The next morning, Shen Zhiwei woke up early.
The sky outside had only just begun to brighten. Morning mist drifted slowly along the eaves, and dewdrops clung to the osmanthus tree in the courtyard. A breeze brushed past, making the tips of the leaves tremble, and the droplets fell onto the bluestone paving.
By the time Qinghe entered with hot water, Shen Zhiwei was already seated at the writing desk.
A sheet of paper lay spread across it.
It was covered in dense lines of writing.
At the very top was one particularly eye-catching line:
Scientific Research Workshop Construction Plan.
Qinghe took one look at it, and her head began to ache.
"Miss... you didn't sleep again last night?"
"I slept."
"What time did you go to bed?"
Shen Zhiwei thought for a moment.
"Around... the hour of the tiger."
Qinghe: "..."
"You call that sleeping?"
Shen Zhiwei looked up.
"Two hours still counts as sleep."
"It does not!"
Qinghe set the hot water down on the table with a heavy thud.
"Miss, you've only just recovered. The estate physician said you need to rest quietly, but as soon as you wake up, you're either checking the accounts or studying that thing you call a balance. And last night, you even stared at the lightning for ages."
Shen Zhiwei smiled.
"I just want to know why it appears."
"Isn't lightning just thunder from Heaven?"
"That's only the phenomenon."
"The phenomenon?"
"Mm."
Shen Zhiwei stood and accepted the cloth Qinghe handed her.
"If humans attribute every unknown thing to Heaven, we'll never truly understand this world."
Qinghe stood frozen for a long while.
She didn't understand.
But for some reason, she thought those words sounded wonderful.
After washing up, Shen Zhiwei sat down again.
She pushed aside the plan she had written the night before.
"There are three things to do today."
Qinghe immediately grew wary.
"Three more things?"
"First, find a place."
"Second, find people."
"Third, find materials."
"What for?"
Shen Zhiwei lifted her eyes.
"I want a workshop."
Breakfast was served in the main courtyard of the Shen residence.
When Shen Zhiwei arrived, Madam Liu was already seated in the principal seat.
Shen Ruolan was wearing a pale pink ruqun and speaking softly with Madam Liu.
The moment they saw her enter, both of them fell silent.
Shen Zhiwei paid them no mind.
She sat in her usual place.
There was porridge on the table, along with two small side dishes and several pastries.
One glance was enough for her to know that the meal wasn't very suitable for her current condition.
"Why aren't you eating?" Madam Liu asked with a smile.
"I don't have much of an appetite."
"You've only just recovered. How can you not eat?"
Madam Liu put a pastry into her bowl with her chopsticks.
"Your sister specially asked the kitchen to make that."
Shen Zhiwei glanced at it.
"Thank you."
She didn't eat it.
Shen Ruolan smiled instead.
"Sister, are you still angry with me?"
"Angry about what?"
"What happened in the storeroom yesterday."
"No."
"Really?"
"Really."
Shen Zhiwei picked up her bowl of porridge.
"The things were all put back, weren't they?"
A flicker passed through Shen Ruolan's eyes.
"As long as you're not blaming me, Sister."
Seeing that the two seemed to have made up, Madam Liu smiled and said, "There should be no lasting grudges between sisters."
Shen Zhiwei set down her bowl.
"Mother is right."
"Since that's settled, there's something I'd like to ask your help with."
Madam Liu paused.
"What is it?"
"I want a workshop."
The air suddenly fell silent.
The chopsticks in Shen Ruolan's hand stopped in midair.
Madam Liu's brows drew together at once.
"A workshop?"
"Mm."
"What do you want a workshop for?"
"To make things."
"What things?"
"Paper, glass, soap, metal implements."
Shen Zhiwei spoke naturally.
Madam Liu's expression, however, grew stranger by the second.
"Why would a young lady like you make those things?"
"Research."
"Research?"
Madam Liu seemed to have heard a joke.
"Zhiwei, have you still not fully recovered?"
Shen Zhiwei raised her eyes.
"I'm fine."
"But you're saying you want to build a workshop."
"Yes."
"Do you even know what kind of place a workshop is?"
"I do."
"It's full of craftsmen."
Madam Liu's tone darkened.
"Smoke, fire, filth, and disorder."
"You're the legitimate eldest daughter of a marquis's residence. How can you go to a place like that?"
Shen Zhiwei did not rush to argue.
She merely asked, "If I don't go to a workshop, what does Mother think I should do?"
Madam Liu was taken aback.
"Learn needlework."
"I don't like it."
"Then learn music, chess, calligraphy, and painting."
"I'm not interested."
"Read the Admonitions for Women."
"I don't need to."
Madam Liu's face darkened completely.
"Shen Zhiwei!"
It was the first time she had called her by her full name in front of everyone.
"Do you think your wings have grown strong enough now?"
Shen Zhiwei remained calm.
"Mother misunderstands."
"I only want to do something."
"What can a woman possibly do?" Madam Liu sneered. "Don't tell me you think you can build a career and make a name for yourself like a man."
Shen Zhiwei looked at her.
After a moment, she said softly, "Why not?"
Four words.
They rendered the entire main hall silent.
Shen Ruolan stared at her in a daze.
She had never imagined that her sister would say something like that.
Madam Liu was so furious that her face went pale.
"A woman should follow the Three Obediences and Four Virtues, serve her husband, and raise her children. That is the proper path!"
"As for working as a craftsman, that's a servant's job."
Shen Zhiwei did not argue.
She merely asked calmly, "If there were something that could help the common people fall ill less often, go hungry less often, and walk dozens of miles less—even make all of Dayong stronger..."
"Would the person who made it still be a servant?"
Madam Liu was rendered speechless.
Shen Zhiwei continued, "If a craftsman could create something that benefited millions of people, would his status truly matter?"
"What matters isn't what he does."
"It's what he creates."
Madam Liu looked at her.
For the first time, she didn't know how to answer.
Shen Ruolan slowly lowered her chopsticks.
She suddenly realized that she understood this sister less and less.
The Shen Zhiwei of the past had known only to keep her head down.
The Shen Zhiwei of today was like a sword newly drawn from its sheath.
Its edge was not yet fully revealed.
Yet it was impossible to ignore.
"You want a workshop." Madam Liu drew a deep breath. "Fine."
Shen Zhiwei's brows lifted slightly.
"Really?"
"Of course."
Madam Liu's smile returned.
"Since you're so interested, I'll give you one."
"Just don't come crying back when the time comes."
Shen Zhiwei looked at her.
"The address."
Madam Liu froze.
"What?"
"The workshop's address."
Madam Liu hadn't expected her to agree so quickly.
She could only say, "There is an old ironware workshop west of the marquis's residence. Your father acquired it years ago, but it was abandoned later."
"No one has used it in years."
"If you want it, it's yours."
"Good."
Shen Zhiwei stood.
"Thank you, Mother."
She turned and left.
Watching her retreating figure, Madam Liu's lips curled into a cold smile.
"She doesn't know her own limits."
Shen Ruolan said nothing.
She gazed in the direction Shen Zhiwei had gone, the unease in her heart growing stronger and stronger.
On the west side of the marquis's residence stood an ironware workshop that had been abandoned for years.
Shen Zhiwei stood at the entrance.
The signboard had long since rotted.
Vines covered the courtyard walls.
When the main gate was pushed open, a great cloud of dust billowed up.
Qinghe couldn't help coughing.
"Miss, can this place really be used?"
Shen Zhiwei did not answer.
She walked into the courtyard.
The forge stood on the left.
The storeroom was on the right.
There was also a well in the back.
In the center stood a massive furnace platform.
Although it had been abandoned for years, the structure was still fairly intact.
Shen Zhiwei walked to the furnace platform and crouched down to inspect it.
"The furnace body can be repaired."
She looked at the chimney.
"The flue won't work."
"The well is usable."
"The storeroom needs to be emptied."
She stood.
"This place will do."
Qinghe's eyes widened.
"Miss, even the door is about to collapse."
"Repair it."
"The walls are cracked too."
"Patch them."
"The ground is covered in dust."
"Sweep it."
"The furnace is broken."
"Modify it."
Qinghe: "..."
She suddenly had a bad feeling.
Sure enough, the next moment Shen Zhiwei pulled out a sheet of paper.
"Go find Gu Changfeng."
"Have him bring people here."
"Then find twenty craftsmen."
"Ironworkers, carpenters, and masons. I want all of them."
"Also find a few people who can read and write."
Qinghe froze.
"People who can read and write too?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"I need records."
Shen Zhiwei pointed at the empty workshop.
"From now on, every experiment here must be documented."
"What was done."
"How much material was used."
"What the temperature was."
"What the result was."
"The reason for failure."
"Write down everything."
Qinghe nodded.
Then she suddenly thought of something.
"Miss."
"Yes?"
"Most craftsmen can't read or write."
Shen Zhiwei fell silent for a moment.
"Then teach them."
"Starting now."
An hour later, Gu Changfeng arrived with six ironworkers.
Several men stood inside the dilapidated workshop, all looking extremely nervous.
Gu Changfeng cupped his fists.
"Young Miss, I've brought the men."
Shen Zhiwei looked them over.
"Not enough."
Gu Changfeng blinked.
"Not enough?"
"Six people can't accomplish very much."
"Go find more."
"Ten ironworkers."
"Five carpenters."
"Five masons."
"And find two people who know bookkeeping."
Gu Changfeng hesitated.
"Young Miss, what exactly are you trying to make?"
Shen Zhiwei walked to a battered wooden table.
She picked up a piece of charcoal and drew a simple gear on its surface.
"Machines."
Everyone exchanged glances.
"What kind of machines?"
"We don't know yet."
Gu Changfeng: "..."
Shen Zhiwei, however, was completely serious.
"That's why I need all of you."
"I can provide the direction."
"You provide the hands."
"Together, we'll make it."
An old ironworker couldn't help asking, "Young Miss, will this make money?"
Shen Zhiwei thought about it.
"Maybe not at first."
"It may even cost a great deal of money."
The old ironworker frowned.
"Then why should we do it?"
Shen Zhiwei looked at him.
"Because if we succeed, the things you make may be used throughout Dayong."
The man was stunned.
Shen Zhiwei was not making empty promises.
She knew that what craftsmen lacked most was not skill.
It was the chance to be respected.
In this era, craftsmen were often merely registered artisans.
Their families made the same things generation after generation.
Their skills were passed down through master and apprentice.
Failure depended on experience.
Success depended on luck.
What she wanted to do was let them know:
You don't only know how to work iron.
You can create.
"Gu Changfeng."
"Yes."
"Starting today, this is no longer an ironware workshop."
She looked up at everyone.
"It will be called—"
Shen Zhiwei paused.
"Zhiwei Workshop."
Everyone was stunned.
Gu Changfeng smiled.
"Good name."
The workshop's first renovation began with cleaning.
All the discarded lumber was carried outside.
The broken tools were sorted.
Those that could still be used were kept.
Those that couldn't were dismantled.
Shen Zhiwei wouldn't let them throw anything away outright.
She even required them to separate scrap iron, sawdust, and shards of pottery.
"Why separate them?" Gu Changfeng asked.
"Because different materials have different values."
"Scrap iron can be smelted again."
"Sawdust can be burned."
"Pottery shards can be used as filler."
"The things you used to throw away may all be materials in the future."
The others listened with half-believing expressions.
But no one argued.
On the first day, the workshop cleared out thirteen cartloads of refuse.
On the second day, they repaired the furnace platform.
On the third, they rebuilt the flue.
On the fourth, they restored the well.
On the fifth, they constructed workbenches.
On the sixth, they established a materials storeroom.
By the seventh day, the entire workshop finally began to take shape.
Shen Zhiwei stood in the center of the courtyard, watching the workshop start operating again.
For the first time, she felt grounded.
She knew this place was crude.
Almost laughably crude.
But this was the starting point.
She had once worked in the most advanced laboratory in the modern world.
Now, she didn't even have a precise thermometer.
It didn't matter.
If there was no thermometer, she would make one herself.
If there were no glassware, she would fire it herself.
If there were no standard weights, she would establish them herself.
If there were no machine tools, she would make machine tools first.
If there were no scientific research system, she would build one starting with the first experiment.
She picked up a wooden plaque and wrote six characters on it:
Zhiwei Scientific Research Workshop.
Gu Changfeng stood beside her, looking at those six words.
He couldn't help asking, "Young Miss."
"Yes?"
"What is scientific research?"
Shen Zhiwei thought for a moment.
She didn't use modern terminology.
She simply said, "Study the world."
"Study why it is the way it is."
"Study how to make it better."
Gu Changfeng was silent for a moment.
Then he suddenly smiled.
"Then I understand."
"Understand what?"
"Before, when I worked iron, I only knew that iron had to be heated until it glowed red."
"Now, I want to know—"
"Why does it soften after turning red?"
Shen Zhiwei's eyes lit up.
"Excellent."
"That's scientific research."
Gu Changfeng scratched his head.
"Then can I become... an engineer's assistant too?"
Shen Zhiwei smiled.
"Of course."
However, the commotion at Zhiwei Workshop soon reached the marquis's residence.
Madam Liu sat in her room, listening to the steward's report.
"Madam, the Young Miss really has put that abandoned workshop on the west side back into use."
"She even found more than twenty craftsmen."
Madam Liu frowned.
"What exactly is she trying to do?"
"I don't know."
"Has she bought anything expensive?"
"Not for the time being."
Madam Liu sneered.
"Without money, what can she possibly make?"
"Let her play around."
"Once she's spent all her silver, she'll naturally learn what reality is."
Shen Ruolan sat nearby.
But she said nothing.
She remembered the look in Shen Zhiwei's eyes the day before.
That calmness.
That certainty.
She suddenly had a strange feeling.
Perhaps Sister really could make something.
But the moment the thought surfaced, she immediately rejected it.
Impossible.
How could a sickly girl who couldn't even master music, chess, calligraphy, and painting create anything?
Night fell.
The lights at Zhiwei Workshop were still burning.
The craftsmen had already left.
Only Shen Zhiwei and Gu Changfeng remained.
A pile of materials sat on the table.
Iron blocks.
Wood chips.
Clay jars.
Lime.
Sand and gravel.
Copper sheets.
Shen Zhiwei picked up a sheet of paper.
"Our first experiment."
Gu Changfeng straightened.
"What are we making?"
"Glass."
Gu Changfeng froze.
"Glass?"
"Yes."
"Isn't that liuli?"
"It's the same kind of thing."
"We're going to make it transparent."
Gu Changfeng was silent for a long time.
"Young Miss."
"Yes?"
"Liuli is expensive."
"I know."
"And only the best masters at the kilns can make it."
"I know."
"To make it transparent..."
He gave a bitter laugh.
"I've never even heard of such a thing."
Shen Zhiwei had already picked up a piece of charcoal and was writing several materials on the blackboard.
Quartz sand.
Soda ash.
Lime.
She knew the theory.
But the purity of ancient materials was insufficient.
The proportions would also need to be tested all over again.
True scientific research had never been about memorizing answers.
It was about finding answers suited to this era.
She wrote down the proportions, then paused.
"We won't aim for transparency the first time."
Gu Changfeng asked, "Then what are we aiming for?"
"Repeatability."
"What does that mean?"
"The same materials."
"The same proportions."
"The same firing conditions."
"Each time, we should be able to produce something roughly the same."
Shen Zhiwei gazed at the furnace fire.
"As long as we can accomplish that, the road ahead will be much easier."
Gu Changfeng nodded.
He began preparing the materials.
Flames rose, illuminating both their faces.
Shen Zhiwei stood before the furnace, watching the dancing firelight.
For a moment, she felt dazed.
Once, she had possessed the most advanced equipment in the world in a modern laboratory.
Now, she had only a crude kiln.
Yet she had never felt the true meaning of scientific research as clearly as she did now.
It wasn't instruments.
It wasn't equipment.
It wasn't papers.
It was the unbowed courage humans possessed when facing the unknown.
The first piece of glass was about to be born.
And this little workshop would become the true starting point of Dayong's technological revolution.
Shen Zhiwei just didn't know yet that, in the darkness outside the workshop, a figure had already been standing there for quite some time.
A dark robe.
A cold, severe face.
Through half of the doorway, the man watched the busy young woman inside.
His eyes were deep and unreadable.
The secret report in his hand bore four conspicuous words:
The legitimate eldest daughter of the Yongning Marquis's Residence.
Xiao Chengyuan slowly folded up the secret report.
"Interesting."
For the first time, he took a genuine interest in this infamous legitimate eldest daughter of the marquis's residence.
Inside the workshop, Shen Zhiwei raised her head.
"Gu Changfeng."
"Yes."
"The firing temperature is right."
"Let's begin."
The furnace door opened.
Scorching firelight surged out.
An experiment capable of changing Dayong's future had officially begun.