As soon as Sheng Changying arrived, An Jiu guessed that Zhu Pianzhan would come sniffing around. Sure enough, the next day she came with Lou Xiaowu, using the strange excuse that Xiaowu missed Mo Sigui.

However, as soon as they arrived on the island, Zhu Pianzhan carelessly left Lou Xiaowu in An Jiu’s room and ran off to find Sheng Changying.

Looking at the young girl in front of her, engrossed in tinkering with a crossbow, An Jiu thought to herself, “With all this focus, how could she have time to think about Mo Sigui?”

After finishing a set of Mei boxing exercises, An Jiu sat down across from Lou Xiaowu to rest for a moment. She picked up a cup of tea and asked, “Why don’t you go see Mo Sigui?”

Without looking up, Lou Xiaowu replied, “Sister Zhu said I’ll be living on the island from now on, so I’ll see him sooner or later anyway!”

Her visit had nothing to do with Mo Sigui. If there was an unavoidable reason, it was to discuss the compact crossbow with An Jiu. During their time in the Hebei military camp, Lou Xiaowu discovered that An Jiu was a genius when it came to weaponry, offering insights that could be called “strokes of genius.” So she occasionally wanted to meet with her. As for Mo Sigui, it was entirely Zhu Pianzhan’s idea, who had heard he was Lou Xiaowu’s savior and took it upon herself to arrange this excuse.

Lou Xiaowu assembled a small crossbow and handed it to An Jiu. “What do you think?”

An Jiu looked at this prototype “gun” with excitement. She put down her teacup, examined the crossbow, and quickly disassembled it.

Lou Xiaowu was slightly startled; An Jiu’s disassembly speed was even twice as fast as hers.

“How is it?” Lou Xiaowu looked at her expectantly.

An Jiu laid out all the components on the table and picked up the bolt. “You said the materials for making crossbow bolts are hard to find. Why not try a different approach? With such strong propulsion, the bolt might explode before it even leaves the barrel.”

“You’re right,” Lou Xiaowu’s almond-shaped eyes lit up, and she excitedly shifted in her chair several times. “I tried something else before, and it exploded within five zhang. I even tried changing the bolt and barrel to iron, but it exploded even faster.”

“Of course,” An Jiu said. “During rapid propulsion, even just the heat from friction is not to be underestimated.”

“You mentioned a different approach. What kind of approach?” Lou Xiaowu pressed.

“This bolt doesn’t necessarily have to rely on explosions to harm the enemy,” An Jiu drew the shape of a bullet using tea water on the table. “Guess how destructive this could be.”

The bullet’s appearance was much simpler than the bolt. Lou Xiaowu frowned, looked at it for a moment, then shook her head. “I can’t guess just by looking at the exterior.”

Since An Jiu asked this way, the item must be quite destructive. If it were just a solid iron object, it would be no more than an ordinary concealed weapon. So Lou Xiaowu guessed there must be some mechanism inside.

An Jiu looked for paper and brush in the room, intending to draw it for Lou Xiaowu. However, the brush was difficult to control. Even those generally proficient in writing Chinese characters might not be able to draw fine, smooth lines, let alone someone with An Jiu’s childlike skill level! After some thought, An Jiu decisively abandoned the paper and drew on the ground instead.

An Jiu carefully drew out the internal anatomy of the bullet.

Lou Xiaowu’s eyes widened. She hadn’t imagined that something so simple on the outside could have an internal structure even more complex than the entire crossbow mechanism.

“This is the bullet head, this is the bullet body, and this is the primer,” An Jiu explained as she broke down the bullet. “The bullet head has grooves on both sides, a single-sided compression groove. The curved shape of the bullet head reduces resistance and makes it easier to penetrate objects. The outer wall of the bullet body should be thin, but able to withstand friction from speed. The primer structure is a bit more complex. Here’s the primer cup containing the ignition powder, above is the flash hole, and there’s a thin seal between the flash hole and the primer cup…”

Lou Xiaowu listened carefully, occasionally asking questions. “How big is this thing?”

“It can be adjusted according to the size of the crossbow, but generally around two cun,” An Jiu replied.

Lou Xiaowu looked at the diagram and pondered for a moment. “How heavy is it?”

An Jiu hesitated, unsure how to convert grams to liang.

“It’s very light. The bullet’s destructive power doesn’t relate much to its weight,” An Jiu understood that Lou Xiaowu wasn’t asking about the bullet’s actual weight, but whether there were weight limitations. “We usually refer to the bullet’s kinetic energy as ‘bullet vitality.’ The greater the bullet’s vitality, the greater the destructive power. For example, with enough speed, even an egg could penetrate the stone, although the egg would inevitably shatter in the process.”

This was a matter of physics, and An Jiu could only explain it roughly. Given her poor language skills, being able to explain this much was already praiseworthy. The rest depended on Lou Xiaowu’s comprehension.

Lou Xiaowu pondered for a while. “So what’s the weight?”

This time she was genuinely asking about the bullet’s weight. An Jiu had no choice but to ask Lou Xiaowu to fetch some silver, and they compared weights.

An Jiu picked up a piece. “This is about right.”

“This isn’t even one Qian!” Lou Xiaowu weighed it, wondering how such a light object could penetrate a body.

What she had thought would be simple now seemed difficult, but the challenge only excited her more. “Assuming the bullet weighs less than one qian and travels at sixty-five zhang per breath at a distance of one hundred and fifty zhang, it should be able to kill at a distance of over a thousand steps…”

This was a question for later. Based on Lou Xiaowu’s experience, she believed they should first make the bullet and experiment with it to discover problems and make improvements. Mere imagination wouldn’t suffice.

Soon, Lou Xiaowu excitedly pointed at the bullet body. “We don’t necessarily need to use the same powder as in the crossbow. We could ask Brother Mo to make some medicine to put inside!”

An Jiu looked expectant, wondering what would happen if they added poison – a biological bomb perhaps?

Encouraged by An Jiu’s reaction, Lou Xiaowu immediately drew the entire bullet diagram on paper.

“Speed is crucial for this weapon’s destructive power… The original crossbow’s propulsion isn’t enough…” Lou Xiaowu muttered.

She ended up staying in An Jiu’s room, hunched over the table to redesign the crossbow mechanism.

An Jiu went to get medicine from Mo Sigui.

He had only left his room after receiving poisonous flower seeds from Chu Dingjiang. Now he was wandering around the island with a basket on his back, accompanied by two tigers.

An Jiu could sense his general direction with her mental power and went to find him.

As the sun set, by the riverbank, Da Jiu was digging holes with his paws. Mo Sigui sat on Xiao Yue’s back, pipe in mouth. After Da Jiu finished digging a hole, Mo Sigui casually tossed in a seed, then Da Jiu covered it with soil. Soon, they had planted over a dozen seeds.

“Oh, you’re here?” Mo Sigui exhaled a ring of smoke, his half-closed peach blossom eyes reflecting the sunset, lazy yet as brilliant as ten miles of peach blossoms in full bloom.

“I’ve run out of medicine,” An Jiu said.

Mo Sigui pulled a small bottle from his pocket and tossed it to her. “There are ten pills here. Ah, I’m anxious. I won’t be at ease until you finish them all in one day!”

An Jiu pocketed the medicine. “Has the poison been neutralized?”

“No,” Mo Sigui puffed on his pipe for a while. “That’s why you see me practicing so diligently! I plan to use my qi to locate the poisonous insects in my meridians, immobilize them, and then cut them out directly with a knife!”

Mo Sigui’s eyes gleamed as he looked at her, his face clearly saying: How’s that? Aren’t I clever?

“Oh,” An Jiu said. “When will you start?”