Transmigrated as a Stepmother: Time to Bring the Family to Prosper!-Chapter 97 - 96: Understanding the Third Brother

The Liu Family had already heard the noise from the courtyard. As Qin Yao walked through the open gate, Mrs. Zhang called to her from the main house,

"Come here and sit; what brings you out here at midday? Aren’t you going to rest at home for a bit?"

Qin Yao always believed in keeping resources within the family. Liu the carpenter was in charge of the waterwheel, while she was tasked with making two large stone mills and a stone roller. One person couldn’t possibly handle it all quickly enough.

She entered the main house but didn’t sit down, leaned on her shoulder pole, and explained her purpose.

"Liu the carpenter and I are going to build a water mill for Lower River Village. I’m short a few hands. Eldest brother, second brother, youngest brother—do you have time these days to help me make the stone mills?"

Qin Yao added, "It’s thirty-five cents a day per person, no meals provided. It’s labor-intensive work. Since we have family to use, I thought I’d ask you all first. If you’re not available, I’ll look elsewhere."

Her uncle’s family had a few cousins who put in a lot of hard work when her house was being built last time.

The three brothers were a bit embarrassed, but He and Mrs. Qiu already had expressions of delight.

He said, "We’re free right now; there isn’t much work in the fields, so let your eldest brother go with you!"

Mrs. Qiu gently nudged Liu Zhong’s arm. Liu Zhong scratched his head, a little shyly, and said, "I’ll go too."

As for Liu Fei, he was already in the storeroom fetching a shoulder pole and hammer, fully equipped and standing in the courtyard, calling loudly, "Third sister-in-law, where are we hauling the stone to?"

Old Liu had just grasped the notion of the thirty-five cents per day wage and hastily said,

"We’re all family; there’s no need to discuss pay. Just provide them with three meals."

Liu Bai and Liu Zhong also agreed, "As long as there’s food, we’re good." They almost got their arms pinched by their wives.

Qin Yao looked at Old Liu, amused, "Dad, when it comes to family, everything should be accounted for. Let’s do what needs to be done. Time’s short, so we’ll get to work now. Today counts as a half-day’s pay."

With that, she called for her eldest and second brothers to grab the tools and led the three workers away.

Liu Fei was as happy as a fool, "Third sister-in-law, I might not look sturdy, but I’m strong. You don’t need to go easy on me; I’ll definitely work hard for you."

Liu Zhong was still slightly embarrassed about having doubted Qin Yao’s rice planting methods before. Qin Yao asked him directly, "Second brother, do you know where the largest stones are around here?"

Liu Zhong exhaled in relief and pointed earnestly towards the distant mountain, "It’s hard to find big ones in the river; we need to quarry them from the mountain instead."

"Alright, you lead the way," Qin Yao readily yielded the leading position.

Liu Zhong strode ahead, with Liu Bai walking alongside him as they discussed which mountain to go to.

Getting the stone is actually the simplest part; the hardest is transporting it back, so the closer to the main road, the better.

Liu Bai, who paid attention to detail, asked Qin Yao, "The places to get the stones aren’t far from Lower River Village. Bringing them back to our village adds extra work. Why don’t we just fetch the stones, set up a shed by the roadside, and grind them there? Then we can transport them directly to Lower River Village and save some hassle."

Moreover, stones are heavy; there’s no fear of anyone stealing them from the roadside.

Who in their right mind would steal a millstone? Even if it’s heavy, those who don’t need it find it a hassle to deal with.

Qin Yao had planned to do just that from the start. Hearing Liu Bai’s suggestion, she nodded in agreement.

After walking for more than half an hour from Liu Family Village towards Lower River Village, they reached the stone-gathering spot.

It was a stone mountain, barren on top, with wind and rain-battered stone fragments scattered below.

There were visible quarrying marks on the rock face; this was a place where people from nearby villages frequently came to gather stone.

The quality of the stone was decent enough for making grindstones.

Qin Yao needed two eighty-centimeter diameter millstones and a sixty-centimeter diameter, one-meter-long cylindrical stone roller.

In one afternoon, the four of them chose materials and marked easy-to-handle spots with colorful riverbank stones, outlining several areas.

There was no time to quarry stone today. After selecting the materials, Liu Bai and Liu Fei cut down trees while Qin Yao moved things to the main road, setting up a simple shed with Liu Zhong for shade and rain protection. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Once the work shed was ready, the four headed home at sunset.

After resting overnight, Liu Fei was up at dawn, knocking on Qin Yao’s door to wake her.

Seeing the young man’s vigor, Qin Yao took a bite of the meat bun Liu Ji had made last night, carried a small clay jar filled with mantou and vegetables, and shook her head with a light sigh, "So energetic."

He and Mrs. Qiu had risen early that morning as well, making breakfast for the three brothers and packing their lunches.

However, the three’s combined meal portion wasn’t even as much as the small clay jar Qin Yao held.

Previously, when everyone ate together, they only noticed Qin Yao eating bowl after bowl, without grasping the significant difference in meal portions.

Seeing the small clay jar today, their eyes widened in amazement.

"Don’t look at me like that; is it really that shocking?" Qin Yao asked, raising an eyebrow suspiciously as she lifted her midday meal—the small clay jar.

The three Liu brothers nodded in unison, indeed, it was quite astonishing!

But once they reached the worksite and saw Qin Yao wielding a pickaxe, digging ten centimeters deep with a single blow, her large appetite seemed quite justified.

The valley echoed the rhythmic ’clang-clang-clang’ of the stone-breaking all day long.

Every time Qin Yao glanced up and saw the muscular, hardworking Liu brothers, she couldn’t help but wonder why, despite having the same father, the sons turned out so different.

Was Liu Ji adopted?

No, that was impossible. Although the four brothers did not share the same mother, Old Liu’s genes were strong, and they all looked quite similar.

Perhaps Liu Ji just took after his mother more, making his features exceptionally impressive.

Upon closer look, Liu Bai and Liu Zhong had decent looks too. Liu Fei was slightly less so, but if you picked him out individually, he’d still be quite a handsome young man.

These wild thoughts didn’t affect Qin Yao’s work efficiency; she was the first to quarry a massive stone and then went to help Liu Fei.

The youngster appeared slim, but he was quite strong. Quarrying stone mainly relied on technique, but being too young, he tended to get impatient, banging the stone in frustration.

Luckily, with Qin Yao’s help, he gradually found the right rhythm, and before the sun set, another relatively complete large stone was quarried.

Liu Bai and Liu Zhong worked on a larger stone together, and after a day’s effort, they only finished half of it; another day of work, and it would be done.

After two days of effort, they quarried one large stone, two medium-sized stones, and one smaller one.

Three were needed, with an extra one as a backup just in case.

In total, four hefty boulders were used, with two logs as the base and one as traction; the stones were placed atop and rolled section by section with the logs to the roadside, then hoisted onto the main road using ropes.

This process was much easier with Qin Yao, the strong one, involved than quarrying stones was.

She could even single-handedly lift the smaller spare stone, nearly a thousand jin, and dash to the main road, tossing it there.

The Liu brothers stood there, dumbfounded, unable to recover for a long time.

Suddenly, they understood why Liu Ji had become so well-behaved.