Mythical Three Kingdoms

”Let Lord Xuande handle the production of small glass items in his little glass kiln, and have standard glass materials fired in the official kilns. Separating the productions will avoid giving the Pure Stream Celebrities something to latch onto,” Chen Xi suggested.

What exactly were the Pure Stream Celebrities? In the past, these people just indulged in a pleasure-seeking life, discussing metaphysics, playing the lute one day, drinking wine the next. But ever since Chen Xi discovered that the Pure Stream Celebrities actually had abilities and cared more about their reputation than official titles, he had found tasks for them to do.

He set them to nitpick, to see where the governance could be improved and to speak on behalf of the commoners who dared not speak up. After all, their characters were quite impeccable, even if their behaviors were sometimes aberrant.

However, precisely because of this, they had earned the right to make suggestions and to supervise, which led to them seeking big news in the governing class when they couldn’t find significant problems among the populace, or when the common people’s issues were minor and could be mentioned in passing and quickly resolved.

Just recently, with nothing better to do, the Pure Stream Celebrities had turned a trivial matter involving Yuan Shao into a big sensation, leaving Yuan Shao in an extremely awkward position. Chen Xi certainly didn’t want his own side to become the subject of such sensational stories.

Liu Bei felt somewhat embarrassed upon hearing Chen Xi’s words. After all, when he first built the glass kilns, the distinction between government and private kilns had not been clear. It was Chen Xi’s remarks that made Liu Bei realize things were no longer as unregulated as before.

”Then I’ll use my private kiln to make the round mirrors. Zichuan, I recall you had a glass kiln too, right? Which number was it?” Liu Bei turned to ask.

”I had one?” Chen Xi looked up at the ceiling.

Who would remember such a triviality? But upon mentioning it, Chen Xi felt that he probably did have one at the outset, as some of the first kilns were privately owned, albeit without formal deeds or documents. Back then, nobody worried about such things, and of course, no one would inquire about Chen Xi’s ownership now.

”I remember you had some from the first batch when you built them. Do you remember which number kiln it was?” Liu Bei said thoughtfully.

”The first items to be fired were only tea trays, utensils, and teapots—only a few items were finished products, and then you took me to see the pieces,” Liu Bei recounted the initial situation, with Chen Xi nodding along.

”Now I recall, it was Kiln Number Two. When the first kiln’s firing was done, all the products were defective. I remember you saying, ’Good thing it’s not my glass kiln; otherwise, I would have lost even the cost,’ only to find out shortly after that everything from Kiln Number Two was also defective,” Liu Bei laughed heartily.

”It seems... there really was such an incident,” Chen Xi said, not quite certain; he wasn’t a stranger to schadenfreude, ”Oh, then Kiln Number Two will fire the large glass plates. Once they’re made into mirrors, sell them all to cover household expenses.”

”I’ll buy them when the time comes. You can rest assured about the price, Zichuan. It’s a pity that the failure rate is just too high,” Mi Zhu sighed. These products, especially the mirrors, were in high demand; Mi Zhen had seen one once and had never wanted a bronze mirror again, but the failure rate was a problem.

”It can’t be helped, the technique hasn’t arrived yet, we can only rely on the craftsmen’s instincts. Let’s make do and take the opportunity to make money while we can. These things are all made from sand; selling one round mirror should recover all the costs,” Chen Xi said nonchalantly.

”White porcelain is still made from clay; the crux is that technique is fundamental to turning decay into magic. No one complains that white porcelain is made from clay; you shouldn’t charge me the price of clay,” Mi Zhu complained discontentedly, ”It seems we’ll have to do more firings.”

”This is your responsibility. As for how much to burn, Zizhong, you can decide that yourself,” Liu Bei glanced at Mi Zhu and spoke, effectively delegating the glass manufacturing to Mi Zhu.

”Just oversee the burning process. Make sure not to collapse the profit. Also, have the craftsmen explore the issue of various colors. It’s not yet time to popularize this; consider it a technical reserve. We’ll talk about it when the time comes,” Chen Xi also reminded, knowing full well this was a monopoly business, yet he had no intention of profiteering at the moment.

Afterward, the group discussed some other matters before parting ways. Chen Xi and the others were now accustomed to the opulence of Liu Bei’s new home, no longer feeling lost like when it was first built. Indeed, habituation is a fearsome power.

”Hengheng, go play over there.” Just as Chen Xi arrived at his own doorstep, a white blur dashed out from within, and he deftly sidestepped to avoid it.

”Woof woof~” The little white dog woofed twice at Chen Xi in a quite human-like manner, then dashed back in with surprising speed.

But in that brief moment, Chen Xi still noticed something unusual. Hengheng, originally pure white, now had a few streaks of blood in its fur, and a patch of it was bare. However, remembering the thieves bitten the night before, Chen Xi didn’t think much of it. He meant to call Hengheng to get cleaned up but the dog had already run back inside, evidently in a rush to do something.

The dog, after being adopted by the Chen Family, understood who was boss and no longer acted as fiercely as before. Though it occasionally still plowed through walls by accident, it finally learned to restrain its power and knew whom to please.

”Butler Chen, no accidents happened today, right?” Chen Xi asked as he entered, greeted as usual by Butler Chen at the door.

”Master, the tree you planted was just knocked over by Hengheng,” the butler replied, head bowed, his expression unclear but presumably not good.

”No one got hurt, right?” Chen Xi asked, puzzled. ”Such incidents haven’t happened for a long time, have they? Why suddenly knock down a tree? Got too excited from last night’s fight?”

”A chicken from General Hua’s household next door became a supernatural being and flew over. Hengheng was biting it all morning, and that’s when the tree got knocked over. No one in the house was hurt, but the lady was a bit startled. General Hua’s butler has already come to apologize personally,” Butler Chen explained with his head lowered.

”Make chicken soup out of it for lunch,” Chen Xi said nonchalantly. ”It’s just a chicken, isn’t it? Mount Tai raises over a hundred thousand; when you have that many, some chickens suddenly develop Inner Qi. It even dares to fly into my yard.”

”Master, that chicken is quite formidable. It scratched Hengheng’s back until it bled, even pecked a chunk of flesh away. That’s why it was biting it all morning,” the butler replied helplessly with his head still down.

”Find an archer, slaughter that creature, and make soup for Ran’er at noon,” Chen Xi said, taken aback, then coming to a realization. With over a million chickens, it’s not surprising if one or two managed Qi Refining to Gang.

”Woof woof woof~” ”Cluck cluck cluck~” The sounds of the chicken-dog battle grew louder, and then both creatures suddenly appeared in front of Chen Xi.

”...” Chen Xi looked at the butler beside him, an awkward expression on his face, ”Why didn’t you tell me it was so big?” (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you’re welcome to vote for it on Qidian (qidian.com), as your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)