Chapter 119: Glass, Windows

Chapter 119: Glass Windows

"Has your printing workshop been completed yet?" Bing Wengu asked Nan Jinping.

The printing workshop was essentially a publishing facility.

Nan Jinping nodded immediately, "The craftsmen have already started working. I was thinking of printing some books first for the children at the county academy."

"Printing books?" Bing Wengu seemed to recall something and asked, "Are the craftsmen using movable type printing?"

"What's that? I don’t know—I didn’t ask." Nan Jinping was completely unfamiliar with such matters.

Bing Wengu then said, "It just so happens I have time today. Let’s go to the printing workshop together, and I’ll see how they’re printing."

Bing Wengu and Nan Jinping arrived at the printing workshop, where craftsmen were bustling with activity.

Upon seeing the two, the craftsmen put down their tools and stood up to greet Husband Bing and Nan Jinping.

"Sir, Master Wuwei."

Nan Jinping showed no reaction, but Bing Wengu corrected the address again, "Since you’re working in the printing workshop established by my husband, from now on, address him as Master Nan or Master Wuwei, which means 'Non-action'."

The craftsmen working in the printing workshop were literate and knew that Nan Jinping’s pen name for writing stories was Master Wuwei, so they quickly changed how they addressed him.

Bing Wengu nodded in satisfaction. "What printing technique are you using?"

"Like this," a craftsman picked up a carved wooden block and showed it to Bing Wengu.

The wooden block was a relatively thick slab with characters of uniform size carved into it.

These characters were permanent and fixed.

Thinking Bing Wengu was just curious, the craftsman explained in detail, "For whatever text we want to print, we first carve the entire text onto the wooden block, then apply ink to produce the printed text."

Bing Wengu asked, "If even one character is carved incorrectly, wouldn’t the entire block be rendered useless?"

The craftsman grew slightly nervous. "Don't worry, sir and Master Wuwei. We craftsmen are experienced and would never make such mistakes."

Bing Wengu replied, "I’m not questioning your expertise. I just recalled that in the previous dynasty, there was a printing technique that seemed more convenient and flexible."

The craftsmen looked at each other. "We are unaware of this, sir. Please enlighten us."

"Movable type printing." Bing Wengu didn’t understand why this technique, which had appeared in the previous dynasty, hadn’t been passed down or popularized, but it was truly efficient.

He explained, "You can hollow out these thick wooden blocks, leaving only a frame. Then carve individual type pieces of uniform size, each bearing a single character. When needed, arrange and combine these pieces to form the desired text. This way, you wouldn’t need to carve an entirely new block for each new text. Otherwise, the old blocks, carefully carved for previous texts, would just collect dust in a corner after use."

The craftsmen’s eyes widened. "That's truly a clever idea—it saves materials, labor, and time."

Bing Wengu said, "If you find it useful, you might as well try it."

The craftsmen immediately carved some movable characters based on Bing Wengu’s instructions and found them very efficient.

Delighted, they began carving more following Bing Wengu’s method.

However, in practice, the craftsmen encountered small problems—nothing serious, but a bit time-consuming.

When Nan Jinping visited the printing workshop again, she noticed something.

After the movable characters were carved, they were stored in boxes labeled First, Second, Third, Fourth, etc. Each box had a slip of paper inside or outside listing all the characters it contained.

The Dayong script contains a vast number of characters, making it a huge hassle to search through them. Sometimes overlooking just one character can take ages to find—or you might not even find it at all. By the time spent searching, a skilled carver could have already carved an entirely new printing block.

Nan Jinping then thought of pinyin. If these craftsmen learned pinyin, searching would become much easier.

Grouping characters with the same initial letter into one tray would make them far easier to locate.

So, Nan Jinping taught the craftsmen pinyin. Fortunately, pinyin itself isn’t too difficult—even the slower folks could grasp it after a few days. Soon, the craftsmen discovered the benefits of pinyin. With it, finding characters became incredibly efficient, almost instantly locating them in the boxes.

Meanwhile, at the colored glaze workshop, they finally succeeded in producing glass.

The first batch of glass wasn’t perfectly clear due to technical constraints, but it was still usable.

Bing Wengu had long been dissatisfied with the yamen’s paper windows, which offered poor visibility.

He directed workers to replace all the windows in his office with glass panes.

Chu Hongyu and the others were stunned. "My lord—is this colored glaze?"

Colored glaze—costs a king’s ransom, incredibly expensive. Even the nobles of Bianjing would find it difficult to obtain a single colored glaze item, yet their lord was using it as windowpanes. Now that’s luxury!

Bing Wengu calmly replied, "We made it ourselves."

Only then did Chu Hongyu recall that the Bing family had previously established a workshop. Initially, its purpose wasn’t disclosed, and after construction, there had been no news about its operations. So, it turned out to be a colored glaze workshop.

"No wonder my lord isn’t concerned about the county’s shoestring budget—you’ve got such a lucrative business." Chu Hongyu stared at Bing Wengu, green with envy. If his own family owned a colored glaze workshop, he too would surely be as devoted to the people as Bing Wengu.

At the yamen, Bing Wengu only replaced the windows in his office. At home, however, both his and Nan Jinping’s bedroom and study were outfitted with glass panes. The material’s excellent light transmission meant Nan Jinping could write at home without straining her eyes.

The Bing and Nan families all came to gawk in awe.

"Back in Bianjing, I thought owning a kaleidoscope would be the ultimate splurge. Yet before I could even buy one, Big Brother Jin has already built a house with colored glaze."

Nan Jinping explained, "Big Brother, Wengu said this is glass, made using the same techniques as the Westerners’ glass."

Nan Dalang brushed it off. "The Westerners’ goods are even more expensive."

Bing Silang cautiously touched the glass with his hand. "This is incredible! The room used to be so dark, but with glass, it’s so bright now!"

Nan Little Sister stood in front of a full-length mirror, turning side to side to admire herself. "This glass mirror is wonderful—so big, I can see my whole body! And it’s so clear, I can even see the fine hairs on my face. I’d kill to have one!"

Miao Shi nudged her. "You couldn’t afford this even if we sold you!"

Nan Xiaomei then gave puppy-dog eyes to Nan Jinping. Though Nan Jinping was quite fond of this younger sister, he couldn’t give this to her.

"This glass mirror was a gift from your brother-in-law."

"Something so valuable—even if it weren’t from your brother-in-law, you shouldn’t give it away. And since it is from him, if you casually handed it over, he’d throw a fit." Miao Shi scolded sternly, "Nan Little Sister, was this how I raised you? Asking others for things outright—is this how you were brought up?"

Nan Little Sister sulked. "Brother Jin isn’t just ‘others.’"

Miao Shi glared at her. "Just wait till we get home—you’re in for it."

Meanwhile, back in Bianjing, Jiang Jinghuai and Shen Qinghe were floored when they got the glass items.

"What did you say? Glass?"

Bianjing already had both locally produced colored glaze and imported glass. Strictly speaking, the two were the same—just named differently.

"Yes, our lord has established his own glass workshop and produced some glass items, ordering us to transport them here." The delivery was also escorted by yamen officers to guarantee safe delivery all the way to Bianjing.

Of course, these yamen clerks didn’t accompany the trip for free. Upon their return, Bing Wengu would issue them subsidies—far exceeding their monthly salaries. That's why this assignment had initially sparked fierce competition among the yamen clerks, all vying to be selected.

Jiang Jinghuai doubted his own ears and yanked off the coarse cloth covering the items. Beneath it lay an array of glass crafts, and Jiang Jinghuai felt his mind go blank with shock.

Shen Qinghe reacted slightly better than Jiang Jinghuai. He picked up a glass mirror, which had cracked in transit due to insufficient protection, but the flaw didn’t diminish the mirror’s clarity in the slightest.

"So clear!" Jiang Jinghuai exclaimed in awe.

The yamen clerks and escorts responsible for the delivery, however, looked ready to cry. "Oh no, how did this get damaged? We were so careful the whole way!"

Shen Qinghe gently reassured the craftsmen, "It’s not your fault. Glass goods are fragile and can easily break. I’m sure this Yuan Ting won’t blame you."

"These are our lord’s belongings—what does this Yuan Ting have to do with it?"

"This Yuan Ting is your lord’s style name."

"Oh, really? No one in the yamen calls him that. Even Scholar Wuwei only refers to him by his given name."

The mention of "Scholar Wuwei" made Shen Qinghe pause momentarily, recalling that Nan Jinping used this as her pen name.

Shen Qinghe asked, "Did Yuan Ting instruct you to address his husband as Scholar Wuwei?"

"Yes, my lord."

By now, Jiang Jinghuai had somewhat recovered. "Back in Bianjing, whenever Yuan Ting and Jin Geer attended social gatherings, Yuan Ting always insisted others call Jin Geer 'Scholar Wuwei.'"

Shen Qinghe smiled. "That’s wonderful. It shows Yuan Ting hasn’t changed—he’s still the same sincere and earnest person he always was. Power hasn’t corrupted his nature or made him forget his original intentions."

Jiang Jinghuai added, "Last time I visited, I specifically made a point of asking after Jin Geer. That Bing fellow is still the same—only ever softens for Jin Geer, indifferent to everyone else, and with no intention of taking concubines."

Shen Qinghe chuckled but said nothing.

"By the way, our lord also instructed me to bring a few storybooks."

Jiang Jinghuai perked up. "Jin Geer has written a new book!"

Upon opening them, he found one new storybook and two older ones.

Jiang Jinghuai knew Bing Wengu wouldn’t send him useless items. Flipping through the older books, he discovered several new illustrations—miniature portraits of the protagonist, Shuang Er.

Jiang Jinghuai laughed. "Jin Geer wasn’t satisfied with the Bianjing artists’ depictions of Dong Geer and Chu Geer from his books, so he drew them himself. But these portraits are quite well done—seems the hired artist earned their keep."

Shen Qinghe, however, noticed something different about these storybooks. "Why are these printed?"

"Scholar Wuwei opened a printing house and had them produced in-house."

Jiang Jinghuai raised his thumb in admiration. "Yuan Ting really won't let anyone profit off him."

This batch of glass goods mainly consisted of large panes of glass and mirrors. The sheets could be cut to make kaleidoscopes, while the mirrors became an instant hit among fashionable young men and women upon release. If you didn't own at least one glass mirror, you were behind the times.

Both the Emperor and Crown Prince received glass mirrors as gifts—specifically sent by Bing Wengu.

The mirror in Zhan Yu’s hands was an ordinary one, without jade or agate embellishments. Normally, it wouldn’t have been grand enough to reach the Emperor.

But this wasn’t a tribute offering—it was a personal gift from Bing Wengu, which changed everything.

This was the first time Zhan Yu had received a private gift from a court official, and given its novelty, he was genuinely pleased.

"Magistrate Bing might seem cold, but his heart is warm. He thought to include Us when sharing these treasures," Zhan Yu mused. "The court ministers all pay lip service to Us, but who actually cares? Who else would think to share such treasures with Us first?"

The Crown Prince smiled and said, "Actually, signs of County Magistrate Bing's character were evident long ago. His devotion to his husband was unwavering—even when Mei Chengwen once tried to recruit him as a son-in-law, he remained unmoved. Later, after becoming a county magistrate and the master of the county, many young ladies and young Shuang Er likely tried to tempt him, yet County Magistrate Bing stayed true to his heart."

Emperor Zhan Yu nodded. "Such sincerity is truly rare. Moreover, I’ve heard that County Magistrate Bing even insists others refer to his husband as 'Master Wuwei.' Though he may appear cold on the surface, once someone enters his heart, he holds them dear."

The Crown Prince chuckled. "Father, it seems you’ve found your way into County Magistrate Bing’s heart."

Emperor Zhan Yu laughed in response.

The next morning during court, halfway through the session, Emperor Zhan Yu deliberately took out the glass mirror to admire himself.

He boasted, "This glass mirror was gifted to me by the magistrate of Ji County. Though of modest value, it represents Magistrate Bing's sincere regard—and it reflects quite clearly, so I’ve decided to use it."

With just that one remark, glass mirrors quickly gained popularity across the entire capital of Bianjing.

The transport team returned with letters from Jiang Jinghuai and Shen Qinghe, along with payment for the glass products.

Bing Wengu wasn't about to selflessly hand over glass to Shen Qinghe and Jiang Jinghuai for free—of course, he demanded payment. However, the price was set lower, half of what the colored glaze (liuli) workshops in Bianjing charged, so Jiang Jinghuai and Shen Qinghe paid readily.