Traveling through ancient times: daily life on the run

"Jing'er, I can teach you to read in the next few days. You can recognize a few simple words. After Aunt Zhou leaves, you'll have to figure out how to read on your own."

"Aunt, are you leaving?" Jing'er's eyes suddenly turned red. Although they had only been together for two days, the accumulation of feelings seemed to be longer than half a lifetime.

Luo Yu rubbed her little head and said with a smile: "Be good, Auntie will be here for a few more days. During these days, let's get along well, okay?"

"Well, Jing'er likes Aunt Zhou the most!"

Chunhua's nose felt sore. She didn't have any ability to keep Luo Ke now. Even if she did, how could such an unusual person like Luo Ke stay in such a small world?

Chunhua hopes that one day Jing'er can be as free and unrestrained as Luo'er, and not be trapped by the world and poverty.

The wheelchair was made very smoothly. Chunhua took Luo Qing to the home of Uncle Gong, a carpenter at the village entrance, to make four wooden wheels.

Uncle Gong is skilled in carpentry. He opened a shop in the city a few years ago. Unexpectedly, someone opened a shop opposite and directly undercut his business. In a fit of anger, he closed the shop and stayed at home to make some furniture and farm tools for the villagers to earn some money.

Luo Yu and Uncle Gong explained the purpose of the wooden wheels. The two large wheels were placed where the hands could reach them, and the two small wheels were placed where the legs could reach them. This made it convenient for people to sit in the wheelchair and push the large wheels forward.

After saying that, he took out the blueprint and showed it to Uncle Gong for study. Uncle Gong's eyes widened, and suddenly turned into a smile.

"Chunhua, your cousin is really smart. Although wheelchairs have always existed, the design of one that can be pushed by oneself without the help of others is really creative and suitable for your Liu Zhi."

Luo Yu raised his eyebrows and smiled: "It seems that Uncle Gong is very confident that he can do it well."

"This must be no problem!"

Chunhua was smiling brightly, and it turned out that she was praising Luo Yu, that is, praising her as his sister, even if it was only a temporary sister.

Luo Yu was delighted as he surrounded the yard with all kinds of wooden handicrafts. Although they looked ordinary, this craft was not simple. If it could be combined with various designs in the modern world, wouldn't it be a craft with a bright future?

She may not know anything else, but she is good at designing various engineering drawings, a skill that must be mastered in the doomsday.

There are fewer parts in this era, but the sturdiness of wood after assembly is no worse than that of metal. For example, the stability of wooden houses is much higher than that of brick and earth houses.

"Uncle Gong, I have an idea. Are you interested?"

Uncle Gong swallowed his saliva. He was thinking that if he could modify the wheelchair with wood, would there be a bigger market for it? But the design belonged to someone else, and he didn't know how to start.

"Cousin Chunhua, tell me about your idea. Uncle is listening."

"Uncle, just call me Miss Zhou. I see you have good skills, but you're stuck in this small space. No one is interested in your excellent carpentry work, and you probably won't make much money selling it to the villagers. Uncle, have you ever thought about expanding your carpentry business?"

"Miss, you know, our village is close to the city, so it's supposed to be a prime location. But the city is a place full of talented people, and they're rich and well-connected. Laborers like us are no match for them."

Luo Yu nodded, the uncle finally hit the nail on the head.

"I do have a way to make Uncle Gong's woodworking famous in the city. Would you like to hear it?"

"Really?" Uncle Gong's eyes lit up and he stopped what he was doing.

Aunt Gong has already brought out tea to entertain the two of them.

Luo Yu sat on a small stool, supporting his chin with his hand and smiling.

"But I have a condition. If you agree, I will teach you the method, including all the creative ideas in my head. I will share them with you without reservation."

"What conditions? As long as it doesn't cost an old man like me his life, as long as I can do it, I will definitely do it at all costs."

"It's not that serious." Luo Yu smiled and continued, "I can make the wheelchair for you, but you have to cooperate with Brother Liu. He will weave the bamboo wheelchair and you will make the wooden wheels. We can split the profits based on a certain percentage. What do you think?"

"No problem, but I think it won't be long before others learn to walk too."

"Don't worry, I have other creative ideas for you to work on together. Brother Liu is currently physically challenged, so he's probably not up to the task of carpentry. Plus, bamboo weaving is significantly cheaper than wood, so it's definitely a reasonable purchase for ordinary people. If you want to expand your client base to include the wealthy, that's fine. Simply switch to high-end wood. However, 20% of the profits must go to Sister Chunhua and her family."

When Chunhua heard this, she was suddenly stunned and turned to look at Luo Yu.

"Sister Zhou, you're doing this without considering yourself?"

Luo Yu pointed to his head and said happily: "I have brains and many ways to make money. Doesn't Sister Chunhua know them all?"

Uncle Gong was also extremely shocked. He never thought that someone would teach the skills of cooking to others for free without asking for any reward. Why is that?

"Uncle Gong, if you agree, we can ask the village head to be our guarantor and we can sign and seal it, how about that?"

Luo Yu didn't have much time to get to know Uncle Gong, so the most reliable thing he could do was to find someone to sign and guarantee his debt.

She is willing to teach them all her creative ideas, and hopes that one day they can take on apprentices to carry forward the innovations. Is this also a potential transformation?

Uncle Gong had seen Luo Yu's drawings and knew that she was not an ordinary craftsman. Perhaps she had learned from a famous master, or perhaps she was the last disciple of a famous figure. However, he had never heard of a woman inheriting the mantle of a master. It was very strange.

After Uncle Gong agreed, both parties invited the village head to act as a guarantor. Another idea popped up in Luo Yu's mind, but now was not the right time.

After Brother Liu's job was guaranteed, Luo Yu agreed to come over the next day to explain the creative principles to Uncle Gong, including some of the products she planned to try, such as children's walkers, children's balance bikes, hand-cranked scooters, strollers, foldable tables and chairs, sofa beds, etc.

In fact, it’s not that the ancients didn’t have these creative ideas, but the people who came up with them would not teach them to others easily. They paid more attention to family inheritance or apprenticeship. If they passed the skills down to unreliable successors, many skills would be lost.

Luo Yu couldn't think of how to spread her craft for the time being, so she could only choose some people to spread it slowly. These people should only care about their desire for the craft, not the temptation of money.

She knew that she was thinking too idealistically now, and that the difficulty of this road might not be something she could accomplish on her own.