That secret location used to store the Chen family's documents was another style entirely.

The entrance was in an inconspicuous courtyard that looked like the kind you'd find in a bustling city. Since preserving documents required good storage conditions, the storage was in an above-ground building. But that two-story structure, resembling a wealthy family's library, actually concealed hidden mechanisms. The main structure was made of copper. The ornate copper pillars weren't overly embellished, serving only to conceal mechanisms. The entire building even had a central control mechanism. Once activated, all the latches and thresholds of the library would lock, and ignition devices and oil lamps within the copper pillars would set the entire library ablaze. Clearly, the contents of this library were better destroyed than fall into the wrong hands. Ye Tao's mind flickered, and he found a white jade seal in the Hidden Dragon Box, seemingly a mark for recognition by the family guarding the library. Such a courtyard, if truly nestled quietly in the middle of a city, couldn't be completely controlled without attracting attention. But disguising it as an outer residence of a wealthy family in a bustling market was easy.

Both locations were attractive in their own ways, but the maps and blueprints captivated Ye Tao. At this moment, Liu Yong asked, "Why are these all perspective and structural drawings?"

Ye Tao shrugged and said, "These were left by the Chen family elders for their descendants. They wouldn't expect them to decipher the mechanisms themselves, would they? But as long as it's a mechanism, it can always be cracked. Isn't that what the facts prove?"

Liu Yong frowned and asked, "Are you sure all these drawings are genuine? I don't understand mechanisms, but I at least know that a tiny error can lead to huge mistakes. If the person who made these drawings deliberately set a trap, that's trouble. We wouldn't even know how we died."

Ye Tao pondered for a moment and said, "You have a point. We must be cautious. I'll have to ask Chen Kai later… I'm starting to regret sending him to Yunzhou to work."

Liu Yong smiled nonchalantly and said, "My lord, you're right. Whether it's those treasures or those documents, even if these drawings are genuine and the mechanism markings are correct, so what? Transporting the documents in batches might not be too troublesome. But look... according to the drawings, it should be in Xi Yuan City. Although Xi Yuan City is a bit too close to the capital of Xi Ling, it's still possible to smuggle things out. But this royal tomb is in the West Garden Hunting Grounds. Although the West Garden Hunting Grounds are only used by the Xi Ling Emperor for hunting for one or two months a year, it is still a royal hunting ground, with patrolling Imperial Guards around it all year round. Getting in and out is equally troublesome. And after breaking into the treasury, how do we transport out large amounts of gold and silver?"

Ye Tao shook his head and said, "Indeed... but let's talk about that when the time comes. We're not so short of money that we need to do it right now. I wonder if we'll have a chance to see these things. From the drawings, it seems a bit interesting."

Liu Yong smiled and said, "Digging up royal tombs is not a good thing. Even if no one was buried inside, considering feng shui, the earth's energy, luck, and character, it's better for someone of your status not to do such a thing. Although, with your skills, if you really want to dig up a royal tomb, you'd probably be the King of Tomb Raiders."

Ye Tao smiled and said, "It's best not to touch this King. In the future… will I still be afraid of not having a chance to be a King?"

Almost all the senior officials in Dongping don't have titles now, because Dongping is determined to grant titles only after unifying the world, bestowing them upon meritorious officials. With Ye Tao's current position, in a unified country, he would at least be a Duke. So, when he says he's not afraid of not having a chance to be a King, he really doesn't have any ambition. After all, there are many things waiting for him to do in Yunzhou, waiting for him to lead the Yunzhou faction officials to do, and there are many things that, even if he doesn't take credit for them, will only enhance his prominence.

After chatting with Liu Yong for a while, Ye Tao dismantled the frame holding the Hidden Dragon Box, stuffed the Hidden Dragon Box and its contents into Liu Yong's hands, and happily left the Grand Theater. He didn't run directly back to Zheng Garden to drink with Suo Yong. Instead, he went to the Ye Clan Workshop to announce that the Grand Theater would resume work starting tomorrow. Compared to royal tombs and such, he still preferred buildings like the Grand Theater. And starting tomorrow, he would work hard for another magnificent building, the future central city of Yunzhou… a city that, once built, would be more than a hundred years ahead of this era, a city as beautiful as a dream.

In Zheng Garden, under the cool moonlight, Suo Yong set up a soft chair in the courtyard and lay down, drinking. His expression was very peaceful.

Seeing Ye Tao return to Zheng Garden so quickly, Suo Yong was a little surprised: "Why are you back so soon? Shouldn't you report to His Majesty first?"

"I let Uncle Liu go. It's still too early to say if what comes next is related to us. Both the location of the treasure and those documents are difficult to handle. In my opinion, unless we're short of money, forget the treasure. But we have to think of a way to deal with those documents." Ye Tao instructed the servants to pull up a lounge chair for him and place it next to Suo Yong, and he lay down as well. At this time, a glass of Grey Goose liquor with ice cubes had already been placed on the small table between the two lounge chairs.

"Ye Tao, do you know that back then, before we knew you were so amazing, we few brothers even resented Master for being partial in teaching us?" Suo Yong said with a smile, "Back then, I even instigated Zhao Dazhu to ask Master about it. Guess what Master was doing at that time?"

Ye Tao didn't know about these things. Although his knowledge at the time wasn't really that much worse than it is now, for several years he had been in his own world, considering all kinds of trivial problems, thinking about how to create his own space in this time and space. And these things that might affect their brotherhood, Ye Laogeng would never tell him.

"Oh? What was Father doing?"

Suo Yong said with a smile, "Master was disassembling the first-generation music box you made... that thing that turns about three times and rings once."

Ye Tao chuckled and didn't feel ashamed. The first-generation music box he had independently completed at that time was extremely crude. Only a small number of metal reeds were used to make sound, and most of the other parts were carved out of wood. Even the power source of the music box wasn't a spring, because the metal materials that could be used to make springs hadn't been invented yet. Instead, it had to be turned quickly with a crank, driving a copper flywheel. That music box was the first time Ye Tao consciously used his modern knowledge of physics, mathematics, materials science, and so on, to try to solve the various technical bottlenecks that existed in this time and space. From a modern industrial designer with inexhaustible materials and methods in his hands, Ye Tao transformed into a technical challenger in this time and space. And that music box is still in the Yicheng headquarters of the Ye Clan Workshop.

Suo Yong continued, "Zhao Dazhu originally planned to tell Master that we would all be loyal disciples and would not do anything to let Master down. We hoped that Master would also teach us all his skills. As for how much we could learn, that was our own destiny..." Suo Yong smiled and said, "But Master didn't even give Dazhu a chance to speak. He pulled Dazhu to disassemble and study your music box together. Only then did Dazhu realize that Master didn't know some of the things you knew. We originally thought that Master was secretly teaching you behind our backs. Master was also very depressed at the time. Although having a genius son is a very amazing and honorable thing, Master was unwilling that there were things in the craftsman's business that he didn't understand. Master was very straightforward, not embarrassed at all, and didn't hide it, saying that he just needed to understand what he didn't understand. No one could know everything. To be a good craftsman, one had to keep learning all one's life and couldn't stop at all. Back then, his master taught him this way, and he taught us this way... That's the style of the number one craftsman in Yicheng."

Ye Tao didn't speak. He realized that Suo Yong probably had a deeper meaning in saying these things today. This senior brother's mind wasn't as straightforward as the others, and he still had some reservations. Perhaps it was this kind of thinking that limited him. And today, this time, being able to unlock the Hidden Dragon Box had brought about a clear change in Suo Yong's mentality.

"Little junior brother, we watched you grow up from a young age, watching you make those strange things little by little. But we really didn't understand what was going on. Those skills are indeed getting more and more complex. Now, I'm afraid even Dazhu can't learn everything. As for me and Shunzi, not to mention. And those strange businesses are even more incomprehensible. But anyway, the businesses you said you wanted to do, from Yijia to now, have never lost money... Haha, now money is even more irrelevant to us. Anyway, we're just following along. For so many years, little junior brother, you're already a lord now. We understand even less about what you're doing in Yunzhou. I think that few of the people who follow you really understand, but everyone is watching you, following you, and won't hesitate at all."

Ye Tao said with a smile, "I know very well what I want to do."

Suo Yong chuckled in response, drinking the Grey Goose liquor in his glass in one gulp. For them, glass cups weren't luxury items, because… although the Ye Clan Workshop had started to produce glass products in small quantities, they had never been put on the market. And without being on the market, there was no pricing. Moreover, as one of the top directors of the Ye Clan Workshop, taking some samples from the workshop's trial products had long become an exclusive benefit for the Ye family brothers.

"If you can let others know what you want to do, wouldn't that be better?" Suo Yong asked.

Ye Tao asked suspiciously, "What does that mean?"

Suo Yong smiled and said, "You are a better person than we imagined, but as a great man, you are not good enough."