Chapter 96 Going and Staying

Hai Hour: People should return to their roots and sleep well.

However, in a certain inconspicuous little kiln factory, no one was sleeping. The military craftsmen were building the kiln all night long. Chen Ji and Liang Maoer were pushing the huge stone mill. The prince, Liu Quxing and She Dengke were sifting the raw materials together.

Even the little monk rolled up his sleeves and worked, constantly bringing in new raw materials.

Only Liang Gou'er sat with his legs crossed and his straw hat covering his face, not loving anyone.

The prince squatted beside the millstone, covered his mouth and nose with a cloth, and asked in a muffled voice: "Chen Ji, if we accomplish this, can we really leave our names in history?"

Chen Ji smiled and said, "Yes."

The prince asked again: "What kind of name do you want to leave?"

Chen Ji replied, "In the autumn of the 31st year of Jianing, the cement made by Zhu Yunxi, Zhu Baili, Chen Ji, She Dengke, Liu Quxing, the little monk, and Liang Maoer has left a legacy for generations. Cement is a revolutionary thing. Within a hundred years, every household will no longer use yellow mud and glutinous rice mortar to build houses, but our cement. Even if the history books of later generations forget about Prince Fu, Prince An, and Prince Qi, they will not forget us."

The prince's eyes sparkled: "Get to work!"

Just at this moment, a carriage stopped in front of the kiln factory.

Everyone looked over and saw Old Man Yao being helped by the driver to slowly get off the car, holding two bamboo sticks in his hands...

Liu Quxing and She Dengke's faces turned pale: "Oh no, we didn't tell our master that we wouldn't be back home that night, so our master is here to beat us up!"

The two of them looked at the prince at the same time: "Prince, help! Master will not kill you for your sake!"

The prince said bitterly, "I have no face in front of Doctor Yao."

Old man Yao sneered from a distance and said, "Your Highness does have some self-awareness."

Liu Quxing took the initiative to approach Old Man Yao and said with a wry smile: "Master, you must be tired from carrying two bamboo sticks. I will help you carry them for a while."

But as soon as he stretched out his hand, he was hit on the back of his hand by a bamboo stick.

Old man Yao said in a dull tone: "I remember the last time I beat you up for staying out all night was a few days ago. After all, I am old and my strength is weak. Even if I beat you up, you won't remember it."

Liu Quxing's eyes rolled, and he quickly changed the subject: "Master, Chen Ji's father came to the kiln factory today and said that he had discussed with you and wanted to send him to Donglin Academy, so he no longer needs to be an apprentice in our clinic."

"Oh?" Old Man Yao slowly looked at the traces beside the stone mill: "This is a good thing. Why didn't you follow your father and instead push the stone mill and do rough work here?"

"Master, I want to stay in Taiping Medical Clinic."

Old Man Yao was happy: "You don't want the luxurious clothes and delicious food of the Chen family, and you want to endure it without any hardship? I have already promised Master Chen, you should go back to the Chen Mansion soon."

Chen Ji said calmly: "I don't believe you promised him."

Old man Yao raised his eyebrows and said, "Your father came to the clinic today and presented eight gifts politely, including ten silver ingots and a silver ruler. Why shouldn't I accept them? Don't treat you like a treasure. I wish you could go home early and stop annoying me in the clinic."

Liu Quxing took the opportunity to bring a chair to Old Man Yao and helped his master sit down: "Master, when Master Chen came today, Chen Ji had already rejected him righteously. Please calm down. He didn't want to return to the Chen Mansion, isn't it for the sake of the friendship between you and him as a master and disciple."

Old man Yao was silent for a moment, then turned to look at Liu Quxing: "There are some food in the carriage, including donkey meat and pickled garlic. Go get them and share them. Young people don't know the importance of eating one meal a day, but when you get old, you will understand that having a good body is the most important thing."

Liu Quxing's eyes lit up, and he almost shed tears of emotion: "Master really cares about us!"

In the evening, they went back to the kiln factory without even having a meal. If the military craftsmen hadn't shared some bread with them, they would probably still be hungry!

Everyone ran towards the carriage, but Chen Ji stopped and did not move.

In the night, the young man and the old man stared at each other from afar, tigers and tigers, just like the gaze of the old era and the new era.

This master had a mean tongue, but he brought a cart full of food.

Old Man Yao was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "Go back, go back to Chen's house."

Chen Ji was surprised: "Why?"

Old Man Yao looked up at the night sky and said slowly, "The Chen family is so high that others can never reach it in several lifetimes. It will be good for you to go back. Whether you continue to study medicine or go to Donglin Academy to prepare for the imperial examination, it is better than staying in my small Taiping Medical Clinic. I have nothing more to teach you about tiger skills, so you don't need to stay with me."

Chen Ji was stunned. He didn't expect that his master had been thinking hard for a whole day and finally rushed over overnight not to keep him, but to persuade him to leave.

He knew that Old Man Yao must have rejected Chen Liqin at the beginning.

But Old Man Yao thought about it for a whole day, and after going through so many changes in his mind, he still chose a smoother path for Chen Ji.

Just because this road is better for Chenji.

Old Man Yao said calmly, "The Shanjun Sect spends money like water. If you stay at the Taiping Clinic, even if you learn my medical skills, you can only save money slowly by earning one or two taels of silver per patient. In the end, you will waste your whole life and never reach the threshold of the divine realm. If you return to the Chen family, as long as you pass the imperial examination, even if you are a bastard, you will have a lot of money to spend."

Chen Ji hummed.

Old Man Yao was particularly talkative tonight. He continued, "Golden Pig came to the clinic again today, but still couldn't find you. His patience will eventually run out. If you go back to the Chen family, he will be afraid to do anything to you."

"Go back, the Chen family is more suitable for you."

Chen Ji said: "But Master, people can't always choose what suits them, they have to choose what they want."

He looked at the prince and others who were wolfing down their food at the entrance of the kiln factory, and suddenly asked, "Master, you had already predicted that the palace would be in great trouble, so you don't want to see me involved in this vortex and choose to send me away, right? If I return to the Chen family, away from the Taiping Clinic, away from the Prince Jing's Mansion, away from the prince, and away from the princess, I can stay out of it and escape this disaster?"

Old Man Yao was silent for a moment: "Yes."

Chen Ji said seriously: "Master, since my fate can be changed, can the fate of Prince Jing's Mansion be changed?"

Old Man Yao stared at Chen Ji and said, "The fate of Prince Jing's Mansion is complicated and cannot be changed by one person's words. Their fate is already determined, but your life still has infinite possibilities. If you don't leave, you will just be a moth flying into the flame, and be swept into the unknown flame."

At this time, the prince, who had been hungry for most of the day, stuffed his mouth with donkey meat and smiled foolishly. Liu Quxing leaned against the carriage and teased She Dengke about his eating habits.

Chen Ji looked at these people and suddenly said, "Master, they are very good friends. I can't leave. Even if my fate is determined, I want to try to change it."

The young monk once said that Chen Ji had cut off the words greed and anger in his life, leaving only the word stupidity which was inexplicable.

Stupidity is stubbornness and persistence.

Old man Yao looked at his apprentice for a long time without saying a word.

After a long time, he stood up and said, "You can pretend that I didn't say these words tonight, but when you see your fate, don't regret it."

"No regrets."

But Chen Ji smiled and waved to the prince and others: "Are you full?"

"I am full!"

"Work!"

Liu Quxing laughed and said, "Chen Ji, you eat one too. I'll save the one with the most donkey meat for you!"

Old man Yao turned around and got on the carriage. Halfway up, he looked back at the kiln factory. The young men had already stuffed the donkey meat bacon in their hands into their mouths and started pushing the stone mill again, as if pushing a heavy fate. …

……

The next afternoon, the sun was shining brightly.

A horse-drawn carriage was driving slowly on the official road.

Princess Baili opened the curtains a little, letting the cold wind caress her light hair: "Dad, my brother and his family didn't come home yesterday."

Prince Jing sat at the end of the carriage with his eyes closed, resting, and only hummed softly.

Bai Li exclaimed: "Dad, in the past, if my brother didn't come home at night, you would hang him up and beat him. Why are you so tolerant now?"

Prince Jing didn't even open his eyes: "I was strict with him before because he will become Prince Jing sooner or later. Sitting in that position, his every word and action affects the livelihoods of countless people, so naturally we can't let him do whatever he wants."

"What about today? Why didn't I see you get angry?"

“Because he’s doing the right thing.”

Bai Li looked out the window and asked casually, "Dad, you've been resting your eyes for a long time. Are you thinking about how to plot against Chen Ji?"

Prince Jing slowly opened his eyes: "In your heart, is dad such a petty person?"

Bai Li closed the curtains, sat up straight and said seriously: "Dad, you know how cunning you are. Just tell me, you suffered a loss yesterday, how are you going to plot against him?"

Prince Jing was amused: "Why are you asking this? If I tell you, won't you turn around and tell on me? Good job, Baili, you are playing tricks on your old father."

"Don't plot against him. I'll make you braised pork when I get back!"

"Dad doesn't like to eat braised pork anymore, it's too greasy."

"Then I'll give you a back massage!"

Prince Jing exclaimed, "Why are you so supportive of this boy? Did he drug you?"

Bai Li said solemnly: "He has no family to rely on, so we, as his friends, naturally have to take his best interests into consideration. He is not one of those gentry, so you are not allowed to use the same methods to deal with gentry to deal with him."

Prince Jing was silent for a moment: "Okay, but some things involve military strategies, I will not let those secrets leak out to the public. And you have to understand that if you let him have some things all to himself, it will cause trouble."

Baili held out his little finger: "Anyway, you promised me, pinky promise."

"Okay, okay, pinky promise."

The carriage slowly stopped in front of the kiln factory. Before Feng Daban could put the footstool in place, Bai Li had already lifted the curtain and jumped out.

Feng Daban said hurriedly from behind: "Hey, Princess, slow down, the muddy road is slippery!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Baili ran into the gate and disappeared.

Prince Jing coughed softly in the car, and Feng Daban turned around and said, "Prince, how are you?"

Prince Jing smiled and said, "I feel better after drinking Doctor Yao's medicine... Why is it so warm here? Let's go in and take a look!"

At this time, inside the kiln factory, a solid downdraft kiln was located in the middle, and coal was being thrown into the combustion chamber one shovel at a time by Chen Ji and others.

A raging fire started, sweeping through the closed downdraft kiln, and the raw materials were swallowed, melted, and sintered little by little by the flames.

Prince Jing stood silently in front of the kiln. He could not see what was happening inside the kiln, but could only feel the heat waves coming towards him through the kiln wall.

He looked at Wang Kezhi: "How is it?"

Wang Kezhi said with difficulty: "Your Majesty, the flame is almost white, and the temperature is higher than we imagined."

"What are they burning now?"

"cement."

"How much longer?"

"This is the third furnace. They finished the first one before daybreak this morning and used the clinker from that furnace to build a brick wall."

It was not until then that Prince Jing noticed that a brick wall had appeared in the corner of the kiln factory, with mud and mortar sticking between the bricks.

As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Ji stopped shoveling coal, looked at Prince Jing with a smile, and handed over a hammer: "Your Majesty, please use the hammer to knock on the brick wall and see if my cement can replace the glutinous rice mortar."

Feng Daban said at the side: "Your Majesty, you just drank the medicine, let me knock on your door."

Prince Jing looked at the brick wall and shook his head: "No need, I can do it myself."

After saying that, he dragged the hammer to the brick wall and swung it vigorously. He saw that some of the stone skin of the blue bricks was broken off, but the brick wall was extremely firmly attached and did not move at all!
Prince Jing hammered a few more times and finally knocked off a few blue bricks.

When the prince saw the wall being broken by the hammer, he looked at Chen Ji worriedly: "What should we do? This is not strong enough."

But the next moment, Prince Jing asked, "Was this wall built this morning?!"

Wang Kezhi explained: "Your Majesty, I saw them building it this morning."

Prince Jing continued to ask: "If it is glutinous rice mortar, how long will it take to reach this strength?"

"Reporting to the prince, the glutinous rice mortar needs a full ten days. If this cement is used to repair the city walls in the border towns, it may have a miraculous effect."

Prince Jing asked again: "How long does it take them to make this cement?"

"Reporting to the prince, it takes less than an incense stick. If you want to change the glutinous rice mortar, you need to boil it on the spot for four hours and then let it sit for two hours before you can use it."

Prince Jing asked again: "How much do you think this item costs?"

"Reporting to the prince, the raw materials of this material are just clay and chalk, and the cost is less than one-fifth of the glutinous rice mortar. If we can use the materials locally, the cost will probably be less than one-tenth after deducting the cost of transportation..."

The prince was silent. As the saying goes, the layman sees the excitement while the expert sees the details. Only a military craftsman like Wang Kezhi could understand the significance of cement in this era.

Prince Jing looked at Feng Daban and said, "Go and invite Lord Zhang Zhuo and Lord Chen Liqin to come over."

Feng Daban was puzzled: "Your Highness, Lord Zhang needs to preside over the Imperial Examination today, and Lord Chen needs to deal with river affairs, so I'm afraid they can't come."

Prince Jing smiled and said, "Then you can tell Lord Zhang that he was worried about how to build houses to deal with the refugees in Yuzhou. Now his problem has been solved. With this thing, the refugees can have some temporary shelter. If no one dies in Luocheng this winter, it will be a great achievement for Zhang Zhuo. Compared with this, the autumn examination is nothing. He knows what is more important."

"What about Master Chen?"

"Tell him that his levee can be saved, too."

The prince suddenly cheered, and Bai Li looked at him with a smile as he, Liu Quxing, and She Dengke lifted up Chen Ji together: "It's done! It's done!"

(End of this chapter)