Scientific Travel

In the imperial court, the debate over whether to support the Grand Preceptor or Deng Yin was mainly divided into two factions. The camp supporting the Grand Preceptor was led by the Prime Minister, whose daughter was the Empress. Part of the reason she became Empress was because the Grand Preceptor said she had the appearance of a phoenix.

The camp supporting Deng Yin was led by Zhao Shanglan. Putting aside the fact that she had actually seen Deng Yin use magic, her face alone was enough to make her support her.

These two camps are destined to be enemies: one side supports continuing the slaughter of children born in the year, month, and hour of the Yin (a concept in Chinese astrology), while the other side does not.

Choosing a side is no less difficult than choosing a prince's side; if the prince you support fails, you face only death.

The same applies now. Choosing the wrong team could mean the death of everyone in the world. The fate of most people is in the hands of a few. That's the point.

Everyone spent a long time deliberating. The old national advisor's abilities are evident to all; whatever he calculates, he never fails.

However, Zhao Shanglan's abilities are undeniable; every choice she made was flawless. Moreover, she claimed to have personally witnessed deities performing magic. Rumors about Deng Yin abound, but every single one claims she possesses magical powers.

Even three-year-olds have heard the story of her divine punishment in the bustling city.

Recently, there have even been rumors that she was seen flying through the streets, and many people have seen her doing so, so it probably isn't fake.

Originally, more people sided with the old Grand Preceptor, but everyone present was shrewd and had sent people to Xiye City to keep an eye on her after hearing about Deng Yin's deeds. The news that she was flying through the air in the streets was not only being spread by the common people, but even the people they had sent claimed to have witnessed it firsthand.

Although the old imperial advisor was accurate, he couldn't actually fly through the clouds.

Cui Wuji was getting a headache from their constant bickering. In the past, although they were outwardly friendly but inwardly at odds, they managed to maintain a semblance of harmony in court. Now, it was a miracle if they didn't argue every day. It was always the same story: one person was determined to die for their principles, while another was fighting for the survival of all living beings.

Isn't he supposed to be the emperor? Why is he always trying to break up fights like this?

"Stop arguing." Cui Wuji felt his temples throbbing and suppressed his impatience: "The old Grand Preceptor has made a prediction that has never been wrong over the years. Even my mother listened to his advice and resolved many crises."

Before the Prime Minister's faction could rejoice, he continued, "But I have also heard of Deng Yin's miracles. To be able to do such a thing, she must not be an ordinary person."

Zhao Shanglan knew there would be a "but" as soon as he opened his mouth.

He always speaks very thoughtfully and never shows favoritism.

“I have met the Imperial Advisor and witnessed his prowess firsthand. But I have not yet met Deng Yin. Therefore, I intend to travel incognito to see her in person.” Before the ministers could object, Cui Wuji continued, “This matter is settled. Court adjourned.”

Traveling incognito is no child's play, and with the current turbulent situation, it is not a good time.

After the court session, Zhao Shanglan did not leave, but went to find Cui Wuji.

When she went in, Cui Wuji was reviewing memorials.

"You don't need to persuade me, my mind is made up."

Cui Wuji didn't even look up; his eyes remained fixed on the memorial.

“I didn’t mean to persuade you,” Zhao Shanglan said. “I wanted to go with you.”

Cui Wuji put down his pen and asked, "Could it be that this Deng Yin is actually a man? Was the information we received incorrect?"

It's no wonder he thought that way; someone Zhao Shanglan would travel a long way to see must be very handsome.

“No.” Zhao Shanglan was not surprised that Cui Wuji thought so; his understanding of him was still based on what he had seen two years ago.

Seeing that she didn't want to say more, Cui Wuji didn't ask any further questions.

"Okay, I'll leave at 7 AM the day after tomorrow. Go back and prepare."

......

Deng Yinmai's courtyard has a total of 13 rooms. Apart from a warehouse and a kitchen, the rest can be used for living.

If we're going to build it, let's build it big, so that there won't be a shortage of living space later.

If the natural disaster is flooding, the bottom three floors are very likely to be submerged. A flooded house is no good, so Deng used cypress metal to seal off the house's perimeter.

Not only the surrounding area, but also the area below was sealed off.

This way, the bottom three layers will be neither airtight nor light-transmitting.

Simply put, it's just like a basement.

Staying in such an environment for a long time could easily cause psychological problems, so Deng Yin placed all his residences on the top floor.

They are all houses, but there are differences between them. The largest house is more than twice the size of the smallest house.

The house had thirteen rooms, and Deng Yin built four stories in total.

The first floor consists of a warehouse and a toilet. The warehouse is the largest of these rooms, but Deng Yin still felt it wasn't big enough, so he found a medium-sized room to use as a warehouse as well.

As for the toilet, it was also converted from a living room. Just like the one in the basement, it was filled with perfume.

The second and third floors were made up of three rooms. These three floors were of different sizes, and in order to save on metal sheets, Deng Yin sealed them according to the largest first floor, rather than the outermost floor of the house.

The natural disasters and mutations here are not very severe. Even if there are mutated animals, they would be unlikely to be able to jump to the second floor.

Originally, each house had a roof, with mortise and tenon joints forming a cross-shaped ridge. Now that it's no longer needed, Deng Yin simply dismantled it and used the space in the shorter section of the building.

There are four rooms on the top floor, one of which is the kitchen.

Deng Yin originally planned to build the kitchen on the ground floor and the entire top floor as living quarters, but considering the issue of cooking fumes, he decided to build it on the top floor instead.

This means that Aunt Wang and Uncle Li can no longer argue, otherwise Wang Xi will have to share a room with her.

Although she didn't plan to live on the second and third floors, Deng Yin still put a lot of effort into the decoration. All the quilts were made from cotton she grew herself. She spent three whole days sewing these quilts in her space.

"Congratulations, host, on completing the mission. You are rewarded with 30 points and your space will increase by 50 square meters."

Previously, the system would state the total number of square meters of space to incentivize the hosts and encourage them to work harder.

But with the current size of Deng Yin's space, it's good enough if it doesn't have a negative effect, let alone be a motivator.

After awarding the reward, the system then issued the next task: "The next task is to dig a drainage ditch."

It seems the next natural disaster is indeed related to floods. Fortunately, she is surrounded by cypress metal plates, which can prevent water and fire, and also prevent damage from mutated creatures.

Sometimes being poor has its advantages. If he could afford canned food, Deng Yin wouldn't have so many cypress metal sheets today.

"By the way, host, it's already March. Do you want to try your luck with this month's one-point item?"

"!!!!!!"

Deng Yin was so busy lately that he completely forgot about such an important matter.

"smoke!"

"Congratulations, host, you have obtained an egg beater."

...? ? ? ?

What is this? An egg beater...?

What's the point? Can't you just use chopsticks to beat eggs?

Deng Yin was very dissatisfied with the lottery result and had a gloomy face all day.

During the meal, Wang Moyu noticed that she was in a bad mood and hadn't even eaten much of her favorite crispy candied pork ribs. He asked, "What's wrong?"

Deng Yin shook his head to indicate that he was fine.

Seeing that she was unwilling to say more, Wang Moyu gave Wang Xi a look, signaling her to ask.

Wang Xi returned her a knowing look, added a piece of crispy candied pork bone to Deng Yin's plate, and said, "Sister, eat more of this. Father said that when you're unhappy, you should eat something. When your mouth is occupied, your heart won't have time to be sad."

Deng Yin wanted to say that she was upset because of the food. She didn't like eggs to begin with, and of all the things she drew, she had to draw an egg beater. What use is that thing except as an idle object?

But it was, after all, a child's heartfelt gesture, and Deng responded with what he considered a very nonchalant smile.

But to others, that smile was incredibly bitter...

However, this bitterness only lasted for one night, and the next day Deng Yin was back to his lively self.

There is nothing useless in the world. If you think something is useless, it's just that you're not using it in the right place.

In order to find a suitable place for it, Deng Yin immediately began the next task.

She had originally planned to use cypress metal sheets to shape the dug drainage ditch, but now that she had an egg beater, the cypress metal sheets could be replaced with cement.

This saves on metal sheets and also finds the right place for the whisk, achieving two goals at once!

Kill two birds with one stone!

Killing two birds with one stone...

Well, it's not a win-win situation at all. Using cypress metal sheets to shape the drainage ditch can save time digging the ditch. You just need to use a molding machine to make the cypress metal sheet into a semi-circular shape and then forcefully hammer it into the ground to finish digging.

To prevent the water from softening the soil and washing away the cypress metal sheets, some pebbles were placed around the area.

If cement is used now, not only will drainage ditches need to be dug, but it will also need to be dried afterwards.

The bottles that Deng Yin used to make with cement had a very poor survival rate; more than 70% of them cracked.

If we were to use cement to fix the drainage ditch now, we might have to build two or three layers.