Chapter 156: Free Loading at the Eastern Palace

The veteran craftsman’s skill was indeed genuine. A carving knife moved through his hands like flying, and as wood shavings fell away one by one, small, square, seal-like movable type characters emerged. The characters were neat and aesthetically pleasing, making his hand wielding the carving knife look truly as though flowers were blooming beneath his pen.

In just a single afternoon, the veteran craftsman had carved nearly a hundred characters.

Wei Renshi arranged the mold and then said to the director, "Director, look at these characters. Suppose we want this particular sentence; we simply pick out all the characters belonging to this sentence from the batch and arrange them inside the mold."

With that, Wei Renshi selected some of the characters and secured them inside the mold. Nearby, a craftsman took an ink brush and began applying ink.

Next, Wei Renshi took a sheet of paper, laid it over the top, and the craftsman beside him scraped across it with a board.

Quickly, the paper was peeled back, and that vertical column of characters had already been printed.

Wei Renshi continued, "Under the current method, if we want to print a different sentence, we need to carve a completely new woodblock. But with the movable type method, we only need to pick out the required characters, swap them in, and we can immediately continue printing."

As he spoke, Wei Renshi removed the movable type characters, picked out a few others to form a sentence, placed them into the mold, and had the craftsman print another sheet.

"If a mistake appears somewhere in the text, under the old method, we would have to carve a new woodblock all over again," Wei Renshi demonstrated further. "But now, we simply take out that incorrect character, replace it with the correct one, and we can immediately resume printing."

The director’s expression was extremely excited. With slightly trembling hands, he reached out and took the few sheets of paper.

Setting the papers down, he selected a sentence from the pile of movable type, took the mold, and personally arranged the characters.

He murmured to himself, "These are the selected characters, secured below in the mold... it is equivalent to a single 'woodblock'... and can be taken straight to print."

With that, he tightly clamped the carved seals into place, took the ink brush from the craftsman’s hand himself, and brushed ink onto the movable type. He took a sheet of paper, spread it out on top, and scraped firmly across it. A vertical column of minuscule regular-script characters sprang vividly onto the paper.

"Splendid... Splendid..." The director completely disregarded the ink staining his entire hands, stared at the pile of movable type before him, and laughed aloud.

After a long while, he carefully packed away the movable type he had handled himself, along with the mold.

Then, turning his head to look at Wei Renshi, he said, "Renshi, let us head straight to the Crown Prince's Eastern Palace right now!"

Wei Renshi looked outside; the sky had already grown dark.

He spoke up, "Director, it is already late outside. If we go right now, wouldn't it—"

"It is no matter." The director waved his hand and said, "This matter concerns books, which makes it important. Furthermore, it concerns all the scholars of the realm, which makes it of the utmost importance. This old man cannot wait even a moment longer!"

Since the director insisted, Wei Renshi naturally said no more.

The director brought Wei Renshi to the Eastern Palace, and after being announced, they were admitted shortly thereafter.

As they walked toward the inner quarters following a eunuch, Wei Renshi suddenly caught a whiff of a familiar aroma, and his expression turned somewhat peculiar.

Upon arriving at the destination, Wei Renshi indeed saw a group of people gathered around a barbecue grill, having a thoroughly merry time roasting food.

The person holding a plate in one hand and chopsticks in the other, picking at the slices of meat on the plate, was none other than Li Song.

Seeing the two of them arrive, Li Song smiled and said, "Academician Gao, Wei Sheng, why have you come so late? Is there an urgent matter?"

"Your Highness the Crown Prince, your ministers do indeed have an urgent matter to report to Your Highness," the director bowed and replied.

Li Song furrowed his brow slightly and said, "Very well, come over and speak of it."

The director hurriedly said, "It is tremendous good news, but Your Highness need not summon us yet; please finish your meal first."

At that very moment, Wei Renshi’s stomach cooperated fully by emitting a loud rumble.

The director awkwardly looked at Wei Renshi, and Wei Renshi awkwardly looked at his own stomach.

"Hahaha!" A burst of laughter rang out, exceptionally grating to the ear.

Wei Renshi followed the sound and discovered it was Li Daizonger, who was looking at him and laughing. He wanted to glare at her, but considering that Li Song and his entire family were present, he had no choice but to pretend not to notice.

Li Song smiled slightly and asked, "Academician Gao, Wei Sheng, have the two of you not eaten dinner yet?"

"To not keep it from Your Highness the Crown Prince, the director and this student busied ourselves all afternoon and came straight to Your Highness; we indeed have not eaten yet," Wei Renshi answered preemptively.

Li Song looked at Wei Renshi, shook his head with a smile, and said, "Then stay and eat together here first before we talk."

I was waiting for those exact words.

Wei Renshi showed no modesty at all. Wearing an expression of utmost gratitude, he said loudly, "Thank you, Your Highness!"

With that, he went over to tuck into the feast.

Was it awkward? Certainly, especially since Li Song's entire family was right here.

But he was truly starving!

He had no choice but to turn his awkwardness into appetite, ignoring everyone else and eating in huge mouthfuls.

Oh, there were even griddle cakes. He reached out, picked one up, and gently and slowly tore it open from the middle, leaving a small part intact so it wouldn't separate into two halves. Then he grabbed a few skewers of roasted meat, tucked them right into the middle of the griddle cake, and pulled the skewers out—a meat sandwich was born.

He took a huge bite. Refreshing!

Anyway, the people around were surely Li Song's family members; he wasn't familiar with a single one of them, nor could he just chat casually.

Moreover, Li Song had told him to come eat, so naturally, he had to obey orders!

Forget it, he'd fill his stomach first. This young master had missed two meals!

Thus, Wei Renshi remained silent, looked nowhere else, and buried his head in desperate eating.

The others were drawn to the way he ate. Watching him devour his food with such relish, they somehow felt as though what he held in his hands must be far more delicious than what was in their own.

By now, Wei Renshi had cast aside all embarrassment and cared not a whit about the stares of others. Just as he was eating happily on his own, he suddenly felt someone tugging at his clothes. Turning his head sideways, he saw Li Daizonger pulling at him.

"You... you eat like this... is it really that good?!" Li Daizonger asked, staring eagerly at the griddle-cake-and-barbecue sandwich in his hand.

Wei Renshi had just finished assembling another one, so he conveniently handed it to her. "Try it for yourself."

Li Daizonger took it and, imitating Wei Renshi's style, took a massive bite.

The meat still tasted like the same old meat... Li Daizonger thought to herself, but... why did eating it this way somehow feel much more satisfying than before?

Just as she was pondering this, she saw Wei Renshi suddenly reach out and point at a eunuch.

"Hey, eunuch, leave that remaining bowl for me!" Wei Renshi pointed at a eunuch holding a serving tray and said. The eunuch had just brought out rice, but not everyone wanted it, so there was still one bowl left on his tray just as he was about to take it away.

Hearing Wei Renshi's words, the eunuch was startled and instinctively looked toward Li Song.

Li Song chuckled, raised a hand to signal, and said, "Go take it to Wei Sheng."

The eunuch hurried over and delivered it. Wei Renshi took the bowl—truly fragrant!

"Many thanks to Your Highness for the bounty!" Wei Renshi shouted, causing Li Song to shake his head and laugh once more.

"This polished rice is really not bad!" In the next instant, Wei Renshi's attention returned entirely to his bowl. He grabbed some roasted meat and began placing it into the rice. After adding a generous amount, he mixed the rice and the roasted meat together thoroughly.

"Barbecue mixed rice, hahaha!" Wei Renshi was overjoyed.

Such fine rice was something Wei Renshi hadn't eaten once since transmigrating to the Great Tang.

Even later when he arrived in Chang'an, rice was exorbitantly expensive and still far inferior to the rice in this bowl before him.

Li Daizonger ran over again, this time holding an extra bowl in her hand, and poked Wei Renshi with her finger. "Quick, share some of that with me!"

Hey, this young master eats something and you want a taste of everything? Why are you so insatiable?!

Wei Renshi immediately shoveled down two large mouthfuls first, then said, "Huh? What did Her Ladyship the Princess say?"

"You!" Li Daizonger flew into a rage, lifted her foot, and prepared to stomp on Wei Renshi's foot.

"Daizonger!" A young man suddenly stepped forward, grabbed her, and said, "Do not be willful."

With that, he smiled at Wei Renshi and said, "Baron Wei need not mind her. Please continue eating."

Wei Renshi looked at him. He appeared to be around twenty years old and seemed to be the eldest among this group of young people.

A thought immediately flashed through his mind: Could this be Li Chun?