Somehow, word got out, and soon the entire village knew that Clara intended to sponsor Lester Liew's return to the academy.
The villagers buzzed with gossip. The men were full of envy—how had Lester gotten so lucky? The women, on the other hand, couldn't fathom why Clara would treat such a good-for-nothing husband so well.
Of course, there were also those who scoffed at the couple's lofty ambitions. Did they really think studying would land them official titles? Plenty had studied into their twilight years and still couldn't pass the most basic exams. The whole affair became something of a village joke.
The Liew family's ancestral home was in an uproar. Old Walter Liew and his three sons debated the matter at length. Meanwhile, Doreen and the heavily pregnant Kate made use of a trip to the vegetable garden to pay Clara a visit at the watermill.
"Clara, is the rumor true?" Doreen demanded anxiously. "You're really sending Lester back to school? What are you thinking? If that man had any work ethic at all, he wouldn't have turned out like this!"
Kate, though equally concerned, was more composed. She found a seat before rubbing her belly and said calmly, "Never mind the cost. There are only two adults in your household. If Lester goes off to school, how will you manage all the fieldwork alone?"
"We all know you're strong, but that doesn't mean the strong must carry everything alone," Kate added. "Don't be foolish. It may not be worth it."
Clara had been quietly restoring the worn grooves on the grindstone. The mill had been running at full tilt lately, and the patterns had begun to wear smooth — time to re-chisel them.
The sudden arrival of her two sisters-in-law caught her off guard. "So everyone knows?"
Both women nodded. "All the village women are saying you've lost your mind."
Clara's heart skipped a beat, but she quickly calmed. Without stopping her hands, she gestured for Kate to sit further away in case of flying chips and replied smoothly, "We've already made the decision as a family. Everyone knows Lester isn't cut out for fieldwork, so after thinking it over, I figured he might as well try studying. Who knows? Maybe we'll get lucky."
She caught their skeptical looks and smiled faintly. "Don't worry. I know exactly what I'm doing. I've got my own ways of handling him."
Doreen was doubtful. "Really?"
Her biggest fear was that Lester would fall back into his old habits once he left home, eventually hurting Clara and breaking up the family.
Kate feared the same. Things had finally started settling down in the family—no one wanted to go back to the chaos. Life had been much smoother with Clara around.
Of course Clara could see through their worries. It wasn't wrong to think of themselves first. But that didn't mean they didn't care for her at all.
Human nature was complicated, and Clara understood that. If she were in their shoes, she'd be concerned too. After all, in a clan-based society, everyone's fate was intertwined, and Lester was a loose cannon who could affect the whole family.
But on the flip side, if he succeeded, the clan would benefit too.
That's exactly what Clara told her sisters-in-law, spinning a hopeful vision of Lester earning honors and them becoming sisters-in-law to a respected scholar. Doreen and Kate nearly bought into it, already daydreaming about their new status.
Seeing them so dazed, Clara quickly ushered them out and asked them to pass along a message back home—no more persuasion, her mind was made up.
Just as she sent them off, two unfamiliar men appeared at the village entrance.
One of them looked familiar. Someone soon recognized him—it was that guy from Riverbend Village who used to hang around with Lester. Sonny, or something like that.
Clara had just finished restoring the grindstone when a villager arrived with grain to be milled. She nodded a greeting and got back to work.
Rather than heading straight home, she decided to check on the fields. As she crossed the bridge, an excited voice rang out behind her—
"Sis-in-law! It's me—Sonny!"
Clara looked up to see Sonny running toward her with a young stranger in tow.
Sonny caught up first and introduced the man: he was York Wang, the village chief's son from Riverbend.
Clara smiled and gave a polite nod.
York Wang beamed and pointed across the river. "Is that your watermill?"
Clara nodded. "It is." Then, noticing Sonny winking at her, she smiled. "Want to take a look?"
York Wang agreed enthusiastically and headed that way.
As they walked, Sonny leaned in and whispered that the folks in Riverbend had heard about the impressive watermill here and were planning to pool funds to build one of their own. They wanted Clara's advice.
Clara raised an eyebrow. Now that was a serious business opportunity.
At the mill, York Wang watched with amazement as the grindstone spun under the power of water. The villagers merely stood by to supervise—no manual labor involved. It was both novel and enviable.
The milling villager noticed the unfamiliar face and glanced at Clara, who explained, "He's from Riverbend. They're thinking of building a mill and came to take a look."
Hearing that, the villager welcomed York Wang warmly. "You've got to see how great this mill is!"
"This mill Clara built—big and fast! You can finish grinding a whole dan of grain in under half an hour!"
York's eyes widened. "Under half an hour?"
"Absolutely true!" the villager grinned. "If I'm lying, I'm no man."
The grindstone was clearly larger than the usual, which meant it could process more grain at once.
Riverbend Village was well-off, and Clara wasn't about to miss this chance. She led York to the waterwheel and said, "Look at this stream—even with just this drop in elevation, the power's strong."
"I've been to Riverbend. There's a stretch of river with a one to two meter drop. If you build a mill there, you'll get even more power—enough for two grindstones and a rice pounder at once."
A single mill wouldn't be enough for a village the size of Riverbend. Clara eagerly suggested they go big—leverage their natural terrain and build a large-scale operation.
She painted such a vivid picture of the perfect watermill, it sounded almost magical. York was enthralled.
"So how much would it cost to build a mill like this?" he asked eagerly.
Clara ran the numbers in her head and replied with feigned reluctance, "It depends on the skill level. Even if our village's Carpenter Liew and I worked together, the materials alone would cost at least fifteen taels."
Sonny gasped at the price.
But York didn't seem too shocked—apparently, it was within their budget. After all, they had sixty-five households. Split evenly, that was just a bit over two silver coins per family.
Still, he asked, "If we hired you and Carpenter Liew as consultants and had our people do the labor, what would the cost be then?"
(End of chapter)
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