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

The three of them fell silent.

The candle on the table flickered twice, illuminating three silent faces.

Gu Debai suddenly laughed, with a hint of self-mockery.

"Upon receiving the news, the four major clans all sent people to Anyang to find the 'remnants' of the Great Qi, which frightened your mother so much that she had a miscarriage."

He looked up at his two children.

The gentle smile in his eyes vanished completely, revealing a coldness that had been buried for over a decade.

"Father will never let the four great families off the hook in this lifetime."

Gu Mingyue and Gu Mingli both lowered their heads at the same time.

The bitterness and anger brought back from the old house in Anyang settled down completely at this moment, turning into a hard, unyielding determination.

After a long while, Gu Mingyue took a deep breath and raised her head again.

She looked at Gu Debai, her tone calm.

"Father, I am currently preparing to join forces with His Majesty and take advantage of the Cui family's recent monopoly on grain to completely bring them down."

Gu Debai stared at his daughter for a while, and the gloom on his face vanished, replaced by his cheerful expression.

"Okay! How do you do it? Dad will help you!"

"Father, the key to controlling grain prices is cash. A large amount of cash is needed as capital. The fact that the Cui family dares to hoard grain and cut off supplies nationwide shows that they have a lot of money on hand. We need to drive down grain prices when they have hoarded the most grain."

Gu Mingyue tapped her fingers lightly twice on the table, her tone serious.

"At least 100 million in cash is needed."

After saying this, the brother and sister both paid close attention to the expression on Gu Debai's face.

One billion.

This number would be enough to make anyone faint on the spot.

But if those seven hundred million from the previous dynasty were in their father's hands, that would be a different story.

Gu Debai put down his teacup and wiped the grease from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve.

"No problem, Dad will back you up. Yue'er, could you tell Dad about your plan in detail?"

The brother and sister exchanged a glance and took a deep breath together.

It's basically confirmed!

But now is also a good time to "return wealth to the people".

Gu Mingyue nodded.

"Okay! Let me explain in detail..."

A crisp system notification sounded in Gu Mingyue's mind.

The ice-blue, semi-transparent panel slowly unfolded in the void.

[Ding! 8 million in dirty silver detected, triggering a new mission!]

[The Ultimate Spending Mission: Spend 100 million taels of stolen silver within three months.]

[Mission Rewards: "Future Headlines" x1, Life-Saving Pill x1]

[Host has made significant progress and taken a big step closer to completing the ultimate mission!]

After reading the prompt, Gu Mingyue's lips unconsciously curled up.

The "Life-Saving Pill" is a very useful reward; I'll leave it for my dad to use in his old age.

The next morning, Gu Mingli got out of bed before dawn.

He quickly washed up, put on a moon-white, narrow-sleeved, round-necked robe, and left the Prime Minister's residence with two sets of drawings he had worked on overnight in his pocket.

The morning breeze at the end of summer carried a hint of coolness.

King Xiao Jue of Qi's carriage was already waiting at the alley entrance.

Gu Mingli ran over in three steps, lifted the carriage curtain and jumped in, plopping down opposite Xiao Jue.

"Your Highness has arrived very early."

Xiao Jue looked Gu Mingli up and down, a smile playing on his lips.

"My royal brother sent someone to tell me last night that I should run errands for you today. I must cooperate with you no matter what."

He crossed his arms, squinted, and scrutinized Gu Mingli.

"Young Master Gu, what kind of bewitching potion did you give my imperial brother? He came back from his disaster relief trip, and now he treats you completely differently?"

Gu Mingli waved his hand and chuckled twice.

"It's nothing. Maybe it's just my irresistible personal charm that's shining."

Xiao Jue: "..."

He realized that this kid's shamelessness was unmatched by all the officials in the court combined.

The carriage wound its way through the streets and finally stopped in a quiet alley in Yongningfang, east of the city.

Xiao Jue got out of the car and stood at the alley entrance with his hands behind his back, looking around.

This is a large courtyard with three courtyards, facing the street in the front and adjacent to another alley in the back.

The courtyard wall was very high, made of thick blue bricks, and a faded old plaque hung above the gate with the three characters "Yongxinghao" written on it.

It looks like the old residence of some merchant house.

Gu Mingli also jumped out of the car and looked around.

"Is this the courtyard house that the prince chose?"

"Yes, I've checked this place for you. The land deed is in the name of the Marquis of Yongping's residence, but the Marquis of Yongping was convicted of a crime three years ago and his property was confiscated, so all his property went to the Imperial Household Department. Your Majesty can allocate it with just a decree."

Xiao Jue stood beside Gu Mingli, raised his hand and pointed towards the backyard, his tone carrying a hint of inquiry.

"I heard from my elder brother that the newspaper will have very close ties with the Control Yuan in the future?"

"Yes, we share information."

"The back of this house is the backyard of the Censorate," Xiao Jue raised an eyebrow. "There's only a wall separating them."

Gu Mingli's eyes lit up. "Let's go take a look."

The interior of the house is quite ordinary.

There is indeed another house's wall next to the backyard.

Standing under the wall and listening carefully, one can faintly hear the soft clanging of armor as the guards of the Censorate pass by.

Gu Mingli reached out and touched the blue brick wall, patting it twice. The sound was dull, indicating that the wall wasn't very thick.

"This is the place then," Gu Mingli decided.

"Let's carve a doorway in this wall so that it's easy to walk around on both sides."

Xiao Jue: "..."

Someone actually dared to think of opening a back door in the wall of the Control Yuan! That's incredibly audacious!

The location was decided on that very day.

Xiao Jue was efficient; he had someone take the name card from the Prince of Qi's residence to the land deeds office, and the paperwork was completed in half an hour.

In the afternoon, Gu Mingli returned to the Ministry of Works and summoned all his subordinates.

There were more than thirty people standing in the main hall of the Ministry of Works.

Since the Ministry of Works reorganized, those who took advantage of the chaos and those from powerful clans have been eliminated.

The officials and craftsmen currently in office are all technical talents selected by Minister Pei of the Ministry of Personnel, who are from good backgrounds, have quick minds, and are willing to do practical work.

Gu Mingli spread the blueprints on the long table, rolled up his sleeves, and began to divide the research and development work groups.

The process of bamboo pulping, the specifications of the pulp sieve, the control of the drying rack, the casting process of movable type molds, the gear linkage principle of the rotary typesetting plate, and the dual-power structure of the hand-cranked and foot-operated printing press.

He spoke rapidly, his pen swiftly drawing diagrams on the rice paper.

The Ministry of Works officials below initially kept up, but the more they listened, the more confused they became, with several old craftsmen's mouths agape as if they could fit an egg in them.

"Young Master Gu, what... what are you talking about... gear ratio? Could you please repeat it?"

A white-haired official from the Ministry of Works raised his hand, his old face turning bright red.

This advanced knowledge was nothing short of a miracle to him; he had never even heard of it before.

Now that I'm learning from Young Master Gu, this is a rare opportunity. I have to swallow my pride and ask questions whenever I don't understand!

Gu Mingli had an exceptionally good temper; he wasn't annoyed at all, and instead showed a kind smile befitting a teacher.

"Okay! I'll explain it from the beginning again."

He used a lot of modern terminology in his lectures, so it's normal that his subordinates didn't understand.

So when he encounters something that no one can understand, he rephrases it and repeats it.

Unable to grasp the underlying physical logic, he simply rolled up his sleeves, ran to the nearby woodworking shop, picked up some wood, and personally made a simple model as a demonstration.

From that day on, the entire engineering department entered a mode of dedicated research and development.

It became the most complex of the six departments.

Gu Mingli spent his days at the Ministry of Industry guiding research and development, and his evenings back in the newspaper office's new courtyard refining the blueprints.

Yi Shi followed closely, always keeping dry food and water on hand.

Er Yi stood guard at the gate of the courtyard, Er Er squatted on the roof to keep watch, and Er San and Er Si took turns going to the kitchen to get food.

They need to make sure that Master Gu doesn't work non-stop without rest anymore.

Otherwise, if they really let Master Gu ruin his health, their master would skin them alive when they got back, and they would really be punished!