Sitting on the upper deck of the public carriage, Xia Xuanmiao saw a different kind of scenery!
Wide roads, orderly carriages, and on both sides of the street, shops with an antique charm!
At every intersection, the carriage would stop and wait before a white line called a “zebra crossing.”
But just then, the red plate in the middle of the intersection suddenly clicked and rotated on its own! It changed from its previous green color to red!
Xue Zhiyun, a palace guard, immediately drew his longsword from his waist and shouted, “What sorcery is this? How dare you cause trouble in Daxia! Taste my blade!”
The next second, a young boy’s voice came from behind: “You all aren’t locals, are you?”
Xia Xuanmiao turned to look at the boy. Before she could speak, her maid immediately said, “So what if we aren’t?”
“Sir,” the boy cupped his hands toward Xue Zhiyun and said, “Don’t take it out on a piece of machinery.”
“My surname is Liang, given name Zhichao. You can call me Xiao Chao!”
“This thing is called a Traffic Signal Plate, also known as a Red-Green Plate.”
“The reason this Red-Green Plate changes automatically is because there’s something special inside!”
Xue Zhiyun awkwardly sheathed his sword and stubbornly said, “Machinery? Hmph! Just frivolous tricks!”
Meanwhile, Xia Xuanmiao, acting like a curious girl, immediately widened her eyes and asked, “What’s so special about it?”
Liang Zhichao proudly smiled and said, “It has a mainspring inside that rotates every so often!”
Xia Xuanmiao was very curious about how the so-called Red-Green Plate could change colors automatically without anyone operating it.
But upon hearing the word “mainspring,” she felt as though she had heard nothing at all.
“What is a mainspring?”
Xia Xuanmiao patiently asked.
Hearing this, Liang Zhichao immediately beamed with pride and said, “The mainspring is one of the greatest inventions in history! And its inventor, of course, is the honorable magistrate of our county!”
“To be honest with you three, my cousin has a pocket watch with a mainspring inside. Without even stepping outside, he can tell the time just by looking at the pocket watch!”
“Pocket watch?”
Xia Xuanmiao was stunned again.
“Look over there!”
Liang Zhichao immediately pointed to a watchtower not far ahead.
Shangyang County had nine watchtowers in total, and each one was equipped with a large clock!
The clock was marked with the twelve traditional time periods, and its hands would move slightly every so often.
“A pocket watch is a smaller version of that thing! About the size of three or five copper coins!”
At that moment, a man sitting nearby proudly pulled a pocket watch from his pocket and said, “Young man, is this what you’re talking about?”
Hearing this, Liang Zhichao immediately looked over.
As soon as he saw the pocket watch in the gentleman’s hand, Liang Zhichao’s eyes nearly popped out!
“Wow! Sir! How much did you pay for that watch?”
The gentleman proudly shrugged: “Not too expensive, just nine hundred strings of cash.”
“Nine hundred strings?!”
Liang Zhichao was dumbfounded!
Xia Xuanmiao and her two companions were so shocked their mouths could have swallowed an apple each!
Such a tiny thing actually cost nine hundred strings?!
But Xia Xuanmiao leaned in for a closer look and realized…
It was worth it!
Not just nine hundred strings—she’d pay ninety thousand for it!
After all, women!
They all love shiny things.
This pocket watch is entirely crafted from metal, and even this young master’s watch is a custom piece! It’s even edged with a layer of gold plating!
Within this small object, the twelve traditional Chinese time divisions are marked, and without anyone controlling it, the hands move automatically!
This way, there’s no need to burn incense or observe the sky to accurately tell the time!
Seeing such ingenuity in this little object, Xia Xuanmiao immediately exclaimed, “This isn’t sorcery—it’s magic!”
Hearing this, the young master smiled proudly and said, “Hehe, young lady, what magic exists in this world? This is a type of precision machinery invented by our county magistrate!”
“Just as that young man said earlier, this device contains a mainspring. Once wound, the hands will rotate according to a set pattern!”
Upon hearing this, Xia Xuanmiao still couldn’t quite grasp how the mainspring could make the tiny hands move on their own.
In her eyes, this was nothing short of magic!
“Where can I buy one?!”
In her view, this small, gold-plated treasure that could tell time was something she had to have, no matter the cost!
Liang Zhichao, standing nearby, heard this and his eyes lit up, thinking to himself, “Isn’t this the perfect money-making opportunity?”
He immediately pointed ahead and said, “Over there! Shangyang Clock Shop!”
“Driver! We need to get off!”
Xia Xuanmiao hurried to the staircase.
The coachman, however, shot her a disdainful look and said, “We haven’t reached the stop yet! If you want to get off, do it yourself!”
After all, it was a horse-drawn carriage, and it wasn’t moving very fast.
Most people who wanted to get off would simply jump down without waiting for the carriage to come to a full stop.
Xia Xuanmiao, now too eager to wait for her pocket watch, didn’t bother arguing with the coachman.
The group immediately jumped off the carriage, with Xia Xuanmiao stumbling a few times as she landed.
At this moment, she no longer cared about imperial dignity! All she wanted was a gold-plated pocket watch!
Upon arriving at the clock shop, Liang Zhichao stopped Xia Xuanmiao and the others, saying, “Wait here for a moment, let me go and negotiate first.”
“After all, you’re all outsiders, and the shopkeeper might try to overcharge you.”
Xia Xuanmiao thought this made sense.
So she waited for Liang Zhichao to handle the negotiations.
A short while later, Liang Zhichao came jogging back and gestured for them to follow, saying, “All three of you, it’s settled! If you buy together, you’ll get a group discount—20% off!”
“Great!”
Xia Xuanmiao beamed with joy.
Xue Zhiyun, as an imperial guard, often needed to keep track of time.
As for the maid, she was responsible for waking her up, reminding her of meals, and other daily tasks, so she also needed to tell time.
Thus, Xia Xuanmiao generously bought each of them a pocket watch.
However, hers was a custom order—not only gold-plated but also adorned with gemstones and crystals!
Xue Zhiyun and the maid received standard models.
The three of them spent a total of five thousand strings of cash!
Xia Xuanmiao didn’t mind the cost and eagerly waited for her custom pocket watch to be completed.
The shopkeeper informed her to return in three days to collect it, and the group had effectively contributed five thousand strings of cash to Shangyang County’s GDP.
“This is your referral fee.”
The shopkeeper took a stack of silver notes from the drawer and handed them to Liang Zhichao.
Liang Zhichao took the notes, his eyes nearly popping out of his head!
“Fifty strings of cash just for a referral?! Good heavens! You’ve finally opened your eyes! I’ve finally found a group of rich fools with more money than sense!”
In his entire life, when had he ever seen so much money?
He was so excited that he nearly rushed out on the spot to kneel before the veiled woman and call her “grandma”!
But the shopkeeper waved his hand dismissively, as if it were nothing unusual, and said, “Alright, alright. You, hurry up and take good care of those out-of-towners. They’re probably high-ranking officials or nobles from the capital.”
“Ordinary merchants don’t have that kind of spending power.”