Li Qingxian cupped his hands. "Lord Fann, you’re too kind. I’ll be coming to the Imperial Prison often in the future. Since you and Brother Han know each other, I’m afraid I’ll be troubling you a lot."
"No trouble, no trouble at all. Brother Han and I go way back. Any friend of his is a friend of mine." Fann Xing, his face full of excitement, turned to the other prison guards. "Hurry up and come greet Lord Li Qingxian."
A dozen or so prison guards hurried over, bowing in greeting.
The prisoners also looked over.
Li Qingxian smiled slightly. "Everyone, no need for formalities. We’ll be seeing a lot of each other. I just stopped because I saw a few familiar faces."
"In that case, I’ll have to take good care of your acquaintances," Fann Xing said with a laugh.
"That won’t be necessary."
Li Qingxian looked toward the prisoners.
Squatting in a corner, Pang Mingjing was different from the other prisoners. He was completely clean, his hair was neat, and this former Room Leader of the Finance Department calmly watched Li Qingxian.
The man to Pang Mingjing’s left was stained with blood, his face so pale he looked like he could die at any moment. He glanced at Li Qingxian, his eyes flickering and his lips trembling, but he gritted his teeth and said nothing.
Tao Zhi. The man of the hour last night, the talk of the Night Guard Office today, and the previous Room Leader of the Finance Department.
To Pang Mingjing’s right, another man had straw stuck in his hair. His clothes were torn, and his body was covered in filth, even some yellow stains. He looked up at Li Qingxian for just a moment before fearfully curling into a ball, hugging his head to his knees. Like a chick facing a predator, he trembled violently, desperately trying to press closer to Pang Mingjing.
Li Qingxian shook his head and said, "Lord Fann, I have other matters to attend to. I’ll take my leave."
"I’ll see you out." Fann Xing immediately fell in behind Li Qingxian.
Pang Mingjing watched Li Qingxian’s retreating back and sighed.
Tao Zhi asked in a low voice, "Lord Pang, why do you sigh?"
"If he had come over to humiliate us, I would actually be relieved. But instead, he just gave us a passing glance. With that kind of composure, he’s destined for greatness. What’s more terrifying is that he’s completely unconcerned with us. It means he’s already won."
"But... you’re just going to let it go?" Tao Zhi said through gritted teeth.
Pang Mingjing glanced impassively at the man who had taken his position only to be thrown in jail to accompany him before the seat was even warm. ’Choosing such an idiot was Lord Wei’s greatest failure,’ he thought.
"Sigh..." Pang Mingjing just sighed again, saying nothing more.
After parting ways with Fann Xing, Li Qingxian looked up and saw Zhou Chunfeng and Luo Jing talking with a Seventh-Grade Eunuch by the entrance to Room B3. The eunuch wore a bright red robe embroidered with a tiger-like beast.
From inside Room B3 came a cacophony of disorganized sounds and shouted orders. He could faintly hear Liu Muwa directing people.
As soon as Zhou Chunfeng saw Li Qingxian, he said to the eunuch, "Lord Jingg, this is Li Qingxian. Qingxian, this is Lord Jingg Guan."
The eunuch, Jingg Guan, a man with a round face, small eyes, and a kindly expression, took the initiative to cup his hands in greeting. "A pleasure to meet you, Lord Li. Lord Yan has been singing your praises all day."
Li Qingxian immediately returned the gesture. "It’s an honor, Lord Jingg. Please, you’re too kind. Just call me Xiaoli."
Li Qingxian took a second look at Jingg Guan. He was also a eunuch, but completely different from Yan Shixiao. He was refined and courteous; without his bright red brocade eunuch’s uniform, he would seem more like a gentle and cultured scholar.
"From now on, I will be stationed here with a team of little eunuchs. If we are any bother, I hope Lord Li will forgive us," Jingg Guan said amicably.
Li Qingxian smiled. "We are all serving the Emperor, so how could there be any bother? If you have any instructions in the future, Lord Jingg, please don’t hesitate to give them. However..."
Li Qingxian glanced at the ten beardless but powerfully built eunuchs standing not far away. They all wore bright red brocade robes, their ranks ranging from Eighth to Tenth Grade.
"Lord Li, please speak freely. Before I left, Lord Yan instructed that regarding all matters related to the distillery, we are to listen to you so as not to disrupt the proper order," said Jingg Guan.
Li Qingxian lowered his voice. "Do you only serve in the Inner Treasury Bureau, or do you also have tokens from the Internal Factory?"
Jingg Guan smiled, and a wooden token with a red border and a carved golden dragon pattern slid out from his sleeve, only to be quickly withdrawn.
"I see. That sets my mind at ease," Li Qingxian said. "As you know, the Four Bureaus have high hopes for this venture. The last thing we need is someone getting greedy and causing unnecessary complications."
Jingg Guan smiled faintly. "It seems Lord Li is also a straightforward person. In that case, I won’t beat around the bush either. Logically, my presence shouldn’t have been necessary for this matter. However, Lord Yan places great importance on it, which is why he sent me. I work for the Emperor, and in this world, heaven and earth may be vast, but the Emperor is vaster still."
"Then I am truly relieved."
With that, Li Qingxian turned to Luo Jing. "Hasn’t your Ministry of Revenue offered anything?"
Luo Jing didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. "You never miss a chance to get more, do you? I brought the Divine Token Evil Eye. You call that nothing?"
"Nothing else?"
Luo Jing sighed helplessly and gave a slight nod, but said nothing.
Zhou Chunfeng said with resignation, "Lord Jingg, as you can see, my worthy nephew is very direct. I hope you’ll bear with him."
But Jingg Guan just chuckled. "I have seen more than my share of schemers and sycophants. To meet someone so straightforward is a welcome change. Lord Yan is the same way. No wonder he constantly praises Lord Li and told me to look after our little brother Qingxian."
Everyone present had a moment of sudden understanding. No wonder Jingg Guan was so friendly toward Li Qingxian.
Li Qingxian glanced at Zhou Chunfeng, who in turn jerked his chin toward Room B3. "Old Liu has been waiting for you for ages. He’s building the first large... uh... still. Go give him some advice."
Luo Jing laughed. "You’d better hurry in. He kicked us all out. Said we weren’t good enough."
"Alright."
Li Qingxian walked through the door and was met with a scene of utter chaos. Broken walls exposed shattered bricks, dust filled the corners, and piles of chains, iron shackles, and metal bars were heaped in other spots. A foul stench assaulted his nostrils.
It looked like the space had once been a series of individual rooms that had just been knocked through.
Liu Muwa was directing the installation of a still. Just like the day before, smoke poured from his seven orifices, forming a smoky skull above his head. His skin was a dusky, stiff black, and he wore a perpetual death mask of an expression.
Seeing Li Qingxian, Liu Muwa hurried over. "Qingxian, I just had an idea. I want your opinion on it."
Liu Muwa slapped his Qi Fortune Silver Fish Pouch, and a small condenser tube flew out. Unlike the previous straight ones, this one was coiled inside like a snake.
’I feel like I’ve vaguely seen this thing somewhere before, but that’s it. My knowledge of alcohol distillation is completely stuck at a middle-school level; I know nothing about large-scale distillation methods.’
Li Qingxian thought for a moment, then said, "This coiled condenser tube looks good, but I’m not sure if it’s ideal for alcohol distillation. Also, besides distillation itself, we have to consider other factors, like whether it’s better to use ice or water for cooling, since excessive cold might cause the tube to crack. Besides glass, are there any other materials we can use as a substitute? For these things, I can only offer my opinion. The specific improvements are entirely up to you."
"You’re still the most thorough one. Those other guys don’t know anything," Liu Muwa said. "We’ll do as you say, then. We’ll use the brute-force method: build several different stills at once and then pick the best one."
Li Qingxian pointed at the rubbish in the corner. "Disciplinary Officer Liu, let me speak from the perspective of running a distillery, and please don’t take offense. What we’re trying to do isn’t run-of-the-mill, and it’s not a small-time operation. We are going to build the best distillery in all of Daqi. Every person here, every piece of trash, every speck of dust could affect the final quality. You’re a master craftsman, so you must know that the air and dust are full of tiny bugs invisible to the naked eye. The fewer of those things, the better."
Liu Muwa furrowed a brow so stiff that no one would have noticed. "You have a point, but I want to build the stills as quickly as possible."