Chapter 5: The Way of Wealth Creation

  After returning to the county government office, Ao Lie locked himself in his room and ordered his personal maid, Shuang Er, to guard the door and not let anyone enter. As for her own young master's temperament, Shuang Er was also used to it and responded with a sound before exiting the room.

  When only Ao Lie was left in the room, he walked to the desk, grinding ink and recalling the shape of Gaoqiao's saddle, stirrups, and horseshoes. After a moment, Ao Lie had a general idea in his mind, so he picked up his brush and began painting on silk. Fortunately, Ao Lie had extensive knowledge in his past life, and almost everything related to martial arts and ancient history was familiar to him, which also allowed him to quickly blend into the unique atmosphere of the Eastern Han Dynasty. At this moment, relying on his memories from his past life, he easily painted Gaoqiao's saddle and other objects.

  Soon, the three pieces of cloth had already been painted with patterns of high-bridge saddles, double-sided stirrups and horseshoes by Ao Lie. Looking at his own work, Ao Lie nodded in satisfaction, then let out a soft sigh. Although the Eastern Han was now turbulent and the Yellow Turban Rebellion was sweeping across the country, it had not yet reached the point of great chaos. According to historical development, the great chaos at the end of the Eastern Han should have begun after Emperor Ling's death and Dong Zhuo's entry into the capital. There were still several years before Emperor Ling's death in history. Before the time of great chaos, he could not organize his own army, and without an army, these advanced equipment from later generations naturally could not be mass-produced on a large scale. Was it possible to let Dong Zhuo's Western Liang Army equip this horse gear ahead of time?

  For Dong Zhuo, Ao Lie has never looked up to him in this life or the previous one. A warlord who only knows how to speculate, and also wants to dominate the great Han dynasty? This has already touched the bottom line of Ao Lie's heart. Although he is a traverser from later generations, Ao Lie has always been proud of being a Han person.

  He gathered his thoughts, folded the three pieces of cloth neatly and put them in his bosom. Then he said to the outside of the door: "Xue Er sister, come in." Xue Er was Ao Lie's personal maid, who had been taking care of him since he was born. Although she was nominally a maid, Ao Lie always treated her as an elder sister, and even his monthly allowance was managed by Xue Er.

  The door was pushed open, and a young girl in her teens walked in. Although she was dressed simply, she had a good figure and a pretty face, looking like she was only 14 or 15 years old. When Frosty approached him, Ao Lie's face broke into a flattering smile: "Frosty sister, I have something to do tomorrow, can you lend me some money?"

  Fang'er stared at Ao Lie for a while, then said in a soft voice: "Master has always advocated thriftiness. All the expenses in our household are carefully allocated by Mistress after calculation. Your monthly allowance is 30 coins, but last month you had a new sword made, so not only did you spend this month's allowance, but also last month's. You've spent it all." Ao Lie looked down, his head hung low, and muttered: "I knew you'd say that, but didn't I still have the allowance from the month before last? I didn't make any weapons that month..." Fang'er looked at Ao Lie's embarrassed expression and couldn't help but chuckle. She said: "You really are shameless, Second Master. In the past half year, you've had three swords and two large spears made. Not only did you spend the allowance from the month before last, but also all the money I've been saving up over the past half year. You really don't know the value of money when you're not in charge... The price of a catty of iron is almost as high as that of silver now, and on top of that, there's the blacksmith's labor fee..."

  "Alright, alright," Ao Lie hastily waved his hand to interrupt Frost's nagging, and said with a bitter face: "I know, Sister Frost doesn't have to beat around the bush anymore. As for tomorrow's matter, I'll think of a way myself." Frost shook her head lightly and said: "The current state of the world is not good. Even in our Jiuyuan, the old master governs with wisdom, and the people's lives are still passable. I've heard that other places have had cases of selling children for food."

  "What?" Ao Lie was shocked by Shuang Er's words, and a pang of sadness struck his heart. The Great Han had fallen to this point? With a low mood, he waved his hand at Shuang Er and said: "I know, I won't be reckless with money again. Sister Shuang Er, I'm tired, I want to rest."

  Shuang'er didn't say anything, quietly put some copper coins on the table, and then turned around and walked out of the room. As for Ao Lie, Shuang'er knew that he had always regarded her as a sister, unlike other young masters in other families. Other young masters wouldn't even bother to speak nicely to their maidservants, let alone treat them with kindness. Some young masters didn't even consider their maidservants as human beings, but rather as tools for their own pleasure. Many young masters from wealthy families had their first experiences with women on the bodies of their personal maidservants. In fact, Shuang'er also regarded Er Gongzi as a younger brother, she just didn't dare to say it out loud, after all, they had to maintain social hierarchy. The copper coins left on the table earlier were not Ao Lie's money, but her own wages.

  After a moment of silence, Ao Lie shook his head vigorously. The trend of the great Han's decline was already beginning to show, and it seemed that he had to speed up his pace. He had to find a way to have his own personal guards before Emperor Ling died, in order to possibly turn the tide in the impending chaos and prop up the crumbling temple. Otherwise, if history followed its natural course, Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan would contend for power, and the Sima family would reap the benefits of their struggle, leading to the Five Barbarians' invasion of China, causing the Han people to suffer hardships for hundreds of years, living in a state of constant turmoil.

  Forget it, let's talk about it later. Let's solve the current problem first. Ao Lie knew that due to the weakness of the Han Dynasty emperor, prices were skyrocketing, but he didn't expect that the price of a catty of iron had risen to almost the same level as a catty of white silver. Calculating this way, the weapons he had been making these days indeed cost a lot of money, and his own expenses might not be enough, let alone the fact that Shuang'er had secretly subsidized a lot.

  "Ah, this money..." Ao Lie finally saw the copper coins that Shuang Er had left on the table before she left. He was deeply moved in his heart. He understood that this money must be Shuang Er's own wages. The wages during the Eastern Han period were not generous to begin with, and Shuang Er had also spent a lot of her own money for him, yet she still left these coins behind. Although it wasn't much, this act of kindness was enough to move Ao Lie to extreme gratitude.

  He picked up the copper coins on the table, weighed them in his hand, and suddenly came up with a bold idea. Why not use this money to invest? Consider it as Frost's capital. In the future, after making money, aside from leaving some for himself to forge weapons and daily expenses, he would leave the rest for Frost as her dowry. But what kind of investment could be made with little input, quick results, and high returns?

  After thinking for half a day, Ao Lie still couldn't come up with a specific plan and couldn't help but feel anxious in his heart. At this time, Shuang Er's voice came from outside the door: "Second Master, Shuang Er should attend to your washing." Ao Lie responded casually: "Come in." Shuang Er carried the water basin into the room, then carefully took out a folded handkerchief from her bosom and placed it on the table. Turning her head to face Ao Lie, she said: "Second Master, today I saw that you were feeling very anxious, so I brought some self-made incense to help refresh your mind." Ao Lie looked down at the handkerchief opened by Shuang Er, inside which was wrapped several pieces of yellowish-brown large leaves, similar in shape to banana leaves. Suddenly, Ao Lie stood up like he had been electrocuted, his tone full of surprise: "Shuang Er sister, you say this is incense?"

  Fang Er's pretty face turned red, and she said in a low voice: "It is and it isn't. This is the homemade incense made by our local villagers, which can't be compared to the real incense used by wealthy families. Moreover, this homemade incense produces more smoke when burned. If Second Master doesn't like it, I'll take it away."

  "Don't be in a hurry, don't rush to take it away, let me smell the fragrance first." Ao Lie hastily stretched out his hand to stop Shuang'er, saying repeatedly. Shuang'er put her mind at ease, stretched out her jade hands and placed the tu xiang leaves into the incense burner, then used flint to ignite them. In an instant, the tu xiang leaves in the incense burner were fully ignited, a wisp of blue smoke wafting gently upwards from the incense burner.

  Ao Lie walked closer to the incense burner, took a few deep breaths, and inhaled the rising green smoke into his nostrils. In an instant, a faint pungent smell wafted over, and a slight dizziness arose from the depths of his brain. Ao Lie was thoroughly stunned - how could this be? This was clearly tobacco! Weren't the history books saying that tobacco wasn't introduced until over 1500 years later, transmitted from the southern seas? How could there be tobacco in the Eastern Han dynasty?

  Ao Lie turned to Shuang Er and asked, "Shuang Er sister, how were these earth incense discovered? How do you usually use them?" Shuang Er saw that Ao Lie was interested and secretly felt happy, her tone also relaxed a lot: "This thing is very common in my hometown of Youbei, but I don't know why it's rarely seen elsewhere. When Master was the county magistrate of Wuyuan before, I ran all over Wuyuan but couldn't find this earth incense. It wasn't until two years ago when Master was promoted to Taishou of Jiuyuan that I followed him to Jiuyuan and found the earth incense on a small hill in the suburbs. In my hometown, richer families use earth incense mixed with some low-grade fragrances for burning, which makes it smell better. Poorer families like mine just burn it directly, but the scent is not as good."

  "Are these incense sticks originally like this?" Ao Lie asked. Xiang Er shook her head and said, "No, they weren't originally like this dry yellow color, but a lush green color. However, it's not good for burning, so the leaves need to be picked off and dried in the sun before they can be used as incense."

  "Haha, this time I've made a fortune." Ao Lie couldn't help but burst out laughing after hearing Shuang'er's story, then asked her again: "Shuang'er sister, how many of these earth incense do you still have in your hands?" Shuang'er replied without thinking: "There are still many, it's not easy for me to leave the city, so I collected a lot last time."

  "Ao Lie excitedly said: "Feng Er sister, immediately, now, take me to your room, we have a big matter to attend to." Feng Er's face turned bright red from Ao Lie's words, she quickly lowered her head and pinched the hem of her clothes, saying in a low voice: "Second, second young master, no, not okay, you're still young now..." Ao Lie stood there stupidly, only then realizing that his previous words were too ambiguous, causing Feng Er to have a beautiful misunderstanding. Ah! Although I'm only eight years old this life, but I've got thirty years of life experience from my past life, how could I make such a low-level mistake? Not even able to speak smoothly? And let Feng Er, who is like an older sister to me, misunderstand...this makes me feel so..."

  By the way, I've modified my pen name and decided to use "Jun Da Shao". Also, I've been quite busy these past few days, so I'll be posting a few more chapters today.