"Your Highness looks frail, but he has quite the appetite. He's keeping the whole courtyard so busy that the ladies can barely stand up straight. Aren't you afraid that one day you'll fall apart first?"
Lin Qingdai recalled the commotion in the warm pavilion last night, and her ears instantly turned red. Her sword made a short, crisp sound in its sheath, but she bit her lip and didn't respond.
Murong Xue used her wrist to slam the spear into the stone bricks, causing several broken tiles to fall from under the eaves.
"Where did this wild girl come from, sneaking into the inner quarters to do such filthy things? Her tongue is even more annoying than the storyteller at the city gate. Does she really think my spear can't pierce flesh and blood?"
"It's just a proper sparring session, and we can warm ourselves by the fire while we're at it. What's the rush, sister?"
Zhen Meili patted her knees and slowly stood up from the soft couch, without even glancing at the sharp spear tip.
Su Yao smiled.
Stepping over the threshold, the beads on his abacus clicked and clattered as he handed a piece of hemp paper, still damp with ink, directly to Zhen Meili's door.
"Trespassing on a prince's residence is punishable by death, but considering Commander Zhen's meritorious service in guarding the pass, the prince's residence will compensate you at market value."
"Forty-two glazed tiles in the back corridor were broken, costing eighty-four taels of silver;"
The artificial rockery was cracked by the earthquake, and the cost of the materials and labor was 120 taels of silver.
"Disturbing the women's rest in the inner quarters, three hundred taels of medicine will be prepared for them."
"Round the bill, Miss Zhen, you'll pay five hundred taels of silver upfront. If you can't come up with a silver note, you can go to the stables and clean the horse mangers for three months."
Meng Jiuning bit off the twisted dough stick in her mouth and chimed in coldly from the side.
" Shopkeeper Su is being too lenient. Just now, she reached straight for the military tally, clearly aiming for military secrets. According to the Southwest Military Law, she should be heavily shackled and imprisoned in the water dungeon."
Zhen Meili stared at the abacus beads that were almost touching her nose. Her original arrogant attitude was completely shut down by this five hundred taels of messy debt, and she stared blankly, unable to say a word.
Gu Moran straightened his disheveled fox fur coat, grabbed the crumpled parchment from the table, and casually tossed it into Zhen Meili's arms.
"I can suppress the matter of infiltrating the Prince's residence, but you cannot escape punishment."
Gu Moran remained calm, his gaze sweeping over her sleeves, which were blackened by the smoke.
"Before dawn, based on the windy terrain of the Bronze Gorge Pass, revise the blueprints for three sets of dual-track repeating heavy crossbows for me."
"If you fail to properly work out even one mortise and tenon joint, I will send your five hundred taels IOU to your father at the front lines first thing tomorrow morning for reimbursement."
Zhen Meili clutched the parchment scroll in her arms, glared fiercely at Su Yao, and spat out a curse.
"You guys are ruthless. None of the people in this room are good people; you all ganged up on me."
She clutched the blueprints tightly, angrily flung open the curtain, and stormed out, muttering curses under her breath.
Pale blue characters appeared rapidly before Gu Moran's eyes.
[ Zhen Meili, the master strategist of the Mohist School, has increased her destiny deviation to 45%.]
[System Notification: Latest battle report from the Northern Territory: The Son of Destiny, Lin Yichen, led the Formation-Breaking Camp in a night raid and has completely captured the Uyghurs royal court, slaying the Uyghurs Right Wise King and seizing 30,000 warhorses.]
Gu Moran taken aback.
So fast?
Awesome, Lao Lin!
He truly is a god of war!
If this keeps up, won't I become the governor of Asia?
The next day.
In the west wing workshop of the side courtyard, the pungent smell of tung oil mixed with the odor of wrought iron shavings filled the air.
Zhen Meili had a dirty blue cloth towel tied around her head, a thin bamboo tube that had been chewed rough was clenched in her mouth, and a steel compass in her hand was rapidly drawing arcs on thick yellow hemp paper.
The thick ink from the inkstone splattered all over the table, and seven or eight disassembled copper gears lay scattered nearby.
"Click, click."
On a mahogany embroidered stool in the corner of the workshop, Yun Shuyue sat cross-legged, holding an oil paper package embroidered with peonies in her hands. She was intently stuffing a Luoyang white sugar pastry the size of a walnut into her mouth, her little mouth bulging, her cheeks like a squirrel hiding food.
After finishing the last ink line depicting the meshing of the gears, Zhen Meili sniffed, her nose stinging with tears.
His gaze followed the fragrance and suddenly shifted to Yun Shuyue, whose face, covered in black ash, immediately contorted in anger.
"Hey you little braids, isn't that the Osmanthus Eight Treasures Crisp Candy I brought from my old house in Luoyang that you're chewing on?"
Zhen Meili slammed the wolf-hair brush in her hand heavily onto the brush holder, pointed at the oil paper package, and shouted angrily.
"These are the most treasured snacks I keep at the very bottom of my satchel, so precious that even I can't bear to take more than a bite myself. The Prince sent you here to supervise the work..."
And you, you conveniently stole my manhood!
Startled by her shout, Yun Shuyue's hand trembled, almost dropping the last half of the candy on her skirt. She quickly stuffed the candy into her mouth and mumbled an indistinct argument while tilting her head back.
"Who told you to draw something that looks like scribbles? I stayed up all night watching you for the prince, so what's wrong with getting a little treat!"
"You dare talk back? Spit out the candy, or I'll draw two mustaches on you with ink today!"
Enraged, Zhen Meili grabbed the paperweight stained with black ink and made as if to pounce on someone.
Yun Shuyue was as nimble as an eel, darting around the room while slapping her bottom in a provocative manner.
"Hehehe, I can't catch it, I can't catch it, the candy has all melted in my belly, if you're so capable, cut open my belly and try to get it out!"
The two of them chased each other around the workshop's several wood lathes for almost half an hour, creating a chaotic scene.
Until the first rays of dawn pierced through the windowpanes and fell upon the blue brick floor,
Zhen Meili collapsed into a chair, panting heavily, while Yun Shuyue took the opportunity to lick the last bit of sugar crumbs clean from her palm.
"Alright, stop making a fuss. I've finished the blueprints, and the prototype I modified overnight is all set up. Tell your prince to go to the training ground for inspection!"
Zhen Meili wiped the sweat from her face, and with one hand hoisted a mechanical crossbow, more than half her height and gleaming with a dark luster, from the long table onto her shoulder.
The crossbow was densely covered with double-layered rails, and the heavy winch was made of four pieces of cooked ox tendon twisted together. Just one look at it made one feel its weight and domineering presence.
Half an hour later, at the martial arts training ground in the back garden of the Prince's Mansion.
Murong Xue, clad in silver chainmail, stood by the arrow slit with her hand on her sword. Lin Qingdai beside her had also changed into a neat blue outfit, while Su Yao sat with Gu Moran, who was wearing a thick fox fur coat, on a grand chair, still holding her ever-present account book.
"Your Highness, please take a look."
With a clang Zhen Meili set up the double-track heavy crossbow on the stone firing platform. Stepping on the iron ring at the bottom, she skillfully turned the crank on the side with both hands. With a series of ear-piercing and dense metallic clanging sounds, fourteen iron-feathered short arrows were arranged in two rows and pressed into the specially made brass box slots.
"The crossbows made by the Great Yan Ministry of Works require three strong men to crank the winch for half an incense stick's time to load once. My crossbow, however, incorporates the Mohist School eccentric double wheels, allowing one person to cock it with a foot pedal. Within thirty paces, it can pierce through two layers of heavy armor!"
[Thanks to: Naizi, Yanyan, Taigong, those who liked it, Yang, Chaoyang's Milk Tea, haha's update reminder, Meixun's 99 flowers, and everyone else for their love and support! ⌯oᴗo⌯!]