Cultivation is Just That Scientific

Li Shiming walked slowly along the garden path. He had thought about quickening his pace, but he wasn’t sure if Chief Escort Wang was watching from behind. He needed to maintain an air of composure to reassure Chief Escort Wang.

After leaving the garden area and seeing his courtyard ahead, most of his worries were finally alleviated.

Now, Li Shiming faced two choices: one was to report the matter to his father. The original owner’s father, Li Wenyuan (李文渊), was the Prefect of Nanling Prefecture (南陵府 – Southern Hill Prefecture). Although he held only a fourth-rank official title, he was the highest-ranking official in the area.

With Li Wenyuan’s power, he would easily be able to call upon experts to eliminate Chief Escort Wang.

The other choice was to follow Chief Escort Wang’s instructions and prepare the medicine according to the prescription.

“I’ll just deal with it for now. If I can’t solve the problem, I’ll ask Father for help!” Li Shiming thought to himself.

Anyway, since Chief Escort Wang wanted him to take action, he wouldn’t be harmed in the short term. With the three day Soul-Breaking Pills (断魂丸 – Duanhun Wan), Chief Escort Wang wouldn’t be too suspicious of him.

As he entered the courtyard, the maid, Si Qin (司琴), saw him and quickly hid the object in her hand behind her back before approaching and greeting him with a smile.

Si Qin was Li Shiming’s personal maid. Besides Si Qin, there were five other maids and two old women serving him. However, he didn’t like having too many people in the courtyard. Except for Si Qin, the other servants stayed in the servants’ quarters and wouldn’t come unless called.

“What’s that in your hand?” Li Shiming asked curiously when he saw Si Qin’s shy expression.

“It’s a small trinket that Wang Momo (Momo- older servent/nanny) sent over. I thought it was pretty, so I kept a few!” Si Qin said, unfolding her hand to reveal a few red beans.

Li Shiming shook his head. No wonder Si Qin looked embarrassed—it was xiangsi dou (相思豆 – love sick beans), which made sense, considering Si Qin was growing up and starting to think like a young woman.

Just as he was about to tell Si Qin to get back to work, he took a closer look at the red beans.

Some of them had a black tip. This reminded him of ji mu zhu (鸡母珠 – Chicken Mother Beads – rosary pea), a type of red bean. However, ji mu zhu was highly poisonous; eating two or three could be lethal.

Of course, few people knew about their toxicity, because the red bean grew in the far south. Not only did few know that it was poisonous, but even fewer knew the differences between the two types of beans.

“Si Qin, go ask Wang Momo how many of these black-tipped love beans she has left. If any have been given away, bring them all back. Tell her I want them, and give me the ones you have!” Li Shiming ordered in a deep voice.

“Yes, young master!” Si Qin pouted slightly but didn’t disobey and handed over the beans.

“By the way, also send for Mo Yan!” Li Shiming added as Si Qin turned to leave.

Li Shiming went to the study, where he carefully copied the prescription Chief Escort Wang had given him. He only copied the quantities of the ingredients.

With the original owner’s memories, his calligraphy was quite decent.

This world was similar, but not identical, to his previous one. The country was called Xia (夏), and the writing system was also Chinese characters. There were even the Four Books (四书) and Five Classics (五经), suggesting that this world was very similar to his previous life.

Li Shiming knew that the Four Books and Five Classics were the same because both his previous and current memories had included these texts.

In his previous life, he often visited the university library and read ancient texts. Though he didn’t research the Four Books and Five Classics deeply, he was familiar with them.

In this life, however, he had studied them since childhood and had already passed the xiucai (秀才 – a candidate who passed the preliminary civil service exam).

His xiucai title wasn’t due to his father’s influence but rather because he passed the examination relying on his own knowledge.

Becoming a xiucai at the age of fifteen wasn’t easy for most people, but for him, it was relatively simple given his family’s academic background.

Although he didn’t use his father’s position as the Prefect, the learning conditions and resources available to him were unimaginable to ordinary people.

As long as one wasn’t particularly slow-witted or unwilling to work hard, it was inevitable for someone with such resources to pass the imperial exams.

The geography of this world was also different from his previous one. Take Nanling Prefecture for example—there had never been a Nanling Prefecture in the history of his former world.

Nanling Prefecture was located in the south of Xia, connected by the Xian Zhan Canal (仙斩运河 Immortal Severed Canal) to Zhongdu (中都 – Central Capital) in the middle and Guan Hai Prefecture (关海府) in the north. Together with the four prefectures on the east and west, they formed the seven most important prefectures in Xia.

As Li Shiming pondered this, he heard voices from outside the door. It was Si Qin and the young servant, Mo Yan.

Mo Yan was struggling to carry a wooden box and carefully placed it on the ground in front of Li Shiming.

“Young master, everything you requested has been made according to the blueprint. Please check if anything needs to be changed. I’ll take care of it right away!” Mo Yan reported with an expression of pride.

Li Shiming was thrilled but held back his excitement as he opened the wooden box.

Inside were the parts for a generator, all made according to the blueprint he had designed based on his knowledge of electricity and the memories of this world.

He had arrived in this world three days ago, and to charge the UPS, he had used his past knowledge to design the blueprint and handed it over to Mo Yan to make. Now Mo Yan had brought it to him.

Before receiving the box, Li Shiming had already prepared himself for the possibility of some discrepancies. He would be able to correct any minor errors.

But when he actually saw the items, he was truly amazed.

The wooden parts were not the most impressive. What caught his eye were the iron gears—at first glance, they looked like products of an ancient society, yet their craftsmanship was so precise that he suspected they had been made using machine tools.

These were not the most difficult items. The hardest two were the magnet and the copper wire.

He picked up the magnet and found it to be perfectly shaped.

“This magnet was made by the Si Nan shop (司南铺子 – Compass Shop). They selected their best magnets!” Mo Yan explained proudly.

Si Nan referred to the compass, and the magnet needed to be processed into a special shape for the compass needle. The technique was not difficult, and it had been applied to the magnet for Li Shiming’s needs.

Li Shiming smiled, nodded, and then picked up the copper wire.

Honestly, the copper wire was what worried him most because it required the most skill.

The wire in his hand was fine and soft, coated with a layer of lacquer. It was of high quality, even by the standards of his previous life.

“This copper wire was custom-made by the Wu family’s jewelry shop. They heard it was for you and had their best craftsmen work overnight to make it!” Mo Yan added, seizing every opportunity to take credit.

“Good job. Si Qin, give Mo Yan two taels of silver!” Li Shiming, aware of Mo Yan’s intentions, was still pleased with his work. He smiled and instructed Si Qin.

Si Qin obediently took the silver and handed it to Mo Yan, who was grinning from ear to ear.

“Mo Yan, don’t gossip about this outside. Don’t talk about the young master’s affairs to others!” Si Qin softly cautioned.

Though Si Qin didn’t know what Li Shiming needed these items for, she was concerned that if his father found out that his son was involved in these matters instead of focusing on his studies before the Autumn Imperial Examination, it would be troublesome.

“Mo Yan, here’s a prescription. Buy the herbs according to it and be quick. Also, bring over the case files from Tianxiang Tower!” Li Shiming said, his gaze shifting away from the wooden box as he remembered another important task. He issued the order in a low voice.

Mo Yan, excited by the new task, happily left with the silver.