"...Theoretically speaking, those crowded restaurants get overwhelmed, so we should see results in three or four days. Currently I'm not actually hiring people, but calculating based on hired wages, at most two strings¹per restaurant. Currently four restaurants, selling sixty to eighty eggs daily is very easy. Profit-wise, eight wen per century egg should be achievable, and in half a month, the investment can be recouped..."

The abacus clicked and clacked in the room as Ning Yi spoke continuously, casually calculating: "Though if the market expands too fast and we haven't preserved enough beforehand, I'm afraid supply won't meet demand. So in my view, we shouldn't consider expanding targets for now, but regardless, opening sales channels for new products—that's no problem."

Kang Xian sipped his tea on the other side, raising an eyebrow: "I've seen it these past days. I thought you'd have some brilliant method, but it turns out you're just hiring shills—the technique is really simple."

"Hehe, warfare has orthodox and unorthodox tactics, and only when orthodox fails do you use unorthodox. It's fundamentally a simple matter—solving the problem is what counts, so why overthink it?" Ning Yi smiled.

"That's true." Kang Xian nodded. "But is Liheng's method orthodox or unorthodox?"

Old Qin laughed from the side: "Both orthodox and unorthodox. Speaking purely of method, it's probably unorthodox, but here, nothing extraordinary about it—should count as orthodox." He thought for a moment: "Liheng mentioned selling for fifty wen before. How would that work?"

"Heh, fifty wen and up—that's limitless, because you're not just selling century eggs anymore." Ning Yi smiled. "Fortune eggs, jade eggs—if I had my own restaurant, decorated splendidly, then heavily promoting the egg's symbolism, putting a bowl at every banquet, saying some auspicious meanings, writing some little stories, then people aren't eating eggs anymore—they're displaying them for the fortune symbolism. Fifty wen, a hundred wen, even one or two strings—that's just pricing, and if someone wealthy like Old Kang displays a few bowls when hosting guests and says a few words, naturally the value rises higher. Rich people will flock to it—nothing strange about that."

"When I heard Liheng mention fifty wen that day, I thought it was some amazing strategy, but turns out it's still this plain approach." Kang Xian smiled and shook his head, then thought: "But thinking about it, that's indeed how it works."

Ning Yi smiled: "There are no amazing strategies in this world—in the end, it's just setting a goal then solving problems. Like on the battlefield—troops deploy in orthodox and unorthodox formations, the weak defeating the strong, but actually, there's no such thing as weak defeating strong. Really speaking, it's all strong defeating weak."

"Never heard such a view before." Old Qin frowned. "Though military texts say using unorthodox is inferior to orthodox, advocating righteous methods and avoiding extreme tactics, all military transformations seek weak defeating strong. After all, if I'm strong and the enemy weak, military strategy becomes meaningless—I cannot agree with Liheng's view."

"Uh, this isn't an established view?" Ning Yi was slightly stunned.

"Indeed not." Kang Xian smiled. "As Liheng says, if strategies solve problems, naturally it's when enemy is strong and we're weak that problems exist. When I'm strong and enemy weak, why need military strategy? Therefore military texts, besides basic formations, mostly explore facing stronger enemies with weaker forces."

"That's indeed the case." Ning Yi smiled and nodded. "Different ways of expressing it—I'm just armchair strategizing. Hehe, how embarrassing."

"We're all armchair strategizing, and I'm not familiar with military matters either..." Old Qin sipped his tea, seeming to recall past events, his smile holding some complexity before he continued: "We have time anyway, so where exactly does Liheng's view come from? Might as well explain in detail."

Ning Yi thought for a moment, then after a pause, pulled over the nearby Go board: "It's just different perspectives on the same matter. Military strategy's 'weak defeating strong'—from my view, it's actually about reversing the strength and weakness of both sides."

He took ten white stones from the opponent's bowl, then took five black stones from his side, and began dividing the white stones: "Simply put, the enemy has ten, we only have five—we can't win directly. Through strategy, divide them into four groups of one, two, three, and four, then attack their group of four with our five, crushing them. With our advantage, losing one leaves four, then use four against three, then three against two, two against one... The battle is decided. Weak defeating strong—but broken down, each encounter is actually strong defeating weak."

Old Qin smiled: "What Liheng describes is too ideal..." His words cut off as he suddenly paused, then looked at the stones, frowning in thought, and Old Kang originally wanted to say this was overly idealistic armchair strategizing, but seeing Old Qin's expression, he also fell into contemplation.

Ning Yi smiled: "Too idealistic—that's true." He gathered the white stones back together. "Actual battles are too complex. Getting such ideal conditions is indeed impossible. But this is just a way of viewing things, not precise calculation from the start. But working backwards from results, every battle of 'weak defeating strong' or 'strong defeating weak,' broken down, shows this pattern. There's no true state where weak troops can defeat strong ones, because strong and weak are fundamentally determined by whether they can defeat and kill the opponent. We judge by results here—when enemy is strong and we're weak, find ways to separate, divide, and manipulate them. Try to make every engagement locally strong defeating weak. At the detailed level, you could even break it down to individual soldiers. Of course, even the best generals can't control the whole situation to that degree. But when one unit faces another enemy unit, whether victory or defeat—there's still basic understanding."

"Business, battlefield, dealing with people, handling matters—I don't believe in truly weak defeating strong. Of course, many invisible factors are probably part of strength and weakness too—intelligence, hearts, preferences, even luck. With goals ahead, the path might be invisible or have many options. How to reach the step before the goal can be deduced backwards like this. Breaking it into steps, you might find each step is simple—just solving problems. So I don't believe in brilliant schemes." He thought, pushing back the board with a self-deprecating smile. "Of course, armchair strategizing. Those generals leading troops would be formidable whether they think this way or not. Anyway, it's just how you view things—doesn't solve actual problems."

"Yet at the detailed level it truly is strong defeating weak, never weak defeating strong." Old Qin sighed. "Liheng's view is indeed simple but aligns with the great way. Military strategy... truly is about changing weak to strong, not weak defeating strong. If we distinguish these two clearly, then..."

How to view patterns in things—for ordinary people, probably useless, but for people like Qin Siyuan and Kang Xian, the meaning was different. While Old Qin pondered deeply, Kang Xian shook his head slightly.

"Such a view is too clear-headed. Liheng values that study of material things, different from others, and getting this insight is indeed thought-provoking. But have you considered—in such calculations, what are people? Even human hearts, worldly affairs, these many things..."

Qin Siyuan was practical but also understood human relations clearly, though perhaps troubled by past events, and hearing Ning Yi's view, he felt moved. Kang Xian valued human relations even more than Qin Siyuan, so this was what he noticed first. After speaking, Ning Yi glanced at the board, smiled and shook his head without answering.

His previous conduct followed modern analytical systems—all worldly matters were data and chess pieces, luck and accidents just counted as probability. At a certain level, so-called brilliant schemes didn't exist—just differences between big appetite, bigger appetite, and excessively big appetite. But things were different now. Heaven moves constantly; the gentleman strengthens himself accordingly. Confucianism was extremely moderate, conservative and rigorous learning, but one aspect gave people extreme upward hope—it demanded maximum affirmation of personal cultivation and effort, affirming individual meaning, affirming self-reflection and determination to proceed despite thousands opposing. The reasons were complex, but to some degree, this might be why Confucianism suppressed material studies, diverging further from the West's cold, rigorous "because-therefore" logical system.

The conversation couldn't go deeper here, so they chatted about trivial matters afterward. Ning Yi casually asked about Captain Song Xian of the Ardent Wu Army, and amid Old Qin and Old Kang's curiosity, he frankly admitted it was due to the Lantern Festival incident. Kang Xian then laughed: "Haha, 'searching for her thousands of times in the crowd,' searching for her thousands of times in the crowd. I originally thought Liheng used this poem to express aspirations, but didn't expect there really was a 'searching for her thousands of times in the crowd.' Wonder what others would think if they knew... But Liheng being interested in martial wanderer ways isn't good. No matter how formidable, just an enemy of ten or hundred men—better your earlier view, though it has problems, developed further, you could become a Confucian general. That's an enemy of ten thousand men... Right, Ah Gui, come here."

Though he said this, he still called in his follower named Ah Gui, and though the man's name sounded common, his status was probably not low—just respectful before Kang Xian. Ning Yi knew his full name was Lu Agui. Kang Xian then asked about Song Xian's assassination attempt, and the man thought for a moment.

"I don't know Song Xian well, but if Young Master Ning is interested in martial arts, he's reportedly someone with profound martial skills where a dozen ordinary men can't get near him. In the Ardent Wu Army, he's quite valued, currently commanding the most elite Imperial Guard Battalion, but his character has poor reputation. Reportedly arrogant and domineering, holding grudges over smallest slights, and from brigand¹origins in early years, he killed many former companions seeking advancement. If Young Master Ning is interested in martial arts but unfamiliar with him, I suggest avoiding him, since after all, in the martial world, one's core skills are all taboo."

"Then... does Brother Lu know if such people with profound martial arts are common in the martial world?"

"Profound martial arts—if Young Master Ning means internal energy that can truly topple trees and shatter stones, such people are extremely rare. Currently in various armies, there might be a few more or less, and among bandit armies, there might also be such experts. Like the assassin who tried killing Song Xian that day—though I didn't see it, I heard about the incident. This person missed the first strike, went on a killing spree at Flying Swallow Pavilion, then left after injuring over ten people including Song Xian, still not seriously wounded. Song Xian himself is an expert—this person is already a super first-rate expert in the martial world, but even so, I can't guess who she is."

He paused. Actually having met Ning Yi many times and chatted occasionally, he had good feelings toward him. He clasped his fist: "Actually... forgive my directness, but profound internal energy mostly requires training from childhood to be effective. Never mind whether Young Master Ning can find such a person—even if you could, it's useless now. And... even if useful, in martial arts, internal energy isn't what's miraculous. The most formidable boxing techniques—even training methods and fighting techniques for decades with amazing talent in this area—once trained, still useless. Such skills all need constant refinement through combat and killing. When opponents attack, responses need no thought to be useful. Then what's important is fast, fierce, accurate, killing intent and blood energy momentum. Internal energy is just a method of exerting force. If you only train that, you still can't match a veteran who's experienced battle. Young Master Ning has great talent. In future as official or general, you're an enemy of ten thousand. Why abandon the essential for the trivial in this matter?"

No matter how romantically martial arts novels wrote it, in reality, who would truly yearn for that life of not knowing if tomorrow would come after today? Most people still held the idea of learning civil and martial arts to serve the emperor. This Lu Agui had followed Kang Xian for a long time, probably also feeling Ning Yi was extraordinary—wasting time on martial arts would be a pity. The meaning was simple: You're a scholar with no fighting opportunities, no environment for integration, so training martial arts equals not training. Ning Yi knew his words came from sincere intentions and quickly thanked him.

After chatting a while longer, when Ning Yi took his leave, the afternoon sun was perfect and spring scenery along the Qinhuai River was delightful. He strolled along the riverbank, still thinking about martial arts, and approaching where Nie Yunzhu lived, still at this river bend, he saw a black smoke column rising from that direction, almost like a fire.

He went all the way there, and reaching the front of the small building, he saw thick smoke billowing from the kitchen. A figure was engulfed in the thick smoke, wildly batting with something, fanning, coughing, appearing and disappearing, before finally running out of the room.

It was the disheveled Nie Yunzhu, her face covered with streaks of black marks from the smoke, and even in the cool spring, she was covered in sweat. Holding a large palm-leaf fan, she ran to the corridor, glumly looking back at the smoke-shrouded kitchen, probably still thinking how to charge back in. Turning her head, she saw Ning Yi on the road ahead and paused slightly.

Ning Yi couldn't help laughing, and then Nie Yunzhu also smiled, embarrassedly wiping her cheek with the back of her hand, though in the sweat, she pulled out an even more obvious black ash mark.

That smile held some bashful shyness, but somehow, combined with the black streaks on her cheeks, it only made one feel pure and beautiful...

(End of Chapter)