dwimmered path

  Chapter 66 With the rain, everywhere felt drafty, a chilly dampness that seeped into everything. Afraid Xu He might get cold, Zhang Fangyuan went to a nearby street and bought a hand warmer, then filled it with hot water from an eatery and had him hold it.  “Using this so early in the season?” “You can't afford to get chilled.” Xu He's lips twitched slightly. He cradled the hand warmer, feeling warm inside. “Good thing no one from home came to watch our opening today, or they'd be worrying.” Zhang Fangyuan's attitude was quite relaxed. “Business isn't built in a day. No point in rushing.” Xu He nodded, though he wasn't entirely sure himself. Opening this toothbrush shop had cost no small sum—renting the space, the initial renovations, stocking up on goods. He'd been keeping count, and by today's opening, they'd already spent fifty taels of silver. That such a sum of money, one could marry in a whole bunch of daughters-in-law in a farming family, le...

  Chapter 65 Several rows of small holes were drilled into one end of a smooth, relatively thick wooden slice. Pig bristles were then inserted one after another, forming a small brush head on the board. Zhang Fangyuan tried brushing it on his finger; the pig bristles were stiff and slightly prickly. After rubbing it back and forth several times to ensure no bristles would fall out, he took another drilled wooden slice and threaded it with horsehair. Pig bristles were easy to come by—he just collected them when slaughtering pigs and brought them home. Horsehair was harder to find. Horses were expensive and far rarer than pigs. To get horsehair, he would have to go to a horse market. Fortunately, they owned a horse, and this tuft had been clipped from Little Black. Horse tail hair was somewhat stiffer than pig bristles and grew long. A single tail hair could be cut into short pieces to fill half a hole. Mane hair, on the other hand, was softer—even softer than pig bristles. For that,...