Ed wouldn't tell Adelaide right now that the paper could also be used to wipe her bottom, because she was afraid that if the little maid got embarrassed and ran away, he would have to do all the work by himself. So Ed kept it a secret.
Seeing that Adelaide had rested enough, Ed felt he couldn't let her waste any more of her life:
"Adelaide, we still need to break up these tree bark and broken fishing nets and soak them in water for a while."
"Ah!" Adelaide was dumbfounded. She had just brought these things back, and now she had to break them up right away.
She felt she was not even as good as that cow from before, which was now sleeping in the cowshed.
But despite the complaints, things still had to be done, and so the castle was once again filled with Ed and Adelaide's busy figures.
The two men were seen chopping up tree bark and fishing nets, while the other put these items into a large pool to soak. When they got tired, they would switch places.
After half a day of hard work by the two, all the tree bark and rotten fishing nets were soaked in the pool.
"Master, is it okay now?" Adelaide breathed a sigh of relief.
Adelaide knew nothing about papermaking, and Ed hadn't told her anything. She thought that was about it; this tiring work should be done, and things should get easier from here on out.
"Well, Adelaide, that's all for now. We'll come back tomorrow." Ed looked at her, almost smiling.
The next day, it was still not fully light.
There was a knock on Adelaide's door.
"Adelaide, stop sleeping, we need to get to work," Ed's voice came from outside the door.
Lying in bed, Adelaide was half asleep when she heard the annoying knocking on the door and wanted to yell, "I haven't slept well yet!"
But then she suddenly woke up, as if her master was calling her. She used to be the one waking up her master, so why was her master calling her today?
This puzzled her. Could it be that she was too tired from transporting tree bark yesterday and slept too long today?
Adelaide quickly got out of bed and called out to the door, "Yes, Master, I'll be right there."
"Hehe," Ed chuckled softly outside the door upon hearing Adelaide's voice.
Adelaide opened the door, but Ed had already left. She was a little dumbfounded because she could see through the window that it wasn't fully light yet, with only a hint of dawn on the distant horizon.
"It seems the master has forgotten the time." She had no choice but to go to the place where she had worked yesterday; she was already up and couldn't go back to sleep!
"Good morning, Adelaide!" Ed greeted Adelaide politely as she approached.
Adelaide didn't seem to be in particularly good spirits. "Good morning, Master, you're up very early today."
"Yes, Adelaide, yesterday when I was moving tree bark, I felt like the cow was mocking me. So yesterday I decided that I would go to bed early and get up early from now on."
"Ah! Master, you are truly amazing." Looking at Ed's earnest expression, Adelaide was still too young and believed Ed's nonsense.
"Look here, Adelaide, you smash this up, I've already prepared it for you," Ed said, pointing to a paste-like substance in a pool.
Adelaide's hand trembled as she looked at the wooden stick beside the pool; the memory of the last time she smashed a cake immediately came flooding back.
Her right hand had been aching for days after she pounded the cake; she couldn't even hold bread. She had to eat with her left hand, which looked incredibly awkward.
This is even scarier than pounding a cake; this stick is so big, and you have to hold it with both hands. She's a little afraid that after tomorrow, the bread will only be left on the table to eat.
At this moment, Ed seemed to notice her hesitation and said with a smile:
"Don't worry, we'll take turns."