Chapter 9: A Star Falls from the Sky

  A heavy snowfall, covering the fields and leaving only a vast expanse of white. Although the weather is cold, the tenants living in the Li family's villa have recently had a small fire burning in their hearts, hot and scorching.

  The adults and children in Lijiazhuang are all talking about it: the young man from the newly moved Zhao family is a mortal of Wenchuxing, nothing can stump him!

  Li Erdou's younger son Li Tienniu caught a cold, his forehead was hot enough to fry an egg, and he seemed to be dying. Just then, Zhao Xing, who was passing by the door, arrived in time.

  He didn't say a word, ran to the river outside the village, dug up several blocks of ice, wrapped them in a cloth bag and applied it to Tie Niu's forehead. Then he had someone boil a pot of honeysuckle and green bean juice, using two wooden sticks to pry open Tie Niu's tightly closed mouth, which was making a "gulugulu" sound. He then used half a pig's stomach connected to a short piece of intestine to flush the liquid inside. By dawn the next day, Li Jiaxiao surprisingly woke up.

  Zhang Wangcai's daughter-in-law was pregnant and had stomach pain all the time, so she lay in bed every day and didn't dare to move. As a result, Zhao Xing scolded her severely and taught Zhang's daughter-in-law some exercises to keep her body active. He also required Zhang's daughter-in-law to walk uphill and downhill for a good distance every day, and not to see any shedding animals in front of the house or behind it. Even on cold winter days, the doors and windows had to be ventilated frequently.

  Three months later, Zhang's wife gave birth to a 7-catty white and chubby boy, continuing the incense fire of three generations. Wangcai was overjoyed and asked Zhao Xing to name the child. Zhao Da Guanren wrote with a big brush, "Zhang Zuolin" three characters appeared on the paper.

  Villagers asked Zhao Xing to explain the meaning, he said vaguely: "I calculated that this child lacks water and wood in his fate, coupled with our eldest son's county being dry and rainless, so I named him Lin, meaning 'drought meets sweet rain'. Everyone who heard it applauded and thought it was good. Faintly, they still heard Zhao Xing muttering to himself as he turned to leave: "Heh heh, Zhang Zuolin, General Zhang!"

  Most of the fields around Li Jia's courtyard are on hills, with a certain drop from the river ditch. In previous years, when villagers sowed in winter, they could only carry water up from the slope below to irrigate the land.

  Zhao Xing shook his head and went home, entering his study to use a brush made of charcoal to draw a picture of a windmill and a dragon bone waterwheel. He found several neighbors who were skilled in carpentry and they worked busily for over ten days, setting up a wind-powered and foot-operated waterwheel on the riverbank.

  The villagers saw the river water being lifted up by the rotation of the windmill, and happily rushing to the fields along the inclined water trough, and their admiration and gratitude for Zhao Xing became even stronger.

  Something like this happens almost every few days. In the end, all the villagers in Lijiazhuang Village have "aesthetic fatigue" and are also used to some strange things that Zhao Xing has come up with. This nickname "Zhao Qu Xing" was obtained in this way.

  A certain classmate, called "Zhao Qu Xing" by his fellow villagers, accepted this title quite calmly. What was Zhao Xing thinking in his heart? "To become famous, one must take advantage of the opportunity! Pig Brother Liang is farming in the countryside and still pretends to be a dragon, I, Zhao Xing, being called a god in Shangdang is not excessive!"

  Zhao Quxing, who couldn't stay idle, gathered Li Jinsi and his brother along with a few tenant farmers who were skilled in carpentry in his study over the past two days, gesturing to various objects in front of everyone.

  Zhao Xing is still a poor kid, so he can't afford the expensive Cai Hou paper, and can only draw on a few pieces of bamboo. Relying on his memory, he drew some wooden furniture shapes that he often used in his previous life using a method similar to sketching. As mentioned earlier, although Zhao Xing was not a literati or a poet in his previous life, he also knew a thing or two about music, chess, calligraphy and painting, so drawing on bamboo is not a difficult task for him.

  Looking at the several diagrams in front of them, everyone was stunned, their eyes filled with a bewildered expression that made Zhao Xing want to go crazy.

  Under Zhao Xing's repeated explanations and gestures, the tenant farmers who were skilled in carpentry finally understood that the things shown in the painting were called new-style furniture. Some were foldable and detachable round dining tables; some were reclining chairs where one could take a nap on one side and rock gently on the other; some were tall cabinets for hanging clothes that could also serve as dressing tables for women... The tenant farmers also figured out that if they made real objects according to the patterns in the painting, they would definitely be able to sell them at a good price.

  In these days, money can move ghosts. The tenant farmers were not short of a few dollars for the whole year, and under the temptation of wealth and Zhao Xing's instigation, a peasant cooperative organization called "Wooden Tool Research Group" was born in Li Jia Zhuang Bieyuan.

  Zhao Xing said to himself in his heart: "Improving the quality of life for the masses with a bit of furniture shouldn't have too much impact on the course of history, right? Look at others who traveled back thousands of years and were able to come up with airplanes, cannons, and steam engines - I'm still stuck in the wooden era!"