Chapter 39: The Great King Understood

Night fell, and the lanterns of You King's Mansion were first lit.

Almost everyone in the mansion came out to wait for the lights of You King's Mansion to turn on; after all, hearing about it is no substitute for seeing it, and that moment was indeed extremely shocking, and the Imperial Guard Camp personnel really did not exaggerate.

Even the Great King specially went to the main gate to see the lights of the grand, double-sided three-gate arch light up in sequence.

That was a black-tech solar-array lamp refined by later-generation aesthetics; each building only needed palace servants to pull the rope on schedule, and it would emit a warm firelight comparable to the sun and moon, illuminating the outline of the whole building; from afar, the lights shone brilliantly, as if it were the sleepless city of Yingzhou.

It was said that the lights only dimmed slightly on overcast days, and the Imperial Guard Camp and palace servants had already come to regard the lighting design of this mansion as a divine immortal technique.

The Great King carefully examined the lantern hanging under the eave, seeing that its appearance was not much different from that of Great Jin's lanterns, and outsiders would only think that palace servants were lighting them one by one.

The only difference was that this lantern was octagonal, with a silver-white top on its surface; a few light brushstrokes sketched a simple ink painting on it, the contents varied, but the same on each was a large 'You' character.

The Great King asked Zhao Zhuge about the subtlety of this.

"This is the official configuration in the You King's Mansion's construction plans; the lord only needs to know that it relies on storing daytime solar heat to emit light at night." This involves complex physics knowledge that can't be explained in a few words. He himself is not a physics major and can't clarify how heat converts into electricity.

The Great King accepted it well; after all, they've seen the big world! Besides, children who dislike studying don't want to hear the manufacturing principle; he just needs to know that it lights up by storing daytime solar heat, without needing lamp oil.

Their next question cut straight to the heart of the matter: "What if it breaks?" The Great King was very pragmatic.

This couldn't be made in Great Jin, of course; naturally he planned to dismantle one in a corner where the impact would be minimal and have someone study it, which need not be said.

Zhao Zhuge: "... Under normal circumstances it's hard to break. If it does break, the Great King can buy a replacement from the Official Mall. Anything used in this mansion can be obtained as a substitute from the Official Mall."

The Great King hurried to verify, and indeed after the You King's Mansion was completed, many new products had been listed; flipping two pages, he found the same lantern hanging on the wall.

It was marked: You King's Mansion Official Standard Outdoor Solar-powered Palace Lantern x1, 199 silver ingots (one hundred ninety-nine silver ingots).

The Great King flicked his fingers—good grief, that's two thousand taels of silver!

How much grain could he buy and stockpile!

"Hmph! I finally know why they gave me a mansion for free—if anything here breaks, I can continuously make money off it!" There's no such thing as an indestructible lamp in this world!

The Great King understood.

Zhao Zhuge: "... The truth has been revealed, my lord."

The Great King immediately waved and summoned the distant attendant Tongchen, "Pass on my lord's command: all items in the new mansion must be safeguarded and used carefully. Especially these lamps, especially those at the gate—keep an eye on them for me! If they're lost or damaged, I have no money to replace them!"

"As Your Highness commands."

Zhao Zhuge: "Our lord is poor, and he's justified in feeling that way……"

That night, when the Great King entered Myriad Worlds Garden, he selected a bronze censer in the study and recognized it as one brought from the old mansion.

You King's Mansion had just moved in for a day; the palace servants were busy getting accustomed, and some facilities they didn't know required learning from Steward Zhao; adding or removing a censer would go unnoticed.

Taking the familiar route, they found the Ancient Blue Star Food Grocery Store, where Bai Yang was already waiting for him.

Upon seeing Little Great King, he pulled him over to look at the glass fish tank piled in the corner, exclaiming, "Great King, quick look—what good thing have I brought you!"

The Great King: "Isn't this our mansion's window?"

Bai Yang: ……

Your mansion is still quite advanced.

"Does Great Jin already have glass?"

"No, but the mansion does. You know, the mansion was built for me by Meng Meng."

Understood.

Upon hearing that Great Jin lacked it, Bai Yang's enthusiasm reignited: "Glass is a great thing—it can not only make windows but also fish tanks! When I went to buy oxygen tablets for you, I picked up two large glass fish tanks on the side; they're much sturdier than your window. In Great Jin, people used to keep ornamental fish in clay tanks, right? What's the point? This glass is transparent, which makes it convenient to admire the beautiful patterns of koi."

The Great King's eyes lit up: "I already have this glass outside; this one can definitely be taken out too!"

The Great King shoved the crane-shaped bronze censer he was holding into Bai Yang's arms: "Swapped!"

Bai Yang looked at the exquisite, beautifully shaped immortal crane furnace in his hands, feeling a pang of conscience. Exchanging a glass fish tank for someone else's bronze ware?

"Let me calculate—I won't take advantage of you; we'll go by our respective purchase prices, and the difference will be more than enough for a profit. I bought 100 catties of these oxygen tablets, which should be about 100,000 granules; you can take these to use first. Later I'll buy more and charge you ten silver ingots per 100 catties. This glass tank is made of gold-crystal five-line ultra-white glass, with a wooden base, one unit priced at 800, measuring one meter by half a meter. That's a hundred taels of silver, so for this size I'll charge you ten silver ingots each—does that work? Knowing you're short on funds, I'll let you have these two for free to use for promotion abroad……"

The Great King found the price acceptable; after looking at Zhao Zhuge's plan, he already had a figure in mind for the koi pricing.

Bai Yang being so considerate, the Great King couldn't be stingy; this crane-shaped censer was brought from Chang'an, and he didn't know its value either. "This censer was brought from Chang'an, domestically made; I don't know its price, so I'll value it at one hundred silver ingots."

Bai Yang felt embarrassed—domestically made, it's imperial!

Look at the craftsmanship, look at the pattern—lifelike. Last time he took back the Great King's inner robe, sent it to the Jiangnan auction, and earned over thirty thousand.

"I'll give you five hundred silver ingots." He swiftly paid the silver ingots and firmly refused to accept money for the oxygen tablets and fish tank he brought today. He positioned this transaction as an item exchange plus silver ingot payment, and taught the Great King to store the goods in the warehouse.

Seeing the oxygen tablets truly stored away, and gaining an additional five hundred silver ingots in income, the Great King couldn't wait to go back, wanting to see if he could leave smoothly this time.

This time, when he walked to the gate, there really was no red warning line stopping him!

"Wow~ Success!"

The resentment from previously blocking the printing technique, the Great King decided to let it go.

Compared to the flying brooms of the magic world and the postwar thermal weapons, oxygen tablets are really nothing. They cannot directly affect Great Jin's worldview, nor cause a collapse of belief and cognition; being a common cheap chemical, the authorities simply overlooked them.

It was also this little chemical that let the Great King strike his first fortune.