Early that morning, the skies drizzled once again. Clara donned her straw rain cape and bamboo hat, grabbed a few basic tools and a set of paper and brushes, and stepped out before breakfast.

  On the way, she passed by her own fields to check on the rice. Everything looked fine. She quickened her pace toward Goldstone Town.

  By around half past eight, Clara arrived at Manager Wu’s home in town. She’d stopped by a street vendor to buy two coarse-grain pancakes to settle her stomach before meeting him, and together they headed straight for the plot where the water mill would be built.

  Throughout Willowridge County, most villages and towns were nestled along the river. Though they all drew water from the same source, the river’s shape varied with the terrain.

  The stretch by Goldstone Town was wider and deeper than Riverbend Village’s, but also calmer. The nearby hills boasted mountain streams and small waterfalls—plenty of fresh water sources.

  Manager Wu had chosen a spot near the main road leading to the county town, right by a stone bridge. The bridge rose over two meters above the water, and he’d proposed building the mill on the flat riverbank beneath it.

  Clara gave the site a once-over and frowned. Though accessible, if water levels rose, the waterwheels could be submerged. Worse still, the soft soil on the riverbank risked caving in under the weight of the mill.

  It was precisely these kinds of natural terrain limitations that made Clara confident others wouldn’t be able to simply copy her waterwheel design. This feudal agricultural era was no modern industrial nation—most riverbanks remained in their raw, untamed state. Dropping a waterwheel anywhere wouldn’t mean it’d function properly.

  Still, Clara was determined to make this deal happen. After getting Manager Wu’s agreement, they scouted further downriver and finally selected a site about a hundred meters off the main road.

  Here, the river was narrower, with a stronger current. Most importantly, both sides had natural stone embankments—stable terrain all around.

  The only hitch was that Manager Wu would need to widen the road slightly to accommodate ox carts. But it was less than 200 meters—nothing too costly.

  Manager Wu wasn’t about to let this opportunity slip by. After some thought, he placed an order for three small waterwheel sets.

  “We’ll take a one-third deposit upfront,” Clara said. “I’ll write you a receipt. Once installation is complete and the equipment tested, we’ll settle the rest.”

  She pulled out her paper and brush, giving him a quick glance.

  He nodded, so she wrote up a simple deposit slip, and the two of them pressed their fingerprints as signatures.

  Such informal receipts didn’t carry legal weight, but between clans and families, they held a certain social binding power. Most common folk would rather avoid the magistrate’s office at all costs. These private agreements were widespread and generally upheld, as long as both parties honored their word.

  Once the receipt was in Manager Wu’s hands, Clara asked, “When would you like installation?”

  “Within ten days,” he said, sounding a little hesitant. “Can your side finish in time?”

  “No problem,” Clara assured him. “The main thing is that your site is prepped on time.”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Manager Wu slapped his chest confidently. He’d have the land leveled and cleared within four or five days.

  As for dealing with neighbors—since the river segment was public town property—he’d already planned to offer nearby townsfolk a generous discount to avoid conflict. Clara just had to focus on production and be ready to install on schedule.

  With everything settled, Clara left with peace of mind.

  She returned to Liew Clan Village just before noon, delivered the dimension plans to Carpenter Liew, and only then went home for lunch.

  There was no time to rest afterward—she grabbed her tools and set off for the quarry.

  Though Clara could’ve handled crafting all three small millstones herself, she wasn’t in the mood to grind herself down. This time, she enlisted help.

  The moment she stepped into the old Liew family estate with tools in hand, the whole house knew what she was there for. Brandon Liew and his two brothers, who had been refurbishing tools, immediately stood up and joined her without a word.

  This time, they extracted a few extra slabs of stone and left them stacked nearby for future use.

  The shelter they’d built last time was still there. After hauling the stones over, they got to work. Within two or three days, they’d completed three seventy-centimeter-diameter millstones.

  Carpenter Liew worked efficiently too. He’d already asked his father-in-law to chop and store timber during his downtime, so he simply carried it home and got straight to work.

  Once the waterwheels were complete, they were coated in lacquer and left to dry—this extended their durability.

  All three wheels were identical in size and shape, down to the millimeter. The same applied to the millstones, with only minor differences in the natural stone patterns. Each piece was engraved with “Liew Clan Village Water Mill Works.”

  While Clara was busy making Manager Wu’s set, Sonny had already brought three waves of people from Riverbend Village. Clara managed to secure two new orders for household-use waterwheel sets.

  Last time, she gave Sonny 150 copper coins in commission after a sale. This time, with each household set yielding a 30-coin commission, she handed him 60 coins total.

  As orders increased, Clara’s stonework kept pace—after all, there were four of them now. No issues there.

  But Carpenter Liew began to fall behind. He quickly recruited two more villagers to help carve the waterwheel paddles.

  As long as the measurements and specs were precise, anyone with basic carpentry skills could do the job.

  By month’s end, five sets of small waterwheel-and-millstone combos had been delivered. When Clara handed over 100 copper coins to the clan head in front of the entire village, Liew Clan Village erupted with excitement!

  And when she announced that anyone in the village could act as a sales broker—and earn a 1% commission on every sale—interest soared.

  Married daughters who had moved away rushed back to their natal homes to spread the word about the water mill’s benefits. Even at weddings and banquets, they'd casually slip it into conversation, telling others to mention their names for a small discount.

  This grassroots marketing actually brought in several new orders.

  Some of these women even offered to return 5 to 10 coins to their relatives as a gesture of goodwill when helping them place orders.

  Most families were in similar straits—not exactly wealthy. Not every village had Riverbend’s resources either. So it became common for three to five families to pool funds for a single unit, splitting the cost. It was affordable and practical.

  Through this, Clara discovered something unexpected: the women in the village were natural-born salespeople. Every successful order had come through them.

  In these household-based agrarian economies, women essentially managed everything aside from farming, logging, and chopping firewood.

  Naturally, water mills brought greater benefit—and motivation—to them.

  Still, women’s mobility was limited. Expanding outside the county would rely on traveling peddlers and traders.

  Clara wasn’t overly ambitious. She kept her expectations realistic: build local market presence first, then maintain demand with repairs, and finally, make money through replacement parts. Stable, long-term income was enough.

  Even in the modern world, getting a product off the ground was hard. How much harder in this rigid, class-stratified era? She was just a farmer’s wife—earning enough for daily needs and bringing a little growth to the village was already more than she could ask for.

  Even Carpenter Liew knew that the moment their business threatened the interests of the wealthy, they’d be shut down completely.

  So, while the rest of the village dreamed big about striking it rich, Clara and Carpenter Liew kept their heads down—steady as seasoned hounds—doing the accounts and splitting the profits.

  (End of Chapter)

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