Shen Xitang rubbed her fingertips along the edge of the magnetic developing case; the bronze surface still held the damp moisture from the canal last night.
Xiao Jingming sat across from her, polishing his sword. The faint friction of his black armor against the wooden stool startled her, causing the silver hairpin in her hand to gouge a crooked ink mark across her blueprints.
"If Master Xiao is so idle, why not go investigate the Ministry of Works’ purchase records for magnetic ore this year?" She crumpled the ruined blueprint into a ball and hurled it with precision, striking the unremoved armor on his knee.
Chapter 54