Chapter Thirty-One: The Era Without Patent Protection (Seeking Collection)

  On this day, Master Zhou was in his own room studying Zhang Lei's drawings. Having seen the power of the transmission cutting machine bed with his own eyes, he is now fond of this treasure and has even pushed away many orders to make a brand new machine for him at the fastest speed.

  He was so absorbed in his reading that someone came to report: "Master, there is someone outside looking for you."

  "Hey, didn't I tell you not to disturb me? Shoo, shoo, get out." Master Zhou didn't even bother to lift his head, waving his hand impatiently to dismiss his apprentice.

  The apprentice didn't seem to want to leave, but instead said: "The person who came says he was sent by Lord Xie and wants to do some business with Master."

  Master Zhou then withdrew his thoughts from the drawing and asked: "Who is it that has come?"

  "Thanks, Mr. Xie and Qin the Blind," the man replied.

  "What are you two doing here?" Master Zhou narrowed his eyes slightly, gazing at them with a hint of curiosity, his right hand subconsciously stroking his beard.

  After a while, he stood up and said, "Let's go out and take a look."

  As for the strange combination of Xie Yuanwai and Qin Luofeng, Master Zhou couldn't figure out the subtlety behind it no matter what, so he decided to go take a look himself.

  "Master Zhou, it's been a long time since we last met. You still look so young." Xie Yuanwai said enthusiastically as soon as he saw Master Zhou.

  Master Zhou smiled and said: "Oh no, I'm not as good as young people anymore, my body is getting weaker by the day."

  Qin Luofeng coughed lightly to make his presence known, and when Master Zhou stopped talking, he stepped forward and said, "I've seen Master Zhou."

  Master Zhou then said to Qin Luo Feng: "You've also arrived, last year your boat anchored here with me, how was it? Was it useful?"

  "The stuff from Zhou's Iron Shop is naturally extremely good." Qin Luo Feng flattered.

  Xie Yuanwai was already impatient, where did he have the leisure to listen to them continue, so without waiting for Master Zhou to continue speaking, he interrupted: "Master Zhou, didn't you make some kind of machine last December?"

  "Where did you hear that?" Master Zhou said with some surprise. In his impression, the transmission cutting machine bed was only known to a few people in his own shop, and only Zhang Baosheng, Zhang Lei, Chen Laochui, and Chen Dayong knew about it. After the new year, he hadn't heard of Zhang Lei using this thing at all, so no one should know about it.

  Xie Yuanwai looked towards Qin Luofeng.

  Qin Luofeng could only grit his teeth and say, "That day when Master Zhou took things to Zhang Lei's house, I had just passed by the alley entrance. Out of curiosity, I went over to take a look."

  "What did you see?" asked Zhou Shi Fu, who was a bit nervous. He had originally wanted to keep this thing for himself, but now that there were witnesses, it would be harder to monopolize it.

  "Little saw you invent a machine that can greatly save manpower." Qin Luo Feng said.

  Hearing him say that, Master Zhou burst out laughing and said: "This is something I've been thinking about for many years. The other day you saw me sending the thing to Zhang Lei's place, it was just because his father is an exceptional carpenter, I wanted to use a machine to compete with human labor."

  "That must be the result of Master Zhou's machine winning." Xie Yuanwai hastily said.

  "That's for sure," said Master Zhou proudly. "How can ordinary people compare with machines? My treasure is dozens of times faster than him."

  "Really amazing. If that's the case, why doesn't Master Zhou promote it? This can also be considered as bringing benefits to the people." Xie Yuanwai praised and said.

  This was a plan devised by Xie Yuanwai and Qin Luofeng, who had come up with a way to get Master Zhou to build the machine and put it into use, after which they would publicize it.

  Master Zhou was taken aback and said, "How can this be? To be honest, I've been studying at home how to improve it, but I always feel that this machine is too cumbersome."

  "Let's build one first, it can alleviate the pressure on the dock workers, that's a good deed." Qin Luo Feng persuaded.

  "Yes, let's get it done first, and if there are still problems, we can improve them later." Xie Yuanwai also said.

  Master Zhou gritted his teeth and said: "Since that's the case, then I'll do it. You two must support me."

  "That's natural." they said in unison.

  Looking at Zhang Lei's side, there was no movement, which did not conform to Zhang Lei's personality. From the perspective of roasted tobacco or other things, Zhang Lei was a young man who was eager to show off his possessions and let everyone know about them. However, this transmission cutting machine had been silent since it was made, perhaps even Zhang Lei himself thought it was a failed product? If it were to be made, then...

  Master Zhou's mind was racing with thoughts, thinking that Zhang Lei would not have a big reaction to what he did, as long as it didn't severely affect Zhang Lei's core interests.

  "Alright, I'll go and do it right away," said Master Zhou.

  Xie Yuanwai immediately said: "If Master Zhou can make it, please notify me as soon as possible. I will buy it and directly donate it to the government for use at the dock."

  Once the dock is handed over, it's equivalent to having a connection with the government. At that time, even if Zhang Lei has grievances against heaven, he wouldn't dare oppose the imperial court. This move dispelled Master Zhou's last concern.

  The three of them discussed some details and then dispersed.

  Not to mention that they are still plotting against Zhang Lei, Zhang Lei himself has built a shed on the mountain and is now focusing on improving tomatoes. The current tomatoes are sour and astringent, and the yield is not high, with little practical value.

  In addition to tomatoes, castor beans were also planted. Castor beans can be squeezed for castor oil, which is the easiest lubricant he currently knows how to obtain, so this must not fail in any way. Of course, the vitality of castor beans is also extremely strong, as long as there is no technique to kill aloe vera, they should all be able to grow them alive.

  Zhang Lei has been living here for a long time, and other things have been left to others. The plowing and sowing of the land here are all done by him alone. Now that two months have passed, both the sesame and tomatoes are growing well, which makes Zhang Lei very excited.

  These days, he has been filling his stomach with the green vegetables planted around him. Occasionally, he would go to the mountain to hunt for some wild game, but since it was roasted without oil or salt, his mouth had long become tasteless. So, he decided to leave this place today and head back home first.

  On the way home, he had to go through a section of the dock. After the last repair of the warship, Zhang Lei keenly felt that danger was approaching step by step, but despite his anxiety, he could only proceed with the plan step by step.

  After coming down the mountain, the dock was very busy. Zhang Lei, who had not interacted with people for many days, felt a bit out of place as he walked through the crowd. The surrounding noise made him take a while to come back to his senses.

  Suddenly, he was attracted by the sound of sawing wood not far in front of him. In an era without electric saws, sawing wood could only be done manually, and the sound would vary with each stroke. But what Zhang Lei heard now was like an electric saw, a continuous sound from start to finish.

  Out of curiosity, Zhang Lei looked in the direction of the sound and saw something very familiar to him - a transmission-type woodworking machine.

  A worker vigorously shook the handle, and the huge saw blade rotated. Two workers joined forces to push a log over to cut it into planks.

  Zhang Lei suddenly thought of what Zhang Baosheng had said to him a while ago, and whispered: "It seems that no matter what, this surname Zhou has made this machine and taken it for himself. Alas, in an era without patent protection..."

  After a while, he went home, at this time there was no need to argue with Mr. Zhou, nor was it possible to argue.

  Zhang Lei returned home to find a thin layer of dust had accumulated on the table, clearly because Zhang Bao and Zhang Chen hadn't used it for a long time. However, Zhang Lei also noticed that there were still some faint footprints leading to the basement, indicating that someone had recently gone down there.

  "Almost forgot, the match factory should be in production now, don't know how it's going." Zhang Lei chuckled and secretly blamed himself for forgetting such an important thing. Then he took out the key to open the cellar, only to find that the gunpowder inside had decreased significantly.

  Apart from the prescription of the medicine which only he himself knew, both Zhang Baosheng and Zhang Chen already knew how to combine the medicine with wood chips to make matches. The two people's speed was impossible to be so fast, presumably Zhang Baosheng had taught a few more people, while Zhang Chen was still studying.

  Such a small matter would not worry Zhang Lei, because only he knew how to mix the match medicine, especially the substitution of potassium chlorate. Apart from him, it was estimated that only the Taoist who blew himself up would know.

  On the way to the town, Zhang Lei saw some people using matches to ignite fires, and it was not just one place. Apparently, matches had been promoted in the past few months while he was staying on the mountain. What would those factories look like now? Zhang Lei couldn't wait to go and take a look.

  "Brother, how did you come here?" Just as Zhang Lei was about to arrive at the factory area, someone ran over from the other side of the road. Zhang Lei looked over and found it was Zhang Chen, who had just finished school. After not seeing each other for several months, Zhang Chen seemed to have added a bit of bookish air, looking more mature and steady.

  "Hmm, things on the mountain have been taken care of, let's come down and take a look. Have you all been living here these days?" Zhang Lei asked.

  Zhang Chen said: "Yes, it's been living here all along, but it's much better than at home."

  Zhang Lei nodded and didn't say anything else. The two of them entered the factory together, had a delicious meal, and Zhang Lei finally regained some energy.

  "Brother, count the time, shouldn't the exam be coming up soon? How's your studying going?"

  "Hey, it's just next month, and counting the days, it's only twenty days from now. Don't worry, bro, I'll definitely pass."

  "Don't be too proud of yourself, a proud army will surely lose. It's better to take it one step at a time. This way, when you take the exam, I'll go with you."

  "Are you going to the county too? What for?"

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