Helen arrived before dusk. Wu Lai's happy expression made Helen feel warm in her heart. But then, Wu Lai's enthusiasm and boldness made her feel a little shy - this guy actually hugged and kissed her in front of everyone, and seemed reluctant to let go.
If it weren't for Lini's pretended coughing to remind him, Wu Lai might have "taken two more sips". After Helen was slightly startled by Lini's cough and pushed him away, Wu Lai apologized to Lini very straightforwardly: "Teacher, I couldn't help myself."
After these words came out, Helen's cheeks burned for a while longer, but Lini laughed and said, "Everyone has been young before, but I have never seen anyone as unrestrained as you."
Hearing Lini say this, Wu Lai was stunned, and Helen was even more embarrassed and couldn't help but pinch Wu Lai's forearm lightly...
During dinner, Eugene sent Ivan to deliver two boxes of wine. This was a very smart move. It not only pleased Lini, but also created an opportunity for the garrison and Woolley to ease the tension. When Ivan personally carried the wine into the restaurant with a respectful look on his face, Lini and Woolley immediately understood what he meant.
"Well, put it down and tell Eugene that I like it very much." Lini said to Ivan calmly and glanced at Wu Lai.
Wu Lai immediately understood what he meant, and without standing up, he smiled and asked, "Lieutenant General Ivan, how about having a drink together?"
Ivan hurriedly thanked and refused with a smile. Before coming, Eugene said that he should come back after sending him off and not to stay, because easing the relationship and making friends should be done step by step and cannot be rushed. The knot in Wu Lai's heart could not be untied immediately, and being too enthusiastic would make both of them embarrassed.
"Okay, I won't force you." Wu Lai knew that Ivan would not stay.
"Lieutenant General Ivan, this is a perfect opportunity. Why don't you stay and have a few drinks together?" Lady Leah stood up with a smile on her face.
"No, no, I still have military duties to attend to." Ivan waved his hands quickly, then saluted Lini, nodded at Wu Lai with a smile, turned and left. Wu Lai hesitated for a moment, got up and caught up with Ivan, and personally sent him to the yard.
"Come and sit down when you have free time." Wu Lai was being polite.
"Of course, of course." Ivan was just being polite.
In the restaurant, Rini frowned and asked Mrs. Leah, "How can you still make the decision for Wu Lai?"
Mrs. Leah was speechless and felt quite embarrassed. Tina at the side pouted quietly. She had been feeling uneasy and upset ever since she came in from meditation and discovered the intimacy between Helen and Wu Lai. Now her mother was causing trouble for her again and she felt even worse.
"Don't get involved in Wu Lai's affairs in the future. There are some things you don't understand." After Lini finished speaking lightly, he did not go to see Lady Leah again. Puya accompanied him all the way from Assyria to Seneca. Lini had already asked all the questions he should have asked, so naturally his impression of Lady Leah would not be very good.
"Okay." Mrs. Leah nodded quickly. Today was the first time she went downstairs to attend dinner in a few days. She didn't expect to be scolded by the guests. However, she had a good eye. Although she didn't know Lini's exact identity, she saw that he was dressed luxuriously and had an extraordinary demeanor. Wu Lai called him teacher and was very respectful, so she naturally did not dare to offend him.
After Wu Lai came back, the atmosphere of the dinner party was revived, and people talked and laughed as usual, but from beginning to end, Helen never looked at Tina...
After the banquet, Lini felt tired after several days of traveling, so she went straight to the guest room to rest after taking a bath. Wu Lai accompanied Lini to take a bath according to the etiquette of the nobility, and respectfully escorted Lini to the guest room before turning around and leaving. When he reached the corner of the stairs, he happened to see Helen coming up accompanied by two maids.
"Your hair is so beautiful." Wu Lai exclaimed sincerely. Helen had just taken a bath, and her thick long hair that reached her hips was not dry yet. At this moment, it was held up by two maids with a cloth towel. Under the candlelight, it was actually shining with charming light.
Helen pouted and asked, "If the hair is beautiful, the person is not beautiful?"
When Wu Lai saw her shy and lovely appearance, his heart warmed up, and he went over and hugged her waist: "Your beauty is not enough to be praised with the most gorgeous words, so..."
When Wu Lai's lips gently kissed the corner of Helen's mouth, the two maids quickly looked away.
Helen responded softly...
"Or..." Wu Lai asked softly.
"No, you promised me..." Helen's voice became even lower.
"Well, then, okay..." Woolley's lips touched Helen's again.
…
The next morning, after a good night's sleep, Lini washed up and walked towards the backyard of Baishi Building accompanied by Xiban Oak, because Wu Lai instructed Xiban Oak to invite Lini to the backyard after he woke up.
"Wulai's place is really spacious." Lini knew that Sibanok was also a nobleman, and the two were about the same age, so he didn't put on airs with him.
"Yes, respected General Lini, Master Woolley's mansion was originally not small. During the almost one year that he entered the Assyrian Citizens College to study with you, we followed his instructions and bought the two connected houses next to it. After building a circle of walls, it became the largest one in Seneca City." Sibanok said.
"Well, he seems like a nouveau riche." After joking, Rini couldn't help laughing and asked, "Isn't he like other nouveau riche, buying slaves crazily? By the way, how many slaves does he have now?"
Sibanok hesitated for a moment, and thought it would be better to answer as truthfully as possible: "In the White Stone Building alone, there are currently 32 male slaves doing odd jobs, 27 female slaves doing odd jobs, 6 female slaves helping in the kitchen, 10 female slaves doing daily living, and 10 male slaves on duty. I'm not sure about the exact numbers of the workshops, but the total number of slaves in the workshops exceeded 300 at the beginning of the year, and this number does not include the guard slaves. I don't know about the Green Building."
"To support so many people, Wu Lai is really worried." Lini smiled and asked, "The one who fought off the bandits, you were not included in it just now, right?"
"No, as far as I know, they only take orders from Master Wu Lai, so strictly speaking, they do not belong to Baishi Building." Xiban Oak nodded and replied.
"Got it." Rini nodded.
After passing through the stone corridor and walking down several stone steps, Lini and Sibanok arrived at the backyard which was as spacious as the front yard.
There was no sign of human beings in the backyard, but there were two "piles" of things placed there in abruptly, each covered tightly with a black cloth. There was even a wooden target standing by the wall in the corner of the yard a few dozen steps away.
"Where are they?" Rini glanced around, smiled bitterly and shook his head, "Wu Lai is such a naughty boy."
"General Lini, let me go look for him." Sibanok said quickly.
"No need. If he wants to hide, you won't be able to find him. Just wait, he will appear soon." Lini said with a smile, strode into the yard, grabbed a piece of black cloth and pulled it.
The black cloth was lifted, revealing a small wooden table more than half a person's height, on which were two objects that Rini had never seen before.
"What is this? A weapon?" Lini asked Sibanok, pointing at the object on the left.
Sibanok came forward to take a look, then nodded: "Yes, General Lini, this is the weapon that the young master used to eliminate the bandits this time. The young master calls it a crossbow machine."
"It is indeed..." Lini was delighted, and immediately grabbed it and looked at it from top to bottom, knocking, touching, and twisting it. Apart from guessing that it was a long-range weapon, he was unable to figure out anything else for a while.
"Can you use it?" Lini asked Sibanok.
Sibanok shook his head quickly.
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"You should ask me how to use it." Wu Lai's voice came from behind the two of them.
Lini turned around and took a look, then his face darkened immediately: "Boy, you like to keep me in suspense, don't you? Return the tiger tooth nameplate to me first."
"No, teacher. I'll play for a few more days." Wu Lai said with a grin, "I just want you to figure it out on your own first."
"Thinking? Why should I bother with that when you're here? Come on." Lini threw the crossbow into Wu Lai's arms and said, "Use it twice and show me."
"Okay." Wu Lai nodded and took out a small copper object from his arms. "Teacher, please take a good look at this. This thing is called a small wrench. It is used to fix the hinge. Here, hold it at this convex point and turn it in this direction..."
The bowstring was tightened with the sound of hinges clicking.
"Now that the string is loaded, we need to put it in the crossbow box." Wu Lai took out a flat bronze box from his arms, inserted it into a slot under the crossbow, and with a click, the crossbow box was in place.
"This is called a sight, it's used for aiming, and the one in front of the handle is called a trigger, but you can't pull it yet, you have to pull out this latch and push it down a little." Wu Lai explained while operating, "Okay, it's OK now."
After saying that, Wu Lai raised his right arm and pointed the crossbow at the wooden target dozens of steps away. He took aim slightly and clicked his index finger six times in a row. The spring made six consecutive sounds, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. Six black rays flew rapidly towards the wooden target. Tututututututu, all six crossbow arrows were firmly inserted into the wooden target.
"Great!" Lini couldn't help but shout out. As an outstanding military talent in the Assyrian territory, he had already tasted the war potential of this weapon from Wu Lai's series of actions just now - it can be operated and suddenly fired in a limited space, and its range may not be as good as feather arrows, but its simplicity of operation, firing rate and range are enough to allow it to achieve uninterrupted advances and continuous killing of enemies in rapid charges. Of course, the enemies here refer to those who are not wearing heavy armor.
"Come on, let's go and see your aim." Lini laughed and patted Wu Lai's shoulder. Just as he was about to take a step, Wu Lai stopped him with a smile.
"Teacher, you are more impatient than I thought. It's the same here too." Wu Lai said with a smile.
"You have that vision, but I can't." Lini just smiled and waved his hand, and Wu Lai had already grabbed another object on the small wooden table and threw it in front of him.
"Teacher, use this to see. You are old and frail, so take as few steps as possible to avoid complaining about being tired again."
Copper tube? Lini frowned, and Wu Lai grabbed both ends with both hands and pulled, and the copper tube, which was originally the length of a palm, suddenly became the length of an elbow.
After removing the copper covers at both ends, Wu Lai pressed it into Lini's hand and said, "Teacher, I call this a telescope."
Telescope...scope? Rini was startled.
"Put your eyes close to the small end of the tube and aim the mouth of the big tube at where you want to see. Yes, keep your eyes close to it and close the other eye. Yes, that's it..." Wu Lai said with a smile.
God Amon... Lini was stunned. The wooden target that should have been dozens of steps away looked no different from standing right in front of it when viewed through the telescope. Not only was every crossbow arrow clearly visible, but even the tiny cracks caused by the tip of the crossbow arrow were clearly visible.
"Woolley, oh, Wulai..." After trying three times in a row, Lini suddenly felt a little speechless, but a warm current surged in his heart.
He is indeed a person favored by God. It is great that he can become my student. Lini thought to himself.
"Teacher, this thing is interesting, right? Think about it, not only can you see every move of the gladiators and every moment of blood splattering in the arena, but it can also be a helpful aid in gaining insight and winning on the battlefield." Wu Lai said with a smile. He had gone through a lot of trouble to make this telescope. It took a lot of effort just to remove the bubbles in the glass, but he finally succeeded.
"What are you going to do with these two things?" Lini couldn't help but lower his voice. Otherwise, he would surely reveal that he was trembling slightly with excitement. The Wu Lai in front of him was simply a monster. Every new thing he came up with was either incredible or shocking, anyway, it was just not normal.
"We can talk about this later." Wu Lai laughed and pulled off another piece of black cloth. "Teacher, I'm counting on this new thing to make some big money. I call it a bicycle..."
Bicycle? Lini and Sibanok's eyes were immediately drawn to it.