Chapter 312: This Is an Oil Press
“Hua’er, what are you doing?” Wen Yao called out.
Little Hua’er ran over immediately, running so fast she almost tripped over her feet.
“Yao… Miss, do you need anything? Hua’er will go fetch it for you.” A call of “Sister Yao” almost slipped out of little Hua’er’s mouth before she quickly corrected herself.
Wen Yao raised an eyebrow. Hearing this form of address, she finally realized what felt off.
Bending down, Wen Yao pinched little Hua’er’s face with a smile: “Our Hua’er has grown up too, able to do chores now!”
Little Hua’er tilted her head up, casting a rather proud glance at Mingyue as she said, “Hua’er has already grown up and can attend to Miss properly.”
Mingyue found it quite amusing: “With these tiny arms and legs of yours, what can you do?”
It wasn’t that she was making fun of little Hua’er; rather, she knew Miss had never treated little Hua’er as a maid, choosing instead to let her spend her childhood like a normal child. She envied Hua’er, yet felt equally fortunate to have been chosen to follow Miss.
Little Hua’er grew flustered because of her words. Her eyes turned red instantly, tears looking as if they were about to spill out as she stiffened her neck and declared, “Hua’er knows how to do everything, and will definitely take better care of Miss than you do!”
Turning her head, her mouth pouted as she choked out to Wen Yao, “Miss, please don’t drive Hua’er away! Hua’er will work hard!”
Wen Yao: “…When did I ever say I was driving you away?”
Hua’er continued to cry: “Brother follows the Young Master as a study attendant, and Hua’er grows up to attend to Miss—that’s what Nanny said! But Miss has someone else attending to her now. It must be because Hua’er was lazy and playful. Hua’er won’t be lazy or playful from now on!”
A mere four-year-old child, unable even to speak clearly, blabbering back and forth—yet Wen Yao and Mingyue understood her nonetheless.
After all that, it turned out Mingyue’s arrival had given little Hua’er a sense of crisis. Because she had come to this household with her grandparents and parents specifically to be a servant, she had always remembered that she was supposed to attend to Miss when she grew up. Yet now Mingyue had been added by Wen Yao’s side.
A small child’s mind was innocent, and having experienced such ordeal previously, she was naturally sensitive. She felt it must be because she was useless and disliked by Wen Yao that Mingyue had taken her place, which was why she tried her utmost to prove herself, leading to everything that followed.
Wen Yao didn’t even know what to say. She didn’t want to employ child labor—a four-year-old toddler was at an age where she would still need to be hand-fed meals in her original world.
Yet seeing little Hua’er crying out of breath, Wen Yao still found it somewhat amusing.
“Don’t cry, don’t cry! Look, Mingyue doesn’t cry.” The moment Wen Yao spoke, she grasped Hua’er’s weak spot. Sure enough, hearing that Mingyue didn’t cry, Hua’er stopped crying immediately, even though tears were still hanging in her eyes.
Wen Yao wanted to laugh even more, yet she soothed her patiently nonetheless.
“Isn’t it true that I can have more than one person following me? Sister Mingyue is older than you, and now I have to run outside every day. Isn’t it more suitable for Sister Mingyue to follow me? When Hua’er grows up, I’ll bring Hua’er by my side as well.”
Tears still hung in little Hua’er’s eyes: “R-Really?”
Wen Yao nodded: “Really!”
Little Hua’er asked again: “Then when can Hua’er grow up?”
Wen Yao looked left and right, finally picking up a stone to mark a line as tall as herself on the wall behind her, saying, “When Hua’er grows as tall as this line.”
Little Hua’er ran over hurriedly, tilting her head up to look at the line drawn by Wen Yao. She only felt it was so high; even jumping up with her hand outstretched, she couldn’t reach that high.
Looking at little Hua’er’s bright, beaming face once more, Wen Yao exposed a happy smile as well. This was how a normal four-year-old child ought to look like. As for that younger brother of hers—sigh, sometimes being too smart wasn’t a good thing either.
Seeing little Hua’er head off happily to find Eldest Sister-in-law Lu again, Mingyue couldn’t help sighing with emotion: “Miss, you are truly a wonderful person.”
In any other household, a child of Hua’er’s age would likely have begun learning all sorts of rules already.
Tossing the stone aside, Wen Yao patted her hands nonchalantly: “A child should look like a child.”
A few days later, Wen Yao received a letter from Wen Xiuyi, stating that he had already set off on his return journey. The messenger had traveled via the official courier station; judging by the transmission time, Wen Xiuyi would arrive home in two or three days.
At the same time, Carpenter Zhang delivered the completed oil press to Wen Yao. Wen Yao hadn’t expected the finished product to turn out so massive.
Bringing the components over in a horse carriage, Carpenter Zhang led his two apprentices and a blacksmith to assemble it inside the workshop. Looking at the progress, it wouldn’t be fully assembled for several days.
Under Wen Yao’s arrangement, the room inside the workshop nearest to the courtyard wall was cleared out by Old Madam Luo specifically to house this contraption of Wen Yao’s, whose purpose nobody knew.
Old Madam Luo had no idea why Wen Yao specifically requested it to be placed in the room near the outer wall, but since she asked, Old Madam Luo complied accordingly. Yet looking at all these sticks, poles, and massive stones, Old Madam Luo couldn’t make heads or tails of it, choosing simply to ignore it.
Sure enough, three days later, Wen Xiuyi returned with Mu Li in tow. The moment he arrived, he heard that Wen Yao was tinkering with something inside the workshop. Running over to take a look, Wen Xiuyi blurted out an instant exclamation of awe.
“Impressive, daughter! How long have I been away from home, and you’ve already gotten an oil press built?!” Wen Xiuyi praised his daughter in a low voice.
It seemed that during the time he was away from home, his daughter hadn’t ceased her progress either.
Wen Yao raised an eyebrow with pride: “Professor Wen, you’ve been away for nearly two months! Besides, only Professor Wen is allowed to make progress? Chef Wen isn’t allowed to strive forward a bit?”
“No, no, Chef Wen is the most capable one in our family! We finally won’t have to eat lard every single day—Doctor Wen said that eating animal fat every day isn’t good for one’s health either,” Wen Xiuyi hurriedly flattered his daughter with a cheerful smile.
Old Madam Luo stepped through the door right at this moment. Seeing the father and daughter huddled together whispering about who knows what, she called out, “What are you two tinkering with?”
The two exchanged a glance, quickly stowing away any conversation laced with modern terms. Wen Yao ran over to wrap her arm around Old Madam Luo’s, leading her over to look at her masterpiece.
“What on earth is this thing used for? Sticks and poles everywhere, and this huge stone—with such a heavy stone hanging here, how are you going to lift it up?” Old Madam Luo asked.
Wen Yao didn’t know how to explain the principle of leverage to the old lady, so she could only say, “Grandma, Uncle Zhang said assembly will be finished in a moment. Have someone fetch some soybeans, and let’s give it a try!”
“This thing is used on beans?” Old Madam Luo sized it up and down without deciphering anything, yet she still had someone carry two hundred catties of soybeans out from the storeroom.
“Is this enough? If not, I’ll have them carry out some more,” Old Madam Luo said.
Wen Yao nodded like a woodpecker: “Enough, enough! Call Grandpa and the others over in a moment to lend a hand. Whether this succeeds or fails depends entirely on this run!”
For the sake of Wen Yao’s contraption, Old Madam Luo granted the workers in the workshop a half-day off today with full pay, sending them all home. Once all members of the Wen family were assembled, the main gates were shut, and everyone gathered inside this room.
Carpenter Zhang was kept behind, while the blacksmith was settled with his payment and sent away. After all, if anything went wrong in a moment, Carpenter Zhang would still need to make adjustments. Besides, Carpenter Zhang was considered one of their own now, so there was nothing to hide from him.
Seeing that everyone was present, Wen Yao stepped up in front of the oil press, let out two coughs, then raised her hand to signal for silence, introducing it to the crowd with utmost solemnity:
“Allow me to grandly introduce to everyone… this is an oil press!”
