After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

About ten miles south of the capital, on an open space, there were about twenty or thirty low wooden houses arranged neatly, one after another.

These wooden houses are arranged in five rows, with four to six rooms in each row.

Each wooden house was equipped with a stove and a heated floor.

Outside the wooden houses, several servants carried charcoal fires on their backs, moving back and forth between the houses to add charcoal to the stove outside.

The smoke from the charcoal fire traveled through the underground fire channels into the wooden houses, making each room warm and cozy.

In front of the wooden house stands a glass workshop that occupies a considerable area.

A huge chimney protrudes from above the workshop.

A dozen or so people stood huddled together by the window outside the workshop, peering inside, making a noisy commotion...

"After blowing that conch shell for so many days... what kind of thermometer is that...?"

"Every profession is like a mountain to climb; it would be best if you, the top scholar, went back to studying literature..."

"What craftsman could make the kind of glass he painted!"

"We doctors all know this! What's he doing here acting so important...?"

"Master Zheng has lost half of his hair because of his worry..."

"You can't blame the top scholar for this; Old Zheng's head has always been bald..."

……

Uncle Ping, the old coachman, crunched the soybeans in his hand into his mouth.

He scoffed at these criticisms of his master, letting out a disgruntled snort, but then, fearing they might hear, he turned his head away.

The master originally wanted him to go into the workshop or those wooden houses to warm up.

But he preferred to stay outside with the mute yellow horse.

……

Beside the large furnace in the glass workshop.

With her hair tied up and dressed in all black, the female doctor Jiang Sixue dared not breathe.

Her fair cheeks were covered in black, and her almond-shaped eyes were fixed on a boy who was also dressed in black.

The boy had a serious expression on his face, and he was holding a hollow iron pipe that was four feet long in both hands.

The boy stood beside the blazing furnace, his mouth aimed at one end of an iron pipe, and dipped the other end of the pipe into the furnace to collect molten glass.

He then used both hands to lift the iron pipe.

The boy suddenly took a deep breath!

The chest cavity bulged.

His mouth was pressed against the iron pipe.

"call--"

His eyes were fixed on the other end of the iron pipe, and he controlled his breathing, blowing small gusts of air into the pipe...

Not long after.

A palm-sized sphere gradually bulged up on the other side of the iron pipe...

Sphere forming.

The boy dared not relax.

Slowly move the iron pipe.

The formed spheres are placed in a warm annealing furnace.

Let it cool slightly until the sphere has formed.

A bald craftsman nodded silently, extending his iron tongs, wet with cold water, to the point where the iron pipe connected to the sphere.

Gently, slowly tapping... the force required for this process is so precise.

So much so that the bald craftsman's forehead was covered in sweat. Wearing only a sweat towel that exposed his arms, his arm muscles were bulging as he carefully tapped the sphere.

A short while later.

A dull thud rang out, and the formed sphere fell into the dust of the annealing furnace...

The bald man let out a long sigh and wiped the sweat from his brow.

Jiang Sixue breathed a sigh of relief and took out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat off the top scholar who had been blowing on the glass for a long time.

Master Ning was drenched in sweat. He borrowed Doctor Jiang's handkerchief to wipe the sweat that had dripped into his eyes, and said with a dry mouth:

"No rush, no rush... there's something even harder."

Ning Nan glanced at the bald head.

The bald man nodded solemnly at him.

Ning Nan nodded solemnly, the two of them understanding each other without saying a word.

Starting the day after the imperial examination ended, they had worked together for eight days to make the slender glass tube for the thermometer.

Master Zheng, whose forehead was bald, didn't really understand what the top scholar was trying to do, and he still couldn't figure it out after listening for several days.

On the one hand, the other party was a top scholar in the imperial examinations. For someone of such high status to do such a vulgar job as glassmaking with him was something he could brag about for a lifetime.

On the other hand... this person was incredibly generous... the most generous I've ever seen in my life!

He knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so naturally he wouldn't refuse.

Moreover, the top scholar had a very good temperament. Even if he failed, he would just scribble on paper and wouldn't blame him in the slightest.

Where can you find customers like this?

Zheng Tong, with his bald head, felt extremely grateful.

After countless failures over the past eight days, the two finally came up with some solutions yesterday.

If we fail again today... well... then we'll just have to try again tomorrow...

Ning Nan waved his hand, signaling Doctor Jiang to step back.

Dr. Jiang nodded earnestly on his dark, small face.

Turning around, the female doctor saw her fellow disciples peering out the window, watching the scene unfold. She immediately became annoyed and said:

"Everyone go and burn charcoal!! Ten catties each!!"

Seeing their junior sister get angry, everyone's faces fell, and they begged for mercy repeatedly:

"Junior Sister!"

"Senior Sister!"

"Ten pounds?! Just kill me!"

"Junior sister, your senior brother just got you some hot water..."

Jiang Sixue gritted her teeth, worried that these guys would disturb Ning Nan, and cursed loudly:

"Go, all of you!"

Everyone took a breath, but there was nothing they could do. With long faces, they turned around and went back to burning charcoal.

Otherwise, if the junior sister, who holds the power of life and death over Shangchun Hall, were to harden her heart, she might even expel them from the hall.

When Doctor Jiang displayed his extraordinary abilities.

Ningnan has already grasped the hollow iron pipe.

Zheng Tong, with his bald head, also grabbed another iron pipe, but this one was much thinner than Ning Nan's, only about half the size of his little finger.

Holding the tube with both hands as before, Ning Nan widened his eyes and took a deep breath!

Immediately, the other end of the iron pipe was placed in the molten glass solution, and a little liquid was applied to it.

Lift it up.

Point your mouth at one end of the metal pipe, and "whoosh..." begin to blow air...

Carefully controlling my breathing, I held my breath as soon as I blew a small, long strip of glass out.

At this moment, Zheng Tong stood on the other side, raised another hollow iron pipe, and stuck it to the other end of the glass strip.

Both of them held their breath.

Carefully and slowly stretching the soft strip of glass at both ends of the furnace...

As the glass strip stretched, the two of them gently rotated it continuously...

The iron pipes on Ningnan's side are the same thickness as the previous round spherical openings, while those on Zhengtong's side are much thinner.

So Zheng Tong would pull the glass tube from thick to thin until it was more than a foot long before stopping.

Immediately, the two of them slowly rotated the slender glass tube together to ensure that the glass tube was heated evenly...

After 15 minutes of fiddling, the two slowly moved the slender glass tube to the annealing furnace and waited for it to take shape.

Jiang Sixue stepped forward nervously, mimicking Zheng Tong's earlier actions.

Extending the pliers, which were wet with cold water, I gently tapped the joint between the glass and the iron pipe on Zheng Tong's section.

"Thump thump thump, thump thump thump..."

After a slow, deliberate tapping, a "thud!" resounded as the two finally separated, and Jiang Sixue and Zheng Tong both breathed a sigh of relief...

Ning Nan had been holding the iron pipe up, and now the veins on his temples were bulging and his arms were aching.

However, they persisted in slowly placing the slender glass tube into the annealing furnace.

Zheng Tong took the pliers from Jiang Sixue, dipped them in cold water, and then inserted them into the annealing furnace, continuing to gently tap them to separate the iron pipe from the glass tube in Ningnan...

After a dull "thud," the slender glass tube fell into the annealing furnace.

"Phew..." The three of them breathed a sigh of relief, exchanged a glance, and smiled knowingly...

……

……

After taking a quick bath and changing my clothes at the glass workshop, it was already night when I got into the carriage to go home.

Five sets of spheres and slender glass tubes have been made and are currently being annealed in the annealing furnace. The next step in production will have to wait until tomorrow.

The carriage sped along the official road, heading straight for the capital.

Once outside the city, Qian Sijin and his fellow secret guards became open guards again.

More than ten horses followed around the carriage.

Uncle Ping cracked the whip with much more force than usual. With so many Imperial Guards by his side, the old coachman felt that his master was especially prestigious.

When they returned to the Ning residence.

The night is dark.

Inside the flower hall, a figure dressed in green sat quietly at one side of a square table, sipping tea, reading a book, and waiting for him.

"Yo,"

Master Ning sat down on the other side of his wife with a smile, and said with a sly look,

I'll give you a surprise tomorrow.

Chunyu ran over with a smile to serve tea to the master.

Although she didn't know what her master, the top scholar, had been busy with these days, he looked very tired, so the little maid called out crisply:

"You've worked hard, sir!"

Master Ning accepted the tea and said with a smile, "Chunyu, you've worked hard!"

The young maid was stunned for a moment, then exclaimed "Ah!", blushed, lowered her head, and ran away.

Qiu Mu, who was far less lively than Chun Yu, glanced at Chun Yu's back with envy in her eyes, blushed, and ran after Chun Yu.

Having successfully teased the little maid, Master Ning sat opposite his wife and couldn't help but chuckle.

Zhu Cuiwei held a book in her hand, looked up at the young doctor opposite her, and her eyes became somewhat complicated.

"you……"

She pursed her lips, as if thinking about something, and made a "hmm" sound.

After pondering for a while, he still couldn't say anything... Ning Nan took a sip of tea, feeling a little strange, and couldn't help but glance at his wife across from him:

"What's wrong?"