Royal Gold Magistrate

Over the next few days, Fang Zheng inspected various departments in the county.

He entrusted the sweet potatoes to the agriculture department to carefully cultivate under heavy guard. Other things could wait, but nothing could go wrong with this. He then ordered that once harvested, the sweet potatoes be immediately transported to the capital.

With Fang Zheng’s personal guidance and full investment, the research institute made rapid progress. Magnifying glasses and microscopes emerged one after another.

However, the microscopes looked extremely crude with subpar performance. Perhaps the lenses were insufficiently refined or inaccurately aligned.

But overall, they were usable, able to vaguely see microorganisms swimming in water.

With this, penicillin research could also proceed more smoothly.

The penicillin production method Fang Zheng left was very rough but at least provided clues to follow.

Although it killed over 50 people, he didn’t know exactly where the issues lay… likely too many impurities and contaminants.

Scientific research feared not finding direction the most, as it would waste time and money. While Fang Zheng didn’t understand the technology, generally knowing its direction was far better than taking many detours.

After a few more days without much penicillin research progress, Fang Zheng decided not to wait any longer and packed up to return directly to the capital.

Before returning, he packed many things – a dozen or so magnifying glasses, two microscopes, and a whole cartful of sanitary napkins…

On the day of Fang Zheng’s departure, the whole city once again saw him off, though the crowd’s sadness was much relieved compared to last time.

Obviously, everyone knew Fang Zheng would come back again.

Ao Chen walked up to Fang Zheng and said with concern, “Master, take care on your journey. When will you return next time?”

Looking at the crowd, Fang Zheng also felt quite reluctant to part. Life in Taoyuan County was still relaxing after all – at least he could get a good night’s sleep.

“Hard to say when I’ll be back. Ao Chen, there’s another mission for you.”

“Starting tomorrow, continue repairing the county’s roads. Within half a year, connect them to the capital for me!”

“Cut through the mountains, bridge the waters. Although there are some difficulties, this official believes you all will have no problem. Once the roads are connected, travel between Taoyuan County and the capital will no longer be an issue.”

“Also, have the county’s various industries find ways to increase production capacity! This official is counting on you all once the roads open!”

With that, he boarded the carriage. Just as he was about to enter the carriage compartment, he suddenly spotted a figure in prisoner’s clothing out of the corner of his eye.

Fang Zheng stood up and pointed at that person. “What’s this? Someone who just escaped from prison?”

Everyone’s gazes followed the direction of Fang Zheng’s finger.

A woman in prisoner’s garb walked out with a coquettish smile.

“This guilty woman… oh no, this slave Luomei greets the master.”

Seeing this, Ao Chen leaned over to Fang Zheng’s ear and said with an embarrassed laugh, “Master… this is a prostitute from Xueyue Tower, wearing prisoner’s clothing to act… It’s Xueyue Tower’s new project, called ‘pure prison style’.”

“Apparently, it’s something Wu Sheng came up with. Quite a few people like it; they’re all into this. He’s even earned a lot of money because of it.”

Fang Zheng furrowed his brows. That old pervert had quite a few tricks up his sleeve!

He said in a low voice, “Keep a close eye on it. Don’t let it go too far and cause injuries. Also, those prisoner’s clothes are from the county prison, right? Did that dog Wu Sheng pay? Charge him 50%!”

“Understood, Master!”

…

After another bumpy journey, the group returned to the Fang manor. It was already evening.

After the meal, a group of people sat around the dinner table.

Piled high on the table were sanitary napkins.

Looking at the sanitary napkins, Fang Zheng fell into deep thought…

This thing looked completely different from the advertisements he saw in his previous life…

The middle part was more or less the same, just without wings. The four corners had four long straps, looking quite puzzling…

After a long while, Fang Zheng asked hesitantly, “How… do you use this?”

Everyone’s confused gazes focused on Fang Zheng.

“What is this?”

“It’s called a sanitary napkin, used for menstruation.”

Hearing this, Zhang Biao and Lu Fa silently turned around, acting like nothing happened, and went straight back to their rooms.

Bai Yi and Xiao Tao’s faces turned as red as apples. Bai Yi couldn’t help covering her face with both hands.

Xiao Tao said shyly, “Young Master! Why did you bring back so many of these things!? Take them away! And putting them on the table, how embarrassing!”

Fang Zheng looked at Xiao Tao in puzzlement. “You didn’t see these in the county?”

“No! I was too busy playing these past few days… Why would I look at it? Don’t talk about it anymore! Take them away!”

Seeing the two girls’ attitudes, Fang Zheng also felt a bit helpless.

These sanitary napkins were something he specially ordered the county’s textile mill to develop. Later, he discovered the textile mill alone couldn’t complete the task.

So he found the paper mill. Although the county’s paper mill output wasn’t very high, influenced by Fang Zheng, it seemed to have unlocked the wrong branch on the tech tree.

Paper began to continuously develop in the direction of flexibility and durability.

Now, with the two mills working together to produce this thing, it could be considered a great accomplishment.

The reason he viewed this thing so importantly was that the ancients were set in their ways. They always regarded women’s periods as a terrifying flood.

Previously, when life wasn’t so affluent, many women would directly hide at home as soon as their period came, not going out until it ended.

Not only were men deathly afraid of this aspect of women, but women themselves also felt deeply ashamed.

Those who weren’t particular would directly use cloth. Those slightly better off used something called menstrual cloth, filled with dry grass, charcoal ash, and such to absorb moisture and sterilize.

Initially, Fang Zheng wasn’t aware of this at all. But when he often went several days each month without seeing Xiao Tao, he started to take it to heart.

Later, he began ordering all medical halls in the county to collect information. He even specially established a women’s medical hall for this purpose before learning that many women fell ill or died because of this issue.

Fang Zheng deeply abhorred this bad practice!

The main reason he brought back this cartful of sanitary napkins this time was to test-market them and see if they could be popularized, conveniently finding new growth points for Taoyuan County.

The county’s glassware was good, but transporting it on that rugged road… forget it. It would all shatter before reaching the capital. Even if a new factory was built in the capital, it would take quite some time to cultivate reliable new people.

He didn’t need to consider commoners, but he could recommend the sanitary napkins to the high-end market.

One napkin cost 3 copper coins, the price of a bowl of noodles. He didn’t know how many were needed per month, but it was certain that ordinary people definitely wouldn’t spend so much money on this.

He could only let the high-end users use them first to change social attitudes. After the sweet potatoes were popularized and society gradually prospered, he could then slowly push the napkins forward.

It could be considered advance preparation.

But this first step was difficult. He didn’t even know how to use this thing, and the two maids were unwilling to say.

Fang Zheng got angry and put on a stern face. He slammed the table forcefully. “Xiao Tao! Tell me! What are these few straps for?”

Xiao Tao covered her face and said in a muffled voice, “Probably tied around the waist…”

Fang Zheng suddenly realized. He then awkwardly rubbed his nose. It seemed the ancients didn’t have the habit of wearing underpants… He forgot.

This was also a good business opportunity! Making some titillating underwear and such…

After thinking for a while, an idea slowly took shape in Fang Zheng’s mind.

But as soon as he raised his head, he saw Bai Yi and Xiao Tao still tightly covering their faces. Fang Zheng’s temper flared again.

What’s going on? Not even taking your own problem to heart! I’m solving it for you and you’re still being all coy!

Fang Zheng slammed the table forcefully again and said loudly, “Listen up! From now on, all the women in this manor must use this for me! Use it for free, but you must use it!”

“After using it, you still have to tell me your thoughts! Like if there was any leakage on the sides… That’s it!”

Then after thinking about it, if he just gave them away for free like this, the manor might have people reselling them. So he added another sentence, “Each person gets three per day! Xiao Tao, you’re in charge of this!”

Xiao Tao shyly nodded.

Bai Yi’s palms slowly parted a crack. She looked at Fang Zheng in horror.

So perverted…