148, Cover

148, Cover

The fans they mainly design are divided into three types: one is a hand-cranked fan, another is a foot-operated fan, and the last one is a waterwheel-powered fan.

These three fans are also divided into three sizes: large, medium and small.

Led by his master and the steward, Lu Mingfei accompanied Zhao Lang to inspect their semi-finished fan. Throughout the process, he played the role of Zhao Lang's servant, having no intention of revealing his true identity. He knew in his heart that if his relationship with Zhao Lang were exposed, it would be of no benefit to him and his family.

Knowing this, Zhao Lang had always been protecting him. Neither of them had considered exposing their relationship to the public.

However, their visit today to see the fan was just a cover; they were mainly looking at something else.

After looking at the fan, Zhao Lang asked the steward to take a look.

The steward understood what was going on and asked the master who had come over to go down first. He then led the master out of the yard and walked towards a smaller yard further inside.

When we got to the door leading to the inner courtyard, there was someone guarding it.

The steward made a gesture to the gatekeeper, and the guard stepped aside.

"Master, please come in." The steward turned around and respectfully invited the master behind him to come in.

Zhao Lang stepped over the threshold and went inside.

Lu Mingfei followed behind Zhao Lang, stepped over the threshold, and walked in. The guards behind him also followed them in.

When he got here, he found that there were far fewer craftsmen working here than outside.

But this is normal. If too many people are arranged here, the noise will be too loud, and it will be easy to expose this place and what they are doing here.

There are many rooms here, and each craftsman is only responsible for the parts he makes, and there is no overlap with the work of the masters in other rooms.

They came in and didn't stay here for long before leaving.

When they came out, the guards following them were holding two small boxes.

When they arrived at the large yard outside, the guards put the two small boxes on their carriage.

Before getting on the carriage, Zhao Lang said to the steward who sent them out, "Watch this place."

"Yes, I will definitely fulfill my mission." The steward bowed and replied.

Retracting his gaze, Zhao Lang stepped on the pedals and sat on the carriage, bending down to sit inside. He lifted the curtain with one hand and glanced at Lu Mingfei outside.

Lu Mingfei understood and quickly got on the carriage and sat inside.

"Master, please sit down." After the guard outside reminded him, he pulled the reins and whipped the horse's butt, turned the horse's head and walked out.

The guards on horseback followed behind their master's carriage.

It was not until their carriage left the house that Lu Mingfei looked at the two small boxes placed next to them and asked, "Should these two boxes be hidden?" Otherwise, he was afraid that the soldiers guarding the city would see them when they entered the city.

"Put it here." Zhao Lang reached out and pulled a corner of the carriage, and a secret compartment appeared inside.

Lu Mingfei took a look at the size of the space and found that the two small wooden boxes could not fit in at all. He poured the contents of the boxes onto a piece of cloth, and then stuffed the things into the space.

Then he stuffed the two small boxes under the low table and covered them with a cloth.

After putting the things away, he looked at Zhao Lang and said, "Take the things to the small courtyard next to our house. I'll go over and help you assemble them in the evening."

"Okay." Zhao Lang simply took out the drawings of the parts and asked someone to arrange for the craftsmen to produce them. He didn't show the entire drawings to anyone else. Unless someone knew how to assemble these parts, the average person wouldn't know what he was asking the craftsmen to do with these odd-shaped gadgets.

However, there may be exceptions to everything. If these things fall into the hands of those people in the Ministry of Industry, it will not be difficult for someone to find out what they are used for.

So the best way is to not let people know that he asked the craftsmen to do these things.

Thinking back to the time when Lu Mingfei mentioned filling clothes with duck or goose down to keep out the cold, Zhao Lang hesitated for a moment before bringing it up again. "If I offer you ten thousand taels of silver for this recipe, would you be willing to sell it to me?"

"If you want it, I'll give it to you without asking for ten thousand taels of silver." Lu Mingfei was a little surprised, because this was the first time Zhao Lang asked him for something after knowing him for so many years, and in such an embarrassed and pleading tone.

Meeting Lu Mingfei's gaze, Zhao Lang told Lu Mingfei that many soldiers and civilians froze to death in Beijun every year. "If there were better things to keep out the cold, fewer people would die in Beijun every year." He still remembered the scene when he followed his father to the military camp when he was a child and saw the frozen soldiers being carried out.

"Not to mention your Beijun, even here in Kyoto, every winter there are civilians who freeze to death while sleeping at home." Lu Mingfei knew that Beijun was definitely a colder place than Kyoto. "If this method can help more soldiers survive the winter safely, it would be a good thing. I'll write down the recipe for you when I get back."

Seeing Lu Mingfei's generous expression, Zhao Lang told him the disadvantages: "If you give me the recipe, it will inevitably leak out from the army. When more merchants know about this method of keeping warm, they will use it to make money and take away the business that originally belonged to you. Don't you mind?"

"Daya is such a big country, and there are still so many people who don't have warm clothes in winter. If more businessmen see the business opportunities here and join in to make more winter clothes and lower the prices, it will be a good thing for the people. As for whether we make money or not, it's just a small matter." Lu Mingfei didn't think that they would not make money if more businessmen joined in to share this piece of cake.

The cake is so big, what they need to do is to make the cake bigger, rather than covering up the method and preventing others from coming in.

"Even if I don't give you the recipe, when our duck down jackets come out this year, there will definitely be businessmen who will discover that duck down can be used to keep out the cold." Therefore, Lu Mingfei didn't think that if he didn't give the recipe to Zhao Lang, they would be able to keep it secret from anyone.

It would be better to give it to Zhao Lang now, which can save the lives of many soldiers and civilians.

Thinking of something, Lu Mingfei asked Zhao Lang, "However, I'm afraid there aren't many people raising ducks in your Beijun area. There should be more people raising sheep, right?"

"Well, the Hu people outside the pass like to raise cattle and sheep." Zhao Lang was not quite sure whether the people in Beijun raised ducks, but he knew that the Hu people outside the pass raised a lot of cattle, sheep and horses.

"Oh, in that case, you might as well buy wool to make clothes. Wool can also be spun into yarn and then woven into clothes. A simpler way is to use wool to fill clothes and bedding, which can also keep you warm. Look, the sheep on the grassland can survive the winter, can't they?" Lu Mingfei reminded.

Hearing Lu Mingfei's words, Zhao Lang looked thoughtful. Finally, he nodded and said, "After I return, I will write a letter to my father."

***

Just like when they left, their carriage entered the city smoothly.

Nothing special happened in the city, so the inspection at the city gate is generally not too strict.

After returning to the city, Lu Mingfei found a place and got off the carriage first. After letting him get off the carriage, Zhao Lang's carriage continued to move forward, and they went their separate ways.

He walked into the alley alone. After realizing that no one was following him and that there were no people around, Lu Mingfei took off the disguise on his face and stuffed the thin human skin mask into his arms. He then took off his hair and changed his hairstyle.

After tidying up his clothes, he turned several corners in the alley and exited from another alley.

However, he did not go home directly. Instead, he went to a bookstore that he rarely went to and bought a stack of cheap rice paper. He also strolled around the street and bought some snacks to take home.

When he returned home, Zhang Qi and the three boys were already there.

However, at this time in the afternoon, the three boys were all taking a nap in the house. Only Zhang Qi was awake and came over to open the door for him.

"Take it and eat it." Lu Mingfei handed the snack in his hand to Zhang Qi as soon as he entered the room and asked, "How was your martial arts training at the escort agency today?"

"It's okay, just like usual." Zhang Qi opened it and saw that there was a bag of dried fruits wrapped in oil paper. Seeing that his eldest brother who came back was holding so many things in his hands, he thought that their eldest brother went to the bookstore to buy things and bought some snacks for them on the street.

However, Zhang Qi was reluctant to eat the dried fruits given to him. Instead, he placed them on the table in the study and said to his elder brother who had returned, "I'll leave them here. You can eat them when you're hungry while you're studying."

Lu Mingfei put the rice paper and other things in his hand on the table and said to Zhang Qi, "Take it and eat it. I have a lot more here." He opened the box of snacks that Zhao Lang brought that day and grabbed a handful for Zhang Qi to eat.

"I'll just take two." Zhang Qi, whose hands were stuffed with snacks, saw that there were still many in the food box, but he still put half of it back.

Seeing a box of snacks on their eldest brother's desk, Zhang Qi thought it was sent by one of the young masters of the Zhang family or the Ye family, so he didn't ask any questions.

Seeing his elder brother coming back from outside, Zhang Qi hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Brother, I'm going to help out at the pancake shop. You stay home and wait for Mingrui and Xiaobao to wake up. Can you keep an eye on them?"

"Sure, go ahead. I don't have anything to do." Lu Mingfei knew his mother was still busy, so he didn't have to focus on studying like before. It would be a good opportunity to relax and see the children, so he asked Zhang Qi to go over there to help.

"Tell my mother that I will take Xiaobao and the others to the pancake shop later and have dinner there tonight." This will prevent Lu Mingcong from refusing to go home every day. He knew that his adoptive father and mother still wanted their son to stay at home.

"Okay." Hearing this, Zhang Qi responded and handed his three younger brothers to his eldest brother who had returned home. He then went out alone.