After learning about the silk reeling situation, Luo Wei personally went to the silkworm house to collect a few cocoons. With Bella accompanying her, she returned to the reeling factory to measure the silk length, test its heat resistance and shrinkage rate, and observe the fiber's elasticity and thickness variations along its total length.

  The test results shocked her. The reeling machine's drum had a diameter of sixty-four centimeters with a circumference of about two meters. The few cocoons she'd randomly picked had wound around over three thousand times—meaning they were six thousand meters long, nearly four times the length of ordinary silk cocoons!

  The heat resistance and shrinkage rate test results were equally impressive.

  Normal silk decomposed around 150 degrees and ignited around 400 degrees. But this batch of silk didn't yellow even at 500 degrees. It only decomposed at 1000 degrees, and she had to use a fire spell releasing 2000-degree flames to finally burn through it.

  The silk's shrinkage rate in water was also very low—less than 0.5 percent. No wonder they could reel it even with warm water soaking.

  Of course, low shrinkage meant slightly reduced elasticity, but this weakness was completely offset by its flexibility. Ordinary swords couldn't cut it at all—only enchanted weapons would work.

  Luo Wei looked at the silk in her hands—uniform thickness, blade-resistant, fire and water resistant, excellent insulation. Her mind started wandering. What if this were used for military uniforms...

  No, too soft to block blunt force attacks. And production couldn't keep up.

  The early customers for this silk could only be incredibly wealthy nobles. Only they would pay for something this expensive.

  This batch of silk was soft and lustrous, with tough fibers that didn't break easily. It both reduced the difficulty of later textile work and allowed her to multiply her original price several times over. These mutated silkworms were practically heaven-sent silk-producing saints.

  Luo Wei had originally thought selling one silk garment for a hundred gold coins would be about right. Now she felt even a thousand gold coins wouldn't do justice to its quality.

  Although the silk fabric hadn't been woven yet, Luo Wei had that confidence!

  The only problem was it would be hard to see the finished fabric quickly. She hadn't expected one box of silkworm eggs to produce this much raw silk, so she hadn't commissioned craftsmen to make looms in advance.

  She'd thought these silkworms would need at least two breeding cycles in spring and summer before yielding a significant harvest. She never expected results this fast. Apart from the reeling equipment, she hadn't prepared any other processing equipment.

  But if she went to find carpenters to custom-make looms now, it would take at least half a month. She couldn't wait that long.

  After thinking for a moment, Luo Wei instructed Bella, "Tomorrow, go to Hawkins' shop and invite Barton over. Have him see if his textile mill can weave this silk."

  "Yes, Master." Bella noted tomorrow's schedule in her little notebook.

  It was still early. After handling the silkworm house business, Luo Wei stopped by the other workshops.

  Walking near the chicken coops, Luo Wei stopped and turned to ask Bella, "Did Laura come today?"

  Bella replied, "Miss Laura came at noon. She should be at the chicken coops now. A batch of chicks is about to hatch recently, so Miss Laura is there helping."

  "She's helping at the chicken coops?" Luo Wei asked in surprise.

  Having a cat beastman help at the chicken coops was like throwing a mouse into a granary, wasn't it?

  Although she trusted Laura's character, Luo Wei still worried a bit about those chicks' psychological state. Being born to see a big cat crouching in front of them—wouldn't they be scared to death?

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  Bella thought she didn't believe Laura could raise chickens and quickly said, "Master, Miss Laura is very talented at raising chickens!"

  "Before, the chicks at the coops died very easily. Out of ten eggs, only four or five chicks would hatch. After Miss Laura arrived, ten eggs could hatch ten chicks, and every chick grows up healthy!"

  Luo Wei recalled the scene when she first met Laura:

  A girl with messy braids had brought a basket of eggs to the headmaster's office, trying to bribe the headmaster with them. The eggs hatched right in front of them, and the office filled with chirping chicken sounds.

  Remembering this, Luo Wei couldn't help smiling. "Let's go. We'll check out the chicken coops."

  Go see how the little cat's little chickens were doing.

  The two walked into the chicken coop workshop and indeed saw Laura crouched by the nests. She reached under a hen's belly and pulled out eggs one by one to inspect them.

  Amazingly, the temperamental hen didn't peck her.

  Probably suppressed by a natural predator, every hen in the workshop was docile in front of her. They didn't resist even when she rummaged through their nests for eggs.

  Laura was very focused on her work, checking the eggs for fertilization and incubation status.

  Unfertilized eggs she'd take out for the children's breakfast. Fertilized eggs she'd put back.

  There were also some eggs with uneven heating. She'd take those out for artificial incubation, because after the first batch of chicks hatched, the hens wouldn't care about these unhatched eggs anymore, and the chicks would easily die inside their shells.

  Luo Wei stood outside the coop watching for a while. When Laura finished checking all the nests and stood up, she pushed the gate to make some noise.

  Laura's ears twitched. She alertly looked toward the door, her amber-brown almond eyes gleaming brightly in the shadows.

  "Laura." Luo Wei spoke first, calling out with a smile.

  "Miss Luo Wei, what brings you here?"

  Laura trotted over. Seeing Luo Wei about to step inside, she quickly warned, "Careful, there's hen droppings on the ground. It'll dirty your shoes!"

  "It's fine." Luo Wei lifted her skirt and walked up to her. "The housekeeper told me you want to transfer here to work, so I came to check. The chicken and duck coops will smell terrible in summer. Have you really thought this through?"

  Laura said sheepishly, "The silkworm house is too quiet. I like hearing the lively chirping of chicks. Besides, Nick is better suited for the silkworm house work than me. I'm not much use there."

  "Here at the chicken coops, I can help hens incubate eggs and feed the chicks. Watching them grow day by day makes me so happy. Checking eggs every day is fun too!"

  Talking about chicks, Laura's eyes were practically glowing.

  Luo Wei suppressed a smile. "Alright then. From now on, you'll transfer here as the chicken coop supervisor. But I still need your help with the mulberry saplings in the fields. I'll have Bella give you double wages—one silver coin per Growth Magic Rune. How's that?"

  "No, no need." Laura refused. "I practice drawing magic runes every day anyway. Drawing Growth Magic Runes is just something I do on the side. You don't need to pay me!"

  "Still trying to fool me? When you practice, you wouldn't draw low-level runes. Besides, when you save up magic power to enchant things for people, you can earn several gold coins at once! I'm trying to take advantage of you by offering one silver per rune. Are you saying it's too little?" Luo Wei said with a straight face.

  Laura shook her head vigorously. "No, no, I really don't think it's too little. One silver coin is already a lot to me!"

  Although enchanting was profitable, why would anyone hire an apprentice like her to enchant their sword?

  Besides, the Magic Association forbade mages from selling magical items to ordinary people. No matter how many runes she drew, no one would buy them. Mages who needed runes could draw them themselves.

  One silver coin per rune was already an astronomical price!

  Miss Luo Wei could draw magic runes herself, yet she made excuses to have Laura draw Growth Magic Runes just to give her silver coins. Laura was so moved she wanted to cry.

  "Why are you crying? Is work too tiring?" Seeing Laura's eyes getting moist, Luo Wei asked with concern.

  Laura raised her hand and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "No, I'm not crying. I'm not tired at all."

  Luo Wei said worriedly, "Are you feeling unwell somewhere? Why don't you take the rest of the day off?"

  She took Laura's arm. "I'll take you back to see a kitten, okay? A cute little cat came to my house recently. His name is Big Orange. His eyes look exactly like yours—so well-behaved and clingy!"

  Laura's eyes suddenly went round as saucers. She stammered, "Oh r-really? But I still need to watch the chicks. I-I won't go today. I'll... I'll visit another time!"

  "When can't you watch chicks? Come on, let's go back together. Big Orange is definitely sunbathing by the window. I'll introduce you. You'll definitely love him!" Luo Wei pulled her toward the exit.

  "No, no, no!" Laura's fur practically stood on end. She resisted and pulled her arm free. "I just remembered—a chicken ran down to the river! I need to go catch it. Goodbye, Miss Luo Wei!"

  Before she finished speaking, she bolted out. She moved so fast she left only an afterimage, disappearing down the hillside in a flash.

  Luo Wei covered her mouth and held back laughter for quite a while before coughing once and walking out the door. She called to Bella, "Let's go. We're heading back to Star Luo Residence."

  """

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