Fragrance Returned

The next day, Ding Lichun went to the Yamen as usual, and then went to live in Zuixian Pavilion. He saw no one else and only drank with Sun Yumu at night.

Finally returned home in early February.

He has lost weight, and his face is covered with green stubble.

Just want to go home.

No one dared to say an unpleasant word, as if those things had never happened.

At dinner, Ding Zhao poured his son a glass of wine for the first time, and Ding Lichun thanked him.

Ding Zhuang was not here, but if he were here, he would make an exception and pour wine for his grandson.

Xunxiang put a chicken drumstick in his bowl and said, "Brother, eat the drumstick."

Nowadays, the family is rich and has no shortage of chicken, but chicken legs have a specific meaning in the Ding family and are only eaten by the elders and Xunxiang.

Mrs. Zhang gave him a few slices of braised beef in the bowl, "I bought it at Guo's Braised Meat."

Ding Lichun felt a little embarrassed when he saw his cautious parents and sister.

He drank the wine in one gulp and said, "I'm fine, don't worry. However, I don't want to talk about my marriage for the time being, and I don't want to delay my second brother's marriage. When the time comes, let him marry first."

Ding Zhao patted him on the shoulder and said, "Okay, if you want to kiss me, we'll talk about it later. There's no rush."

After the meal, Xunxiang waited until Ding Lichun had tidied herself up, then shamelessly dragged him out for a walk, coaxing him to be happy with soft words, and finally a smile appeared on Ding Lichun's face.

He squeezed his sister's little hand and said, "My brother is a man, not so fragile. He is very good with Mu, and he will not do anything to disgrace my sister. If he dares to make my sister sad, my brother will break his legs."

Xunxiang smiled and said, "I know."

If Sun and Mu dare to treat her badly, the three generations of Ding family men will really beat him to death, and the emperor's grandfather will also deal with him.

So any man who dares to marry her is also in danger.

The days became calm again.

In early March, an explosive news spread in the Dali court.

The "steel" produced by Baoqing Iron Works Manufacturing Co., Ltd. is not ductile iron similar to steel, but real steel.

Steel can actually be made directly from pig iron. It does not need to be tempered. It is not a dream to produce a sword and a spear in one day.

It was made by Old Uncle Chengyi and others.

Sincerity Bo Dingzhao presented the folding book and a piece of steel. The emperor, the ministers, and the officials from the Ministry of Industry were very interested.

After listening to Ding Zhao's detailed report, the emperor took several important ministers incognito to visit "Baotie" and witnessed with his own eyes molten iron being made into steel.

Although this steelmaking process also has disadvantages, it is high cost. However, it can produce high-quality mechanical tools, high-end firearms and swords in small quantities, which can greatly promote the development of Dali's industry and military.

The emperor was overjoyed and called Ding Zhuang Ding Dajinshou, which means turning stone into gold and turning iron into steel. Although this title is neither a title nor an official position, it is the greatest compliment to Ding Zhuang.

Ding Zhuang, together with Lu Ban, Zhao Chun, Ma Yi, and Cai Min, became one of the top five craftsmen of this era, and his reputation was spread to future generations.

Of course, this is an afterthought.

The Ding family presented the steel-making prescription to the court for free, and the court rewarded the Ding family with two thousand gold.

The management concepts previously proposed by Ding Zhao have been promoted. He further proposed the merger of several iron workshops in the imperial court, which would enable more effective imperial management and save costs, and was also agreed by the emperor and the elder.

If the merger of iron workshops can be successful, workshops in other industries of the imperial court will gradually merge, and then private workshops will be stimulated.

The imperial court is in the process of merging several iron-making workshops affiliated with the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Internal Affairs to establish the Dali Iron-making Manufacturing Bureau, with approximately 3,000 craftsmen. The Manufacturing Bureau is affiliated to the Ministry of Industry, and the top leader, "The Craftsman Supervisor," is a fifth-grade official.

After steelmaking was completed, the elders suggested that we simply change the Dali Ironmaking and Manufacturing Bureau to the Dali Iron and Steel Manufacturing Bureau.

The emperor appointed Ding Zhao, a doctor in the Ministry of Industry, to concurrently serve as the craftsman's supervisor.

Xunxiang felt that the name was unpleasant and suggested changing it to "Director", which was not exactly the same as "Director" in his previous life, but was equivalent to "President".

The emperor felt that this name was indeed more appropriate, so he changed "Tianzuo Supervisor" to "Director".

Dali Iron and Steel Manufacturing Bureau became the first central enterprise in this history, which can be said to be the prototype of a new industry. Ding Zhao's father became the first director in this history, and he can also be regarded as the first industrialist in this history.

Ding Zhuang was invited by the Steel Manufacturing Bureau to guide infrastructure construction and steelmaking, which is equivalent to a non-staff expert.

The manufacturing bureau was located in a suburban county, and the father and son were so busy that they could not return home even once in ten days.

In ancient times, the control over iron and steel was very strict. The more this happened, the more we had to keep a low profile. Ding Zhuang and Ding Zhao promised that "Baotie" would not produce steel and would only produce ductile iron in limited quantities every year...

Although "Baotie" could not be changed to "Baosteel" as Xunxiang wished, the "steel frying" process earned her grandfather and father enough political capital, and she was satisfied.

Ding Zhuang and Ding Zhao wanted to give Xun Xiang one thousand taels of gold, but Xun Xiang insisted not to give it. Finally, the father and son discussed that when Xunxiang gets married, their Ding family will also prepare a dowry and add the thousand taels of gold to it.

Time slipped to the end of April, Feifei hugged Xunxiang with his big wings for a long time, and flew northeast the next day.

Xunxiang knew that the Purple Turtle Dragon must be able to come out, so he flew back to Jitou Peak to play with it.

Before Feifei left, Xunxiang had a "sweet dream" in order to benefit it.

Of course it was King Duan who dreamed of it.

Unfortunately, King Duan in the dream had been reading a book and didn't notice anything unusual.

Ding Lichun also gradually came out of the emotional pain. He was no longer taciturn and stern all day long, and he could still smile at his mother and sister.

On April 27th, Baihe, the maid of the Sun family, sent an envelope to Xun Xiang. Sun and Mu were off duty tomorrow and made an appointment with Xun Xiang to meet at Zuixian Pavilion.

Feifei could not deliver the letter, so Sun and Mu's contact with Xunxiang had to be handled by Baihe from Sun's house and Si'er from Princess's house.

Xunxiang hadn't seen Sun Yumu for more than ten days, and her heart was filled with sweetness when she saw this letter.

She remembered what her best friend in her previous life had said when she was in love: date at seven o'clock and happiness would begin at six o'clock.

Xunxiang felt something was wrong, it should be a date tomorrow and happiness would start today.

The next day, there was light rain in the sky, and Xunxiang left the princess mansion more than two quarters of an hour early.

The words "Princess Dongyang's Mansion" were written on paper as they drove into the car, and they only brought six confidential guards in plain clothes and two girls with them.

They went directly to the alley behind Zuixian Pavilion and entered through the back door of the courtyard.

Shopkeeper Li stood in the backyard to greet him, bowed and smiled at Xun Xiang who got out of the car.

It means that the prince has arrived.

It was still early, and the teahouse was deserted, with not a single tea customer.

Three guards were left on the first floor to drink tea, while Xun Xiang and others went up to the second floor and then walked inside.

The door to the third-to-last box was open, and two of Sun Yumu's soldiers were sitting inside. Jiang Xi and several other guards walked in. There was no one in the penultimate box, so Yuhuan and Luo Er walked in.

Xunxiang walked directly to the innermost room. The door was open, and there was half a green printed soft curtain.

After opening the curtain and going in, Sun Yumu sat beside the desk and smiled at her.

There is a Gongfu tea set on the table.