What's wrong with me, a powerful minister, supporting a few female officials?

Chapter 240 The Concubine's Best Friend!
Su Mo was speechless.

Who knew Meng Danying would stay overnight at the Su residence!
Who knew she ended up sleeping in Liu Siyun's bed!
Logically speaking, a lady from such a prominent family would almost never stay overnight outside.

However, considering that she, like his beloved concubine, had a history of climbing over walls and was 100% unconventional, it was understandable that she stayed overnight at his house.

He really didn't mean to take advantage of Meng Danying.

Upon realizing something was wrong, he immediately withdrew his hand!
As soon as Su Mo released his hand from her mouth, Meng Danying hurriedly pulled the blanket over her chest, staring at Su Mo with utter terror on her pretty face. She was like a stunned chicken, unable to answer Su Mo's question.

Su Mo waited for a long time but didn't get an answer to her question. In the end, he could only sigh and crawl out of bed.

He looked at Meng Danying with a wry smile: "Young lady Meng, this is all a misunderstanding!"

"I had no intention of offending you."

"But rest assured, young lady, I will never reveal a word of this matter to anyone, lest I tarnish your reputation!"

"Farewell!"

Meng Danying watched Su Mo's departing figure, then lifted the blanket again to look at her silk undergarment, revealing her curvaceous figure.

Her pretty face instantly turned red!

Sleeping in silk undergarments is incredibly comfortable, but they're so thin they feel practically like you're not wearing anything at all...

Su Mo's big hands...

The more Meng Danying thought about it, the redder her cheeks became, almost dripping blood!
No matter how unconventional she was, she was still an unmarried woman who had been raised with strict rules against physical contact between men and women, and had her most private parts explored without any barriers...

Meng Danying felt like dying!

For a moment, I didn't know what to do!
Su Mo returned to her room feeling dejected.

I hope Meng Danying doesn't scare herself away.

She writes books incredibly fast, and like Xue Yishu, she has a photographic memory. She can remember the outline and plot clearly after hearing it only once, and the plot she writes is almost identical to the original Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

This woman is of great use!

It's not as simple as just one book like Romance of the Three Kingdoms or Legend of Zhenguan.

As someone from a later era, Su Mo clearly understood the importance of controlling public opinion, especially the crucial role of opposing powerful clans and seizing the high ground in public discourse.

Once the paper is manufactured and movable type printing is implemented, the official gazette can be put on the agenda.

As long as a vernacular novel is serialized in the official gazette, and a famous piece is published from time to time, the gazette's sales are unlikely to be low.

In Su Mo's mind, the most suitable candidates for editor-in-chief and person in charge of the official gazette were Xue Yishu and Meng Danying, two literary youths and lovers of vernacular novels.

Why don't we take Meng Danying in too?
Although Meng Danying's personality was not the gentle, demure type that Su Mo preferred.

But her petite and delicate figure was indeed the most in line with Su Mo's aesthetic standards.

My accidental exploration has confirmed this.

Beneath the silk robe, a small body conceals a great thunderbolt; the grass is extremely sparse, almost resembling a high-ranking official!
Thinking of this, Su Mo subconsciously put her hand under her nose and smelled it.

The scents of soap and lavender perfume are faintly detectable.

Xue Yishu treated her best friend very well, giving her soap and perfume to use.

Su Mo has no problem taking Meng Danying in.

These days, having three wives and four concubines is perfectly normal. Su Mo could easily afford to support one more concubine.

However, a wealthy family like the Meng family would not easily give their eldest daughter to someone else as a concubine.

Su Mo's acquisition of Xue Yishu as a concubine was a matter of chance, and Xue Shan was forced into it, initially quite unwilling.

Meng Danying's father was not Xue Shan, a minor county magistrate; he was an assistant minister in the Ministry of Rites!
Officials in the Ministry of Rites, who value etiquette above all else, would probably rather Meng Danying commit suicide to preserve her innocence than agree to her becoming a concubine in the Su family after learning of this matter!

Su Mo had a bit of a headache.

Never mind, let's see how Meng Danying reacts tomorrow.

If she weren't so rigid, she would have kept this matter a secret.

As long as they are still willing to stay here and write books, I will pretend that this never happened!

When I woke up the next day, the sun was already high in the sky.

Lin Moyin and Liu Siyun did not return home all night, and Su Mo could not find them when he got up.

Jiang Lan went to the restaurant early.

In those days, ordinary people ate two meals a day, but wealthy families mostly ate three meals a day. In addition, they had to get up early, so restaurants would open at three in the morning to make it convenient for officials who were going to the early court to bring food.

Of the women in the house, only Xue Yishu and Meng Danying remained.

After Su Mo finished eating the breakfast brought by the servants, he went to the back hall and saw Xue Yishu and Meng Danying sitting at the table, discussing the plot of Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

When Meng Danying saw Su Mo, her pretty face flushed slightly, but she didn't say anything.

Upon seeing Su Mo, Xue Yishu couldn't help but exclaim excitedly, "Why did you sleep until Chenshi (7-9 AM) before getting up, my lord!"

"Yesterday, my sister Danying and I finished organizing the chapters we had written, and we were just guessing what would happen next!"

Su Mo smiled and said, "It's freezing cold, and we don't need to be on duty, why get up so early!"

After a pause, he asked with some surprise, "You've already finished writing the previous parts of the story?"

"Does my husband remember the twenty-seventh chapter about the Magnificent Bearded Gentleman's solo journey of a thousand miles and the Marquis of Hanshou's slaying of six generals at five passes?"

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms has a total of 120 chapters, and we've almost finished writing a third of it.

I wonder if Zhou Dong and Zhou Guan of Gufeng Mountain have even started looking for papermaking materials yet!

Even before the movable type was invented, Ding Bashi did not begin to create it.

We need to speed things up!
Xue Yishu nodded repeatedly, her beautiful eyes filled with excitement as she looked at Su Mo: "Yes!"

"My lord, please tell me what happens next! I'm so looking forward to it!"

"The journey through five checkpoints and defeating six generals was truly spectacular; my sister Danying and I could hardly contain ourselves!"

Xue Yishu turned to Meng Danying: "Danying, what do you say, is it or isn't it?"

Meng Danying took a deep breath. Although she didn't dare to talk to Su Mo, she wasn't as terrified as she was last night and couldn't even speak.

She nodded and said softly, "I am also very much looking forward to it."

Xue Yishu was immediately surprised.

Why has my best friend suddenly become so refined and quiet, like a lady from a wealthy family who is ashamed to be seen by others?
This is quite unusual!
She is indeed a lady from a respectable family, but she is not the type to be ashamed to be seen in public.

He even dragged her to attend the Lanting Poetry Gathering dressed as a man, and even went to the Little Lanting Poetry Gathering in Qinghefang to join in the fun!
Seeing Xue Yishu looking at Meng Danying with suspicion, Su Mo quickly coughed twice: "You all organize the manuscript. If Lord Nangong comes, show the manuscript to her."

"Well... Next, I'll tell you about the twenty-eighth chapter, where the brothers Cai Yang are executed to clear up the doubts, and the lord and ministers of the ancient city gather in righteousness."

As soon as she heard this, Xue Yishu's attention was diverted, and she no longer cared about why her best friend's personality had changed so drastically.

He quickly spread out the paper, picked up the pen and ink, and urged Su Mo, "My lord, hurry up!"

"My sister Danying and I can't wait any longer!"

As she spoke, she turned to Meng Danying and said, "Danying, you write quickly, so let your older sister go first!"

"I'll write the first thousand words, and you write the next two thousand!"

Meng Danying nodded hurriedly, somewhat flustered: "Yes!"

Next, Su Mo told the two of them the general plot of ten chapters, figuring it would be enough for them to write for three or four days.

Afterwards, I went to the greenhouse of the Intermediate People's Court to see the sweet potatoes.

It's been snowing a lot lately, but Jiang Laoshi and the others who are looking after the greenhouse are very diligent. They frequently clean the snowflakes off the silk, keep the charcoal fire burning, and the weather has been sunny with some snow for several days, so the sweet potatoes are growing quite well.

After dealing with the situation at home.

Su Mo rode his horse towards Lonely Peak Mountain.

First, go to the fiefdom of Gufeng Mountain.

Many hands make light work. Despite their small stature, the people here are far stronger than people of later generations. Many households have practiced martial arts and are equipped with fine shovels and picks, making their digging speed extremely fast.

From a distance, the pits stretched out in a continuous line, covered with wooden planks, numbering in the hundreds, enough to accommodate more than a thousand households.

At this time, the villagers were no longer sound asleep in the pit; they were already working hard.

A brand-new but simple wooden house appeared on a flat area at the foot of the mountain. Next to it was a cooking area with several bonfires lit and a large pot set up, where soup was being cooked and food was being prepared.

When Su Mo arrived at the wooden house, he found Liu Siyun frowning, intently looking at the huge sand table of the solitary mountain in the center of the house, deep in thought.

On one side of the wooden house, there are beds, quilts, and writing implements.

Clearly, Liu Siyun is prepared for a long-term battle here.

Su Mo examined the sand table; its craftsmanship was exquisite, far superior to the inferior imitations he had made, and the proportions were perfectly balanced. It truly was a masterpiece by the imperial geomancer.

"Those geomancers, they built the sand table so quickly?" Su Mo smiled at Liu Siyun.

Liu Siyun was startled out of her reverie, her brows instantly relaxing as she smiled at Su Mo and said, "Husband, what brings you here?"

Su Mo explained, "There are some items that need to be made by the artisans in the artisan camp, so I came here to take a look."

"How is the situation in the fiefdom?"

Liu Siyun quickly replied, "It's not a big problem."

"The villagers lived in the earthen pit, and the frostbite balm was distributed to them, which greatly reduced frostbite. Because of the point system, the villagers worked hard."

"The main focus now is on leveling the land and felling and storing timber."

Su Mo nodded: "That's right! We need to pay attention to keeping the villagers warm, lest anyone freeze to death."

"In addition, rice, grain, oil and water must be provided in a timely manner, and the grain rations of the villagers must not be withheld."

Liu Siyun said softly, "I know."

Su Mo thought for a moment and said, "Let me study the sand table of Lonely Peak Mountain to see how to plan the fiefdom. Then I will draw up the blueprints and hand them over to you to be in charge of the construction."

"Oh, right..." As she was speaking, Su Mo suddenly remembered something and pointed to the bedding next to her, "You're planning to stay here?"

Liu Siyun nodded: "It's not far from Shenjing to Gufeng Mountain, but the weather is bad, so it's time-consuming and troublesome to travel back and forth."

"Since you're not home anyway, sir... well... I might as well stay here."

She paused, then added, "I came last night."

"My lord has urgent business to attend to, so I've asked Meng Danying to stay in my room for the time being. It's convenient since it's connected to Yishu's room, making it easy to discuss stories."

Su Mo realized to himself, "So that's how it is."

He smiled and said, "Siyun is still the most dedicated to her work and the one I trust the most."

"How is the papermaking business going?"

Liu Siyun blushed slightly and said, "Papermaking is quite troublesome."

"I asked the Zhou brothers to find many villagers to cut down bamboo, bark and other materials for papermaking, as you said."

"However, bamboo must be soaked for at least ten days before it can be used to make paper."

After pausing, she continued, "I plan to manually crush the papermaking materials and then ferment them to see if the fermentation time can be shortened."

Labor costs are low, making papermaking a highly profitable industry; the shorter the papermaking time, the greater the profit.

Su Mo nodded and said, "You can try to see for yourself. I only know the method of papermaking, and it may not be entirely correct."

"You don't have to follow the secret recipe completely."

He paused, then asked, "About the cement?"

"Once the plans for the fiefdom are finalized, the cement will come in handy."

Su Mo gave Liu Siyun two secret recipes last time: one for papermaking and the other for cement.

Upon hearing this, Liu Siyun's pretty face suddenly lit up with excitement, and she said mysteriously, "Husband, please come with me!"

For no apparent reason, Su Mo followed Liu Siyun to the foot of Shenma Rock, only to be astonished to see a cement monument standing there.

Several imperial guards, along with the villagers from the beginning, were braving the wind and snow, faithfully guarding the sweet potato field under Shenma Rock.

Upon seeing Su Mo arrive, everyone quickly stepped forward to salute and greet him.

Su Mo first looked at the sweet potatoes under the Shenma Rock. They were growing even better than the ones in the greenhouse at home. They were lush and green, with very large leaves. If they only ate the leaves and vines, they could probably harvest them all.

He couldn't help but feel a sense of unease and suspicion.

The sweet potatoes are growing at an abnormal rate.

Could it be a reward for completing the last mission?
But the task reward is a 20% increase in production, not a 20% reduction in growth time!
Could the sweet potatoes rewarded by the system be an improved, fast-growing variety?

Su Mo began to speculate, but ultimately couldn't figure it out, and her gaze fell on the cement monument.

This cement monument looks no different from cement from later generations.

He was genuinely a little surprised, turning to look at Liu Siyun: "The cement was produced so quickly?"

Liu Siyun thought to herself that her husband had indeed seen cement before, but since the formula was given by her husband, it was not surprising. She smiled and said, "Making cement is not difficult, it just takes a lot of manpower."

"However, it is cold there, and the cement is not easy to form."

"I thought there was a hot spring here, so I built this monument with cement. I never expected it to be as hard as iron after it solidified!"

She paused, looking at Su Mo with admiration: "Husband, this cement formula is truly terrifying!"

"If used to build a city, it would be as solid as a rock and impossible to destroy!"

Su Mo nodded and said, "Cement is indeed used for building cities, but the amount needed is too large, so it's not practical."

As he spoke, he walked to the stone tablet, drew his manganese steel sword, and tapped the tablet with the thick back of the blade, knocking off a few pieces of cement.

This cement stele is quite hard, though it is slightly less hard than ordinary cement of later generations, and certainly not comparable to special cement.

Of course, that's enough.

There is an abundance of bamboo on Gufeng Mountain. By combining cement with bamboo and bonding it to the rocks, building houses should not be a problem.

Su Mo turned to look at Liu Siyun: "What is the cement production volume?"

Liu Siyun immediately replied, "I have a hundred people mining, grinding, and calcining limestone, but the output is very small, less than a thousand catties a day."

Su Mo was speechless.

A thousand catties may sound like a lot, but that's the output of a hundred people!
On average, each person weighs only ten kilograms!

Without modern tools, such as crushers, cement production is indeed difficult.

"Store the cement first, and be careful to keep it dry and prevent it from getting wet in the rain."

Su Mo thought for a moment and then said, "If the mountain path is rugged and difficult to walk, it can be paved with cement and gravel, and even used to build bridges."

He paused, then said, "I am not very clear about the specific material ratios and how to build bridges and roads. You can find some craftsmen who are proficient in this field and figure it out yourself."

Liu Siyun was startled upon hearing this: "My husband intends to use this precious cement to pave the road?"

"Isn't this a bit too extravagant...?"

Su Mo waved his hand and laughed, "Cement was originally developed for the construction of fiefdoms."

"This is a long-term plan, and the fiefdom will all be our territory after it is established. We must build it solidly and diligently, without cutting corners!"

As they were talking, Su Mo suddenly noticed that not far away, a group of people were vigorously pounding on something by the Five Dragon Pool.

He frowned: "What is he waiting for?"

Liu Siyun quickly explained, "I told my husband earlier that I had someone crush the bamboo and soak it."

“While the rivers in other places were frozen, the water temperature at Wulongtan remained normal, so the fermentation pond was set up next to Wulongtan.”

Upon hearing this, Su Mo frowned immediately!
Although later generations say that the ancient papermaking method seems to have little pollution.

But since lime water is needed, and the fermentation pit is located next to the Five Dragon Pool, will it pollute the Five Dragon Pool?
It doesn't matter if other people's places are polluted; Su Mo is not an environmentalist.

But the Five Dragon Pool belongs to him, and Su Mo plans to raise pearl mussels there!
However, it's too cold now, so it's really not feasible to ferment paper materials elsewhere.

Finally, he could only frown and say, "We must be careful not to let the pulp pool water flow into the Five Dragon Pool, lest it spoil the pool water!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Siyun was slightly taken aback, not understanding what Su Mo meant.

If the water from the fermentation pit is connected to the pond water, it will spoil the pond water.

However, Su Mo's words were golden rules to her. Although she didn't understand, she still nodded and said, "I'll remember them!"

Su Mo nodded, gave Liu Siyun a few more instructions, and then went to the artisan camp.

Inspect the manufacturing of bicycles and rickshaws, and then carefully consider the planning of the fiefdom.

We also need to have copper movable type made to manufacture the spinning jenny.

Su Mo's head ached more and more as she thought about it.

It's so hard to make a lot of money.

Other transmigrators seem to make money very easily, but I'm the only one who's been working like a dog. After so long, I've only earned 100,000 taels of silver, which has dragged down the average level of transmigrators quite a bit!

Fortunately, he was good at picking up girls and the quality was good. Even the Empress showed signs of wanting to take her into his room, so he didn't embarrass the transmigrators.

But what if the Empress wants to take him into her harem? How should he refuse?

In any case, I would never become the empress's plaything!
Hmph! At worst, I won't marry the Empress; I'll marry Leng Xixi instead!
(End of this chapter)