It's hard for my elder sister. I rely on the mountains to farm and pay off my debts.

"Hey, have you heard? Dashan's family built a bed that can keep warm. What's it called? Oh, right, it's called a kang!"

"I heard that the kang is connected to the stove outside the house. In winter, you just need to light a fire in the stove to warm the kang!"

"Oh, what you know is outdated. Now I heard that if you leave a burning hole directly under the kang in the house, you don't have to go out to add firewood in the winter, and you can also boil water by the stove. It's really convenient!"

"Is it really that easy to use?" a woman who was chatting asked in surprise.

"Of course it's true. My husband came home and said that once the kang is lit, it's so warm that the whole house is warm too."

"And there's no pungent smell of smoke. There are kangs in several rooms of Azhi's house." Xiao Zhao said confidently.

One woman was curious, "That must have cost a lot of money, right? Ah Zhi is quite capable. Look how long it's been, and she's not only paid off her previous debts, but she's even built a huge house!"

"You're wrong. I heard from my husband Erzhu that the kang doesn't cost much. I heard it's made of yellow mud and hay, yellow clay and adobe. They made it themselves!"

Little Zhao sat by the door, picking beans while chatting with the villagers about the hottest topic of kangs.

The speaker has no intention, the listener has the heart.

After hearing what Xiao Zhao said, the women became curious. In recent days, more and more villagers came to the Song family's new house to see the kang.

Song Zhi heard from her grandmother that in recent days, villagers have been coming to the new house every day to observe the kang.

Song Zhiben also wanted to promote this technique among the villagers, so she asked her grandmother to light a kang for the villagers who came to watch.

In a house with a kang, people can clearly feel that it is warmer inside than outside as soon as they enter the house.

They used their hands to test the temperature of the kang, and it was not as hot as they had imagined.

If it is the coldest time of winter, it would be so comfortable to sleep on this warm kang!

Someone then found Wu privately and asked her if she could ask the craftsman to build a kang for their home.

It turned out that when Old Man Zhou built the kang again, he asked others to do everything except laying the soil and making the kang boards.

The other most critical parts, such as the flue, were mostly made by him himself without asking anyone else to do it for him.

In addition, in this era, the craftsman's skills were his livelihood. Although some villagers were curious about the inside of the kang, they did not dare to overstep their bounds because the other party had the support of the county magistrate.

So during this period of time, except for Song Ping who was called by Old Man Zhou to help him, no one else dared to learn secretly.

When Mrs. Wu heard this request, she did not agree immediately. After all, this was a craftsman in the county official's family, and she could not agree on his behalf without obtaining his consent.

But Wu didn't refuse. She thought for a moment and said, "Please ask for me. I'll get their consent and then I'll tell you."

The villagers responded in unison, "Of course, we'll trouble you to help mediate between them."

"You know my mother-in-law has a weak leg. In winter, she complains of being cold all day long and needs a hot water bottle every day. If she could have a kang like the one you have at home, her life would be much more comfortable!"

"..."

That day, many villagers came to Mrs. Wu and proposed to her that they wanted to ask Old Man Zhou to help them build kangs.

Some did it for the elderly, and some did it for their wives and children. In the end, everyone had seen the benefits and convenience of the kang.

In addition, I heard that the kang was cheap to build, and there was yellow mud and hay everywhere in the village, so it didn't cost any money at all. It should not cost much to just hire someone to build a kang.

So everyone was really excited.

After seeing off the villagers, Mrs. Wu immediately returned home and mentioned the matter to her granddaughter, "Azhi, many families in the village have come to ask me if I can ask Craftsman Zhou to help build a kang. What do you think..."

Song Zhi asked in surprise, "Didn't everyone follow Master Zhou to learn?"

It can be said that Song Zhixin is quite open-minded. Ever since she saw Old Man Zhou's explanation of the kang and the drawings, she has been very optimistic about it.

She invited the man back home and became a hands-off boss, leaving all matters related to the kang to Old Man Zhou.

This wasn't because she was lazy and did it on purpose. Firstly, there were professionals around, and her pointing fingers at others would arouse suspicion.

On the other hand, she was really too busy to spare the time as she had to go to Doctor Zheng's house every day to learn to read and identify herbs.

After returning home, she would teach several children to read together, so she made reading cards with the words Zheng Hui taught her.

Every day, an hour is spent testing them and teaching them new characters.

In the remaining time, she would pull her younger sister to crochet a hat and try new crochet techniques. Apart from checking the progress every day, she really had no extra energy to focus on making the kang.

They would not care who was actually working on the kang.

Wu shook her head. "How can I learn this from someone else? This is a skill that people rely on for a living. Without Master Zhou's permission, if I try to learn it myself, it would be like stealing his skills."

"But he did bring your eldest brother with him to help him. I didn't even ask Ah Ping, but he must have seen it!"

After that, he repeatedly denied what he had just said, "No, no, I still have to inform the craftsman Zhou before I help the villagers build a kang. If I let Ah Ping do it secretly, people will accuse him of stealing my skills."

"That's not a good reputation!"

"Your eldest brother still hasn't been able to find a wife. He's already old now. If he gets a bad reputation, it will be even harder for him to get married!"

Song Zhi just looked at her grandma talking to herself foolishly.

To be honest, she had never thought about it so much before, nor had she ever thought about hiding the earthen kang.

But now that her grandmother said this, she had to re-examine the matter.

In fact, he asked Craftsman Zhou to come to his house to build a kang with the intention of letting the villagers learn from him.

This can be regarded as her way of expressing her gratitude to everyone for coming to her house to help. As for how much they learn, it depends on their abilities!

But she obviously did not expect that people nowadays value craftsmanship.

In the eyes of the villagers, this was the craft that Craftsman Zhou made his living from. Without permission, the villagers would not dare to spy on him.

Song Zhi thought that Old Man Zhou wanted to tell Zhou Yu about the method of making the kang, and he probably didn't let the villagers participate for the sake of confidentiality.

After all, the method of making a kang that has been spread is still different from the one I specifically reported.

Song Zhi could understand what Old Man Zhou was thinking.

Their life contracts are held in the hands of their masters, and their life and death, honor and disgrace all depend on one person.

If you can help your master solve his problems and gain his attention and appreciation, then your future life will naturally be better.

However, they were originally sent to the north by their master, but they failed to do their job as instructed, which was already a dereliction of duty on their part.

Even if he could return to the capital in disgrace now, he would probably not be reused again because he failed to complete the mission successfully.

If he could turn things around with this incident, his situation would be completely different.

Whether Zhou Yu gave him the grace to release him from slavery, or he continued to stay with Zhou Yu and share Zhou Yu's worries, he demonstrated the value of his existence.

After Song Zhi had thought it over, she finally said to Wu, "Grandma, leave this matter to me. I'll ask Uncle Zhou first."

When Mrs. Wu heard her granddaughter say this, she felt relieved.