The two men passed Li Qingxian. The one in the Official Uniform turned his head to glance at him. His gaze swept over the kraft paper bag, the Deer and Crane Pattern Jade Pendant at his waist, the back of his fair hand, and then the hairpin in his hair, where it suddenly stopped.
"You’ve got some nerve, coming to Ministry of Revenue Street on business without a proper hat. Still, you’re standing in the middle of the main road. It’ll be a hassle if you run into a high official. Which Government Office are you headed to? I can take you in if it’s on my way," a slightly sharp voice said.
Li Qingxian was jolted from his thoughts and looked toward the speaker.
This person was tall and thin, with a pale, beardless face, and appeared to be around thirty years old. At the left corner of his mouth was a black mole the size of a grain of rice. He had a round nose and the corners of his eyes drooped, giving him a somewhat fierce appearance, but his smile was gentle.
He wore the Golden Yellow Oriole Embroidery patch of a Senior Eighth Grade official, but the edges of his robes—the cuffs, collar, and hem—were all trimmed with a finger-wide strip of Blood Gold Brocade, similar in color to the Blood Gold Paint on the Ministry of Revenue’s black walls.
’A Ministry of Revenue Official, and one of the Evil God’s Followers.’
Li Qingxian froze for a second. It was as if his brain had been struck by lightning; a puzzle he couldn’t solve suddenly clicked into place.
Li Qingxian immediately bowed and said in a low voice, "I am Li Qingxian of the Night Guard. On the order of Disciplinary Officer Zhou Chunfeng of the Night Guard Divine Capital Department, I am here to discuss a major deal with the Ministry of Revenue and the Evil Sect. However, the Finance Department is obstructing things. I hope Your Excellency might grant me a private word."
The two men paused, glancing at the black carriage before their eyes returned to Li Qingxian.
The Eighth-Grade Official smiled and asked, "How big of a deal?"
Li Qingxian slowly puffed out his chest. Staring at the man’s Golden Yellow Oriole Embroidery, he said in a low voice, "At the very least, several hundred thousand taels a year. It’s more than enough to ensure Your Excellency a smooth path to the Middle-Third Grade."
The burly man with the sword scowled, but the Eighth-Grade Official looked Li Qingxian up and down again with great interest. He smiled. "Let’s discuss this in detail inside."
"My lord..." his guard murmured.
The Eighth-Grade Official acted as if he hadn’t heard. As he walked, he said, "My surname is Luo, and my given name is Jing. I’m just a minor Eighth-Grade Official, a nobody in the Ministry of Revenue. But while it might be easy to fool me, it’s hard to fool a god. Ministry of Revenue Street is easy to enter, but not so easy to leave."
Li Qingxian immediately followed him. "Everything I’ve said is the absolute truth. There are no lies."
Luo Jing smiled but didn’t speak.
The burly man with the sword said coldly, "To make such a boast at your age... Do you really think our Lord Divine Son is a pushover? Out here, you still have a chance to live. If you enter the Government Office and keep spouting nonsense, watch your head!"
As he walked, Li Qingxian said nonchalantly, "My father discovered this business opportunity, and I’ve spent many days successfully verifying it. I may be just a kid and count for nothing, but my father is a Fourth-Grade Scholar Cultivator and a Fifth-Grade Imperial Censor. He wouldn’t make wild boasts."
The burly man with the sword’s expression froze.
Luo Jing said, "No wonder you looked somewhat familiar. Among the Fifth-Grade Imperial Censors of the Imperial Censorate, there was indeed one with the surname Li. He passed away half a year ago after striking a pillar in the court. He is hailed by all as a model of Confucianism, a paragon among Scholars. I never imagined I would have a chance encounter with the son of Mr. Gangfeng today."
The burly guard’s face flushed bright red. His mouth twitched. After a few more steps, he said in a low voice, "Mr. Gangfeng was a great sage of our time, a true hero of the Human Race. I shouldn’t have run my mouth. I hope Mr. Xiaoli can forgive me."
"No harm done, you didn’t know," Li Qingxian said.
"Let’s talk as we walk," Luo Jing said. "How does the Divine Capital Bureau propose we cooperate? What is the specific business? And how great a Tributor will it bring to my god?"
Li Qingxian secretly breathed a sigh of relief. ’I’ve finally figured out two key things about the Ministry of Revenue.’
’First, this group of followers are true believers, genuinely willing to provide Tributors.’
’Second, they really need money.’
’In that case, I can use my high-tech knowledge to launch a dimensional strike.’
Li Qingxian took a deep breath and said, "My father was utterly devoted to the Emperor and the Imperial Court. He was a diligent and frugal official, but he believed in balancing work with rest. He enjoyed a small drink in his off-hours to relieve his fatigue. He noticed that the higher a person’s Grade Level and strength, the harder it was for them to get drunk, and all his friends wanted to drink stronger spirits. But making spirits consumes too much grain, a waste my father could not abide. So he never planned to produce them himself; he only mentioned it to me. I wanted to ease my father’s mind, so I began researching methods for distilling strong spirits. I’ve now had some success."
Li Qingxian was filled with confidence. ’If sauce-fragrance liquor technology could dominate on Blue Star, it was bound to be a dazzling success here, too.’
Luo Jing smiled. "I’ve heard that Mr. Gangfeng’s son is accomplished in neither literature nor martial arts, and that he didn’t get along with his father."
"Fine, I admit it. I just want to make some extra money," Li Qingxian said with a sigh of resignation.
"And this method for distilling spirits—how certain are you that it works?" Luo Jing asked.
"One hundred percent!"
"And the profits?"
Li Qingxian spun a tale as he thought, "Right now, all the alcohol on the market is made by pressing and filtering. A catty of common yellow wine goes for about ten Wen. But famous brands like Yuhua Chun, Qiulu Bai, and Flower Sea Brew can cost anywhere from five hundred to several thousand Wen per catty. As for spirits, they’re all made with crude, local methods. Production is low, costs are high, and they easily fetch nearly a thousand Wen. Our spirit, even if we sell it for just two hundred Wen a catty, would net a profit of one hundred fifty Wen after costs. The Daqi Empire is vast and populous; the annual demand for spirits is easily in the millions of catties. By my rough calculation, the net profit from these spirits would be, at minimum, two hundred thousand taels a year, and could be as high as one million taels."
Luo Jing couldn’t help but laugh. "You’re young and inexperienced, just spouting nonsense. The entire Inner Transport Bureau only brings in a little over one million taels a year. You think your annual revenue can match that of the Bureau?"
Li Qingxian said, "True, the spirits might not make that much money right now, but more and more people will drink them in the future, and demand will inevitably skyrocket. What’s more, I’ve discovered other uses for these spirits that I am currently researching. Their value is enormous."
Li Qingxian calculated inwardly. ’The spirits are just to make money. The real purpose of distilled alcohol is to create 75% medical-grade alcohol for disinfection.’
’Alcohol content that’s too low is poor at disinfecting and sterilizing, but if it’s too high... because...’ Li Qingxian thought for a moment but couldn’t remember the reason. ’Anyway, that also reduces its effectiveness as a disinfectant.’
’75% is the best. I remember that number clearly because everyone used alcohol with that concentration back then.’
’Although I have no idea how to actually measure alcohol content, I once saw a short video that mentioned when alcohol concentration reaches about 95%, it forms an azeotrope.’
’That means if I can find a way to get the alcohol to boil as an azeotrope, its concentration will be fixed at about 95%. And for a modern person, calculating how much water to add to dilute 95% alcohol down to 75% is just a simple math problem, easily done with some mental...’
’Hmm... better find some paper and a brush when I get back.’
’The important thing is, it doesn’t have to be exactly 75%. Anything between 70% and 80% has a powerful sterilizing effect.’
Without so much as a blush or a quickened heartbeat, Li Qingxian looked at Luo Jing, who had clearly paused to consider his words.
The burly guard muttered under his breath, "Mr. Gangfeng’s son... he probably wouldn’t lie."
"Of course not!" Li Qingxian declared righteously.
Li Qingxian thought to himself that he never would have expected it. ’Aside from leaving me with political enemies in half the Imperial Court, Father also left me a tiny, useful bit of inheritance after all.’