It wasn’t as much trouble to set up as this factory.

Listening to the old steward, Lu Yuan nodded and said,

"I’ve really troubled you lately. You’re running back and forth between home and the factory; you must be exhausted."

But the old steward just shook his head and said,

"As long as the Zhao Family does well, a little exhaustion is worth it.

Young Master, I’m sure these things you’ve made will sell very well."

The old steward was usually a very reserved man.

He rarely spoke.

Or rather, he rarely said anything unnecessary.

Even with Aunt Zhao, he was the same. He’d only answer what you asked and wouldn’t say a word more.

For him to suddenly say all this today, he must have been bursting with it.

After all, regarding the things Lu Yuan was making, only Lu Yuan and the old steward knew everything.

The three large workshops were producing a total of three products.

One was a hand-cranked washing machine.

It was a large, square sheet-metal box containing a few labor-saving gear mechanisms.

The rest was just like a washing machine from Earth.

A drum with several rows of holes, covered by another layer of sheet metal on the outside.

To wash clothes, you just turned the crank—a few turns to the left, a few turns to the right.

To spin-dry, you removed the outer layer of sheet metal and cranked it hard.

It was a bit tiring on the arms, granted.

’But it’s better than soaking your hands in ice-cold water during the dead of winter, right?’

Of course, Lu Yuan couldn’t say for sure if this product would be a huge seller.

After all, country folk definitely wouldn’t use it.

For one, people in the countryside had no money. For another, women in the countryside weren’t valued.

’Spend three maces of silver on such a contraption just so a country woman’s hands don’t freeze in winter?’

’Not worth it.’

And the wealthy families in the city wouldn’t need it either.

They had servants.

This gadget was for the city dwellers who had a little extra cash and doted on their wives.

Washing clothes in the city was especially troublesome.

Unlike in the villages and towns, where you could just find a river and do your laundry.

In the city, you had to fetch water from the wells in the market square.

It was a real hassle going back and forth.

Of course, it was hard to say if it would make big money. He’d just try it out first. If it sold well, he’d continue; if not, he’d drop it.

He could always convert the workshop to make something else.

After all, Lu Yuan had plenty of ideas from *Craftsmanship*.

Of course, even with *Craftsmanship*, Lu Yuan hadn’t planned on a single product becoming a massive hit right from the start.

He could afford some trial and error, but he couldn’t keep making mistakes and trying indefinitely.

’After all, converting a workshop costs money, doesn’t it?’

A single workshop would have several hundred people, and every day they opened their eyes, it would cost silver.

So, Lu Yuan had also prepared two products that he felt could be huge money-makers.

These ones even involved some "technology and hardcore stuff."

And these two products could be considered the same type.

They were...

Vehicles!

Bicycles and tricycles!!

Anyone with a brain could already understand the value of these things in an ancient era.

Just like the old steward.

Otherwise, the old steward, who was usually as quiet as a clam, wouldn’t have suddenly piped up like that.

In ancient times, people generally had only two modes of transportation.

One was the ox-cart, and the other was their own two feet.

Horse-drawn carriages weren’t something the average person could afford.

Especially now, with the Court at war with the Northern region, even the horses kept by common households had been requisitioned for the front lines.

Generally, it was just ox-carts or walking.

And you could only really see ox-carts around now, in the autumn and winter.

Once spring planting began, the oxen had to go work in the fields.

At that time, you wouldn’t be able to find an ox to spare.

But what about with a bicycle?

You could cover a hundred *li* a day. Maybe not effortlessly, but as long as you didn’t hit a big uphill climb, you’d barely break a sweat.

Lu Yuan remembered when he was a kid, he and a few friends from his village would ride their bikes into the city to have fun.

It wasn’t over a hundred *li*, but a round trip of forty kilometers, which was about eighty *li*.

They’d go in the morning and come back at night. He was fifteen or sixteen at the time and didn’t feel tired at all.

On big hills, they’d just stand up on the pedals.

As for whether the terrain here was suitable, that was no concern at all.

Let’s put it this way: the village roads in the 1980s weren’t much better than the ones in ancient times.

Forget the villages; even many provincial roads back then were just dirt tracks.

In fact, even in modern rural areas, places in the Southwest and Northern regions still have nothing but dirt roads. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Basically, a bicycle would have no problem on the country roads here.

As long as it didn’t rain heavily for too long and turn the ground to mud.

Otherwise, the village paths and field tracks were packed down hard from foot traffic, so riding a bike on them was no problem at all.

’If you really do run into a situation like that...’

’...just don’t go out. Who doesn’t know to run home when it’s pouring rain? Are you an idiot?’

’Of course, even if there’s an emergency and you absolutely have to go out...’

’...if you hit a rough patch, you can just get off and push for a bit.’

Lu Yuan felt there was no way the bicycles wouldn’t sell well.

Human civilization progresses step by step.

Most modern things are simply better than what came before.

Bicycles haven’t even been phased out on Earth yet, so they would be even more useful here.

And besides the bicycle, there was the tricycle.

The cargo-carrying kind.

This was the most important product of all.

Something like a bicycle would mostly be bought by city dwellers.

A wealthy person in the countryside might grit their teeth and buy one.

This thing was a luxury item.

Lu Yuan’s pricing was set at three taels of silver, which was about a year’s wages for a person in the city.

Even if the average person wanted one, they could only watch others ride with envy while they continued to walk.

But the tricycle was different.