to wipe her body.
As expected, she felt much more comfortable.
She missed the modern air-conditioner and fan.
Unfortunately, it was impossible to build an air-conditioner.
She could make a fan based on the drawing, but without electricity, it would be difficult to make it by hand.
If she could find a magnet, she could make a fan that did not need electricity or someone to manually fan it.
After pouring the water, she took out the “time travel encyclopaedia” and read it in her room.
Sure enough, she found a recipe for making ice from saltpetre.
Since she couldn’t use an air conditioner or an electric fan, she could use a normal ice basin to cool down.
The aristocratic families also used ice basins to cool down.
However, as the ice was collected during winter, they had to buy it at a very high price to fill up their icehouse.
Shi Qingluo knew from Shengyuan’s memories that there was a saltpetre mine on the mountain near the Taoist temple, and a lot of sulphur not far away.
This was also the reason why the old Taoist master wanted to build the temple in a small village mountain in Nanxi county.
He wanted to use saltpetre, sulphur, and other things to refine his pills, but he probably didn’t expect to blow himself up.
After breakfast, the two went to the chief’s house together.
They brought the specialty products that Xiao Hanzheng brought from the prefecture and returned the money they owed.
They also told the chief that they wanted to buy two plots of land.
The chief knew that they had received silver from the Wu family, and he was very happy to hear that Xiao Hanzheng had made a lot of money from his manuscript.
He only reminded Xiao Hanzheng to read more and not to delay the imperial examination while writing the manuscripts.
Then, he gave him some encouragement.
The chief also promised to go to the county town with Xiao Hanzheng tomorrow to complete the procedures for buying these two plots of land.
After leaving the chief’s house, the two of them went to the house where Mother Xiao had previously borrowed money from to repay back everything.
Before Xiao Hanzheng left the village, he had promised them that he would return the money when he came back.
After all, this was something that his mother had once borrowed and owed.
In the past months, they had used tofu to pay off some of it.
Xiao Hanzheng still wanted to personally return the remaining amount.
He wasn’t being courteous with his wife. He just felt that he should be the one paying the money back.
Shi Qingluo didn’t care about this.
After all, it was only right and proper to repay back the debt.
If her young husband wanted to wait to personally return the money, she wouldn’t go against him.
After paying the money back, Shi Qingluo pulled Xiao Hanzheng. “Brother Zheng, let’s go near the Taoist temple. I’m going to bring back some saltpetre.”
Xiao Hanzheng asked curiously, “Why do you want saltpetre?”
Shi Qingluo replied, “The weather is too hot. I want to get some saltpetre to make ice. After that, I want to put an ice basin in our room and our mother’s room to reduce the heat.”
Xiao Hanzheng was stunned. “We can make ice from saltpetre?”
Shi Qingluo nodded. “Of course.”
“Okay, then I’ll go with you.” Xiao Hanzheng practised martial arts every day.
His body had almost recovered, and his stamina had also improved.
It wasn’t a big problem to carry some saltpetre back.
Therefore, the two of them went home first to get two baskets, and went up the mountain together.
On the way, Shi Qingluo said, “I’ve already collected the ashes of my master and those Taoist children. In the next two days, we’ll go to the county town and ask a fengshui master to find a good place to build a tomb.”
Xiao Hanzheng nodded. “Okay.”
The old Taoist priest had helped his little wife many times, so it was only right to build him a tomb.
“I’ll go to the county town tomorrow to look for a fengshui master.”
After finding the saltpetre mine, Shi Qingluo let her little husband dig first while she went to the backyard of the Taoist temple to water the corn and chilli.
After watering, Xiao Hanzheng carried a basket of saltpetre on his back and walked in with another basket in his hand.
Seeing that she had finished watering and weeded the weeds, he asked, “Are you planting vegetables?”
He had a feeling that she was doing more than just planting vegetables.
After all, he could also plant vegetables on his family’s land, but she didn’t plant them.
Shi Qingluo didn’t hide anything and winked at Xiao Hanzheng. “My master left some special seeds. I’ll plant them.
“When they are ready for harvesting, they might bring a big surprise or become high quality seeds sent from heaven.”
What a good excuse for the old immortal master to appear and bestow high quality corn seeds in front of the Taoist temple!
Anyway, even if the emperor sent someone to investigate, he would not be able to find anything unless he went underground to ask the old Taoist.
She decided to plant corn, a high-yield crop which didn’t require a very specific kind of soil and environment.
She hoped that more people would be able to have a filling meal after it was widely planted.
As for growing chilies, other than the numerous benefits of interplanting with corn, the main reason was that Shi Qingluo missed the taste of chilies.
Although she wasn’t a fan of chilies in modern times, she could not do without chilies in her daily meals.
It was a good opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.
However, she needed to ask the old immortal master to appear at the appropriate time.
She would then ask her young husband to offer him some corn seeds and chilies.
This way, she could register his name with the emperor and let him know about her little husband’s existence.
This would also benefit him more in his future imperial examinations.
Moreover, it would also beef up his reputation among the commoners.
Although the old immortal master was the scapegoat, they were the ones who discovered the seeds, weren’t they?
Secondly, she could also plant the seeds openly.
Xiao Hanzheng saw her blink and heard her tone.
He could roughly guess that she was preparing for her plans.
Although he didn’t know what kind of find seed and surprise it was, he believed that his little wife would definitely not let him down.
He didn’t ask much and said with a smile, “Then I’ll wait and see what surprises I’ll get when they grow out of the ground.
“Actually, if your master had to make his appearance, how about we don’t build a tombstone. I think we can rebuild this main hall and erect a longevity token in the hall to worship his ashes.
“Not only can we burn incense paper frequently, other people who heard of his reputation can also offer incense and pay their respects. Not a problem at all.
“We can also burn incense for him all year round.”
He added meaningfully, “Who knows, he might appear once in a while.”
When Shi Qingluo heard this, her eyes lit up. “Old Xiao, that’s a good idea.”
As expected from a big shot. Her young husband was just that smart and mighty!
This was truly killing two birds with one stone.
If she allowed the old priest to be worshipped and respected by others, she would also be able to let the immortal master continue to take the blame. Cough cough…