Jia She's death, the funeral rites, the mourning clothes—altogether, it took more than two full months before the two manors finally settled down completely.
Taking advantage of that time, Jia Lian, Jia Baoyu, and Jia Rong—the uncle and nephews—began conducting experiments at a manor included in Wang Xifeng's dowry.
The Industrial Revolution required the accumulation of talent, trial and error, and repeated adjustments. The early stages demanded enormous investment.
Through the Xue Family's connections, they bought a Steam Engine from overseas.
Just as the other two were about to find people to set up the Steam Engine, Zhao Han, drawing on her experience, stopped them.
She said, "We must first build an enclosed, soundproof structure. We also need to dig tunnels for smoke and exhaust, directing the steam and waste fumes into the nearby riverbed."
"What's that for? Wouldn't it be enough to release it straight into the sky? Don't tell me you're worried about environmental pollution too?" Wang Wenwen asked strangely.
"You're too inexperienced. Do you know that the old guard's most direct objection to industrialization isn't that it infringes on their interests, but that it offends feng shui?" Zhao Han said confidently.
"I understand." Wang Wenwen recalled history for a moment and immediately saw the point. Yes, Eastern Continent's industrialization had been driven forward by the overwhelming force of Otherworldly Users. Those people who talked about feng shui had all been dealt with.
But in places without Otherworldly Users, the belief that Steam Engines ruined feng shui had become common knowledge.
And they were not entirely wrong. Wherever Steam Engines and large factories appeared, people living nearby often began dying before fifty, plagued by all sorts of illnesses. Rich or poor, no one could escape that fate.
The ancients might not have known it was caused by pollution,