Mo Zi silently groaned that this was bad, and over there Chief Chang began lecturing them.

“‘So what if I’ve heard of it,’ he says.” He threw his head back with two dry laughs. “Really don’t know where this rabbit popped out from. If you want to eat grass, you should first ask whose grass it is. Who doesn’t know that we at Sunrise are the civilian shipbuilding industry’s top dog? Yet you open a shipyard without paying respects to the mountain, don’t even let out a fart, and just start recruiting shipwrights. Seeing you two aren’t very old, I pity that your employer found people who don’t understand the rules. Your shipyard will have to close before it even opens.”

Cen Er quickly looked at Mo Zi, only to receive a bitter smile in return, immediately understanding that the other party wasn’t making empty threats.

Speaking of the shipbuilding industry—demand exceeded supply, correct. Monopolistic oligarchs, correct. Similarly, the oligarchs’ power was also great. If you offended them, a small operation like Hongyu wouldn’t survive either.

Therefore, although Sunrise had only sent two underlings, Mo Zi couldn’t afford to offend them. However, while she couldn’t offend them, her speech was polite without being servile.

“Please hear me out, you two brothers. Hongyu Shipyard is our employer’s ancestral business, abandoned for many years. My employer recently moved to the capital to do some trading and felt it was a pity to leave the land barren, so ordered us to restore operations. To speak truthfully, we’re completely in the dark about everything, knowing nothing, much less aware of the custom of paying respects to the mountain. I hope you two will go back and speak well of us—we’ll prepare generous gifts and visit tomorrow.” After speaking, she pulled out two silver ingots and tried to give them to them. Nande had corrupt officials running rampant; in Great Zhou, abundant courtesy wouldn’t offend anyone.

Chief Chang frowned and pushed them back. “We work for our own employer. If we accomplish the task, we’ll naturally go back and receive our reward. Why would we want your silver?”

A Chen chimed in from the side, “Looking so refined and proper, yet doing sneaky things—do you take us Sunrise people for money-grubbers, trying to buy us off?”

Mo Zi thought to herself that if Sunrise’s underlings were like this, the big boss should be reasonable. At that, her heart settled by thirty percent. She pretended to be embarrassed as she put the silver away and again used her youth as an excuse.

“Actually, our employer sent us for two reasons: first, to inform you so you won’t wait three days for nothing, and second, to give your Hongyu Shipyard a chance to pass three trials. After that, you can do whatever you want.” Chief Chang pulled out a letter from his breast. “Here, this is our employer’s personal letter. Take it and read it yourself.”

Since they wouldn’t even accept silver, Mo Zi discovered that although this Chief Chang had a rough voice and spoke in high tones, he wasn’t actually a bad person. At the same time, she received the letter with both hands.

Chief Chang turned to mount his horse. “Mo Ge, my name is Chang Ji, and this fellow is called Chen Zhi. Three days from now, come to Sunrise. Give our two names and we’ll come out to greet you.”

Chen Zhi smiled cheerfully and pointed at the Hongyu Shipyard plaque at the gate. “Mo Ge, these Hongyu flowers should have withered by now—where did you find them?”

“They’re carved from wood.” Mo Zi shrugged. She had carved them for fun when she was ill and hung them on the plaque to show off for a couple of days.

Chang Ji was suddenly startled, accidentally pulling the reins too tight, making the horse snort heavily.

Chen Zhi’s eyes went wide, his foot nearly slipping from the stirrup. “Fake flowers?”

Mo Zi nodded, her smile bright. “Fake flowers.”

“How is that possible? Those petals move in the wind, and there are even bees—” As a qualified shipwright, one’s eyesight had to be good. He had looked so carefully—even the pollen grains on the stamens were clearly visible.

“The master wood carver I found seems quite skilled.” Mo Zi could casually admit her female identity, but she wouldn’t publicly reveal her left hand’s abilities. However, these two men’s amazement made her suddenly alert—she’d have to remove the flowers later. This was a side effect of her memory returning.

“This master’s name is—” Chang Ji very much wanted to know.

Since ancient times, those who used their hands for rough labor were workers. Workers who developed skillful minds and skillful hands with objects became craftsmen. Craftsmen whose objects took on color and beautiful meaning became masters. Masters whose dead objects came alive with world-stunning achievements became grand masters.

Chang Ji was an excellent craftsman. Seeing the wooden Hongyu flowers dancing in the wind as a cluster, the master that Mo Zi spoke of was probably extraordinary—perhaps even a grand master craftsman. How could he not be respectful?

Mo Zi hadn’t expected him to ask in such detail and could only speak vaguely about some roadside wood carving stall, where after handing her the flowers, the old person picked up their shoulder pole and left.

Chang Ji was greatly disappointed. In complete contrast to his proud manner upon arrival, he left with long and short sighs.

Chen Zhi paced back and forth at the gate, staring at the flowers with eyes gone straight. Just as Mo Zi worried he might be planning to take one back with him and was about to have Qiu Dadong chase him off, he finally shook his head and left.

“Those two are quite strange. When they first came in, their chins were raised so high, completely looking down on us. When leaving, they just kept sighing, and at the gate they wouldn’t leave, acting so reluctant.” Cen Er couldn’t understand the craftsman’s heart pursuing the realm of Lu Ban. “By the way, that Chang Ji said he’d give us a chance to pass three trials. What does that mean?”

“I don’t know either. Perhaps this letter will explain.” Mo Zi waved the letter in her hand. Passing three trials—why did hearing it make her feel uneasy?

Opening the letter, she found one page and one name card.

The name card was gold-embossed with a picture of a laughing Maitreya Buddha and two characters written in regular script—Min Yu.

One page with a few sentences, using very polite wording, saying that since Hongyu Cove had been closed for many years and suddenly wanted to reopen, as the owner of Sunrise Shipyard and guild chairman, he should offer congratulations. However, every trade has its rules—otherwise there would be no way to explain things to other peers. Therefore, he requested that someone with decision-making authority bring five people total who understood ships and water to make a trip to Sunrise Shipyard on a certain date. As long as they passed the three trials, they would be formally admitted to the trade and could receive everyone’s congratulations. That certain date was three days away.

The letter didn’t say what the three trials were.

After Mo Zi read it aloud, Cen Er still asked the old question—what exactly were these three trials?

Mo Zi read the letter again, fearing she’d missed something, even checking the back, and confirming there was no detailed explanation of the three trials, she hypothesized, “Perhaps it’s an industry rule. How about we split up and inquire around?”

Thinking this was very likely, Cen Er said urgently, “Mo Ge, let’s hurry back to the city. The sooner we find out clearly, the sooner we can think of countermeasures. Who knows, maybe like Leopard Gang, they’ve established their own broken rules, and we can just ignore them.”

Mo Zi didn’t want to pour cold water on Cen Er, but this guild was far more formidable than gangs. Gang members were mostly laboring masses who couldn’t easily climb up to official connections, but guild members were all boss-level. And the shipbuilding industry, as she had mentioned before, was largely controlled by the Imperial Ministry of Works at the court level, while these civilian operations were controlled by local officials. Anyone who could become a major shipyard definitely had an extraordinary background—if not enormously wealthy, then possibly having official-merchant power. Moreover, this surname Min—she seemed to have heard it somewhere.

As she thought about it, she spoke the question aloud.

Cen Er slapped his forehead with an “Aha!” “Could this Min Yu be related to the Min clan of Nande’s Fozhen Hall?”

That’s right. Mo Zi recalled hearing Zhou Wen mention it in the secret room at Zhuyu Records back then.

She narrowed her eyes. “Fozhen Hall’s founding ancestor was called Min Zhen. It’s been seven generations now. Logically, Fozhen Hall might date back to before the Great Tang dynasty, so why is it called Nande’s Fozhen Hall?”

“Mo Ge, isn’t it just that Nande’s court wants the Min clan to have a sense of national belonging so they’ll pay more silver? You should know that Fozhen Hall originally had branches in all four kingdoms and ran various businesses. These years Nande’s atmosphere hasn’t been right, while Great Qiu emphasizes martial prowess and Yuling’s kingdom has been destroyed—only Great Zhou is still relatively peaceful. If I were them, I’d relocate to Great Zhou and withdraw all the business from Nande. Otherwise, how could they feed all those greedy officials?” As Cen Er spoke, he reached out to summon the carriage and invited Mo Zi to board.

“Cen Er, you seem quite interested in the Min clan. Could it be you want to open a treasure pavilion?” Mo Zi boarded the carriage.

“How would I have that capital or capability? Our employer does, though. However, the Min clan doesn’t just trade in rare treasures—they also have gem-crafting skills passed down through generations. I often heard guests mention them at Wangqiu Tower, and I found it interesting. Speaking of which, our establishment is also a place where all kinds of information converges—how is it we’ve never heard of these three trials?” Cen Er sat next to the coachman.

Mo Zi smiled, bent down to enter the carriage, closed her eyes, and continued sleeping.

Why was she always sleeping? Because her body couldn’t take it. Moving slowly, her stamina depleted all at once. But she couldn’t really do nothing either, so she could only steal time to recuperate through sleep.

Drinking with Qixi, Yuan Cheng, Jin Yin, and the others—she actually hadn’t drunk much, but because her constitution was weak, she got drunk easily. When Xiao Er pressed her shoulder with the Yinyue sword, she could still feel the scabbed wound throb. Recently, consuming her energy like this—would it shorten her life?

Lost in random thoughts, she dozed for nearly an hour. When entering the city, Cen Er asked where she wanted to get off. Still not fully awake, she mentioned a place. When they arrived, she discovered it was a street market where craftsmen and artisans looked for work.

The sky had darkened, so naturally there weren’t many people left.

“This is the place where I had workers post recruitment notices. To think Sunrise people tore them all down—really unreasonable.” Cen Er had no good feelings toward Sunrise.

Mo Zi had rested and her energy was decent. This place wasn’t far from Qiu Sanniang’s villa either, so she had Cen Er return to Wangqiu Tower alone to inquire, while after asking around herself, she’d walk back slowly.

Life lies in movement, after all.

Cen Er had been worried about her poor health and insisted on leaving the carriage, but Mo Zi blocked him with a single sentence about how far Yuhe District was and how congested. In the end, he could only instruct the coachman to follow her on foot.

Mo Zi asked two or three people who looked like craftsmen, but none could clearly explain what the three trials were. Seeing the sky had completely darkened, she began walking back. Passing through a small alley, she heard two people talking quite loudly.

“Why are you asking about Hongyu Cove? You’re not thinking of going there to find work, are you? In Shaozhou—” said one person.

“Doesn’t it say here they’re recruiting shipwrights? What’s wrong with that?” asked another.

“Brother, I don’t care where you’re from or how poor you are—Hongyu Cove is somewhere you can’t go for now. The owner of Sunrise Shipyard has spoken—no one may work at Hongyu Cove, or else forget about ever mixing in the shipbuilding trade again. I heard that Hongyu Shipyard actually hasn’t even paid respects to Sunrise yet and presumptuously wants to start operations. Really, not understanding any rules at all, yet daring to open a shipyard. In my view, even if Hongyu passes the three trials, they’ll be too foolish to receive any orders. Working for them, you might not even get your wages.” The first person said.

“But my son is sick and I have no money for medicine.” The second person was clearly desperate.

“Just go to Sunrise and try. They’re always short of people.” The first person was fairly warm-hearted.

“I went there already. They don’t want people without household registration documents.” One could hear the second person’s burning anxiety.

“Where are you from? How do you not have household registration?” Household registration documents were equivalent to Great Zhou’s identity papers.

“I’m from Yuling.” The second person was another Yuling refugee.

At least there was someone who knew about the three trials. Mo Zi stopped to eavesdrop.