My Emperor Father Can Read Minds
Chapter 40

In response to Wei Yu’s question, the Fourth Prince could only admit he was of no help at all.

He was a prince—an esteemed royal who had lived in the capital all his life, never even stepping foot outside the outer city walls.

Someone who didn’t even know the price of basic grains—how would he have any idea what different plants looked like?

Looking at his fourth brother’s apologetic expression, Wei Yu quietly offered his own apology in return.

He had overestimated how useful his Fourth Brother could be.

Sorry.

That one was on him.

“Ninth Brother, what is that thing you’re talking about?”

It couldn’t be baseless talk—with a description that detailed, he must’ve seen it somewhere before. The Eighth Prince suspected this was yet another thing Wei Yu had read about.

Wei Yu said, “It’s chili pepper. It’s a great thing—tastes even spicier than evodia. Eating it helps with detox, sweating, and warming up against the cold.”

“Warming up?”

The Fourth Prince caught only that part. He asked with confusion, “Evodia can also warm the body. What’s the difference between this chili pepper and evodia?”

Ah yes, what’s the difference?

Wei Yu thought for a moment. “Maybe it’s just more effective? Eat it and you start sweating immediately—your whole body heats up. Does that count as different?”

For someone who’s never eaten spicy food, their first bite of chili could literally make them cry.

“Then this stuff would be amazing for the people in Youzhou!”

The Eighth Prince suddenly slapped the table, eyes lighting up. “Youzhou has a freezing climate. I heard the Grand Tutor say the soldiers and civilians there barely have clothes to cover themselves, and in winter, almost no one dares to leave their homes. If chili really warms people up and makes them sweat, wouldn’t it be a huge benefit to the people of Youzhou?!”

Youzhou lay at the northernmost edge of Great Wei, bordering the northern nomads. It was vast and sparsely populated. Many scholars called it a barren wasteland, and exiles were often sent there.

The Eighth Prince’s words resonated with the Fourth Prince.

The Fourth Prince nodded in agreement. “That makes sense. In winter, people lack both clothes and food, and there’s never enough charcoal. Chili peppers wouldn’t just help Youzhou—they’d be useful across all provinces.”

“You’re right, Fourth Brother. If we had chili peppers, even our border soldiers wouldn’t have to suffer through winter on the front lines…”

The two elder brothers went back and forth, all their thoughts focused on the wellbeing of the people.

Which just made Wei Yu seem even more like a useless glutton who only thought about food.

Wei Yu: …

Ashamed. Very ashamed.

While others thought of chili as a strategic tool against the cold, he only thought about hotpot and barbecue. What a disgrace.

“Hey, Ninth Brother, where did you hear about this chili pepper?”

After their discussion, the Fourth Prince finally remembered the person who’d brought it up. He turned and asked Wei Yu, “If we knew where it grows, I could send people to fetch the seeds.”

Wei Yu glanced at him.

Where it grows?

Heh. Overseas, maybe?

Wei Yu only knew that historically, chili peppers had been introduced from overseas—but that was China’s history. As for the current Great Wei… he genuinely wasn’t sure.

Who’s to say Great Wei or Great Liang didn’t already have it? Either way, it had to be searched for.

“The book said it came from overseas. I don’t know exactly where.”

Thinking of Great Wei’s current shipbuilding capabilities, Wei Yu felt a headache coming on.

It wasn’t that their shipbuilding was poor—quite the opposite. Their craftsmen were excellent, using either mortise-and-tenon joints with nails or flush joints with angled nails. The official ships even used the most advanced vertical nailing lap-joint technique.

As for the “carriage ships,” those were even better. They were warships that used top-tier technology—two or three stories tall, capable of carrying over a thousand people, equivalent to the earliest steamboats.

Great Wei’s ships had long been praised for their sturdy construction, high capacity, fast transport, and reliable safety.

When it came to river transport of grain or passengers, they were more than up to the task.

But… most ancient ships were sailboats. In headwinds or against the current, it was tough going. Even the “carriage ships” could only do so much to overcome those limitations.

If they really wanted to go out to sea and sail far, Great Wei’s ship technology still wasn’t quite there.

As the saying goes, you know your own family’s business best. Wei Yu didn’t finish his thought out loud, but both his elder brothers understood what he meant.

The two of them were silent for a moment, and then the Fourth Prince slapped the table boldly.

“What’s there to fear? So what if we need to go out to sea? If our ships aren’t good enough, we’ll just have someone figure it out! Put out a big enough reward, and there’ll be brave men willing to try. I refuse to believe we can’t build seafaring ships!”

Well said!

This kind of bold declaration from a royal who wasn’t short on money was exactly Wei Yu’s favorite.

His little brain started bubbling with ideas. Always on the lookout to grab opportunities, Wei Yu came up with a great one.

He asked, “Fourth Brother, how much is the reward?”

The Fourth Prince said righteously, “This is a matter of national importance—naturally, it’ll be paid for by Royal Father.”

Wei Yu and the Eighth Prince: …

Wow. The way he said it so grandly—you’d think he was the one putting up the prize money.

So much for getting excited.

Wei Yu withdrew the smile he’d just squeezed out and picked up his chopsticks to start eating.

There went his plan to make money off ship designs from his fourth brother. Wei Yu now wondered: if he reported this to his dad, would his dad come after him for those blueprints?

Wei Yu gnawed on his chopsticks, deep in thought.

Two prescriptions got him three days off. How many days could ship blueprints get him?

Hmm…

Wei Yu’s eyes suddenly lit up.

That’s right!

Anyway, he was about to establish his own residence soon—as long as his dad didn’t assign him any official duties to bother him, wouldn’t his retirement life be perfectly set?

–

After leaving Jufu Restaurant, the three of them headed straight to the residences.

Knowing that the Eighth and Ninth Princes were close, the Fourth Prince had arranged for their mansions to be right next to each other.

Both were five-courtyard mansions, extravagantly large, complete with gardens, ponds, martial arts grounds, and even a library. After taking a full tour, Wei Yu was grinning like a fool.

“Good, good, good! This residence is great. Fourth Brother, you’ve really put in the effort!”

If he wasn’t worried about being criticized, Wei Yu would’ve liked to say even more to his Fourth Brother—like turning this courtyard into an amusement park, that one into an orchard, and another into a hot spring bath… basically, whatever would bring the most enjoyment!

He was planning for retirement, after all—his own home obviously needed to be made especially comfortable.

The Eighth Prince was also quite satisfied. Combined with their earlier like-minded conversation at Jufu Restaurant, he now saw the Fourth Prince as much more pleasant-looking.

Indeed, shared interests win hearts.

On the way back to the palace, the Fourth Prince brought up the matter of the glass blueprints.

“Ninth Brother, setting up a new kiln factory is a small thing. But when will the blueprints you mentioned be ready? That way, I can have the people below start working.”

Wei Yu had already drawn the blueprints long ago—he was just waiting for his Fourth Brother to come ask for them.

Wei Yu smiled obediently. “Fourth Brother, the noble families have to pay money just to buy the prescriptions. I drew you blueprints—don’t you think you should show some appreciation?”

Fourth Prince: ?

He was briefly stunned, not quite catching on.

Wei Yu lowered his eyes and smiled shyly. “Your little brother is about to set up his own residence, and, well… funds are a bit tight…”

The Fourth Prince finally understood and burst out laughing in exasperation. He pointed at Wei Yu several times. “You little rascal, Wei Yu—robbing your own brother, and you actually dare to ask for it!”