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The Sun matron who stood at the back observed her sister-in-law being ridiculed and immediately took a few steps back, turned around with the basket on her back, and started to walk away.

On seeing this, someone asked her, “Why is sister-in-law Chen leaving? Aren’t you selling your Tremella anymore?”

“Mm,” responded the Sun matron hesitantly, quickening her pace.

Her Tremella had developed mold too. Even after having it roasted, it was still no good. It was dull and marred with mold spots, and even its fragrance was gone.

She had hoped to sell her merchandise without anyone noticing its quality, but given the commotion created by the Han family, it seemed unlikely that she could sell her Tremella. As it was, she decided to avoid the embarrassment of standing out in the crowd.

She felt a pang of loss considering the money she had invested in buying the seeds for cultivating Tremella. She estimated that she would lose over ten taels of silver.

Ten taels was no small amount.

Feeling an unbearable pain in her heart, she thought of asking her husband to have a crack at selling the Tremella in a drugstore in town. Perhaps someone unacquainted with the product might buy it, helping her recover some losses.

Meanwhile, in the main courtyard of the Jiang family,

After a bout of persuasion from everyone and an intercession by old man Jiang, Zhou Mao finally agreed to continue buying goods.

The villagers waiting to sell their goods quickly sorted through their Tremella to avoid presenting subpar goods that could irritate the steward Zhou.

Yingbao, however, ignored the happenings outside and continued measuring the weaving machine with her mother, made sketches of the various components, and recorded their dimensions.

She planned to ask different carpenters to make these components following the designated dimensions and then assemble them to sell the weaving machines. Even if she sold a machine for fifty taels, selling just five would cover the initial investment.

She might even be able to profit more in the future.

These weaving machines could shuttle automatically. Weavers only needed to pull the strings with one hand and the board with the other while treading on the pedals, which could improve weaving speed several times compared to manually shuttling. With enough practice, they could weave a bolt of three-foot-wide cotton cloth in just a day.

The weaving speed was practically miraculous in the local area.

The machine alone justified an investment of over two hundred taels of silver.

The following day, Yingbao and her mother took the drawings to several carpenters in other towns and gave each of them the designs and dimensions for a couple of components. They requested each to make twenty sets as quickly as possible.

They then gave the simpler component designs to Wang Ke, who was skilled in carpentry, and requested him to manufacture twenty sets.

The metallic elements of the looms and the springs in the shuttle paths were to be made by a blacksmith shop in town.

Ten days later, Chunniang and her two sisters-in-law were proficient in operating the new weaving devices, producing wide and soft cotton cloth.

The wooden and metallic components also got completed, and old man Jiang, taking a mule cart, went to fetch them.

Then came the assembly of the weaving machines.

Chunniang completed the assembly for one machine in her sister-in-law’s house, and then another in the house of her other sister-in-law.

She stored the remaining eighteen machines at home. If someone wanted to buy, the price would be fifty taels for each device.

The price was high, ten times the cost of local weaving machines.

But so what? Rarity commands a premium, and those who coveted it had to pay the price.

However, Yingbao told her mother to hold off the sale until her father returned and could sell them all at once.

Because if they could get the pieces made, so could others. Thus, it was a one-time deal.

If they sold one machine and others started to replicate it rampantly, they would turn into the village fools, investing their own money to pave the way for others. Potential buyers might even accuse them of being money-grubbers.

So, either they sold all eighteen at once or none at all.

Chunniang listened to her daughter’s advice. If people asked, she told them to wait for her husband.

If people thought the cost was prohibitive and no one wanted to purchase, they could hire some weavers to weave cotton clothes for them.

They had an ample supply of cotton at home. If it all got spun into cotton yarn and woven into cloth, the revenue would add up to a large sum.

Before long, the news that the Jiang Family had bought a new type of weaving machine quickly spread throughout the village.

Many people came to watch, and the sight of Chunniang swiftly weaving fabric left them awestruck.

Especially, the shuttle that could run back and forth automatically, it amazed everyone and they couldn’t figure out how it worked.

When they asked about the price, they were flabbergasted to learn that one weaving machine costs over a hundred taels of silver.

However, when they learned that the machine was purchased from Wu Yue, thousands of miles away, it seemed to make sense.

Many families itched to learn where they could purchase a similar weaving machine, but their inquiries were to no avail.

Soon it was the last month of the year, and when Jiang Sanlang and others returned from working outside, they found several hundred rolls of pure white cotton fabric piled up in their home.

In both the side rooms and main hall of their house, there were two weaving machines each, and a total of six, with each one operated by a weaving lady.

Some others were spinning cotton under the eaves, some were from their village, and some from others.

“What’s going on?” Jiang Sanlang asked his wife.

Chunniang grinned and said, “I hired some weaving ladies to help us. Look at these beautiful cotton fabrics. I’ll make you some clothes with them later.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Jiang Sanlang pointed at the weaving machines in their house and asked, “Where did all these come from?”

“We hired people to make them.”

Chunniang shot her husband an impatient look and headed to the kitchen to heat water for him to wash up. “Zhou Mao brought us two weaving machines as payment. Baobao wanted to earn back that money, so we hired people to make twenty parts and assembled them ourselves.”

Jiang Sanlang followed his wife into the kitchen: “Twenty? Where are the others?”

He only saw six in their house. Could it be the others had been sold?

Chunniang scooped water into the pot: “The rest are in storage. Baobao said she would wait for you to return before selling them.”

Jiang Sanlang sat down by the stove, helping to stoke the fire and occasionally asking, “How much did Zhou Mao pay for each of ours?”

Chunniang covered the pot and replied, “Two for two hundred and thirty taels. That’s why our daughter wants to earn that money back.”

Jiang Sanlang nodded, adding fuel to the fire, “Baobao is right. I’ll ask around to see who wants one, let’s sell them for fifty taels each.”

Chunniang laughed, “You two really think alike. And you don’t need to ask around, I’ve already taken note of it.”

“Ten households in our village want them, three in West Village, and some from other villages have also placed orders. All in all, twenty-eight households want this kind of weaving machine. They’ve already paid deposits.”

“Twenty-eight?” Jiang Sanlang was stunned: “Then, how much can we earn?”

Chunniang just smiled mysteriously but did not speak.

The costs to custom-make the machine parts was around ten taels per machine.

If they sold each for the price Baobao had set, fifty taels each, they could earn over eleven hundred taels in one go.

Over a thousand taels, a sum she didn’t even dare to dream of in her previous life.

With that much money, even if they never earned another dime, their family could live comfortably.

But her husband had the final say in this matter. Men had their considerations, and both she and her daughter dared not make such a decision rashly.

“Since twenty-eight households have ordered weaving machines, and what we have at home is definitely not enough, what are you planning to do…”

Before Jiang Sanlang could finish speaking, Chunniang replied, “We’ve ordered another thirty pieces. We will retrieve them in a few days.”

The parts for the weaving machines she had ordered this time were paid for with other people’s deposits, so Chunniang wasn’t worried about having no buyers when the machines were ready.

Once they earned this money, they would build a spinning house in the village and hire several more weaving ladies to specialize in weaving cotton.

After all, the whole township was starting to plant cotton, and there would be more and more cotton in the future.

When cotton becomes unsellable, she would weave them into fabrics and sell those instead.