Chapter 154: A Carpentry Exam for Tianqi

Lin Qian couldn't help but smile, and ordered a bowl of noodle soup from a roadside stall.

Su Qingmei quietly reminded him, "Helmsman, given your status, you should eat less at roadside stalls from now on."

Su Qingmei's words sounded mature beyond her years, but they weren't without reason.

Lin Qian had only been a sea bandit leader before—no one would bother poisoning him. But after the great victory at the Macao naval battle, the Nan'ao Island faction had stepped out from behind the scenes into the open.

The court would inevitably discover the truth sooner or later.

Faced with the hot potato of Nan'ao Island, directly launching a crackdown risked forcing Lin Qian into open rebellion; but doing nothing would let Lin Qian grow too powerful to control.

The best method was poison—kill Lin Qian, and then handling Nan'ao Island would become much easier.

And with Wei Zhongxian's rise, the court's depot and guard forces would regain their power. Those secret agents were most skilled at infiltration and poisoning.

Lin Qian's external enemies weren't limited to the court—the Portuguese, the Spanish, and the Dutch all had motive to poison him.

From this perspective, Su Kang and Su Qingmei's precautionary measures were absolutely right.

To completely eliminate the threat of poisoning, the problem had to be solved at the source—for example, by establishing a dedicated chef team.

Currently, only Uncle Chen was responsible for cooking for Lin Qian, but Uncle Chen also had to cook for the Tianyuan's crew—neither dedicated nor a team.

This couldn't continue.

To establish a chef team, a separate kitchen was necessary to prevent poisoning at the ingredient level. And with a kitchen, correspondingly, a residence would need to be built to match.

The residence would need to be large enough not only for Lin Qian's family but also for his personal guards.

Personal guards—personal guards—you had to be close to them for them to guard you loyally.

Throughout history, every great warlord—whether Zheng Zhilong's black guard corps or Zhang Zuolin's bodyguards—had them living on the premises.

In short, from this perspective, the construction of Lin Qian's residence was also a major project in Nan'ao Island's development.

He had always thought building a residence was a waste of productive capacity, but now he realized that way of thinking was outdated.

Thinking of this, Lin Qian's mind wandered slightly, and a rough outline of the residence's design had already taken shape in his head.

"Customers, your noodles are ready." The stall owner placed the noodles in front of Lin Qian.

Lin Qian picked up his chopsticks to eat, but Su Qingmei stopped him: "Let me check it first, then let Xiao Hei taste it."

"Oh, go ahead." Lin Qian smiled wryly.

Su Qingmei looked serious as she took the noodle bowl. She first examined the color and smell, then used her chopsticks to stir it around.

Then she pulled a silver needle from her sleeve and stabbed it into the noodles, the broth, and the garnishes to test for poison—her movements were extremely fast and fluid.

Then she picked up her chopsticks, grabbed a few strands of noodles, and dropped them on the ground, calling out, "Here, here, here~"

Xiao Hei's little tail wagged furiously as he licked up and ate the noodles in a few quick motions. After finishing, he let out a "woof," clearly wanting more.

Su Qingmei pushed the noodles back to Lin Qian: "No problem."

After everyone finished lunch, Lin Qian returned to the Tianyuan, with Su Qingmei following behind him onto the ship.

Su Qingmei instructed Lin Qian to call her before eating anything, then took Xiao Hei up to the deck to play.

Lin Qian returned to the captain's cabin and began drawing the residence's design plans.

According to his vision, his residence should be located in the south of the island, facing Qianjiang Bay in front and backed by Guolao Mountain.

This way, both the Qianjiang Bay port and the Yandun Bay shipyard would be close by.

The design style would be similar to the Huanghua Mountain Academy, embodying a harmonious beauty with nature, while also projecting grandeur and dominance.

The residence had to have plenty of rooms, providing ample accommodation.

At the same time, redundant pavilions and waterside terraces should be removed to maximize the residence's functionality.

When Lin Qian finally came out of his flow state and looked up again, it was already evening. The captain's cabin was pitch dark, and he only then realized he had been drawing by the light of the harbor lamps behind him.

Lin Qian laughed at himself, stretched, and lit a white insect-wax candle, and the room immediately brightened.

He walked over to the cabinet to admire his trophies.

The Qingping's ship permit, the galleon's rudder lock, the Lin family's golden boat, Tong Yangzhen's helmet plume, the flag stamped with VOC, the Siraya war knife—

"Ah!" At that moment, a startled cry suddenly came from the deck.

Lin Qian recognized it as Su Qingmei's voice and immediately went out to check: "What's wrong?"

By the light of the harbor lamps, Su Qingmei could be seen standing before the gun deck hatch, her face full of terror, pointing at something.

Quite a few crew members had already gathered around. One of them examined the area and laughed: "Helmsman, it's nothing. This little dog caught a rat—good dog!"

Lin Qian walked down to the deck and saw Xiao Hei with a fat rat in his mouth, head held high, basking in the praise of the surrounding crew, his little tail wagging furiously.

That rat was almost as big as Xiao Hei himself—who knew how Xiao Hei had managed to bite it to death.

Uncle Chen walked over, smiling as he patted Xiao Hei's head, then said: "This rat was so big it was about to become a spirit. I set several traps and it escaped them all. Now it's finally been caught. This little dog is something special—wait, I'll give you a meaty bone tonight."

Su Qingmei said with lingering fear: "Throw that rat away quickly."

A crew member took the rat from the little dog's mouth and tossed it into the sea, then pretended to lunge at Su Qingmei with empty hands, making the young girl cry out again.

The crew all burst into laughter.

Lin Qian laughed and said: "Daring to tease Little Doctor Su, eh? Next time you get hurt, don't expect to be treated well, got it?"

The crew's smiles froze, and they all laughed along sheepishly.

"All right, disperse." Lin Qian scolded with a smile.

"Helmsman." Amid the laughter and conversation, a group of people came up onto the deck—it was Hu Zhaoyuan and Scholar Zhou and the others.

The moment Lin Qian saw Hu Zhaoyuan, he knew why he had come: "Let's talk in the captain's cabin."

After everyone was seated, Lin Qian spoke first: "Have the deer products been selling well?"

Hu Zhaoyuan didn't beat around the bush either, smiling: "Last time I took two thousand sets of deer products from you, Helmsman, and nearly half have already been sold. The men and women of Chaozhou Prefecture are extremely satisfied—the fashion of drinking medicinal wine is growing daily. I've come this trip specifically to settle the remaining payment."

Scholar Zhou added: "Master Hu has brought ten thousand taels of silver this trip, already deposited in the treasury."

Counting the ten thousand taels of deposit, Hu Zhaoyuan had paid a total of twenty thousand taels of silver for those two thousand sets of deer products.

Considering market development costs, inventory costs, and capital occupation, Hu Zhaoyuan had essentially given Lin Qian all the profit, selling at a loss just for the goodwill.

This was luring him with profit—what Hu Zhaoyuan wanted was a stable supply of deer products.

After more than a month of keeping watch over Chaozhou Prefecture, Hu Zhaoyuan had not leaked the source of the deer products, nor uttered a single word about Liaodong or the Eastern Barbarian Isle.

He had passed Lin Qian's test, and could be trusted with the entirety of the deer products for sale.

Even if Lin Qian had to give up a bit more margin, it was acceptable.

However, Lin Qian had a new condition: "You can have the deer products, but buy raw silk, medicinal herbs, porcelain, and white sugar ashore to trade for them."

With these purchases, the direction of the trade was already unmistakably clear.

In trading with the Franks, goods like medicinal herbs were never needed.

This cargo was without a doubt destined for Japan—and in the Ming's smuggling trade, the Japan route was policed the most strictly of all.

Hu Zhaoyuan buying up these goods in bulk, without being a registered legal merchant of Yuegang, was far too conspicuous. For the moment, he dared not agree.

Lin Qian asked Scholar Zhou, "How many deer products are still in the warehouse?"

"One thousand five hundred pairs of deer antler, ten thousand deer penises, plus deer sinew, deer horn, and more—piled up like a mountain."

Hu Zhaoyuan swallowed hard and haltingly voiced his concerns.

Lin Qian said, "I have some connections in Yuegang. I can help smooth things over—registering for a ship permit is no problem."

The Tongshan Naval Stockade that Ma Chenglie had newly acquired had a defense zone covering Quanzhou's Yuegang. No matter how much those officials valued letters over arms, they would not dare refuse Ma Chenglie face. Getting a ship permit would be easy as pie.

Hu Zhaoyuan only needed to find a reasonable excuse for the bulk purchasing of trade goods.

As for whether the goods went to Japan, Macao, or Luzon after purchase—they were all out at sea anyway. Who could possibly interfere?

Hu Zhaoyuan relaxed completely: "If we have a ship permit, then everything becomes easy. Helmsman, rest assured—how many shiploads of goods should I prepare?"

"Eighteen vessels—three Fujian junks and fifteen Haicang ships." Lin Qian recited the numbers like counting family treasures.

These were all the three-masted merchant ships that Nan'ao Island could muster, apart from the vessels making the round trip to the Eastern Barbarian Isle.

"If there's extra cargo, I still have sixteen Cangshan ships," Lin Qian added.

Hu Zhaoyuan's mind had come to a complete halt, recalling the shock he'd felt when he was forced into the fold and saw two million blue bricks and twenty thousand dan of rice.

The helmsman's silence was one thing, but when he spoke, it wasn't merely astonishing—it stunned a man senseless!

Three Fujian junks, fifteen Haicang ships, sixteen Cangshan ships—thirty-four vessels in all!

This was less a merchant fleet than a battle fleet, wasn't it?

Even if you ransacked the Tongshan Naval Stockade, you wouldn't find this many ships!

Along the southeastern coast, owning a single two-masted private vessel meant you were at least a minor landowner. Even the former Hu estate had only possessed one three-masted Fujian junk.

Even the famed Huangyan Lin clan of the southeast, which specialized in maritime shipping, had no more than a dozen or so ships.

But the helmsman here—straight to thirty-four vessels, more than all the private ships in all of Chaozhou Prefecture combined, and all of them large ships at that.

Was he trying to buy out the entire Chaozhou Prefecture?

They'd have to pedal the spinning wheels until they smoked just to supply the raw silk.

Even if they could scrape together this batch of goods and actually ship it to Hirado, could Hirado even absorb it all?

Squire Hu's simple mercantile instincts led him, for the first time in his life, to ponder total market capacity.

Lin Qian hadn't deliberately quoted a huge number to frighten Squire Hu. From a business perspective, he had ships, cannons, and capital—leaving them unused would simply be waste.

Moreover, due to the monsoons, Sino-Japanese trade could only make one round trip per year, so naturally one had to earn a full year's silver in a single voyage!

Hu Zhaoyuan stammered out his worries about being unable to stock enough goods.

Lin Qian waved a hand. "No matter. We still have two or three months before setting sail—stock as much as you can."

This voyage was mainly to sell deer hides; everything else was just supplementary. And since it was the first time plying the Sino-Japanese route, with great uncertainty, he didn't dare stake too much of his fortune on it.

Besides, of these thirty-four ships, even if only ten could be filled to capacity, it would take Hirado a while to digest.

Hu Zhaoyuan nodded. "In that case, I'll do my utmost to stock the goods."

Lin Qian smiled. "Second Brother, load the deer products from the warehouse onto Squire Hu's ships."

While the prices of raw silk, porcelain, medicinal herbs, and white sugar in Chaozhou Prefecture were fluctuating wildly...

A company of riders on swift horses entered the capital.

The gate guards dared not stop or question them in the slightest, for every rider bore a small yellow flag stuck in their gear, with bells hanging before their horses—the clatter of hooves and jingling of bells could be heard from far off.

This was the mark of a four-hundred-li urgent dispatch.

Watching the flying horses pass through the gate, the guard commander clicked his tongue in wonder, privately wondering which corner of the Great Ming had erupted in rebellion this time.

The riders galloped all the way to the Imperial City, dismounted before the gates, straightened their caps and robes, and shed their outer garments to reveal the flying-fish robes beneath. Entering the palace, they made straight for the Directorate of Ceremonial.

In the Directorate of Ceremonial, the brush-holding eunuch Wei Zhongxian sat high at the head of the table, while the seal-holding eunuch read out memorials below him.

By rank and authority, the brush-holding eunuch stood below the seal-holding eunuch—yet this topsy-turvy state of affairs had long since become routine for the assembled eunuchs.

The seal-holding eunuch Wang Tiqian opened a memorial, read it through, then smilingly explained in plain speech: "This one is submitted by the Governor of Shandong. The local White Lotus sect leader Xu Hongru is causing quite a stir—he requests the court dispatch troops and allocate funds."

Wei Zhongxian crossed his legs, sneering: "The moment some rabble rebels, they want troops and funds. Liaodong needs silver, the southwest needs silver—how can the treasury afford all this spending? Can't they learn from Commander Ma? He pacified the red-haired barbarians without asking the court for a single coin."

Wang Tiqian glanced at the draft rescript and said cautiously: "The Grand Secretariat's intention is to have the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue deliberate, and dispatch troops and allocate funds as soon as possible."

Wei Zhongxian waved a hand: "Enough, let them fuss as they please."

The clerk eunuch wrote the endorsement in red.

Wang Tiqian picked up the next memorial and summarized in plain speech: "This one is from the Supervising Secretary of the Ministry of Works section, urging His Majesty to carry out the late emperor's decree and release funds from the privy purse to reward the troops."

Wei Zhongxian put his feet down, a vicious glint flashing in his eyes: "What does this mean—demanding money right at His Majesty's doorstep?"

Wang Tiqian reminded him: "When the late emperor ascended the throne, he issued a grace edict, allocating one million taels of silver from the privy purse to reward the border troops—"

Wei Zhongxian gave a light snort: "Have this man tried by the Three Judicial Offices, and investigate his accomplices!"

"Yes. The next one is the Chief Grand Secretary's resignation memorial."

"Which number resignation is this for the Chief Grand Secretary?" Wei Zhongxian reverted to his languid manner.

"I believe it's the twelfth."

"Just approve it—a dozen or so memorials is enough."

"Very well. The next is a memorial from Liaodong. The rebel chieftain Nurhaci—"

"Ancestor-Master!" Wang Tiqian's voice was cut off by a shout, and then a eunuch, paying no heed to propriety whatsoever, barged straight into the Directorate of Ceremonial.

That eunuch strode quickly to Wei Zhongxian's side and whispered in his ear: "Ma Chenglie knows how to read the room. The thing Ancestor-Master wanted was prepared in a single night."

Wei Zhongxian was overjoyed: "So fast! Come, let's go out and take a look!"

Reaching the doorway, Wei Zhongxian turned back and said: "All of you wait here for me. We'll resume deliberations when I return."

The other eunuchs of the Directorate of Ceremonial answered in unison, exceptionally docile.

Wei Zhongxian walked out the door and saw eunuchs holding ship models and blueprints, beaming with joy.

He couldn't make sense of the carpentry blueprints, but the ship models were exquisitely made—each one the size of an arm, every detail rendered with perfect precision.

Wei Zhongxian reached out and touched a sail: "Oh ho, this one even moves! Well done! Come, come with me to see His Majesty."

A moment later, Wei Zhongxian led the group to the warm pavilion of Qianqing Palace.

Amidst a pile of timber, he found the Tianqi Emperor.

Today the Tianqi Emperor had a sudden inspiration—he felt the great beds in the palace were too cumbersome, and was determined to build a lightweight bed. At this moment he was gesturing at a pile of wood.

Having served Tianqi for so long, Wei Zhongxian could tell from the amount of timber alone that today's project was no small matter—not something that could be finished in two or three hours.

So he deliberately made his footsteps heavier, producing sound.

Tianqi frowned and turned around. Seeing it was Wei Zhongxian, he immediately broke into a smile: "Zhongxian, you've come."

Wei Zhongxian's old face crinkled into a chrysanthemum: "Your Majesty, see what your servant has brought for Your Majesty."

The moment he finished speaking, the eunuchs carrying ship models and blueprints filed in one after another.

Tianqi was overjoyed at the sight. He hurried over to the ship models and touched them with his hands: "Ingenious! These ships are truly ingeniously made! What ship is this one?"

"This is a Haicang ship." Wei Zhongxian introduced them to Tianqi one by one. "This is a Fujian junk, this is a Cangshan ship—all are formidable vessels of our Great Ming navy."

Tianqi grinned from ear to ear: "These are the seagoing ships you mentioned, right? Why don't I see any of the barbarians' cannon ships?"

Wei Zhongxian was taken aback for a moment, then said: "The barbarians' cannon ships are crudely made—how could they compare to the exquisite craftsmanship of Great Ming ships?"

Tianqi's eyes were dazzled by the many ship models, and he didn't press the matter. He directed the young eunuchs to place the models on the curio shelves he had built himself.

"Transporting these ship models—it didn't cost too much, did it?" Tianqi asked with a somewhat guilty conscience.

Wei Zhongxian laughed theatrically: "Now look at what Your Majesty says. Your Majesty possesses all within the four seas—what is a trifling expense for models? Your Majesty's heart is with the people, frugal in all things—truly a sage ruler and enlightened sovereign. Those old pedants ought to hang their heads in shame!"

Tianqi sensed there was something behind his words and asked: "What, has something else happened at court?"

Wei Zhongxian sighed and said: "Today a Supervising Secretary of the Ministry of Works submitted a memorial requesting that Your Majesty's privy purse fund the troops. Your servant rejected it."

Tianqi was deeply puzzled: "Why should the privy purse pay for it? Has the national treasury run out of money?"

"Your Majesty is most discerning! Your servant thought the very same thing. Your servant believes that officials of the Ministry of Works must have been embezzling, taking bribes, and misappropriating funds, which is what has left the treasury empty. Thus I wished to hand them over to the Three Judicial Offices for sentencing.

But then I thought again—perhaps the officials of the Three Judicial Offices have also taken bribes from this man. Your servant considered that this case should properly be tried by the Eastern Depot. However, Wang An, the eunuch Director of the Eastern Depot, has always been close with those old pedants, so I fear he could hardly be impartial—

Your servant cannot share Your Majesty's burdens. Your servant is useless."

Tianqi hesitated somewhat. Wang An had merit in supporting his ascension and was close to Tianqi as well. To strip him of his position as Director of the Eastern Depot like this wouldn't be appropriate.

After thinking it over, he said: "Enough, let the matter rest as it is. Ah, what is that?"

Tianqi's attention was drawn to the blueprints in the eunuchs' hands.

"Unroll them, spread them on the floor and let me see." Tianqi urged excitedly.

The eunuchs unrolled the blueprints and laid them out on the floor one by one.

There were six blueprints in total.

Tianqi had only glanced at the first one before he was captivated. He stood before that blueprint for a long time without moving a step.

The data on the blueprint was all marked in Arabic numerals—Tianqi had seen these in Xu Guangqi's books.

The blueprint was unlike any Great Ming blueprint he had ever seen. It was drawn with extreme detail, with the length, width, and height of every single component clearly marked.

There were even three perspectives: front view, side view, and top view.

No rendered illustrations—only pure lines and exhaustive annotations.

Different from the ingenuity of mortise-and-tenon joinery, different from the beauty of architecture, Tianqi sensed from it an extreme rigor—a rigor so severe it was almost cold.

To use cooking as an analogy: Chinese architectural blueprints were filled with vague terms like "a little" and "an appropriate amount."

But this blueprint seemed to want to specify exactly how many grains of salt and how many drops of vinegar should go into a dish.

It treated the person reading the drawing like a fool, terrified they might make the slightest mistake.

Cold, but precise!

From the drawing, Tianqi could almost feel the draughtsman's heartfelt contempt for craftsmen—as if terrified the craftsman might misunderstand his intent!

Looking at this drawing, Tianqi felt excitement, humiliation, and challenge all at once. His fighting spirit surged.

He remained motionless for a long time, his posture shifting from standing, to stooping, to crouching, to sitting, and then to lying prone—utterly immersed in it.

Tianqi could tell that the drawing depicted a Haicang ship, just like the model the eunuchs had brought.

The draughtsman must have truly regarded him as a fool from the bottom of his heart—to draw the blueprint with such precision while also delivering the correct answer to him.

"What audacity! How dare you insult me like this!" Tianqi sprang to his feet, his tone displeased.

Beside him, Wei Zhongxian's heart plummeted to the depths.

Fine, Ma Chenglie—you think you can bully me because I don't understand carpentry? You actually embedded insults against His Majesty within these scribbles that look like ghost-writing!

Once I get through this, just you wait—I'll deal with you!

"Your Majesty—" Wei Zhongxian put on a wronged expression and was about to begin his defense.

But unexpectedly, Tianqi raised his hand to stop him: "Silence!"

Tianqi moved to the next drawing and saw at a glance that it depicted a "Cangshan ship." He examined it carefully for a moment—it was no different from the ship model.

He thought to himself: "Fine, fine! Insulting me once isn't enough—there's a second time!"

Then he moved to the third drawing—this one was a "bird junk," and there was a model of it on the shelf too.

Tianqi: "!!!"

The fourth drawing depicted a "Fujian junk," and there was a model as well.

The fifth was a "Number One Fujian junk"—this one had a more complex structure, and there was a model too.

Wei Zhongxian stood in attendance at the side, watching Tianqi's expression grow worse and worse, his teeth clench tighter and tighter, his pace faster and faster.

In his heart, he had already cursed eight generations of Ma Chenglie's ancestors.

Suddenly, Tianqi walked to the last drawing and calmed down.

This was a half-finished drawing—only a rough outline had been sketched, with none of the details completed.

Tianqi looked at the drawing, then at the curio shelf, and was surprised to find that this drawing had no corresponding ship model.

Well, of course—if the drawing wasn't even finished, how could a ship model be made?

Tianqi studied the drawing carefully. The ship looked strange and unusual—it bore traces of a Fujian junk, yet in every way it was unlike one.

Having looked through five Ming Dynasty ocean-going ship drawings in a row, Tianqi had already grasped some of the fundamentals of seagoing vessels.

He bent down, lightly touched the drawing with his hand, and murmured to himself: "Is this a watertight compartment? Then what is this large rib timber? Why is the bow shaped like a knife? Why does this mast jut out from the ship? And this triangular cloth at the bow—is this a sail?"

The longer he looked, the more questions arose in Tianqi's mind, and before he knew it, he had sunk deep into study.

Once he entered that state of absorption, there was no pulling him out.

Wei Zhongxian, standing at the side, watched with his own eyes as the Emperor rejoiced greatly, the Emperor flew into a rage, the Emperor was so angry he wanted to kill someone, the Emperor calmed down, the Emperor froze and stopped moving.

The shifts in emotion came too fast—like a roller coaster—hard for him to bear.

As time passed, Wei Zhongxian's mood went from anxious unease to gradually becoming as still as an ancient well.

No one knew how long had passed—outside the warm pavilion, the sky had darkened. Wei Zhongxian ordered someone to light the lamps.

Tianqi still stared at the drawing without moving, brows knit tight, left thumb placed in his mouth as he kept gnawing at his fingernail.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, it's time for the meal." A young eunuch outside the door spoke softly—not daring to speak loudly and disturb His Majesty's interest, nor daring to speak so softly that His Majesty couldn't hear. He called out four or five times, nearly crying from the difficulty.

Seeing this, Wei Zhongxian stepped forward and said softly: "Your Majesty? Your Majesty? Your Majesty!"

"Haha!" Tianqi suddenly sprang up from the ground, his face wild with joy. "I've figured it out! A brush—bring me a brush!"

"Quick, a brush!" Wei Zhongxian shouted at the young eunuch.

Tianqi took the brush and was about to draw on the original drawing, but then thought better of it and asked for a blank sheet of paper instead. He sketched a rough draft of the ship, using various line segments to connect the missing parts of the original drawing.

Because his drawing was crude and didn't bother with perfect straightness or precision, it was completed quickly—in no time at all, it was done.

Tianqi tossed the brush aside, ink splattering everywhere. He admired his sketch for a moment, feeling immensely pleased with himself.

Tianqi finally understood the intent of the person who had made the drawings—first giving five drawings and ship models, these were the problem statement.

The sixth unfinished drawing was the key to the puzzle.

This turned out to be a carpentry examination!

And its difficulty was truly beyond comprehension!

To use learning the qin as an analogy—it was like having just learned the five notes gong, shang, jue, zhi, and yu, then being told to perform "Guangling San"—without even being given the score, playing from memory!

It was truly difficult beyond the heavens—absolutely not something an ordinary person could understand.

Tianqi had even thought at one point that the examiner had deliberately omitted a key condition.

Fortunately, who was he, Zhu Youjiao? With his intelligence and wit, in just a short—

Tianqi glanced out the window and only then realized the sky had gone completely dark. The eunuchs around him all looked at him with worried expressions.

"Why are you all staring at me? What time is it now?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, it is the hour of shen."

Oh—so in just a short two or six hours, he had solved the riddle!

What a satisfying carpentry examination—truly exhilarating and refreshing.

This method of setting the question was truly ingenious!

This strange, slender, oversized ship was truly ingenious!

Now the only thing left was to build the ship model.

"You there—bring me that timber. Zhongxian, fetch the ink line!" Tianqi rolled up his sleeves and began directing the eunuchs to work.

"Your Majesty, please eat first." Wei Zhongxian rarely offered such counsel.

Tianqi stiffened his neck: "I'm not hungry!"

Yahei

Pink Round

Pen