Chapter 52

Chapter 52

Lu Yunqi blinked, swallowed hard, and stroked his slightly rounded belly, saying, "Forget it, we'll deal with it in a few days."

After that, he moved into a bamboo cottage along the Jade River and even hired an NPC to take care of his daily needs.

The NPC's original profession was a nurse, and she had a stethoscope on hand to check the baby's heartbeat anytime.

He'd been resting so well these past couple days—just eating, sleeping, and fishing by the river after waking up. The Jade River was totally pristine, and the fish were super plump and tasty.

He caught over a dozen fish in one day, had the NPC braise two in soy sauce, and gave the rest to his neighbor Du Ze.

Noticing he was bored out of his mind every day, Du Ze suggested, "Master, if you've got nothing to do, now's a good time to set up a second business base."

Lu Yunqi asked, "Oh? A second business base? What kind of spot?"

Du Ze replied, "Didn't we talk about this before? We need to spread these ten thousand people across Great Xia to boost its economy. How do we do that? My idea is to set up bases in various counties and prefectures, spreading from points to lines, then building into a full network. Once people see our bases are solid, they'll naturally come around to our way of doing things."

Lu Yunqi said, "Oh, that sounds good. Where do you think we should set up the first base?"

Du Ze chuckled lightly and said, "What does Master think? I believe... the border between Great Jin and Great Xia is a solid choice. It's near the Western Regions, and if we can open up trade routes there, we could make a killing."

Lu Yunqi's eyes lit up as he asked, "Oh? Ain't there a war going on over there? Is it smart for us to head over now?"

Du Ze replied, "Didn't you say the war ends in a month? If we go now, we can grab property and land for cheap."

Lu Yunqi nodded, "Yeah, that makes sense! So... should I just open an Anywhere Door there now?"

Du Ze smirked, "Sure, Master, go for it!"

Lu Yunqi opened the world map and pointed at a mountain ridge, asking, "How about here? Look, it's at the foot of the mountain, but there are three roads here—it's a key route for east-west travel. So? Pretty solid spot, right?"

Du Ze nodded in agreement, "Yeah, yeah. Master, you've got great taste."

Lu Yunqi cleared his throat and said, "Jeez, aren't you laying it on a bit thick?"

"No way, no way," Du Ze said. "I'm just telling the truth."

Lu Yunqi had nothing else to say, so he waved his hand and opened an Anywhere Door on the map.

Du Ze suggested, "Why not take Manager Yuan with you? He's been all over the place lately and really knows his stuff now. Plus, he gets how this world works, so he can handle things better."

Yuan Pingya responded upon hearing this, "Sure thing, Young Prince! I've got tons of work experience now—you won't regret taking me!"

Lu Yunqi looked at Yuan Pingya, who'd seemingly popped out of nowhere, and asked, "You haven't been going out these past few days?"

Yuan Pingya scratched his head and said, "I... I'm on leave for a few days."

Lu Yunqi stared at Yuan Pingya's face and asked, "So, you've been spending your days off at Manager Du's place?"

Yuan Pingya coughed awkwardly, waved his hands, and said, "No... it's not what you think, Young Prince. I'm not looking to buy a house right now, so I'm crashing at Brother Du's place for a bit. Brother Du's place has three rooms, and we sleep in separate ones."

Lu Yunqi said, "...Did I ever say you were sharing a bed? Wait... are you saying you want to share one with him? I never would've guessed, Mr. Yuan—you're pretty wild!"

Yuan Pingya was utterly confused, "Wild... what does wild mean?"

Lu Yunqi chuckled, "Wild? It means free-spirited and uninhibited."

Yuan Pingya's face went red as he quickly explained, "No, no, Young Prince, I'm not trying to sleep with Brother Du. We're just... just coworkers."

Lu Yunqi clicked his tongue, "Why you so nervous? Even if you were wild, so what? If you like someone, you gotta say it—how else are they gonna know?"

Then he turned to Du Ze and asked, "What do you think, Xiao Du? You into him?"

To his surprise, Du Ze's face also turned a bit red as he said awkwardly, "Master, we... relationships are against the rules during work hours."

Lu Yunqi nodded in understanding, "I get it—no dating at work. But I'm not gonna stop you two from dating. Honestly, life's only a few decades long—just do whatever you want. Suppressing who you really are every day—how boring is that?"

Du Ze snuck a glance at Yuan Pingya and suddenly asked, "If you know it won't last, should you even start?"

Lu Yunqi smiled and said, "Life's short—how many things actually have a happy ending? Even if they do, a lifetime's only a few decades, and being together at most lasts forty or fifty years. In the end, doesn't everything just end in death? What you think has no future might already be longer than what others would kill for."

Hearing that, Du Ze actually bowed to him and said, "I've learned something today."

That same day, Lu Yunqi set up an Anywhere Door near Shanqiu County and moved there with Yuan Pingya and a dozen others.

To be fair, the conditions there were pretty rough. The only inn was a run-down little courtyard house with no proper main hall.

Worried Lu Yunqi wouldn't be comfortable, Yuan Pingya immediately headed to a nearby town to buy him bedding. But the little town didn't have much good stuff—no silk pillows, though he did find some silk fabric to use as pillowcase covers.

But when Yuan Pingya got back, Lu Yunqi was nowhere to be found. After asking around, he found out the guy had taken off to Murong Jie's military camp.

Hearing that, Yuan Pingya was livid, "Are you kidding me? Has the Young Prince lost his damn mind? Even if he's the Young Prince, that camp's full of rough soldiers who don't even know who he is!"

Panicking, Yuan Pingya quickly saddled his horse and galloped full speed toward Murong Jie's Wolf Battalion.

Luckily, he caught up halfway there. He blocked the path in front of Lu Yunqi's carriage, frowned at the flashy ride, and asked, "You... Young Prince, why'd you deck out the carriage like this?"

Lu Yunqi stuck his head out of the carriage, grinned, and said, "Take a guess?"

When Yuan Pingya saw what he looked like, he nearly fell off his horse. Lu Yunqi was dressed even more flashy than the carriage, and had even painted a seductive teardrop mole under his eye.

And to top it off, he'd strapped on a pair of fake boobs.

Yuan Pingya pulled on the reins and demanded, "What... what kind of monster are you?!"

Lu Yunqi: ...Ugh, do you have any sense of style or what?