Dad, don't be greedy! My brother climbed into the emperor's bed, and I became famous overn

The moment I got my hands on the brocade quilt.

A faint, sandalwood fragrance wafted from the fibers of the brocade.

The satin surface is smooth and cool, and the filling is made of the finest silk, which is fluffy and soft.

Gu Mingli looked down at the system interface.

[Hold onto the dragon bed quilt for 30 seconds to obtain the blueprint.]

[Countdown begins: 30...29...28...]

Without saying a word, he hugged the quilt even tighter into his arms.

He looked down at the numbers that kept changing on the blanket.

The "Complete Collection of Shipbuilding Engineering Drawings" will be available soon.

I'm really looking forward to it!

Thinking this, Gu Mingli couldn't help but smile.

He smiled happily.

However, this scene appears quite differently to others.

Grandpa Sun gasped.

Lord Gu's hobbies are truly extraordinary!

He quickly gave the little eunuch behind him a wink.

Stop looking! Stop looking!

We didn't see anything!

Immediately, some people looked up at the sky, some looked down at the ground, and some scratched their hands.

Gu Mingli stared intently at the system screen on the brocade quilt, silently counting down the seconds.

Seventeen, sixteen, fifteen...

almost.

Hang in there a little longer...

at the same time.

After finishing his dinner, Xiao Ye was about to sit down and continue looking through the geomantic map that Xiao Jue had recently sent.

Liu An poured him a cup of hot tea and said with a smile:

"Your Majesty, please rest. Lord Gu said you should take a walk after your meal and not just sit around without moving."

Xiao Ye pondered for a moment.

That makes sense.

You should go for a walk to aid digestion first.

"Let's go for a walk then."

So Liu An and Geng Zhi accompanied them, followed by a group of eunuchs.

Liu An pointed in the direction of the Imperial Garden.

Xiao Ye didn't want to go to places with lots of mosquitoes, so he continued walking along the palace alley.

The group obediently followed.

After walking for about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, we turned a corner and went through a door.

From afar, several eunuchs could be seen handing the dragon quilt to one of the men in front.

Xiao Ye followed the gaze in that direction.

His brows furrowed slowly.

Gu Mingli was standing in the middle of the palace alley, holding his brocade quilt, looking down with secret delight.

Xiao Ye narrowed his eyes and asked Liu An in a deep voice.

"What is Gu Mingli doing, hugging my brocade quilt?"

This is a required question!

Liu An gave two awkward laughs.

How could he possibly know what Lord Gu was doing?!

"Lord Gu has always had some unusual ideas, perhaps... we should go and ask him?"

Xiao Ye ground his back teeth and said in a deep voice, "Let's go."

In the palace alley ahead.

The eunuchs of the four treasuries were so shocked by Lord Gu's actions that they were collectively "petrified".

Gu Mingli ignored it, still hugging the dragon blanket and grinning foolishly.

[Ding! Mission complete!]

The "Complete Collection of Shipbuilding Engineering Drawings" has been distributed.

In an instant, the lines of the engineering drawings unfolded rapidly.

Gu Mingli looked up at the void.

Countless blueprints formed a huge circular wall around him.

There are cross-sectional diagrams of Fujian ships, keel structures of treasure ships, and sail and rope systems of Western three-masted sailing ships.

It even includes the boiler layout of ironclad steamships and the manufacturing process of related materials.

What kind of steel, what kind of tin foil, what kind of asphalt...

The dense data and annotations are crystal clear.

Gu Mingli was so excited that he wanted to clap his hands, but he was still holding the blanket in his hands.

He could only hug the blanket and stand there making a victory celebration gesture with his fist clenched.

"yeah!"

Everyone: "..."

Holding His Majesty's dragon quilt, and you got excited while hugging him?

"Gu Mingli".

A familiar yet cold voice came from not far away.

Gu Mingli's smile froze on his face.

He slowly turned around.

In the twilight, a tall, slender figure stood at the other end of the alley.

Bright yellow brocade robe with dragon and cloud patterns.

Liu An and Geng Zhi followed behind him, along with a group of servants.

Gu Mingli: "..."

Wow!

Is it too late for him to put the blanket down now?

A massive social media frenzy!

"What are you doing?"

Xiao Ye asked him in a cold voice.

The next second, Gu Mingli made an instinctive reaction.

He tossed it with both hands.

He tossed the expensive brocade quilt to the young eunuch with a "whoosh".

"Ouch! No, my stomach hurts! I have to go! Ouch~~ I can't hold it in any longer!"

He grabbed his stomach with one hand, turned and ran.

The figure moved as fast as the wind, quickly disappearing into the twilight.

The night was quiet.

Only the emperor and his entourage remained in the palace alley, along with a few dumbfounded eunuchs from the four treasury offices.

Grandpa Sun was sweating profusely.

Holding the dragon, he was forced to kneel on the ground with a thud, his forehead pressed against the brick surface.

The eunuchs behind him also knelt down with a "plop," trembling like quails.

Xiao Ye raised his hand and pinched the space between his eyebrows.

With utter bewilderment, he asked in a cold voice, "What is he trying to do?"

Grandpa Sun, kneeling on the ground, spoke with a trembling voice.

"Your Majesty... Lord Gu said... he just wanted a hug..."

Xiao Ye's face darkened, and his eye twitched.

"Gu! Ming! Li! You had better give me a reasonable explanation by tomorrow!"

Geng Zhi and Liu An exchanged a glance.

Their minds were buzzing.

Gu Dadan is getting bolder and bolder!

Night falls.

The carriage bumped and jolted its way back to the Gu residence.

Gu Mingli entered his courtyard and first drank three cups of cold tea.

My heart is filled with endless emotions.

Others who time-travel either conquer empires or become rich.

Well, he's the one who embarrasses himself every day.

"elder brother?"

The door was gently pushed open from the outside.

Gu Mingyue walked in carrying a plate of osmanthus cake.

He placed the pastries on the table and pulled up a chair to sit down.

"Brother, you don't look well."

"Yes." Gu Mingli pinched the bridge of his nose.

"They've all been thrown away in the palace, no wonder they look so bad."

Gu Mingyue suppressed a laugh, knowing that her brother had gone off to do another mission.

You can imagine the thunderous scene without even asking.

"Was this mission carried out secretly?"

Gu Mingli nodded.

Gu Mingyue breathed a sigh of relief.

"Alright, brother. Think positively. As long as Huang Jiaojiao doesn't see it with her own eyes, you still have some dignity left."

Gu Mingli: "..."

I heard the sound of a knife being stabbed into my heart again.

He had no interest in arguing with his sister about this.

He rubbed his face and steered the conversation back to the main topic.

"Huang Jiaojiao talked to me about something today."

"What is it?"

"The national treasury is empty. The military pay for the northern border can't be allocated. He said if all else fails, we should confiscate the homes of a few corrupt officials."

Gu Mingyue suddenly looked up.

"Whose house was raided?"

Gu Mingli shook his head helplessly.

"No names were mentioned. But the implication was that they were desperately short of money."

Gu Mingyue crossed her arms in front of her chest and pondered while touching her chin.

"The root cause of the empty treasury is that the silver has been embezzled by powerful clans and aristocratic families. If we want the national economy to function healthily again, we need to break the monopoly."

She turned to look at her brother.

"For Pujitang's logistics project to operate normally, it also needs to break the monopoly of powerful families."

Gu Mingli picked up his teacup and took a sip, still immersed in the humiliating feeling of helplessness.

"Hmm, then your goals align with His Majesty's at this stage."

Gu Mingyue analyzed it carefully.

"To break the monopoly of powerful clans, iron is the first step."

"Without iron, we cannot build ships; without enough ships, the canal transport cannot reach its maximum capacity."

"Without sufficient transport volume, there's no way we can compete with powerful clans for the canal transport business."

Gu Mingyue frowned and pondered.

"My Pujitang needs iron, and the emperor needs silver, but now the Ministry of Works and powerful clans control the iron and won't sell it to us."

"If the imperial court could establish a new iron smelting department, it would neither compete with the powerful clans for business nor hinder the development of its own market..."

"Wouldn't that allow the emperor to make money, and me to spend it all?"

Gu Mingli doesn't understand economics or the market.

He rested his chin on his hand, stroking his teacup, and casually replied to a question.

"You want Huang Jiaojiao to set up a new iron smelting department? Are you planning a massive steel production campaign?"

At this point, the brother and sister were taken aback.

They turned to look at each other.

"elder brother?"

"Um."

"Do you know how to make steel?"

Gu Mingli's eyes lit up.

The engineering drawings he just received include steel manufacturing processes!

"It's worth a try!"

"If I could produce high-quality steel, wouldn't it be easy to have Huang Jiaojiao set up a steel mill?"