After a morning of discussion, Lin Yi sorted out the issues: foremost among them were indeed hunger and cold. To her surprise, A Fu pointed out that even in the relatively warm south, many people couldn't survive the winter.
"People freeze to death in the south too?" Lin Yi was puzzled.
"Cloth and silk are as precious as gold and silver in this world," Gu Fang gently explained. "Many poor people have barely any clothes to cover their bodies. How can they withstand even the mildest cold?"
After A Fu left, the study fell quiet. Lin Yi lay on the desk, staring at the millet and beans that the servants had just bought. She was indeed unfamiliar with millet, but the so-called "beans"—weren't these just soybeans!
Lin Yi almost wept with joy—finally, something she recognized! Her confidence instantly returned. Soybeans were nutritious and versatile—how could people not be full eating them? After hearing Gu Fang's explanation, she understood: the people here only boiled the beans whole before eating! The texture alone was enough to make anyone despair.
A long-lost fighting spirit, that of a researcher, blazed in Lin Yi's eyes. Though not a master chef, her wealth of theoretical knowledge surged into her mind: beans could be ground into soy milk—sweetened, it was a noble's drink; unsweetened, it was a nutritious soup for commoners. Adding coagulant would make tofu; deep-frying yielded tofu puffs; boiling and letting it sit produced yuba and tofu skin, the essence of protein. As for soy sauce, fermented bean curd, douchi, and doubanjiang—the core was fermentation. Different strains and conditions led to different flavors. Though she wasn't proficient in the specific processes, she understood the principles of fermentation. As long as the general direction was correct, it was just a matter of controlling variables and repeated trials.
Lin Yi looked at the handful of golden beans as if she had found the first key to solving the problem.
After lunch, Lin Yi followed Gu Fang into the study as usual. She spread out paper and brush, planning to draft a proper project outline—listing problems by priority and breaking them down into actionable steps. She focused first on the number one problem: hunger.
The short-term breakthrough lay in the soybeans she had. Promoting diversified soybean products like soy milk and tofu could quickly utilize existing resources and improve nutrition for some. This would yield fast results and could be done first. But the fundamental solution was increasing staple crop yields. Lin Yi struggled to recall fragments of high school biology: rice was self-pollinating; to develop hybrids, she'd need to find a male sterile plant, which was like finding a needle in a haystack. Perhaps she could offer a reward for finding one? But she'd have to strictly demand the plant be preserved, not turned in. Finding it was just the first step of a long march; then she'd need to set up controlled experiments, optimize growing conditions, and selectively breed stable traits over generations... Lin Yi heavily wrote "Long-term Project" on the paper.
Turning to the problem of cold, Lin Yi frowned. This path was more indirect. The most direct insulating material, cotton, wasn't available yet. She couldn't rely on a crop that might or might not be introduced at an unknown time.
So only two realistic options remained: improve buildings or find alternative fibers. For buildings, the kang was a good idea—simple structure, efficient heat use, fuel-saving, and easily accepted by commoners. It could be promoted quickly. For materials, wool was the best solution. But sheep were rare within Great Qian; the main source of wool was from the Xiongnu and Qiang Di in the northwest. How to obtain wool? Two ways: war or trade. If war, she might improve smelting or even try to formulate gunpowder. If trade, she vaguely remembered terms like "tea-horse trade" or "silk-horse trade" from textbooks, but the details were fuzzy. Recalling those terms was already her greatest tribute to history class.
Thinking this far, Lin Yi put down her brush and let out a long sigh. The blueprint was rough, but the general direction was clear. Short-term: focus on soybean products and the kang; long-term: breeding and procuring wool—two lines advancing in parallel. Looking at the densely written thoughts, a familiar excitement when facing complex problems replaced her initial bewilderment.
With the path clear, Lin Yi decided to make promoting the kang her top priority for improving people's livelihoods. After all, compared to war or trade requiring national strength, improving a heating facility that every household could use was obviously easier to implement.
In Lin Yi's understanding, the kang was essentially a heat maze built into the floor or bed base. The core principle was simple: construct a sealed flue system with a clear inlet and outlet, so that hot smoke from the stove would linger as long as possible in these winding channels before exiting, transferring maximum heat to the kang surface above for sustained warmth. Whether the maze path was a "回" shape or a "之" shape would need testing to determine the final effect.
With the principle clear, Lin Yi quickly drew several different design sketches. Some had dense flue layouts seeking maximum heat exchange area; others had simpler paths to reduce construction difficulty and blockage risk; still others tried adding adjustable baffles at key points to control heat distribution. Beside each sketch, she carefully noted estimated materials, possible labor hours, and key questions to ask artisans.
Lin Yi planned to find a vacant servant's room or storage room in the mansion and hire a few reliable artisans to build each design one by one. The test metrics were clear: under equal fuel consumption, measure which kang type heated up fastest, had the most uniform surface temperature, and retained heat the longest. Meanwhile, construction difficulty, material cost, and ease of daily maintenance also had to be considered. The final goal was to select the best balance of heat efficiency, cost, and convenience—the king of cost-effectiveness. Only such a design was truly worth mass promotion.
After finishing the plan, Lin Yi checked it and realized there wasn't much she could do immediately. Finding fellow transmigrators and special rice needed time and planning; obtaining wool was a distant goal. Only promoting the kang and developing new soybean dishes were things she could actually push forward in the near term.
Acting on her thoughts, Lin Yi turned her eyes to Gu Fang, who was practicing calligraphy quietly. She said lightly, "Husband, husband, I want to do two things now. Will you support me?"
Gu Fang didn't stop his brush, only asked gently, "What does Xiaoyi wish to do?"
Lin Yi moved closer and clearly explained the heating principle of the kang, its construction concept, and how soybeans could be turned into various foods like soy milk and tofu.
As Gu Fang listened, he gradually stopped writing, his eyes showing surprise. "There are such ingenious methods?"
"Mm-hmm!" Lin Yi nodded emphatically, then added seriously, "But what I said is just theory. The actual effect needs to be tested by doing it."
"Since Xiaoyi has the heart to do it, then go ahead and do it." Gu Fang didn't hesitate at all, giving her full support. He paused, keenly sensing that Lin Yi seemed to have more to say. He slightly tilted his head and looked at her calmly. "Is there something else you haven't said?"
When Gu Fang said this, the most intense afternoon sunlight happened to stream through the paper window, filtering into patches of gentle light that softly fell on his face. The light traced his elegant features, his long lashes casting faint shadows under his eyes. He looked like an immortal from a fine painting—too beautiful to be real.
Lin Yi was lost in the sight, and the words she had just organized flew out of her mind. Only a clear and bold thought clamored in her head:
I want to kiss him!!!
Gu Fang's expression suddenly turned subtle, as if he had something to say but held back. He silently gazed at Lin Yi for a moment, then leaned forward slightly and lowered his head. A kiss as light as a feather landed unexpectedly on her cheek.
Startled by the soft touch, Lin Yi snapped back to reality and looked up at Gu Fang. The first thing she saw was his neck and ears, which were already bright red.
...This time even his neck was red. He was so shy, yet suddenly...
Lin Yi couldn't help but let out a soft laugh, her voice becoming soft and tender from the moment's flutter. "Husband, why did you suddenly kiss me?"
Hearing this, Gu Fang raised an eyebrow slightly, a trace of embarrassment flickering in his eyes, but his tone pretended to be calm. "Someone was just muttering 'I want to kiss, I want to kiss, I want to kiss' all along."
Lin Yi: "...!"
Had she... had she actually spoken her thoughts out loud?
Dammit!
So embarrassing!
After a brief moment of shame and indignation, a stubborn streak surged up. No, she had to get back at him!
Lin Yi's eyes curved, and though the flush on her cheeks hadn't completely faded, her gaze was startlingly bright. She looked directly at Gu Fang and asked, "Then, if I still want to kiss now, would husband be willing to let me?"
Lin Yi's forced boldness that couldn't quite hide her shyness gently touched a chord in Gu Fang's heart. He looked at her and finally relented, answering softly, "Mm. I'll go along with you."
Wow...
This feeling... was just too amazing?
The little person inside Lin Yi's heart was already cheering with joy, but then she tensed again: Boohoo, such a good Gu Fang—she didn't want him to die even more. She had to redouble her efforts in finding fellow transmigrators and seeking medical help!
Author's note: