The Farm Girl’s Charismatic Fortune
Chapter 218 - 214: Papermaking

Chapter 218: Chapter 214: Papermaking

The birds were frightened away by someone’s murderous aura, and the forest suddenly fell silent. Ruo Xuan couldn’t help but say, "Brother Xuanyuan, why did you scare them away? I wanted you to catch a few pigeons later; I feel like eating roast pigeon."

Xuanyuan Que replied indifferently, "They were too noisy, I’ll roast some for you later."

Those birds had been chirping and twittering, making even her voice seem three shades quieter.

Ruo Xuan just laughed, well, if they’re gone, they’re gone!

Listening to the rustling wind blowing through the bamboo forest also wasn’t bad.

Ruo Xuan hopped and skipped between the bamboo, looking for suitable ones.

Half an hour later, Xuanyuan Que had chopped a pile of tender bamboo.

After chopping the bamboo, Xuanyuan Que casually formed a Fairy Technique, and soon fresh bamboo shoots began to emerge from the ground, growing up to waist-height before they stopped.

He saw a wild strawberry plant that had just sprouted a few leaves, squatting down, he pinched its small leaves. The wild strawberry grew rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye, blooming, fruiting, and maturing.

Xuanyuan Que picked the bright red strawberries, conjured a small basket, and placed it in the basket. Walking over to Ruo Xuan, who was sitting on the side, he set it down in front of her and then walked away.

"Where did these strawberries come from?" Ruo Xuan, smiling, picked up the biggest, reddest one from the basket and ran over to Xuanyuan Que, "Brother Xuanyuan, eat!"

"No need," Xuanyuan Que said as he picked up the chopper and began to split the tender bamboo he had chopped into two halves and then cracked them apart.

"Eat it! It smells so good." Ruo Xuan held it up to his lips, the strawberry already touching them.

Xuanyuan Que had no choice but to open his mouth and take a bite, putting down the bamboo in his hands. Just as he was about to reach for the remaining half, Ruo Xuan had already stuffed the rest into her mouth.

Xuanyuan Que: "..."

The sweet scent of strawberries filled his mouth, so delicious that Ruo Xuan’s eyes sparkled, "So tasty! Much better than the ones I hasten to ripen!"

Ruo Xuan picked up another one to feed Xuanyuan Que, "Brother Xuanyuan, you eat too."

Xuanyuan Que reached out to take it, but Ruo Xuan dodged his hand, "You take a bite, I’ll eat the rest; the tip of the strawberry is the sweetest."

Something stirred in the depths of Xuanyuan Que’s heart; he glanced at her sincere eyes, more dazzling than the vast starry sky.

He shook his head, pushing away the hand she extended, "I don’t like sweets; you eat them."

He never had much of a liking for sweet things, yet she adored them.

The sweet-toothed girl, she was offering him the sweetest part of the strawberries.

He bent down to start splitting the tender bamboo he had cut in half.

Seeing that he wouldn’t eat, Ruo Xuan ran back to the stone and sat down, eating the wild fruits someone had hastened to ripen, and watched as someone else chopped the bamboo in half and then pried it apart.

The sound of splitting bamboo entered her ears, so pleasing to the ear.

After finishing the strawberries, Ruo Xuan, feeling eager, said, "Brother Xuanyuan, why don’t you take a break? I’ll do it!"

"No need," Xuanyuan Que flatly refused.

The moment the flower began eagerly to chop the bamboo, the first cut nearly severed her own little elephant leg.

If he hadn’t been watching and protecting her with Spiritual Power, he would have had to heal her injuries again.

Now he needed to conserve some Spiritual Power for later to activate the Time Manipulation Immortal Technique, to accelerate the soaking of the bamboo; he couldn’t be distracted by her.

Half an hour later, Xuanyuan Que moved the split bamboo to a water source nearby using an Immortal Technique, allowing the running water to soak it.

Lianshi Paper was expensive and known as the silk of papers, not just because of its intricate and time-consuming production process but also due to the high requirements for the bamboo material.

Lianshi Paper was made from Moso bamboo, and specifically the tender bamboo of the current year. The bamboo was best harvested when three shoots appeared, then required soaking in pond water for three months, until the inner layer of bamboo fibers and the outer green layer separated. Only after removing the green and extracting the fibers did the first step complete.

Normally, the split bamboo needed to soak for more than three months to separate the bamboo fibers from the green; however, with the use of an Immortal Technique by Xuanyuan Que, this step was completed in an instant.

What was once a pile of green and white bamboo had turned a dirt-brown color, covered in mud and moss, bearing the marks of years, at first glance looking as though it had been soaking for no short time.

Next, the bamboo fibers had to be peeled off, then rinsed clean in the river until the fibers reached an off-white color, and afterwards dried in the sun.

Then the dried bamboo fibers were soaked in lime, allowing them to become fully encrusted in lime paste, and pickled for half a month.

After half a month, the lime paste on the bamboo fibers was thoroughly washed off, and the fibers were dried again before being pickled a second time with lime paste, this time for around ten days. They were then taken out, washed again, and boiled for two consecutive days. All traces of lime had to be completely removed to prevent the paper from becoming brittle.

After the first boiling, the fibers were washed and dried, then cooked for about an hour in alkali water filtered from plant ash. Following that, they were taken out and boiled for over twelve hours...

Thus, the fibers were repeatedly boiled, air-dried for over twenty days, alkali-treated, boiled again, and air-dried for another twenty days, until they were turned into the initial paper pulp. Then, this crude pulp was meticulously selected, crushed, cleaned, treaded upon, pulped, treated with sizing agents, and finally scooped onto a bamboo screen to form paper sheets, which were then pressed, peeled, and dried. Even the sun-drying process required a specialized sun-drying wall, or at the very least, flat wooden boards.

If any step was performed insufficiently, the resulting paper easily cracked, was uneven, lacked whiteness, or did not possess sufficient durability.

Only when every step was meticulously performed would the Lianshi Paper turn out as white as snow, smooth as silk, durable, and resistant to fading or yellowing for decades.

Making such a sheet of paper could take more than half a year.

Therefore, Xuanyuan Que had already added paper to the order list for Ruo Xuan at the old Shopkeeper’s request.

The following steps would be carried out once the old Shopkeeper and his team arrived.

He did not wish to teach the process too many times.

At dawn the next day, before people crowded the streets, the old Shopkeeper delivered several horse carts of paper to Wenyuan Bookstore without alerting anyone.

Then, Xuanyuan Que and Ruo Xuan had the old Shopkeeper bring people to the mountain to retrieve the soaked bamboo, peel off the bamboo fibers, and begin the step-by-step paper-making process, while at the same time construction of the paper-making workshop commenced.

Half a month later, representatives from the three academies arrived punctually at Wenyuan Bookstore to collect their books.

Shopkeeper Liu, beaming with smiles, led them to the back yard to move the books: "Master Zhang, this pile here is for your academy! Master Wen, this pile is yours! Master Fang, this pile is for you. Please check them over, and if there are no issues, you can settle the remaining payment and then take the books away!"

The visitors from the three academies fell silent.

They had been convinced that this little bookstore could not fulfill an order of twenty thousand volumes and had come today to collect the breach of contract fee. They had not brought much silver with them.

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