Duke of Zhenguan

After thanking his two uncles, Lin Jiu and Lin Shier, Lin Chuan hurried home.

Li stood guard at the door with a kitchen knife. When she saw her son, she grabbed his hand with a worried expression.

"Brother, Zhou Laosi has arrived again with his men. I heard they want to buy Er Ya!"

Seeing Er Ya looking panicked behind Li Shi, Lin Chuan quickly comforted her:

"Mother, it's all resolved. They won't be coming again after Thursday!"

Upon hearing this, Li simply shook her head with a wry smile and said:

"Big Brother, why don't we listen to your Ninth Uncle and go somewhere else to avoid trouble..."

Lin Chuan didn't explain further, but simply said softly to Madam Li:

"Mother, wait two more days! I'll stay home for the next two days and not go out. I've already spoken to Uncle Jiu and the others, asking them to keep an eye on things. Even if Zhou Laosi comes, I'm not afraid!"

Li was soft-hearted, and could only nod in agreement after hearing Lin Chuan's words:

"All right……"

With Lin Chuan at home, Li Shi and Er Ya felt much more at ease.

Lin Chuan sat by the fire, but felt uneasy. Although the woman from Qunfang Pavilion seemed nonchalant and didn't seem to care about the Duke of Leping County or Tian Hu, what if Tian Hu suddenly went mad?

Lin Chuan was a cautious person, and upon realizing this, he finally understood where his unease came from!

I'm afraid I'll suddenly go crazy on Thursday.

After thinking about it, I figured I might as well do some preparation since I'm just idling around anyway.

Turning to Li, who was weaving cloth nearby, he asked:

"Mother, do we have any candy at home?"

"There's also a little bit of maltose..."

Maltose is a type of sugar, and its effects are much less than those of granulated sugar.

Lin Chuan thought for a moment, then stood up and said to Madam Li:

"Mother, I'm going to the West Market to buy some things. I'll be right back!"

I rushed to the West Market, searched for a long time, and finally found sugar. I spent a string of cash to buy two catties.

After buying the sugar, Lin Chuan hurried home without delay.

Just as he stepped out of the West Market, he saw a pharmacy at the entrance of the market. Lin Chuan had a sudden idea and went inside with the sugar in his hand.

"Young master, do you need to buy some medicine?"

"Shopkeeper, do you have sulfur and saltpeter here? What's the price?" Lin Chuan asked.

Sulfur and saltpeter are both materials used by alchemists in alchemy and medicines, so they are naturally available in pharmacies. Seeing that Lin Chuan wanted to buy these two items, the shopkeeper wasn't surprised and nodded with a smile.

"Yes, sulfur is 200 coins per pound, and saltpeter is 100 coins per pound. How much do you want, young master?"

Lin Chuan, who had just spent two strings of cash on sugar, felt it was a bargain and said with a smile:

"Two pounds of each!"

"Young master, the things are packed!"

A moment later, the shopkeeper found two burlap sacks, packed them with saltpeter and sulfur, and handed them to Lin Chuan.

Lin Chuan took out some money from his pocket to pay the bill, and casually asked:

"Shopkeeper, do you have any phosphate rock here?"

"Young master, do you know about phosphate rock?" the shopkeeper asked in surprise.

Lin Chuan, who had only asked casually, paused for a moment, then nodded in surprise and asked:

"Is there?"

Seeing Lin Chuan's delighted expression, the shopkeeper's eyes darted around, and he said with a smile:

"I have exactly one pound, I'll sell it to you for five hundred coins!"

Lin Chuan didn't haggle and handed over a string of copper coins directly.

Carrying his things out of the West Market, Lin Chuan was in a great mood. The phosphate rock the shopkeeper sold him was probably apatite, not red phosphorus, but it was enough for his needs.

Back home, under the questioning gazes of Li Shi and Er Ya, Lin Chuan spent some time grinding apatite, sulfur, and saltpeter into powder. Then, in the small side room, he experimented with different proportions of the stone lacquer, sugar, sulfur, saltpeter, and apatite powder.

By evening, they selected the most potent recipe and added sugar, sulfur, saltpeter, and apatite powder into a ceramic jar filled with lacquer, stirring gently.

After mixing them thoroughly, I found some small earthenware jars and rags and made three or four simple Molotov cocktails.

At the same time, in an unnamed alley in the West Market, Zhou Si and seven or eight of his confidants were drinking around a low table in a room.

On the low table sat a pot of stewed pork until tender and several wine jars.

On Thursday, a brazier sat beside him, and a woman with bruises on her face sat next to him, carefully pouring him wine and serving him meat.

After several rounds of drinks, a tipsy Zhou Si, seeing the cautious woman, was suddenly overcome with lust. He waved to his men:

"Get lost, we'll drink again another day!"

A group of idlers tactfully got up and, in a disheveled manner, bid farewell to Thursday.

"Brother, please take care of your health and don't overwork yourself!"

"Let's go, don't disturb your brother's good time..."

"..."

As a group of idle men, arms around each other's shoulders, stepped out of the gate, iron chains suddenly emerged from both sides of the gate and precisely lassoed the necks of the group of idle men.

"Who goes there!"

"Damn it, let me go!"

"what!"

No sooner had the group of idlers uttered their words than iron rulers began to rain down on them without mercy.

In the blink of an eye, a group of idlers obediently knelt down at the entrance, which was full of sewage.

Seeing that more than a dozen constables from Chang'an County, dressed in black robes, had completely surrounded the courtyard, the group of idlers finally realized the seriousness of the situation. One of Zhou Si's trusted confidants cautiously pleaded with the middle-aged man in charge:

"Chief Chen, is there some misunderstanding? Our Boss Zhou is one of Magistrate Zheng's men..."

"Bang!"

Chen, the head constable, raised his scabbard and smashed it hard into the face of the idle man who was speaking, causing blood to gush from the man's mouth and nose, and silencing the rest of his words.

Glancing at the groaning idler, Chief Chen waved to the constables beside him:

"Go and bring Thursday out!"

Drunk Thursday had just taken off his outer robe when he heard screams outside.

Startled on Thursday, he instantly became much clearer-headed, shoved the woman aside, ran to the window in a few steps, opened the window, and jumped out.

After jumping out of the window, Thursday didn't think much, reached out and grabbed the wall before jumping out again.

He had barely climbed over the wall when a fishing net with bamboo barbs covered him completely.

Sharp bamboo slivers pierced his skin, and Zhou Si, who had fallen to the ground, was completely sober. Looking at Chen Bantou who had walked up to him, Zhou Si, wincing in pain, was filled with rage in his eyes and growled in a low voice:

"Chief Chen, you and Magistrate Zheng certainly didn't skimp on the money I sent!"

Squad Leader Chen squatted down in front of Zhou Si and sighed softly:

"Brother Zhou, this isn't my fault, Magistrate Zheng's or my fault. You've offended the wrong person!"

"Bullshit! I'm not stupid, why would I mess with someone I shouldn't have!" Zhou Si growled.

"Brother Zhou, I heard that you are preparing to present a winemaking recipe to the Duke of Leping County. The wine produced is even better than the wine bestowed by the emperor. Even Magistrate Zheng doesn't know about this. Is that true?" Chen Bantou whispered in Zhou Si's ear.

Thursday was stunned. His anger was immediately replaced by fear, and he hurriedly said to Chief Chen:

"Chief Chen, it was my mistake. I haven't even presented the prescription yet. I'll hand it over to Magistrate Zheng right now!"

Chen, the squad leader, shook his head and sighed with regret:

"Brother Zhou, it's too late!"