CHAPTER 65: CHAPTER 64: LOWER AND LOWER

The shed is finally set up, and the mill can officially open for business.

Actually, it’s more like a pavilion; the shed has only a roof, supported by bamboo poles on four sides, with a bamboo pole horizontally across three sides as a railing, and one side left open as a door.

Considering the short amount of time and the fact that it didn’t cost a penny, Qin Yao is quite satisfied with such a mill.

The mill is located at the foot of her family’s mountain, so there’s no need to worry about theft. She can hear any commotion from her house.

With everything ready, Qin Yao took advantage of the moment when the villagers were resting at the village well to explain the fee collection rules to everyone.

Five cents per hour, and all you have to do is send your grain to the mill; she will grind it for you and deliver it back home.

This service, Qin Yao herself thinks, is already quite sufficient. After all, the villagers only need to spend a little money, leave their items with her, and then attend to their own business.

If it were her, she would be very willing to pay this service fee.

Liu Ji thought it was a bit of a loss, as they have to watch over the mill and deliver to the home. Only a fool wouldn’t take it.

So, the couple each took a stool, sat in the mill, and waited for customers to come.

Liu Ji even brought over a small table from home, placing a pot of cool boiled water and two cups on it, thinking they could enjoy a drink and learn from those wealthy young men in the city, who enjoy leisure amidst nature.

They had hunted many birds yesterday, so Qin Yao plucked all the feathers and dried them, planning to use them later to make gloves and scarves and such.

Bird feathers are still feathers; can’t they be used for down jackets too?

Currently, the couple is enjoying cool boiled water and sorting the feathers and down, anticipating customers to arrive.

But after drinking three cups of cool boiled water and sorting all the feathers and down, still no one has come.

Qin Yao glanced at Liu Ji, "Too busy to have time?"

Liu Ji was equally puzzled, "No matter how busy, this noon should at least be a bit of leisure time, right?"

It can’t be that they think our price is too high!

Qin Yao: "Shall we wait a bit longer?"

Liu Ji downed the fourth cup of cool boiled water, "Hmm."

He couldn’t hold it any longer, "Wife, I’ll be right back!"

Yet, even after he returned from the outhouse, there wasn’t a single customer in the mill.

This made the confident couple feel unsure, and Qin Yao, who wasn’t one to sit idly, immediately went to the village well to see what was actually happening.

The people there were scarce, mostly children.

Qin Yao caught Jinhua and asked where her parents were. Jinhua affectionately called her "Aunt" and pointed her little hand toward the ancestral hall.

Qin Yao quickly headed towards the ancestral hall and hadn’t reached it yet when she saw the grain baskets lined up in front of the mill.

The villagers couldn’t be sure how long someone might use the mill, and with work to do at home and in the fields, this system of using grain baskets as placeholders emerged.

The more grain baskets lining up, the more people there are wanting to use the mill. Seeing this long queue of baskets, Qin Yao was even more confused.

With such crowding at the stone mill, why wouldn’t they want to use her water mill?

What really went wrong?

Indeed, there was a problem, and a big one.

Mrs. Zhang was hoeing the vegetable patch in her field. When she passed the river on her way home, she instinctively glanced at the water mill. Expecting it to be bustling, she was surprised to see the millstone not moving and not a person in sight.

She found it strange, as she herself had experienced how much better the water mill was than the stone mill yesterday; you just stood there and put grain into the millstone, not tiring at all.

This season, the river has a large flow. With that force, the water mill spins swiftly, much faster than manual grinding. Yesterday, she brought a basket of grain and finished grinding in about half an hour, saving almost half the time compared to before.

"Why is there no one then?" Mrs. Zhang muttered as she returned home puzzled.

Upon entering, she heard Mrs. He and Mrs. Qiu complaining while weaving cloth, "Aunt Zhou told me that the third family’s water mill charges such high prices. Aren’t we all just relatives struggling together, yet trying to make money off kin?"

"She wanted to use the water mill this morning to grind flour but when she heard five cents per hour, she ducked back to the stone mill."

"After all, if idle, using the stone mill for free even with effort isn’t too bad."

Listening to Mrs. He describe vividly, Mrs. Qiu furrowed her brow, feeling a bit indignant for her own family.

"That water mill at the third family’s wasn’t blown here by the wind, they spent silver on it, and she doesn’t want to pay while thinking about using it for free? No such luck."

Mrs. He scoffed, "You know how stingy she is. That’s just how she is."

"Well, let her be the tired one then." Mrs. Qiu snickered.

"However..." Thinking about the five cents per hour price made Mrs. Qiu’s heart skip a beat, "For ordinary folks like us, five cents isn’t easy to make."

Mrs. He thought, it’s because the third family let them use the mill for free that everyone liked it.

But if they really had to spend money to rent the water mill, they would rather be a bit tired and slowly grind using the stone mill.

Of course, occasionally for big events needing lots of grain, they’re happy to spend some money renting the water mill.

But that’s only occasionally.

Unwillingness is just one aspect.

There’s another.

Five cents might only be a little over a pound of coarse rice, yet everyone’s used to hardship. Spending such an amount to buy leisure suddenly feels like doing something wicked.

If a wife doesn’t want hardship and spends five cents to rent the water mill, the house’s menfolk and elderly might curse her with insults behind her back!

Having listened to the sisters-in-law’s conversation, Mrs. Zhang finally understood why the water mill wasn’t getting any customers.

She guessed the third couple probably didn’t know why yet.

Calling back her eldest grandson who was catching grasshoppers on the field ridge, she asked him to pass a message.

Jinbao cheerfully went off, wanting to invite Da Lang and others to catch grasshoppers together, as it’s more fun with a group.

After finding out the truth, Liu Ji stomped his foot on the spot, "Can’t bear to spend even this little money, deserve to toil!"

Qin Yao was a bit more composed, but not very.

"Lower the price, three cents per hour, there should be people... right?" Even Qin Yao wasn’t confident.

She sent Liu Ji to go announce it in the village, and the next morning, they continued to wait.

From dawn till dusk, only Yun Niang from Liu Huolang’s family brought a tub of dehulled wheat to grind into flour.

The water mill was efficient, finishing her flour in half an hour in exchange for two small melons.

Since half an hour didn’t even amount to one cent, Yun Niang allowed Liu Ji to pick two small melons anytime from her vegetable garden.

That night, six family members drank white rice porridge accompanied by a plate of lightly stewed melon slices, eating with an air of tastelessness.

"Lower it further!" Qin Yao couldn’t believe it; surely people prefer spending money to save labor and time.

Liu Ji shakily asked, "Lower it to how much?"

Qin Yao gritted her teeth, "Two cents per hour!"

Liu Ji then advertised once more throughout the village.

Thank heavens, Liu Dafu came, bringing his hefty fifty baskets of grain to the water mill!

He wanted to dehull all of his grain.

Qin Yao and Liu Ji greeted warmly, and after sending Liu Dafu off, Liu Ji was responsible for grinding, and Qin Yao for carrying. It was the first time the two completed this large cooperation so seamlessly, only spending three and a half days to deliver all fifty baskets of processed grain to Liu Dafu’s home.

Three and a half days equated to actual use of 25 hours.

As they watched Liu Dafu passing over fifty cents with a smile, Qin Yao couldn’t even muster a smile.

Inner voice: Let it all be destroyed!