You are unlucky and I am tough

The rice huller and fan were both placed in the yard. As soon as County Magistrate Zheng and Advisor Lin entered, their attention was drawn to them, and they circled around to examine them. Cheng Li was enthusiastically explaining the functions of the two items.

Wei Qinglang returned to the room and took out a stack of blueprints. County Magistrate Zheng and Lawyer Lin hurriedly sat down in the yard to look at them.

"Wonderful, really wonderful." Master Lin admired as he watched, and his eyes changed when he looked at Wei Qinglang.

"Lord Wei is truly talented. He can actually draw out the steps for such a complex process. Even the Ministry of Works at the imperial court might not have this ability. If this is reported to the imperial court, it will be a great achievement."

County Magistrate Zheng was relatively calm, absorbed in studying the blueprints. After he finished, he took a deep breath and looked at Wei Qinglang. "Mr. Wei, are you willing to work at the county government? You could be my right-hand man."

Wei Qinglang was startled and waved his hands repeatedly, "No, no, sir, you can copy the drawings as you like. As for working for the government... forget it."

He doesn't want to be an official. Being an official won't allow him to make his own money easily.

Lord Zheng looked regretful, but he didn't force it. He took the blueprint and compared the two objects, turning them around and asked, "Could you give me a bag of grain to try?"

The family didn't have any crops to farm, so the food was all sent by the villagers. Wei Nanxing had already finished it all. Wei Qinglang looked at the person who was peeking at the door and said, "Daqing, go to your house and carry some bags of food over."

Xu Daqing responded happily and ran away. After a while, he came back carrying a sack of rice.

Wei Qinglang demonstrated how to operate it, and County Magistrate Zheng and Lawyer Lin excitedly rolled up their sleeves to try it themselves.

More than half an hour later, Cheng Shuang stood by the window, looking at the two people working hard in the yard with admiration, "It's getting late, do you want to make them lunch?"

Seeing that they had no intention of stopping, Wei Qinglang said helplessly, "Go ahead!"

This is already the third bag of food, and the two men are completely immersed in it.

Cheng Shuang went to cook, and asked Wei Nanxing to go to Cheng Daming's house to buy two pounds of braised meat. She also went to the vegetable garden to pick a basket of vegetables, then closed the kitchen door and started working in the kitchen with Cheng Pan.

County Magistrate Zheng was busy and sweating profusely. After smelling the delicious food, he finally remembered that he should leave.

Wei Qinglang fetched a basin of water for the two to wipe their faces and asked them to stay for dinner at home.

County Magistrate Zheng shook his head. "That's not necessary. I'll be leaving now."

"Don't you still need to copy the blueprints?"

County Magistrate Zheng was stunned and embarrassed. He was so focused on studying those two things that he forgot such an important matter.

Wei Qinglang said that they could copy the drawings, but he did not say that he would give them the drawings.

In the end, he had no choice but to stay for dinner and asked Cheng Lizheng to stay as well.

Mr. Lin was even more afraid of being blamed by the county magistrate, so he immediately borrowed paper and pen and began to copy, wanting to copy a part of it before dinner.

Because the county magistrate was there, the yamen runners who collected taxes and grain put the Wei family last. Wei Nanxing carried out the 150 kilograms of grain that he had prepared long ago. The yamen runners put it directly on the cart without even weighing it, and their attitude was very respectful.

The villagers looked on with envy. When they saw that the county magistrate had not come out for a long time, they knew that he must have stayed for dinner. They privately said that since Cheng Shuang and Wei Qinglang had shown their faces in front of the county magistrate one after another, they would be very powerful in the future and no one in the surrounding area would dare to mess with them.

Hu Chunhua listened to the women's discussions, feeling disdainful but also regretful. Her son was not coming back until the Mid-Autumn Festival, not today. Otherwise, with the county magistrate's appreciation for her son, her precious son could have dinner at the same table with the county magistrate.

Cheng Shuang cooked several dishes, including stir-fried pork with sauerkraut, steamed crucian carp, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, stir-fried bitter melon, and spicy and sour cabbage.

It was not convenient for her to sit at the same table with a man from outside the family, so they split the table into two. The two brothers Wei Qinglang and Cheng Lizheng stayed in the yard with the county magistrate and Lin Shiye, while she and her two sisters ate at the small table in the kitchen, feeling quite relaxed.

The men outside were chatting at the table. County Magistrate Zheng said that he seemed to have eaten the ingredients of this table of dishes in a restaurant before. Master Lin reminded him that it was Taibailou.

Wei Qinglang did not hide anything and said frankly that the ingredients in Taibai Tower were supplied by his family, and the seeds were bought from foreign merchants.

County Magistrate Zheng was surprised and became more and more curious about the couple. One of them was able to be accepted as an apprentice by a genius doctor and learned medical skills in a short period of time, and the other could draw drawings that even the Ministry of Works could not draw.

It is unbelievable that these two people are just ordinary farmers in a small village.

After finishing his meal, Master Lin started copying the blueprints in the main hall without stopping. He was sweating profusely because it was his first time drawing such a blueprint.

Seeing that he was anxious, Wei Qinglang helped him copy.

Cheng Shuang and Cheng Li were drinking tea and chatting with County Magistrate Zheng in the courtyard. County Magistrate Zheng mentioned raising money to buy medicine, saying that the money had been collected. He also said, "I have to thank Madam Wei for being able to collect the money this time."

Cheng Shuang was puzzled. "What do you mean, sir?"

County Magistrate Zheng smiled and said, "Mr. Lu from Baima Lane said he knew Madam Wei. I heard that Madam Wei wanted to treat the people and donated five thousand taels of silver."

It turned out that the next day after County Magistrate Zheng returned home, he hosted a banquet for eight merchants. During the banquet, Mr. Lin cleverly turned the topic to the matter of buying medicine. When Mr. Lu heard this, he asked, "Is the lady Wei from Chengjia Village called Cheng Shuang?" After getting a positive answer, he said she was an old acquaintance.

After the banquet, Mr. Lu returned home and asked someone to send him five thousand taels of silver, saying it was a free donation.

After learning about it, several other merchants also sent people to the door one after another. They donated a total of 3,000 taels, totaling more than 8,000 taels. As soon as they received the money, County Magistrate Zheng sent people to various places to buy medicine.

After hearing this, Cheng Shuang gave Mr. Lu a thumbs up in her heart. He was indeed a rich man and he really gave her face.

Nearly another hour passed, County Magistrate Zheng received the blueprint and said goodbye. On the way back in the carriage, he was already discussing with his legal advisor how to write the memorial.

In addition to reporting the two drawings to the prefect as soon as possible, he also wanted to ask for a reward for Wei Qinglang, and report on Cheng Shuang's treatment of the villagers.

He could see that the couple had no desire for fame or fortune, but it would be nice if the higher-ups could reward them with some gold and silver.

Cheng Shuang and Wei Qinglang had no idea what the county magistrate was thinking, so they called Xu Daqing to come and move the grain back.

Xu Daqing smiled so hard that his teeth were showing. He wanted to carry the white rice and go around to every house, saying that the husk had been removed by the county magistrate himself.

After he shouted like this, several more families came to him and said they wanted to customize new farm tools. This time, several families came to pool their money and share the tools after they were made.

In addition to orders for custom-made products, there were also people who came to see the new products out of curiosity. They did not stop for the entire afternoon, and some people even came directly carrying rice.

Cheng Shuang was annoyed by the noise, so she came up with an idea and asked Wei Qinglang to send the two farm tools to the village head's house and lend them to him, successfully leading the curious villagers away.

Those who wanted to watch gathered in the threshing ground to watch the headman's family husking the rice. Their home was finally quiet.