Chapter Ninety-Four: Going All Out

He had misunderstood!

But Lu Jiuniang’s background was not something he could explain to anyone. Zhao Hengyi could only use the clumsy excuse that she was a steward he had hired.

Miss Xiaotao clearly did not believe him, because when Zhao Hengyi and the others first came to Jiangling City, there had been no such cross-dressed female steward in the party.

Watching Xiaotao lift her chin high and leave with exaggerated solemnity, Zhao Hengyi did not know whether to laugh or cry. His own wife had been the one anxiously urging him to take a concubine.

Somehow, Wang Erhu had slipped out from nowhere. Like a servant in a tavern, he sidled up beside Xiaotao and muttered in a low voice about something, every now and then turning back to cast Zhao Hengyi a look full of contempt...

Bah, a bootlicker.

Even without hearing a word, Zhao Hengyi could guess that Wang Erhu was surely bad-mouthing him on purpose just to stand with Miss Xiaotao against a common enemy.

They spent the night in the cave. Early the next morning, after a bowl of thick porridge, the party set out again.

None of the women and children Zhao Hengyi had bought from the broker’s market wanted to run away. On the contrary, they worried they would fall behind if they walked too slowly and be abandoned by their new master.

The backgrounds of these women were not especially complicated, but compared with people who had never once left their villages, they were clearly worldly enough.

To buy so many slaves at once, to allow everyone to eat their fill, and even to provide medicine for the injured—such a master was both wealthy and kind. To have met him was already good fortune. Let alone fleeing, they would not be driven away even if someone tried.

Though the women and children had enough food, their bodies were still weak. They were willing to push themselves as hard as they could, yet still could not move quickly.

Zhao Hengyi was deeply grateful that Miao Xiaoyu and her sisters had stayed at the county lady’s manor. This sort of slow, shuffling pace was pure torment.

It took a full four days before the party finally returned to Dangyang County.

Zhao Hengyi did not take the women and children he had bought back to Elm Tree Bay. Instead, he sent them directly to Cliff Mountain.

The open ground at the summit of Cliff Mountain was large enough that the rescued women could not even fill the houses left behind by the bandits.

With nearly four hundred purchased women and children added in, the mountaintop merely looked a little livelier.

How these people were assigned work, how they were trained, and how they labored in the weaving workshop were all handled personally by Liu Mengruo.

By now, Liu Mengruo was no longer the pitiable woman who had once wished only for death. She managed the entire weaving workshop on Cliff Mountain with remarkable order, and even organized some quick-witted, nimble-handed women to learn carpentry on their own initiative.

There was an inexhaustible supply of timber near Cliff Mountain. Once they learned carpentry, the women could make the components for the looms themselves right there on the summit.

In the future, Zhao Hengyi would only need to transport the special metal parts of the looms to Cliff Mountain, and that would be enough to meet the workshop’s needs.

"Master, the new arrivals will need some time to recuperate first, and making more looms will also take time. How should we calculate their wages?"

After such a long period of training, Liu Mengruo had quietly acquired a touch of efficiency and decisiveness. "Also, the Nine-Flower Jade Dew workshop already has quite a lot of stock. Should we pause for a while, or keep producing?"

"The new people will be paid the same as the rest of us, by piecework. The more they do, the more they earn."

During the journey home, Zhao Hengyi had thought through many matters, and he had already made decisions on all of Liu Mengruo’s questions. "Production of Nine-Flower Jade Dew cannot stop. I’ll take this batch of stock with me directly. Next, we may introduce a new fragrance, so make preparations on your side as well."

With Liu Mengruo there, Zhao Hengyi scarcely needed to worry about the two workshops atop Cliff Mountain. As long as he put forward reasonable production requirements, she could always carry them out perfectly.

A woman with such ability could not possibly be from an ordinary family. Moreover, Liu Mengruo could not only read, but also knew how to keep accounts and calculate figures. The new bookkeeping method Zhao Hengyi had taught her was something she could master at once. She likely had an unusual background and lineage as well.

Yet Zhao Hengyi had never asked, nor had he ever probed indirectly. He truly treated Liu Mengruo as nothing more than a capable female steward.

Even with nearly four hundred more people added, the grain stored on Cliff Mountain was still enough to last half a year. That alone showed how much provisions the bandits had once plundered.

Once the women and children were settled properly, the party’s pace naturally picked up, and that very night everyone returned to Elm Tree Bay.

Aside from Wang Erhu, that bootlicker, everyone else was eager to get home. After all, they had been away for some time, and they all missed the wives and children at home.

Zhao Hengyi, however, was busy to the point that his feet barely touched the ground. The old village head led a group of stewards around him in an endless circle, and all the matters accumulated in the village over these days needed the master’s final approval.

Though the issues were numerous and important, most of them involved money and grain, so they were not difficult to judge correctly. The reason they had piled up was simply that Zhao Hengyi and Miao Xiaoyu, the people who truly handled affairs, had both been away from home.

Zhao Hengyi intended to delegate authority. As the enterprise grew larger and larger, the number of matters requiring attention would only increase. If he and Miao Xiaoyu were expected to make every decision themselves, they would eventually work themselves to death.

Taking this opportunity, Zhao Hengyi granted the old village head and several other stewards certain powers. For some less important matters, they could decide on their own and no longer had to report or consult him about everything.

By the time all the affairs were dealt with, the moon was already high above the treetops. Zhao Hengyi still had to go to the smithy to discuss forging tungsten steel with Zhang Daniu.

The new blacksmith, Wu Ren, had already settled his family. He and his five apprentices had all reported to the smithy. By the time Zhao Hengyi arrived, Zhang Daniu was showing the newcomers how to raise and control the furnace temperature.

"Brother Wu really has genuine skill, and he’s an honest sort as well. With his help, the smithy certainly won’t fail Master’s important business in the future."

Bare-chested, with an old rag of indeterminate color hanging around his neck, Zhang Daniu drank water as he muttered quietly to Zhao Hengyi, "Otherwise, Master could make an exception and take Old Wu into our sect as well. But let me say this first: even if he’s older and joins later, he’d still be my junior brother!"

This lummox, apart from thinking about forging iron all day, spent the rest of his time thinking about how to glorify the sect!

"We’ll talk about it later."

Even Zhao Hengyi was helpless with Zhang Daniu. He had tried more than once to expel this simpleton from the sect, but had never succeeded. "Old Wu spent half his life in the Imperial Works Directorate. His craft has been passed down in his family for generations. Talk with him more. Who knows, he may have some secret skills up his sleeve."

"I understand."

Using the rag around his neck to wipe the sweat from his face, Zhang Daniu wore a sly smile that looked entirely out of place on him. "Once someone is in the sect, we’re all fellow disciples. There’s absolutely no way Old Wu is allowed to keep anything hidden!"

Damn it, is that what I meant?

"This time I brought back some tungsten ore. Not a huge amount. We’ll practice with it first. Once the goods I ordered from Hengtong Trading House arrive, we’ll have to make a real push."