In the previous 1665 dungeon settlement process, Xu Yun clarified one thing:

The higher the score, the better the reward he would receive.

Therefore, for Xu Yun,

to achieve a high score, Bianjing's priority was obviously higher than Jingkou's.

After all, this is the political and economic center of the entire Great Song, and the social environment is much more complex than Jingkou, making it easier to stir things up.

Moreover, from the perspective of medical safety, although the medical level of the Great Song is still at the ancient medical stage, Bianjing's medical reserves are evidently superior to Jingkou's.

If Old Su were to have an accident, like a fall, it's possible that a famous physician from Bianjing could arrive at the scene first, minimizing his injuries and preventing the early demise of such a master.

Therefore, based on the above considerations, Xu Yun undoubtedly had to keep Old Su in Bianjing.

But still, the question remains—

Where to cut in?

This is clearly not a problem that can be easily solved.

However, due to sufficient task time, Xu Yun was not in a hurry, since it was only the first day.

He temporarily put aside the matter of the entry point and started chatting with Xiaosan with the intention of gathering information and engaging in casual conversation:

"Third Brother, how old are you this year?"

Xiaosan, who was originally tying a rope, instinctively touched his headscarf and tucked in the untied edges in response:

"I'm seventeen this year."

Xu Yun slowly nodded.

If he remembered correctly, the adult age for men in the Northern Song should be twenty:

"And your full name? Is it just Xiaosan?"

Xiaosan shook his head:

"Not really, my name is Zhang San, and I'm the third child in my family, so everyone calls me Xiaosan.

Just like you're called Wang Mazi, a humble name is easier to nourish."

"I see, by the way, who was the old man leading yesterday?"

"Old man? Oh, you mean Old Chief Steward, his name is Xie Yuannian, and he's the chief steward of the entire mansion. Every day, we have to get his approval to receive money for grocery shopping...."

"And what about that man earlier..."

Xu Yun, through deliberate guidance, spent half an hour figuring out the interpersonal relationships in the Su Mansion:

Apart from Old Su, the 'Second Master' in the mansion is Old Su's fourth son, Su Mao, and he is the only son of Old Su staying in Bianjing.

Among the servants, Xie Yuannian is the chief responsible for personnel and finances, second only to him is a maid named Yue Lian.

The head of the guards is a man named Zheng Kuan, reputed to have served in the Western Army and possessing excellent martial arts skills.

Su Mao, Xie Yuannian, Yue Lian, Zheng Kuan.

These four, besides Old Su's family, make up the mansion's version of F4.

During this time, Xiaosan also inquired about some of Xu Yun's information, but seemingly out of a 'protective' mindset, he didn't press too much on Xu Yun's past.

Just like that.

Two quarter-hours passed in a blink of an eye.

After two quarter-hours,

Twenty wooden barrels were placed in front of Xu Yun and Xiaosan, filled with just the right amount of water. Xu Yun swiftly picked up one and asked Xiaosan:

"Third Brother, should we set off now?"

Xiaosan, who was humming a tune, looked at him in surprise and asked back:

"Set off where?"

"..."

Xu Yun couldn't help but raise a slight black line on his forehead, and asked:

"Weren't we supposed to deliver the water to the main house?"

Xiaosan looked even more surprised:

"We are supposed to deliver water to the main house, but there's no need to carry the barrels over."

Xu Yun:

"?????"

Seeing Xu Yun's confused face, Xiaosan waved his hand:

"Oh, it's a complicated thing. You'll find out soon. Just put the barrels down for now."

Seeing this, Xu Yun had no choice but to put down the barrel, sitting down with a bit of curiosity at a spot by the well with Xiaosan.

After a while.

At the entrance of the courtyard where the well was located, a figure of a young woman appeared.

The newcomer had a double bun hairstyle bound by blue ribbons, with smooth and shiny hair flowing neatly on her shoulders.

She wore a light green long dress, with the cuffs embroidered with light blue peonies, and a few clouds outlined in silver thread. Her round face with delicate features appeared quite charming.

Upon seeing this person, Xiaosan hurriedly got up with Xu Yun:

"Hello, Sister Yue Lian."

Xu Yun also slightly bowed his head, while a sense of realization flashed in his heart:

Yue Lian, it seems this is the big maid of the F4 group.

Yue Lian smiled familiarly at Xiaosan upon hearing his words:

"Hello, Third Brother, you're looking vibrant today. I suppose you won in Cuju yesterday?"

Xiaosan scratched his head with a sheepish grin and said:

"Hai Feng Academy lost three goals first, but unexpectedly recovered within a quarter-hour, and then won a great victory at the stake, luckily earning fifty to seventy qian, enough to buy a pork knuckle to eat."

Yue Lian nodded with a smile as she listened, her eyes filled with curiosity as she glanced over Xu Yun.

She then seemed to think of something, and a trace of pity flashed in her eyes.

Xu Yun: "?????"

Why does everyone look at me like this?

Then Yue Lian refocused and said to Xiaosan:

"Alright, Third Brother, business is important. Let's start now."

"Roger that!"

Xiaosan, still smiling, familiarly took out a small tombstone... cough, a small wooden cup from his pocket.

He then went to the wooden barrels, taking a small cup from each and drinking it all down. (For reference, see the paper 10.15986/j.1008-7192.2020.02.003, which discusses the drinking habits of the privileged class in Northern Song's Tokyo (Bianliang), where servants must taste the water to ensure it's non-toxic before transporting it.)

Once Xiaosan had tried all twenty barrels of water, Yue Lian nodded.

She walked over to a stone pillar at the corner of the wall and took out a key.

Only then did Xu Yun notice that there were three rectangular stone pillars at the wall's corner in the courtyard, about half a meter high and with a side length of about thirty centimeters.

Each stone pillar had a keyhole in the middle of the left side.

Yue Lian then inserted the key into one of them and turned it gently.

The top of the stone pillar lifted like the lid of a rice cooker, exposing the hollow pipeline inside.

Then Xiaosan gave Xu Yun a knowing look:

"Wang Mazi, don't say much, just pour the water."

Saying this, he picked up a barrel of water and started pouring it into the stone pillar.

Xu Yun was stunned for a couple of seconds before quickly following suit.

Xiaosan's barrel of water was soon emptied, and Xu Yun immediately replaced him, appearing very enthusiastic.

However, despite his quick hands, a lingering doubt remained in his mind:

Clearly,

the pipeline inside this stone pillar must lead to some water reservoir, saving the manpower of carrying buckets back and forth.

But the question is, while pouring water is easy, how does this water reach the reservoir?

Xu Yun's sensing abilities are sharp—he could be sure that the deepest part of the stone pillar is at ground level, like a standard L shape.

In other words, there's no scenario where the bottom of the stone pillar is higher than the ground, with the pipeline using the height difference to transport water—in fact, this method doesn't have much feasibility because the straight-line distance from the well to the main house is nearly a hundred meters, and extending a few centimeters of slope over this distance would cost more than carrying water for decades.

Drilling diagonally is the same:

In this historical context, creating a shallow parallel pipeline isn't too difficult, but the cost of drilling diagonally is exorbitantly high.

But if the stone pillar's pipeline is parallel to the ground, how does the other end draw the water in?

Even if you pour all twenty barrels of water into a hundred-meter-long parallel pipeline, the flow rate that could be received at the other end is bound to be minimal.

The principle of a suction pump might be possible, but relying on a suction pump's one-way valve principle for a hundred-meter pipeline...

Once again, the cost would outweigh simply using manpower to deliver water.

Unless.....

It contains some special mechanism inside, enabling it to continuously draw water to the main house effortlessly under parallel conditions...

.....

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