After Transmigration: Building a Kingdom in Turbulent Times-Chapter 646 - 640: Abandon Her (Monthly Ticket Bonus 2)
Finally, the Emperor’s gift was fully prepared. Zhao Hanzhang stood wearily at the door, watching Zhao Xin and his group leave. She sighed and said to Ting He, "Prepare the horses, we will go out of the city to see Tinghan."
Ting He agreed.
Zhao Hanzhang wanted to go out to check her wallet, after all, she had just spent a lot of money.
Fu Tinghan was at the water mill. Shen Ruhui was very helpful; not only did he help Fu Tinghan improve the water mill linkage, but he was also planning to upgrade the water cart to increase thrust, aiming to achieve the pressure of the forging machine. It was said that they recently made progress, so Fu Tinghan stayed here, working tirelessly with Shen Ruhui and others.
Zhao Hanzhang rode towards Luoshui. As she approached the watermill, she saw a group of people stopped by Luoshui. There was a carriage and five ox carts, along with fifty or sixty people who were clearly guards and servants. They looked somewhat familiar.
Zhao Hanzhang had good eyesight. She stopped her horse by the roadside and pointed at the people by Luoshui, asking Ting He, "Do they look familiar to you? I think I’ve seen them somewhere."
Ting He was also riding a horse. She stretched her neck to look over, "I can’t see the people clearly, but the carriage looks familiar. It resembles Seventh Grandfather’s carriage."
Zhao Hanzhang excitedly slapped her thigh and laughed heartily, "Indeed, I wondered whose carriage was so broad, no wonder it looks familiar, this must be Seventh Ancestor’s carriage!"
Zhao Hanzhang urged her horse forward, and her trusted aides quickly followed, with one even overtaking her to ask about the situation first.
Zhao Hanzhang did not compete with them and slowed her horse down.
As a leader of an army, she had to have an awareness of preserving her life.
The trusted aide approached and inquired, and it turned out it was Zhao Hu’s carriage. He immediately turned around happily and told Zhao Hanzhang, "My lord, it is truly Seventh Grandfather’s carriage."
Zhao Hanzhang went forward, glanced at the team, and paused her gaze on the ox carts. She asked, "Where is the Seventh Ancestor?"
The steward left behind immediately pointed at the not far away water mill and said, "The lord went into the workshop. We are not allowed inside. Young lady..."
"Oh, indeed, not everyone can enter the water mill, so you should stay here for now." Zhao Hanzhang said and happily ran to find Zhao Hu.
Zhao Hu was touring the water mill. He was someone who enjoyed life and did not like rushing on the road. Moreover, it was the hottest time, so he traveled only for one and a half hours in the morning and one hour in the evening during the twelve hours of the day, excluding nighttime sleep.
He also bought some things along the way, so the small distance from Chen County to Luoyang took him several days.
In fact, if he had hurried for another half-hour yesterday, he could have entered the city, but he felt the sun was too harsh. He preferred staying overnight in a small village outside the city rather than traveling under the scorching sun.
In the morning, he reached Luoshui and saw the water cart not far away. Furter more, several rows of houses had been built along Luoshui, enclosed by walls, looking like a place for big achievements.
Therefore, he curiously approached to check it out.
Upon inquiry, he found out that it wasn’t a private estate but a workshop built by his grandniece, and her grandnephew-in-law was in the workshop.
Out of curiosity, Zhao Hu entered to visit.
Initially, Fu Tinghan was polite and accompanied him to introduce things, but perhaps they didn’t get along well. Zhao Hu preferred to look around himself, so he asked Fu Tinghan to go about his work, while Zhao Hu wandered around.
This was just the water mill, and the water-powered forging machine would be set up in another workshop, so there was nothing that couldn’t be shown to him. Therefore, Fu Tinghan went about his own work freely.
Zhao Hu entered a room where there were four stone mills set in a semicircle, with a rod extending from the outside. When it moved, all four stone mills rotated.
Before each stone mill stood a person, adding beans into the mill mouth. The beans were crushed and squeezed out, dropping into the mill groove. When there was more, the worker would sweep the bean powder into a wooden bucket with a small broom made of straw.
Zhao Hu watched in awe, "This, this doesn’t require manpower?"
Shen Ruhui, squatting in the corner, heard the sound and stood up, "Who are you?"
Zhao Hu was startled. He then noticed Shen Ruhui wearing a blue cloth robe, squatting at the front end where the wooden rod extended inside, and the first stone mill blocked sight, so he hadn’t been seen.
Zhao Hu patted his chest and complained, "Why did you suddenly make a sound? You scared me."
Shen Ruhui glanced at him leisurely, noticing that he neither looked like a craftsman nor someone who understood hydraulics and water mills, he decided to ignore him and continued squatting and pondering.
Zhao Hu found himself ignored and angrily blew his beard, turned around, and asked, "Where is Tinghan? Quickly bring him here, how can this craftsman be so contemptuous?"
Zhao Hu’s attendant rushed to comfort him, "Lord, the third son-in-law seems to be outside."
Zhao Hu angrily went to look for him outside but found the yard where people were carrying wheat and beans in and out, delivering them to various rooms, yet Fu Tinghan was nowhere to be seen.
Zhao Hu turned his head and asked, "Where is the person?" 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂
The attendant pointed at a small door on the wooden fence, "I just saw the third son-in-law go out from there."
Zhao Hu immediately went forward, pulled open the wooden door, and stepped outside, only to find a large water channel. He almost stepped into it.
He steadied himself and looked ahead, only to see Fu Tinghan standing barefoot on a bamboo raft, holding a stick and making measurements.
"Record it, four feet three."
Fu An hurriedly wrote it down, carefully protecting the notebook to avoid getting it wet. Seeing Zhao Hu, he hurriedly informed Fu Tinghan, "My lord, Seventh Grandfather has arrived."
Fu Tinghan, who was originally planning to move closer to inspect the operation of the large water cart, turned back and saw Zhao Hu staring wide-eyed at him, then said, "Let’s go back."
Fu An quickly paddled back.
Fu Tinghan stepped barefoot onto the edge of the channel, then jumped across and said, "Seventh Ancestor, how did you find this place? Finished visiting the workshop?"
Zhao Hu shook his head, watching him wash his feet in the water channel, then dragged on a pair of wooden clogs, and was suddenly astonished, "You, this workshop, these tasks, you personally handle them?"
Fu Tinghan was puzzled, "What is it?"
Zhao Hu glanced at his soaked pant legs and somewhat reddened fingers, sympathetically patted his shoulder and said, "Tinghan, it seems our Zhao Family has wronged you."
He said, "If you feel wronged, I will speak to Fifth Brother on your behalf to cancel your marriage. You can come over to my side, and then I will assign my family’s workshops to you, and you can earn a profit, with thirty percent for me and seventy percent for you. How does that sound?"
Zhao Hanzhang, who had come with excitement to identify Zhao Hu, suddenly had a cold expression and asked gently while standing behind Zhao Hu, "Seventh Ancestor, what did you say?"
Zhao Hu was startled, clutched his chest, turned around, and upon seeing Zhao Hanzhang, complained irritably, "Why do people in your workshop all like to scare others? Can’t you make a sound before speaking so that I know someone is there?"
