Chapter 311
Chapter 311
Ji Yan’an patiently broke the reasoning and risks down for her piece by piece.
Jiang Yunsui tilted her little face up at him. “Why can’t girls become officials? You need people, don’t you? Why can’t they be girls?”
Ji Yan’an said, “If you can find me a woman capable of handling government affairs and overcoming every difficulty the outside world throws at her, I will gladly employ her.”
He was willing to employ people, but he did not want them coming to him to solve every problem they encountered.
Anyone who chose to work under him would receive a measure of authority, but they also needed the ability to solve the difficulties around them.
Only then was Jiang Yunsui satisfied.
“All right, then.”
But finding such a person truly would not be easy.
Even Li Yunniang was a promising talent they had met by chance.
A woman who could place herself in danger and lie in wait for years to avenge herself, her family, and her lover clearly possessed remarkable intelligence and resilience.
But very few women in this world were like Li Yunniang.
“If there were jobs meant for women, would girls be able to study then?”
On her way back to her room, Jiang Yunsui held the little snow leopard and stroked it from head to tail while pondering Ji Yan’an’s words and searching her memories for a solution.
The Inherited Memories were rather disorganized.
They contained many jobs women could do, but none suited this era.
She was still thinking when she went to bed.
There were so many memories that searching them made her head ache.
At last, she found one.
“I have it!”
It was already bedtime. Hearing her cry, Shuhua and Shuqin hurried in from the outer room.
“Miss, what happened?”
Jiang Yunsui smiled sheepishly.
“Nothing. I just thought of something good. Go back to sleep.”
Her excitement lingered, and she tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep.
In the end, she had to nibble a Sleepy Mushroom before she finally drifted off.
The next morning, Jiang Yunsui headed to her own residence next door with a steamed bun in her mouth.
“Dawa, Erwa, Sanwa… we’re going to do something big!”
She intended to mobilize everyone in the courtyard.
Jiang Yunsui’s idea was to make use of wool.
Wool was nearly useless in this era. People wanted only the meat and either discarded or burned the fleece.
Jiang Yunsui not only needed wool, but also had to draw and build the loom from her Inherited Memories.
Fortunately, she knew how to draw. Otherwise, the loom plans alone would have defeated her.
She had brought home nine children by now: five girls and four boys.
Two were far too young, one not yet two and the other only four.
Those two could not do any work, but happily followed their older brothers and sisters around every day.
Their childhoods could be considered fortunate and happy.
The oldest of the others was already seven, and all could help with tasks within their abilities.
They were also studying under the teacher Ji Yan’an had hired.
At Jiang Yunsui’s call, all nine children came running out.
They were all of mixed heritage and quite good-looking.
Jiang Yunsui cared greatly about looks. Every child she brought home was attractive and pleasing to her eye.
As for the other children she found who were less good-looking, she took them to the Ji’an Orphanage.
The Ji’an Orphanage was dedicated to taking in homeless orphans.
It had originally been abandoned, but Jiang Yunsui found so many children that she simply invested money and reopened it.
Of course, the children there did not enjoy the same treatment as those she brought home.
“Miss, what are we going to do?”
“What do you need us to do?”
All nine children obeyed her. They gathered around, chattering questions at her.
Even the two youngest liked crowding close.
“We’re going to the military camp to bring back a few sheep. The weather is hot now, so it’s time to shear them.”
The group marched grandly to the military camp’s sheep pens.
Under the bewildered gaze of the shepherd in charge, they chose several sheep with the thickest fleece.
There were not many sheep of this woolly breed here.
Their coats were thick, but their meat was not especially tasty.
Other breeds were therefore kept in greater numbers.
But their wool was best suited to Jiang Yunsui’s needs.
“These six will do. I’ll take them for now and return them after we’ve sheared them.”
With that, Jiang Yunsui strolled away with several children of exotic appearance, holding a little braid in one hand.
Back in the courtyard, the frightened sheep immediately calmed at the sight of lush grass and lowered their heads to graze.
“How are we supposed to shear them?”
They had scissors, but shearing sheep required skill.
“Be good and don’t move. Once we cut off your wool, you won’t be hot anymore.”
They tied a rope around the sheep’s horns and fastened the other end to a tree.
Jiang Yunsui soothed the sheep while the two most nimble children picked up scissors and slowly began cutting the wool.
“Take it slowly. Don’t rush.”
The method worked quite well.
The wool was filthy and black, tangled with twigs, bits of grass, pellets of dung, and other debris.
Combined with the sheep’s own gamey odor, the smell during shearing was beyond description.
Jiang Yunsui gagged several times.
The children, however, remained unfazed.
Back when they were beggars, what filthy place had they not lived in?
After the first sheep, the two children doing the shearing became more practiced with each one.
Even so, the six sheep took a long time.
They ate a meal midway through, and by the time they finished, night had fallen.
After dark, the six naked-looking sheep were taken back.
The children gathered all the wool and waited for Jiang Yunsui’s next instructions.
That evening, Jiang Yunsui ran to Ji Yan’an’s study. She had someone carry in her own little stool and placed it beside him.
While Ji Yan’an and his advisers handled government affairs, she drew and wrote on a sheet of paper with a charcoal pencil.
By the time the advisers left, her loom design was almost complete.
She lifted the paper and blew on it.
“What is that?”
Ji Yan’an had come up behind her at some point and was studying the object drawn on the paper.
Jiang Yunsui said, “A loom.”
Ji Yan’an examined it closely. “It seems different from the looms we use now.”
Jiang Yunsui looked proud. “Of course. This one weaves much faster.”
“I’ll have someone build it tomorrow.”
“I need to find Shen Qingzhu too.”
With that, she rose with the plans in hand.
“Ji Yan’an, I’m leaving. Good night, bye-bye!”
Ji Yan’an shook his head as he watched her skip away.
He would let her do as she pleased.
Jiang Yunsui sought Shen Qingzhu because she wanted several herbs that could remove odors and grease.
Shen Qingzhu asked, “What do you need those for?”
Jiang Yunsui said, “Oh, don’t ask. Just give them to me. I need lots, and they have to be ground into powder.”
“Do you have soapberries and honey locust pods here?”
Shen Qingzhu said, “No. Send someone to find them yourself.”
Jiang Yunsui said, “Oh.”
“I’ll have someone look tomorrow.”