50. Hush Money

In the early morning mist, roosters crowed and a carriage slowly stopped in front of the clinic.

Bai Li lifted the curtain, jumped out of the car, and stretched.

She looked around but didn't see the thin figure sweeping the floor.

It's strange. At this time yesterday, the other party was sweeping the floor at the door. Why is he gone today?

Are you sleeping?

At this time, Liang Maoer also slowly jumped off the carriage carrying Liang Gouer on his back and walked into the clinic.

Liang Gou'er was tall, but he felt like nothing on Liang Mao'er. In the past, he could carry Liang Mao'er for more than ten miles as if nothing had happened.

Liang Maoer smiled innocently and said goodbye to the prince and Princess Baili: "Prince and Princess, thank you for your hospitality. I will take my brother back to bed first."

The prince smiled and waved his hand: "Go ahead."

When Liang Mao'er returned to the apprentice dormitory, Bai Li tiptoed into the dormitory and glanced inside, but still didn't see Chen Ji. "Strange, where did that black-hearted person go?"

Chen Ji was not in the clinic. He was walking on the bluestone road leading to the East Market.

He walked below, and the dark clouds danced lightly on the eaves beside him.

A man and a cat walk side by side. The black cat on the roof is like an elf silently guarding Chen Ji.

The East Market has become bustling with goods coming and going from the south and the north. Muscular workers carrying sacks are coming and going in an endless stream.

Chen Ji found a breakfast shop and sat down at a small wooden table outside the shop. Wu Yun lightly jumped into his arms, hiding in his clothes, with only his head poking out from his collar.

"Chen Ji, Baozi!"

Chen Ji smiled and waved to the waiter: "Hey, two baskets of braised pork buns and a bowl of hot soy milk!"

"Okay! Sir, please sit down for a moment. The buns will be here soon!"

When the buns were served, Chen Ji held the bun in his right hand and took a big bite, while he held a bun in his left hand and held it to his chest, letting Wu Yun eat it bite by bite.

He ate slowly and waited silently.

Just as he finished his second bun, a middle-aged customer came to the grocery store next door and asked, "Boss, how much are you selling saltpeter?"

The boss sat in the shop with his legs crossed. "Three hundred coins a bucket. We can have it delivered to your designated location within three miles... Sir, what are you buying saltpeter for?"

The customer smiled and replied, "My family makes saltpeter, and we need saltpeter every day. I used to go to Lao Li's every day to buy it, but for some reason, he was closed this morning. Boss, three hundred wen a bucket is a bit expensive, can you give me a discount?"

However, the boss said while cracking melon seeds: "It's up to you to buy it or not."

The customer's face darkened, and he walked away, waving his sleeves. "How do you do business? Do you know how to talk? There are many saltpeter sellers in the East Market, and I don't have to buy from you!"

The boss sat with his legs crossed, eating sunflower seeds, not caring at all: "Then go buy it somewhere else."

Chen Ji watched the customer leave. Immediately afterwards, a young man dressed as a boatman in the breakfast shop put down his chopsticks without even eating, and stood up to follow the customer.

The two parties were more than ten steps apart, and the young tracker who was following them was in the crowd, staring at the customer intently.

When passing by Chen Ji, he saw thick calluses on the base of the young man's right hand, which were the marks left by years of holding weapons.

Chen Ji understood clearly in his heart: the Golden Pig has already made a move.

This Golden Pig is smarter and more low-key than expected. He predicted that what Jing Chao wanted most was firearms, so after arriving in Luo City, he quietly made plans, took over shops, planted spies to pretend to be merchants, and tracked down everyone who wanted to buy saltpeter!

The Golden Pig hid in the darkness of Luo City, like a spider, and took advantage of the opportunity when the Jing Dynasty Military Intelligence Department relaxed its vigilance to weave a big web.

The arms handed over by Concubine Yun must have been stolen from the inventory of the Craftsmen's Supervisor by someone with internal and external collusion.

If the Golden Pig is smart enough, it would probably have already started counting the inventory and recovering the lost stolen goods... I wonder if Concubine Yun and the Liu family can withstand the Golden Pig's pursuit?

The Jing Dynasty Military Intelligence Department and the Liu family finally met their real opponent.

Chen Ji calmly lowered his head to eat his buns. He and Wu Yun finished two baskets of buns before getting up and leaving. Both the man and the cat burped at the same time: "So satisfying!"

Chen Ji was strolling around the East Market. When he passed by a sugar shop, he quickly observed the surrounding environment with his peripheral vision: the owner was selling brown sugar and white sugar seriously. There were servants of dignitaries who bought the brown sugar and white sugar, and no one was following or monitoring them.

After observing for a long time, he walked to the stall and asked, "Boss, how much are brown sugar and white sugar?"

The boss smiled and replied, "Sir, brown sugar is 80 coins per pound, and this white icing sugar is 10 taels of silver."

One pound."

Chen Ji was dumbfounded. This sugar was simply outrageously expensive!

But he soon figured it out: in this era, most people's homes still use brown sugar, and the method of making white sugar is a secret of each family and will never be passed on to others.

Nowadays, only the rich and powerful can eat the "elegant" white frosting, which is a real luxury.

Chen Ji wondered in his heart, should he make some white sugar himself?

Can't do it.

"The Exploitation of the Works of Nature" records a method of decolorizing yellow mud by sprinkling water, which is to pour yellow mud water on brown sugar to make white sugar.

But in fact, in the era when Chen Ji lived, no one had ever successfully replicated the "yellow mud water decolorization method", and this technology has been lost.

Chen Ji took out a piece of silver and said, "Boss, I want to buy an ounce of frosting sugar. It's only an ounce."

He carried the brown paper bag and bought a bamboo tube of Shaodaozi wine. Now, he had all the materials for making gunpowder.

Chen Ji walked among the crowd. Now he no longer looked like a stranger, but more like a young man who was born and raised in Los Angeles and came to the market.

…

…

night.

The prince and Princess Baili were probably tired of playing, so they didn't climb over the wall to go out today.

Chen Ji waited until everyone was asleep before taking out the bamboo tube filled with saltpeter and going to the main hall.

However, the first step in making gunpowder is not simply to mix saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal in proportion, but to purify the materials.

This is also the reason why Chen Ji firmly believes that his gunpowder must be more powerful than the Ning Dynasty's gunpowder: the Ning Dynasty's chemical engineering discipline is not developed enough, and it probably doesn't know how to purify these materials at all, so it can only rely on traditional methods.

Chen Ji took out a slightly larger ceramic bowl and carefully placed it above the oil residue lamp.

Wuyun squatted on the counter, tilted his head, and meowed curiously: "Chen Ji, what are you doing?"

While preparing materials, Chen Ji replied, "Before becoming a true official, make some means of self-protection... Wuyun, you have good hearing. If you hear anyone approaching the main hall, tell me immediately."

He knew that there might be powerful officials in this world who were not afraid of even gunpowder, such as the White Dragon, Pegasus, and Sick Tiger mentioned by the Golden Pig. As long as the opponent was fast enough, they could dodge before your gunpowder exploded.

But I don't need to deal with these people, I have enough gunpowder.

However, just as he was about to pour the saltpeter from the bamboo tube into the ceramic bowl... a crow suddenly flew into the main hall of the clinic!

Chen Ji and Wu Yun froze at the same time. The man and the cat exchanged glances for a long time but could not understand each other.

Wuyun meowed, "Will it tell your master about these things?"

Chen Ji silently closed the bamboo tube again while thinking quickly about countermeasures in his mind. He was now making gunpowder, which was the secret that the Ning Dynasty's Artisans' Supervisor needed to station two thousand elite soldiers.

Even if someone discovered that he was secretly collecting saltpeter, he would probably be in big trouble.

Wu Yun looked at Chen Ji and said, "How about I catch it? Kill it and silence it!"

The next moment, the crow pointed its wings at the dark clouds and laughed loudly, full of sarcasm.

The dark cloud jumped to catch it unwillingly, but the dark cloud was fast and the crow was even faster.

I saw two black things moving up and down in the main hall of the clinic. Chen Ji had already lit sixteen fires, and the dark figures were moving back and forth in the main hall, making it almost impossible to see their figures clearly.

But even at such a fast speed, it couldn't even touch a feather of the crow!

I don’t know how long this crow has been practicing with Old Man Yao, but it has already become a spirit!

Just as Chen Ji was about to call out to Wu Yun, an old voice rang out, "Enough, why are you still awake in the middle of the night and making a fuss here?"

Chen Ji froze. He slowly looked at Old Man Yao: "Master..."

Old man Yao glanced at Chen Ji, and saw him slowly walk to the counter, looking at the oil residue lamp, bamboo tube, and pottery bowl curiously, always feeling that something was strange.

But even though he was knowledgeable and experienced, he still couldn't understand what Chen Ji was doing...

He frowned and asked, "What are you doing here with the ceramic bowl from the kitchen?"

Chen Ji said, "I didn't do anything, Master. I just used this bowl to hold water for drinking."

"Oh, is that so..."

Just when Chen Ji breathed a sigh of relief, he saw Old Man Yao take out six copper coins from his sleeve and throw them on the table.

With a clanging sound, six copper coins fell to the ground.

Chen Ji was shocked. Although Old Man Yao couldn't tell what he was doing, he could tell fortunes!

Old man Yao was muttering to himself as he interpreted the hexagram. Chen Ji felt uneasy, as if he was waiting for a trial, not knowing what the other party could figure out.

After a moment, Old Man Yao shook his head: "Strange, why can't I see it?"

After saying this, he actually went to the window again, pushed it open, held the window frame with his hand, and looked out at the starry sky, muttering to himself: "Great is Qian Yuan, the source of all things, the ruler of the heavens..."

The next moment.

Old Man Yao suddenly turned around and looked at Chen Ji: "What is so strong and domineering!"

Chen Ji: Ah?

No, old man, are you really cheating?!

Chen Ji didn't know what this hexagram meant, but Old Man Yao said "strong and domineering", isn't that the characteristic of gunpowder?

Old Man Yao stared at Chen Ji and said, "I didn't expect you to have such a talent and be able to make something like this. What did you do with this? Are you planning a rebellion?!"

Chen Ji quickly said, "No, no!"

But then Old Man Yao said, "Do you know that if this matter gets out, you will be killed without a burial place? Not only will I not protect you, even the Ning Dynasty will not tolerate you."

Chen Ji was silent. He was not sure what Old Man Yao's position was. If the other party really wanted to report him, he could only escape.

Unfortunately, he had just established himself in this clinic and thought he could settle down here.

Chen Ji raised his head and said, "Master, I didn't think..."

Old Man Yao interrupted, "Hush money, six taels."

Chen Ji: “?”

…

…

The main hall of the clinic was dim. A cool autumn breeze blew in through the window, causing the flame of the oil-slag lamp to sway, and the light and shadow cast on Chen Ji's face flickered.

"So you said so much just for hush money?" Chen Ji said in a serious tone.

"Not really," Old Man Yao said calmly, "I'm not doing this to make money, I'm doing this to save your life."

Chen Ji was heartbroken: "Do you know that six taels of silver can buy a lot of things?"

Old Man Yao stroked his beard and said, "I know. I can buy you to build a ladder for Princess Baili."

Chen Ji: “…”

It turns out that he knows everything. No wonder even the amount is exactly the same as the two tolls!

Old Man Yao sneered and said, "This clinic is mine. The prince and princess are passing through my clinic. Is there anything wrong with paying the toll to me?"

Chen Ji said: "Then I also worked hard, I moved the ladder for them!"

But Old Man Yao returned to the main house and brought out a bamboo lounge chair, placing it on the corridor between the main hall and the backyard. "I'm here to keep watch for you, and I've put in the work. Pay me six taels, and you can do what you need to do. I'll be watching over you, and no one will notice."

The huge bamboo lounge chair was as light as a toy in the hands of the 92-year-old man.

Chen Ji: “…Is this even possible?!”

Old Man Yao didn't care about that. He just held out his hand firmly and said, "Where are the silver flowers?"

Chen Ji took out the six silver peanuts from his sleeve with a heartache and slapped them into Old Man Yao's hand.

Old man Yao happily put the money into his sleeves, hummed a little tune, and lay on the bamboo lounge chair with his eyes closed to rest: "Law-abiding people are worried every day, and the strong and powerful are singing every night..."

Chen Ji looked at the other person in silence for a long time, not knowing what to do with this old man.

Finally, he gritted his teeth and said, "Master, don't say I didn't warn you. If you accept the money, you will be an accomplice from now on!"

Old Man Yao chuckled, "Threatening me? You're still a novice. I want to see what you can do."

Chen Ji stopped talking. He added water to a ceramic bowl and placed it on an oil residue lamp to slowly heat it up until the water temperature reached about 75 degrees.

There was no formal method of measuring temperature in this era. Chen Ji only knew that when the water was boiled to 80 degrees, bubbles would begin to form at the bottom of the bowl. Once bubbling began, he would remove the oil residue lamp and wait for the water temperature to slowly cool down for five minutes, which was the temperature he wanted.

Chen Ji then took some saltpeter and wood ash, placed them in a ceramic bowl in a ratio of 8:1, stirred them slowly with a bamboo stick for a quarter of an hour, and then slowly filtered them with rice paper.

Old man Yao stood up at some point and stood aside, watching attentively.

Chen Ji ignored him and just boiled the saltpeter water again until only one third of the water was left in the bowl.

He moved the oil residue lamp away and waited attentively for the thick liquid in the bowl to cool down slowly.

When the liquid in the ceramic bowl dropped below the human armpit temperature, Chen Ji took a drop of liquid from the bowl with a bamboo stick and gently tapped it on the counter.

But when the drop of liquid met the cold counter, it instantly solidified into transparent crystals, just like water turning into ice!

Old man Yao’s eyes suddenly widened.

Chen Ji let out a long sigh: It’s done!

…

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