Chapter 45: The Gift Brought Back by Ayuan

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Within Peach Blossom Hollow, the guiding child sat by the shore, playing cheerfully. In the Peach Blossom Land, crops only took a month to mature. Not far off, three fields were ripe for harvest, and Anong was leading two farming children to reap the grain.

Beside the fields was an open-air flower garden, where red hibiscus blossoms flourished. A farming child tended to the flowers. Adjacent to the garden was a poultry farm; the flock had grown significantly. The chicks raised earlier had matured into hens, leisurely roaming about, oblivious to their impending fate.

Next to the papermaking workshop stood the ink workshop, followed by a newly constructed printing workshop. The artisan child Ah Zhi busily moved among the three workshops.

The printing workshop was built according to blueprints Su Ze custom-designed based on real-world printing houses within Peach Blossom Land.

Customizing these blueprints proved more difficult than Su Ze had imagined. Each attempt consumed five points of cultural essence, and after expending twenty points, the construction finally succeeded.

The establishment of the printing workshop owed much to Zhang Yaozuo.

Zhang Yaozuo had confessed to the authorities, admitting his role in promoting the spread of the demon book. Amidst the turbulent changes in the court, the officials refrained from further pursuing the demon book incident, instead punishing Zhang Yaozuo with a six-month salary reduction.

Zhang Yaozuo dared not organize any more underground presses, so all printing tools were taken by Su Ze and moved into Peach Blossom Land.

Thanks to Ah Zhi’s diligent study of these tools, the conditions for the customized blueprint were fulfilled, resulting in a printing workshop recognized by Peach Blossom Land.

Ah Zhi, truly worthy of the “Diligent” prefix, managed the three workshops single-handedly, handling the workload admirably.

Unrolling a long scroll, Su Ze noticed that from the hundred points of cultural essence absorbed last time from Ouyang Xiu’s collected works, only eighty points remained. Thinking of tomorrow’s gathering at Wang Anshi’s, he hoped to replenish more cultural essence there.

“Around the Master of Peach Blossom Land, Ah Yuan returned yesterday, bringing gifts from afar, but he has already set off again. The gifts remain in the Wandering Pavilion!” came the guiding child’s message.

Ah Yuan had already returned?

The downfall of Lü Yijian had been thanks to the scroll Ah Yuan presented, but the wandering child had quickly set off again without a chance for Su Ze to express his gratitude.

Yesterday, Su Ze had no time to enter Peach Blossom Land and missed Ah Yuan once more.

Approaching the Wandering Pavilion, Su Ze saw a long stalk lying across the stone table inside. Upon seeing it, a smile broke across his face.

It was sugarcane!

Su Ze wondered how Ah Yuan managed to travel so far, reaching the sugarcane-producing region in just a month.

Recalling his historical knowledge, sugarcane had existed for a long time, but large-scale sugar production only truly began in the Tang Dynasty.

Yet sugarcane could only be cultivated in the southern regions like South China and Yunnan, which were less developed during the Tang and Song periods compared to the Ming and Qing eras. Officials rarely took postings in Lingnan, so sugarcane output remained low.

Moreover, refined sugar required long-distance transport to Bianjing, incurring high costs and loss, making sugar a luxury.

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Within Bianjing city, shops sold sugarcane products, but prices were exorbitant. The finest rock sugar cost a full string of coins for just half a pound.

This was expected—sugar remained a luxury item well into the Ming and Qing eras, and common folk only indulged during festivals.

What if they cultivated sugarcane in Peach Blossom Land, then extracted sugar from it?

Sugar was a highly demanded commodity, used daily by commoners—there would be no shortage of buyers.

Su Ze quickly called over Anong, who was working in the fields, pointing at the sugarcane.

“Anong, can you grow this?”

Anong glanced at it and replied, “Isn’t this just sugarcane? Of course I can.”

He picked up the stalk and explained, “Sugarcane can be propagated by splitting stalks or by harvesting seeds for planting.”

Hearing this, Su Ze grew even more delighted and said, “This season, switch to sugarcane. Once more seeds are cultivated, expand the planting area.”

Anong nodded and returned to the fields, sugarcane in hand.

Su Ze looked toward the Wandering Pavilion, truly worthy of its purple-hued architecture. Ah Yuan’s first journey had brought back such a useful treasure—he wondered what the next trip might yield.

Next, Su Ze proceeded to the three workshops.

At the papermaking workshop’s entrance hung bamboo blinds, adorned with red slips dyed with hibiscus juice—these were colorful papers.

Because Ah Zhi had to divide his attention between ink-making and printing workshop research, only fifty sheets of colored paper were produced this month.

Selling these was hardly worthwhile, but Su Ze could use them personally. Besides, he planned to bring some to the banquet at Wang Anshi’s tomorrow—since Wang was about to be officially appointed, ordinary paper would seem too humble.

Su Ze then went to the ink workshop next door.

In the courtyard, a row of ceramic jars was stacked, each with its bottom broken open. Beneath them, bamboo burned, producing black smoke that passed through the jars, leaving carbon ash inside.

This carbon ash was the raw material for ink production, combined with other additives to make ink sticks.

The bamboo was harvested from the mountains by wood-gathering children, and fresh bamboo shoots piled in a corner of the yard—all gathered that day.

Su Ze had noticed the bamboo shoots two days ago. Handing some to Zhang Yaozuo’s household chef, the resulting dishes were tender and fresh, earning praise even from someone accustomed to Bianjing’s gourmet cuisine.

Su Ze planned to take some shoots out as well. Anong suggested drying the surplus shoots to preserve them.

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Su Ze eyed the building scroll in his hands. Grain harvest was imminent, so a granary was indeed necessary.

Fortunately, the granary required only five points of cultural essence and did not need special care from the spiritual children. Su Ze chose to build it beside the fields.

Finally, there was the printing workshop.

“Simple Printing Workshop” (green)

Price: 10 points of cultural essence

Function: Making woodblocks, printing newspapers and books

Requirements: Papermaking raw materials (wood boards), ink, paper

Entering the workshop, Ah Zhi was busily carving with a chisel.

Truly a purple-tier artisan child, Ah Zhi’s learning ability was remarkable.

Initially, he had to copy drafts before carving woodblocks, but now he could carve directly from the original templates.

His speed had significantly improved as well.

Su Ze picked up freshly printed pages nearby, admiring the clear characters.

“The ink’s effect is indeed excellent.”

Su Ze had realized that even Zhang Yaozuo’s printing workshop used ordinary water-based ink, resulting in blurry and sometimes missing characters in printed books.

Recalling history, the truly large-scale use of movable type printing was pioneered by German inventor Johannes Gutenberg, who used oil-based ink.

Besides producing durable lead type, Gutenberg’s key innovation was improving the ink by mixing ordinary ink with rosin and linseed oil, creating an oil-based ink.

Though Su Ze knew the formula, the precise proportions had to be left to Ah Zhi’s research.

Ah Zhi experimented for over half a month before finally formulating a stable oil-based ink.

At that moment, the guiding child suddenly announced:

“Master of Peach Blossom Land, a guest has arrived!”