But Adelaide's joke put Oak in a difficult position.
He would be very happy if Miss Adelaide came to his house, because Miss Adelaide had always taken good care of them.
But there really wasn't a decent place to sit at his house, because trees on the territory couldn't be cut down casually anymore.
The better trees were used for shipbuilding, the slightly less desirable ones for roofing, and the really poor ones for charcoal burning. Some small branches, rotten ones, ones with wormholes, and even some roots were dug up for firewood. The bark, however, was taken by the lord.
Some of the stools are made from tree roots. The lord doesn't care about these tree roots; whoever digs them up keeps them. However, these tree roots are very difficult to dig up.
If you want to make a stool, you have to dig it out completely, and it would be difficult for one person to dig it out even after a whole day.
So this stool is still a hot commodity in the territory. You either have to find the time to dig it up yourself, or you have to buy it from someone else, but it's not cheap.
The few plants in Shanshu's house were dug by some miners he hired during their breaks. As for how many copper dragon coins Shanshu paid for them, he didn't know.
Oak quickly arrived outside the Cedar's house, stopped, and shouted, "Iris, is my Oak Barrel here with you?"
Iris had only been inside for a short while when she heard the call and immediately ran out again.
"Oak! Oak Barrel is here. Since we don't have anything else to do, let him play here for a while. Would you like to come in and sit down?"
"Okay, thank you for your help. No, I have some things to do. By the way, did Cedar tell you? They're going to build a school in the territory." Oak probably didn't know what a school was before, but now he knows: a school is a place to teach people to read.
He hoped the school would be built soon, because he couldn't understand the lord's decrees. If the school was completed, he wanted to go and learn to read for a couple of days.
Iris looked at Oak with a puzzled expression. "What's the school for? Cedar hasn't been back much lately, and he hasn't mentioned this."
"Schools are places where you learn to read, you know? Iris, now I'm going to a meeting at the castle, and I can't understand the decrees and blueprints the lord gave me. Do you know that feeling? It's really painful."
Oak was a little upset. Most people in the venue could read now; even those who couldn't read before could now read some.
However, this cannot be blamed on Oak. He took on a management role too late, had no opportunity to learn about these things, and was surrounded by illiterate people.
He doesn't know who to learn from now. Everyone is too busy. Who has time to teach him?
The farm is still run by uneducated people. Although some new people have arrived, none of them can read or write.
"Oak, don't be too sad. Hasn't the lord's school started construction? You'll be able to learn to read soon." Iris didn't know how to comfort Oak.
"Alas! Iris, the gypsum mines in the territory are running low. Lord Andrew went to investigate and hasn't returned yet. We don't know when the school will start construction."
Oak said all this simply to find out from Iris whether Cedar had mentioned these things, since Cedar was now the leader of the guard. He certainly knew more than he did.
Oak looked at Iris. "Let's not talk about that. Iris, do you know anyone who wants to sell one of those tree root stools from your house? I'd like to buy a few."
"That stool? Go ask Sister Will in Shangtaoyuan Village. I heard her husband dug up several tree roots."
"Okay, Iris, I'll go ask."