Duke of Zhenguan

When Lin Chuan returned to Tiechi Lane, it was already noon. As soon as he stepped into his house, Er Ya quickly came to greet him:

"Brother, have you paid back the money?"

"I've returned it!" Lin Chuan nodded with a smile.

Er Ya's face immediately lit up with a smile, and she said:

"It's good that it's been returned. Mother said that Old Man Zhou is a very wicked man. Someone in our neighborhood borrowed five strings of cash from him before, and even after returning eight strings, he was forced to sell his daughter..."

Lin Chuan had no similar memories, but people like Zhou Si who lend money at exorbitant interest rates usually do things by any means necessary, so there must be many more such cases.

Looking at his younger sister's innocent smile, Lin Chuan didn't tell her about his beastly behavior on Thursday. He simply smiled and asked:

"Mother went to the West Market, didn't she? Why didn't you go?"

"We have money at home, so Mother told me to stay here and keep watch! Brother, are you hungry? I'll cook you something to eat!" Er Ya asked.

"I'm not hungry yet. Let's eat together when Mother comes back. It's a bit cold though. Er Ya, go and start a fire!" Lin Chuan said to his sister with a smile.

When he left, the fire was still burning, but when he came back, it had gone out. Er Ya's little face was red from the cold, but she couldn't bear to even light the fire. She was so sensible that it broke your heart.

"good!"

Er Ya quickly went to start a fire.

After the fire was lit, Lin Chuan found two pieces of baked coarse flatbread and sat by the fire with Er Ya to bake them.

"Brother, let me grill it for you!"

Seeing that Lin Chuan seemed a little absent-minded, Er Ya took the pancake from his hand.

Lin Chuan sat by the fire, but his mind was preoccupied with how to resolve the troublesome situation on Thursday.

The most direct and effective way is to burn him.

You should be able to buy petroleum varnish, which is petroleum, in the West Market.

Because it is unrefined, this stuff is difficult to ignite, and it produces a lot of smoke and has an unpleasant smell when burned. Therefore, it is rarely used for starting fires or lighting, and is mostly used as a lubricant or as paint.

Lin Chuan knew that he could easily purify petroleum using the method of distilling spirits. He could then add some sugar to the resulting gasoline or kerosene, and if he could find something like red phosphorus, he could make some incendiary bombs and throw them into Thursday's house on a dark and stormy night. They would definitely burn Thursday to death.

To make it even more ruthless, add a bomb.

However, doing so also carries great risks. Lin Chuan never underestimated the wisdom of the ancients, nor did he think that his modern mind was smarter than that of the people of the Tang Dynasty. It was impossible to do something like this without leaving a trace.

This is Chang'an, right under the emperor's nose. Even the slightest unusual phenomenon could attract countless prying eyes.

If there were other options, Lin Chuan wouldn't want to take such a big risk.

As my thoughts wandered, I heard Li's voice calling from outside:

"Er Ya, come help me with these things!"

Lin Chuan and Er Ya quickly got up and went out to meet them.

Seeing the two sacks of grain and half a pig that Li was carrying, Lin Chuan quickly took the sacks from her and said speechlessly:

"Didn't I tell you to invite Aunt Jiu and the others? Don't buy so much by yourself!"

"There's no work at the docks lately, and your ninth uncle comes to our house every day to help out. We're relying on your ninth aunt to weave cloth to support our family of four. We should try to trouble them as little as possible..." Li sighed softly.

"Then you should carry less..." Lin Chuan said with a wry smile.

"It's okay, I can carry it!"

Li put the things down, smiled, and waved to Lin Chuan:

"You're not fully recovered yet, rest for a while. I'll divide the rice and meat, and you and Er Ya can deliver them to each household!"

After dividing the rice and meat, Lin Chuan took Er Ya to deliver them to Lin Jiu's family first.

Seeing Lin Chuan arrive with rice and meat, Lin Jiu's face immediately darkened, and he asked:

"Brother, what are you doing?"

"Uncle Jiu, don't be angry. Father left a few jars in the cellar. I found them a couple of days ago and sold them in Pingkangfang for twenty strings of cash. I paid off my debts and still had some left."

Yesterday, my mother was still saying that you and your twelfth uncle needed your sixth uncle and the others to help you, and she didn't even offer you a meal. She felt bad about it!

"It didn't cost much to buy this meat and rice. Mother said it's to help Qilang and Jiulang recover!" Lin Chuan said with a smile.

Without even looking at Lin Jiu, he stuffed the meat into Aunt Jiu's hand and said with a smile:

"Ninth Aunt, please accept this. I still need to deliver some to Twelfth as well!"

Besides Lin Twelve, there are also two cousins' families and the families of Uncle Wang and Uncle Li, who also live in Tiechi Lane, who are also sending gifts.

Lin Chuan gave the same explanation to every household he delivered the goods to.

Although a bag of rice and a piece of meat are precious in the cold winter, the sentiment behind them is even more heartwarming. Seeing Lin Chuan's sincerity, everyone accepted them after some initial refusals.

Human relationships are about give and take.

After delivering to each household, night had already fallen.

Light snow began to fall again. Li cooked the leftover pig's feet and a pot of millet rice, and the family had a rare, hearty meal.

"Brother, are you really not brewing wine anymore?"

After finishing their meal and sitting around the fire, Li asked softly.

"Mother, we can't distill this wine anymore for now, and we have to put away the iron pot used for distilling. If anyone asks, just say that the wine we sold before was bought by Father from the Hu people. Don't let it slip!"

Think about it, if others knew that we brewed this wine ourselves, would we still be able to keep this method secret? Not only would we lose the brewing method, but it might also bring us trouble!

"I didn't even tell the truth to Uncle Nine and Twelfth. I only said that Father bought it from the Hu people. Don't let it slip!" Lin Chuan said softly.

After distilling two jars of liquor, there were still about twenty jin of mash left in the cellar.

Originally, Li wanted to persuade Lin Chuan to distill everything into liquor, but after hearing Lin Chuan's words, her face turned pale with fright, and she quickly said:

"I definitely won't tell anyone!"

After saying that, he turned to his daughter and instructed her:

"Er Ya, you remember this too!"

……

The next morning, the snow finally stopped, and the sky showed signs of clearing up.

"Mother, I'm going to the West Market to buy some things. I'll be back for dinner in a bit!"

Lin Chuan, who was awakened by the cold, got up, put on his clothes, said something to Li Shi who was already weaving in the main room, and then went out into the cold wind.

Although we don't know yet whether there will be trouble on Thursday, we still need to make the necessary preparations.

The West Market and Yanshoufang are separated by only one street. Although it was still early and the ground was covered with thick snow, the West Market was already quite lively.

Shops selling all kinds of daily necessities such as firewood, rice, oil, and salt lined up one after another, along with teahouses, taverns, and vendors of all sizes.

Lin Chuan wandered around for quite a while, covering almost half of the West Market, before finally finding stone lacquer in a shop selling raw lacquer and charcoal.

The shopkeeper, a middle-aged man wearing a padded jacket, pointed to the wooden bucket containing stone lacquer and said to Lin Chuan with great enthusiasm:

"Young man, this is a rare item from the Hu people. We rarely see this kind of thing here. If you really want to buy it, I'll sell it to you for one hundred coins a pound!"

"Shopkeeper, can you give me a discount?" Lin Chuan asked.

"Young man, this price is not expensive at all. Even the worst raw lacquer costs 100 coins per catty. This stone lacquer is more expensive than raw lacquer. I'm losing money by selling it to you for 100 coins per catty!" the shopkeeper said with a wry smile.

"One hundred coins a catty is too expensive. I want to buy a lot, but I really can't afford it! I'll go ask at another store!" Lin Chuan sighed softly.

Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper immediately became anxious and quickly stopped Lin Chuan:

"Young man, how much do you want to buy? If you buy the whole bucket, it'll be ninety coins per pound!"

"Too expensive!" Lin Chuan shook his head again.

"Eighty coins, that's really the lowest I can go!" The shopkeeper said with a wry smile.

The price was in line with Lin Chuan's expectations, and he was about to nod when he noticed the coal piled under the straw outside the shop. A troubled look immediately appeared on Lin Chuan's face.

"I'd also like to buy some coal..."

The shopkeeper quickly replied:

"Coal? I have some right here, I'll give you a thousand catties!"