Allure of a Country Maiden-Chapter 98 - 96: Blue Light

Tian Bai told her that two of the wood pieces in the rosewood pile are actually wisteria, also known as siamese rosewood.

Before leaving the house, she had already prepared the tools necessary for verifying the authenticity of precious woods like rosewood.

She took out several glass cups, "Mr. Singer, could you help me by cutting a few shavings from your pile of rosewood?"

"Of course." Following Xiao’er’s request, shavings from each piece of wood were carefully prepared.

Xiao’er placed some of the shavings into the glass cups, marked them, added a certain proportion of water, and then left them aside.

She first took these wood shavings and drew on white paper, all of which showed a purple-red streak. "When rosewood is scraped onto paper, it leaves a purple-red streak. Use the same strength, scrape it a few times until the streak fades and disappears before moving on to the next step," Xiao’er explained to Shen Chengyao.

Then she took out a magnifying glass to observe the distribution of the vessels in the cross-section. This magnifying glass was specially made by her at the colored glaze workshop.

For rosewood, the diameters of the vessels within the entire growth ring are roughly equal, and the distribution is relatively uniform while the growth ring is not clearly obvious. Next, she looked at the hue of the wood surface. The freshly cut face of rosewood is orange-red, turning deep purple or black purple over time, and is streaked with light and dark purple stripes.

The texture of rosewood crisscrosses, partially curls, and presents with "cow hair grain" and golden stars, these are typical characteristics of rosewood. This requires experience to differentiate. Without experience, one could easily mistake the vessels in other woods for the "cow hair grain" of rosewood. It also needs to be checked for an oily texture. Xiao’er pointed out what she observed through the magnifying glass, explaining this to Shen Chengyao and Liu Minhong.

Liu Minhong, who has seen this before, nodded in agreement.

"Also, there’s the smell. Rosewood gives off a faint sandalwood-like fragrance." Xiao’er scraped the wood shavings against a piece of pottery.

"Dad, uncle, why don’t you try to smell this piece and these two pieces to see if you can detect a difference?"

Shen Chengyao sniffed each and found them to be quite similar, but Liu Minhong pointed at the last two pieces, "I seem to smell a hint of sour and spicy from these."

Upon Liu Minhong’s response, Xiao’er confidently declared, "Mr. Singer, these two pieces are not rosewood."

"Impossible, you must have tested them wrongly!" How could a child possibly have more experience than him! He assumed that Xiao’er was deliberately entrapping him.

Xiao’er smiled, appearing unbothered, "Mr. Singer, I still have one last step. I have soaked the wood shavings in the glass cups and marked them, after a few hours, you will see the difference. Don’t disturb these glass cups, we will come back in a few hours."

"Alright." He was also curious about what the difference would be in a few hours.

"I’ll stay here to check the other timber." Liu Minhong was worried Mr. Singer might tamper with the glass cups.

Shen Chengyao also wanted to learn how to identify different types of wood.

Xiao’er didn’t pay them any mind. It was a good thing to have more eyes on it. The ability to identify wood is accumulated bit by bit, and one cannot get fat with just one bite. With more observation and experience, it would naturally become clear.

"Dad, uncle, I’m going back to the shop now. I’m going to deliver some New Year’s gifts to Uncle Fu."

Shen Chengyao agreed. The county is peaceful and Xiao’er is already familiar with it. His daughter is even more clever and agile than he is, so he was very at ease.

After Xiao’er left, she first arranged for a bullock cart to wait for her at a certain intersection in half an hour. Then she found a secluded spot and took out a large pile of food from her dimension. She then waited at the intersection for the coachman to come and transport the pile of food.

The bullock cart arrived quickly. Xiao’er asked the coachman to help load the items onto the cart.

"Little girl, where are your parents? It’s strange for you to move all these things by yourself." The chatty coachman was surprised to see Xiao’er pulling the cart by herself and asked curiously.

"My parents are also moving things. These are all the things they moved here. I volunteered to get a bullock cart to transport them. It’s just down the street anyway, and I know the way."

"Little girl, you’re so well-behaved, knowing how to help your parents out at such a young age. You’re much more sensible than my little rascals." The bullock cart uncle praised her upon hearing this, and he swiftly started to load the goods onto the cart.

Xiao’er directed him to the toy store first. As New Year was approaching, she, as the semi-boss, had to distribute some benefits to her staff. She took out the New Year gifts prepared for Uncle Fu and the clerks at the toy store, then left those for Manager Tong and the employees in the colored glaze workshop for Uncle Fu to arrange for delivery. After all, they didn’t have their own carriage, and the colored glaze workshop was quite a distance away. freёnovelkiss.com

The gifts for the clerks were not much, just a pound of dried fruits and candy, and two pounds of dried meat. But Uncle Fu and Manager Tong got extra — a jar each of wine and apple vinegar, and a basket of fresh apples.

When she returned to the timber shop, Shi Dalin was there to help move the bullock cartload of goods, having seen what Xiao’er had bought. His night blindness had significantly improved, and he was very grateful to Xiao’er. Without her help, his family might very well be homeless as a result of his illness!

After unloading the goods, Xiao’er paid the coachman ten coins for his service and he left cheerfully.

Xiao’er called the clerks in the shop to receive their New Year gifts, which were the same as those given to the clerks in the toy shop. Although these were merely food items, for these workers, they were already generous New Year gifts. Many shop owners would only give about a pound of meat or a foot of fabric. In addition, Xiao’er gave Shi Dalin a bag of carrots.

Xiao’er also set aside 100 pounds of rice and flour each for her uncle’s family, along with two jars of wine, two jars of apple vinegar, ten pounds of dried meat, ten pounds of dried fruits and candy, a basket of apples, pears, and pomelos, and a packet of tea leaves. She also shared some of the delicacies sent by Shangguan Xuanyi and Di Shaowei. These items had been brought over earlier in the morning.

"Today is the last day of the year. You can head home to celebrate New Year this afternoon and then come back to work on the fifth day of the year. If anyone lives nearby and wants to stay and work in the shop, that’s fine too. The wage will be triple, which means 60 coins per day," she added. Upon hearing this, several clerks wanted to stay and work a few more days — earning three days’ worth of silver in one day was too good an opportunity to pass up!

Shi Dalin was delighted to hear this! While New Year always came and went, earning some extra silver was the real deal!

"Miss, does this mean the triple wage applies if we start working on the second day of the New Year too?"

"Yes, working on holidays will earn you a triple wage!"

"What a kind-hearted mistress you are!"

Xiao’er smiled, chatted with them for a while then went to the market to see what she could buy and to have a meal. She needed to buy some items for New Year!

Since it was just a few days before New Year, there was a market day every day in the county! Many people from the villages brought produce from their fields, hunted animals from the mountains, or livestock they’d raised to sell. Xiao’er picked and chose, buying quite a lot of items!

It wasn’t until three hours later that Xiao’er returned to Mr. Singer. By this time, all but two of the glasses showed a layer of blue fluorescence, creating a beautiful and mesmerizing spectacle!

"Mr. Singer, now do you believe it?"

"I do! I never knew you could test it like this!" He had been studying timber for more than thirty years, having followed in his father’s footsteps since he was five. He thought he was beyond being taught. He was only learning for the first time that rosewood soaked in water for a long time would glow blue! His trip to Minze Country was truly worth it! Even if he sold his batch of timber at half price, he would be pleased!

"I only just learned this myself," replied Liu Minhong, his eyes wide open in awe of the beautiful blue glow.

She had already exchanged the 500-tael silver banknotes for fifty taels of gold at the bank. After paying Mr. Singer, Xiao’er gave him a bag of food. Inside was a large pearl, worth several hundred taels by any measure!

Xiao’er understood that it was not easy for Mr. Singer to travel from afar to sell timber.

"Mr. Singer, we hope you will sell us more high-quality timber next time!"

"Sure, but that won’t happen till a year from now."

Mr. Singer wanted to buy the set of glasses and the magnifying glass from Xiao’er. Xiao’er gave him the glasses but charged him 100 taels for the magnifying glass.

As soon as the magnifying glass was made, Di Shaowei insisted that it should not be sold cheaply! At least 100 taels each! Even selling for 300 taels each would be acceptable! The foreign buyers certainly would be interested! His goal was to recoup the 100,000 taels from the colored glaze workshop as fast as possible!

So, right now, charging only 100 taels is indeed a bargain.