Chapter 47: Cultivating Beneficial Animals

  Three people wandered back to the village in the afternoon, and at home, everything was taken care of by the students. The pigs had been fed, Yun San had already bathed, the firewood pile at the door was stacked high, and there were some clean wild vegetables on the platform of the bamboo building.

  Yun Zheng returned and called all the children together, set up a cauldron behind the bamboo building to boil water, he bought a lot of insecticide from Dou Sha Guan today, and didn't believe that he couldn't kill the lice on these children.

  There are always lice crawling around on a bald head, which is really unsightly. Firstly, it's for one's own sake, and secondly, it's also for the health of the children, so as to avoid spreading some minor illness everywhere.

  The adults in the village all came out to watch the commotion, and seeing a group of children being forced by Yun Zheng to jump into the hot water bucket to take a bath, they were all a bit embarrassed. Seeing that Yun Zheng had brought more medicine powder, they also took the opportunity to scald the children's quilts with the medicinal water.

  Facing a group of bright-eyed children, Yun Zheng held up his bamboo staff and said: "Learning is a difficult and unpredictable path, even if you put in the effort, there's no guarantee of good results. So before you start learning, I plan to teach you how to make a living first. Once you have a skill, you'll have the opportunity to use it to support your studies."

  "Those who want to learn this skill, first of all, cannot have any lice on their body, not a single one. Now you go back, tomorrow morning I will check, whoever has even one louse on his body, he won't be allowed to learn this skill."

  Yun Zheng's last words were spoken in a stern and severe tone, and the children one by one shrank their heads and obediently went home with bare bodies. When they tearfully told this news to their families, even the elderly patriarch was shocked.

  The greatest respect for Yun Zheng from the people in the village is not because of his learning, but because he can quickly become rich. A penniless young man with a younger brother still in his teens, within just half a year's time, not only built the first brick house in the village, but also hired a maid, which to the simple mountain folk seems almost like a miracle.

  Everyone wants to know how Yun Zheng made his fortune, but no one dares to ask, it's a very taboo thing, sneaking into someone's wealth-making skills is more serious than killing parents. Those who can teach the art of making a living are generally only one kind of person, and this kind of person has a special title called Master!

  He is both a teacher and a father, so it's easy to imagine how deep this kindness of teaching is.

  "Yunwa, have you thought it through to teach the children the secret of making a living?" The elderly tribe leader was pushed forward by the anxious villagers to go ask Yunzhen to clarify the truth about this matter, which is a big deal and can't be taken lightly.

  "This is the natural way, not teaching them a means of livelihood. I dare say that what they learn from me will be useless in a few years. Children in the mountains need to go up the mountain to cut firewood and down to the fields to farm. At the age of 11 or 12, it's the right time for them to study. If they have to support their families, they won't be able to read books or recognize characters. Your efforts will be in vain."

  Yun Zhen replied very naturally, people who can support their families while studying are too rare in both ancient and modern times. Yun Zhen felt that he himself had not achieved this when he was young, so why should he demand his students to do the same?

  The old clan leader got a definite answer from Yun Zheng, and didn't ask Yun Zheng to teach the children anything. He nodded and left, and even deliberately bowed his hands to Yun Zheng as he walked away, which had never happened before.

  Yun Zheng saw the old tribal leader leave, so he took out the centipede kite that had been tied up a few days ago, carefully applied gold lacquer, and bought some cinnabar from the pharmacy, carefully dotting these small red hearts on the centipede's body.

  The centipede kite is actually a series of small discs with a pair of feet, which are made into a linked kite. The production process is very complicated. When Yun Zheng brought his students to participate in the regional kite competition with this combined centipede kite, they achieved excellent results and won first prize. Now, asking Xiao Wu Gen for five yuan for this treasure is not expensive at all.

  Teaching these children skills always requires raw materials, such as when doing tie-dye or wax dyeing in bulk, the grey fabric is absolutely indispensable, as are lime, beeswax, dyes and salt - can any of them be missing?

  He asked He Zhuanggui, who specialized in wax dyeing business, that the housekeeper had forbidden private production of tie-dye because it was too labor-intensive. However, wax dyeing was a secret technique passed down through generations of the Bai Miao people, and those produced by the Han people were never quite the same. If Dou Sha Guan could produce wax-dyed cloth, then he would go on an adventure to Dali Kingdom to offer it as tribute to the officials.

  Since wax printing has long been available, it is only a single handmade product that has not reached group production and assembly line production. As long as the craftsmanship is improved, Yun Zheng believes that making the whole village rich is not a difficult task. It is estimated that such a result would also be what the old master wants to see, after all, it can be purchased from abroad without harming the Song Dynasty in any way.

  They already have a simpler mountain people trade, and then they interfere with the business of the Shun people. This is not something that a wise person would do. For anything, you can only choose one of them, and you cannot think about taking all the benefits of the world into your own pocket. The only consequence of taking advantage of everything is that nothing can be obtained. The spirit of moderation is extremely popular in this era, and it is being faithfully executed.

  The next morning, Yun Zheng stood in front of his own tile-roofed house, inspecting each of his students one by one. Although there were more students than before, Yun Zheng didn't mind.

  After checking the hair, collar and back one by one, he finally let go of these students who had almost been soaked in medicine water by their parents for a whole night. The clothes may be old, but they must be clean, this is Yun Zheng's only requirement.

  Take out that centipede kite and hand it over to the oldest ox, instructing him to take four slightly older children with the ox cart to Dou Sha Guan to deliver this paper kite to the young master of the Xiao family. Then, from the Xiao family, bring back five guans of money, which must be exactly five guans, not a single coin less. If there's any shortage, go find the young master of the Xiao family and file a complaint, without giving any face to any of the Xiao family's underlings.

  Once the money is in hand, they must go to He's fabric store to buy eleven bolts of cloth, then to the dye shop to buy indigo, wooden barrels, iron pots, and a large quantity of beeswax from the pharmacy. As for lime and salt, it depends on their bargaining skills.

  The people in the village didn't go out to work today, but instead stood in front of the brick house of the Yun family, watching Yun Zheng busy with the children. Although they didn't understand why a kite would be worth five yuan, and they didn't understand why Yun Zheng would entrust such a large sum of money to five twelve- or thirteen-year-old children, out of trust for Master Tongsheng, they eagerly anticipated that the five children could bring back what Yun Zheng had asked for.

  Around noon, the children returned with many things. Yun Zheng demanded that not a single item was missing. He didn't ask the children what hardships they had endured to achieve their goal, but instead ordered them to put down the supplies and start working. At least eleven large stoves for cooking were needed...

  Pursuing one's own profit and doing whatever it takes is originally the instinct of a profit animal.