Chapter 59: Qingxi's Buddha Heart

  Qingxi An is located on the northwest of Zhijiang's Yao Hua Mountain, looking around, the stone steps winding up the mountain, eventually hidden in the green hills. The surrounding area is planted with pines and cypresses, appearing quiet and secluded, indeed a good place to concentrate on Buddhist meditation.

  On the stone steps, a man walked slowly, although the surrounding " cicadas chirped in the forest, birds sang on the mountain", but this man's heart was surging with waves, revealing a hidden unease. This man was Yu Yan, the governor of Yiling. The news that Guan Renmei had set himself on fire and the public messenger from the Ministry of Justice in Nanjing was rushing to Yiling had completely dashed Yu Yan's hopes, so he took advantage of his still being free to come and visit Cui Yu'er.

  Cui Yuer has had her heart tied to Lin Chunhong since she was rescued by him. But on one hand, there is the sincere treatment of her best friend, and on the other hand, there is the love affair, which torments her so much that she becomes thin day by day. In the end, she cannot bear this torment anymore and decides to become a nun. Zhou Feng's persuasion is in vain, and Cui Yuer has no choice but to let her become a nun at Qingxi An.

  The decline of the Cao family finally calmed down the River East Lion at home, no longer as arrogant and domineering as it used to be. This made Yu Yan secretly delighted, and even thought that if he could safely pass this disaster and return to the mountainous and scenic Jiangnan, being a carefree country gentleman would not be a bad ending. But Cui Yuer's entry into Buddhism made him secretly ache with desire, and his desire to visit Cui Yuer grew stronger day by day. Yu Yan understood that it was basically impossible to take Cui Yuer as a concubine again, but being able to see her one last time before leaving Yi Ling would also settle a past relationship.

  An old nun stood at the gate of Qingxi An, after listening to Yu Yan's intention, she joined her hands together and said: "There is no Cui Yuer in the nunnery, only Huijing."

  "Thanks for reminding me, I'm here looking for Hui Jing, would you please help me pass on the message? Just say Yu Yan has come to visit."

  "Please wait for a moment, sir." He said and turned around to leave.

  Before long, the old nun returned and said: "Please forgive me, Master. Huijing is concentrating on Buddhist meditation and does not want to see external guests. Please ask the master to leave."

  Yu Yanda hastily asked: "Did Shifu say that Yu Yan came to visit? Why didn't she see me, why?"

  "The old nun also didn't know, Master, please go back!" After finishing speaking, she slowly closed the door of the hut and locked Yu Yan outside.

  Yu Yan heard a loud crash, his heart was hit hard, and he almost couldn't stand still. He leaned against the door for a long time before reluctantly leaving...

  Just now, Old Nun asked Cui Yu'er, and Cui Yu'er still thought it was Lin Chunhong visiting, a blush appeared on her face, which was seen by the meticulous Old Nun. After listening clearly that the visitor was Yu Yan, she fell silent for a while, before squeezing out one sentence: "Don't see him." After Old Nun left, a pair of clever eyes didn't blink, and she stood there in a daze.

  The old nun looked at them for a long time before saying, "Since the karmic tie is not yet over, it's better to meet and settle it once and for all."

  The old nun's words startled Cui Yu'er, who was in a trance. The old nun looked at her and couldn't help but shake her head.

  "This lotus is not that lotus."

  The old nun nodded and quietly exited, closing the door behind her.

  And Cui Yuer's face was already covered with tears, feeling self-pity and unable to help herself: "Heartless enemy, it's been so long, even seeing each other is such a luxury..."

  Lin Chunhong often thought of Cui Yuer, but with a wife at home, he ruthlessly cast aside his thoughts and distractions, not to mention making a special trip to Yao Hua Mountain to visit Cui Yuer. Now Lin Chunhong has a lot on his plate and doesn't even have time to think about Cui Yuer. Since Yu Yan was arrested, the position of Governor of Yi Ling has been vacant, and the new official has not yet taken office, with the affairs being handled by the deputy governor. Lin Chunhong is worried that the new governor will interfere, so he strengthened his ties with the deputy governor, who readily agreed to change the mining rights of Huo Shao Ping from official to private under the temptation of half-baked shares, and granted the mining rights to Lin Chunhong.

  Incidentally, the judge saw that the only thing left of the Ma Lian Iron Mine was an empty shell, so he sold it to Lin Chunhong. In one stroke, Lin Chunhong obtained the mine.

  "What? You say that excavating the cableway will require 370,000 taels of silver?" Wang Liangquan's words almost made Lin Chunhong jump up. As Wang Liangquan was in charge of excavating the ropeway, he was responsible for the transportation project from Huoshao Ping to Qingjiang.

  "Sir, this is still a conservative estimate! From Huo Shao Ping to Qing Jiang, it's over 30 miles away, and we have to cross more than ten big mountains along the way. Whether 370,000 taels of silver are enough remains to be seen! Moreover, building a cableway requires a large amount of steel, where can we get that?" Wang Liangquan's affirmative answer left Lin Chunhong disheartened, and he sat silently in his armchair, speechless.

  The 240,000 taels of silver brought by Guan Renmei were spent in the blink of an eye, mainly used to renovate the sandy land of Bailizhou and repair water conservancy, which kept Xiao Dazi busy. In addition, a giant waterwheel is being built on the Yangtze River, which has also invested several tens of thousands of taels of silver.

  "Why don't we use human labor instead? In the past, official procurement wasn't done this way either. We can invest more manpower and still harvest a lot without spending too much, now that labor costs are so cheap." Wang Liangquan suggested, seeing Lin Chunhong's worried expression.

  Lin Chunhong shook his head and said, "How much can a person carry on their back? Why don't you make an estimate of how much silver is needed to repair the mountain road from Huo Shao Ping to Qing Jiang? This mountain road must be used by animals pulling carts."

  Wang Liangquan pulled out a stack of paper from his sleeve and smiled: "The budget has already been prepared, sir, please take a look."

  Lin Chunhong was overjoyed, took the paper, and laughed scoldingly: "Why didn't you say so earlier? You're still playing tricks on me? Were you already thinking that repairing the cableway wouldn't work, so you made a second plan?"

  Wang Liangquan chuckled twice, picked up his teacup and poured it into his mouth.

  Lin Chunhong looked at it and said: "Thirty-five thousand taels of silver is not a lot, this can be borne."

  Wang Liangquan frowned and said, "I suggest we simply give up on the cableway. The workers below say they've never seen a cableway like this before and are afraid to try it. Uncle Li also says that finding such a rope will be very difficult, and even if we can find one, it won't last long. Some of the workers suggested putting the smelting furnace at Huo Shao Ping, where charcoal can be burned locally, anyway there are many trees there. Transporting pig iron is much easier than transporting ore."

  Lin Chunhong smiled and said, "Don't mention building the smelting furnace at Huoshao Ping, this small place can't have many trees to cut down. In the future, charcoal will be far from enough. You're right on this point, able to listen to the craftsmen's suggestions, and in the future, we should also listen more, we are outsiders, of course, we need to listen to them. As for the cableway, let's discuss it later, put it aside for now."

  After finishing speaking, he handed over the budget book to Wang Liangquan and said: "Hand it over to Zheng Tiancheng for review, and I will stamp it again."

  Wang Liangquan nodded and left, leaving Lin Chunhong alone in the study. Lin Chunhong picked up a copy of "Mineralogy", looking at the techniques for desulfurization of iron, flipping through it for a long time, but still couldn't find a solution. Lin Chunhong was still thinking about how to refine Ma Lian's sulfur iron ore into high-quality iron, after all, transportation from Ma Lian would be much more convenient.

  Just as Lin Chunhong was about to give up, Peng Xin brought a sly-looking guy to see him, saying that there was something that needed cooperation with Lin Chunhong. The guy had a pointed mouth and sunken cheeks, with a missing patch of whiskers on his chin, his eyes narrowed into a line, and his back was hunched, Lin Chunhong was very interested and didn't know what this guy wanted to cooperate on.

  "I want to help the adults solve the problem of Ma Lian's brittle iron!" This guy opened his mouth and scared Lin Chunhong, not because Lin Chunhong was worried about this matter, but by his voice. The guy had a loud and clear voice, full of energy, with a strong masculine tone that didn't match his appearance at all.

  Lin Chunhong smiled and said, "What can you do?"

  "There's no solution for now, but if you give me 3,000 taels of silver, I can think of a way to solve it." The guy said confidently.

  Lin Chunhong was shocked and couldn't help but glance at Peng Xin, full of suspicious looks. Could it be that Peng Xin had brought back a swindler?

  Peng Xin would not bring a swindler, he had long since investigated the bottom of this guy: This guy is called Kang Libo, who has been working as an artisan in Daye for many years. He could no longer bear the inhumane treatment of the artisans and escaped alone, drifting from place to place for many years. Peng Xin sold iron pots made of brittle iron in Yiling, which was devalued by this expert as worthless. Peng Xin knew he had met a rare talent and recommended him to Lin Chunhong.

  "I didn't expect Kang Libo to be so arrogant," Peng Xin scolded, "Speak properly, you help the adults solve this problem, and there will be plenty of silver for you to spend."

  Kang Libo didn't put Peng Xinyu's scolding in his eyes at all, and continued to say: "In order to avoid the appearance of brittle iron, limestone can be added during smelting, but as for how much to add to Ma Lian's iron ore and what fire to add it to, I don't know either. It needs to be tried with the local ore!"

  Lin Chunhong knew he had met a master as soon as he heard it. He couldn't help but stand up, and even the "Mineralogy" on his knees fell to the ground without noticing. He said, "Is three thousand two enough?"

  Kang Libo stared at the book on mineralogy, his mouth agape as if he could swallow an egg whole, and didn't respond to Lin Chunhong's question. He exclaimed in surprise: "You also read this book, sir?"

  Lin Chunhong bent down and picked up the book, chuckling: "I'm free and have nothing to do, so I'll just flip through it. So you've read it too?"

  Kang Libo sighed and said: "I've seen it before, but I couldn't afford it, so I just flipped through it roughly."

  "Can you read?"

  "Can a good craftsman not know how to read?" This remark amused Lin Chunhong, who repeatedly praised: "Well said, well said! How can a craftsman not know how to read? I'll give this book to you. I only have one copy here, and it took a lot of effort to get it. You must keep it safe, and it's best if you find someone to make several copies."

  Kang Libo took the book and treated it like a treasure, hiding it in his bosom. His face regained its usual arrogant expression as he said, "Since you've also read this book, I suppose you have some understanding of refining iron. In that case, I won't say much more. As long as you can take out 3,000 taels of silver, I'll naturally be able to turn brittle iron into refined iron!"

  Lin Chunhong was overjoyed, not because he had found Kang Libo, the iron-smelting expert, but because of the remuneration Kang Libo had proposed. He pulled Kang Libo and said repeatedly: "Come, come, sit down, don't worry, three thousand taels of silver will naturally be given to you, let's discuss your compensation after the deal is made."

  This made Peng Xin and Kang Libo confused, thinking that the three thousand two didn't include their pay? They cast puzzled glances at Lin Chunhong.

  Lin Chunhong's words made Kang Libo and Peng Xin excited as if they had found a gold mine, what were those words?