Jiang Yan suddenly had so much free time, except for laughing with the maids, doing needlework, strengthening the relationship with colleagues, practicing calligraphy by herself, and going around Lin Daiyu, there was nothing to do. After sending Baoyu away on this day, Jiang Yan stared at the lazy cat leaning against the brazier for a long time, preparing to embroider a new veil with a cat pattern, she was already bored to this extent.

I thought I was resting for the holidays, but who knew that it was so cold this year, and it was just October, so I couldn't wait to shrink in the house every day, and I didn't want to go out to play at all. In the past few days, she has been out of Rongqing Hall once, and sneaked out of Jiafu to buy four sets of cotton clothes for the eldest girl.

Fortunately, she is now in the right place, and the charcoal is enough every month, and Baoyu is the first-class master in this house, and no one dares to postpone or even deduct their charcoal. Listening to the book that accompanied Tanchun to ask for peace, they complained to her, and they had to send someone to urge them every time, and the firewood and charcoal house were willing to send things. Yingchun is even more miserable, the masters don't dare to do anything, the charcoal of those little maids has been replaced, and as soon as it burns, the house is full of smoke, and the table and bed are all black ash. Yingchun's temperament, it's useless to complain to her, she will only let the maids come to her house to keep warm. It was Si Qi who brought people over there to make trouble, so that they didn't dare to bully people anymore.

Jiang Yan was a little strange, "There were no such things in previous years?" Although the amount of charcoal is sometimes a little insufficient, it is not so excessive. ”

"I heard that there is less charcoal sent in this year, and it is extremely cold this year, and it is not enough to move around, so I have to go outside to buy, who knows that the charcoal is not enough, at this time the good charcoal has already been sold out, so I had to buy some floating charcoal bituminous coal, so I didn't freeze people, but the persimmon picked the soft pinch, and the little maids around the slightly kind master were unlucky." ”

The youngest of the little maids is no more than thirteen or fourteen years old, and the children's lungs are tender, and they can't stand it like this, but they would rather be smoked than be frozen.

There is really no way to use this charcoal, there have to be people on the left and right, Jiang Yan asked them to put a few more basins of water in the house, and it is best to cover the brazier with a wet cloth, so that they can absorb some of it. It's just a symptom but not a cure, you have to make more coal, Jiang Yan thought about it for a long time, and finally let her think of a way, which is to make honeycomb coal.

She knows how to make honeycomb coal, thanks to a variety show she watched before, in order to toss the guests, the program team didn't know where to dig out these long-standing things, and made a pile of coal ash and a pile of dirt for people to make honeycomb coal. In Jiang Yan's impression, when she was a child, her grandmother used a briquette stove to cook vegetables and boil water, she thought that the program team was making it blind, so she checked the information on the Internet, and now I still remember that thanks to this production, it is really simple to make, that is, coal ash, yellow mud, and water are mixed, and then pressed and demolded with a mold to dry.

However, she was now in the inner house, and there was nowhere to find materials, so she wrote a letter to Xie Jingxing with a homemade quill, wrote down all the information she knew about honeycomb coal and briquette stoves, and drew a picture. She forgot the proportions, but it wasn't a problem when she thought about it, and their craftsmen could try a few more times, and the focus was on the cylindrical perforated mold.

If this thing is sold, the price is not high, and the Qing'an Hou Mansion probably can't look down on this money, even if she owes him a favor.

After Baoyu went to school on the second day, Jiang Yan used the excuse of looking for Wang Xifeng's Lian'er to play out of Qianyun Xuan, went to a no-man's place and climbed over the wall, wrapped her cloak and hood and went straight to Shihu Lane. She didn't know if Xie Jingxing was at home, a while ago he said that he was thrown by his father to the camp in Beijing, and the concierge of their house didn't know her, so it was safer to go to the house he had been to before to let people spread the news.

She arrived at the house in Shihu Lane, and the steward personally greeted her, although he felt that Jiang Yan was dressed very normally, but he had seen his own son-in-law's attention to this Jiang Gongzi, last time he heard that Jiang Gongzi was coming, he hurriedly came from the Hou Mansion, knowing that he hadn't gotten up yet, and he didn't rush it, but he waited outside for half an hour. He has also seen a lot of friends of Childe, when have you seen him so patient, this Jiang Gongzi he must be a guest, maybe he will say two good words at Childe, and he will have to be promoted?

Jiang Yan didn't go into the house to toss people, so she gave the letter to the steward in the porter's room, and asked him to send the letter to Xie Jingxing as soon as possible, and the things inside could not be delayed. Otherwise, the winter is over, and honeycomb coal will not be of much use.

The steward promised to send it to Xie Jingxing tonight, Jiang Yan wanted to give some money, but unfortunately she was shy in her pocket, and the steward of the Qing'an Hou Mansion who had her little money probably didn't look down on it, so she had to thank him again.

When the lantern was in charge, Xie Jingxing came back from the camp in Beijing, and was about to take a shower to get rid of the dust on his body first, when Yongan came in to report that Steward Zhao of the house in Shihu Lane had Jiang Gongzi's return.

Yongan Buguang and the two parties knew Jiang Yan's identity, and usually helped her cover up, knowing that Jiang Yan had something to do with her son, so he asked him to tell himself first. Steward Zhao rarely had the opportunity to meet Xie Jingxing in person, how could he just go back, how could he show his face, and insisted that Jiang Gongzi ordered him to hand it over to Gongzi in person.

Yongan is also convinced of Jiang Yan's magic, not to mention anything else, every time he accompanies his son to Rongguo Mansion, Jiang Yan can appear on time. As soon as he heard this, it seemed to be quite important, and as soon as he saw Xie Jingxing coming back, he went up to report it.

Xie Jingxing stopped walking towards the bathhouse, turned around and went to the study, "Let him in." ”

Steward Zhao hurriedly walked into the study, knelt on the ground to say goodbye, and handed over the letter he had been hiding in his arms with both hands, "Jiang Gongzi ordered the letter to be handed over to Gongzi as soon as possible, the slave did not dare to delay until tomorrow, it was really the slave's fault to disturb the child's rest." ”

Xie Jingxing opened the envelope and replied to him casually: "What's wrong with this?" If you do what Jiang Gongzi tells me, I will reward you. ”

Jiang Yan's letter didn't have many words, and he read it with two eyes, but the content in it made him frown and ponder.

When he came back to his senses, he saw that Steward Zhao was still waiting below, and said with a smile: "You have made a contribution this time, Yong'an, go and talk to Steward Li, and see if there is a suitable position in the mansion to transfer him back." ”

After finishing speaking, he didn't care about changing his clothes, so he copied down the key points in Jiang Yan's letter with paper and ink, and hurriedly went to the study outside with the paper.

Steward Zhao followed Yongan to see Steward Li with a blank face, and he ran his leg once, and the goal was achieved? Although he flattered Jiang Gongzi with this plan, this speed is too fast, right? Jiang Gongzi is really his lucky star!

When Xie Jingxing went to the outer study, Qing'an Hou was preparing for dinner, and when he saw him come in with a dusty face, he said strangely: "Why didn't you go to the bath first today?" I'm not used to you not tossing for a day. "He has been in the army for many years, and he has always been unimpressed with the attention of his youngest son.

Xie Jingxing and his father have never had anything to talk about, and they didn't answer when they heard the words, but said lightly: "I have something I want to ask my father to help, and ask my father to lend me the Zhuangzi near Xishan for a while." ”

Qing'an Hou thought for a while and said, "What are you going to do?" It's cold this year, and Zhuangzi on the other side of Xishan is busy burning charcoal to make briquettes, so he doesn't have time to toss for you. ”

"That's what I want to make briquettes," Xie Jingxing said, "I saw a way to make briquettes from the book, which not only burns longer, is smokeless and tasteless, but also uses less coal than previous briquettes." ”

Qing'anhou frowned, "You can make those fragrant cakes of literati and scholars in the mansion by yourself, how can you use Zhuangzi, don't mess around." ”

Xie Jingxing directly handed him the paper, "Father, please see, this briquettes are all cheap and easy to use, if it succeeds, it will definitely be beneficial to the people, it's not that I'm messing around for a while." ”

Qing'an Hou didn't take this to heart, took the paper and looked at it, and found that it was indeed a cheap thing, and it was not a big deal, so he responded to him, but, "You let the next person do these things, you still have to go to the barracks on time for me!" Anyway, he is also a martial arts captain, and he has to lead by example, so don't let people see jokes! ”

In the blink of an eye, Baoyu has been going to school for more than a month, and in the winter month, the temperature has plummeted. Jiang Yan didn't like to go out more and more, and she didn't even want to go to the front yard, so she only hid in the fire in Qianyun Xuan. She is not a master or a favored maid, there is a big sweater to prevent wind and snow, although the cotton clothes are thick, it is a little reluctant to go out in such weather, fortunately, Baoyu is not at home, no one wants to enjoy the snow and plums, she finishes her daily work and no one says anything in the house every day.

Hui Xiang came in from outside, rubbed her hands and approached the stove, "It's really cold this day, I went outside, and my hands were going to freeze." ”

Jiang Yan poured her a cup of hot tea, "Warm up, what are you doing out this day?" There is no offense. ”

"Didn't I hear the movement ahead and thought Baoyu was coming back?" Si'er took a sip while holding the tea bowl, "Fortunately, we have this stove now, otherwise we would have to go to the front teahouse to carry water, it's too troublesome." ”

But isn't it, in the past, the maids used to provide hot water in the tea room, one was not far away, and the other was also for safety reasons to prevent fire. But this year's cold weather is really unbearable, and now there is a new honeycomb coal outside, which is more convenient to use with the stove, and Jiafuli has replaced it. Jiang Yan took advantage of the matter of making tea, and asked for an extra one for them to put outside the house, and it was convenient for her to heat a dish and soup by herself.

If you want her to say that Xie Jingxing's efficiency is really high enough, but in a month, there is a large amount of honeycomb coal sold outside, and this weather seems to last for several months. Originally, I was a little hesitant to see this new honeycomb coal, but after seeing the use effect, I immediately pulled back several cars. Rongguo Mansion is also one of them. Although the masters don't use it, it can be replaced in tea houses and other places, and the saved charcoal can be used for people, or it can be used directly for heating, which is much better than bituminous coal.