Chapter 4: Someone from the Imperial Capital?

“Amituofo!” Before Master Luo could even finish his sentence, he was interrupted by Master Haihui, the teacher of Little Ice Luan.

“Benefactor Luo, do you remember what this poor monk said? Luan'er is no ordinary person; you must believe in her.”

Master Luo looked at Master Haihui, and seeing that he did not seem to be joking, turned to Little Ice Luan and said, “Alright, Daddy promises to agree to your conditions.”

“Huh?” Little Ice Luan was stunned. “Daddy, Luan'er hasn't even stated the conditions yet.”

“Haha... I will agree to whatever you say!”

“Then alright, um! First, Daddy must act according to Luan'er's requests and cannot refuse to listen to her.” Little Ice Luan held up one small finger.

“Deal!” Master Luo smiled.

“Second, if we succeed, Daddy must promise to give that manor in the mountains to Luan'er.” Little Ice Luan held up a second finger.

“Haha, what is Daddy's is Luan'er's. I can give you that manor right now. What is the third?”

“Third, um... I haven't thought of it yet. I'll tell you once I've decided,” Little Ice Luan said, thinking seriously for a moment.

“Alright. Are you confident, Luan'er?” Master Luo still found it somewhat difficult to accept that his four-year-old daughter was claiming she could solve a problem that had eluded him for over a decade.

“Mm-hmm!” Little Ice Luan nodded seriously. Then, with great solemnity, she took out the box that her teacher and family referred to as a 'divine artifact.'

She closed her eyes, mumbled a few lines of nonsense that even she didn't understand for show, and then opened the packaging of the tablet computer.

She pressed the power button.

As a series of startup musical tones rang out, Little Ice Luan's father and mother exchanged shocked glances.

Meanwhile, Master Haihui closed his eyes and devoutly chanted a Buddha mantra.

On Little Ice Luan's side, her small hands went *swish swish* as she slid across the tablet's screen.

“Got it! Quick, bring me paper and a pen!” After Little Ice Luan finished speaking, there was no movement for a long time, so she couldn't help but look back.

This look, however, gave her quite a fright. Her parents were still standing there frozen, and her teacher was still chanting sutras with his eyes tightly shut, seemingly still immersed in shock and unable to react.

“Daddy! Mommy! Uh... this is a treasure from the Heavenly Palace. Only those who can operate it can use it to peer into the books of the Heavenly Palace.” Little Ice Luan pointed her small hand at the tablet and blinked, making up a lie on the spot.

Only then did her teacher and parents snap out of it. They believed her words without a shred of doubt; after all, this thing was simply too miraculous.

They immediately had someone bring paper and a pen to Little Ice Luan.

Taking the pen and paper, Little Ice Luan began to earnestly transcribe information regarding the modification of textile looms.

Once she had finished everything, she put the box away and handed the drawings and data to Master Luo.

It was one thing to not look, but once Master Luo saw them, he immediately discovered the exquisite brilliance within. His previous sense of loss was instantly swept away.

To maintain secrecy, the Luo Family Weaving Workshop only employed family servants and reliable weavers from the vicinity. At the same time, it was renamed the Luo Family Manufacturing Plant. Fearing that the blueprints for the improved textile looms might leak, Master Luo had the household carpenters rush the construction, with only certain iron components being forged externally.

From this moment on, the first capitalist factory in the Tianqing Empire was born...

However, this was merely the first step. To make an impact in this era, one had to possess their own power, and it had to be a powerful force.

A year later, the Yellow River flooded again. This flood was unprecedentedly severe. Although there was disaster relief from the imperial court, a vast number of people were still displaced, and countless children became orphans.

In this year, Little Ice Luan was six years old.

Because of the success of the manufacturing plant, the Luo family's wealth had grown steadily over the past two years. They had even expanded their factory premises.

One could say that all of this was brought about by Little Ice Luan. From then on, the Luo family fully satisfied all of Little Ice Luan's seemingly eccentric requests. This included purchasing no fewer than a hundred orphans to study various kinds of knowledge alongside her, including the knowledge contained within the tablet computer.

To prevent the tablet from becoming unusable due to malfunction, Little Ice Luan specifically had her father build a Library to transcribe all the contents of the tablet (excluding novels, of course O(∩_∩)O~).

With the support of her parents and her teacher, Little Ice Luan established her own organization: the Heavenly Mystery Hall.

Those hundred orphans became the first batch of trainees for the Heavenly Mystery Hall.

The Heavenly Mystery Hall only recruited orphans, refugees, and those with talent who lacked opportunity, providing them with training.

In the same year, to print teaching materials, the Heavenly Mystery Hall improved printing technology.

Ten years later,

The Heavenly Mystery Hall had grown from its initial hundred trainees to a membership of over ten thousand. These people had expanded from the first generation's limited fields of accounting, chemical engineering, physics, mechanics, textiles, and medicine into ten major categories and over forty specialized majors.

The Heavenly Mystery Hall also established various branches. The members of these branches were all reliable and loyal individuals who majored in courses such as pharmacology, toxicology, disguise, Qimen Dunjia, hidden weapons, firearms, and reconnaissance. Upon graduation, they would transfer to the Mechanical Department or the Shadow Department of the Heavenly Mystery Hall.

The Shadow Department: A secret agent and espionage agency. Most of its members were dispatched to various military and political offices, even infiltrating the Emperor's personal guard and the inner palace...

After ten years of operation,

The Luo family's industries had expanded from textiles to light industry, with business types gradually extending to smelting, salt trading, transportation, tea, ceramics, and other sectors.

However, to be safe and avoid provoking the imperial court, many new technologies, such as large-scale machinery and glass, were used only within the Heavenly Mystery Hall and the Luo family factories.

It was precisely because of this technological advantage that many commercial giants in traditional industries began to cooperate with the Luo family.

At the same time, the annual tax revenue of nearly ten million and the funds used for maintaining connections gave the Luo family significant influence in various levels of the officialdom. This further provided convenience for the Heavenly Mystery Hall's Shadow Department to plant undercover agents.

The Luo family gradually became the wealthiest family in the Tianqing Empire.

One day,

The sixteen-year-old Luo Bingluan was in her parents' room, explaining the efficacy and usage of a newly formulated floral water to them.

Looking at her graceful, beautiful, and capable daughter, Madam Luo didn't pay much mind to the specifics of what she was saying, merely nodding with a smile from time to time.

Just then, the old butler walked in from outside.

"Master, the Zhao family has sent an invitation. They request that you and the Young Lady visit their estate to discuss matters of cooperation."

Hearing this, Master Luo's gaze instinctively turned toward Luo Bingluan.

Luo Bingluan nodded slightly and smiled. "It seems the people behind the Zhao family are eyeing our family. Daddy, let's go over and take a look."

"There should be imperial power behind the Zhao family. According to intelligence from the Shadow Department, it is most likely one of the princes from the Imperial Capital. I'm afraid they don't just want to talk about cooperation," Master Luo said, his index finger tapping lightly on the tabletop.