Song Jinzhao pulled at each wooden pillar, trying to find the loosest one.
"Did Young Master Cui make this puzzle lock himself, or did someone give it to him?"
Song Shixue answered, "He said he made it himself, and no one has ever been able to take it apart. It's incredibly difficult."
Song Jinzhao's lips curled into a faint smile.
Back in college, she had a roommate who was obsessed with Lu Ban locks.
Her desk was covered in all kinds of burr puzzles. Not to mention the Eighteen Arhats lock, she even had the more difficult twenty-four prism and the ball-in-a-cage puzzles.
Whenever she had free time, she would tinker with them and often taught the rest of them how to play.
Song Jinzhao had seen the exact one Cui Zhengyang had given them; apart from the color of the wood, it was identical.
Her fingers slowly tugged at each wooden pillar, patiently feeling the resistance to find the loosest one to start with.
As Song Jinzhao pulled out the first pillar, the siblings' eyes widened simultaneously.
They had played with it for a long time last night while waiting for news, and no matter which piece they moved, it would get stuck. Yet their older sister had managed to pull one out so quickly!
One large and one small head bumped together as they stared at the Eighteen Arhats lock in Song Jinzhao's hands. They thought that after the first piece was removed, the rest would be quick, but it turned out that Song Jinzhao took even longer to remove the second piece than the first.
By the time it was completely dismantled, an hour had passed.
Song Shixue looked at the eighteen wooden pillars on the table. "No wonder Young Master Cui said it was difficult. Even you took this long, Sister."
Song Jinzhao smiled gently and said, "Taking this apart is indeed very difficult."
The first time she played with it, she had jammed it after just a few random moves. The second time, she tried for two days and still couldn't take it apart. In the end, she helplessly compromised and asked her roommate to teach her, even recording a video of it.
Song Jinzhao placed all the pillars onto a tray. "Taking it apart isn't the hardest part; putting it back together is. I'll show you tomorrow."
Song Shixue said with joyful excitement, "When I go to check on Young Master Cui tomorrow, I must tell him that you solved his lock in just an hour."
Song Anhao grabbed Song Jinzhao's fingers, swaying his round head as he acted spoiled. "Sister, will you teach me?"
As the three were talking, Qingshuang walked briskly in through the door.
"Princess, Fushun has arrived. He is at the door with over three thousand catties of potatoes."
Song Jinzhao withdrew the hand that was rubbing Song Anhao's cheek, lifted the blanket, and got down from the heated brick bed.
"How many people came? Have the kitchen prepare hot food and soup, and let them rest after they have eaten their fill."
Qingshuang said as they walked, "This servant has already arranged it. There are six carts and twenty people in total. Seven of them are escorts Fushun hired in Anyang Prefecture."
When they reached the front hall, Fushun was talking to Lanxi.
"When we set off, I specifically had people pad the bottom of the baskets with dried straw and spread another layer on top. Finally, when loading them onto the carriages, we covered them with two thick straw mats. Whenever it snowed on the road, we burned charcoal in the carriages. I guarantee not a single potato was frostbitten."
"It is just that the cost was a bit high. If the Princess had not specially instructed it in her letter, I would have been reluctant to spend so much."
Lanxi pulled aside the straw on top of the bamboo baskets. The golden potatoes looked appetizing. "There is no helping it for goods that are to be handed over to the imperial court."
"Was the journey smooth?" Song Jinzhao's voice sounded behind the two of them.
Fushun hurriedly turned around and immediately knelt upon seeing Song Jinzhao. "This lowly one greets the Princess."
Song Jinzhao said, "Rise."
After standing up, the smile on Fushun's face was as bright as a flower. "Replying to the Princess, it was fairly smooth. We encountered a few highwaymen, but they were all dealt with by the escorts. Fortunately, they were just small-time thugs."
Seeing the servants unloading the bamboo baskets from the carriages, Song Jinzhao bent down and picked up a potato. Potatoes grown in winter greenhouses were a size smaller than those grown outdoors and harvested in autumn.
