Wu Lai was very busy and had no plans to rest even in the New Year. Neptune had kindly reminded Wu Lai privately that according to tradition, the five consecutive days from the New Year were God-given rest days, and no one was allowed to do any labor other than basic living, otherwise it would be blasphemy against God.

Woolley's answer was: "God knows what I'm busy for." Then, he continued as usual.

On the last day of the New Year, Lady Leah brought Tina and her slaves to visit Baishilou. She didn't want to come, or rather, she had been looking forward to Wu Lai's return to Glindo Manor since the first day of the New Year, because according to the customs of the nobility, Wu Lai should do so, but in the end she was disappointed. Last night, Gauguin applied to leave Glindo Manor. After Lady Leah failed to persuade him to stay, she asked Gauguin why he insisted on leaving. Gauguin did not hide it from her, so Lady Leah was angry, but also curious - let's call it curiosity.

Tina was also very curious about Woolley, not because Woolley became a miller - this title might be novel for a while, but for the nobles, the income from a mill was only worth talking about in Seneca.

Tina was curious about why Wu Lai would pay three hundred silver coins to buy wheat straw that could originally be bought for only forty silver coins. She even knew where the wheat straw was now - Wu Lai piled it on the river bank next to the mill, exposed to the sun and rain.

The arrival of Mrs. Leah and Tina interrupted Woolley's work, which made him a little unhappy, but he did not show it.

"I didn't expect that Madam Leah would come to my little house. It's a great honor." Wu Lai said with a smile. Although the main building of Greendo Manor was dilapidated, it was a large house with more than a hundred rooms after all. Compared with it, the White Stone Building was undoubtedly much inferior.

"Your house is nice, at least it's tidy." Lady Leah glanced at the furnishings around her and Hippo and Neptune behind Woolley, and then asked, "You only have these few slaves? Too few, right?"

"Oh, I don't like to keep freeloaders." Wu Lai answered and his eyes met Tina's.

Mrs. Leah and Tina had a novel lunch at the White Stone Building. In addition to bread, wheat rice, cheese and wine, there was a copper plate with charcoal fire in the middle of the table. On the charcoal fire, a copper tripod supported a copper pot that was not much smaller than the copper plate. In the copper pot was boiling chicken soup. Next to the copper plate were several plates of thinly sliced ​​fresh beef, mutton, pork and chopped chicken...

In the end, the mother and daughter were very satisfied with Wu Lai's hospitality and had a great meal. As soon as they left Baishilou, Tina talked about this with her mother: "Although this way of eating is weird, it tastes very good. What does Wu Lai call it? Hot pot?"

Lady Leah nodded. "Although he has few slaves, each of them is very polite and clean."

"Yes, Woolley actually gave them fur coats. He was so generous. Slaves were not qualified to wear these. They even had thick boots," said Tina.

Meanwhile, Wu Lai was busy in the backyard of Neptune's White Stone House, while Lei Gang picked up his chisel and hammer again and continued his work that was interrupted by the arrival of the guests. In the restaurant, Caesar held a large ceramic bowl and said to Hippo who was cleaning the table with a silly smile: "Hippo, didn't the host just tell us not to waste the food?"

Hippo nodded, scooped a few pieces of meat from the copper pot with a slotted spoon and poured them into the ceramic bowl handed over by Caesar, and said, "Caesar, we are slaves. We must know when to stop and cannot indulge ourselves just because of the master's kindness to us. Do you understand?"

Caesar nodded quickly. Hippo smiled slightly, scooped two spoonfuls of soup into his bowl with a large spoon, picked up a piece of unfinished bread from Wu Lai's plate and handed it to Caesar: "Okay, go call Lei Gang and Janus in." Caesar nodded and carefully held the pottery bowl and left the restaurant.

Hippo was about to sort the leftover food from the plates when Neptune came in with Shiei in his arms, looking serious. "Hippo, you have to keep an eye on Shiei. He just ran into the master's studio. You know, that's not a place you can just enter."

"I'm sorry, Uncle Neptune." Hippo quickly took over Xi'e and apologized, "Please tell the master that Xi'e will not do it again in the future."

Neptune nodded with a straight face. "The master didn't blame me for anything. He just told you to give him some fresh meat every day because Xiai is too thin."

"How dare I?" Hippo said in fear and trepidation. In her opinion, it was a great blessing from Wu Lai that Xiae could stay in Baishi Building and eat and drink for free.

"Do as we are told. Although our master is young, he always keeps his word. Working hard and not making mistakes is the best way to repay his kindness," said Neptune.

"Hippo will remember Uncle Neptune's words." Hippo hugged Xiaye excitedly.

Ten days later, Mikoyan returned to Seneca City, but before he could wash off the dust on his body, he heard the report from Wu Lai asking for a meeting.

This kid is really fast. Mikoyan smiled bitterly and shook his head, then waved to the priest who came to report: "Take him to the small reception room."

A moment later, the highest representative of the gods in the city of Seneca met with the youngest independent noble.

"Wu Lai, did you plant spies in the temple? How come you are here right after I got back?" Mikoyan said half-jokingly.

"Your High Priest, your suspicions have made me very anxious." Wu Lai replied innocently, "When your car drove into the temple, I happened to be wandering around nearby. You may not know that you have been away for so long, but today is the sunniest day in Seneca in this month."

"You never come to visit unless there is something important. Tell me, what's the matter?" Mikoyan said with a smile.

"This time, I'm here to ask a question again." Wu Lai took out a brand new parchment book from his arms. "Your Excellency the High Priest is well-informed. Excuse me, can you tell me how this parchment book is made and how much it costs?"

Mikoyan frowned. He didn't like people beating around the bush with him, but he also knew that the boy in front of him, who had grown a little taller, was no ordinary person. "Scrape, remove the hair, then nitrate, air-dry in the shade, and then place under a smooth stone slab to press it tightly. The one in your hand is one cubit long and half a cubit wide, with a total of fifteen pages. The price is between eight and ten silver coins."

Wu Lai smiled and nodded: "Your Excellency the High Priest is absolutely right. I bought this book in my hand from a shop two days ago. It is of average quality and costs eight silver coins. It is far inferior to what the temple uses to spread the divine scriptures. At that time, I was thinking, how much money does it cost for the temple to spread the divine scriptures?"

"Wu Lai, spreading the divine scriptures is the duty of the temple. How can we care about costs like businessmen?" Although Mikoyan was still frowning, a hint of expectation flashed in his eyes.

"Having said that, it does take up most of the temple's income. In addition, parchment is so expensive that it limits the speed and scope of the dissemination of the divine code. Just imagine, if everyone in Seneca City had a copy of the divine code, everyone would be familiar with the stories in the code, know how to do good and offer tributes, then God's rule over the world would surely be much easier and more secure." Wu Lai said with a smile.

God's rule over the world? This is just talk, but if everyone can have a copy of the divine book, the tribute will really increase a lot, Mikoyan thought.

"Of course, Your Excellency the High Priest may only be considering how to allow the people to be bathed in God's grace, but I think that if Your Excellency the High Priest can do this in Seneca City, your status in the temple will definitely be greatly elevated, because you have done what your predecessors have not done, because you have allowed the light of God's grace to shine on the entire Seneca city-state, and you will definitely be more valued by the temple because of this." Wu Lai continued.

"But that would cost a lot of money." Mikoyan blurted out. It's not that he hadn't considered what Wu Lai had just said, but he couldn't afford it. In fact, one of the three current red priests in the temple was promoted by relying on this, but this red priest also spent decades of accumulated wealth. If everyone in Seneca City wants to have a copy, it will take at least several years and the cost will definitely exceed five million silver coins - this is something only the nobles in the noble meeting can afford. Calculated based on the average income of the Seneca Temple, accumulating for another twenty years may not be enough. What's more, the temple clearly stipulates that the high priest can only use 20% of the temple's income, and this 20% also includes the cost of repairing the temple, holding ceremonies, and spreading the scriptures. The remaining 80% needs to be handed over to the temple.

"I, Wulai Grindo, am the most sincere partner of His Excellency the High Priest." Wulai took out another notebook from his arms and handed it to Mikoyan with a smile, "Even if it is the revelation from the god Amon, I will definitely choose to share it with you."

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

Mikoyan weighed the book and opened it. His eyes switched between doubt and passion several times. Then he looked at Wu Lai's face and his voice trembled slightly: "Wu Lai, how much does it cost?"

"It's less than 20% of the parchment. If we can get generous help from His Excellency the High Priest, the cost can be even lower." Wu Lai replied with a smile.

"What are its raw materials?" Mikoyan asked.

"No, no, no, Your Excellency the High Priest, the revelation of God Amon has instructed me to keep it secret." Wu Lai winked at Mikoyan, thinking that this is top secret, if we were not so weak and had to rely on you for help, such a good thing would never have been yours, so you should just be content.

Good boy, you dare to use revelation as an excuse. Mikoyan thought so in his heart, hesitated for a moment, and said: "Since it is the revelation of God Amon, then I will not ask. I already understand what you mean. Tell me, in addition to what you need me to do, tell me what I can get."

"I want the river bank next to the mill to be at least 1,500 cubits long and 400 cubits wide..." Woolley was interrupted halfway through his words.

"No, you ask too much." Mikoyan said decisively.

"Not much at all. I think His Excellency the High Priest may not have had time to calculate the prospects of this kind of thing." Wu Lai said, "It can not only bring me profits, but also allow His Excellency the High Priest to achieve full coverage of the Seneca City-State's divine canon within two years. If His Excellency the High Priest is willing to join this deal, I promise that silver coins will flow into your money box instead of into the temple. With sufficient capital, you can strive for the next red priest position. Of course, the significance of this capital is not just reflected in the money. Give me the land and provide me with enough shelter to block all prying eyes, as well as appropriate financial support."

"Financial support?" Mikoyan's eyes widened.

Of course you have to pay, idiot, do you think you can get it for free every time? Wu Lai muttered to himself, and replied with a smile: "Of course, with my current family assets, it is not enough to support myself. In fact, it is not much. If converted into gold coins, His Excellency the High Priest only needs to pay one thousand coins."

"One, one thousand gold coins?! Are you crazy?" Mikoyan almost jumped up.

Wu Lai shook his head firmly: "It would be crazy to reject this great opportunity."

After a while, the dust settled. The result was the same as Wu Lai had expected. Mikoyan only agreed to "support" 840 gold coins, and could only pay 100 gold coins first. However, the river bank that Wu Lai had expected was obtained smoothly - Mikoyan signed a 30-year lease contract with him in the name of the temple, with an annual rent of 120 silver coins.

When he walked out of the temple, Wu Lai had an extra hundred gold coins in his arms, and he was in an unusually good mood. Gauguin, who was waiting outside the temple, saw him walking out with a smile on his face, and hurriedly greeted him: "Master Wu Lai, is your negotiation with High Priest Mikoyan going smoothly?"

"If things don't go well, how can I still laugh?" Wu Lai asked back.