Country Bumpkins Can't Make the Cut

Thanks to Jade Hayes' recommendation, William 'Li Dong' Wang was brought onto the new academy planning committee.

Don't be fooled by William's usual honest, quiet demeanor—when it comes to building houses or working the fields, he's got his own ideas.

William suggested, "Instead of sitting indoors crunching numbers, why not go out and see things for ourselves? The local customs here are nothing like the capital, and Nathan Ye's old methods from there might not fit this place at all."

Nathan Ye slapped his forehead, thinking William had a point. After all, he'd already wracked his brains for the first round of budgeting—just sitting in the office wouldn't solve anything. So, he decided to join William on a tour of the villages around Charleston.

The entire Ministry of Public Works was fretting over the academy project, and with everyone feeling the pressure, a whole crowd of officials ended up tagging along with Nathan Ye and William for the field inspections.

Since most of the places they visited were rural, these officials all dressed like farmers. Day after day, they trekked through the countryside, and by evening, they'd return to the office covered in dust—making for quite the spectacle.

A bunch of mud-caked officials coming and going at the office every day quickly became the talk of Charleston.

When word reached Quentin Qian and Mia Qian, Mia laughed so hard she nearly doubled over, mocking Jade Hayes: "Oh Grandpa, I thought Jade Hayes was so capable, but look who she found to help her—a bunch of bumpkins! Tsk tsk, she gathered a whole crew of mud-caked country folk in the office. How embarrassing! Isn't she afraid people will laugh themselves silly? She really is a peasant girl at heart—even as Queen, she can't make herself presentable!"

Quentin Qian chuckled with satisfaction: "Mia, just look at this mess! That Minister Nathan Ye and his crew are hopeless. When Jade Hayes' academy project falls apart, she'll have no choice but to beg us for funding. Then, we'll see what terms I set for her!"

While the Qian family elders were busy ridiculing Jade Hayes and waiting for her to fail, Jade was deep in discussion with William and Nathan Ye, who had just rushed back, about the academy construction.

"Any new findings today?" Jade Hayes asked.

William was out of breath from exhaustion, gulped down a whole pot of tea, and said, "Plenty of findings, plenty! Jade, today we visited a village..."

"Clay brick? What is clay brick?" Jade Hayes asked.

William explained, "Clay brick isn't the same as the blue bricks we usually use to build houses. They're made from a special kind of clay found only in Charleston. The quality is about the same as blue bricks, but the price is just one fifth. The downside is, clay brick doesn't look very nice—houses built with them look almost like mudbrick houses, so they're considered shabby. That's why the wealthy families in Charleston prefer to use blue bricks shipped in from other regions, and not many people use clay brick. Local farmers are too poor, so they just build walls with raw mud, and only rarely use clay brick. Middle-class families, who think mud walls aren't sturdy but can't afford blue bricks, are the ones who use clay brick. So clay brick isn't popular in Charleston, and even outsiders who see houses built with them can't really tell, since the color is so close to mudbrick houses. Unless you look closely, it's hard to spot the difference."