Tribute from Officials

The first one to think about what gift to send was Li Jing.

When his private soldiers arrived at Ruyi Supermarket, it wasn't even noon yet.

Lin Shen was lying on a rattan chair, pondering whether to spend this money.

The silver-armored young general, holding a thin piece of paper, hurried over.

Chen San welcomed him, thinking he was a customer coming to buy something.

The silver-armored young general smiled broadly, "Congratulations to His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu. I am here on behalf of Duke Wei and Minister of War Li Jing, to present a congratulatory gift to His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu."

"There are two thousand horses at the stable outside Chang'an City. Please accept them, Your Royal Highness."

A stable!

This was quite a generous gift.

Chen San was taken aback, trembling as he accepted the deed from the silver-armored young general.

After exchanging a few pleasantries with Lin Shen, the silver-armored young general hurriedly left.

This news would soon spread throughout Chang'an City.

It opened a door for countless nobles.

Yes!

His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu was for the merchants.

Although he had many rare treasures, he lacked the foundation of nobility.

Their minds began to churn with ideas.

They also sent stables.

Some sent slaves and maidservants.

Cheng Yaojin was the most generous, directly gifting a summer villa outside Chang'an City.

Chen San stood at the entrance of the supermarket, welcoming wave after wave of people.

He was almost numb now.

In the first half of his life, he probably hadn't earned enough silver to even lay eyes on these things.

But now, each one had to pass through his hands.

However, his boss, apart from showing some interest in the stables, was disdainful of everything else.

Li Shimin's gift was the last to arrive.

The gift was simple yet regal.

One hundred thousand taels of silver.

Plus a house within Chang'an City.

Lin Shen was very satisfied with Li Shimin's gift.

Mainly because of the one hundred thousand taels of silver.

A divine-level lottery ticket!

Or ten advanced-level lottery tickets!

Lin Shen didn't hesitate anymore, instructing Chen San and the others to organize the gifts sent by these nobles today. Then he went into the back room alone, closed the door, and began to prepare for the lottery.

But it was either a divine-level lottery or ten advanced-level lotteries.

Lin Shen was somewhat hesitant about this.

This time, he didn't want to draw from daily necessities but from industrial, commercial, and agricultural categories.

His goal was to draw a pesticide.

Just providing food wasn't a solution. If the locust plague wasn't eradicated, it would be a huge blow to public morale even if they could fill their stomachs.

A divine-level lottery could unlock ten items at once.

But ten advanced-level lotteries could unlock fifty items.

It's just that the probability of drawing advanced-level items wasn't as high as divine-level ones...

Lin Shen sighed.

Forget it, forget it. He couldn't treat himself as a European.

Divine-level lottery could be saved for next time.

Advanced lottery!

Lin Shen spent ten thousand taels of silver to unlock one advanced lottery permission.

The system quickly sent out a prompt.

"Ding, congratulations to the host for unlocking common items: waterproof tape, insulating tape, and unlocking advanced items: POS machine, silicone prosthetics, artificial eye."

Seeing this batch of drawn items, Lin Shen's face darkened.

These were good items...

But the problem was, what use were they?

Not one could be immediately put to use.

Instead, they would be quite useful when he developed his technology tree in the future.

Lin Shen took a deep breath and began the second advanced-level lottery.

"Ding, congratulations to the host for unlocking common items: power strip, unprocessed synthetic resin, unprocessed plastic material, and unlocking advanced items: fertilizer, edible food coloring."

Not bad...

At least fertilizer was useful.

The third advanced-level lottery.

"Ding, congratulations to the host for unlocking common items: lubricant, light bulb, rust remover, and unlocking advanced items: dental filling material, stainless steel alloy."

Lin Shen remained silent.

His fingers moved, starting the fourth lottery.

He couldn't help feeling relieved.

Fortunately, he didn't choose the divine-level lottery. The probability of drawing something like insecticide from this mishmash of strange items was too low.

The fourth advanced-level lottery.

"Ding, congratulations to the host for unlocking common items: bleach, animal anesthetic, tractor tracks, mosquito coil, developer solution."

Alright, this time not even advanced items were unlocked.

But mosquito coils were useful.

Lin Shen began to feel excited, getting closer and closer to insecticide.

But Lin Shen's joy was premature.

In the fifth lottery, he still didn't draw insecticide.

"Asbestos, industrial grease, infrared sensor, plastic switch, relay."

Silence.

Lin Shen fell silent.

He still didn't draw what he wanted...

Asbestos, he remembered, was a good building material, fireproof, insulated, and insulating...

But Lin Shen didn't intend to use this thing.

It was too dangerous, carcinogenic!

He remembered very clearly that a relative of his, a long time ago, dealt with asbestos and ended up with asbestosis. The person's body was covered in small, frightening bumps.

With the system in hand, there was no need to let the development of the Great Tang be built on diseases and death.

The sixth lottery!

The system's pleasant voice came.

"Ding, congratulations to the host for unlocking common items: agricultural insecticide (nicotine type), highway tires, animal prosthetics, and unlocking advanced items: surgical knife, quick-suture thread (catgut)."

At first, Lin Shen didn't react.

It wasn't until he glanced a second time.

He noticed the agricultural insecticide!

But what was this nicotine type...

He patiently looked at the instructions given by the system.

His surprise grew even greater!

This type of insecticide had a certain degree of harm to the human body, but the harm was minimal. As long as it was used in a standardized manner, problems would generally not occur.

Most importantly, this type of insecticide had tremendous killing power against locusts.

With this pesticide, scattering it in the fields could kill a large swath of locusts.

A full sixty thousand taels of silver!

Lin Shen finally drew what he wanted.

Lin Shen took out a bottle of pesticide from the system space. It was slightly different from what he had imagined. He thought this type of nicotine-based pesticide would be solid, with the method of use being smoke generated by burning.

But in reality, this pesticide was still liquid.

Its yellowish appearance reminded him of tobacco water. It seemed to be the same color.

Lin Shen squinted.

He looked outside. It was almost evening, but there was still some time before curfew.

He instructed Chen San, "I'm going to the Imperial City. If I haven't returned by the time it's curfew, just close the door. I'll come back through the back door."

Chen San nodded.

Lin Shen hurried off to the Imperial City.

After Lin Shen disappeared from sight, Chen San suddenly realized.

"Oh, wait, Your Highness!"

"The Minister of Personnel has sent a carriage for you. You don't have to walk there yourself..."