Chapter 93

After getting ashore, Hong Tao ignored the group of people and ran back to his small courtyard, leaving Second Wen chasing after him in a hurry. If it weren't for Bo Fu and Chen Ming'en holding him back, he would have caught up. Hong Tao knew what he wanted to say to him, which was nothing more than the issue with the new ship. It didn't matter whether it was a day earlier or later; it wasn't as if they were in urgent need of it. The most important thing now was to prevent Bo Zhu from running away. After the previous few times, she would hide as soon as she finished heating the water for his bath, afraid that he would drag her in to wash with him. How could this be allowed? When you marry a rooster, you follow the rooster; when you marry a dog, you follow the dog. She didn't even adhere to the proper conduct of a wife. If you marry a ruffian, you should be prepared to help him move his legs. Who made you blind?

This bath took so long that Hong Tao and Bo Zhu didn't come out to eat dinner until it was dark. Now, the few families on the island no longer cooked separately but ate in the canteen together. This was something Hong Tao strongly advocated. How could a cooperative collective production be without a canteen? In fact, he had a hidden selfish motive. He was lazy, and Bo Zhu's cooking wasn't great. It was better to eat in the canteen, which saved a lot of trouble. As for the taste, Hong Tao wasn't a foodie. He liked good food, but he had no objections to simple and bland dishes. Eating was something he found no pleasure in. The two things he hated most in his life were eating and sleeping. They were too troublesome, too time-consuming, and too disruptive to his enjoyment!

"Stop staring, if they don't eat, we'll eat!" Usually, everyone would gather to eat after finishing work, but now with Hong Tao and Bo Zhu missing, Old Wen, who was in charge of the canteen, didn't know what to do, just staring at the brightly lit small courtyard in the distance. Old Bo was unhappy again. First, lighting the lamps as soon as it got dark would waste a lot of good lamp oil! Second, rushing to his wife's bed as soon as he got home was too hasty, even for his son-in-law, which made him lose face.

"It's all your daughter's fault. She dares to do anything. The new ship's keel is already laid, but it's just left on the beach. He's not in a hurry, all because of your daughter, hmpf!" Second Wen was the type of person with low emotional intelligence but excellent craftsmanship. He spoke without considering the weight of his words, only wanting to express his opinion without regard for others' feelings.

"… Don't eat, Bo Jiao, go call your uncle-in-law to eat! How disrespectful, you're already holding a bowl before the adults have eaten!" Old Bo was speechless. His daughter was indeed his, and in such situations, women were always blamed while men were overlooked. He vented his anger on the bowl, slamming it on the table, and then shouted at his grandson.

Could Bo Jiao call Hong Tao? Dream on! He was scolded by his grandfather and, when he shouted at Hong Tao, got only one word in return: "Get lost!" He was so squeezed that he didn't dare return to the canteen, fearing another scolding from his grandfather. He squatted outside the courtyard, waiting for the adults to finish eating before going back to eat the leftovers. He couldn't afford to offend either side.

Actually, Hong Tao wasn't that debauched. Even with his reborn body, he was still made of flesh. He would vomit if he drank too much and get tired if he did too much. After getting out of the wooden tub, he took a short nap. When he woke up, he opened the Song Dynasty suitcase made of whale bone and whale skin and started organizing the sea charts and navigation instruments inside. He got so engrossed that he didn't even notice the time. Bo Jiao called him outside, interrupting his train of thought. He couldn't remember the few places he had already forgotten, so he shouted at Bo Jiao, then paced around the room, completely unaware of his hunger and forgetting to eat.

Bo Zhu didn't intentionally fail to remind him; she was just too exhausted from his折腾 (teasing/tormenting) and had been sleeping in bed, not even hearing Bo Jiao's calls. Unfortunately, this led to her being labeled as a temptress who distracted men from their duties. It didn't end there. The next morning, after a night of折腾 (teasing/tormenting), Hong Tao was lively again, holding her hand until the sun was high, exhausting Bo Zhu so much that she couldn't get up. Hong Tao went to the canteen himself, bringing back food for both of them. This time, Bo Zhu couldn't clear her name even if she jumped into the Yellow River. She was scolded by Old Bo in the afternoon and cried secretly for a long time, not daring to let Hong Tao know.

Hong Tao, heartless as he was, didn't notice the changes in the looks of his sisters-in-law and cousins. He strolled to the Wen family shipyard, looking at the keel on the beach, and entered into a heated discussion and argument with Second Wen, completely unaware that his wife had been scolded by her father. Even if he knew, he wouldn't have been able to do anything. Life in this era was like that. There was no privacy in marriage. If you had too many children, people would talk; if you had none, people would talk. If the couple wasn't too intimate, people would talk; if they were too intimate, people would talk. Hong Tao didn't have the time to deal with gossip. He hated these family matters and would avoid them if he could. If he couldn't avoid them, he would get angry and turn his back. Whoever talked to him about these things would suffer.

"Add more ribs! These ribs are already more than double what a connected boat needs. If we keep adding, it will be too costly. This is all high-quality camphor wood, very hard to find, and it needs to be stored for several years before use!" At this moment, he was arguing with Second Wen about the number of ribs for the new ship.

According to his idea, the ribs of the new ship should be 30 centimeters apart and shaped into a nearly triangular form. This shape would not affect the strength but would reduce the weight to the maximum extent. However, Second Wen refused. Ribs 80 centimeters apart had already made him almost bleed. He said he had been building ships with his father and brother since he was 7 or 8 years old and had never seen a ship with such dense ribs. 80 centimeters was the limit of his imagination, and adding almost two-thirds more was unacceptable to him. The cost was too high.

"Let's do this. I'll buy this ship myself, and it won't be counted in the cooperative's expenses. I'll bear the responsibility for its success or failure. Is that okay? Uncle Wen, we're not building a ship by the book. If we did, wouldn't it be easier to build the old style? I don't want those large, heavy ships. I want a new type of sailboat that can run fast and withstand big waves. It will take us to the vast ocean and make your descendants the best shipbuilders. But all of this comes at a cost, which is continuous improvement and innovation. It's like fishing; if you don't put bait on the hook, no big fish will bite. Listen to me, there's no harm in trying. I'll set sail tomorrow and catch a bigger whale, so we won't have to worry about the cost of building the ship. What do you say?"

Hong Tao talked until his mouth was dry, but he still couldn't convince the stubborn old man. In the end, he had to use his trump card: separate accounting! I won't use the cooperative's money. Now there's no cost issue, right? Treat me as a customer coming to order a sailboat. I'll decide how to build it, and whether it can sail is my responsibility. I'll pay every penny for the labor, materials, and profit!

"I… I'm not saying I'm unwilling, but a ship like this will be stronger than the imperial warships. Will it be useful? And our wood supply is not sufficient. The elder went to the mountains and won't be back for a while. If we add so many ribs, we might not have enough wood for the planks." Hearing this, Second Wen felt a bit embarrassed. He had seen the performance of the first new ship. Except for its smaller size, it was more flexible and faster than all the current ships. If they continued to build that type of ship, he wouldn't argue with Hong Tao at all. But Hong Tao changed too quickly, wanting to build a newer type of ship and using so much good wood. As an old shipbuilder who had been frugal all his life and would even pick up small pieces of wood to split into wedges, it was too hard to accept.

"Oh, the wood supply is insufficient… You should have said that earlier. This is easy to solve. I'll talk to Luo Daicai and have him buy suitable wood from Wanning and Qiongzhou. If that's not enough, we can go to Guangzhou and Quanzhou! The ship is the lifeblood of our boat people, and we can't be careless. If I take Wen San and Wen Wu out to sea, wouldn't you want the ship to be as strong as possible? Don't worry about the cost. With me, everyone will have no worries about food and drink. This ship, which is less than six zhang (20 meters), is just a prototype for you and your brothers to practice on. We will build larger, stronger ships in the future, ten zhang (33 meters) or even fifteen zhang (50 meters)!"

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