People in the Ming Dynasty are lawless

Chapter 718: The strength is not in the technology itself, but in the improvement of the machine. You can't learn it.

Li Zhen's mace was pressed against the chin of the Xu family's steward, and the metal spikes glowed coldly under the candlelight.

The manager's legs were trembling, his back pressed against the loom support, and the wooden frame creaked under his pressure.

"Tell me! Who asked to hide the blade?" Li Zhen's voice was like ice.

The manager's eyes rolled around and he caught a glimpse of Zhu Youwei walking out of the warehouse with half a piece of osmanthus cake in her hand.

His Adam's apple rolled. "My Lord, please understand. We just want to learn how to use the new loom..."

Chen Han walked out from the shadows, holding a blade as thin as a cicada's wing between his fingertips. The moonlight shone through the blade, casting a thin shadow on the ground.

"Do I need to hide this in the shuttle slot to learn how to use it?" He flicked his wrist, and the blade "ding" nailed the butler's feet. "When did the Songjiang Xu family change their profession to become assassins?"

The female workers in the workshop have gathered around.

The oldest Madam Liu suddenly said "Pah" and pointed her skinny finger at the steward's nose: "I'm sixty years old and I've never seen such a despicable method! Your Xu family withheld wages in the past, and now you want to ruin people's jobs?"

Zhu Youwei slowly finished the last bite of osmanthus cake and patted the crumbs on her hands.

She didn't wear her usual pair of gold earrings today, and her plain earlobes looked particularly white under the moonlight.

"Manager Xu," she said softly, but the noisy workshop was instantly quieted. "Three years ago, you applied rosin to the gears of the loom, causing three female workers to break their fingers. Last year, you mixed lime powder into the cotton yarn, ruining seventy rolls of top-quality silk." She walked to the loom and stroked the shuttle slots that were scratched by the blade with her fingertips. "This trick is new."

Cold sweat broke out on the steward's forehead.

He glanced out the window, and saw that his companions who were originally arranged to meet him at the alley entrance had long disappeared. Only the torches of the Five Cities Army were flickering in the distance.

"Princess, please have mercy!" He suddenly knelt down, his knees hitting the blue brick floor with a dull sound, "Yes, the young master said... that if I can't learn how to use the new loom, then, then..."

"Just destroy it?" Chen Han bent down to pick up the blade, and suddenly laughed, "Didn't your young master say that women should stay at home to take care of their husbands and children?" He turned to Zhu Youwei, "I remember that the Xu family also mentioned 'hens crowing at dawn' in the petition they submitted to the Ministry of Rites last year?"

The workshop was in an uproar. Several young female workers were so angry that their eyes turned red and the shuttles in their hands creaked. Li Zhen's mace moved forward half an inch, and the manager's chin immediately bled.

Zhu Youwei waved her hand. She walked to the window and pointed to the brightly lit shops on the other side of the river: "Manager Xu, how do you think the business of 'Jinguo Cloth Shop' is going?"

The manager didn't understand, and replied tremblingly: "Of course it's very good..."

"Then do you know why?" When Zhu Youwei turned around, the moonlight gilded a layer of silver on her white dress. "It's not because our female workers are more skillful than your Xu family's weavers."

She suddenly shook out a roll of blueprints from her sleeve. "It's because the six-spindle spinning wheel improved by the Institute of Physics can allow a woman to do the work of six strong men."

The manager stared at the precise gear structure on the blueprint with his eyes wide open. Of course, he recognized that this was an improved version of the Xu family's ancestral loom, but the complex transmission devices were something that no matter how many masters they hired, they could not imitate.

"Actually..." Zhu Youwei suddenly stuffed the blueprint into his hand, "It's okay for you to take it."

Not only was the manager stunned, but even Li Zhen was so frightened that he loosened his grip on the mace.

A smile appeared on Chen Han's lips. He saw that the teardrop mole at the corner of his wife's eye looked particularly vivid under the moonlight.

"Take it back and show it to your young master." Zhu Youwei's voice suddenly rose so that every female worker in the workshop could hear it clearly. "Tell him that we are not afraid of stealing his skills, because the real secret is not in the drawings." She pointed to the female workers who were operating the looms, "It's in the minds of these girls."

Xiaotao, the youngest weaver, suddenly straightened her back. She had just learned mathematics at a girls' school last month and could now adjust the gear ratio of the loom herself.

The manager held the blueprint like a hot potato. He certainly understood what Zhu Youwei meant - even if the Xu family got the blueprint, without workers who understood the new algorithm, they still couldn't operate this sophisticated machine.

"Oh, by the way," Chen Han suddenly added, "tell your young master that the Institute of Physics will hold a 'loom improvement workshop' next month, and welcomes the masters of the Xu family to attend." He smiled harmlessly, "Of course, female workers are given priority."

A burst of laughter broke out in the workshop. Aunt Liu laughed so hard that she slapped her thigh and said, "I want to see if those arrogant old masters can understand the trigonometric functions that Xiao Tao is talking about!"

The steward's face turned pale and blue. He suddenly kowtowed heavily and said, "Princess, Duke, I will report the truth when I return!" When he got up, he still clutched the blueprint tightly, as if grasping at a life-saving straw.

Li Zhen put away the mace and looked at Zhu Youwei in confusion: "Just let him go like this?"

Zhu Youwei looked at the manager's back as he stumbled out of the workshop and whispered, "He will spread every word of what he saw tonight throughout the Jiangnan Weaving Company."

She turned to the female workers and said, "From tomorrow on, all loom operation manuals will have three more math problems added. We want the whole world to know that the girls in the Women's Workshop are not only dexterous—"

"The heart is more clever." Chen Han continued her words, took out a piece of pine soot ink from his sleeve, and drew an auxiliary line on the nearest loom, "Like this."

The moonlight gradually set in the west, casting a final layer of silver light on the loom. Shops on the other side of the river closed one after another, except for the lanterns of the Jinguo Cloth Shop, where the newly arrived Liaodong sable wool was being made into garments overnight.

Zhu Youwei looked at the brightly lit cloth shop and suddenly remembered how clumsy she was when she first picked up the shuttle five years ago. Now her girls can not only weave brocade with dark patterns, but also use the abacus to make the old accountants speechless.

"Husband," she said suddenly, "after we finish eating vegetarian food in Hangzhou, let's go to Songjiang."

Chen Han was checking the loom that was scratched by the blade. Hearing this, he looked up and asked, "Are you going to see the masters of the Xu family learn trigonometric functions?"

Another round of laughter broke out in the workshop. This time even the shy Xiao Tao laughed out loud, and she threaded the shuttle in her hand faster than usual.

The moonlight filtered through the window lattices, drawing neat gratings on the blue brick floor.

Just like the formulas on the blackboard of the Physics Department, and like the precise gears in a loom, they rotate seamlessly, weaving this new era.

……

The moonlight is like water, flowing quietly through the streets and alleys of Jinling City.

The carriage moved slowly on the bluestone road, and the wheels made slight noises as they rolled over the gaps, as if responding to the sound of the night watchman's clapper in the distance.

Zhu Youwei leaned on Chen Han's shoulder, the wooden hairpin in her hair loosened a little, and a few strands of black hair fell in front of his collar, rising and falling gently with her breathing.

"When I was embroidering and admiring the moon in the palace, I always felt that the moonlight was hanging in the air coldly." Her fingertips unconsciously twisted around Chen Han's belt. "Now, when I see the female workers returning home with lanterns after work at night, I feel that the moon has become warmer." A corner of the carriage curtain was lifted by the night wind, and the silver light that leaked in just happened to illuminate a shallow scratch on her neck - it was caused by the shuttle when she was teaching the female workers to separate the yarn during the day.

Chen Han grasped her wrist and felt the thin calluses on her fingertips. The hand in his palm was no longer the soft and pampered one, and there was still a piece of indigo dye on the base of her thumb.

If the masters of the Xu family knew that I had to learn trigonometry from a girl, they would be so angry that they would smash their abacus. He smiled and took the girl to his arms, but felt that the back shoulder bone was more painful than last month.

Zhu Youwei suddenly stood up, her eyes brightening: "Do you remember the hydraulic demonstration instrument in the Physics Department? If the connecting rod of the six-spindle spinning wheel is changed to..." She dipped her tea in the water and drew a simple gear diagram on the low table. The water marks sparkled in the moonlight. At this moment, the carriage ran over the pit, and the wet lines shook into a galaxy.

The night watchman's call came from afar. Chen Han suddenly remembered something and took out an oil-paper package from his sleeve. Unfolding it was a deformed rose cake, and the icing looked like a layer of snow in the moonlight. "The cook said you haven't eaten well in the past three days." He broke open the cake, and the silver thread of the honey filling hung between them.

Zhu Youwei took a bite and smiled: "It's better than the Shangshenjian's." The crumbs stuck to her lips and were wiped away by Chen Han's thumb. She looked at the flowing night outside the window and her voice gradually became lower: "When those widows from the northern border received their first wages, one of their sisters knelt in front of the loom and cried... She said that since her husband died in the war, this was the first time she felt alive."

The carriage passed through a tributary of the Qinhuai River. Paper boats folded by female workers were floating on the water, and a small silk flower was stuck to the bow of each boat.

The lights were still on in the teahouse on the other side of the river, and the sound of an argument could be heard faintly, probably from the scholars debating the pros and cons of vouchers. In the alley closer, several female workers were helping each other unload the bamboo baskets on their backs, and their laughter startled the copper bells on the eaves.

Chen Han suddenly felt his shoulders sink. When he looked down, Zhu Youwei had closed her eyes, her eyelashes casting two crescent-shaped shadows on her face. He carefully took off his outer robe and covered her with it, and found that there was a half-finished drawing of the improved loom in the inner pocket of his lapel - she had put it away when she fell asleep at her desk this morning.

The moonlight filtered through the latticework of the carriage curtains, weaving alternating light and dark patterns on the two men's robes.

The wheels rolled over the long street covered with silver light, like passing through a flowing galaxy. In the distance came the clear chirping of cicadas, echoing with the clappers of the night watchman, startling the nightingale perched on the old locust tree at the entrance of the alley.

……

As the morning light shone through the carved window lattices into the side hall of the East Palace, Chen Jin was rolling on the brocade carpet with half a piece of sesame candy in his hand. The palace maids were sweating as they chased after him with bowls of porridge in their hands.

As soon as the nanny grabbed his embroidered shoes, the little fellow jumped onto the rosewood table barefoot and almost knocked over the glazed revolving lantern that Zhu Yuanzhang had given him yesterday.

"Little ancestor, kowtow carefully--"

The palace door was suddenly pushed open, and Zhu Youwei stood at the threshold holding a food box.

Chen Han followed her and saw the sugar residue on his son's face, and his throat moved.

Chen Jin, who was sitting on the table, suddenly froze. His eyes, which looked like black grapes, rolled around and he suddenly pounced on Zhu Youwei: "Mother!"

The freshly steamed rose and poria cocos cake in the food box was still steaming.

When Zhu Youwei was half-kneeling to wipe her son's face, she found that the tie of his shirt was tied into a knot.

Chen Han squatted down silently and untangled the tangled silk ribbons with his fingertips. His movements were three times more careful than adjusting the gears of a loom.

"Hey, Daddy." Chen Jin suddenly stuffed a wooden spoon into Chen Han's hand, startling the sparrows that were peeking under the eaves.

The little guy actually remembered that the last time he acted like this was three months ago when the Northern Expedition Army returned triumphantly.

The bowl of porridge was passed back and forth between the three people, gradually filling up with the morning light.

Chen Jin suddenly pointed at the inner layer of the food box and said, "It's the lotus leaf buns from Xuanwu Lake!"

It turned out that Zhu Youwei had specially taken a detour to pick fresh lotus leaves and wrapped them with the pine nut candies she had exchanged for the vouchers.

When Chen Han broke the candy into pieces, his son suddenly stuffed the biggest piece into his mouth. The sweetness was so great that the eyes of this capable minister, who was debating with other ministers in the court, instantly turned red.

Outside the window came the sound of female workers reciting "Thousand Character Classic" in the morning. Chen Jin suddenly straightened his back and started to recite "天地玄黄". He got stuck when he got to "辰宿列展".

Zhu Youwei tapped the beat on the table with her fingertips, while Chen Han dipped his finger in tea to draw a star map and taught his son to use the positions of the Big Dipper to memorize sentences.

The little fellow traced the water mark with his fingers, and suddenly looked up and asked, "Daddy and Mommy, will you come tomorrow?"

The wind blew past the copper bells at the corner of the hall, startling the swallows perching on the beams. Chen Han looked at his wife's nails stained with Impatiens juice - those hands were still refining the loom blueprint last night, but now they were holding their son's crooked jade crown steadily.

Zhu Youwei suddenly took off the sachet with beads on her waist and poured out a few black silver beads: "Jin'er, if you can calculate the number of spindles needed in the workshop today, your parents will take you to see the water-turned spinning wheel at noon."

While Chen Jin was scratching his head, Chen Han quietly held his wife's hand under the table.

At the same time, they felt the thin calluses on each other's palms. Those marks caused by working in the court and the workshop were now gently rubbing the child's soft knuckles.

The sunlight cast the shadows of the three people on the "Female Workers' Literacy Curriculum", as if giving the dense handwriting a layer of gold.

The morning light shone through the window onto the floor tiles of the East Palace's side hall. Zhu Youwei tapped the table with her fingertips and suddenly looked up at Chen Han: "Are you free these days?"

Chen Han was wiping the sugar residue off his son's mouth. He smiled and said, "Yes."

Zhu Youwei's eyes lit up, and she said immediately, "That's perfect. All the maids and nannies in the palace, as well as the female workers in the workshop, must go to the Physics Department of Daming Engineering College to learn how to operate the new textile machines. In addition -" she paused, "the Arabic numerals and decimal counting methods you brought with you must also be taught. Just knowing how to weave is not enough, they must also learn how to calculate materials and check prices, so that they can understand the account books themselves in the future."

Before Chen Han could reply, Chen Jin had already thrown himself on his mother's lap: "Mom, are Arabic numerals the kind that are drawn in circles? Dad taught me!"

He picked up the charcoal pencil and wrote a crooked "3" on the table. Zhu Youwei couldn't help laughing and rubbed his head: "Yes, but it's not enough to just know how to write. You also have to know how to calculate the spindle loss and the labor time conversion."

She raised her eyes to look at Chen Han, "Those students from the School of Physics are bound to be perfunctory in teaching the female workers. If you go in person, they won't dare to neglect you."

"Of course." Chen Han took the hot towel handed to him by the palace maid and washed his hands. "But the palace maids are fine. Most of the widows from the northern border in the workshop are illiterate. They have to start with tracing the red characters."

He suddenly remembered something and turned to tell the eunuch, "Go to the storehouse and get the sand table and abacus beads I made last month, and also prepare some string and colored stones - learning by playing is always better than memorizing by heart."

……

(End of this chapter)