The air in the main hall was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. The howling wind outside was entirely blocked by the heavy wooden doors, kept out in the courtyard.
Xu Qinghuan sat upright in the seat of honor. Her gaze bypassed Su Mu's shoulders and landed on the tightly shut carved wooden doors, a profound and indescribable distance in her eyes.
She did not immediately answer Su Mu's question, which was full of confusion.
Su Mu, would you believe me if I told you that there was once a person who sat under a tree to cool off, and upon seeing a fruit fall from a branch and land beside him, he deduced the most fundamental law of the universe?
Su Mu had pricked up his ears, waiting for her to clear his doubts, but upon suddenly hearing this seemingly baseless remark, he froze on the spot.
He blinked. The sharpness he had honed from traveling far and wide flared up again, and he could not help but interject.
Lord Xu, are you making fun of this commoner?
That fruit grows on a tree. When it is fully ripe, it naturally falls down. What kind of heavenly law is that?
Even a three-year-old child in the village knows this logic. Could that person really see something extraordinary in it?
Xu Qinghuan was not annoyed. She simply leaned forward slightly, crossed her hands over her knees, and stared straight into Su Mu's eyes, throwing out an extremely simple yet incredibly tricky question.
Since it falls when it is ripe, why does it only fall downward instead of flying up into the sky?
As soon as these words were spoken, the expression on Su Mu's face completely froze.
He opened his mouth, but the bellyful of arguments he had prepared were all blocked in his throat by this single sentence. He could not utter half a word.
Why does it only fall downward and not fly up into the sky?
The question sounded utterly absurd, but the moment he asked himself, Su Mu found he had no clue.
He had grown up in Luoxia Valley since childhood, handled countless blueprints, and polished thousands of parts, yet no one had ever asked him such a question.
Su Mu's chatterbox nature could not be suppressed at all. His lips began to move uncontrollably, his voice rising from low to high, his speaking speed growing faster and faster.
Falling downward... Right, why must it fall downward?
A thrown stone will eventually smash into the ground.
Water flows to lower ground; rivers are never seen flowing backward into the sky.
With the heavy crossbows in the army, after the arrow is shot a hundred paces, the arrowhead inevitably drops.
And those siege catapults, the arc drawn in mid-air by the hurled boulder eventually crashes into the base of the city wall...
As he muttered, he paced back and forth in the center of the main hall, gesturing wildly in the air with his hands.
He completely forgot that he was still in the main hall of the Imperial Envoy's headquarters, and that sitting in front of him was an official holding the power of life and death.
No, that is not right!
There must be a key to all this!
If all things are drawn by this force, then where does this force come from?
Is there something beneath the earth dragging them down?
Or is there an invisible giant net between heaven and earth, firmly pressing all objects onto the ground?
The more Su Mu spoke, the more excited he became.
His whole being seemed to have fallen into a near-mad state of semi-enlightenment, his mouth still murmuring incessantly.
If the strength of this force could be calculated, the counterweight of the catapult could be accurate to the millimeter.
If the law of this arrow's descent could be fully understood, the range of the heavy crossbow could be extended by another thirty paces!
This... this is no mere fruit falling to the ground. This is clearly the pivot on which all things operate!
Xu Qinghuan sat in the armchair, quietly watching Su Mu's demeanor.
She did not interrupt, allowing this top-tier technological fanatic of the Great Qian Dynasty to undergo a cognitive reconstruction in the face of a physics enlightenment from hundreds of years in the future.
At this moment, Xu Qinghuan's thoughts drifted far away, recalling the setting in the original novel.
In the original plotline, Su Mu, the Master of Luoxia Valley, was supposed to bring a group of impoverished artisans to seek refuge only after the male lead, Xu Zijin, had completely risen to power and taken control of the financial power in Jiangnan.
At that time, Xu Zijin, relying on his protagonist halo and his so-called benevolent heart, generously allocated one hundred thousand taels of silver with a wave of his hand. He completely won over Su Mu, thereby gaining the endless technical support of Luoxia Valley and forging an impeccably equipped, invincible army.
But now, the direction of the plot had long deviated from its original track.
Watching Su Mu, who was still spinning in circles and muttering to himself, Xu Qinghuan could not help but sigh inwardly.
There was not even a shadow of the romantic subplot yet, and the strongest support character who was supposed to belong to the male lead in the original story had instead run to her Zhenbei City to beg for alms and seek shelter.
What was this?
Did she just poach the second male lead?
It took a full cup of tea's time before Su Mu snapped out of his possessed state.
Panting heavily, he looked at Xu Qinghuan. The previous probing and wariness in his eyes were gone, replaced only by a fanatical reverence.
He quickly walked up to Xu Qinghuan, bent his knees, and gave a solid, resounding kowtow.
Your Excellency's single sentence has awakened a dreamer!
This commoner has reached enlightenment!
Su Mu raised his head, his face flushed red, rubbing his hands together in excitement.
If we can truly use this heavenly law to deduce machinery, and then use machinery to verify the heavenly law, then my Luoxia Valley is far more than just a poor valley for blacksmithing and carpentry. This is clearly a supreme great path that can establish a foundation for ten thousand generations!
He stood up, patted the dust off his knees, and bowed repeatedly to Xu Qinghuan, pouring out words of praise as if they cost nothing.
Lord Xu is truly a divine person!
This commoner previously only thought Your Excellency was a business prodigy, able to create that loom capable of producing a thousand bolts a day, crashing the fabric prices in Jiangnan.
Later, I heard that Your Excellency invented those terrifyingly powerful landmines in the Northern Territory, blowing the Helian cavalry into chaos.
This commoner originally thought that was Your Excellency's limit. I never imagined that what Your Excellency holds in your heart is such a grand heavenly law that deduces all things!
The more Su Mu spoke, the more enthusiastic he got, wishing he could praise Xu Qinghuan to the high heavens.
With a genius like Your Excellency pointing the way, those blueprints in my Luoxia Valley will no longer be scrap paper!
Rest assured, Your Excellency, with just one word from you, this commoner will immediately send a message back to the valley and drag all those starving, skin-and-bones old folks to Zhenbei City to work like horses and oxen for you, without a single word of complaint!
Listening to his rapid-fire flattery, Xu Qinghuan raised her hand and pressed it down, signaling him to stop.
Valley Master Su, do not be in such a rush to pledge your loyalty.
Xu Qinghuan picked up her teacup, took a gentle sip of the warm tea to moisten her throat, and only then did she slowly and methodically clarify.
That loom and the landmines you mentioned were not my doing.
Su Mu had been speaking with spit flying everywhere. Hearing this, his eyes widened into circles, his face full of disbelief.
They were not made by Your Excellency?
How is that possible!
On my way to Zhenbei City, this commoner personally went to the edge of the battlefield to see the scorched earth destroyed by the explosions. Such exquisite firearms and mechanisms—other than a genius like Your Excellency, who else in this Great Qian Dynasty could possibly build them?
Su Mu stomped his feet in anxiety, repeatedly asking.
There is actually another such extraordinary person in this world?
Your Excellency, please tell this commoner quickly, who is this master?
Even if this commoner has to crawl, I will crawl over to pay my respects!
Xu Qinghuan looked at Su Mu's impatient and eager appearance.
"You won't have to crawl."
Xu Qinghuan stood up and smoothed out her sleeves.
"You'll find out who she is soon enough."
"And I can guarantee that once the two of you get together, Zhenbei City... no, the entire Great Qian Dynasty is going to be turned upside down."
