“Uncle bào.”^[1]I really had to research this. Apparently, it means a carpenter’s plane as well as a name

Su Qingyu stood up when she saw him asking.

The sons of Uncle Su’s family all learned his carpentry work, and his grandchildren also followed him in this business. Uncle Su’s sons have particularly interesting names, they are named after axes, planers, saws, drills, and other carpentry tools, while his grandchildren all have names that mean tables, stools, and cupboards.

It was also fresh.

Su Qingyu smiled at Su Mu.

“Qingqing wants to make a chest of drawers?” Su Muchang asked again with a smile.

Su Qingyu smiled and nodded: “I want to make two chests of drawers, but I want them to be different.”

“Oh?”

Su Muchang was very interested.

She glanced at several finished and semi-finished chests of drawers in the yard. They were all of the common styles on the market, neat, simple, and elegant. Most ordinary people’s homes have cabinets like this. The price was nothing more than the quality of the wood, the carving or not, and the fineness of the work.

“What do you think, Qingyu? You don’t like any of this?”

Su Qingyu smiled and shook her head.

She walked to a chest of drawers that had not been painted yet, opened and closed a drawer, and closed and opened again. It was a perfect fit, the pull and close were smooth and without any obstruction, and it was polished so that there were no burrs at all. It was obvious that the job was done well. Very detailed. Although it was a small family workshop in the countryside, it was already very good at this kind of work.

Su Mucheng also stepped forward to take a look and saw Su Qingyu pulling and closing, but he couldn’t figure out her intention, so he followed her and watched her movements.

“Hey, don’t pull too hard, or you may drop it!” Su Mu Ping saw that Su Qingyu’s movements were a bit big, so he hurriedly stepped forward and spread his hands to protect her.

“Yeah, it’s easy to pull out.”

“You can’t open the drawer of this cabinet too hard. Look, you have to pull it out slowly, and you can’t pull it all out.” He pushed the cabinet in and closed it. He gently pulled it out and demonstrated again.

Su Qingyu stood aside and watched with a smile.

“What do you want to do, Girl Qingyu? Don’t you like any of these? This one is not done yet. It will look better after the flowers are carved and painted. You pick a design, and then I will carve a lotus for you. It will look good. The meaning is still there, okay.”

Su Mucheng thought that Su Qingyu disliked the unsightly chests of drawers.

Su Qingyu didn’t say anything. She just pulled the twins who were following her and asked them to pull it. She also put heavy objects in the drawer and asked them to pull it.

Su Muchang looked at it confusedly.

This action attracted both Su Dahai and Uncle Su.

“Girl Qingyu, you want to choose a chest of drawers to add to your dowry?” Uncle Su came over and touched the two twins.

“No, I want to add two to put at home for my parents and twins.”

Su Qingyi shook her head. Without waiting for Su Dahai to speak, she turned to Uncle Su and said, “Uncle, I want to do something different from this.” She then shared her thoughts with the two elders.

Today’s chests of drawers didn’t have rails.

If the slide rails were not installed, the drawer would fall out easily if the entire drawer was pulled out. If you pulled out the upper drawer, it might fall down and hit your feet. The woods used now were all solid wood, dead and heavy.

The feeling of being hit on the foot was not so good.

When she wanted to buy it and put it at home, Su Qingyu didn’t trust the twins to open the drawer. Thinking about the drawers equipped with slides in later generations, she had some different ideas.

Uncle Su and Su Muxi looked thoughtful after listening.

Following Su Qingyu’s gesture, the father and son pulled out the entire drawer and looked at the side panels on both sides. After studying for a long time, their eyes became brighter and brighter.

“Come on, little girl Qingyu, tell me about it!” Uncle Su greeted Su Qingyu.

Su Qingyu came closer and talked to him…

There were many types of drawer slides. Except for those with steel balls, which were a bit challenging to make, adding an iron piece or attaching a wooden piece with a carved groove was quite easy to achieve.

“This slide… can be used as more than just a drawer…” Su Mucheng is the most intelligent and quick-thinker among Uncle Su’s children and grandchildren. He was better than his master, and he immediately thought of many possibilities.

“Yes, for doors, windows, tables, chairs, beds, cabinets, and anything else that requires it, you can add slides,” Su Qingyi said.

Uncle Su was squatting and studying the cabinet while listening to Su Qingyu and Su Mucheng’s speech. He nodded repeatedly and his eyes were astonishingly bright.

No matter how good a craftsman was, it was easy for him to get stuck in his fixed thinking. As long as others gave him a little nudge, he could immediately clear up the clouds and see the sun.

“Girl Qingyu, you have a very good idea, this is it…” Uncle Su raised his thumb at Su Qingyu and glanced at Father Su again.

Father Su straightened his back proudly.

Just like a child who got a new toy, the father, son, and grandson of the Su family got Su Qingyu’s idea and immediately asked Su Qingyu for advice.

This conversation continued till lunchtime.

“Let’s have lunch at home!” Aunt Su and her daughters-in-law took the twins and urged Su Qingyi and her father to stay.

“No, no, we will go back now.”

Father Su looked up at the sun and couldn’t help but feel anxious. The morning passed by so quickly, and he didn’t even go to the ground much this morning.

Seeing that he couldn’t keep him, Uncle Su said: “Don’t worry, Girl Qingyu, I will take your uncles and brothers to help you with the work. I will make sure you get them before you get married. The work must be done carefully.”

Su Qingyu had just mentioned wanting to leave these household items at home, but Father Su disagreed, so Su Qingyi didn’t insist. She would address it again when it was time for her to get married. The Lu family should not be lacking in these things.

“Girl Qingyu, you really don’t want to carve your chest of drawers? The red paint looks nice and festive…” Su Mu Pian persuaded again and glanced at Su Dahai.

Su Dahai smiled bitterly at him and shook his head. The child had big ideas, what could he do? Just listen to the child, it will be the items she was going to use.

“No, I just like the color of the wood. A top layer of varnish is enough. There is no need to carve the flowers, and it is dust gathers easily in the designs.” Su Qingyu refused.

Su Mucheng had no choice but to give up and looked at each other with Uncle Su.

Uncle Su then said to Su Qingying: “Girl Qingyu, your slide is unprecedented. My ancestor has never had such an idea. You just told me this, and I feel ashamed. Let’s do this, I give you eight taels of silver, so I bought your idea…”

“No, no, how can we take money for that! This is just what the girl imagined…” Su Dahai waved his hand after hearing this.

Uncle Su rolled his eyes at Father Su and interrupted him.

He said to Su Qingyu, “Girl Qingyu, what do you think?”

Su Qingyu glanced at Su Dahai and saw that he looked anxious, for fear that Su Qingyu would open her mouth, and she smiled in her heart.

This honest dad, how much money was the hard work worth? Ideas and creativity were the most valuable.

After some thought, considering that she needed to create a partition in her room for herself and the twins, she said, “Uncle, five taels would be sufficient. I’ll take two taels as pocket money, and use three taels for my parents to save for the twins. In the future, if my father wants to buy something for the household, offering a discount would be appreciated. I just hope, Uncle, that you won’t mention this to others. My grandmother is not easy to get along with.”

Father Su and Mother Su were both honest. When they faced difficulties, she hoped that Uncle Su’s family could help speak on their behalf. Uncle Su’s family had several generations of males.

The Su family father and son exchanged glances, initially refusing, but seeing Su Qingyu’s firm stance, they could only repeatedly assure her, “Qingyu, rest assured, our family is good at keeping secrets. We won’t speak about it outside. In the future, if your parents need to buy anything for the household, we’ll only charge for the materials.”

After saying that, he asked Aunt Su to get the money.

Su Dahai was taken aback. He had come to make dowry chests for his daughter, and now not only were they not taking money, but they were also returning with more silver?

Until the money was stuffed into his arms by Aunt Su, he still felt that it was very hot and he didn’t know what to do.

It made the Su family laugh.

Uncle Su smiled and said to Su Qingyu: “Your father, you know, is an honest man who has never fought or competed in his whole life. It may seem like he’s at a disadvantage now, but good fortune awaits him in the future.”

After giving a few words of advice to Su Dahai, he then collected the money anxiously. His hand was still covering his chest as if it didn’t feel real unless he touched it.

After bidding farewell to Uncle Su’s family, Su Qingyu took the twins and followed their father home.

Before reaching the door of the house, they could faintly hear the sound of arguing coming from the courtyard.

(End of chapter)