Chapter 173: Research on the Threshing Machine

“Don’t worry!”

Lu Chang Qing readily agreed.

The threshing machine was entrusted to Lu Chang Qing.

Ye Xin Ran then focused all her attention on treating Leng Qing Yu’s illness.

In the past few days, Leng Qing Yu’s spirits had been extremely low.

Ye Xin Ran knew that the poison in her body was well-controlled and wouldn’t affect her physically. The only thing that could be causing her current condition was her emotional state.

“Lady Leng, this is a beautiful feather that Chang An found. She wanted me to give it to you.”

Ye Xin Ran handed Leng Qing Yu, a shuttle cock made from beautiful feathers.

Lady Leng noticed the central feather, it was from the red rooster’s tail in the yard. A few days ago, Leng Qing Yu had praised the feather for its beauty, and now it had made its way into this shuttle cock.

Leng Qing Yu smiled weakly, feeling a bit powerless.

“This child… How could she remember something so small?”

Ye Xin Ran sat down on the stool by the bed.

“Chang An loves her grandmother, so of course, she keeps everything you say in her heart,” she said.

“I know you’re still upset about Lord Lu. But what’s happened has already happened, and we can’t undo it. We can’t change someone with malicious intent. Instead of wasting time on him, it would be better to focus on those who truly matter to you.”

Leng Qing Yu looked at her daughter, surprised at how perceptive she was at such a young age.

She nodded and said, “I understand the logic, but when I think about how my sincerity was wasted over more than ten years, I feel it was all in vain.”

“Since you know it was in vain, it’s time to look forward. There’s a saying, “cut your losses.”

You should think about it. The only thing you’ve wasted is those ten years. For the next decades of your life, you don’t have to be deceived by a villain anymore. Isn’t that better?”

“Yes,” Leng Qing Yu responded lazily.

Ye Xin Ran knew that healing the emotional wound required time and inner work.

Leng Qing Yu had to find her own way to recover. But Ye Xin Ran still suggested, “If you feel your ten years were wasted, then we should hold the person who wasted your time accountable. Lord Lu betrayed you, and he should pay the price.”

“But…”

Ye Xin Ran’s words struck a deep chord in Leng Qing Yu.

The reason for her current despondency was because, after reflecting on everything, she realized she felt powerless.

Even if she could prove that Lord Lu had kept a concubine, what would that change?

Lord Lu’s reputation for loving his wife would be tarnished, and she herself would be labeled as a jealous woman.

If it weren’t for her jealousy, how could the household not tolerate other women?

In the Great Liang, men having three or four wives and concubines was never a problem.

However, if a woman is jealous, she is often talked about behind her back, and it can even affect her children’s marriages.

Leng Qing Yu was exactly thinking about this, which is why she felt so despondent.

“Madam, you care too much about your reputation!”

Leng Qing Yu frowned after hearing this explanation.

Though her life seemed glamorous on the surface, it felt as though she had locked herself in a cage, trapped, unable to escape, unable to break free.

“For all these years, the Hou Mansion has relied on your income to maintain their current lifestyle. If you angered them, the Hou would lose more than just the reputation of loving his wife.

He would lose so much, so much that he would regret it deeply.”

“Really?”

Leng Qing Yu’s eyes brightened.

“Of course!”

Ye Xin Ran smiled and poured her a cup of water. “Why don’t you start by cutting off his younger brother’s family’s income and see how they react?”

With this future goal in mind, Leng Qing Yu seemed to regain her energy.

Two days later, she had returned to her usual self.

No reply had come from the capital yet.

So, Leng Qing Yu began with the shops in Yun Tong County, starting by reviewing the accounts for the past year.

For the past year, she had entrusted many tasks to Lu Zhi Yi, and now it was time to reclaim her rights.

---

Every day, Leng Qing Yu reviewed the accounts, while Lu Chang Qing busied himself with the threshing machine.

Occasionally, when he returned home early, he would help Leng Qing Yu go over the accounts.

For the first time in years, Leng Qing Yu realized that her son had grown up.

He was no longer the boy who had struggled under her wings, always competing for her affection with his sister.

Lu Chang Qing was quick with his eyes and sharp in his judgments. He marked questionable items in the accounts.

Leng Qing Yu noticed this, and for the first time, she realized that her son had a knack for business.

How much had she overlooked all these years?

---

Ten days later, the prototype of the threshing machine was completed.

Lu Chang Qing specifically took a day off and invited Ye Xin Ran to test the machine.

The threshing machine was exactly like the drawing.

Each rivet had been carefully polished.

It was clear that a lot of effort had gone into making it.

The workers helped them operate the machine.

As the large threshing machine turned, the grains from the rice ears were quickly swept away. Even Ye Xin Ran was amazed at the speed.

However, Ye Xin Ran noticed a problem.

The vent hole was a bit too small, and the grains and debris didn’t naturally separate when they fell to the ground.

She had them make slight adjustments.

Three days later, the threshing machine was ready.

A bullock cart transported the threshing machine to Yun Bian Village.

It was delivered directly to the village head’s house.

The villagers gathered around the machine, marveling at it.

Some young people, curious, tried to touch it, but the village head swatted their hands away.

“Uncle Li Zheng, what is this thing?”

“Yeah, it looks so big, what can it even do?”

“What kind of grain is this…”

The village head couldn’t remember.

He opened his mouth, then turned to Ye Xin Ran and said, “You explain it to them.”

Ye Xin Ran had already prepared a bundle of rice stalks.

The rice in the village head’s house had not yet been threshed, so it was the perfect opportunity for a demonstration.

“What I made is actually for threshing grains,” Ye Xin Ran explained.

“Not long ago, everyone worked hard to help build our house, so the threshing work was delayed.

So my brother and I came up with this machine, which can make threshing much easier.

It looks big, but it’s actually very simple to operate. Let me show you how it works.”

As she spoke, Ye Xin Ran stepped onto the machine’s pedal.

When the front roller of the machine started spinning, she placed the rice stalks onto it.

Before anyone could figure out what was happening, they heard a “whoosh” sound.

The rice grains were completely separated from the stalks.

“Wow, this is amazing!”

“Yeah, this thing is so powerful, the grains were gone in an instant!”

“Exactly! I’ve been threshing my rice for half a month, and it’s still not done. If we had this thing earlier, we could have finished the whole thing in half a day!”

“Heavens, if it weren’t for all the work at home, I would have gone to see my wife by now. But now, there’s hope!”

Amid the villagers’ chatter, Ye Xin Ran stopped her foot motion.

The fast-spinning roller gradually slowed down.

“Xin Ran, this is really a great invention. You must have put a lot of effort into making it!”

The village head gently patted the threshing machine, then asked, “If the villagers want to rent this machine, how much will it cost?”