His Imperial Sister Earned the Credit, Xiao Jinghan Met His End, and the Prince Won Again Without Lifting a Finger

"We'll talk about digging the ditch later. Take your medicine first."

Gu Moran didn't move.

Because the second system panel in my mind has unfolded.

This time it's deep red.

[Congratulations, host.]

[ Xiao Jinghan's destiny line has been completely severed.]

[Reason: Princess Gu Moli secretly pushed for a court audience with the emperor, who then changed the sentence to death by a thousand cuts.]

[Convicted: Remnant of the previous dynasty, arsonist, prison break, and plot to murder a prince.]

[ The Son of Destiny has fallen; the absorption of destiny is complete.]

[Rewards are being distributed.]

[Modern Blue Star Business Knowledge Package ( Yi Prefecture Adapted Version)]

[ The Heavenly Dao has suffered continuous damage and is currently down. Intervention is impossible.]

Information kept bombarding my brain.

It's not words, it's images.

The first scene: A shop with a wooden counter and handwritten price tags on the wall. Behind the counter, a female shop assistant is pouring a milky white liquid into a ceramic bowl—milk tea with honey and tea powder, steaming upwards.

The second item: Shu brocade is cut into fixed patterns and hung on bamboo racks. It is sold in three sizes: small, medium, and large, without the need for tailoring.

The third picture: a wooden sign with the word "Yi" engraved on the front and a number on the back, membership system.

The fourth image: The book cover features the shop's name, and the title page depicts the shop's signature drink. It's a collaborative work.

Each image carries a complete recipe, process, store layout, and pricing logic, as if someone had smashed up an entire shop's operating manual and stuffed it into his head.

In addition to the knowledge about the terrain construction of Chuan-Shu mentioned earlier.

Two waves of rewards came in one after the other; my brain is about to explode.

The charcoal pencil in Gu Moran's hand fell onto the table, rolled half a circle, and stopped.

He stood rooted to the spot, his eyes fixed on the doorframe of the warehouse ahead, but his pupils remained unfocused.

Su Yao was the first to notice something was wrong.

She put down her pen, her hand already touching the corner of the ledger, and turned to call out to Shen Ling'er.

Xie Wanqing followed his gaze toward the warehouse, her hand stopping at the open document.

"Your Highness?"

Gu Moran out of her daze.

Everyone in the room was looking at him.

He picked up the charcoal pencil, rubbed his temples, and replied naturally.

"This old prince's mansion is too damp. Medicinal herbs will mold if you put them in, account books will rot, and grain is even worse."

Shen Ling'er's expression softened somewhat.

"So you thought of digging a ditch?"

"It's not just about digging trenches."

Gu Moran walked to the table and spread out a sheet of straw paper.

With a flick of the wrist, the line falls.

The first line cuts diagonally outward from the base of the wall, avoiding the gaps in the stone slabs in the courtyard, and goes straight to the base of the west wall.

•Drainage culvert.

The second step involved raising the warehouse floor by two inches, leaving a gap underneath.

"Raise the wooden frame."

The third addition was a narrow window under the eaves of the north wall.

"A ventilation window. Rain can't get in, but wind can."

The fourth stroke landed on the inner wall.

"Tung oil mortar, used to seal the brick joints where water seeps in."

After a few strokes, Gu Moran tossed the charcoal pencil back into the pencil holder.

"Uncle Fu, find two bricklayers tomorrow to fix it like this."

Uncle Fu leaned over for a look and nodded in agreement.

Su Yao walked over. She scanned the picture, her gaze lingering on the direction of the drainage ditch.

Was the angle at which the trench cuts outward calculated?

I made a rough estimate.

Su Yao didn't press the matter.

She picked up a blank booklet, first wrote down the timber, then the lime, and then added tung oil and iron railings next to it.

The abacus beads made a soft tinkling sound as she moved them.

Shen Ling'er squatted down at the entrance of the warehouse.

She dipped her fingertip into the water stain at the base of the wall, brought it to her nose, and smelled it.

"There is a smell of gunpowder."

She wiped her handkerchief clean and turned to look at Gu Moran.

"If you put medicinal herbs against the wall, they'll change color in three days. You need to pad the shelves and open the windows."

Lin Qingdai had already crouched down at the location of the hidden ditch shown in the picture, and poked twice into the cracks in the floor tiles with the scabbard of her knife.

"If this ditch extends beyond the wall, is there an external connection?"

"No. We'll have to make a hidden exit at the base of the wall."

Lin Qingdai stood up and dusted off the scabbard.

"The hidden exit shouldn't be too big, otherwise someone could crawl through at night. Make it half a foot wide and add an iron gate."

"Prevent night attacks."

Murong Xue rushed back from the direction of the stables, clutching a handful of blackened hay in her hand.

No wonder the stable smelled musty!

She slapped the hay onto the table.

The debris splashed onto half of Su Yao's account book.

Su Yao looked up at her.

Murong Xue immediately withdrew her hand.

"It wasn't intentional."

Su Yao blew away the debris and continued calculating the accounts.

Murong Xue pointed to the ventilation window on the sketch.

"Can this be used in a stable?"

"The stable should have windows at different heights." Gu Moran casually drew a few more lines on another piece of paper. "The top should let in hot air, and the bottom should let in cool air. The hay rack should be three inches off the ground, with space underneath for airflow. Hidden drains should also be dug at the base of the walls for rainwater drainage."

Murong Xue stared at the picture for a long time, then crumpled the moldy hay into a ball.

"This dilapidated place should have been repaired a long time ago."

Xie Wanqing looked up from the corner.

"I found some moldy grain in the old granary in Yi Prefecture."

She turned to a page in the local gazetteer and pointed to a line of small print.

"Last year, the state granary reported a loss of 1,300 shi (a unit of dry measure)."

She paused for a moment.

"This is the official figure."

Gu Moran looked over.

Xie Wanqing tapped the line of words with her fingertip.

"If this moisture-proofing method were applied to the state granary..."

She didn't finish speaking.

But everyone inside the room understood.

Liu Ruyan sat by the window, remaining silent.

Then she spoke softly.

"Your Highness, should we inquire about the prices of bamboo, wood, lime, and tung oil in the city?"

Gu Moran at her.

What do you want to find out?

Liu Ruyan lowered her eyes.

"If it's not just the Prince's mansion that needs modification, the quantity required will be considerable. Knowing the price in advance will prevent being overcharged."

There was a brief silence.

Gu Moran sat back down in his chair, looking at the still-wet sketch in front of him.

He only drew a few pictures.

What the six wives saw was the entirety of Yi Prefecture.

Shen Ling'er walked over and placed the medicine bowl in front of him with a thud.

"Have you seen enough? Finish your drink."

Ling'er.

"Hmm."

"Don't you think I'm pretty amazing?"

Shen Ling'er looked at him.

"You'll be even more amazing after drinking this."

Gu Moran resigned herself to her fate and carried the bowl.

As the bitter taste rose to my throat, those images resurfaced in my mind.

The layout of the milk tea shop. The bamboo shelves of the clothing store. The membership card numbers. The cover of the storybook collaboration.

It's all in my head.

But you can't just say it out of thin air; you have to find a reason.

Just then, the system panel lit up.

[Note: The business knowledge package has been materialized into six physical books, stored at the bottom of an old wooden crate in the third row of the west warehouse, covered with oiled paper, with no text on the spine.]

Gu Moran almost choked on the candied fruit in her mouth.

He was still making up excuses when the system had already filled in the information.

" Uncle Fu."

"This old servant is here."

"Have someone clean out that warehouse on the west side first. Throw away what needs to be thrown away, and burn what needs to be burned."

Uncle Fu agreed and was about to turn around when Gu Moran added another sentence.

"Don't rush to burn it. Search it first; you never know, there might be something good left behind by that prince."

"Especially books, storybooks and the like, keep them all."

Uncle Fu paused in his steps.

Gu Moran smiled. "A thirty-year-old house, it wouldn't be surprising if it had a few rare books left behind, would it?"

Uncle Fu's mouth moved, but he didn't ask why, and turned to leave.

Shen Ling'er tilted her head to look at him.

What mischief are you plotting now?

"No, I just feel like there might be some treasure hidden inside this dilapidated house."