25 - Chapter 23

“So we have a lot to do,” said Sa Bina. “Let us start with the simplest tasks that will take the longest. Pan Deming, with your focus on architecture, you will lead on the creation of the new venue. I want to see the preliminary design as soon as you can get them. I want something impressive, in a stylised pagoda form. Work with Pan Xue on the aesthetics of the venue.”

“Pan Xue, take note of the colours and format.” continued Sa Bina. “I want everything inside the pagoda to follow the same themes, the art on the walls, the furniture, the drinks bar. I want it to flow. This is the opportunity to let your creativity lose.”

“Who will do the building work?” asked Pan Deming. “That will limit our design options.”

“I am considered an outer member of the Green Mountain Sect.” replied Sa Bina. “So, once I am happy with the designs, then I will post the request as an outer guild job. Sun Li has assured me that there will be disciples with the skills to help build out the venue in a timely manner.”

“But, how can you be part of the sect?” questions Gao Ye, “Even we are only considered associates after having spent most of our lives there?”

“That is something we can discuss at another time.” replied Sa Bina. “But if you need proof.” she took out and showed him her Guild token. “I hope that is enough to assuage your concerns.”

Gao Ye took time to examine the sect token, it was indeed genuine. He had thought he was coming to work with non-cultivators. He only just now realised that Sa Bina had far more powerful backing than he had known.

“No, my lady,” he replied in a sombre tone. “I am more than satisfied. This will make things easier for our project.”

“Ok to continue,” said Sa Bina, putting her sect token away again. “I need a modern kitchen that will be industrial in scale. My idea was for our venue to be on multiple floors. The kitchen will be the largest, part, and will need a walk in, fridge and freezer.”

“What is a drinks bar, and now this fridge and freezer concept,” asked Pan Deming. “Is it a strange version of this cold room that you mentioned earlier?”

“Ok, let me explain the concepts, then the idea for the design I had in mind.” replied Sa Bina. “You can then tell me if there are already ways to achieve what I want, or if we will need to come up with new ways to do what I need.”

She noticed everyone was taking notes, even those who had not yet been given direct tasks. Sa Bina smiled at seeing this, as it meant they were all invested in understanding her vision.

“First a drinks bar is a place where the barman will work. It will be counter top at a little less than chest height. Under the counter, accessible from behind the bar will be shelves for the different design of glassware that we will be using to serve drinks.” continued Sa Bina. “The front will be beautifully decorated, and will allow our guests to order drinks while they wait for a table. The counter will be just the right height to allow guests to lean on if they wish, and for the drinks to be easily accessible.”

“The more questions you answer, the more questions I need to ask to understand, my lady.” responded Pan Deming.

“That is always the case with a new vision,” replied Sa Bina. “Once we have shared the full details, then you will understand what I am looking to achieve. Continuing on about the drinks bar. The next major piece of work will go to our glassmiths. The entire back wall behind the bar will be a massive glass mirror. Do you know how to create crystal clear glass, and then to back it with silver to produce high quality mirrors, He Sen? ”

“It is possible my lady,” replied He Sen, “It is an old family secret. Not many glassmith’s can do it. This is the reason the guild blacklisted my family, because we refused to hand over our secrets.”

“Their stupidity is to our collective benefit.” replied Sa Bina, she was now inured to the existing guilds destructive trade practices. “I might be able to offer suggestions for improving the process, but given the size of the venue and the bar, you will need to be able to create a single piece mirror of surprising size.”

“As you can see, my idea is for each of your skills to be displayed in the new venue.” laughed Sa Bina. “The idea is that every aspect of what we show off will be envied and then coveted, driving orders for our businesses.”

“So in front of the mirror, we are going to have glass shelves.” continued Sa Bina. “The glass shelves will need to be strong enough to hold glass bottles filled with a variety of alcohol.”

“Even I have no idea if that is possible” said He Sen, “The glass would need to be of high quality to support the weight. Glass bottles are heavy enough, then if we fill them with alcohol, they will be heavier still.”

“Yes, we can reduce the weight by making the bottles thinner and by limiting the amount in each bottle.” replied Sa Bina. “Depending on the measurements you use, I am thinking of either 10 ge, or 1 sheng.” It was around 1 litre in terms of modern measurements. “You will need to experiment on how long the shelves we can manage are. If they need to be in sections, then ask Pan Xue to create it as part of the design.”

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“Why would we need so many small bottles?” asked He Mai, “There are only a few types of alcohol, would it not be more convenient to use barrels, as they use now.”

“I will come back to that question, He Mai,” replied Sa Bina. “The short answer is no, but I still need to finish answering Pan Deming’s original question. So that is the bar design I envision. We will need to train people to mix the alcoholic drinks with various fruit juices to create cocktails. Please make a note of that, Be Net.”

“Next let's talk about the kitchen.” continued Sa Bina. “The kitchen will need counters, storage, work tops, a large sink with running water, ideally hot and cold. It will need our newly designed ovens and countertops. It will need three massive walk-in pantries. The first will need to be kept at around 8 centigrade, the second at around 2 centigrade and the last at around -15 centigrade.”

“What is a centigrade?” asked Gao Ye, he was very interested now that they were potentially talking about artificing.

“So here is the simple explanation.” continued Sa Bina. “The centigrade is a name for the temperature scale. It is based on dividing the temperature difference between the freezing point and boiling point of water into 100 equal parts or degrees.”

“That is a fascinating idea.” replied Gao Ye. “That we should quantify freezing and boiling points, and then split that into 100 parts. It would certainly make it easier to discuss temperatures. I would have to think about how to go about measuring something like that.”

“I have an idea on how to make a rudimentary version,” replied Sa Bina. “You would need to start with that, then look at refining the process. I know mercury and glass were used in the manufacture of high grade thermometers. You can get help from our alchemist and glassmiths.”

“The following items will be needed to make a rudimentary one.” continued Sa Bina. Gao Ye was making furious notes as Sa Bina spoke. “A Glass tube or bamboo reed, basically a hollow, transparent material to contain the liquid. Water a base liquid for the thermometer. It would be best if you used distilled water, that means boiling the water, catching the steam and then letting the steam turn back into water. That will remove all impurities from the water. Next we needa alcohol or rice wine, this helps the liquid expand visibly with temperature changes. Next we need a natural dye to color the liquid for visibility. We can use crushed plant pigments or minerals like cinnabar. Next we need wax or clay to seal the liquid inside the tube. Lastly we need a measuring scale, essentially a method to mark temperature levels on the tube.”

“We should easily be able to procure all those items in short order.” mused Gao Ye. “Do you also know the steps to create this thermometer?”

“I know a basic method, first we need to prepare the tube we need to obtain a clear, thin tube made of bamboo or glass or use polished quartz. We need to seal one end tightly with wax or clay to make it leak-proof.” replied Sa Bina. “We need to combine water and rice wine in a 7 parts water 3 parts rice wine ratio. This will help ensure that the liquid expands clearly with heat changes. Next we add a few drops of natural dye for visibility. Pour the colored liquid into the tube, filling it about halfway. Leave space for expansion due to temperature changes.”

“Now comes the hard part,” continued Sa Bina. “We need to calibrate the freezing point. We do this by placing the sealed thermometer in an ice-water bath. Once the liquid level stabilizes we mark this as your freezing point or 0°C. Next we need to calibrate the boiling point To do this we immerse the thermometer in boiling water. Mark this stabilized level as the boiling point 100°C. Then we divide the scale, we can use a fine brush or a sharpened point dipped in ink to mark 100 equal divisions between the freezing and boiling points on the outside of the tube. Lastly we seal the open end of the tube with wax to prevent evaporation, ensuring the liquid inside remains consistent. All that leaves is to test it. This style of thermometer wouldn't be as precise as it could be, but reflects the principles of thermal expansion and calibration using natural materials. You will need to work out how to make a more accurate version using the same principles.”

Gao Ye was left stunned at having a principal of the physical sciences not only explained to him by a child, but then for that child to provide a method to to create a tool was even more shocking. He doubted that even most of his journeyman students would be able to come up with such a thing. He looked towards the other two artisans in the room, and saw his incredulity reflected on their facial expressions. Even some of the others in the room were looking shocked at the level of insight displayed by their new employer. She really was not exasperating when she claimed she would bring about substantial changes.

“So, is there a way to control temperature that can be achieved?” asked Sa Bina. “Or will it require us to create something new?”

“We can use formations to create such effects.” replied Gao Ye. “We will need to come up with a way for the formation to activate and deactivate based on the measurement scale.”

“How will we power up the formations?” asked Sa Bina. ”We need to be able to keep these formations running permanently. If it costs us a lot then it will be an issue.”

“ We can use gathering formations to capture Qi,” mused Gao Ye. “But that would be a little harder in the city due to lower levels of ambient Qi.”

“We can use beast cores.” spoke up Wan Zin. “I know we don’t use them for personal cultivation due to incompatibility with our own Qi and issues with purity. However, for Lady Sa Bina's needs, they should work. It will be much cheaper for her to procure, she could even send her soldiers out to hunt as part of their training and bring back the beast cores.”

“It could work,” responded Gao Ye, deep in thought. “The reason the sects don't use it is because the sects are based in Qi dense areas and the gathering formations work well. Also no one wants to cut corners with security, but here, yes, there may be a new application that has been ignored over time.”

“If these formations can bring temperature down, can they also increase the temperature?” asked Sa Bina. ”If these beast cores are cheap enough, we can use it to increase the heat in the oven, using the same scale we can increase the temperature up to 250 c. I also know that for black smiths and glass smiths the forges will require temperatures of up to 3000 c.”

Gao Ye felt like scales were being taken off his eyes. How had he never considered the use of beast cores in mundane smithing. They had to use spirit stones when smiting for cultivators as the Qi was imbued into the materials, but that was not the case for the mundane. Suddenly the wasted beast cores could change a lot of industries. He was beginning to understand the warning Sa Bina had given to everyone at the start of the meeting. All the ideas she was introducing was enough to upend an industry by itself, together it would cause shockwaves to resonate through the kingdom. And from the looks of it Sa Bina had only just started.