Every disciple of the Confucian School holds a concept of "Ritual" in their heart. This "Ritual" can be inherited from their teacher and propagated on their teacher's behalf, or it can be entirely their own!
The vast majority of Confucian disciples remain within the bounds of Confucius's "Ritual" and spend their entire lives promoting it.
Yanyan refers to this as the "Grand Ritual" or the "Royal Ritual"!
Yet not all Confucian disciples agree with this "Ritual" of Confucius; for instance, there is the "Hegemonic Doctrine" of the Confucian left wing!
There is also Mozi, who originated from the Confucian School yet stood in contradiction to its philosophical tenets!
Later, following Mencius's "Ritual", there emerged Xu Xing of the Agricultural School!
When Mozi left the Confucian School, he left on his own accord and did not preach his ideas within the internal ranks of Confucianism. But Xu Xing was quite different; upon leaving, he conveniently lured away quite a few of Mencius's disciples, leaving Mencius hopping mad with rage.
And today, if anyone among the Confucian School can break free from the "Ritual of Confucius and Mencius" and shatter the "Hegemonic left wing", it is likely Master Xun, who advocates the doctrine of human nature being inherently evil!
Yet Yanyan dares not go to see Master Xun, and Master Xun should be able to guess the reason why. Therefore, even though they are both in the Chu State, Master Xun has never shown any intention of taking on disciples at Yushan Academy.
"I really don't understand you Confucian scholars; you're hidebound and utterly incapable of adapting!" Jing Ke shook his head. Knowing that everyone has their own persistence, and although he did not know why Yanyan refused to practice the Confucian internal cultivation arts, he chose to respect it.
"You're a Mohist disciple, so you should be well-versed in Mechanics as well, right?" Yanyan suddenly looked at Jing Ke and asked.
"I know a bit, but I wouldn't call myself well-versed!" Jing Ke nodded.
The greatest strength of the Mohist School lies not merely in martial arts, but in Mechanics.
As the saying goes: Mohist mechanics make wood and stone walk, bronze can speak, and for anything else, consult the Gongshu Clan.
The Mohist School and the Gongshu Clan represent the absolute pinnacle of Mechanics in this era.
"Then are you well-versed in pharmacology?" Yanyan continued to ask.
"Huh?" Jing Ke was utterly baffled. Pharmacology—isn't that supposed to be the specialty of the Medical School?
"Well, you should be able to identify some medicinal herbs, right?" One look at Jing Ke's reaction told Yanyan that the man knew nothing of pharmacology.
"I do know a little bit about that!" Jing Ke felt a twinge of embarrassment. Who would have thought one needed to know such things just to travel the Jianghu?
"That's good enough. We're going to pull off a big job. If we pull it off, you won't lack for wine money in the future!" Yanyan smiled.
"Good!" The moment he heard about making money—and wine money at that—Jing Ke immediately perked up.
And so, over the next few days, Jing Ke and Yanyan frequently slipped away from the caravan to delve into the mountain forests in search of certain medicinal herbs, which they then air-dried and boiled down.
Though the Wu Family Caravan was curious, they did not pry too much.
"Finally successful!" Yanyan stared at a vat of boiling oil simmering over charcoal fire, and carefully moved it from the fire onto the snow outside to let it cool and solidify.
As the boiling oil cooled, a vat of snow-white, jade-like grease exuding a medicinal fragrance appeared before the eyes of Yanyan and Jing Ke.
"Is this for eating?" Jing Ke curiously reached out to scoop some out, but was stopped by Yanyan.
Yanyan knew very well how to persuade people, especially someone as fiercely curious as Jing Ke.
If Yanyan told him it was inedible and poisonous, Jing Ke would likely become even more interested and insist on trying it.
Therefore, what Yanyan said was, "Just this tiny little vat can be traded for a hundred vats of fine wine!"
Sure enough, upon hearing Yanyan's words, Jing Ke immediately pulled his hand back. He gazed with utmost care at the half-vat of grease remaining at the bottom of the earthen jar, forbidding anyone else to come near, and even thoughtfully brought over a clean cloth to cover it so not a speck of dust could fall upon it.
"Skin as smooth as congealed fat—that is what this refers to. And this stuff is immensely useful. When winter arrives, ordinary people's hands and feet easily chap, and they even develop chilblains!"
"This substance can be rubbed onto the hands, feet, and skin to provide a protective barrier, effectively preventing chapping and keeping the skin hydrated and smooth. Moreover, I've added some medicinal ingredients that treat chilblains, so it can cure them as well."
"On top of that, the raw materials I bought from those washerwomen were extracted from a messy jumble of fish oil, lard, animal fats, and plant oils, leaving a very heavy odor. So I added some aromatic herbs to make it fragrant."
"How much do you suppose the noble ladies and matrons of the Chu State will pay to buy this?"
Yanyan smiled as he looked at Jing Ke and asked.
"Rouge?" Jing Ke shivered all over, as if recalling some terror that had once dominated him.
"Rouge has no such efficacy!" Yanyan smiled and shook his head.
"The easiest money to make is the money of those women!" Jing Ke sighed with emotion.
"Therefore, the packaging cannot be lacking either. Since you know Mechanics, go and craft some exquisite boxes. They mustn't be too large—smaller than a rouge box, but they must be refined!" Yanyan continued.
"How do you plan to sell this?" Jing Ke looked at Yanyan with gleaming eyes.
"Seventy-nine coins a box!" Yanyan smiled.
"Isn't that a bit too expensive?" Jing Ke hesitated.
A single large Chu coin could buy four large flatbreads; a price of seventy-nine coins was truly exorbitant.
"Is seventy-nine coins expensive? If they can't even afford seventy-nine coins, then they should ask whether their husbands and sons have been working hard enough!" Yanyan suddenly thought of a certain fallen whale!
"Are you a devil?" Jing Ke stared at Yanyan. Once this item appeared in major Chu cities like Juyang and Shouchun, how many households would know no peace!
Your wife stays at home, serving her husband, teaching the children, and managing the household chores so you can go out without any worries back home, yet you tell me you can't even cough up seventy-nine coins? Where has all your hard work from these past years gone?
Your mother raised you by spoon-feeding you through shit and piss, yet you can't even bear to spend seventy-nine coins to buy a hand cream for the old woman—have your filial hearts been eaten by dogs?
Jing Ke could already picture the scenes inside the mansions of those grand ministers and officials.
"Besides, do you think noble ladies and matrons are the ones who need these things the most?" Yanyan smiled and retorted, looking at Jing Ke.
"Isn't that so?" Jing Ke frowned.
"If you were to hand the formula for this over to the State of Qin, the King of Qin could directly appoint you to a high-ranking official post; hand it over to the King of Zhao, and the King of Zhao could reward you with a thousand catties of gold! Hand it over to Lord Chunshen, and Lord Chunshen will treat you as an honored guest!" Yanyan said with a smile.
The primary demographic for this product is actually soldiers!
The winters in Qin, Zhao, and Yan are the longest, and the frontier-guarding troops desperately need such items.
Though the Chu State is in the south, Shouchun is currently building a new Chu capital, mobilizing over three hundred thousand corvée laborers and night watchmen, and the Chu naval forces need this as well!
Therefore, compared to women sequestered in inner chambers, the rulers and lords of the various states are the ones who need this most!
Yanyan has no intention of making his fortune merely from this skincare cream; rather, he intends to use it as a stepping stone to advance his career. Otherwise, it would be virtually impossible for him to gain an audience with feudal lords, Lord Chunshen, and other such prominent figures!
He also believes that anyone with even a shred of intelligence should understand the true utility of this item!
The exact same object holds different values in the eyes of different people: to aristocratic women, it is a skincare product, but in the eyes of politicians, it is a wartime necessity.