Not long after Song Jinzhao sold her recipe, "Foodie's Delight" began selling cold skin noodles and bubble tea.
The cold skin noodles were priced at twenty wen per serving, and a cup of bubble tea cost forty wen.
Since the prices were exactly double, the business at Song Jinzhao's stall wasn't much affected.
Instead, the Tingyun Pavilion lost a portion of its wealthier customers.
Ma Baichuan came to buy bubble tea with a sigh, and after trying it once, he actually got addicted.
Seeing his listless expression, Song Jinzhao couldn't help but inquire, "Is the Li family very influential in Anyang Prefecture? You left in such a hurry that day, Shopkeeper Ma."
Ma Baichuan looked up at her, "Miss Song doesn't know?"
Song Jinzhao shook her head slightly, "The Li family's business reaches as far as Dianyun, so they must be quite notable."
Ma Baichuan gave a bitter smile.
"The Li family has been merchants for generations, and their business is indeed widespread, but that's not what I'm worried about."
"The Li family has royal backing. The younger sister of Young Master Li is a concubine of the Second Prince. When he personally came to discuss this business deal, how could I dare to compete with him?"
So they were actually connected to the imperial family.
Song Jinzhao asked, "Does the Li family have anyone serving as an official in the court?"
Ma Baichuan tilted his head back to eat the remaining tapioca pearls at the bottom of the bowl, "Although Li Zien's father passed the imperial examination at the provincial level, he did not take up an official post."
Song Jinzhao blinked. For a merchant's daughter to become a prince's concubine...
Was she exceptionally beautiful, or did she have other remarkable qualities?
A gust of hot wind blew over, dispelling all the coolness under the umbrella.
Ma Baichuan looked up at the sky, wiping the sweat from his face with his sleeve, "Who knows when it will rain? This heat is killing people."
Song Jinzhao raised her head; the sunlight was dazzling.
It hadn't rained for quite a few days.
On the ridge of the paddy field, Old Man Song gazed at the parched rice fields, sighing heavily.
Second Song squatted on the ground with a pained expression, wailing, "Father, I really can't carry any more water."
The water they poured dried up in less than fifteen minutes. No matter how much they carried, it was useless.
In the evening, Song Jinzhao first went to the dock to load her things onto the cart, then went to the private school to pick up the children after class.
Seeing the fields in the distance full of farmers carrying wooden buckets, Song Jinzhao frowned.
After arriving home, she tied up the horse and cart and went to the fields, where she indeed saw Old Man Song and the others carrying water.
Walking into their own paddy field, Song Jinzhao bent down to look at the leaves curled into bamboo-tube shapes, their tips turning yellow.
This was a sign of water shortage.
Old Man Song walked over and happened to see this. He lamented, "If it doesn't rain soon, the crops will really dry up and die."
Song Jinzhao stood up and noticed his hunched shoulders. As soon as she pressed on them, Old Man Song winced and dodged away.
"Grandpa, stop carrying water. No matter how much you pour, it's useless. The sun dries it up in no time."
The pain in his shoulders bent Old Man Song's back, yet he still tried to tough it out.
"If we don't carry water, the crops will just dry up and die. The rice grains haven't even fully formed yet. Maybe if we endure for a couple more days, it will rain."
The brilliantly colored sunset clouds in the west seemed full of irony now. Tomorrow's sun would only be stronger.
Song Jinzhao walked to the riverbank, looking at the water level that had dropped by nearly a meter, feeling uneasy.
Xining City suffered a locust plague the year before last. Last year, they finally had a bit of a harvest. Could it be that this year would bring a drought?
The next day, while Song Jinzhao was setting up her stall on Middle Street, Constable Zhao came to buy mint and licorice herbal tea.
"Miss Song, could you please fill these water bottles for me?"
Seeing the somewhat large quantity, Song Jinzhao asked curiously, "Why are you buying so much?"
"Magistrate Zhang has ordered us to go outside the city to inspect the paddy fields. The sun is so fierce. If the brothers don't bring plenty of cooling, heat-relieving herbal tea, they might faint on the road."
Song Jinzhao's hand, pouring the tea, paused slightly, "Have all the paddy fields dried up?"
Constable Zhao lifted a water bottle and drank large gulps to fill his belly, "Exactly. If it doesn't rain soon, this year's harvest will be lost again."
Song Jinzhao pressed further, "If it's not raining in Xining City, is it not raining elsewhere either?"
A wave of coolness spread through his chest, making Constable Zhao feel alive again.
"It's not just Xining City. Some places haven't seen rain for over half a month. Our situation here is actually a bit better."
Watching Constable Zhao quickly run off with the water bottles, Song Jinzhao fell into deep thought.
In the evening, she walked four times along the path connecting the farmland to the river channel.
The distance from the river to the nearest farmland was about three hundred meters, not too long.
At night, after finishing his reading, Song Qiming was about to go to sleep when he noticed the candlelight in the next room was still on.
Thinking Song Jinzhao had forgotten to blow out the candle, he went over to knock and found she was still awake.
"Elder Sister, why aren't you asleep yet?"
Song Jinzhao leaned on the desk, her head propped in her hand, brows tightly knit.
Her mind felt like a tangled mess, withered and dry.
She turned her face towards Song Qiming with a faint, weary smile.
"Just thinking about some things. Go to sleep early. You have school tomorrow."
Song Jinzhao stared blankly at the water-powered noria she had drawn on the white paper, surrounded by a dense cluster of numbers.
Knowing about something was one thing; making it was another. Her brain cells felt like they were dying.
She took a deep breath, picked up her brush, and continued pondering.
I refuse to believe I can't figure this out.
After staying up all night, as soon as dawn broke, Song Jinzhao took her freshly completed blueprint to the county office.
Zhang Yuanzong stared at the water-powered noria on the blueprint, tilting his head to confirm with Song Jinzhao, "This thing can irrigate farmland?"
Song Jinzhao nodded, "Simply put, it uses the impact force of the water flow to make the water wheel rotate automatically. Bamboo tubes draw water, lifting river water from a lower place to a higher one, then channeling it to the fields through a water trough."
Zhang Yuanzong narrowed his eyes in thought. It sounded plausible.
After a while, he looked up and instructed Clerk Liang, "Go find the best craftsmen in Xining City."
Song Jinzhao and several craftsmen discussed the blueprint for a full hour.
Lu Yan reported to Zhang Yuanzong, "Your Honor, in my humble opinion, this device could be very useful. It's worth a try."
Zhang Yuanzong took a deep breath, suppressing the excitement in his heart.
"How long will it take to make?"
Lu Yan, "If we gather more people, we can have it ready by tomorrow."
Song Jinzhao pointed at the dam on the blueprint and said, "This afternoon, we should first go to Song Village to build the dam. Tomorrow, we can move the prepared materials there and start construction immediately."
