Chapter 37: A Nighttime Conversation

"You little brat, calling me 'mother-in-law' already?"

Zhu Yuanzhang chuckled, "Why don't you try calling me 'father-in-law' and see how that sounds?"

Chen Lin replied dismissively, "Old man, you don't deserve it!"

"Oh, you asked for it!"

"Come on then. I've been annoyed with you for a long time. Let's go outside and settle this."

Chen Lin set down his chopsticks. "Fine, let's settle it. But let's get one thing straight: if you lose, you aren't allowed to call for backup, and you can't punish me for it later."

Zhu Yuanzhang rolled up his sleeves and beckoned to Chen Lin. "Who's afraid of whom? Let's go!"

The three brothers immediately rose to follow, but Queen Ma issued a stern command: "All of you, sit down and keep eating. What are you gawking at?"

Zhu Shuang asked worriedly, "But Mother, Father is getting into a fight! How can we sons not rush to his aid?"

"You, you have no eye for the situation. Don't you see that even Xiao Lan isn't worried about her master? Sit down. There won't be any fight."

Zhu Shuang scratched his head. "What do you mean?"

Zhu Di seemed to grasp the implication. "Does Mother mean that Father and Chen Lin just want to get away from us, and they aren't actually going to fight?"

Queen Ma nodded. "Worthy of being the Yongle Emperor; you are indeed smarter than your two brothers."

Zhu Di was stunned!

"Mother, I truly didn't have any such intentions. You must believe me!"

Queen Ma laughed. "All right, all right, sit down and eat. Even if you did have those thoughts, what of it? As long as your eldest brother is around, you little brat won't be able to stir up any trouble."

"Yes, yes, with Eldest Brother here, I wouldn't dare even if I were given a hundred times the courage!"

Zhu Shuang chimed in from the side, "Does that mean if Eldest Brother weren't around, you would dare?"

"Screw you! Want to go outside and settle things with me instead?"

Meanwhile, Chen Lin and Zhu Yuanzhang reached the edge of the road outside the villa. They squatted on the ground, each lighting a cigarette, watching the construction site beyond the perimeter wall. It was ablaze with lights and bustling with activity.

In the woods inside the wall, scattered Imperial Guards were vaguely visible.

Mao Xiang sat on a small electric scooter beneath a slope, eating a steamed bun, looking rather unhappy.

*Sssss—*

Zhu Yuanzhang exhaled a cloud of smoke. "Tell me about your plan."

Chen Lin dropped his sarcastic tone and said seriously, "I want to modernize the Ming Dynasty's 'fire oxen'—to bring an industrial revolution to the Ming using future technology."

"An industrial revolution?"

"Yes. I want to build trains and steamships—ocean-going vessels—and then go conquer Japan."

Though he didn't fully understand, Zhu Yuanzhang nodded. "Very good. Go ahead and do it with confidence. I can't give you the position of Minister of Works, but I can make you a Director of the Ministry of Works. No, let's make it Vice Minister. How about that?"

"Vice Minister is fine, but one thing: I won't be attending court sessions."

Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned. "How can that work? A Vice Minister is a high-ranking official. If you don't attend court, how will you communicate with your colleagues in the Ministry of Works, and how am I supposed to allocate the budget to support this 'industrial revolution' of yours?"

"Forget it then. Just pretend I never said anything."

Zhu Yuanzhang was speechless. "Fine, fine! No court sessions, then. I really don't know what to do with you."

"But you can at least drop by the Ministry of Works to take a look when you have time, right?"

"I can do that, but don't expect me to be polite to those officials. I'll only talk to the craftsmen who have actual skills."

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand impatiently. "Whatever you want, just do whatever you want. As long as you pull off this industrial revolution and build those power generators, do as you please."

"Tell me, where did this house actually come from? You couldn't have built it yourself. Is it possible that the future world uprooted it and brought it to the Ming?"

Chen Lin stood up and turned to leave. "Don't worry about that."

Zhu Yuanzhang hurriedly stood up too. "Don't go yet! Tell me more about the later history, what I did during the Hongwu reign..."

They reached the slope, and Mao Xiang quickly dismounted and stood with a bow.

Chen Lin hopped onto the small electric scooter and switched on the headlight, illuminating everything.

Zhu Yuanzhang scrambled onto the back seat. "Not bad, not bad. There are two more in that basement of yours. I want them. I'll pay for them."

Chen Lin ignored him and just said, "Hold on tight!"

*Vroom!*

Chen Lin twisted the throttle, and the scooter lurched forward. Zhu Yuanzhang almost fell off.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty, wait for me!"

Mao Xiang hurriedly signaled the surrounding Imperial Guards to follow, some on horseback, some running, trailing closely behind.

In the dark of night, Chen Lin rode the scooter along the perimeter wall, looking for suitable spots to install surveillance cameras.

Since there were many spare cameras in the warehouse, leaving them there was a waste; it would be better to install a perimeter line and achieve 360-degree coverage.

As for Zhu Yuanzhang’s request to install them in the Imperial Palace—how could he do that without electricity? Even if there were power, he didn't want to help Zhu Yuanzhang install them.

Under the beam of the scooter's headlight, the two arrived at the canal construction site.

After parking, Zhu Yuanzhang did nothing but gaze at the scooter with fascination. However, he didn't dare touch it, having learned his lesson from Zhu Xiongying.

"Name your price. You have two more sitting idle anyway."

Chen Lin squatted by the canal, using the scooter's headlight to study the structure of the water channel.

"You wouldn't be able to drive it far anyway. This kind of vehicle can't go very far before needing a charge; it's only good for riding around the neighborhood."

"I recommend you buy a bicycle. It's human-powered. As long as you have legs, you're good."

"I see... then can't you install a charging station at the Imperial Palace?"

Chen Lin stood up and took out a notebook to revise his blueprints. "It's not that simple..."

Zhu Yuanzhang sighed. "Is it that hard? Then sell me a barrel of that 'diesel'—how much?"

Chen Lin grinned. "That I can do. One thousand taels a barrel!"

"What?!"

Chen Lin closed his notebook. "Think it's too expensive? You don't have to buy it. I'm actually reluctant to sell it anyway!"

"Fine, fine! One thousand it is. And the cigarettes?"

Chen Lin turned around, pulled out his tool, and began watering a tree.

"Also one thousand. No haggling."

Zhu Yuanzhang stepped forward, took a glance, and also pulled out his tool to start watering. "We're family, and I'm your father-in-law, after all. Give me a discount."

"Hey, watch it! You're spraying off-target, don't get any on me!"

Chen Lin retreated a step, causing his own stream to falter and shrink, taking a moment to resume.

"Heh, it's too dark, I didn't notice. Sorry about that!"

Zhu Yuanzhang shook himself off, put his equipment away, and held up a finger. "One hundred taels. One hundred taels per carton, deal?"

"Eight hundred!" Chen Lin countered.

"Two hundred," Zhu Yuanzhang continued to haggle.

"Six hundred!"

Zhu Yuanzhang gritted his teeth. "Five hundred. Five hundred, or I'm not buying."

Chen Lin’s mouth curled upward. "Deal."

Zhu Yuanzhang froze.

Damn it, did I get ripped off again?

No, I can't keep being played by this kid. When I go to the future world, I must bring enough silver to buy things myself...

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang asked, "So, when are we leaving for the future world?"

"Why are you in such a hurry? Didn't you say the Queen was having a big birthday celebration?"

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded. "True. Let's go after the birthday celebration, then..."