Chapter 954
Leaving
Pu Min looked nervous, her eyes filled with fear: "The Imperial Advisor found me and said that you, brother, had pledged allegiance to the late emperor and agreed to serve the royal family, but you... the new emperor is very dissatisfied, so he sent the Imperial Advisor to bring me back, to bring me back..."
Pu Min whispered, "I'll keep an eye on you when I get back."
Pu Si was stunned for a moment, and the coldness on his face instantly melted away. He took two steps forward, grasped his hand, and said with tears in his eyes, "Good brother, I misunderstood you."
Pu Si pulled Pu Min toward the side courtyard and said gently, "Like father, like son; like brothers, like tigers. Our Pu family's affairs still need to be resolved by people with the surname Pu. It's fine if the royal family wants to reap the benefits without effort, but they want us to hand over three times the amount we earn. That's putting us in a difficult position."
“How could those officials understand the difficulties of merchants?” Pu Si sighed. “They sent you back to fight with me, thinking they could squeeze more money out of you? But it’s good that you were granted a pardon and brought back. At least the benefits have been realized, and you can reunite with your aunt and sister Yue.”
Pu Min immediately said, "Of course I'm on my brother's side, but I can't disobey the imperial decree. From now on, we brothers can pretend to be at odds, but we'll still be on the same side..."
Pu Si gave him an approving look: "I think the same way."
Pan Jun didn't care how the two brothers talked; as for the Pu family, she didn't care about the process, only the result.
She got two wrecked boats, immediately called Wang Cong over to pay for them, and after paying, she sailed the boats away to the fishing village.
At the same time, the timber she ordered from Zhu's Timber Company in Kaifeng was also delivered to the fishing village.
Wang Cong spent an hour touring the entire fishing village. When he returned to the shed, Pan Yun and the craftsmen were looking at the blueprints she had provided.
He seized an opportunity, pulled Pan Yun outside the shed, and whispered, "Junior Uncle, is this going to work? Can this boat be expanded in such a rudimentary place?"
Pan Yun: "Don't underestimate them. I asked around, and their ancestors were genuine master craftsmen. It was because their father built a secret room in a house for a corrupt official, which contained a lot of valuables, that he was implicated and his family had to escape. The old craftsman was over thirty years old when he escaped, and his skills were even better than his father's. He used to work in a shipyard."
Pan Yun thought they were capable.
Wang Cong was still worried.
Pan Yun said, "If you're worried, stay here and keep an eye on things, and give them some guidance as well."
Wang Cong pointed to his own nose and said, "Me?"
“You, don’t tell me you can’t build ships,” Pan Jun said, taking out three books from his sleeve and slapping them on his chest. “No need to thank me. With your abilities, it will only take you ten days to read and understand them. Wang Cong, don’t forget your background. Your weapon-refining ability is no less than Miao He Yanbai’s alchemy ability.”
Refining weapons is similar to refining medicine; once you understand one thing, you can apply it to everything.
Wang Cong was skilled in weapon crafting. Even though he had never been involved in shipbuilding before, he could build ships once he understood the process.
But does he have the time?
Pan Yun said, "Sharpening your axe won't delay your woodcutting. The strong winds in Quanzhou have just passed, and Song Dalin and Wang Xiaojing have just returned to their hometown to visit relatives. They won't be back for a month or two. Why don't you put aside your work and focus on shipbuilding?"
After thinking for a moment with his eyes lowered, Wang Cong said, "Okay, I'll stay."
Pan Jun was satisfied and took him to meet the craftsmen.
When Pan Yun said that Wang Cong would stay behind to supervise their shipbuilding, the fishermen were not very happy. The old craftsman said, "Does the Taoist priest not trust us?"
Pan Yun pointed at Wang Cong and said, "He is not someone who knows nothing. If you have any questions about making tools, you can ask him."
The old craftsman sneered and looked at Wang Cong: "The simplest thing, do you even understand mortise and tenon joints?"
Wang Cong glanced at him, then silently picked up a knife and some wooden strips and began whittling them in front of them. An hour later, he assembled a model of a boat from the whittled wooden strips, without using a single nail, relying entirely on mortise and tenon joints. The old craftsman had already given in before Wang Cong had even finished half of it, but he was astonished to see that Wang Cong hadn't used a ruler or any measurements, but had simply whittled the wooden strips and then assembled a boat from them.
His eyes shone as he looked at Wang Cong, and he stepped forward and grabbed his hand, saying, "Brother Wang, your talent is amazing! In my life, I have only seen two people who can make models without measuring with a ruler, just by looking at them. You are the second one, and the first one is now the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works."
Pan Yun: "Kuai Xiang?"
The old craftsman's eyes gleamed, and he nodded repeatedly: "It is him. His mortise and tenon technique is unparalleled. He can build roofs without a single nail. Even the roofs of grand halls, which are entirely made of mortise and tenon joints, remain stable in the earthquake zone and do not collapse."
Wang Cong quickly waved his hand and said, "How can I compare to him? However, I still know the basic craftsmanship. With these three books, let's exchange ideas more in the future."
The old craftsman immediately agreed.
The fishermen followed him. Since he said Wang Cong was powerful, then Wang Cong must be powerful. Everyone immediately stepped forward and surrounded Wang Cong, warmly welcoming his arrival.
Having arranged for another junior apprentice, Pan Yun left satisfied and returned to Quanzhou to find Miaozhen and the other two.
Their free clinic has also come to an end.
As disaster relief supplies from the imperial court arrived one after another, the affected areas gradually resumed production thanks to the joint efforts of the government and the people.
The silt was cleared away, and the houses and streets were cleaned up. There were few people on the streets, and most people went to the fields to work on their crops.
This time, Pan Yun did not plan to fly back to the capital. Instead, she and Miao Zhen traveled from south to north, relying on a horse-drawn carriage and walking.
In her words, "After flying in the sky for a long time, we need to connect with the earth. We cultivate the Tao, and the Tao resides within people and cannot be separated from them for too long."
So they sat on the deck of the cart and drove it slowly northward.
That's right, their carriages didn't even have canopies, just a flat platform on which they placed their clothes, pots and pans, and grain and oil, so they could eat as they traveled.
The strong winds and heavy rains had only just stopped a few days ago, and the water on the roads had not yet dried completely. In particular, some of the roads were full of potholes, and the water was stuck in the middle of the road, making the mud soft and difficult to drain.
The horse showed no mercy, charging forward with an indomitable spirit, causing the carriage it was pulling to clatter from one ditch to another.
The people on the bus were tossed up and down and swayed from side to side like they were on a roller coaster, almost like raw eggs being shaken evenly.
Pan Yun endured for a long time, but finally couldn't take it anymore. She jumped off the car first and decided to walk on her own two legs.
As soon as she got out of the car, the other three breathed a sigh of relief and immediately jumped out as well.
Tao Yanbai let out a breath and led his horse through the middle of the road, while only the cart carrying luggage hopped forward.
Pan Yun and the other two walked along the roadside, stepping on the grass, at most getting their shoes and trouser legs dirty when wading through the mud.
On both sides of the road are endless fields.
Once you leave Quanzhou, this area is a plain, with only undulating mountains visible in the distance.
The rice paddies on both sides were flattened, and many people were using straw to prop up and tie the fallen rice. (End of Chapter)