Chapter 66
The moment Lu Hanzhi fell, a group of people rushed forward, reaching out with all hands to help him up.
But Lu Hanzhi, rubbing his sore backside, stretched out his hand and said, “Wait…”
Everyone froze. Sitting up, Lu Hanzhi reached under himself and pulled out a smooth, rounded stone.
He examined it carefully and muttered to himself, “Isn’t this quartzite jade? And quartzite jade is often found alongside quartz stone deposits, right?”
He wasn’t particularly knowledgeable about mineral formations, but finding quartzite jade here suggested that there was a good chance of discovering a jade deposit.
Even if there was no jade, quartz stone itself was an excellent raw material for processing.
Lu Hanzhi was finally satisfied and, for once, refrained from cursing the System.
Just the kaolin covering these hills alone was enough for him to fire vast quantities of porcelain and sell them for an excellent price.
The only challenge now was designing the kiln, which was a rather tricky matter.
The kilns in the Great Zhao Dynasty were relatively simple in design. But overall, the principles were similar—he just needed to make a few modifications.
Without delay, he returned to the manor and entered his small experimental workshop to begin sketching out plans for the kiln factory. He spread out a sheet of paper, picked up a brush, and began contemplating.
For someone without professional expertise, designing a porcelain kiln was no easy task.
Even if he completed a draft, he would still need to consult skilled pottery artisans.
He recalled that during a winter study trip, he had once visited a kiln factory in Jingdezhen. By that time, most of the kilns there were modernized.
However, they had also toured traditional kilns and ancient kiln ruins.
At the time, their teacher had introduced them to two traditional types of kilns.
One was the mantou kiln—a domed kiln. It had a smaller chamber and heated evenly, but its thick kiln walls made rapid cooling difficult.
Moreover, the mantou kiln had a limited capacity, making it unsuitable for large-scale production.
Still, it was a good choice for small-scale sample production.
So, Lu Hanzhi decided to start by designing a smaller mantou kiln to produce test samples first.
The other type was the long kiln—dragon kiln—but its construction required more demanding conditions. Built along hillsides, it was a long, sloped structure.
The long kiln was vastly larger than the mantou kiln, often stretching for dozens of meters. Since its body functioned as a massive chimney, it had strong airflow, allowing for much faster cooling.
A long kiln was ideal for mass production, capable of firing large quantities at once.
Because the dragon kiln was too large, it resulted in significant temperature differences inside the chamber, causing the ceramics to be heated unevenly during firing.
Lu Hanzhi pondered for a moment—why not combine the advantages of both the mantou kiln and the dragon kiln?
However, due to time constraints, he decided to first design a mantou kiln and have the workers build it. Then, he planned to create a set of tools for shaping the clay and produce a batch to test the market.
These two types of kilns were relatively simple, and anything more complex was beyond Lu Hanzhi’s design capabilities.
He spent an entire day modifying the kiln’s blueprint. Once he finally perfected it, he immediately handed it over to Zai Yu and instructed him to start construction overnight.
At the same time, he also summoned the pottery kiln masters he had sought out earlier.
In the fictional dynasty of the Great Zhao, ceramic production was still quite rudimentary.
Even someone like Lu Hanzhi, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, only used tea sets made of fairly basic pottery.
However, the Lu family mostly used jadeware—jade cups, jade plates, and jade dishes were common.
But jade was fragile and expensive. Breaking a single set could cost hundreds of taels of silver.
The servants handled them with extreme care because breaking just one piece would mean losing an entire year’s stipend.
Porcelain, however, was different. It could be just as exquisite and pure as jade, even vibrantly colored, yet it cost significantly less.
Break one?
Just buy another one!
And so, that night, the workaholic Lu Hanzhi pulled another all-nighter.
Meanwhile, Ah Chan, seeing that his father still hadn’t returned, started becoming restless again.
Luan Feng couldn’t hold him, and the new maid certainly couldn’t either.
Ah Chan was usually incredibly well-behaved, but once he started crying, he could bring the whole house down.
Panicked, Luan Feng carried the wailing Ah Chan to find He Ming for help.
If they didn’t bring the young master back soon, the little prince was going to tear the roof off!
To be fair, Prince Qinxiao truly lived up to his title as the little prince—when he cried, he was like a fearless little warrior!
Hearing the commotion, Yuwen Min stepped into Hanyu Pavilion. He was still dressed in his martial attire, having not yet changed. He approached and asked, “Wang Fei hasn’t returned yet?”
As he spoke, he took Ah Chan from Luan Feng’s arms and said, “Let me handle this…”
Luan Feng bowed slightly in greeting and replied, “No, Your Highness, he hasn’t.”
Surprisingly, the moment Yuwen Min took Ah Chan into his arms, the child stopped crying. Instead, he became fascinated by the strands of hair hanging from Yuwen Min’s chest.
He grabbed at them and tried to shove them into his mouth, but Yuwen Min swiftly caught his tiny hand and flicked the strands back over his shoulder, muttering, “Dirty.”
Luan Feng looked at Yuwen Min in astonishment, her lips curving into an involuntary smile as she bowed again and said, “It seems there’s no doubt about the blood connection—His Highness takes him into his arms, and the little prince stops crying immediately.”
Yuwen Min looked down at the sleepy Ah Chan nestled against him and couldn’t help but smile as well. “Is that so?”
Seeing that the little prince was about to fall asleep, Luan Feng quietly excused herself.
Yuwen Min wasn’t particularly skilled at holding children, but after watching Lu Hanzhi carry Ah Chan so often, he had picked up a thing or two.
So, mimicking Lu Hanzhi, he softly hummed the lullaby he had heard the other night: “Little bunny, be good, open the door wide, open it quick, I want to come inside. No, no, I won’t, I won’t, if Daddy’s not back, I won’t open for anyone.”
Ah Chan’s little eyes slowly closed, his breathing evened out, and he fell into a deep and peaceful sleep.
Yuwen Min carefully placed him onto the small bed and instructed the maid outside to tend to him carefully. Then, he called for his personal guards to bring his horse and rode out of the residence.
It was already so late, and Wang Fei still hadn’t returned—he was getting worried.
After what happened last time, had that fool still not learned to be more cautious?
Meanwhile, at the estate, Lu Hanzhi had finally completed a great design. Feeling proud and satisfied, he admired his work and declared, “As long as my intelligence doesn’t decline, there will always be more solutions… than problems!”
Wasn’t it just a potter’s wheel? He had spent an entire night and managed to craft a simple semi-automatic one.
The reason he was rushing through these tasks wasn’t just for fun—he wanted to accumulate enough points to exchange for defensive artifacts.
If it were just him, it wouldn’t be a big deal—at worst, he could dodge danger himself.
But Ah Chan was still small. If they suffered one attack and their defenses broke, and then another attack followed, that would be disastrous.
He wanted to get Ah Chan an indestructible protection artifact, like the one Yuwen Min had. But that thing was outrageously expensive, so his only hope was to get lucky opening reward chests.
However, luck was unpredictable, so for now, his priority was grinding through missinos.
The exchange shop was filled with great items, and he had already abandoned his habit of reckless spending—he was determined to turn Ah Chan into an indestructible little fortress.
Just as he was finishing this thought, he heard a voice behind him, speaking in a slow, teasing tone: “Oh? What solution have you come up with now? What are you up to this time?”
Lu Hanzhi spun around abruptly, clutching his chest, and said, “Husband, you’re going to scare me to death! Can’t you announce yourself before appearing?”
Yuwen Min glanced at the mess on the floor and the spinning potter’s wheel and asked, “What is this?”
Lu Hanzhi answered, “A potter’s wheel. A semi-automatic… potter’s wheel.”
Yuwen Min examined it with a thoughtful expression. He studied the device for a long time but still couldn’t figure out its purpose.
Only then did Lu Hanzhi look outside and notice the time. “Ah… It’s this late already? Damn it! Did Ah Chan cry again?”
Yuwen Min nodded. “He did, but he’s asleep now.”
“Asleep?” Lu Hanzhi was shocked. “How is that possible? My second brother and second sister-in-law couldn’t get him to sleep no matter how hard they tried. Who has such magical skills to lull this little demon to sleep?”
A trace of pride flashed in Yuwen Min’s eyes. “I did.”
Lu Hanzhi wasn’t even surprised. Children were strange like that—they knew nothing, yet somehow, they seemed to know everything.
That must be the power of blood ties.
Seeing that Lu Hanzhi wasn’t reacting much, Yuwen Min frowned and asked, “So? Do you still think I’m an unqualified stepfather?”
Lu Hanzhi burst out laughing. “Alright, alright, you pass. Happy now?”
Yuwen Min seemed to be in a good mood. He glanced at Lu Hanzhi’s messy appearance and asked, “What happened to you?”
Lu Hanzhi looked down at the dirt on his clothes and said, “Ah… Husband, don’t misunderstand. I just went up the mountain to dig for soil, not to do anything unspeakable out in the wild.”
Yuwen Min: “…Speak properly!”
Lu Hanzhi, as usual, was grinning mischievously. He stepped forward, casually draping an arm over Yuwen Min’s shoulder. “No, Your Highness, I just discovered porcelain clay.”
Yuwen Min: “What is porcelain clay?”
Lu Hanzhi replied, “It’s… a type of soil formed when mica and feldspar undergo metamorphosis, losing elements like sodium, potassium, calcium, and iron, combined with water. It’s also called kaolinite or porcelain earth.”
Yuwen Min: …
For some reason, he could never understand what his Wang Fei was talking about.
Lu Hanzhi especially loved seeing the confused look on Yuwen Min’s face. Ever since he discovered this hidden side of the future tyrant—one that was surprisingly naive and clueless—he took every opportunity to tease him.
Summing it up, Lu Hanzhi said, “It’s used to make porcelain. Your Highness should have heard of porcelain, right? But this clay is of very high quality, and the porcelain made from it will be exceptional. Tomorrow, I’ll have a potter help me shape the pieces. Once they’re fired, Your Highness can take a look.”
Yuwen Min nodded. He knew that Lu Hanzhi must have inherited his business acumen from his grandfather.
That old man had once been the driving force behind the economic backbone of the Great Zhao Dynasty.
Yuwen Min stepped forward and said, “It’s getting late. Let’s return to the residence.”
Lu Hanzhi responded, shutting off the semi-automatic wheel before mounting the horse with Yuwen Min.
Although the sun had set, the sky was still awash in hues of evening glow.
Ah Chan had already fallen asleep, so the two of them weren’t in a hurry to get back.
The scenery along the way was breathtaking. Though Lu Hanzhi had traveled this road many times, he had never taken the time to appreciate its beauty.
At this moment, as he leaned against the chest behind him, watching the passing landscape, he suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu.
A thought stirred in his heart, bringing an inexplicable sense of ease.
He spoke, “Yuwen Min, how about I sing you a song?”
Yuwen Min paused and asked, “You can sing?”
Lu Hanzhi replied, “Of course! I can do many things you don’t know about.”
Yuwen Min chuckled. “Go ahead.”
Lu Hanzhi began to sing:
“The midnight stars, like wandering friends,
Love you, every scarred wound,
Fermented into aged, burning liquor…
….
At this moment, orioles take flight and grass grows long,
The one I love is on the road,
I know he braves wind and rain,
Passing through dusk without pause…”
In his mind, only those two lines echoed: I know he braves wind and rain, passing through dusk without pause.
Yuwen Min, was our meeting a coincidence… or fate?
Your favorite BL chaos wouldn’t be possible without coffee… lots of coffee….
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