Chapter 165
165 Delivery
Li Yu thought to herself, It’s engraving and printing! When she was in school, she learned about the development of printing. The teacher told them about the interesting experience of the North Song Dynasty’s civilian inventor, Bi Sheng, who invented movable type printing. He even taught everyone to use glue to make movable type.
Seeing that Li Yu had fallen into deep thought, Zhou Jia stood up and said to Li Yu, “Yu’er, rest first. I’ll go to the front yard to take a look.”
Li Yu came out of her memories and said to Zhou Jia with a smile, “Xiao Xi, I remember that my master mentioned the method to print books. It’s not as troublesome as you said. The method he mentioned is much simpler.”
Zhou Jia looked at Li Yu in surprise. “Really? Tell me, how is it simple?”
Li Yu organized her words. “Xiao Xi, my master said that they used glue to make presses of the same specifications… After carving them, they burned them with fire…”
When Zhou Jia heard this, he was overjoyed. He excitedly pulled Li Yu’s hand and kissed it. “Yu’er, is your master immortal? Do you know how much money and time we will save by using this method to print? When the cost of printing is down, those poor students will also have the money to buy books.” The more Zhou Jia spoke, the more excited he became. He hugged Li Yu and kissed her. “Yu’er, I must have done a lot of good things in my previous life and accumulated countless merits to be able to marry you.”
Li Yu looked at Zhou Jia and rolled her eyes. She glanced at him and said, “Based on what you said, don’t you have to worship me in the future?”
Zhou Jia hugged Li Yu happily. “That won’t do. You’re my wife. You have to live with me and have children. Yu’er, I’ll start looking for a place tomorrow to find the masters my grandfather used in the past. I’ll also let them set up a printing workshop.”
“Are you silly!” Li Yu pointed above. “If you want all the poor students in the world to benefit, we have the best partner. Record what I said and send it to the Four Seas Bank tomorrow morning. Ask them to submit this method.”
Zhou Jia nodded and praised, “Yu’er, you’re still the one who thinks far ahead. I’m too narrow-minded. I’ll go write it now. You can add on from the side.”
“Yes!” They walked hand in hand toward the study.
In the west city, in Qi Hu’s house, Chang Gui, Jiang Shuncai, and Haozi told Qi Hu what they had observed at the entrance of the Zhou family’s alley. Chang Gui said to Qi Hu, “Brother Hu, his two servants know kung fu. I’m not sure how good their subordinates are. I think we have to be careful.”
Qi Hu said indifferently, “You don’t have to worry about that. I have my own arrangements.”
Haozi walked forward and said with a drooling face, “Brother Tiger, didn’t you see that Young Master Zhou is extremely handsome? I don’t think his wife is bad-looking either. Brother, I-I want to spare her life and make her my wife.”
Qi Hu waved his hand heroically. “Alright, isn’t she just a woman? Everyone, rest well. We’ll attack at midnight.”
Zhou Jia and Li Yu were in the study, recording the method and steps of printing. Zhou Jia said to Li Yu, “Yu’er, go and rest first. Tomorrow morning, we’ll go to the Four Seas Bank and hand over the things.”
Li Yu yawned and covered her mouth as she laughed. “Alright, rest early too.”
Zhou Jia nodded and wrote down what Li Yu said before putting it into the box. He went to the room to take a look at Li Yu. Seeing that she was already lying down, he turned around and went to the study.
After Zhou Jia left, Li Yu lay flat and slowly adjusted her breathing.
At midnight, Qi Hu woke up Haozi, Chang Gui, and Jiang Shuncai and said to them, “When we reach the Zhou family residence, I’ll go in and open the courtyard door first. Chang Gui and I will go to the front courtyard to take care of the servants. Haozi, you and Shun Cai will take the knockout incense to the inner courtyard. After you knock them out, kill the men and kidnap the women home.”
Qi Hu looked at them fiercely. After they agreed in unison, he left with them.
Qi Hu led a few people to avoid the patrolling bailiffs. When they reached the entrance of Ten Families Alleys, Qi Hu gestured to Hao Zi. Hao Zi nodded and led Chang Gui towards another alley.
Haozi and Chang Gui went to the inner courtyard wall and took out a claw-shaped iron hook. They swung it up and hung it on the wall. They pulled the rope and climbed up. Chang Gui watched Haozi’s movements from under the wall and thought to himself, These guys must have done a lot of robbing. If we take them down, we can get at least four to five hundred taels of silver. It’s better to find a place far away after this, take a wife and live a good life.
Haozi reached the wall and pulled on the rope, indicating that Chang Gui should climb up. Chang Gui grabbed the rope and clumsily climbed up. When he saw Haozi grab the rope and slip over the top of the wall to the bottom of the wall, he copied him and grabbed the rope to slip over the wall. Unexpectedly, he lost his footing and fell on his butt. Chang Gui rubbed his butt and got up. Seeing Haozi looking at him with disdain, he smiled awkwardly and took the incense from Haozi.
The two of them tiptoed to the window and took out a match to blow on it. They lit the incense and spat some saliva on their fingers to make a hole in the window paper. They reached the incense into the window. Li Yu stood behind the two of them and slapped the back of Haozi’s neck, who then fell to the ground. Similarly, Chang Gui was hit unconscious before he could shout.
Zhou Jia stood at the door of the study and watched as Li Yu took care of the two in the blink of an eye. He raised his thumb and smiled.
Qi Hu reached the wall in the front courtyard, took out his grappling hook, and swung it up the wall. He nimbly climbed into the courtyard, gently opened the courtyard door to let Jiang Shuncai in. The two of them stood at the corner of the courtyard wall and waited for a moment without hearing any movement before tiptoeing towards the window of the main room.
Qi Hu and Jiang Shun had just arrived under the window of the main room. Just as they picked up the lighter and lit the incense, they were knocked unconscious by Ruyi and Zhao Cai.
Li Yu carried the Haozi and Chang Gui, who were tied up by now, to the entrance of the cellar. Zhao Cai and Ruyi also carried the other over. When the two of them saw Li Yu, they smiled. “Young Madam, you were disturbed!”
Zhou Jia spread his hands and said with a smile, “Your young master is useless. When I found the two thieves, they had already been knocked unconscious by your young madam.”
Zhou Jia pulled open the lid of the cellar and lit the oil lamp at the mouth of the cellar. Li Yu carried Haozi and Chang Gui into the cellar and left them on the ground. Ruyi and Zhao Cai entered the cellar and saw Chang Gui on the ground and called out to Zhou Jia in surprise, “Young Master, come and take a look. Isn’t this Granny Yun’s Chang Gui?”
Zhou Jia walked down the cellar with the oil lamp and looked at Chang Gui on the ground with a dark expression. After a moment of silence, he said, “That’s right. It’s Granny Yun’s precious son, Chang Gui. I was still thinking of a way to make that evil woman speak. Now, I have a way to make that old woman testify against those two vicious women.”
Ruyi kicked Chang Gui and said hatefully, “This guy must have been sent by those two vicious women in the old residence.”