Chapter 104

Chapter 104

"Master Dong is the largest mill owner in the county," a villager boasted proudly. "His millstones are half a zhang across, and he has several of them at home, pulled by mules and horses every day. The flour they grind is white and fine, not a trace of bran to be seen—and it smells wonderful!"

Shen Lian smiled faintly and said, "A half-zhang millstone isn't really that big. Once the court's Nine-Turn Water Mill is finished, nine mills will stand in a row, filling this whole stretch of riverbank."

A villager poured cold water on that: "Hard to say. If we keep digging, the Dragon King's gonna blow his top. Look for yourself—the mud on this bank's been stomped red, the ground's all covered in bloody mud."

Shen Lian shook his head but didn't argue right away.

Before coming, he'd guessed what the construction crew might've dug up, so he'd had a eunuch from Prince Qi's estate fetch a packet of alum to bring along, just to pull this trick on the villagers.

But to make sure he didn't screw up, he still needed to confirm first what mineral was actually staining the river red.

Without a word, Shen Lian strode over to the muddy, stomped-down ground by the cofferdam, bent down and scooped up a handful of red mud that had been carried ashore on the workers' boots.

He pressed the wet mud between his fingers—fine and granular.

In the sunlight, the mud gave off a cold, ochre-brown sheen, not the bright red of blood. He brought it closer and sniffed—no blood smell, of course, just a faint rust scent, plus the damp, earthy smell of underwater moss.

Hematite, no doubt about it.

Shen Lian turned to the unhurt Ministry of Works craftsmen and asked one to fetch a wooden bucket.

The craftsman didn't know this guy, or if he was friend or foe, so he sure as hell wasn't gonna take orders from him. Looking confused, he turned to the Ministry of Works supervisor running the project.

The supervisor, who didn't know squat, didn't dare make a call either, and shot a pleading look at the Crown Prince.

Xie Yuan nodded.

Do what Shen Lian says—when it came to figuring out what stuff was, he was always spot on.

Someone ran off to grab a bucket.

Shen Lian scooped up a bucket of red river water from near the cofferdam and walked back to face the villagers. "Folks, open your eyes wide and watch this."

The villagers in the front rows craned their necks to see the bucket, wondering what this young fella was up to.

Was he gonna summon the River God or what?

With that immortal, otherworldly vibe, maybe he really was a Daoist priest.

They watched as the young man pulled out an oil-paper packet, opened it, pinched off a little powder, and sprinkled it into the bucket. Then he rolled up his sleeve and stirred the water a bit.

He pulled his hand out, stood up, shook off the water, stepped back, and gestured toward the bucket. "Everyone, please take a look."

The moment of truth.

The murky red water, too cloudy to see through a second ago, seemed to be grabbed and clumped together by an invisible hand, turning into strands and clumps of red gunk.

In less time than it takes to sip half a cup of tea, all the red gunk had sunk to the bottom of the bucket.

The water was now crystal clear, see-through to the bottom, reflecting the shocked faces of the front-row villagers.

Just a layer of red muck sat at the bottom of the bucket.

The villagers in the back, who couldn't see a thing, were getting antsy. "What's going on? What's going on! Did the River God show up?"

"No, the red water's gone—it's clear again!"

"How'd he do that? Isn't this guy a doctor? How's he know magic?"

"Some Daoists know medicine too."

"Is he a god?"

"Sure looks like it."

...

Shen Lian brushed the leftover alum powder off his fingers, then scooped up some of the clear water to show the front-row villagers. "Smell it—smell any blood? You might've gone nose-blind by now, but when you first got up here, didn't you smell rust? This is actually a real common mineral called hematite—a medicinal herb we stock at the Imperial Medical Academy."

Shen Lian pointed to the foundation pit half-flooded with water. "Over thousands of years of the river wearing away, a layer of iron ore's built up under this riverbed. The workers' shovels punched through that ore layer, stirring the rust into the mud and turning the water red. Once the workers scrape off all this red layer, underneath is the hardest bluestone bedrock in the Xing'an River. Oh, and once all this red mud's piled up on shore, if you don't mind the hassle, you can haul it to the medicine shops and sell it—it's a good thing, a lucky sign."

The villagers had already lost interest upon hearing that the red mud was just a layer of ore.

But the moment they heard it could be sold for money, their eyes lit up again, and they eagerly asked how much the red mud could fetch per catty.

The villagers, who had been full of suspicion toward the authorities, suddenly felt like family.

Xie Yuan couldn't help but glance at Shen Lian again.

This venomous physician seemed to be a jack of all trades, skilled in everything.

And strangely enough, Xie Yuan had some talent in military affairs—defending the nation—but what he attracted was often suspicion and fear.

Yet this venomous physician, wherever he went, as soon as he displayed his abilities, had crowds of people worshipping him like a bodhisattva.

Not long after Shen Lian left Gusu City, quite a few nobles and officials from Gusu had come to the capital seeking medical treatment.

No other physician could ever again catch the eye of Gusu's common folk.

Shen Lian carefully calculated the price and output of hematite for the villagers, and the atmosphere immediately grew lively.

Shen Lian told everyone they could stand up to speak.

But the troublemakers didn't dare rise.

Shen Lian turned to look at the young male concubine. "Hurry up and tell them to stand, Dian Xia."

The entire crowd was stunned: "!!!"

Several hundred village men stopped breathing, their eyes darting about in terror.

What kind of physician was this, to speak to the Crown Prince like that? It sounded like giving orders! Was he not afraid of losing his head?

Dead silence.

Shen Lian, unnerved by the strange atmosphere, stepped closer and whispered, "Dian Xia... did I say something wrong?"

Xie Yuan lowered his head and pressed his lips together.

In private, he'd grown used to being a beast of burden for the 8th-rank imperial doctor.

But now, under the eyes of the crowd, how could he compromise the dignity of the War God of Great Wei? People would think the Eastern Palace had no backbone, that it was weak-willed.

"Gathering a mob to destroy the cofferdam and assaulting officials." Xie Yuan raised his narrow phoenix eyes and swept them over the dark mass of people in the mud, rejecting his venomous ex-wife's suggestion on the spot, delivering a show of force: "Under the laws of Great Wei, this is a felony punishable by exile of three thousand li."

The village men below all sucked in a sharp breath of cold air in unison. A few of the more timid ones even collapsed into the muddy water, unable to hold back sobs.

Shen Lian, standing beside him, gasped, clutching his chest, utterly devastated.

The Young Male Concubine was actually ignoring him now!

"However, considering the autumn harvest is imminent, the fields cannot be without laborers," Xie Yuan changed his tune. "You can make up for your crimes by turning over the ringleader who started these rumors. For today's matter, I'll show mercy beyond the law—only the main culprit dies, the rest of you won't be touched."

The villagers, seeing a way out of certain death, immediately kowtowed over and over: "We thank His Royal Highness the Crown Prince for his boundless mercy and virtue!"

Only then did Xie Yuan nod, his defiant mood having passed. "All of you, get up and speak."

This way, no commoner would think the War God of Great Wei was being bossed around by some doctor.

Shen Lian was a little miffed.

He felt that when the Young Male Concubine was in his War God of Great Wei mode, he didn't prioritize him as much.

Right now it was just in front of a bunch of strangers—later, in front of his three wives, a lowly physician would matter even less, right?

His head drooped, and he suddenly felt like just running away.

If he hadn't chosen to stay in this world when the system warned him, would the Young Male Concubine really never find him again? Would he be really sad? How long would he mourn?

As soon as the villagers got up, they started chattering loudly, pointing at each other, each one claiming the other started the rumors.

Before long, the five worst rumor-spreaders were shoved forward by villagers desperate to save their own hides.

Shen Lian looked at the five men curiously and asked, "Why did you spread those rumors about the government-funded water mill? Once this mill is built, nobody'll need to turn the millstone by hand anymore—how much money will that save you?"

One of the men flew into a rage at that: "What's wrong with a man-powered millstone! We earn our keep with our own strength, honest and square! If you won't let me turn the millstone, am I supposed to go beg for food?"

Shen Lian was dumbfounded.

He didn't get this guy's logic.

A villager from the back shouted an explanation: "They don't own any land! They're hired hands who turn the millstone for Master Dong's estate!"

The moment Master Dong's name came up again, understanding finally dawned in Xie Yuan's eyes.

He still didn't know enough about how the common folk made a living.

He'd only thought about how the water mill would help the common folk, but hadn't considered that there were private mill owners who made their living from milling.

Missing this conflict of interest had led to such a serious mess.

"Master Dong's hired laborers." Xie Yuan's gaze swept over the five men's faces. "Did your master come personally to smash the cofferdam today? Drag him out, and I'll go easy on you."

The five startled, exchanged glances, then turned and pushed into the crowd. "That guy with the bamboo hat! Quick! Grab him!"

Master Dong grabbed his hat and tried to run, but he'd barely pushed a few steps before the villagers' sturdy arms blocked him.

Everyone's pardon depended on him—how could they let him get away?

In the blink of an eye, Master Dong's hat was ripped off, and he was forced to his knees in front of the Crown Prince and the physician.

"So you're the big mill owner around here?" Shen Lian asked curiously. "Are you... scared our Nine-Turn Water Mill will steal business from your mill?"

"Your servant wouldn't dare! Please spare me, Crown Prince! Please spare me, Crown Prince!"

Shen Lian turned to the villagers and asked: "How much do their big mills charge you to grind a catty of flour?"

The villagers answered all at once: "They take one dou and a half per shi!"

Shen Lian did the math—that's a fifteen percent cut.

That was truly a business with minimal cost and massive profit. No wonder they desperately spread rumors and slander, trying to tank the project.

"A dou and a half—you work so hard, and you have to hand that much over to the mill owner?"

"There's no helping it. Our own small mills grind too coarse, and we can't afford to keep someone at home doing nothing else."

Shen Lian immediately snapped his fingers triumphantly: "This is exactly why we're building our water mill!"

He pointed toward the cofferdam: "Once that linked mill hits the water, it doesn't need to eat or rest—the flour it makes in a single day and night matches what three hundred mules and horses at Master Dong's estate could do."

But the villagers didn't look happy: "With such a big contraption, how much grain will the government take?"

Shen Lian smiled: "For our water mill, we only take two catties out of every hundred catties of wheat—more than enough to support all the menial workers of an entire official mill."

"Just two catties?!"

"No way?!"

"Did you say that right? Two catties per hundred, or two catties per ten?"

"Can you really make that call, living saint?!"

...

Shen Lian happily turned to the Young Male Concubine with a questioning look, whispering: "That works, right? This is a water-powered nine-turn mill—essentially zero cost once built. Two catties of deduction is already a huge profit."

The Crown Prince replied coldly, in a low voice: "We'll have to wait until it's built and the Ministry of Works tallies the total expenses and calculates the payback period before we can set the price."

Shen Lian felt dejected again. "This is a mill I designed and dedicated to Great Wei. Isn't my own calculation of the deduction trustworthy? If the Ministry of Works sets the price, it'll probably be about as expensive as the market mills. They won't give the people a discount if they can earn more—and that way, we'll never lower grain prices for export either."

The Crown Prince put on a serious face and reasoned: "If I'd funded the construction, I could have the final say. But right now it's the Ministry of Revenue allocating..."

Shen Lian couldn't hold back his grievance anymore. He pouted and looked at the Young Male Concubine with disappointment.

"Fine, fine, two catties it is." The Crown Prince waved his hand in exasperation, done arguing, and gave up one of his bottom-line principles.

"He said yes too!" Shen Lian turned around and announced excitedly: "Only two catties per hundred! The Crown Prince and I have decided!"

The villagers erupted in excitement, showering him with endless thanks, and even asked for Shen Lian's name, saying they'd burn incense and pray for his blessings.

Shen Lian was feeling pretty pleased with himself. He turned to the Young Male Concubine and said softly: "By the way, as the designer of the mill, after it's built, will my name be carved on the stone tablet by the riverbank?"

Xie Yuan snorted with a laugh: "Fine. The mill will be named after you—called the Shen Daji Mill."

"Oh, Dian Xia!"

After the villagers dispersed, only the mill owner Dong Sheng remained in custody with the Xuanlin Guard.

"Crown Prince, spare me!" Dong Sheng kowtowed desperately: "Your servant was momentarily bewitched, scared out of his wits by the red river! Your Highness is magnanimous and virtuous—please spare my life!"

"You won't die just yet. Once all your assets are counted up, you'll be compensating every injured craftsman and villager, as well as the damaged cofferdam."

Back at Prince Qi's residence, Shen Lian was still basking in the joy of having laid a solid foundation for his water mill.

Remembering that Han Wangchuan had helped considerably during the design process, he decided he should share this good news with Master Wangchuan.

Shen Lian told the Young Male Concubine that he needed to head home first, as he had just accepted an invitation from Young Lord Han to a banquet themed on the Tiangong Kaiwu a couple of days prior, and he could show off that his Water Mill was now under construction.

Xie Yuan did not reply. He placed the box of equipment the eunuch had purchased on the table, turned expressionlessly to shut the bedroom window, then looked back at Shen Lian with a dark glare. "Forgot why I dragged you back to the capital?"

In an instant, the dream shattered. Shen Lian could almost see the darkening meter at 999 hovering above the Young Male Concubine's head.

Honestly, he had indeed forgotten.

"But... but I helped you get off several times last night, and my hands are still numb. There's no way I can work today. Can't you just reward me with a day off to go home?"

"If that counted as doing the job, why would I have bothered dragging you back?"

Shen Lian: "..."

Against the daylight filtering through the window screen, the Young Male Concubine's handsome silhouette stood hidden in the shadows as he coldly commanded, "Take the box over to the bed."