CHAPTER 52: 50. HUSH MONEY

In the thin morning mist, roosters crowed as a carriage slowly halted in front of the Medical Hall.

Princess Bai Li lifted the curtain and jumped down from the carriage, stretching languidly.

She looked around but did not see the thin figure who was sweeping the ground.

Strange, the person was here sweeping at this time yesterday, why are they missing today?

Could they be sleeping?

At that moment, Liang Mao’er also, carrying Liang Gou’er on his back, leisurely hopped down from the carriage and walked into the Medical Hall.

Liang Gou’er was tall and big but seemed weightless on Liang Mao’er’s back. On normal days, he could carry him for miles without any sign of strain.

With a simple smile, Liang Mao’er bid farewell to the Princely Heir and Commandery Princess Bai Li, "Princely Heir, Commandery Princess, thank you for your hospitality, I will take my brother home to sleep now."

The Princely Heir waved with a smile, "Go on, go on."

When Liang Mao’er returned to the apprentice dormitory, Bai Li tiptoed to glance inside but still did not see Chen Ji, "Strange, where has that heartless man gone?"

Chen Ji was not in the Medical Hall, he was walking on the bluestone path leading to the East Market.

Below him walked Wu Yun, who leaped lightly along the roofs beside him.

The pair, a man and a cat on the roofs, seemed like a silently guarding spirit of Chen Ji.

The East Market was bustling, goods from north to south gathered here, muscular workers carrying burlap sacks back and forth endlessly.

Chen Ji found a breakfast stall, sat down at a small outdoor wooden table, and Wu Yun lightly jumped into his lap, hiding under his clothes with only its head poking out from the collar.

"Chen Ji, buns!"

Chen Ji waved at the server with a smile, "Server, two baskets of sauce-filled buns and a bowl of hot soy milk!"

"Coming right up! Please wait a moment, sir. Your buns will be served shortly!"

As the buns were served, Chen Ji took a big bite of one with his right hand, while the left hand held another for Wu Yun to take bites from.

He ate slowly, quietly waiting.

As he finished his second bun, a middle-aged customer entered the neighboring grocery store, "Shopkeeper, how much for the saltpetre?"

The shopkeeper sat inside with his legs crossed, "300 cents a dou, delivery within three miles to your specified location... Sir, what do you need saltpetre for?"

The customer replied with a smile, "My family produces fire inches, and we use saltpetre every day. Usually, we purchase from Old Li, but his shop was unexpectedly closed this morning. Shopkeeper, 300 cents a dou is a bit expensive, can you go any lower?"

However, the shopkeeper, cracking sunflower seeds, responded, "Take it or leave it."

The customer frowned and stormed out, "What kind of way is that to do business? Can’t you speak properly? There are plenty of other saltpetre sellers in East Market, I don’t have to buy from you!"

The shopkeeper, still cracking sunflower seeds and nonchalant, retorted, "Then go buy from somewhere else."

Chen Ji watched the customer leave, and immediately after, a young man dressed as a ’boatman’ in the breakfast stall, who had not even finished his meal, put down his chopsticks, stood up, and followed the customer.

The young tracker kept a distance of about ten steps, blending into the crowd but keeping a keen eye on the customer.

As the young man passed by Chen Ji, he saw thick calluses on the right hand’s base, marks left from years of handling weapons.

Chen Ji realized: Jin Zhu had already made his move.

This Jin Zhu was smarter and more discreet than expected, guessing that the Jing Dynasty was most interested in firearms, hence, after arriving in Luocheng City, he discretely set up the shop, implanted spies posing as merchants, tracking everyone who wanted to buy saltpetre!

Jin Zhu, hidden in the shadows of Luocheng City like a spider, was weaving a large web while the Jing Dynasty Military Intelligence Department let its guard down.

The military hardware handed over by Consort Yun might have been stolen from the Craftsmanship Supervisor’s inventory by insiders.

If Jin Zhu were smart enough, he likely already started to check the inventory, recovering the stolen spoils... Unsure if Consort Yun and the Liu Family could withstand Jin Zhu’s scrutiny.

The Jing Dynasty Military Intelligence Department and the Liu Family finally encountered a true rival.

Chen Ji ate his buns quietly, he and Wu Yun finished the two baskets of buns before getting up to leave, both letting out satisfied belches, "Truly satisfying!"

Chen Ji strolled leisurely in East Market, passing by a sugar shop, he quickly surveyed the surroundings from the corner of his eyes: the shopkeeper was genuinely selling brown sugar and white sugar, with servants of nobles buying them and no one was being followed or watched.

After observing for a while, he approached the stall and inquired, "Shopkeeper, how much are the brown sugar and white sugar respectively?"

The shopkeeper replied with a smile, "Sir, brown sugar is eighty cents per pound, and this white sugar frosting is ten taels silver per pound."

Chen Ji was dumbfounded, the white sugar was outrageously expensive!

However, he soon realized why: most families in this era still used brown sugar, and the method of producing white sugar was a closely guarded secret, not disclosed by any family.

Currently, only the noble and rich could enjoy the "elegant" white sugar frosting, a real luxury.

Chen Ji contemplated, should he try making some white sugar himself?

Impossible.

"Heavenly Craftsmanship" recorded a decolorization method using yellow mud water, which involved dripping yellow mud water over brown sugar to produce white sugar.

However, in Chen Ji’s era, no one had ever successfully replicated the "Yellow Mud Water Decolorization Method," and this technology was already lost.

Chen Ji pulled out some broken silver, "Shopkeeper, one tael of sugar frosting, just one tael."

With a paper bag in hand and a bamboo tube of Fire Saber Wine purchased, Chen Ji had all the ingredients needed to make gunpowder.