Chapter 77

Chapter 77

The next morning, an elder from the clan led a child to Yun Zhangxie.

The old man nudged the child, who immediately knelt before Yun Zhangxie.

Confused, Yun Zhangxie asked, "What is this about?"

"This child has lost his parents and is also a *ge'er*. I came to beg you, sir, to see if you might take him in. We're not asking for any future favors—just a roof over his head and food to eat."

Yun Zhangxie asked, "His parents are gone, but what about his grandparents or other relatives?"

"They all look down on him for being a *ge'er*, so no one is willing to take him in."

Yun Zhangxie sighed and motioned for the child to stand up before saying, "If you follow me, you can only be a servant. Are you sure you want to stay with me?"

To avoid future trouble, if the child stayed with him, he would have to remain a servant.

Being a servant—bound to servitude—was no mark of honor.

The child, already seven or eight years old, replied, "Being a servant is better than suffering their abuse. My aunt said they’d raise me a little longer, then sell me to a landlord as his boy-concubine. I don’t want to be a concubine. Please save me, sir. I’ll be very obedient and well-behaved."

He didn’t want to be a concubine—that landlord could have been his grandfather. He refused.

Su Qingruo, standing nearby, felt his heart go out to him.

He thought about their son Lou'er, who would need a servant to care for him in the future. Perhaps they could take this child in.

Once the boy learned his place, Lou'er would be older, and he could stay by his side.

Seemingly sensing Su Qingruo’s thoughts, Yun Zhangxie eventually wrote an indenture contract and bought the child.

The child’s surname was Yun, tying him to the Yun household.

The Yun family had humble origins, but in recent years, the main family's fortunes had turned.

However, the rise of the main branch didn’t mean all Yun clansmen could share in the prosperity.

Many distant relatives of the Yun family still lived in hardship.

Yun Zhangxie could take in this child, but he wasn't about to be played for a fool later.

If his aunt or grandparents regretted their decision, they might come sniffing around for compensation.

Now that the deed was signed, they wouldn’t be able to make demands on Yun Zhangxie.

Later, when the group returned to Qiuping County, Yun Zhangxie threw himself into setting up a factory.

A cement factory, with its dust and fumes, wasn’t suitable for densely populated areas.

After surveying the county's outskirts, Yun Zhangxie chose a stretch of unused northern scrubland as the site for the cement factory.

Once the location was decided, they put out the call for laborers.

To facilitate management and attract more laborers, they offered bed and board.

They built barracks-style quarters and a mess hall beside the factory.

In ancient times, steady work with room and board was near unheard of. Most labor was conscripted as corvée, and even paid work offered very little compensation, often with death always a hairsbreadth away.

Yun Zhangxie's workshop was hands down the most beneficial project for ordinary folks ever.

He had great confidence in the workshop, believing it would become a goldmine for the locals in Qiuping County.

Before the cement factory produced its first batch of cement, Yun Zhangxie would be bleeding money.

Fortunately, he had scored a hefty stash of silver from the bandits, so he wasn’t worried about money for the time being.

By the time he spent all the silver, the factory would likely be up and running.

Cement-making wasn't rocket science, but given their primitive tech, it was still somewhat troublesome.

Additionally, to ensure the cement formula didn’t leak, he needed to establish an assembly line.

You could never trust people.

If the cement-making formula spread to other countries, it would spell trouble for Great Zhou.

As a citizen of Great Zhou, regardless of his personal feelings toward the nation, Yun Zhangxie naturally hoped Great Zhou would remain the strongest, especially since his family lived there.

While the cement factory was gradually being built, Yun Zhangxie was also trying to get folks into the habit of drinking boiled water.

He had only recently learned that many households chugged untreated water directly.

Especially in summer, people often drank straight from the well, which easily led to illness.

When the magistrate himself showed up to promote this, even if many thought it was nonsense, they were willing to trust his words.

Someone said, “He’s the county magistrate and a *Tanhu* scholar—of course, he knows more than we do. Our magistrate is kind-hearted and even helped us capture bandits. He’s a good official, so we should follow his advice.”

Of course, some poorer families, like certain farmers, couldn’t spare a stick of firewood and thus ignored the advice.

What could they do? Even if Yun Zhangxie was right, they were too poor. The firewood was reserved for cooking or selling. Though they knew drinking untreated water could make them sick, they had no choice.

Fortunately, with the new workshop in the county, many workers could be hired in the future. Once people’s lives improved, folks would naturally start boiling their water.

By mid-April of that year, Yun Zhangxie’s cement factory was completed and started hiring workers left and right.

After producing two batches of cement, they would also hire a large number of laborers for road construction.

This would provide many able-bodied men in the county with a paycheck.

The lives of the county’s people would gradually improve.

During the factory’s recruitment days, the story's male lead came by with his guards, clearly curious about this so-called workshop.

Yun Zhangxie was quite surprised to see them, as he was shocked the male lead stuck around in Qiuping County without developing a romantic relationship with Su Qingruo.

Later, he noticed the protagonist was accompanied by some pretty *ge'er* he didn't recognize.

The young man was very beautiful, with arched willow brows and almond-shaped eyes, following the protagonist closely.

Yun Zhangxie could only shake his head, realizing that even without Su Qingruo, the protagonist still managed to find a new fling.

He just pitied the kid, wondering what mess he'd gotten into.

Yun Zhangxie hated seeing the protagonist deceiving others.

After some thought, he had a young beggar deliver a letter to that young man.

He figured the young man probably didn’t know the male lead’s real identity or that he had a betrothed. Once he learned the truth, he would likely stay away from the male lead.

But to Yun Zhangxie’s surprise, after receiving the letter, the young man not only showed no intention of leaving the male lead but became even more attached to him than before.

Oh well.

Seeing this, Yun Zhangxie realized he had meddled too much.

To each their own destiny—he could only help so much.

Since the young man had chosen his own path, the consequences were no longer Yun Zhangxie’s concern.

The workshop officially started production in May, and by late June, they produced the first batch of cement.

Unsure if the cement met quality standards, Yun Zhangxie didn’t immediately report it to the Imperial Court.

He ran many tests with the craftsmen, later improving the cement mixture. After another three months, they produced two batches of cement.

One batch was used to pave roads, starting with the main street of the county town. The other was used to repair the city walls and towers, comparing the results of both applications.

Both road construction and wall repairs required many workers, so they hired even more laborers.

By then, it was already October.

The silver seized from the bandits had long been spent, and now county funds were being used—soon, Yun Zhangxie would have to use his own money.

Worried about running out of money, he reported the cement project to the Imperial Court while increasing production to sell to neighboring counties.

They only paved a small section of road, mainly to demonstrate how good cement was.

Once other counties saw the sample, some would surely want to buy, and Yun Zhangxie would have funds again.

The idea of smooth, even roads interested nearby counties.

After word spread about the cement, people from two counties came to inspect the paved section in Qiuping County.

The road was indeed level and smooth, making for a smooth ride for both carriages and horses.

Even pedestrians, walking on it for a long time, would find their shoes would last longer.

However, due to the high cost of cement, they couldn’t afford much.

Counties, unlike prefectural cities, had limited tax revenue and little extra income—most were relatively poor.

After going back and forth several times, they only purchased just enough to try out, with no immediate plans for large-scale procurement.

Cement production was indeed expensive. First, the raw materials were hard to obtain and had to be transported from elsewhere. Second, with current technological limitations, it required a lot of hard work.

The more labor involved, the higher the cost.

Very few places were willing to spend heavily on cement roads.

Likely, only some prefectural cities could afford such projects.

As it turned out, Yun Zhangxie’s prediction was correct.

It wasn’t until the twelfth month that he received a major order—from their prefectural city.

The prefectural city, wealthier than their small county, bought ten cartloads of cement in one go.

Reportedly, they planned to use it to pave several main streets in the city.

They wanted to test it first; if the results were satisfactory, they would expand the project citywide.

It had to be said—prefectural cities were simply richer than the counties below.