Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

Chapter 399 Lele

He closed the hatch and let the boy with glasses go back to continue training. He turned off the lights in the garage and opened the door.

"Hmm?" Qi Yuan was just walking up the stairs outside. "Wow, it's quite early. Aren't you busy today?"

"Um, I'm sorry, but I have to take a leave this afternoon. So I'll come to see the guy with glasses in the morning."

"I'm used to it. But when you're here, our work progresses by leaps and bounds. Your leave is a good opportunity for us to digest it. Go ahead and get busy. I'll talk to your instructor for you."

"Oh, by the way, you're here so early too?"

“Actually, I came in the morning.”

"Wow! Classmate Shangluo!" Three people flashed out from behind him. They were the three who gave him Wangzai milk while he was sleeping last time.

"Ah! Good morning, are you here to visit too?"

"We're not here for a visit. The squad leader invited us here."

"I haven't seen you for a few days. You seem to have turned pale again?"

"Wow! Your hair is in great condition! Did you get a perm?"

"Oh~~ This arm actually has muscles."

"The three of you stop right there!" Qi Yuan knocked on the iron door three times. "He's not some rare animal. How can you just attack him right away?"

"Oh, sorry, we heard that touching auspicious things will bring good luck."

"That's touching the back of the Black Impermanence. Stop it! He's not the Impermanence. What's the point of touching him?"

"Oh, squad leader, he didn't say anything himself. It won't remove the paint if you touch it."

You are laughing

"Ah? Did I smile? There's clearly no expression on my face."

"Come on, we've known each other for so long, I can tell how you feel just by the slightest movement of a muscle on your face. You might be a little slow around girls you know, but you're pretty sensitive around strangers."

"Ahem." Shangluo took a step back. "So, what are you three doing here? Is there anything I can help with?"

"Let's take the measurements of the Beans and make custom uniforms for them."

"So that's what happened."

He remembered what they had said last time—after each Nanzhi team entrusted their own Tianyi Guiren to the trusteeship, the team decided to make each of them a set of uniforms to distinguish their identities. He would also paint the Tiandao Shadow Puppet later.

"By the way, I also took a look at Lan Fang's proposal." Qi Yuan nodded. "I think their paint scheme is pretty good."

"Are you talking about the patchwork coat?"

"If there are a lot of different patterns, that's the only way to paint them. Don't worry, we have professionals here too." She patted the people next to her, "Our school is full of talented people. These people were reserved by the Weaving Bureau in their second year of high school. They can go to the Weaving Bureau after they graduate from college."

[Weaving Bureau? What does that do?]

"The Weaving Bureau is quite impressive. It's the department in charge of weaving. In addition to managing the weaving bureaus across the country, they're also responsible for costume design, creating formal attire for major ceremonies. Generally, only graduates of the Suzhou Academy of Arts and Crafts are selected, and the three of them have already been selected to attend university there."

How does it compare to Lao Shang?

"The Weaving Bureau is a subordinate department of the Artisan Supervisor, but if I remember correctly, their salary starts at level 5. According to the salary for the fifth rank, the starting salary is 35 taels per month - and that's just the salary. All the miscellaneous expenses add up to at least 40 taels per month. You have to work in the lower departments for at least ten years to get this salary."

[Goodness, Phaae is doing half the work of several people at once! If she knew this]

"Phaethon can't do this job. She can't even think straight, let alone do artistic design."

How did you figure that out?

"Haven't you seen her account books? The books we buy at the door are all written vertically, but Roman formulas are written horizontally. She goes to great lengths to write a string of Latin numerals vertically every day."

What's the problem?

"Then couldn't she just write the whole notebook sideways? Seeing her keep accounts every day like she's carving flowers, it's so strenuous. You can't tell either. It's true that if they're not from the same family, they won't marry."

[Yes! You can write it sideways! Why didn't you remind her?]

"I didn't know she didn't react for so long. I was afraid that if I said too much, she would feel stupid. But she never changed because I didn't say anything. Ah, I will change next time."

"Oh, Shangluo," Qi Yuan said, turning on the garage light. "Since you're still here, let's open the car and take out the beans and measure them one by one. And... have you asked that little potato? He's still not going to come out of the pot?"

"Yes, I asked that just now."

"Okay, that's the same as before. Just like other things are put on beans, he'll put it on the flowerpot. Everyone, let's get started. Wait a moment while we invite each team member out one by one."

Half an hour later, the work was done.

"This is my first time using a vernier caliper to measure myself. It's just basic skills, nothing special. Then, monitor, we'll send the measurements and designs to the weaving bureau this afternoon. You said it should be more formal, so we'll have it custom-made directly at the weaving bureau. We won't need the racing department's funding, since you're representing our school. So, we'll use the funds from our Arts and Crafts department."

"Ah! Thank you! Thank you!" Qi Yuan's eyes suddenly lit up.

"But we have one condition!"

"Um, what are the conditions?"

"Let us borrow Shangluo for a bit. We want to treat him to breakfast. The exams are coming up soon, and we need to hurry up and pay our tribute."

"I have eaten it," he was about to say, but Qi Yuan covered his mouth with his hand:

"We've almost used up all our funds to build the Tiandao Shadow Puppet. The weaving bureau's labor costs are very high."

"How many?"

The two people whispered a few words.

"My goodness, it's so expensive, why don't they just go and rob it? How big is Douzi's clothes? I have a friend who works two days and can only afford one that's the size of his finger."

"Your friend's salary is pretty good, isn't it? It's not like we're stealing. If it weren't for these people's connections, we wouldn't be able to order it. The Doudous come from all over to compete here, so we have to buy them some decent clothes. Come on, just have breakfast."

"But I've eaten."

"This is the ministry's work, so just squeeze some in."

"When you hired me, you didn't tell me it would include PR!"

"Oh, you're not the technical director anymore. This is technology, a technical business. No one else can do it, only you can do it, so that's technology, right? Come on, come on. Sorry for the long wait. Which cafeteria should we go to? He said he has a good appetite and can drink several bottles of Wangzai milk."

Chapter 400 Tribute

"I really can't drink anymore."

With a thud, he placed the empty fifth can of Wangzai milk on the table. He didn't waste a single drop, and he drank the entire liter of milk.

"Please! Another can! Another can?"

"But why six cans? Wouldn't one can per person be enough?" Shangluo said, burping.

"Because we have a second choice besides our first choice. If we can't get into Suzhou Academy of Arts and Crafts, we can still choose Yingtian Academy of Fine Arts. Come on, come on, come on."

"Okay. But don't think that if you drink with me, you'll really pass the exam. Whether you pass the exam or not has nothing to do with whether I drink or not."

"I know, I know. It's also written in the Confucius Temple. Come on, drink it."

"Drink, drink, drink!"

Even after three people tried to persuade him, he still had no choice.

The first sip of this Wangzai milk is okay, but it's not as good afterward. It's a flavored milk, as sweet as sugar water, and many sugar water shops use Wangzai milk as a base for their sugar water.

If he drinks this can, there will be about 1.5 liters of sugar water.

It seems I can still bear it.

After assessing his stomach, he said, "Okay, I'll just drink a little more."

Seeing how expectant they were, he couldn't refuse.

He tilted his head back and drank the milk in four gulps.

"Ahhh! Thank you! Thank you! I didn't expect you to actually drink it!"

"So you didn't intend to let me drink it all from the beginning?!"

"Because I thought you definitely wouldn't be able to finish it... Ahem, anyway! Thank you! If you pass the exam, we will definitely not forget you! Thank you!"

"Don't hug me! Don't strangle me! I'm going to vomit!"

When he returned to his seat in the classroom, he felt like he was swaying all over.

"Hey." Qi Yuan asked as he sat in the empty seat in front of him:

"Have you finished drinking?"

"What do you think? Will they let me go back if I don't finish drinking?"

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" Qi Yuan grabbed his hand and shook it hard.

"Don't shake it! I'm going to throw up!"

"You have no idea how much money this saves! Even if I gave it to them, they wouldn't take it. Because their department's sponsorship comes from the Weaving Bureau, and giving the money to the Weaving Bureau is like transferring money from one hand to the other, and then distributing it back to us."

"So it doesn't cost any money?"

"Well, to put it bluntly, it's a matter of face, so we're solving it with face—this is a technical issue! So of course you, the technical director, have to take action. They're wary of me checking their homework, and they can't even hide from me."

"Okay, okay, after eating this once, they probably won't come to me again for a long time. Wait! Do they have Fetion cards?"

"Shu Wenhui does have one. She's the second one, the one in the middle."

"They won't post this on the forum, will they?"

"That shouldn't be the case." Qi Yuan thought for a moment, "If too many people come to worship and share the blessings, the effect won't be as good. Well, the main thing is that you can't eat so many offerings."

“Thank goodness they still know this.”

He looked up at the top of the blackboard. The clock was almost 8 and the class still had a while to go.

"I say, do people in our class always arrive on time?"

"They arrived on that subway. Not many people were late, but they all arrived on time. If the subway had broken down, a lot of people would have been late that day. It can't be helped. Our school isn't close to the school, and some students even have to travel from Gaochun every day for classes, which takes over an hour by train."

"Then I'll take a nap. No need to wake me up, I can wake up on my own."

At noon, Shangluo regained his energy. After class and the break, he had gotten about 40 minutes of deep sleep, and now he was completely refreshed.

"Oh, by the way, Shangluo, I actually have a question I've been wanting to ask you this morning."

After coming out of the teaching building, they were supposed to split up here, but Qi Yuan stopped him.

"Is there anything wrong?" There was still more than an hour before Guoxing's machine started up, so he was not in a hurry.

"Are you in charge of that forum?"

"How did you know?"

"Because every time you take a leave, there's a lot of development on that forum. It's hard not to connect the two things. And every time you disappear, something else big happens."

"Uh." Honestly, Qi Yuan's ability to keep it a secret for so long was thanks to her strong sense of boundaries. As the class monitor, directly responsible for his affairs, Qi Yuan had never pried into her personal affairs. She never asked about things she shouldn't have, and she never inquired about things she shouldn't have. But now, since she could already guess these things without even asking, she asked anyway.

"It's me." Shangluo admitted, "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"I have a suggestion. Can we divide the forum's functions into different areas? There are two main topics there right now—one group of people spends all day discussing food and which restaurants have good food. The other group is researching cultivation. Both groups think what they're doing is the real work. Those who talk about food think the forum is for discussing things they enjoy, while the other group thinks cultivators should just cultivate."

"Hmm" Shangluo thought about it.

This was indeed different from the forums he "knew" because there weren't so many cultivators in the forums before. As a public opinion space, the identity of the forum was generally anonymous when entering.

But now, on this forum, everyone knows each other's identities, thanks to the real-name system for Fetion. In a place where everyone speaks with their real names, if you're unhappy with someone, you can literally go online and settle scores offline. It's fine if two groups are just chatting online, but if something goes wrong on the forum, it can escalate into an offline brawl—even a fight of magic.

That would be great fun.

"Indeed. We can't let relations between people on this forum become too strained. We really should be divided into different groups."

So, can it be divided? he asked Apollonia.

We can partition it, right? We've said that before. But this is different from other forums you've seen. Our forum is based on the Tower of Babel, so any information will be displayed within the Tower of Babel. Accordingly, any physical changes we make to the Tower of Babel will also affect its external functionality. So if we want to partition the posts on both sides,

“Do I need to manually move all the posts?”

"Yes. But there aren't many posts right now, so it's okay to move it sooner rather than later. Then, each of us can post on our own channels, and there won't be constant fighting between the two sides. Tell her, 'This is a great suggestion.' If you have any more suggestions, please continue. We really need other users' opinions."

Shangluo gestured with his thumb.

"Okay~~ See you later. The car to pick you up seems to be here."