Chapter 51

Chapter 51

Liu Bao, feeling utterly bewildered about life, went to brew the medicine, puzzled as to why his master would suddenly want to drink pregnancy-stabilizing tonic for no apparent reason.

Could it be...

Liu Bao, staring at the rabbits in a cage by the roadside, had a sudden flash of inspiration: "Could the Young Master... be experiencing a false pregnancy?"

Some rabbits, even when not pregnant, would believe they were pregnant and then pluck their own fur to frantically build nests.

But that was limited to female rabbits; male rabbits hadn't been known to exhibit such behavior. Could the Young Master have gotten so used to being the bottom that he'd started questioning his own gender?

But Liu Bao was nothing if not loyal. Whatever his master ordered, he would do, even if it meant buying pregnancy-stabilizing tonic, he would personally go to the best apothecary to purchase it.

He even brewed the medicine himself upon returning, letting it cool to the perfect drinking temperature before delivering it to Lu Yunqi.

Lu Yunqi held his nose and drank the tonic, then lay on the couch in utter boredom. After drinking it, his belly felt warm and comfortable, as if the baby had been calmed.

Lu Yunqi asked, "Xiao Jiu, how's my son doing?"

Xiao Jiu hissed: "How do you know it's a boy? What if it's a girl?"

Lu Yunqi replied, "That'd be even better! But with the two of us being men, raising a daughter... wouldn't that be a bit awkward?"

Xiao Jiu said, "Don't we have a wet nurse?"

Lu Yunqi spoke earnestly: "You don't understand. Girls have a lot of little secrets a dad shouldn't poke his nose into. When she's on her period, can I even ask about that? If she gets a boyfriend, how am I supposed to have that talk with him? Forget it, you're just a system. Why am I even bothering to explain this to you?"

Xiao Jiu's voice turned serious: "Master, even though I'm a system, I used to be human, a long time ago. But before I became a system, I sealed away my memories. If I ever wanted to, I could take a look at them."

Lu Yunqi didn't get why a system would want to seal away its own memories.

He felt memories were part of what made a person whole. If you lost your memories, were you even the same person anymore?

Lu Yunqi lay in bed for three days and finally got bored. But since Murong Jie wasn't around and he had nothing else to do, he could only go wander around the Wanping Wasteland.

By now, the Wanping Wasteland had grown to over ten thousand people, like a small city. Just as Du Ze had said, they'd reached the modern dream of upstairs and downstairs, electric lights and telephones.

Of course, the phones were still the old rotary-dial desk models, pretty clunky, but it was already a huge leap forward.

Four months—to Lu Yunqi, it felt like a dream.

Lu Yunqi looked at the ten-story building under construction and the Yuhue River dam that had already been built, and he suddenly got lost in thought. Maybe he really could change this world and keep it going after all?

Just then, Du Ze arrived. He looked even more capable than before.

He wore a sharp Chinese-style long robe that looked high-quality, probably made of real silk.

Lu Yunqi sized him up and remarked, "Manager Du, you're getting more handsome every day! You've moved up to silk robes now?"

Du Ze, however, handed him the Q1 financial report: "Master, please take a look. Our clothes and grain have been sold to over a dozen counties and prefectures, bringing in 3.6 million taels of silver. That's already enough to give the nearly ten thousand residents of Wanping Wasteland a prosperous life. Also, we can pause recruiting new residents for now."

Lu Yunqi let out a puzzled "Hmm" and asked, "Didn't you say more people meant more prosperity and faster leveling?"

Du Ze replied, "Hmm, but we've already hit the scale of a small city. The total population of this world line is only fifty million. Our ten thousand people are already close to the limit of what this world's population can support. So we can't keep adding people. Instead, we should use these ten thousand-plus people to blend into the general population and help them get rich too."

Lu Yunqi snapped his fingers and said, "I get it! Let those who got rich first help the rest, right?"

Du Ze chuckled lightly: "Something like that."

Just as the two were deep in discussion about their future plans, Yuan Pingya rode a fast horse toward them. He was actually wearing a denim outfit. The moment he saw Lu Yunqi, a delighted expression spread across his face: "Young Prince? You actually came?"

With that, he dismounted swiftly, jogged two steps to Lu Yunqi, and bowed to him, saying, "Good thing I came back today, or I would have missed you, Your Highness."

Lu Yunqi hadn't seen Yuan Pingya in many days, and he was genuinely happy to see him again. He couldn't help but remark, "You've gotten tanned, haven't you? But you've also put on a bit of weight—looks like you've gotten sturdier."

Yuan Pingya said happily, "Right? I think so too! I've been running around to various counties and prefectures lately. I thought I could only read books and teach children, but I never expected I could do business too. Now all the cloth and grain trade in our Wanping Prefecture is under my charge. In the future, we'll also be selling things like oil. Manager Du said we've discovered some mineral deposits here that we can try mining, and he mentioned a new type of fabric will be unveiled. Young Prince, you must really be a deity sent down from heaven, aren't you? No... you ARE a deity from heaven!"

Lu Yunqi was speechless: "You're exaggerating way too much. I'm just an elf who stumbled into this era, alright? But you have been working quite hard lately. Xiao Du, give our Little Yuan a promotion and a raise."

Du Ze said, "Don't worry, Master. We have performance reviews every week and distribute corresponding rewards. Manager Yuan's points are already enough to buy a villa in the most central location of Wanping County. He just hasn't redeemed them yet. But that's fine—our Wanping County is about to be upgraded to Wanping City. If we plan an administrative center then, he can purchase and redeem at that location."

Lu Yunqi hummed in approval: "Good, good, good. You're all doing excellent work."

He suddenly felt that his previous nine lives had all been wasted effort. If only he'd known the Idle Lad Planting System was this useful, why would he have needed to die so many times?

His progress with Murong Jie was also advancing, and even Wanping County had developed into Wanping City.

But Lu Yunqi remained worried: "Will people on the outside discover our existence?"

Du Ze shook his head: "Unless someone comes through the Anywhere Door, this place remains in another dimension. Please rest assured, Master. We're very safe here."

Lu Yunqi felt at ease. After thinking for a moment, he said, "I don't want to stay at Lord Nine Thousand Years' residence for now. Arrange a place for me to stay here! Preferably one by the river. I want to do some fishing when I have nothing to do."

Du Ze was quite surprised: "Doesn't Master have a time-space mission to complete?"

Lu Yunqi sighed: "My target is on a business trip. At least a month."

Du Ze understood and said, "You could open an Anywhere Door to follow him, but the Anywhere Door can only be used by you alone."

Lu Yunqi's eyes instantly lit up, but then he began to feel something was off. Very off. Why did he feel so happy at the thought of following him?

==========Author's Note:==========

Dear readers, let the story fatten up a bit. This one won't be particularly long—I'll try to finish it within this month, but updates may slow down.