Teasing the First Dragon at the Start

"No... is it not allowed?"

"..."

Zhengjie bit her red lips tightly, looking at Bai Su, who looked a little nervous. Recalling the great service this guy had just done for her, she hesitated for a moment before saying, "Well... fine, if you can do it, what's wrong with me letting you have it this once?"

"But the prerequisite is that you must ensure that the entire palace, no, the entire city of Xianyang, is free from the poison of burning coals..."

Bai Su was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and said, "Your humble servant obeys."

Chapter 278 My Lord is truly a divine being!

Inside the Shaofu (a government office).

Inside the room was a marble table, with various precious inkstones and pen holders placed beside it, and ink brushes arranged like a forest among them.

A bronze incense burner sits on the windowsill, its wisps of incense wafting from the mouths of birds and beasts, filling the entire room with a faint fragrance that calms the mind and relaxes the body unconsciously.

The candlelight on the table flickered and danced.

Bai Su was hunched over the desk, stroking her chin, seemingly deep in thought.

Night had fallen, and the house was quiet except for the crackling of the candlelight.

"Bang bang."

A soft knock sounded on the door.

Bai Su raised an eyebrow and pondered for a moment before saying, "Come in."

Zhila.

The wooden door slowly opened.

A beautiful woman with dignified and elegant features, fair skin, and a slightly sickly appearance walked in.

She was dressed very simply, her hair was tied up with a hairpin, and she wore a plain apricot-yellow long dress. Her dark eyes were very bright.

The beauty before me had slender eyebrows, a delicate nose like the moon, rosy lips, and pearly teeth. Combined with her exquisite and refined features, she was truly a stunning beauty with flawless skin and a delicate figure.

Even though Bai Su had seen many beauties and her tastes had become quite discerning, she couldn't help but be amazed when she saw the newcomer.

The person who came was none other than...

It is Mo Xun, the current leader of the Mohist school.

Bai Su was taken aback and couldn't help but ask, "Why are you here?"

She lifted her dark hair with her slender hand, revealing her fair and alluring collarbone, and looked up at Bai Su with curiosity: "There are many interesting things in the adult's room. I always come to take a look after I finish my work."

Bai Su looked over and saw that she was holding two books in her arms, which were the novels she had written to amuse Hu Yi when she had nothing else to do: "Green Snake" and "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio".

"Sir, you are truly learned. I never imagined that in addition to being an expert in governing the country, you also know so much about folk tales and ghost stories, and have written such a moving story."

Mo Xun walked over slowly, her bright, beautiful eyes fixed on Bai Su in front of her, full of admiration.

Despite being a woman of the Mohist school and naturally intelligent, she was, after all, just a young girl experiencing her first love, and had little resistance to stories of love between men and women.

Bai Su couldn't help but smile: "I wrote this when I had nothing else to do. If you like these kinds of things, I'll write one for you in a couple of days, the story of Zhao Ling'er from Immortal Spirit Island..."

"what is that?"

"The story of a young man with the heart of a chivalrous knight and a girl as innocent as a blank sheet of paper, who meet and fall in love."

"That sounds like a very interesting story, so I'll look forward to it."

Mo Xun's eyes lit up, and a joyful smile immediately appeared on his face.

She has read these books seven or eight times already, and each time she is moved to tears. If she could hear a new story, that would be the best thing ever.

"Of course, I, Bai Su, always keep my word. But I'm afraid I can't these next couple of days, as I still have work to do," Bai Su said, rubbing her sore neck.

A hint of curiosity appeared on Mo Xun's face as he looked at the haphazardly laid-out pipes on the blueprint and couldn't help but ask, "Sir, what are you doing?"

Bai Su said, "I'm planning to install a heating system."

"Heating?"

Mo Xun's delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly, her face showing a blank expression.

Initially, Bai Su planned to build a heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed), which is essentially a large-sized heated kang.

The principle behind this is quite simple: just lay a fireproof layer under the foundation, set up a special kitchen, and let the fire burn on the floor tiles under your feet.

In this way, there's no need to worry about fire or toxic fumes; the heat from the flames will travel through the floor tiles, making the whole house warm and cozy.

However, Zhengjie not only asked him to solve the problems in the palace, but also to solve the heating problem of the entire Xianyang city, so this method of using earth dragons was somewhat unsuitable.

After all, laying foundations one by one is too inefficient and costly, making it unsuitable for large-scale implementation.

To solve the heating problem in the entire city of Xianyang, the most suitable option would naturally be a centrally operated heating system that could heat water uniformly, as it had the lowest cost.

The Roman Empire used a unified pipeline system to heat water in boiler rooms, which was then transported to create a large public bathhouse large enough for thousands of people to bathe in at the same time.

Based on this principle, it is not impossible to build a more complete pipeline system to provide heating for the entire city of Xianyang.

So the question is, what materials are suitable for making pipes and boilers?

Mo Xun lightly touched his lips with his index finger and said earnestly, "My lord, how about using lead?"

Bai Su was taken aback: "Lead?"

Mo Xun nodded slightly and said, "This item is sturdy and durable, and it won't rust. It has many advantages."

Bai Su's lips twitched: "No."

Why?

Looking at the puzzled girl in front of her, Bai Su said helplessly, "Lead is poisonous. If you often use water containing lead to bathe or wash vegetables, it can easily lead to poisoning over the years. In mild cases, it can cause loss of fertility, and in severe cases, it can lead to premature death."

"Is it really that serious...?"

"Light but not heavy."

When Mo Xun saw Bai Su nod, he couldn't help but gasp.

She never imagined that this thing would have such serious side effects.

Fortunately, her family stopped her in time.

Otherwise, if they were to use lead pipes to provide hot water to His Majesty and cause any harm to his health, even if the Mo family had ten heads, it wouldn't be enough to chop them off.

She subconsciously swallowed, looked at Bai Su, and tentatively asked, "Then, according to your words, what should we do?"

Bai Su stroked his chin and said, "Let's use iron instead; it's more reliable."

"iron……"

Mo Xun blinked his clear black and white eyes, a hint of doubt rising in his heart: "This... will this work?"

"Why don't you give it a try and see?"

Bai Su smiled, summoned the craftsmen from the Imperial Household Department, and instructed them to build a small model according to the blueprints to test its effectiveness.

It didn't take the group long to set up a boiler room.

At Bai Su's command, everyone began adding coal to the boiler to heat water.

Mo Xun watched the commotion from the doorway.

In her eyes, Bai Su was a special person.

This awful boss always liked to tease her, but for some reason, she always felt a strange sweetness in her heart whenever she was with this man.

As she gazed longingly at Bai Su's retreating figure.

Bai Su was enthusiastically directing the craftsmen to heat the house, and especially when filling the water tank, he made them stand at a safe distance.

After all, this is filled with boiling water; if even a little bit gets in, you'll be scalded.

Boiling water flowed through the iron pipe, and even from a distance, everyone could still feel the terrifying heat.

Mo Xun snapped out of her daze, her delicate eyebrows furrowing: "My lord, are you trying to heat the room or kill someone? At this scalding temperature, if anything goes wrong and His Majesty gets burned, that's a capital offense."

Bai Su smiled confidently: "Don't worry, these pipes are all buried under the floor tiles, so no one will get burned. If you don't believe me, go inside and take a look."

Mo Xun nodded when he saw that the water was almost ready.

She followed Bai Su back into the house. She wanted to complain a bit, but as soon as she entered, she felt warm and cozy, without the slightest bit of cold.

This made her gasp in surprise.

In the past, even with seven or eight braziers in the room, she would still feel a chill, and her legs would feel icy cold every time she knelt in front of the table.

But now the ground is warm and cozy, making one want to lie down and take a nap.

Mo Xun couldn't help but exclaim, "Your Excellency is truly a genius! By letting the coal burn outside, you not only completely solved the problem of the poison from the coal, but also made the house so comfortable. You are truly amazing!"

Although she stood by and clearly understood the principles, she couldn't help but be surprised when she actually saw the results.

Bai Su smiled and rubbed her nose: "I may not be as good as others in other aspects, but when it comes to eating, drinking, having fun, and enjoying life to the fullest, no one in the world can compare with me."

Chapter 279 What color is the undress?

Inside the Xianyang Palace.

Bai Su walked all the way to the Mingtang.

Zhengjie was dressed in a black palace dress, sitting upright at her desk, occasionally flipping through a memorial in her hand.

Hearing footsteps approaching, she slowly raised her head, her phoenix eyes looking at Bai Su with interest: "How did things go?"

According to Zheng Jie's plan, solving the problems in the entire city of Xianyang in a short period of time would be no easy task. It would take at least a year or two before she could come up with a suitable solution.

From the very beginning, she set up this difficult problem to make things difficult for Bai Su, and she didn't have much hope that Bai Su could complete it.

Bai Su smiled and said, "Your Majesty has lived up to your expectations. After several days of research, I have come up with a solution, and after testing, it has been initially successful."

Upon hearing this, Zheng Jie's beautiful face showed a hint of astonishment: "Wh...what, you actually came up with a solution?"

Bai Su nodded gently and recounted in detail what she had done with the leader of the Mohist school.

After hearing the explanation, Zheng Jie couldn't help but glance at Bai Su and said in a strange tone, "You have quite the methods. Under the influence of lust, you've even figured out such an ingenious method."

Bai Su's eyelids twitched. Was Sister Zheng praising her or scolding her?