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"Woah, there are so many!" Although she had been prepared, when Lin Yuan saw the dazzling glaze in front of her, she was still greatly astonished.

The room was originally used for storing herbs, but when they heard that Lin Yuan and Xia Zheng had stocked up on some rare items to store, they cleaned it out overnight. The lingering scent of herbs could still be faintly smelled in the room.

The pieces of glaze in front of her were each separated by thick quilts.

Lin Yuan roughly counted about seven or eight pieces, each about three feet square.

In addition, there were quite a few pieces of glaze with some cracks in the corner of the wall, presumably damaged during transportation.

Looking at those badly broken pieces, Lin Yuan felt a pang of pity in her heart.

Unlike the glaze pieces she had seen in Xia Zheng’s room, these were the most primitive, simply cut without any carving.

Lin Yuan had previously described to Xia Zheng the look of a mirror, so these pieces of glaze must have been specially cut into half a finger thick slices by a unique technique, a method not just anyone could achieve.

They must have been cut in the Western Region.

"Yes, if you like them, I’ll arrange to have more transported here," said Xia Zheng with a chuckle, yet he felt a pang of regret inside. In fact, they had initially transported two large carts full, but an incident had occurred along the way, and the other cart of glaze had been seized.

He naturally hadn’t told Lin Yuan about this. Otherwise, given Lin Yuan’s fondness for wealth, she would have run off to Xiliang to chop up the scoundrel who dared to stand in the way of her fortune.

Although Xia Zheng didn’t mention it, Lin Yuan knew that it was definitely not as simple to transport these fragile glaze pieces from the distant Western Region to Dayong as Xia Zheng had made it sound.

"There’s a saying you should know, ’the rarer, the more valuable,’" Lin Yuan said with a smile, stroking a piece of glaze almost as tall as a person, "If our mirrors were as common as the bronze mirrors sold in the streets, how could we make any money?"

Xia Zheng nodded, finding this to be very true.

As for turning the glaze into mirrors, they would need to find some people with unique skills. First, melting silver into liquid silver was not something Lin Yuan could achieve.

With no outsiders in the room, Lin Yuan briefly explained to Xia Zheng the method of mirror-making.

Actually, the mirror is very simple. In modern times, they use mercury, spreading it evenly on one side of transparent glass so that one can see themselves on the other side.

Although they had no mercury, they could make do by melting silver into liquid silver.

After listening to Lin Yuan’s explanation, Xia Zheng was utterly dumbfounded.

He had never imagined that silver could be used in such a way.

However, he did know who could melt silver into liquid; generally, any bank could do so.

The challenge was finding someone discreet who wouldn’t disclose the matter.

Fortunately, the Capital city was Xia Zheng’s territory, or more precisely, the Xia Family Army’s stronghold. Not just any bank could melt silver, but the arsenal of the Xia Family Army had its share of Hidden Guards capable of this task.

"Leave this matter to me, and by the day after tomorrow at the latest, I’ll find you a suitable person to do this."

Xia Zheng’s promise was no empty boast, as, by the next afternoon, he had found the right person for the job.

Not only the person but also a complete set of tools.

There was a pot made from special materials and an unusually shaped furnace that held the small pot perfectly in place, allowing the heat to be evenly distributed—a truly impressive sight for Lin Yuan.

As for the individual tasked with this job, Lin Yuan could rest assured because he was a deaf-mute. With ears that couldn’t hear and a mouth that couldn’t speak, unable even to read, he could only communicate through a few simple hand gestures.

Having learned from Lin Yuan what the liquid silver should look like, Xia Zheng made several hand signals to the artisan, succinctly explaining what was needed.

To minimize the melting time of the silver, Lin Yuan had exchanged a good amount of silver pieces at Yi Ran Residence, opting for the smallest pieces she could find. Even though they were just fragments, when put together, they amounted to more than ten taels of silver.

They were carrying out this task today in the cellar of the backyard, and they hadn’t even informed Liu Limin and Liu Siliang about it, leaving the whole family burning with curiosity.

As time ticked away, the blacksmith was completely immersed in his own world, seemingly oblivious to the passage of time, focusing solely on the small pot in front of him.

Once the silver pieces inside had melted, he would use tweezers to add another piece of silver and continue the previous process.

After watching these repetitive actions for a while, they became boring. And since it was her own silver melting in the pot, Lin Yuan felt both boredom and pain. Sniffling and rubbing her slightly aching chest, she turned away to look at the glaze instead.

Earlier, she had considered experimenting with a broken piece of glaze first, but the thought of spending more than ten taels of silver made her shudder at the prospect of several sleepless nights. Therefore, she opted to use a whole piece of glaze for the mirror.

They set up a large table, covered it with a cotton quilt, and then carefully placed the glaze on top. Naturally, all these tasks were done by Lin Yi and Xia Zheng since Lin Yuan’s slender arms and legs could hardly lift such a large piece of glaze.

Since it was winter, the glaze was ice-cold, while the molten silver had just come off the furnace, scalding hot.

To prevent the glaze from shattering due to the shock of temperature, Lin Yuan had especially heated a large pot of water.

She soaked an entire quilt with this hot water and then gradually moistened the surface of the glaze, allowing its temperature to slowly rise.

This procedure continued until the blacksmith had melted all the silver. Although the temperature of the glaze was still not comparable to that of the molten silver, it would at least not crack from the heat of the molten silver.

Wrapping her hands in a thick cloth, Lin Yuan, under Xia Zheng’s anxious and curious gaze, slowly poured the silver over the surface of the glaze, watching the faintly white-glistening molten silver flow gently over the glaze, her heart racing with anticipation.

The molten silver, which had come from more than ten taels of silver, barely filled two small bowls, just enough to cover a three-foot-square piece of glaze.

"It’s done," she said, setting the now empty small pot aside. Lin Yuan shook her wrists, exhaling a deep breath of relief. Pouring the silver had been so stressful that her wrists had become sore and painful, nearly causing her to tremble.

Xia Zheng came over, pained by the sight, and began massaging her wrists with skilled movements. As he talked and massaged, Lin Yuan felt much more at ease.

"This will work?" Lin Yuan allowed him to massage her hand while she slightly bent over, leveling her gaze with the glaze and looking from side to side: "Just wait a little longer. If there’s an uneven spot, we can smooth it out with a spatula."

Lin Yuan didn’t need to do that herself; the blacksmith could take care of it.

Xia Zheng explained this with hand gestures to the blacksmith, then led Lin Yuan to a seat on one side.