Transmigrated into a female county magistrate during a famine, leading her country to prosperity

Chapter 370: Cracks in the Clay, Inspiration from the Autumn Rain

Only then did Shen Zheng remember that she was here to ask for someone.

But the problem was not solved at the moment, so she didn't have the nerve to ask Yu Shizhang for help. She could only shake her head and say:

"It's a small matter. I'll tell you after this matter is over."

"My Lord, I have something to say." Bai Song spoke hesitantly.

"explain."

"If the cracks in the clay cannot be fixed, our printing house cannot stand still. I think we should prepare for the worst. If the problem cannot be fixed, we still have to continue firing the clay. I don't mind the effort. If one cracks, I will carve another one and fire it."

"What if it breaks down?" Yu Shizhang had been arrogant all his life, but he didn't really want to admit that there were problems he couldn't solve. "If it breaks down, the money will be wasted, and I will be exhausted. It's so annoying to go back and forth."

After these words were spoken, everyone fell silent, but indeed, no one wanted to prepare for the worst.

Shen Zheng kept thinking about what he had seen and heard in his past life, and he knocked his head in frustration.

Dead brain, think faster.

The autumn rain came suddenly and without any warning. The raindrops were heavy, and after a short while, several people were soaked.

Niu Chu was the first to react. He ran under the eaves holding the tray on the table, and Shen Zheng and others followed closely behind him.

Although what Niu Chu held in his arms were cracked clay embryos that could not be used if they couldn't come up with a solution, he still felt distressed when the embryos were wet by the rain.

“Many of them were soaked…”

Shen Zheng looked in the direction of the sound and saw sparse water stains on the tray. The clay figurine on top was not spared, and a little rain water also seeped into the cracks in the clay figurine.

She looked at the wet clay pieces and her brows furrowed deeper and deeper.

Wet...

The clay was wet...

Shen Zheng hissed, raised his hand and picked up a piece of slightly moist clay, pinched it between his fingers and examined it repeatedly.

Yu Shizhang looked at her movements and leaned his head closer.

"This wet clay... can you tell anything?"

"No..." Shen Zheng murmured, "Maybe we are wrong."

Yu Shizhang felt like a cat scratching his head when he heard that. He hurried over to ask her, "What's wrong? What did we think was wrong? Tell me!"

In order to verify her idea, Shen Zheng rubbed the wet clay repeatedly on her fingertips, but the hardened clay did not fall off.

She raised her thumb and looked at it for a while, gradually confirming her guess, but she had to verify it again before she could be sure whether it was feasible or not.

Yu Shizhang was so anxious that he was running around, and he wanted to pry Shen Zheng's fingers open to have a look.

"Have you figured out a solution?"

Shen Zheng nodded slightly, not daring to be arrogant: "Maybe there is a problem, but I am not sure yet. Let's verify it again after the rain stops."

Bai Song was also very curious, so he took a piece of clay from the tray and turned it over to check, but found nothing.

He asked Shen Zheng: "Master Shen, this wet clay gave you some inspiration. Where do you think the problem lies?"

Three pairs of eyes looked at him at the same time, and Shen Zheng had no choice but to speak out what was in her mind:

"The cracking of clay is, no matter what, related to the word 'dry'. The problem is always inseparable from the firing time and the process before and after firing."

Bai Song was puzzled: "But Lord Shen, we have also made this guess just now, and the firing time has been verified before, so there should be no problem..."

Shen Zheng shook her head. "Because we were wrong. We always thought that the clay was hard to burn dry, so we couldn't get it wet after it was burned."

"water?"

Bai Song looked at the rain dripping down from the eaves and was surprised: "You mean, after the clay is fired, it can be soaked in water? But what is the use of soaking in water?"

Shen Zheng stroked the clay in his hand, wondering how to explain "thermal expansion and contraction" and "density" to them.

She thought about it for a long time and decided to take a simple and rough approach and verify the feasibility first.

She said slowly: "It may be useful to soak the clay pieces in water after they come out of the kiln."

Bai Song opened his eyes wide. The clay that had been dried with great difficulty was soaked again. Could it be...

wrong.

He suddenly realized that the clay embryo after firing was different from that before entering the kiln. Lord Shen had just verified that the dried clay embryo was not afraid of water.

and so!

Bai Song exclaimed: "So the clay mold dried and cracked immediately after it came out of the kiln, because there was no water in it. It was too dry?! If we pour the clay mold into water immediately, it won't have time to crack?"

Shen Zheng inexplicably recalled the "three seconds of food" in her previous life.

——If food falls on the ground, you can pick it up and eat it within three seconds before the bacteria react...

She actually did this.

"This is my guess, but it's just a guess. We have to wait until the rain stops to verify it."

Bai Song and Niu Chu had admiration on their faces. They threw away the trays in their hands, took the clay piece, picked up the carving knife and started carving.

Yu Shizhang remained silent as he was thinking about another question.

"Your method may work, but I've observed before that some clay pieces crack right after the kiln is opened. What should we do about this? Should we shorten the firing time?"

Shen Zheng frowned slightly and shook her head after a moment.

"Maybe... we don't need to think of a solution during the firing process. After all, the firing time is hard to predict. It's better to think of a solution after the clay mold cracks."

Yu Shizhang tilted his head and asked, "Fix the embryo before burning it?"

Shen Zheng still shook her head. "This may work, but it's a stupid method. It's too time-consuming and labor-intensive, and there's a possibility that the positive text will crack in the future. We have to find a way to solve it together."

Stupid way?!

Yu Shizhang’s eyes widened.

Good, good, good Shen Zheng, she has grown up! She has grown stronger! She will insinuate that Yu Shizhang is stupid!

Yu Shizhang got angry, turned his head away and ignored Shen Zheng.

Shen Zheng was just about to continue talking to him when she turned around and saw his heaving chest and flaring nostrils.

She laughed wildly in her heart, and said in annoyance, "My Lord, that's not what I meant... I just wanted to say that we can discuss it further."

Yu Shizhang still didn't turn his head around, and spoke to her with the back of his head: "Then tell me, what clever ideas do you have?"

Even if Shen Zheng had a clever idea, he didn't dare to say it at this time. He could only scratch his head and said, "I will think about it again."

"Humph--"

A cold autumn rain.

The rain continued gradually until dusk, and the ground in the yard was covered with fallen yellow leaves, which made a rustling sound when stepped on.

Bai Song and Niu Chu acted as soon as they said it. After the rain stopped, they started burning the small earth kiln. However, Bai Song said that after the rain, they should not close the kiln first. They had to keep the fire burning to dry out the water vapor.

The two of them were busy and happy, so Yu Shizhang took a small stool and sat under the eaves, watching them and drinking tea leisurely.

Just now when Shen Zheng said that she would leave for a while, he actually knew that Shen Zheng must have thought of a "smart idea".