Chapter 1 Some Touches

The things Min Yue said touched Ye Tao somewhat. A princess raised in the royal family was naturally different from him, a merchant of craftsman origins from a common family. If it wasn't simple for Ye Tao to develop the originally plain and simple Ye Family Carpentry into the large business it was today, mainly consisting of IKEA Home Furnishings and Yi Zhan Lou, supplemented by maintenance and repair for the docks and the army, then it was even more difficult for someone who could still be called a little girl to find all sorts of opportunities within the palace to extend her reach, demonstrate her financial management skills, and still be trusted. Ye Tao wouldn't think about how many so-called teachings Princess Zhaohua's involvement in commerce, acquisition of shops, and investment activities violated. Anyway, for them, two people from another time and space, these teachings didn't make much difference. But thinking about the many complex interpersonal relationships that had to be dealt with, especially the situation the princess who now "managed the harem" faced, Ye Tao felt admiration.

Perhaps it really was like the saying goes, every profession is like a different mountain. At this moment, the princess was also praising Ye Tao's brilliant achievements in these short few years. Granted, the skills of various trades in Dongping were the best in the world, but learning a technique and balancing development among many techniques to establish one's own technical system were completely different concepts. How could the difficulty of perfectly combining technology and business, and also implementing those ideas and thoughts from his modern life and gaining others' recognition, be low?

Perhaps the two people's mutual admiration would continue from this moment until long after.

Ye Tao was still young, and the spirit of Min Yue's continuous drinking, cup after cup, probably wouldn't affect him for several years. But it was almost midnight when Ye Tao returned home, and his father, Ye Lao Geng, was still waiting for him. A tallow lamp was still lit in the small workshop at home, and the orange-red light, accompanied by the rhythmic and drawn-out sound of planing, displayed a unique atmosphere that was very much in the Ye family style, putting people at ease.

Although his father, Ye Lao Geng, felt that he was no longer up to even making furniture, which he was most familiar with. Originally, Ye Lao Geng relied on his solid carpentry skills and fairly good carving skills, and although he couldn't be considered rich, he was among the top craftsmen in Yicheng. The small courtyard he had bought was said to have been built by a scholarly family in the past, and although it was a bit old, it was elegant and had a scholarly atmosphere. Ye Lao Geng bought the courtyard and married his childhood sweetheart, hoping that his child would study hard and become successful in the future. Although Dongping did not discriminate against merchants and craftsmen, in the eyes of those scholars, in the eyes of those arrogant officials, merchants and craftsmen were nothing. But Ye Tao, who had always been taciturn and seemed to be a bit gloomy, insisted on joining in when he started taking apprentices to teach carpentry. Thinking that following in his father's footsteps might not be a bad thing, Ye Lao Geng didn't force Ye Tao to study, and taught him along with the apprentices he had taken. Accompanied by a set of small saws, small planes, and small files that he had made with his own hands, Ye Tao began his apprenticeship.

Ye Lao Geng's apprentices were now all skilled craftsmen who could hold their own in IKEA Home Furnishings and Ye's Workshop, but compared to his own son, they were as stupid as stones. No matter how difficult the job, Ye Tao would learn it after hearing it explained once. When he was a child, he was not strong enough, and some jobs could not be done, but Ye Tao could still do it in other ways with ingenuity. The tools that Ye Tao came up with were even more refreshing. The bow drill was replaced by a crank hand drill, and the original work of sawing, planing, polishing, etc., which was completely dependent on the skills of the hands, became easier and simpler because the tools were classified more and more finely and became more and more diverse. But gradually, the days when he could handle everything from selecting materials to painting were gone forever. When it came to pure carpentry skills, Ye Lao Geng was still the top craftsman in Yicheng, but he no longer cared about material selection or painting, and he had completely handed over the management of the entire Ye's Workshop to his 14-year-old genius craftsman son, Ye Tao. And he himself was now concentrating on managing all the carpentry work in Ye's Workshop, ensuring that nothing went wrong in this link, those complex process flows that he now also had some difficulty understanding.

Watching Ye Tao expand the Ye family's carpentry shop from scratch to its current scale, watching the Du family, whom he could only look up to in the past, and Governor Peng and Admiral Min now come and go frequently, and Admiral Min Yue even often ran to his small courtyard to find Ye Tao, and often dragged himself to those restaurants for a drink after finishing his business but not wanting to pull Ye Tao along. Watching the attitudes of the big and small bosses in Yicheng change little by little towards his family, Ye Lao Geng knew that from now on, as long as there were no major accidents, the Ye family would become a new wealthy family in Yicheng in Ye Tao's hands. And Ye Tao was now the backbone of the Ye family and the entire Ye industry.

Ye Lao Geng didn't know where Ye Tao's ideas and methods came from, they weren't from him, and watching Ye Tao grow up, he knew that it was impossible for him to learn the skills of other families, so he had to attribute it to his innate talent, maybe Ye Tao was the star sent down by God to make the Ye family prosper. When Du Fengchi, the young master of the Du family, came today to tell him what had happened, telling him not to worry about the Ye family's affairs, Ye Lao Geng was even more worried. Waiting at home for Ye Tao to return safely was the only thing he could do.

"Dad." Pushing open the door of the small workshop at home, Ye Tao felt a burst of warmth in his heart as he watched his father carefully shaving out thin, long shavings.

"Tao'er, it's good that you're back. Young Master Du came and told me about today's events. Have you thanked that young lady yet?" Ye Lao Geng put down the plane, shook off the sawdust on his body, and said to Ye Tao.

"Dad, Du Fengchi has asked me to tell you many times, just call him by his name. It's embarrassing for Fengchi when you always call him Young Master Du." Ye Tao knew that the change in address reflected the rise in the Ye family's status. If calling him that way in the past was respect, then calling him that way now would seem distant. Knowing that the other party was coming on strong, Du Fengchi came to the workshop today to help boost his prestige, which showed the friendship between the two families. After thinking for a while, Ye Tao couldn't explain the princess's identity to his father, but he needed to give an explanation of the matter, and also lay the groundwork for the inevitable development in the capital in the future, he said, "The Zhuo Miss who helped today, her family has quite a bit of status in the capital. Zhuo Miss said that she will take care of Xue Yuan's matter for us, so I think we won't encounter such a thing again in the future."

Ye Lao Geng frowned and said, "Is it appropriate to owe such a big favor?"

Ye Tao comforted him and said, "It's okay, Zhuo Miss wants to build a courtyard in the capital, and she'll work hard when it's time to work hard, and that will pay off this favor. I guess that's the only skill, and people still think highly of it. This work is not easy to do, and it will take several months or half a year to leave home."

Ye Lao Geng chuckled and said, "It's true that having a skill is never a disadvantage these days… Well, it's good, you should go to the capital to see it, just for the time of building a courtyard, what are you talking about leaving home? If there is a way to get into the capital, you might as well really get the Ye family in there. Old Man Qi and Young Master Du are not always saying that our Ye family's stuff has a good reputation in the capital?" Ye Lao Geng wasn't the kind of person who would worry endlessly, and Ye Tao's stability beyond his age over the years gave him even more confidence.

"We'll have to see about that when the time comes. But, if Zhuo Miss can take care of us in the future, it shouldn't be impossible to open up the situation in the capital." Ye Tao said with a smile, seeing that his father had relaxed his mind, he also felt much more relaxed, "Dad, it's not early now, you should go to sleep early. Zhuo Miss is coming to the workshop tomorrow, and Lord Min and Lord Peng are also coming along. We'll have to be busy for another day."

Ye Lao Geng nodded and said, "Didn't they want to come long ago? The things in the workshop are good, but you don't have to be too wary of those adults, and you can't guard against them. Let them take a look." Wringing out a cloth in the bucket on the side to wipe his body, Ye Lao Geng nagged a few more words and went back to his room to sleep, and reminded him at the end, "That girl in your room is still awake. The little girl is worried about you and hasn't eaten dinner yet."