A wide boulevard capable of accommodating six carriages abreast stretched between two rows of two-story buildings, with over a hundred shops of varying widths—ranging from three to ten meters—lining each side.
It ran all the way from the mouth of the gorge to the edge of the lake.
The entire project had taken four months to complete, and the construction crew now numbered over two hundred.
More than a hundred of them had been recruited gradually from within the bounds of Qingniu Town.
Zhao Baihui walked the length of the street with his four handmaids and a few attendants in tow.
Jinyi kept pace beside him, small notebook in hand, giving her report as she walked.
"Of the two hundred-odd shops, only a dozen or so merchants have moved in—a wine seller, a grain store, a fabric shop… truth be told, they're all our own businesses."
"Mm. We don't have many people here yet—just barely crossed eight hundred, which makes us a small-scale Qingniu Town. The spending power is weak, so it's no surprise merchants aren't rushing in."
"But don't worry. Our numbers will keep growing, and since we pay well, it's essentially two hundred households with decent income."
"Most of them came from hard times, though, and they're reluctant to spend. They'll need a little guidance."
"Money is like flowing water—it has to move to stay fresh. Let it stagnate, and everything rots."
"By the way, have any tax officials come knocking?"
"Not yet."
"Ha. The efficiency of those people…" He waved it off. "Go on."
"Leaving all the shops empty didn't seem right, so I've temporarily arranged for some people to live in them. Once the residential quarters currently under construction are finished, they'll move out gradually."
"Right—and remember, everything here is for lease, never for sale. These properties and this land will be worth a great deal someday."
"If we sell them off, it'll be an enormous headache whenever we need to rebuild or make changes."
"Understood, Master."
"Speaking of which—what's Immortal's Bliss going for now?"
"We've stopped selling it at the town wine shop altogether. It goes directly to well-established merchants now."
"The price is five hundred wen per jin."
A hundred jin of liquor a day—that was fifty taels of silver, with no middleman taking a cut. The cost of production was negligible. The margins were obscene.
"Jinyi, this is a lot of money. Sooner or later, the wrong people will take notice. We need to be prepared."
"Understood, Master. I'll start selecting suitable candidates from good families to form an army right away."
"Ahem—what are you talking about? A local militia. A civil defense corps. Nothing more."
Ever since he had let certain things slip that one time, he had sensed a kind of fever taking hold in the girl—she never said it outright, but he could feel it plainly enough: she had set her heart on pushing him into the emperor's seat.
It made him distinctly uneasy.
After a moment's thought, Zhao Baihui sighed and produced a book from nowhere, pressing it into Jinyi's arms.
He figured this girl was bound to stir up serious trouble one day. No matter how large a mess she made, as long as he kept soldiers under his command, he could face it with a steady heart.
"Don't go showing it to anyone."
Jinyi nodded and glanced down at the book in her arms. On the cover, a few characters read: *Manual for the Training of New Soldiers*.
"Make sure everyone understands why they serve—whose food they eat, whose water they drink. Give them a sense of pride and belonging, and there won't be any talk of mutiny."
"That's the only way to forge soldiers worth having—fearless in the face of death, undivided in their loyalty. If any officer ever dared to turn against us, he wouldn't make it out of the barracks."
He thought of news that had reached him a few days ago: a general up north had rebelled and opened the passes to the barbarians. The emperor in the capital must be sick with grief.
He had no intention of letting the people he fed and sheltered one day turn and tear this place apart.
Jinyi's eyes gleamed. *Just as I thought*, she said to herself. *Master does have those ambitions after all.*
*Then I, Zhao Jinyi, will give everything I have to put him on that throne—even if it costs me everything.*
Had Zhao Baihui been able to read her thoughts, he would have spat blood.
"Oh—the sweet potatoes should be ready for harvest in a few days. Make the arrangements. When the time comes, everyone drops what they're doing and goes to the fields. A few days' pause on the construction site won't hurt."
"With all these empty shops, at least we won't be short of somewhere to store the crop."
Jinyi nodded. Apart from the Master, none of them had ever grown sweet potatoes before. No one had any idea what to expect—they would simply wait for him to say the word, and then bring in the harvest.
How much would they yield? Jinyi honestly didn't know.
But then again, the Master was a celestial being. If he said two to three thousand jin per mu, the real number couldn't be too far off.
Two hundred-odd mu in total—how much would that come to? Would it be enough to feed eight hundred people for a year?
That girl Jinwen, with her insatiable sweet tooth, had been pestering the Master every few days to conjure up a few sweet potatoes—roasted, steamed, or simmered into porridge.
The novelty had long since worn off for all of them, but they still quite enjoyed eating them.
And then there was the cooking—especially the pulled-sugar sweet potatoes. Jinwen was absolutely wild about those.
She had a terrible weakness for anything sweet.
"All right, let's head back."
Walking from the mouth of the gorge to the end of the commercial street, Zhao Baihui had strolled the whole length and found himself quite satisfied.
He boarded the carriage, and the scenery along the return journey offered an entirely different charm.
Back at the manor, Jinyi lingered briefly, then slipped out again with a book in hand.
She made her way to a large courtyard several hundred meters away. A half-grown boy at the gate scrambled to receive her.
"Jinyi-jiejie, you're here!"
"Zhao Yi—has everyone been well-behaved today? Any fighting?"
"No fighting at all. Everyone's been good." The boy was quick to answer. With food, drink, and a roof over their heads, only a fool would pick fights and risk losing it all.
"Good. Let's go in, then."
The moment Jinyi stepped inside, children swarmed around her from every direction, calling out *jiejie, jiejie* in a clamor.
There were more than twenty boys in residence—the oldest around thirteen or fourteen, the youngest as young as five or six.
Jinyi had gathered them all herself. Every one of them was an orphan.
These were children without disability; those who did have physical limitations had been placed in ordinary work, enough to get by on.
Jinyi understood clearly: orphans had no family to pull them away. Raise them right, and you had the most loyal people in the world.
"Has everyone had enough to eat?"
"We're full! Auntie's cooking is really good."
"Good. Then let's begin our lesson. Everyone into the classroom and sit down."
The more Jinyi took on, the more she came to feel the weight of knowledge. She poured her time and energy into this not merely to cultivate a band of devoted followers, but to shape people who could one day be of genuine use.
When the lesson was over, Jinyi sent them off with one more word of encouragement. "Work hard, all of you. The best among you will be granted a name by the Master himself—and that means you truly become part of his family."
"Do you all understand?"
"Yes!"
"Jinyi-jiejie, I'm going to work hard to become the best!"
"No, jiejie—I'm the best!"
Jinyi laughed—a real, wholehearted laugh.
She stepped out of the classroom and nearly walked into Zhao Baihui, who was leaning against the wall beside the doorway. The sight of him gave her a start.
He regarded her with an unreadable expression—this girl of only thirteen—and for a moment she put him in mind of a certain woman from a television drama who had once held the sun and moon in her hands.
"Jinyi," he said quietly. "What on earth are you trying to do?"
Jinyi lowered her head. Then, at his words, she raised it again and met his gaze with undisguised stubbornness, saying nothing.
They held each other's eyes for over a minute. Zhao Baihui sighed once more and, as he had done before, conceded ground.
"Fine. I'll take over the teaching from now on. I guarantee I'll do a better job than you."
"All you need to worry about is keeping this household running."
Seeing him yield, Jinyi's eyes grew red. She knew his surrender had nothing to do with fear—it was indulgence, pure and simple. He understood her dread of having no control over her own fate. He knew the hunger for the kind of safety that only power could provide.
And so he indulged her, and let her have her way.
"Brother," she said softly. "Thank you."
"You little rascal. Come on—time to eat. Nothing in this world matters more than a proper meal!"