As soon as Zhuang Li entered the palace, Feng Ming, who was meeting with court officials in the Yangxin Palace, received the news.

He immediately sent away the outsiders, then went outside the temple and stood on the high steps looking at the necessary road.

After a while, the figure he was eagerly awaiting still did not appear, so he slowly walked down the steps and went to a position further ahead to greet him.

In this way, he stood by the roadside and waited for a while, walked forward a little, waited for a while, walked a little further, and actually blocked the strolling Zhuang Li halfway.

The two of them smiled just by looking at each other, then one of them opened his arms and the other flew over, hugging each other happily.

"Why are you walking so slowly?" Feng Ming gently patted Zhuang Li's thin back.

"Look there." Zhuang Li pointed to the persimmon tree nearby. All the persimmons on the tree had been picked by the eunuchs and palace maids, except for one on the very top, which looked bright red, like a small lantern.

"I think it must be very sweet." Zhuang Li said confidently.

"I'll help you pick it." Feng Ming rolled up his sleeves.

"You carry me and I'll pick them." Zhuang Li was eager to try.

The eunuchs and palace maids standing around the two men were completely numb to this kind of treasonous behavior. For the emperor, every word of Master Zhuang was more effective than an imperial edict.

Feng Ming didn't hesitate. He squatted down, pointed at his shoulder, and ordered, "Come up."

Zhuang Li immediately sat on his neck, and then was lifted high up and picked the sweetest and only persimmon on the top of the tree.

"Smell it." Zhuang Li bent down and put the persimmon to Feng Ming's nose, chuckling softly, "This is the last persimmon of autumn. We'll eat it together later."

Feng Ming sniffed it carefully, and his lungs were indeed filled with a rich sweetness. Now he felt like he was soaking in a jar of honey every day. This was probably God's compensation for him.

A quarter of an hour later, the two sat at the imperial table, staring at a cleanly washed orange-red persimmon, neither of them ate anything.

"You eat first." Feng Ming pushed the small plate in front of Zhuang Li.

"You eat first." Zhuang Li pushed it back again.

"You eat it, and leave the remaining bite for me." Feng Ming shook his head.

The two of them were completely unaware of how childish their behavior was. They were so wealthy, yet they valued an ordinary fruit so highly.

"Even if there's only one bite to eat, I'll give you half." Zhuang Li picked up the fruit and smiled cunningly.

Before Feng Ming had time to think about the meaning of this sentence, he saw him gently crack the thin skin of the persimmon with his teeth, lick the overflowing sweet juice with the tip of his tongue, and finally put his red lips on it and sucked gently.

Just this three simple actions of biting, licking and sucking caused Feng Ming's lower abdomen to tighten and swell.

All kinds of thrilling images began to appear in his mind again, and these images were sweeter than the persimmon in front of him.

But he soon realized that he was wrong.

As long as Zhuang Li is willing, he can make everything in the world sweet.

He held a mouthful of the sweet juice and gently kissed Feng Ming's lips, then pried open the gap between his teeth and slowly passed the honey over. The juice was slippery and greasy, and his tongue, soaked in it, was even slipperier and greasy.

Feng Ming finally understood what it meant to "only have one bite to eat, and I'll share half with you." He immediately sucked the juice and entangled Zhuang Li's tongue.

The two of them kissed passionately, their eyelids slightly closed, blocking their sight, and focusing only on feeling each other's presence.

They kissed for a long time before separating reluctantly.

Feng Ming naturally wiped away the silver hair at the corner of Zhuang Li's lips with his fingertips.

"Is it sweet?" Zhuang Li hugged his neck and chuckled.

"Sweet." Feng Ming also laughed softly.

After meeting Zhuang Li, he smiled more in the past few months than he had in the past few decades.

"Then get to work." Zhuang Li moved the pile of memorials in front of him. He knew from the sheer number that Feng Ming wouldn't be in the mood to work without him.

"Okay." Feng Ming obediently opened the memorial, but his eyes glanced over again and again.

Zhuang Li pretended not to notice, quickly read the memorials, and then arranged them neatly into categories.

Feng Ming was still glancing at him, having no intention of handling any government affairs.

After a full quarter of an hour, Zhuang Li spoke lazily, "Have you seen enough?"

Feng Ming simply put down the memorial and reminded, "Did you forget something?"

His dark eyes were filled with longing and caution, as innocent as a child.

Faced with him like this, Zhuang Li's playful thoughts vanished completely. He pulled a piece of paper from his pouch and gently scratched Feng Ming's nose with it, his voice filled with a sweet smile: "Here, take it."

Pulling today's spiritual food into his palm, Feng Ming immediately regained his vigor. Smiling broadly, he took out the code stick and slowly wound the paper around it. Written on it were these words: [This winter, I want to take you home for the New Year.]

It was a very ordinary sentence, without any sweet words, but it made Feng Ming's heart flutter.

In the next few months, he will be immersed in the joy of welcoming the New Year with his loved ones.

In the past, he had endured the passing of time; living an extra year, a month, or a day was torture. But now, like a child, he eagerly awaited the day when the old year would be over and the new year would begin.

"So happy?" Zhuang Li stroked the corner of Feng Ming's lips and said softly, "I'll put a big red envelope under your pillow. You can only look at it when you wake up the next morning."

Feng Ming smiled like a big boy: "Okay, I'll give you one too."

"You also have to prepare a red envelope for my sister. After all, you are her sister-in-law." Zhuang Li reminded.

"What sister-in-law?" Feng Ming frowned in mock anger, then cheerfully corrected, "She should call me Big Brother."

He ordered the eunuch to bring him the list of his private vaults and looked through them with great interest, telling Zhuang Li that his sister would definitely like this jeweled headpiece. As they chatted, they forgot about the pile of memorials.

---

The next day at noon, Zhuang Li returned home exhausted but satisfied, only to find his sister, covered in dust and looking as if she had lost her parents.

Her hands were covered in black ash, and the corner of her robe was torn, making her look as if she had suffered a great disaster.

"What's going on?" Zhuang Li's lazy expression immediately turned cold and serious.

"My factory was burned down!" Zhuang Xiaohui fell into the chair, her eyes filled with tears, but she stubbornly refused to cry.

Wanjun brought a basin of hot water and silently helped her wipe her dirty cheeks and hands.

"Is anyone injured?" Zhuang Li asked in a deep voice.

"Six people were injured, but none of them were seriously injured. They are now receiving medicine from Old Man Qin. There was also a little girl who was burned to ashes and cannot be found!" Zhuang Xiaohui said while suppressing her grief.

"Burned to ashes? Even the body can't be found?" Zhuang Li raised his eyebrows.

Zhuang Xiaohui nodded, tears streaming down her face. "Yes, just like the machines, it was all burned. Everyone else and I searched the ashes for ages but couldn't find it. I remember her, a very pretty and clever little girl, quick to learn and incredibly sweet. Whenever she saw me, she'd call me sister. I'm the one who ruined her."

Faced with such a huge loss, Zhuang Xiaohui is still most concerned about human lives.

Machines can be recreated if they are lost, but people are truly gone once they are gone.

Zhuang Li looked at her steadily and spoke slowly, "A human body in a closed environment needs to be burned continuously at 2000 degrees Celsius for an hour before it is reduced to ash. Do you understand what I mean?"

"I don't quite understand." Zhuang Xiaohui's mind was a little confused.

Wan Jun whispered in her ear, "What I mean is, the fire last night couldn't have burned a living person to ashes. If she died, we would definitely find her body."

Zhuang Xiaohui's eyes gradually brightened: "She's not dead?"

"She definitely wasn't at the fire scene." Zhuang Li tapped the table and asked, "Was the fire an accident or man-made?"

Wan Jun immediately bent down and reported: "The fire started from the warehouse. Our people smelled the smell of tung oil near the warehouse. It seems that someone set the fire intentionally."

"Everyone else is here, but one person is missing. Considering the inexplicable fire, what do you think?" Zhuang Li looked at his sister.

Zhuang Xiaohui's tears had dried, and a fierce light shone in her eyes. Her expression changed very quickly.

"Okay, among so many people, I value her the most, and I even promised to hand over the entire factory to her. But she betrayed me! Brother, was she bribed by someone? Did she run away with the manufacturing drawings of the machine? What should I do now?" Zhuang Xiaohui subconsciously sought her brother's help.

Zhuang Li said calmly, "What do you think?"

Zhuang Xiaohui was stunned for a moment, then said, "I need to think about it carefully."

Zhuang Li pointed out, "A secret known to everyone is no longer a secret. And something everyone possesses is worthless, don't you think?"

"Yes!" Zhuang Xiaohui seemed to understand something, and the fierce look in her eyes turned into a gleam of brilliance.

"Especially at this time, you have to be patient. If the person who stole your things wants to make money, he will definitely make a big move after a while. Just wait for him to fall into the trap himself."

Zhuang Li stretched and waved his hand. "I'm going to sleep. You should wash up and go to bed too. It's just a small workshop. If it burns down, it burns down. Next spring, when the frost and snow thaw, I'll help you build a large water-powered factory. The manufacturing process of a water-powered machine is very complicated. Without my personal guidance, even the most skilled craftsman would be unable to make an identical one even if he stole it and disassembled it for research."

"Okay. Brother, go to sleep soon. Look how your sister-in-law has been tossing you around." Zhuang Xiaohui was completely relieved, and did not forget to make a joke.

After witnessing her sister-in-law's wildness and unrestrainedness, she gradually stopped thinking it was a bad thing for a woman to be more proactive and enthusiastic. Didn't her brother seem to be enjoying it too?

---

Zhuang Xiaohui really lay dormant, leaving the burned factory there. She neither sent anyone to clean it up nor hired anyone to rebuild it, nor was she in a hurry to build new machines.

Every day she would ride in a carriage out of town, travel to the surrounding towns, chat with local women, and return home only after sunset.

Feng Yu sent someone to inquire about Zhuang Xiaohui's recent situation. Learning that she had been doing nothing all day, she sneered, "Women are so timid and cowardly. They completely retreat after being frightened once. Those people from the Chamber of Commerce are also useless. Why would they play tricks on a woman? Women are all bitches. Give her a good whipping until her skin is torn and flesh is exposed. Then she'll know how powerful you are."

His staff echoed this sentiment, using very disparaging words towards women.

After obtaining the blueprints of the spinning machine and the flying shuttle loom, Feng Yu bought a vast piece of land, built many greenhouses, hired hundreds of workers, and made hundreds of machines. He traveled thousands of miles to the northwest and bought a large amount of cotton at a high price, and then started the business with great vigor.

After all this trouble, his silver was completely depleted. But he was not at all worried. The market in the capital was saturated, and he could ship the cloth to various parts of Dayan, or even sell it to the surrounding barbarians. Then, he would earn silver continuously.