After tinkering for a while, the clay in the stove had already dried and hardened. Brian Cooper went over to make some final adjustments and declared the job done. Charles's wife personally lit the fire and cooked a pot of pig feed, discovering that this new stove was indeed more powerful, extremely fuel-efficient, and produced almost no smoke. The whole family then showered Brian Cooper with praise once again, and even Emily Scott received some compliments like “you’ll surely enjoy a good life in the future.”

Having a stove that could save half the firewood was a huge deal for a farming family. Charles Cooper also knew that just boiling three eggs to show his gratitude was far from enough. What Charles Cooper's family had in abundance was labor. As he saw Brian Cooper and his mother off, he patted his chest and said to Emily Scott that another day he would carry 20 loads of water for Brian Cooper's family—he’d water their fields first, then his own.

Chapter 009: Water Flows

“Little Brian, you’re as good as a strong laborer now.” On the way home, Emily Scott couldn’t contain her joy and said to her son. Her son had spent an afternoon helping Charles Cooper's family rebuild a stove, and in return, Charles Cooper promised to carry 20 loads of water for their family. Wasn’t that as good as having a strong laborer?

“Mom, come on, I’m a 17-year-old young man—of course I’m a strong laborer.” Brian Cooper laughed. He was holding back another thought in his mind, something he didn’t dare say to Emily Scott: as a wise man from later times once said, “Science and technology are the primary productive forces.”

“Charles said he’d help us carry 20 loads of water, but actually, he’s not losing out.” Emily Scott said with relish, “With your new stove, his family can save at least a thousand jin of firewood a year. That firewood is worth three or four qian of silver.”

“How is the price of firewood calculated?” Brian Cooper asked. The original scholar had never cared about such daily necessities, so Brian Cooper had no concept of their prices.

Emily Scott was more than happy to teach her son about this. She said, “The price of firewood depends on the season. It’s cheaper in hot weather, more expensive in cold. When it’s cheap, a load can sell for 20 wen; when it’s expensive, it can go for 40 wen.”

“Hmm, so an average of 30 wen per load. If you can save 1,000 jin of firewood, that’s about 10 loads, which is 300 wen, or about 3 qian of silver.” Brian Cooper calculated silently, and after finishing, he couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed. If a fuel-saving stove could only save a farming family 3 qian of silver a year, it didn’t seem all that valuable.

“Only worth 3 qian of silver…” Brian Cooper voiced his confusion.

“3 qian of silver isn’t a small amount!” Emily Scott thought very differently from her son. She said, “With 3 qian of silver, you could buy seventy or eighty eggs.”

“Uh…” Speaking of eggs, Brian Cooper started to feel it. Thinking of how happy Lu Xiu’er was after just a few bites of egg custard, he couldn’t help but feel a bit indignant: “Then we lost out. Charles’s family only cooked us six eggs, and we didn’t even finish them. He should have given us a few dozen eggs to be fair, right?”

“Sigh, we’re all neighbors, you can’t be so calculating.” Emily Scott sighed. She also thought it would be nice to bring a few eggs home, “Didn’t Charles say he’d help us carry water? Besides, his family has helped us plenty in the past.”

“I can make a stove in an afternoon and it’s worth 3 qian of silver. That’s 9 taels a month, 108 taels a year. That’s actually pretty good, huh?” Brian Cooper said cheerfully. “Mom, maybe I should just specialize in fixing stoves for people. I could charge 1 qian of silver per stove, and in a year I’d have…”

“Bang!” Before Brian Cooper could finish, he got a solid smack on the head.

Emily Scott glared at him and scolded, “What nonsense are you talking about? The only reason you’re helping people fix stoves is because we owe them favors. You’re a scholar—how can you spend your days doing this kind of work? Once you’ve fixed the stoves for the few families we’re close with, you’re not allowed to do it for anyone else, do you hear me?”

Brian Cooper rubbed his head, about to argue, when suddenly he heard a commotion outside the village. The mother and son listened closely, and everyone was shouting the same thing: “Water! Water’s coming out!”

“Mom, I think the well I marked is producing water!” Brian Cooper’s heart skipped a beat. Although he had expected this, hearing the news for real still made him quite excited.

“Hurry, let’s go see!” Emily Scott was excited too. To say she hadn’t been worried would be a lie—she’d been thinking about that well her son had marked out every moment of the past day. If this well really produced water, her son would be the village’s hero, and no one would dare call him a useless scholar ever again!

The mother and son dashed toward the edge of the village, and along the way, countless villagers were running as well. When they saw Brian Cooper, they all shouted loudly, “Scholar, the well you marked is producing water! There’s so much water!”

Brian Cooper and his mother ran to the well site, which was already surrounded by villagers. From a distance, they could hear William Carter’s raspy voice bursting with uncontrollable laughter: “Hahaha, the Well Dragon King has blessed us—water at last!”

“Excuse me, let me through, let me take a look.” Brian Cooper pushed his way through the crowd toward the center.