The fierce peasant woman is busy farming

Of course, she didn't understand anything about incense, nor did she understand why those literati liked incense so much.

It's made to smell delicious, but doesn't it feel weird?

Master Cui continued, “Cypress incense and pine incense are essential items for scholars to read and write.

From saints to ordinary students, everyone would light a stick of incense or burn a burner of incense beside them when reading. "

Although he didn't understand, Zhou Yue was still willing to listen to Master Cui's advice as long as he could make money.

"But, Master, the incense I make is crude after all. How can it be compared with those traditional incense workshops?"

“It’s okay, you can add some Chinese herbs and flowers into the incense, and no one will be able to discover the magic for a while.

Even if it is discovered, it will take some time to study the ratio.

You understand both incense and Chinese medicinal materials, which is your advantage."

“Good idea, make the incense more complex and have some effect.

For example, adding Atractylodes can prevent epidemics; adding mugwort can prevent insects; adding rose can relieve depression... and even beautify the skin..."

This is what it means to increase added value.

"Yes, you can also ask Song Yuan to find his mother to give your incense a name. With the favor of the princess, I think in addition to the literati, the noble ladies in the capital will also like it."

"Master Cui, is this incense really that important to the nobles?" Zhou Yue hesitated.

She had never lived an aristocratic life and didn't understand.

Although she would not make such a joke as guessing that the empress used a golden shoulder pole to carry water and the emperor used a golden hoe to plow the fields.

But the life of the nobility was far away from her. She had never seen it in person and did not understand why an ordinary fragrance was so important.

"It's very important. You can't live without fragrance for a day."

"Okay, I'll go back and look up more ancient books, study with Qing Mo, and make more varieties of incense.

I'll give it to you first when the time comes."

"Well, I will be disrespectful to refuse it. You don't have to give me perfume that women use. I don't understand it either.

As an old man, I don’t understand what women like, and I don’t know what kind of fragrance they like.

"What about the lady...?"

I have never known the specific situation of Master Cui, so I might as well take this opportunity to ask.

"My wife has been gone for more than ten years. For ten years, we were separated by life and death..."

Suddenly choked up.

Zhou Yue felt embarrassed. He didn't expect that Master Cui, who was always cheerful, had such a side to him.

Oh, such a man, especially one in officialdom, is rare. It seems that Master Cui has many stories.

Zhou Yue quickly changed the subject as he brought up someone else's sad story for no reason.

"Well, Master Cui, I'll go back and mix a few incense sticks. Once they're done, I'll bring them to the mountain for you to try. Is that okay?"

"Okay, then I'll wait."

Mr. Cui was not the kind of person who would be sad about the passing of time, and he quickly adjusted his mood.

After finishing his words, Master Cui stopped and let Pingsheng escort Zhou Yue down the mountain.

After returning home, Zhou Yue washed his hands and held his fat grandson and played with him for a while.

Qian came to call her and walked into Mr. Ning's room. She saw Mr. Ning's face was flushed and he was carving something in his hands.

Zhou Yue walked into the room and carefully looked at the thing in his hand. It turned out to be a small wooden horse.

Under his hands, the pony gradually took shape and became a running horse.

The horse is vivid, its tail flying backwards, every strand of mane on its neck is clear, and even its eyes seem alive.

I have to say that Mr. Ning’s craftsmanship is such that it’s not beyond the realm of possibility to call him an artist.

Seeing Zhou Yue coming in, Mr. Ning put down his work and spoke out loud:

"Ms. Zhou, what do you think of Qingmo's marriage?"

"Well, Dad, I, I don't know what to think. Her fate has not yet arrived. Let's wait a little longer."

"We still have to wait? How old is she?

Look at Zhaodi in the village. When she married into the village, her parents could see it.

She has already given birth to two children, how long will Qingmo wait?

I'm not sad about the fine, I'm just worried that she will be left alone when she gets old.

I originally thought that Mr. Song was pretty good, but who knew that he would go to the battlefield and die without saying a word? No, he is not reliable."

"Uh, Dad, the matter with Lord Song has not been finalized yet, so you must not mention it in front of outsiders."

Although Zhou Yue was speaking to Mr. Ning, his eyes were on Qian.

I was afraid that Qian, this big mouth, would go out and talk nonsense.

Qian understood and snorted coldly.

"Fate, fate, you always say that, but we can't just do nothing and wait, right?"

"Dad, don't worry, our family will be going to Beijing to do business soon.

There are many people in Beijing, so you don’t have to worry about not meeting the right person when the time comes.

Besides, our family can afford to support her, so Qingmo will live a good life even if she doesn't get married.

By then, will she still be afraid that her nephews will not give her a bite to eat?"

“Humph, I know all about our children, and I won’t dislike her.

But, how can a woman not get married?

If you don't marry or have children, how can you still be considered a woman?"

"Dad, I don't like what you said.

If I were to choose again, I would not get married. "

Old Master Ning was speechless. He couldn't accept the fact that his son was sorry to Zhou Yue.

Zhou Yue didn't want to dwell on this topic any longer, so he brought up another topic that Mr. Ning liked.

"Dad, you are really good at carving. Have you taught it to Yang Mo?"

“Well, she doesn’t want to learn it. It requires some strength in the hands, which is not easy for girls.

Xuan Mo, on the other hand, really likes to hold a carving knife.

He said that once he picked up the carving knife, he didn’t think about anything else but carving something out.

This is carving as a hobby.

Very good. Zhou Yue was just afraid that Xuan Mo would become a nerd.

Thinking of the book, Zhou Yue had an idea.

Books were scarce and precious at this time.

One reason is that some people deliberately hide it, and the other reason is that paper and printing are difficult.

The first one is not particularly difficult to solve because the biggest book collector of this era is the emperor.

As long as he is willing to take out the original books, print them in stereotypes, and promote them, the books and classics in the hands of other aristocratic families will no longer be so precious.

The second is a technology that progresses very slowly.

Because of the low social status of craftsmen, most of their skills were passed down from family to family or from master to apprentice.

It is fine if it is passed down in the family, but when it is passed down from master to apprentice, the master is likely to keep it to himself because he is afraid of the saying "Teach the apprentice and starve to death".

Although the family tradition would not be hidden between father and son, most of these lowly children had no chance to go to school.

Many craftsmen are not even literate.

Even if there are one or two people who have the opportunity to learn to read, not only are they not well educated, but most of them also have no motivation to improve their skills.

Zhou Yue remembered that the improvement of papermaking technology in history seemed to be the credit of Cai Lun, a eunuch in the palace.

By chance, he was sent to supervise the paper mill in the palace. He was a person who liked reading and thinking.

That's why people started to improve the papermaking technique.

Money, free time, power, motivation and opportunities are all essential.