Transmigrated into a female county magistrate during a famine, leading her country to prosperity

Yu Zhengqing had no objection. He was just a layman in the tool business, so he just followed whatever the master said.

As Master Li Hongmao and his two disciples followed Zhao Xiu over, they saw the detectives forming a circle in the yard. Inside the circle was a huge loom, several adults, and Master Qiao and his two disciples.

Li Hongmao looked at the loom thoughtfully. During this period, he was teaching his two disciples to read and seldom went out. He did not notice that the loom was completed in a blink of an eye.

Like everyone else in the county government, he only knew that these textile machines were better than those currently on the market, but he didn't know exactly how.

However, what Lord Shen took out must be good.

Li Hongmao and several others walked forward, stood together with the detectives, and looked into the circle.

As soon as Mr. Qiao opened the burlap bag and poured the cotton in the bag into the winnowing basket, a few cotton balls were blown away by the wind.

Zhao Xiu quickly caught the cotton ball and handed it back.

Old Qiao took the cotton and looked at the detectives around him, and said, "Boys, stand tight and block the wind!"

After the human windshield was in place, Old Qiao poured out all the fried dough twists in the sack, like white clouds.

Then he fluffed the cotton and rolled the cotton strips in one go, which dazzled everyone and made them scream in surprise.

When the cotton was being fluffed, the fluff flew everywhere, leaving everyone in the yard with white hair. Fang Ziyan was coughing so hard that he quietly covered his mouth and nose. He always felt that his nose and throat were full of cotton!

Although Old Qiao was agile and had Cheng Yu to help, it was still dark when they had rolled all the cotton into slivers.

Old Qiao frowned. This last step of spinning the yarn requires the most eyesight, and Hei Tian is not capable of it.

Seeing that he looked a bit embarrassed, Yu Zhengqing stepped forward and asked, "Master Qiao, if it doesn't work, we can do it tomorrow."

He had previously thought that weaving was too simple. He only knew that one could weave cloth with a loom, but he did not expect that there were so many tricks involved. As expected, this person needs to keep learning throughout his life.

Mr. Qiao was not a man who would show off his strength, so he stepped down as soon as he had the chance.

He put the rolled cotton strips into the backpack one by one, rubbed his eyes and said, "It's not easy to roll the thread in the dark. Tomorrow, I will roll the thread and pull the warp thread, and then we can start spinning the coarse cloth."

Although Shen Zheng was also looking forward to the first piece of cotton cloth, it was getting late and everyone had to eat.

She said to Yu Zhengqing, "Sir, let's have a rest after dinner today and come back early tomorrow morning."

The prefect is here today, so everyone in the yamen cannot eat at the same table.

The public kitchen divided the evening meal into two tables. Shen Zheng, Yu Zhengqing, Xu Zhubu, Li Hongmao and his apprentice, and Qiao's apprentice were at one table. The public kitchen cooked two more dishes for them, and the constables went to the other table.

Yu Zhengqing had just invited everyone to eat and told them not to be restrained when he was shocked by the quality of the food at the Tongan County Government.

How many plates full of meat?!

He originally thought that the public kitchen had specially prepared meat dishes for him, but when he saw that the detectives sitting at another table seemed to be accustomed to it, he rejected this idea.

It seems that the people in the Tongan County Government should have meat to eat every meal.

The suspicion in his heart rose again.

Both Tongan County and the Tongan County Government are visibly poor. How can they afford to eat so well?

Xu Zhubu had been paying attention to Yu Zhengqing's expression today, fearing that he would be idle and daydreaming. Seeing that he looked a little strange, he quickly found a topic to talk about.

He said to Fang Ziyan, "Ziyan, eat more. Your elder brother is worried that you won't have enough to eat here, so he sends you so much meat and vegetables every day."

Fang Ziyan was stunned by his words. Didn’t he eat enough?

Li Hongmao immediately understood what Xu Zhubu meant. He was afraid that the prefect would see their extravagant food and think too much, which would bring trouble to him.

He patted Fang Ziyan on the shoulder and said, "I told your brother not to send so much meat in the past. We can't finish it all in one meal."

Fang Ziyan pouted when he heard this: "Master, my elder brother said that if we can't finish the food, we can let the detective brothers take it back to eat. He even complained that the food we sent was not enough."

Although Yu Zhengqing knew that the chief clerk and the scholar had said this on purpose for him to hear, he also dispelled his doubts.

He was rather curious as to which family this young man came from, why his family was so generous, and why he was in the Tongan County Yamen.

Shen Zheng saw that he was looking at Fang Ziyan and thought this was an opportunity!

She introduced him to Yu Zhengqing, "Sir, this is the headmaster of Tongan County School, Mr. Li Hongmao, and this boy is the second son of the Fang family in Quanyang County. He is currently studying at Tongan County School and is Mr. Li's disciple."

Upon hearing this, Yu Zhengqing looked at Shen Zheng with a look of surprise on his face.

"When did your Tongan County have a county school?"

As far as he knew, among the counties under the jurisdiction of Liuyang Prefecture, only the slightly wealthier ones had county schools.

Among them is the Quanyang County she just mentioned.

No, that's not right. Where did she say this young boy was from?

Fang family in Quanyang County?

They were so generous, could it be the Fang family he knew?

He couldn't help but ask again, "The Fang family you just mentioned, is it the Fang family that does a huge business?"

The Fang family has a large business and covers a wide range of areas. Even his Liuyang Mansion has some of the Fang family's assets.

It is not difficult to see that the current head of the Fang family is extremely smart. Although they have some industries in Liuyang Prefecture, they never compete for the market with the old families in the prefecture, and they retreat when they should.

Therefore, most of the Fang family’s businesses are in the counties surrounding the provincial capital, rather than in Liuyang Prefecture.

Shen Zheng answered them one by one: "In reply to your question, my Tongan County School has just been established not long ago. Currently, there is only one teacher, Mr. Li, and his disciple Fang Ziyan is the second son of the Fang family in Quanyang County that your Excellency mentioned."

Yu Zhengqing frowned when he heard this. How could a county school have only one teacher? It should be more like a private school.

The Liuchang Academy in Quanyang County is quite famous in Liuyang Prefecture. I don't know what is so special about Mr. Li that can make the Fang family give up their nearby place and send their second son to study in Tongan County.

He glanced at Li Hongmao and asked, "Do you have any achievements?"

Li Hongmao stood up and replied, "Your Excellency, I passed the examination for a scholar three years ago."

Scholar?

It’s not that he looks down on scholars, but Yu Zhengqing feels that a scholar is not good enough to be the principal of the county school. And if this man is just a scholar, why should the second son of the Fang family study with him?

Li Hongmao also understood the meaning of his words. Although he was not planning to continue to take the imperial examinations, he never slacked off in his studies.

Shen Zheng didn't want her people to be looked down upon, so she said:

"Your Excellency may not know that Mr. Li was not originally from Tongan County. He just became a Tongan County citizen this year. He passed the examination for a scholar three years ago and came to Tongan County due to an accident. I saw that he was very talented, so I hired him to be the principal of Tongan County School."

Shen Zheng spoke nicely and did not want to tell Yu Zhengqing that Li Hongmao was originally a refugee.

Li Hongmao didn't think so. This was a good opportunity to make his parents proud.