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

When Mr. Zhou was about to leave in the evening, Song Zhi found him.

Old man Zhou originally thought that Song Zhixun wanted to ask about the progress of the completion. Without waiting for Song Zhi to speak, he said bluntly that the kang in the back yard would be ready in two days.

Song Zhi explained with a smile, "I wanted to ask, you said you wanted to inform Lord Zhou about this kang, I wonder if you have mentioned it?"

Old Man Zhou didn't understand why Song Zhi asked this, but he still said frankly, "That's not the case. Why did Miss Song ask this? What's wrong with it?"

The reason why he hadn't told the young master about this yet was that, on the one hand, during the past few days of building the kang, he had been making improvements in some areas after listening to Song Zhi's opinions.

He also wanted to make sufficient preparations before reporting back so that he would feel more confident.

On the other hand, all his energy had been focused on making the kang these days, and he had not yet found a suitable opportunity to bring up this matter with the young master.

Seeing him say this, Song Zhi quickly waved her hand and said, "I have a suggestion. When you mention this kang to Mr. Zhou again, if Mr. Zhou is interested in it, why not invite him to come to your house to see what it is like."

"After all, seeing is believing. I don't think any description can be as convincing as seeing the real thing in person. What do you think?"

Old Man Zhou looked a little hesitant. "I could suggest that you come here to investigate, but the county magistrate is very busy after all. I'm not sure I can persuade you to come here..."

Although Song Zhi and Zhou Yu did not have much contact, it was only a few times.

Song Zhi knew that Zhou Yu was at least a county magistrate who cared about the people's livelihood.

How could he not be excited and curious when something appeared in his jurisdiction that could change the way people kept warm in winter?

Song Zhi smiled and said, "Mr. Zhou, there's no need to feel any pressure. This kang was indeed built by you. Just tell me the truth about your experiences over the past few days, and Mr. Zhou will make his own judgment."

Old Man Zhou thought about it and realized that this was indeed the case. He just told the adults the truth about his experiences in the past few days. As for what decision the adults would make, that was their business.

Having figured out the key, Old Man Zhou grinned and nodded, saying, "Okay, I'll report this to you when I get the chance."

It just so happened that he had been busy these days and had mastered the key points. Even if the young master asked him some details, he could answer them and had a clear idea of what was going on.

After bidding farewell to Song Zhi, Old Man Zhou returned to the county government office in the ox cart specially hired by Song Zhi.

Thinking of what Song Zhi had just said to him, Old Man Zhou washed up quickly, changed into a clean set of clothes, and then went to Liangtian to tell him that he had something important to report to the young master.

Recently, Zhou Yu has indeed been busy making Forsythia tea.

As he sent a message back to the capital, Forsythia tea appeared in the homes of the dignitaries in the capital. Many wealthy families and caravans who heard the news came to him and expressed their desire to buy Forsythia tea.

Zhou Yu was naturally happy to see this happen. In just ten days, he had sold 5,000 strings of tea.

A large portion of the tea has already been reserved, but the people have not arrived yet.

He had already made a detailed calculation. If all the remaining Forsythia tea was sold and the money from the county government arrived, this batch of tea would bring him a return of tens of thousands of strings of cash.

He had worked diligently for nearly a year since taking office, and the tax revenue he earned from actively developing business opportunities was not as high as the amount he earned from selling Forsythia tea.

This also made Zhou Yu realize that if a county wants to become prosperous, it is not enough to just rely on earning tolls!

The most important thing is to have your own property.

This Forsythia tea is really a good opportunity. It has just begun this year. When Forsythia tea becomes popular in the future, he believes that the people of Qishui County will benefit from it!

Liangtian glanced at Mr. Zhou, who had been going out early and coming back late recently. Thinking that he was helping Song Zhi with work, Liangtian had a hunch that it might be related to Miss Song again.

He then thought of the fact that the young master had some friendship with Miss Song, and after pondering for a moment, he went into the house to report.

After a while, Liang Tian came out of the study and nodded, saying, "Young Master lets you in."

Upon hearing this, Old Man Zhou immediately followed Liang Tian into the study with his head lowered.

In the study, Zhou Yu sat at the desk, holding an account book in his hand, his brows revealing a bit of concentration.

Seeing Old Man Zhou come in, he gently closed the account book, looked up and asked, "I heard from Liangtian that you have something to report?"

Upon hearing this, Old Man Zhou hurried forward a few steps, but did not dare to get too close. He folded his hands in front of him cautiously and lowered his head to answer:

"Master, I have a blueprint for building something to keep out the cold in winter, and I'd like to present it to you for your review."

Zhou Yu frowned. "Didn't I tell you that the Fire Land is quite costly? As the head of a county, I can't encourage this extravagant lifestyle."

Old Man Zhou's forehead broke out in a cold sweat. He knew that the young master had misunderstood, and hurriedly explained: "It was this old servant who failed to explain clearly. It's not the fire place, but the fire bed!"

Zhou Yu's brows relaxed slightly upon hearing this, but he was still a little confused. "Fire kang? What is that?"

Old Man Zhou quickly replied, "Master, a few days ago, Miss Song came to me and asked me to help build a warm house."

"This kang is exactly what Miss Song suggested. We can use the underground heating to heat the bed. We can even use the residual heat from the cooking stove to heat the kang and use it for heating."

Zhou Yu's eyes lit up after hearing this, and he asked, "Is it really that magical?"

Old Man Zhou nodded hurriedly, "I've been working on this kang at Miss Song's house these past few days, and now that it's starting to work, I wanted to tell you about this great heating device!"

When Zhou Yu heard this, he immediately stood up from behind his desk and walked around to Old Man Zhou. "What is a fire kang? Bring me the blueprint so I can see it."

Old man Zhou quickly took out the construction drawings of the kang and handed them over with both hands.

Although this simple drawing was not very detailed, Zhou Yu could still tell where the stove was, where the bed was, and where the chimney was.

As for how these unrelated things could be combined together, Zhou Yu had no idea.

He put down the drawing in his hand and asked doubtfully, "Can this thing really keep you warm?"

Old Man Zhou nodded repeatedly, "Master, yes, I personally verified at Miss Song's house that this kang can provide warmth, so I dare to report this to you."

"Not only does this kang keep you warm, it's also very cheap to build. It basically only requires clay and hay to make. It's truly a magical item for keeping out the cold in winter!"

Zhou Yu felt very excited when he heard this. You know, every winter, the number of patients suffering from colds in the clinic would increase sharply. Some people would even lose their fortunes and fall back into poverty because of a minor cold.

What’s worse, every winter some people freeze to death in their homes due to the severe cold weather.

If it is true as Old Man Zhou said, then the people under his jurisdiction will no longer have to fear the long winter, right?

Zhou Yu became more and more excited the more he thought about it, and paced back and forth a few times. At this moment, he wished he could go and see the kang with his own eyes.

Although he was extremely anxious, it was already late at night. Even if he was anxious, he could only calm down for the time being and asked, "Are you still going to the Song family tomorrow?"

Old man Zhou was shocked. Could it be that the young master really wanted to go to the Song family to see the kang?

He suppressed his surprise and nodded, saying, "Yes, we have to go. There is still one kang left to build!"

"That's perfect. I'll go to the Song family with you tomorrow!"

Old man Zhou did not dare to disobey and immediately bowed in agreement.

The next day, Zhou Yu, wearing casual clothes, drove with Liangtian, and the group headed towards Xiaohezi Village.