Song Jinbao scratched his head with a simple expression and said, "I don't know either. It was Tang'er and Jinsheng who did it."

Song Jinzhu raised his eyebrows.

"I don't know why you're still fooling around?"

Song Jinbao groaned, "The two kids said they could be of great use. What can I, as a father, do? I can only get everyone to help."

Song Jinzhu pursed his lips and wanted to scold his silly brother, but he didn't know how to start.

After all, we have to consider the face of Song Jinsheng and Song Yuntang.

Song Jinsheng was okay. The brat was thick-skinned, so it was no big deal if he cursed at him a few times.

Song Yuntang is not a good girl. Not to mention that she is thin-skinned, if she is made angry, the miserable situation of the second son's wife before is an example.

I heard that the swelling on her forehead hasn't completely subsided yet.

It's only one morning's work, so let them do whatever they want.

Seeing that the main body of the waterwheel had been placed on the base, Song Jinzhu said, "We have helped where we can. It seems that we won't be needed for the next thing. My father and I will go and fetch water first."

Song Jinbao said hurriedly, "Okay, thank you very much today, big brother."

"We are brothers, so why bother to thank each other?" Song Jinzhu waved his hand and left with his sons.

Song Jinbao looked at Song Jinwen and Niu Da and Niu Er who were staring at the waterwheel and said, "Second brother, Qiao Da and Qiao Er, you guys should go and get busy. I'm so grateful to you guys today. I'll invite you to come over for dinner when we have good food."

"It's not a big deal. There's no need to eat. You guys can take your time with your work. I'll be leaving first." After saying that, they all went to work in the fields.

The rest of the installation went smoothly.

Song Mazi, Song Jinsheng and Song Jinyuan can handle it. Looking at the built waterwheel, Song Jinbao was a little puzzled.

"Tang'er, what on earth is this thing for?"

Song Yuntang pointed to the ditch facing the waterwheel and said, "Dad, go and block the ditch downstream of our paddy field. You'll know the result soon."

As for the fields upstream, two of them belong to my uncle, three belong to me, and a smaller one belongs to Song Mazi's family. My uncle's family also helped with the installation of the waterwheel. It's nothing to irrigate their fields together when the waterwheel is working on weekdays.

After hearing her words, Song Jinbao blocked the dry ditch below with doubts.

Song Yuntang looked at Song Mazi again.

"Brother Mazi, after the sink is installed, let's loosen the bolt on the water truck and give it a try. If it doesn't work, we can find a way to improve it."

"Row."

Song Mazi responded, put down the assembled water trough, removed the bolt that was stuck on the waterwheel, and stood side by side with Song Jinsheng on the footrest of the waterwheel.

The two of them shouted and moved at the same time.

The huge wheel began to turn, and the water bucket on the top of the wheel brought the water to a higher ground and poured it down, flowing along the gutter into the ditch on the other side of the river embankment, and finally into the farmland from the ditch.

Song Jinsheng shouted excitedly, "Dad, big brother, this is much easier than carrying water, and it's quite cool on the river!"

The most important thing is that, driven by the water flow, they don’t need to put in much effort to make the waterwheel turn, and water can flow into the trough continuously.

If the wind was just a little stronger, or the water flow was a little faster, they wouldn't have to step on it at all.

Song Jinzhu and his son, who were carrying water not far away, saw this scene and stopped what they were doing in surprise.

After looking at each other, they all ran towards the waterwheel to see what was happening there.

Not only them, but also the villagers who were busy working in the fields nearby gathered around to watch the fun.

When I saw the water truck continuously lifting water from the river and pouring it into the trough, and then flowing along the trough into the ditch and finally into the farmland, I was filled with curiosity.

"Third brother, how did you come up with this great thing?" someone asked Song Jinbao.

Song Jinbao smiled proudly, "This is not something I came up with. I don't have the brains to do it. This thing was thought up by my Tang'er."

I still remember that Tang'er came to inspect the fields some time ago, and then he and Lao Er went to find Song Mazi. I guess that was when he had this idea.

This girl didn't say anything, but it turned out that she was thinking of some way to lighten her burden.

Thinking of this, Song Jinbao felt more and more relieved and loved his daughter more and more.

After hearing what Song Jinbao said, the people around him turned to look at Song Yuntang, "Yuntang girl, what is this thing called?"

Song Yuntang said indifferently, "This is a waterwheel used to irrigate farmland." Then he said, "If anyone has farmland in this area and wants to use the waterwheel, just pay my father ten cents a year."

This ditch flows through the fields of only about ten households. If it is allowed to be used for free, people will feel like they are taking advantage and will not cherish their own waterwheels. If it is not allowed to be used, it is inevitable that someone will secretly have ideas and conflicts will continue to arise, which is not good.

Everyone can afford ten cents, it's just right.

If it is so easy to fill the farmland, who would be willing to work so hard to fetch water from the fields every day?

Although the people in Rongshu Village are not rich, ten cents is not a big deal for most people. The time saved can definitely earn more than ten cents. As soon as Song Yuntang said this, many people became interested.

"Third brother, I'm going to go back to your sister-in-law to get the money. Please wait for me." Song Jinzhu was the first to pick up the bucket and run home.

Song Jinbao hurriedly shouted, "Brother, we are family, no need."

"That won't do. Brothers should settle accounts clearly." Song Jinzhu said as he ran away.

Seeing this, the others who were more numerous in this field took action first.

The commotion here attracted many women, wives and girls in the village to come and watch. The shock the waterwheel brought to them was no less than Song Yuntang's medical skills.

"The daughter of the third son is really capable. How did she come up with this idea?" A woman exclaimed in amazement.

"Girls who have been to wealthy families are different. If it were our stupid girl, she wouldn't be able to come up with this even if she had another one."

"Who says it's not? But this thing is indeed a good thing, but this ditch can't flow to our fields..." After thinking about it, she quickly looked at Song Mazi, "Mazi, how much silver does it cost to make a waterwheel like this?"

She asked the question that many people wanted to ask.

Song Mazi looked at everyone.

"We're from our own village, so I'll give you a discount. Not including the wood, it's three taels of silver. Our fields are adjacent to each other, so we can pool our money. It won't cost much per household if we split the bill."

"What if people from other villages want to do it?" someone else asked.

"For those from other villages, I'll pay five taels and five qian of silver, not including the wood. If there are many people placing orders, I'll have to ask the uncles and aunts in the village for help. Please don't tell anyone about my bottom price."

This kind of business only allows him to make the initial money when other carpenters don’t know how to do it. Once other carpenters have learned how to do it, he won’t be able to take on as much business.

But it’s not bad to be able to do this wave of business first.

In a famine year, it is more reassuring to hold on to the extra money you earn.

After listening to Song Mazi's words, everyone stood on the bank of the Jingshui River and looked around, then went back to cook.

It was already noon. Song Jinbao and his sons had been busy all morning and were indeed hungry. They packed up their things with Song Mazi and went home.

……

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