Chapter 102: It was really good

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation  Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

Next, apart from making mosquito incense, Shi Qingluo began to groom polygonum multiflorum every day.

She filled her space with seeds and seedlings that she had collected from the Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

Apart from crops and fruits, there were also quite a number of medicinal herbs.

One of them was polygonum multiflorum.

In order for their county to develop so that she would not have to worry about using soap and shampoo containing polygonum multiflorum in the future, she put in a lot of effort.

Their new house was almost ready.

Shi Qingluo and Xiao Hanzheng went over to take a look at it together.

They saw the soil in the house and courtyard.

If there was a puddle of water, their shoes would be dirty when they stepped on it.

Moreover, Shi Qingluo suddenly thought of a problem.

The floor tiles and ceramic on Bai Xu’s side had already taken shape, and the first batch of them were used to construct their house.

However, she suddenly remembered that she had to use cement and sand to paste the floor tiles.

There wasn’t any cement yet.

She pulled Xiao Hanzheng and asked, “Old Xiao, I want to create something that benefits the country and the people. Do you think we should do it ourselves or find Mo Qingling?”

Xiao Hanzheng was accustomed to his wife’s wild ideas.

“What is it? Tell me more about it.”

Shi Qingluo described, “It’s something called cement.

“After using it, the ground will be very smooth and it will be more durable than the dirt road. When it rains and there’s water, the shoes won’t be stained with dirt.

“The key is that we need floor tiles and ceramic for this to work.

“Oh right, if you mix cement and pebbles together, the mixture will be much stronger. It will be more durable than mixing with glutinous rice, and the cost will be much lower.

“You can also use it to build houses and bridges.

“Most importantly, it is very useful for paving roads.”

In ancient times, many sturdy structures had the gaps between bricks and stones filled by glutinous rice mixed with hydrated lime.

And cement could completely replace this.

In modern times, there was always a saying, “to get rich, fix the roads first.”

Shi Qingluo believed that it was the same in ancient times.

If the roads from Xiaxi village to Nanxi county were paved with cement, the time taken by the vehicles to travel back and forth would definitely be reduced by half.

Transportation would be much more convenient and faster.

When Xiao Hanzheng heard the latter part, he realised that cement was not ordinary.

As his little wife had said, it was really something that would benefit the country and the people.

He thought for a moment and said, “Let’s find Mo Qingling to cooperate.

“With our current status, it’s very easy for others to target us.”

Previously, it was just a method to make ice, but the Wu family and that magistrate were already keeping an eye on them.

Once this type of cement came out, there would definitely be many people keeping a lookout for them.

Shi Qingluo nodded. “Alright, let’s go and talk to Mo Qingling then.

“When the time comes, we’ll open a cement workshop here and let those who want to buy cement come to the village to buy it and continue to boost the crowd here.”

If it was a cement recipe, Mo Qingling would definitely present it to the capital.

No matter how the capital operated, be it using cement or selling it to others, the impacts of her own sales were limited.

She was focusing on her customers who lived in surrounding counties and prefectures. Then, she would slowly expand her business.

Xiao Hanzheng nodded. “Okay, we can talk to Mo Qingling about this.”

They could share the cement recipe, but they would get their village to open a cement workshop to sell the cement to everyone.

Shi Qingluo suggested, “Why don’t we get the cement out first, lay the cement on the small paths in the courtyard and outside, and then invite Mo Qingling over to take a look?”

Verbal explanation was insufficient for Magistrate Mo to understand the cement’s uses

It was better for him to see it with his own eyes.

Xiao Hanzheng smiled lightly and said, “We thought of the same thing again.”

He liked his little wife not only because of her intelligence and cuteness, but also because of the chemistry they had.

Whatever she was thinking, he understood.

Whatever he thought of, she could also spark similar thoughts and comprehend them. They had a lot in common.

He did as she suggested.

After Shi Qingluo returned to the old residence, she took out the time travel encyclopaedia and copied down the recipe for making cement.

After Xiao Hanzheng returned to his room, she showed it to him and asked him to buy the materials.

The main ingredients were limestone, clay, iron ore, and coal.

If there was no iron ore, they could also replace it with the residual slag from iron refinement.

Xiao Hanzheng looked at the materials in the recipe. “I’ll bring people to buy them tomorrow.”

They could buy them in the county town.

Shi Qingluo smiled and said, “Yes, it’s been hard on you recently.”

Her young husband was a master in pen and sword and had excellent communication skills.

Xiao Hanzheng smiled. “Recently, my wife has been having a hard time too.”

He saw her nurturing the polygonum multiflorum every day.

She even had to take care of the sales from the mosquito incense workshop, hop to the floor tile and ceramic workshop and also look after the house.

His heart ached when he saw that she was tired.

However, he could tell that his wife liked such a busy and fulfilling life, so he turned a blind eye to it.

He could only help her out as much as he could.

The next day, Xiao Hanzheng went to buy the materials.

The two of them called a few strong and trustworthy villagers to make cement together.

Shi Qingluo had never made cement before, even though she had the formula which stated the rough ratio etc.

However, she still repeated the experiment countless times before she found an optimal ratio and practised it multiple times before producing cement that she was satisfied with.

Then, they asked the craftsmen who had helped to build their house to help them.

They covered the yard with cement, except for the flowers and fruit trees.

The small road at the entrance of the yard was also paved with cement and led directly to the village.

It was the first time the villagers had seen such smooth and flat land. They all ran over to watch.

“This road is really well-built. Dalang’s wife is too amazing.”

“Even if the road is sprinkled with water, there won’t be any soil that will stain the shoes. This is great.”

“I heard that they are paved with some kind of cement. Dalang’s wife invented it.”

“Maybe the old Taoist spoke to Dalang’s wife in her dream again.”

“The Taoist temple in the middle of the mountain is almost finished, right? When it’s completed, we must go and pay our respects.”

“Almost done. They are already wrapping up. Let’s go and offer incense more often in the future.”

It was also the first time that the chief and the elders had seen this kind of ground and road.

All of them were extremely excited, “Great! This cement is really good stuff.”

“In the future, if our village has money, we can chip in together and use this cement to pave the roads.”

“It feels so good. It’s also convenient to come and go during rain and snow.”

“It would be great if we could pave a road to the county town. It’s also easier to pull carts from there.”

The villagers started imagining.

At this moment,Xiao Hanzheng invited Mo Qingling.

As soon as he got off the carriage, he heard the villagers discussing.

Then, he asked the bailiffs to temporarily usher the villagers to make way for him.

Then, he instructed those driving the carriage to try the cement road.

Sure enough, it was fast and stable. This road was really good.

He went to the Xiao family’s new house to take a look, which was paved with cement in their courtyard.

It looked much more beautiful and convenient than paving with mud and also more cost-effective than paving with stones.

Then, he got someone to knock on a cement board with a hoe, which was deliberately dried out as a sample specimen.

He smashed it quite a few times, but it was still intact. This meant that it was indeed very solid.

Naturally, he also thought of other uses besides paving roads, such as building dams and bridges.

“This cement is good.”

He looked at Shi Qingluo and Xiao Hanzheng and asked, “The cement recipe, do you want to offer it?”

Since it was effective and they called him over to take a look, this meant that they wanted to offer the recipe.

This cement recipe was much more important than the ice-making recipe.

It was truly an excellent product for the country and its people.

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