Familiar faces in prison

Li Qingxian cupped his hands and said, "Lord Daren, you're too kind. I'll be coming to the Imperial Prison often from now on. Since you know Brother Han, it might be a lot of trouble for you."

"No trouble at all, no trouble at all. Brother Han and I have been friends for many years; his friends are my friends too." Fan Xing said excitedly, turning to the other jailers, "Come over here and greet Daren Li Qingxian."

A dozen or so prison guards hurried over and bowed in greeting.

The prisoners also looked over.

Li Qingxian smiled and said, "Please don't stand on ceremony, everyone. We'll keep in touch often. I only stopped because I saw a few acquaintances."

"Then I'll have to take good care of your acquaintances," Fan Xing said with a smile.

"It's not that bad."

Li Qingxian looked at the prisoner.

Unlike the other prisoners, Pang Mingjing, who was squatting in the corner, was neatly dressed with his hair combed. This former head of the Finance Office calmly looked at Li Qingxian.

The man to Pang Mingjing's left was covered in blood, his face pale and looking like he could die at any moment. He glanced at Li Qingxian, his eyes flickering, his lips trembling, his teeth clenched, and he remained silent.

The dashing figure of last night, the rising star of the Night Guard Yamen, the head of the Finance Office, Tao Zhi.

To Pang Mingjing's right, the man's head was covered in dry grass, his clothes were tattered, and his body was filthy, even bearing yellow stains. He only glanced at Li Qingxian once before cowering in fear, curling up in a ball, like a chick encountering a ferocious beast, trembling and desperately trying to get closer to Pang Mingjing.

Li Qingxian shook his head and said, "Lord Daren, I have other matters to attend to, so I'll take my leave."

"Let me see you out." Fan Xing immediately followed behind Li Qingxian.

Pang Mingjing watched Li Qingxian's retreating figure and sighed.

Tao Zhi asked in a low voice, "Daren, why are you sighing?"

"If he had come to humiliate us, I would have been relieved. But he only glanced at us; such composure indicates he will surely amount to something great in the future. What's even more frightening is that he doesn't care about us at all, which means he's confident of victory."

"But you're just going to let it go like that?" Tao Zhi gritted teeth.

Pang Mingjing glanced at the guy who had taken his place but was imprisoned before he could even settle in, thinking to himself that choosing such a fool was Lord Daren's biggest mistake.

"Sigh..." Pang Mingjing only sighed, without saying a word.

After bidding farewell to Fan Xing, Li Qingxian was greeted by Zhou Chunfeng, Luo Jing, and a Seventh Rank eunuch dressed in a bright red robe embroidered with a banner, who were talking at the door of Yi-Three Room.

A series of chaotic sounds and shouts came from Yi-Three Room, and Liu Muwa could be faintly heard directing people to do things.

Upon seeing Li Qingxian, Zhou Chunfeng said to the eunuch, "Lord Daren, this is Li Qingxian. Qingxian, this is Daren Jing Guan."

Then, the round-faced, small-eyed, and amiable eunuch Jing Guan took the initiative to bow to Li Qingxian: "Greetings, Daren Li. Lord Daren has praised you repeatedly today."

Li Qingxian immediately returned the greeting, saying, "Greetings, Daren Jing. I dare not address you as 'Daren,' just call me Little Li."

Li Qingxian glanced at Jing Guan again. Although he was also a eunuch, he was completely different from Yan Shixiao. He was elegant and polite. If it weren't for his bright red brocade eunuch robes, he would have looked more like a gentle and refined scholar.

"From now on, my family will be stationed here with a team of eunuchs. If there is any disturbance, I hope Daren Li will forgive us," Jing Guan said amiably.

Li Qingxian smiled and said, "We're all working for the Emperor, so there's no question of bothering you. If Lord Daren has any orders in the future, just let him know. However..."

Li Qingxian glanced at the ten beardless but valiant eunuchs standing not far away, each dressed in bright red brocade robes, ranging in rank from the Eighth Rank to the Tenth Rank.

"Daren Li, please speak frankly. Before leaving, Lord Daren instructed us that we should follow your instructions regarding everything related to the distillery and not break the rules," Jing Guan said.

Li Qingxian asked in a low voice, "Do you only work for the Inner Treasury Office, or do you also have the Inner Factory's credentials?"

Jing Guan smiled, and a large red wooden plaque with Golden Dragon pattern slid out from his sleeve before he put it away.

"I see, then I'm relieved. As you know, the four prefectures have high hopes for this matter, and they are most afraid that someone will be greedy for money and cause trouble," Li Qingxian said.

Jing Guan smiled and said, "Daren Li seems to be straightforward, so I won't beat around the bush either. Logically speaking, this matter shouldn't require my help, but Lord Daren attaches great importance to it, so he sent me. I serve the Emperor, and in this vast world, the Emperor is the greatest."

"Then I'm relieved."

Li Qingxian looked at Luo Jing and asked, "Has your Ministry of Revenue made any statement?"

Luo Jing, both amused and exasperated, said, "You really don't know how to take advantage of me. I brought the Divine Tablet Evil Eye, and you call this no gesture?"

"Nothing else?"

Luo Jing sighed helplessly, nodded slightly, but remained silent.

Zhou Chunfeng said helplessly, "Lord Daren, as you can see, my nephew is very straightforward. Please bear with him."

Jing Guan laughed and said, "We've seen too many scheming and underhanded people. We're overjoyed to meet someone as straightforward as him. Lord Daren is the same way. No wonder Daren keeps praising Lord Daren and asking me to take care of this carefree younger brother."

Everyone present suddenly realized why Jing Guan was so enthusiastic towards Li Qingxian.

Li Qingxian glanced at Zhou Chunfeng, Zhou Chunfeng then gestured with his chin toward Yi-Three Room and said, "Old Liu has been waiting for you for ages. He's building the first large... um... still. You can give him some advice."

Luo Jing laughed and said, "You should go quickly. He kicked us out; he looks down on us."

"Good."

Li Qingxian walked in and was met with a scene of utter chaos. The walls were broken, revealing rubble, and dust filled the corners. Chains, iron bars, and other items were piled up in some corners, and a stench assaulted his nostrils.

It appears that these were originally separate rooms, which have just been connected together.

Liu Muwa was directing the installation of the distiller. Just like yesterday, smoke was billowing from his seven orifices, a smoky skull was on his head, his skin was bluish-black and stiff, and he always had a dead face.

Upon seeing Li Qingxian, Liu Muwa rushed over and said, "Qingxian, I just had an idea, can you give me your opinion?"

Liu Muwa patted his Luck Silver-Fish Pouch, and a small condenser tube flew out. Unlike the previous ones that went straight, this condenser tube had a spiraling, snake-like shape inside.

Li Qingxian was stunned. He seemed to have vaguely seen this thing before, but that was all. His knowledge of alcohol distillation was completely at the junior high school level, and he had no understanding of the methods of large-scale alcohol distillation.

Li Qingxian thought for a moment and said, "This serpentine condenser looks good, but I'm not sure if it's suitable for alcohol distillation. Besides distillation, other factors need to be considered, such as whether to use ice or water, since excessive cold might cause the condenser to crack. Are there any other alternatives besides glass? I can only offer my opinions on these things; the specific improvements are entirely up to you."

"You're very thoughtful. Those people don't know anything. So let's do it your way and use the old-fashioned method to build several distillers together, and then choose the best one in the end," Liu Muwa said.

Li Qingxian pointed to the trash in the corner and said, "Liu, please don't take offense at my perspective as someone running a distillery. What we're doing isn't an ordinary distillery, nor is it a small-scale operation; we're building the best distillery in the Great Qi. Every person here, every piece of trash, every speck of dust can affect the final quality. You're a veteran craftsman, so you must know that there are many tiny insects invisible to the naked eye floating in the dust in this air. The fewer of these things, the better."

Liu Muwa frowned, his brows furrowing in a way that no one could see, and said, "What you say makes sense, but I want to make the still as soon as possible."