Jiang Zhao smiled and said, "We can't build a large waterwheel. How about a small one?"

"I've asked Brother Da Gen. His farm is only five miles away from the water source. It's possible to build a small waterwheel."

"Moreover, there are many other farmers' wastelands around there. Once the waterwheel is built, those farmers can pay a certain amount of money to use the waterwheel. This will give Da Genge's family an extra income."

Si Mubai nodded: "This method is feasible. We will go to the city to buy materials tomorrow."

Jiang Zhao did not answer, but calculated in his mind how much money it would cost to build a small waterwheel about five meters high.

Si Mubai looked at Jiang Zhao and asked, "Brother Xian, what's wrong?"

Jiang Zhao said helplessly: "Now that the entire Huaijing City has banned us, how can any store be willing to sell us anything?"

"Block? What does this mean?" This was the first time Si Mubai heard the word "block" and "kill" combined.

"It is to use blockade to prevent people or things from existing in a certain area. We just can't appear in Huaijing City now." Jiang Zhao explained.

Si Mubai nodded: "I'll ask Jiuqi to go to the city tomorrow. Jiuqi doesn't show up much. I think the person behind it won't target him."

Jiuqi is the name of Si Mubai's book boy. Jiuqi was sold to the Si family on September 7th, so Simubai named him Jiuqi.

Jiuqi himself also liked this name very much, because when he later learned to write, the first thing he learned was his own name, which was very easy to write.

Jiang Zhao looked at the drawing in his hand and said, "The materials may be a bit expensive."

"Money is not an issue, as long as we can buy the materials." Si Mubai said with great wealth.

Jiang Zhao looked at Simubai. He was indeed a big shot. He spent money without blinking an eye.

"What are you doing for me, dear brother, who keeps staring at me?" If someone stares at you all the time, you will feel a little uncomfortable.

Jiang Zhao smiled and said, "Brother Mu Bai is indeed very wealthy."

Si Mubai waved his hand: "Money is something external to the body. Use it as you wish. The best use is to help Brother Dagen's family."

"Brother Mu Bai is really like an eminent monk at this moment." Jiang Zhao joked.

"Is this the only time?" Si Mubai joked along with her.

The two discussed the details of the waterwheel for a while, and then Si Mubai went back to his room to rest.

Early the next morning, Si Mubai woke Jiu Qi up, gave him a few banknotes, and asked him to go to the city to buy the materials Jiang Zhao wrote to him yesterday.

Before leaving, Si Mubai specially asked Jiu Qi to change into a new set of clothes, and took off the bookboy hat he originally wore on his head.

A closer look shows that Jiu Qi looks pretty good. Now dressed like this, he looks like the son of a wealthy businessman. If he is not familiar with Jiu Qi, he will never recognize Jiu Qi now.

At this time, Jiang Zhao had also gotten up and saw Jiu Qi standing in the yard, but he didn't recognize him for a moment.

"Who is this?"

Jiuqi smiled and said: "Mr. Jiang, I am Jiuqi."

Hearing Jiuqi's familiar voice, Jiang Zhao walked over quickly and said in surprise: "Jiuqi? I didn't expect you to be a young lady."

Jiuqi was a little confused: "Mr. Jiang, what does Mrs. Zheng mean?"

"It just means complimenting you for looking handsome." Jiang Zhao explained casually.

But handsome is also a modern term. Jiuqi didn't understand it, but judging from Jiang Zhao's tone, he was just praising him.

Jiang Zhao reached out and handed him some drawings: "These are all drawings of waterwheels, but the materials for making waterwheels are not easy to buy."

"So you have to buy the materials and send them to the carpenter. Remember to find a few more carpenters, each with a drawing."

Jiuqi accepted the drawings and went to the city to find a carpenter.

Si Mubai walked up to Jiang Zhao and praised, "My dear brother is really thoughtful."

Separate the drawings and have multiple carpenters build them so no one knows the complete waterwheel drawings.

Jiang Zhao shook his head: "I'm just worried if other countries get the waterwheel blueprints."

"Maybe it won't be anything like that at first, but in ten or twenty years, the national power of each country will definitely change."

Simu Bai nodded. Indeed, waterwheels can indeed enhance a country's national strength.

Jiang Zhao looked around and found that Zhang Yougen, his father Zhang Laosan, and his mother Zhang Yang were all working in the fields.

There is one third wife left to take care of them at home.

Originally, Sanniang wanted her mother-in-law to stay at home to take care of a few people. After all, it was much more comfortable at home than working in the fields.

However, Zhang Yang felt that Jiang Zhao and the others were young people and scholars and could not communicate with them. She was also worried that Jiang Zhao and the others felt that they were old people and were too embarrassed to bother her, so she asked Sanniang to stay and take care of them.

He went to work in the fields by himself.

Sanniang saw that Jiang Zhao and others had gotten up, so she brought several bowls of porridge and handed them to Jiang Zhao and others.

Originally, farmers in the countryside only ate two meals a day in order to save food, but Zhang Yougen's family heard that people in the city ate three meals a day. The family was afraid that Jiang Zhao and the others would get hungry if they didn't eat in the morning, so they cooked porridge every day.

They eat.

Jiang Zhao noticed that today's porridge was obviously much thinner than the previous few days.

It's not that Jiang Zhao is finding fault, but Zhang Yougen's family probably doesn't have enough food now.

Fortunately, when Jiu Qi left just now, Jiang Zhao asked him to buy more food and come back.

After finishing the porridge, Jiang Zhao and Simubai went back to their room to read. After all, the imperial examination was coming soon, so they had to seize the time to read.

Wei Xiang practiced in the yard after breakfast.

Wei Xiang needs to consume a lot of meat for his daily cultivation, but these days when he is staying at Sanniang's house, Sanniang's family has eaten all the meat for Jiang Zhao and his party, but the total amount of meat is not enough for Wei Xiang's previous life.

There are many more pauses.

Jiang Zhao could clearly feel that Wei Xiang's practice had slowed down a lot in the past few days.

But they were too embarrassed to ask Sanniang's family to prepare meat for them. On weekdays, their food was even richer than what Sanniang's family had during the New Year.

It seems that we have to find an opportunity to move away from Sanniang's family. We can't cause any more trouble to Sanniang's family. Because of them, Sanniang's family's land has been taken back by the landlord, Jiang Zhao thought in his heart.

Now that we are about to face the imperial examination, this may be a good time to move out.

Once the water tanker was ready, they would move out immediately.

Jiang Zhao found Simubai and told him what he was thinking.

Simubai also supported her decision. In the past few days, Simubai also noticed that the rice eaten by Sanniang's family was adulterated with bran rice.

Just to save more white rice for them to eat.


Chapter completed!