After class, Luo Wei hurried back to Star Luo Residence.

  "Where's Troy?" Not seeing him perched in the apple tree branches in the courtyard, she asked Chris.

  Chris replied, "Master, Sir Knight hasn't returned yet."

  Luo Wei frowned. She'd only sent him to pick something up. It was already noon the next day and he still wasn't back?

  She turned and walked to the eaves, waking up the sleeping raven.

  "Luke, fly to Gelu City and check if something happened to Troy."

  Thinking back to the divination in class earlier, Luo Wei suspected the celestial omens were related to Troy's situation. She wondered what he'd done over there to make the stars shift so quickly.

  "Caw caw caw!"

  [Got it, gorgeous!]

  The raven flapped its wings and flew into the sky.

  Luo Wei rubbed her temples and turned to Chris. "It still hasn't learned to speak properly?"

  "It knows some words now," Chris said. "Luke can name most of the ingredients in the kitchen. It even asks the cook for lamb chops."

  Luo Wei was silent for two seconds before speaking. "When it gets back, make sure you teach it to call me 'Master.'"

  Being called "gorgeous" felt a bit too... greasy.

  Chris didn't quite understand but obediently agreed. "Yes, Master."

  "Get the carriage ready. I'm going to check on the mulberry orchard." Luo Wei instructed.

  She'd planned to go yesterday, but Count Wesley's situation had tied her up. The silk reeling problem at the orchard still wasn't resolved. If she didn't fix it soon, it would affect the autumn silkworm cultivation and mess up her money-making plans.

  At one in the afternoon, with the sun blazing overhead, Yves drove the carriage out of the city toward the mulberry orchard.

  The orchard had changed dramatically. When Luo Wei first came, she'd had to walk in on foot. Now wide carriage roads ran from the entrance to any workshop in the grounds.

  The vineyard area, villa area, chicken coops, duck pens, and silkworm houses—all five functional zones could be reached directly by carriage.

  The silkworm houses were at the southernmost end of the five zones. As they passed the northern vineyard area, Luo Wei lifted the window curtain and looked out.

  The grape stumps sprouting new leaves had turned the entire hillside green. Neat rows of green formed an orderly matrix that was pleasing to the eye.

  These grape vines had just been transplanted this year. All their nutrients went to leaves and branches, so the flowers weren't blooming abundantly yet. They wouldn't bear fruit until next year.

  Heading further south, she could see the chicken coops to the west and the small river below.

  A group of children carried small wooden basins into the tile-roofed house by the river. They were digging up farmed earthworms to put in the basins, then taking them to the chicken coops to feed the chicks.

  East of the river had originally been marshland. Now it had been dug into sections of mulberry-dyke fish ponds. The duck pens were built on the low slope beside the ponds, making it convenient for the ducks to dive in and catch fish, as well as to waddle up to the mulberry orchard on the southern slope to eat weeds.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  After reaching the silkworm houses, Luo Wei stepped down from the carriage and first went to check the silk reeling factory.

  Head housekeeper Bella was in the workshop tallying silk production. Seeing Luo Wei, she immediately came over with her papyrus notebook. "Master!"

  She presented her recorded data to Luo Wei. "These are the cocoon emergence numbers and raw silk production from the reeling factory over the past half month. Would you like to see?"

  Luo Wei took the papyrus notebook. Her eyes fell on the marked data, slightly surprised. "Three hundred sixty-four kilograms of raw silk. Out of two thousand one hundred kilograms of cocoons, only two hundred fifty kilograms of damaged cocoons?"

  Bella: "Yes. Two hundred kilograms of that was from cocoon emergence half a month ago. Later, Nick predicted the cocoon emergence period and had the workers soak and reel the cocoons in warm water ahead of time. That's when the damage rate dropped."

  "Nick?" Luo Wei looked at Bella. "Isn't he a foreman? He's at the reeling factory too?"

  Bella explained, "Because Miss Laura had to participate in the competition recently, and there were problems in both the mulberry grove and silkworm houses that we couldn't handle, Nick volunteered to come help here."

  "Who knew Nick would be so clever despite looking so wooden? Lucky he thought of a solution, or we would've lost this whole batch of cocoons."

  "Master, I believe Nick is better suited to supervise the mulberry grove and silkworm houses, while Miss Laura would be better at the chicken and duck pens. You said before to let me handle personnel allocation for the orchard, so I temporarily switched their positions. I wanted to ask your permission before making it official."

  "Go ahead and switch them then." Luo Wei praised her. "You did well, Bella. I feel very confident with you managing the orchard."

  "Thank you, Master. This is all part of my duties." Bella said steadily.

  Luo Wei handed the notebook back to her. "Take me to see the raw silk that was produced."

  "Of course." Bella nodded and led the way. "This way, Master."

  The two came to the warehouse storing raw silk. Bundles of silk twisted into rope-like strands, milky white in color, were piled in wooden frames. A lustrous sheen flowed across their surface.

  Over three hundred kilograms of raw silk filled only fifteen wooden frames, neatly arranged on shelves mounted to the wall—not even enough to fill one wall.

  This silk hadn't been degummed yet. If it were processed into refined silk, the weight would decrease even more.

  But Luo Wei didn't plan to degum it. This batch of spring silkworms had taken nearly fifty days to harvest. The small mulberry saplings in the orchard couldn't possibly sustain them—only Laura's Growth Magic Runes and Acceleration Magic Runes had ensured they had enough food to eat until cocooning.

  This silk had been hard-won. Only by making it into lustrous raw silk fabric could she sell it at a high price and make her half-year investment worthwhile.

  The bottom shelf also held several baskets of waste silk. These were broken threads stirred out from bitten cocoons, along with some reeling scraps. She could try degumming them to turn waste into treasure—stuff them in pillows or quilt covers as soft filling.

  Luo Wei looked around, then pinched a few broken threads from the bottom basket. She wound them around her finger and pulled. They didn't break.

  She pulled harder. The thread, thin as a hair and nearly transparent, dug into her fingertip like a sharp blade and cut in.

  "Master, be careful!"

  By the time Bella shouted, it was too late. A drop of bright red blood welled up from Luo Wei's fingertip and slid down the silk thread.

  She quickly pulled out a handkerchief and nervously cupped Luo Wei's finger. "Master, you're hurt! Throw it away quickly!"

  Luo Wei stared at her bleeding finger in shock. "This silk..."

  How was this different from the silk in her memory?

  It looked soft and delicate, but when pulled taut, it was harder than steel guitar strings!

  Could it be that mutated silkworms produced mutated silk too?

  Luo Wei looked at Bella in a daze. "Those intact raw silk threads—how did you reel them out?"

  "We just followed the method you gave us. First soak them in hot water, then use a brush to find the thread end once they've absorbed enough water!"

  While wrapping Luo Wei's injured finger, Bella continued, "It's just that those silk moths are so annoying. As soon as they get heated, they want to crawl out. So we can only use warm water and reel quickly, or else they'll bite through the cocoon and fly away."

  "This silk is really tough—scissors can't cut it. Even burning it takes forever to break it. In the end, Nick came up with a solution. He tied the emerged moths to sticks and had them bite the tangled thread ends. Guess what?"

  "Ha! One bite and it snapped right off. Those moths' mouths are really something!"

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