Chapter 125: Sleeping Foot to Foot
Gu Changxiao took a deep look at Daoist Ji, seeing his smile becoming increasingly fake and a hint of fear in his eyes. He quickly averted his gaze and praised,
“Brother Ji is truly a heaven-blessed prodigy. Your presence in the border city is a fortune for me and for the border city!”
“Thank you, Brother Ji, for your guidance. With this smelting method, our border city will no longer lack weapons.”
Jin Sui was relieved that he didn’t press further. If he had insisted on digging deeper, she could have fabricated a suitable excuse.
Blame it on the Taoist sect! Since ancient times, it’s been known that Taoists are ‘scientists.’ Historical records show that the Taoist sect produced mathematicians, chemists, physicians, and astronomers…
The Taoist sect has gathered the strengths of various schools, constantly developing new disciplines.
In pursuit of the elixir of immortality, they could refine anything. Believe it or not, tofu was created by Taoists, and gunpowder was also refined by Taoists.
Except for the elixir of immortality, they ended up creating a pile of byproducts. This smelting method was also developed by the Taoist sect. I, a young Taoist, learned it secretly. If you have a problem, go verify it with the Taoist sect!
Jin Sui wanted Gu Changxiao’s attitude. Don’t question it further, just enjoy the benefits! It doesn’t matter where it came from.
Grandpa Ling understood this perfectly and never questioned where Jin Sui got her food, good medicine, or blankets from. He ate what was given and used what was provided.
When Jin An, being curious, asked a few questions, Grandpa Ling would help Jin Sui fend them off.
She glanced at Gu Changxiao, seeing him engrossed in examining swords and discussing the new smelting method with the blacksmiths, with no intention of questioning Jin Sui further.
Jin Sui let out a long sigh and ambiguously stated, “Brother Gu, please don’t let anyone know that I came up with this smelting method.”
“Otherwise, if the Master’s Sect investigates and demands the secret formula back, I won’t be able to explain. You might think buying the Ji Clan’s formula isn’t expensive, but you can’t afford the secret formula from my Master’s Sect with the current border city’s resources!”
Gu Changxiao suppressed a smile and said, “Understood, Brother Ji. Rest assured, this smelting method will be kept secret, just like the fish oil firearms.”
Seeing Jin Sui nod solemnly, appearing mature and steady.
Gu Changxiao stifled a chuckle. If the Taoist sect possessed this smelting method, they would have long ago traded it with the Imperial Court for merit.
In recent years, the Imperial Court has suppressed Buddhism and Taoism, and they are all scrambling to achieve some political merit. After all, in the past few hundred years of Great Xia, no one like Sun Simiao or Xuanzang has emerged.
Gu Changxiao’s heart stirred. If young Daoist Ji truly felt a sense of belonging to the Taoist sect, he could use this to make a deal with him, inviting him to stay in the border city, and in return, they would build a Great Taoist Temple for Daoist Ji.
Seeing him engrossed in looking at the refined iron weapons, Jin Sui tugged his sleeve and laughed, “There’s even better stuff coming up!”
Gu Changxiao was immediately surprised and delighted. Was there something more advanced than smelting refined iron?
He strode inside, only to see a room full of molds and tools, and he looked at Jin Sui in confusion.
Jin Sui smiled and handed him a blueprint. Gu Changxiao looked at it; it resembled a bow, yet not a bow, and a crossbow, yet not a crossbow. It had three extra cylinders compared to a regular crossbow.
“What is this?” Before Jin Sui could answer, his eyes lit up, and he suddenly realized, “This is a crossbow for firing fish oil firearms!”
“Exactly! Brother Gu is so smart, you saw it at a glance! I showed it to Hei Hu for a long time, and he said it must be for making sausages.”
Gu Changxiao: … Comparing me to your Hei Hu, are you looking down on me, or on Hei Hu?
“The current technology isn’t up to par yet. The maximum range of what we can make is less than a hundred meters. If it can’t be used for long-range attacks, it’s useless!”
“This is the technology that blacksmiths need to overcome the most. Brother Gu, please take this to heart.”
How could Gu Changxiao not take it to heart! The way he looked at the blueprint was even brighter than how Jin Sui looked at Miss Yan Twelve.
The two of them discussed the research on the fire crossbow with the blacksmiths for over an hour. When they realized it was getting dark, Jin Sui remembered her appointment with Miss Yan Twelve and quickly said,
“I’ll head back to the camp first. Brother Gu, do you want to continue researching for a while, or go back for dinner?”
Gu Changxiao naturally wanted to stay and solve the problem of the fire crossbow overnight. Having been in the army for a long time, he was more familiar with military machinery research than the border city blacksmiths.
But he thought that if he didn’t go back, it would mean young Daoist Ji and Miss Yan Twelve dining alone, and for dinner at that. His heart immediately felt uneasy. He put the blueprint into his sleeve and said,
“Let’s go back for dinner first. I’ll look at it more closely later.”
The two walked towards the camp under the sunset glow, chatting about the development of the border city. Gu Changxiao found that as long as he talked about the border city, young Daoist Ji would let down his guard and speak enthusiastically.
He intentionally steered the conversation towards border city construction. Seeing Miss Yan Twelve from afar, looking at the two of them laughing and talking, she was so angry that she tore apart the wildflowers she had just picked.
She huffily asked Baozhu, “What else did Big Black Guy say?”
“Reporting to Miss, that’s all. Lord Gu, using the excuse of protecting the Prince’s safety, is sharing a room with the Prince.”
Miss Yan Twelve pointed at the thatched hut and said, “That small room only has one bed. How will they sleep?”
Baozhu shrunk her shoulders and replied in a small voice, “Probably… sleeping with their feet touching.”
Miss Yan Twelve was so angry that her breathing became heavy. Her gaze towards Gu Changxiao grew even more furious, and she gritted her teeth, cursing, “Vixen!”
Baozhu reminded her in a small voice, “Vixen is a term used to scold women.”
I never thought that one day my young lady would call a man a vixen…
When Jin Sui and Gu Changxiao reached the intersection, Miss Yan Twelve immediately put on a gentle, smiling expression:
“Your Highness, you’re finally back. Twelve has been waiting for you, and I’m starving.”
Han Xing, not far away, shivered. Miss Yan’s speed of changing her expression was not ordinary!
Amusingly, when she smiled at Jin Sui, she deliberately walked between the two of them, forcefully pushing Gu Changxiao aside, and simultaneously glared at him fiercely.
Then, turning to Jin Sui, she was all smiles again.
Gu Changxiao was extremely speechless, and at the same time, he found it amusing. No wonder young Daoist Ji always said Miss Yan Twelve was simple and straightforward.
With her personality, where her emotions were so evident on her face, if she went to Chang’an, she would be bullied to death by the noble ladies of Chang’an who kept their emotions hidden.
He couldn’t help but think of the Lin Clan and his cousin from the Gu family. Both were around the same age as Miss Yan Twelve, yet he had never seen anger on their faces.
Whenever they saw him, they would offer a gentle smile. Yet, both of them wished him dead.
Thinking this, he felt that Miss Yan Twelve wasn’t that annoying after all. At least, if she disliked someone, she would express it directly.
Instead of showing kindness first and then stabbing you in the back when you let your guard down.
The dinner was prepared by the Yan family members. Fortunately, Miss Yan Twelve didn’t cook herself. Jin Sui had experienced her dim sum and soup, which were truly inedible.
However, she personally served a bowl of rice and handed it to Jin Sui, “Your Highness, please try it. Twelve cooked it personally.”
Jin Sui smiled and accepted, but only ate the dishes, not daring to taste the rice for a long time. Until Baozhu, who was serving the dishes, quickly whispered to him,
“Your Highness, please don’t worry. Miss only scooped the rice and put it in the pot; the rice was steamed by this servant.”
Jin Sui immediately nodded in relief. He could understand that in those days, when young ladies cooked, they considered it personally made if they just threw some rice into the pot.
It should have been like this long ago! If you had put the pastries in a box and added water to the soup pot, what you ‘personally’ made wouldn’t have been so unpalatable.
He took a bite, and it wasn’t undercooked. He exaggeratedly praised, “This is cooked so well! Your Highness has never eaten such fragrant and soft rice!”
Miss Yan Twelve smiled, her eyes curving. Gu Changxiao looked at Jin Sui beside him in surprise. Does young Daoist Ji praise so extravagantly when trying to please a woman?
Miss Yan Twelve then served Jin Sui a chicken leg, “Your Highness, try this. This is my… personally served!”
Jin Sui suppressed a laugh, “It smells so good! It’s so happy to eat with Miss Yan.”
Gu Changxiao glanced at another chicken leg. Miss Yan Twelve was quick-witted and put the other one into Jin Sui’s bowl as well:
“Your Highness has worked hard all day. Please eat more to replenish your strength.”
Jin Sui smiled and offered the chicken leg to her, “You were frightened today too, you need to replenish your strength.”
Miss Yan Twelve was deeply moved, “Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. Twelve is very happy.”
Gu Changxiao held his bowl. Should I leave now?
Jin Sui beckoned him again, “Hurry up and eat, Brother Gu. After eating seafood congee for several days in the East Sea, let’s change the taste today.”
“Brother Gu? Your Highness, isn’t he your Personal Guard?” Miss Yan Twelve asked in surprise.
Jin Sui smiled, “Lord Gu saved my life. We are as close as brothers, and we call each other brothers in private.”
Miss Yan Twelve looked at Gu Changxiao, “How can this be! Your Highness is magnanimous, but you should also refuse. How can you call yourself brothers with Your Highness!”
Gu Changxiao didn’t indulge her at all, “This has nothing to do with Miss Yan, does it?”
Miss Yan Twelve was momentarily speechless. She bared her teeth at him and suddenly thought of a counterattack, “These dishes were prepared by me for Your Highness. You are not allowed to eat them.”
Gu Changxiao rolled his eyes at her, suddenly feeling that arguing with a spoiled young lady like this was a waste of time and very boring.
He put down his bowl and said, “I don’t want to eat either! Your Highness, I’ll go look at the blueprints first. You eat slowly.” With that, he got up and left.
Jin Sui didn’t chase after him. She continued to smile and accompany Miss Yan Twelve for dinner. If the boss gets angry, she can persuade him later in private. How could she offend the big client, the money god!
Between the big boss and the money god, this worker knows who is more important.
Moreover, she felt that this kind of interaction between Gu Changxiao and Miss Yan Twelve was quite good. At least Gu Changxiao wasn’t so arrogant as to ignore Miss Yan Twelve!
Many novels feature male and female protagonists who initially dislike each other, the bickering couple type.
Tomorrow, when I take them hunting in the borderlands, I’ll let Gu Changxiao realize that Miss Yan is not just a spoiled young lady; she is capable both in literary and martial arts.
I’ll also let Miss Yan see Gu Changxiao’s strengths. When their identities are swapped back later, and she knows Gu Changxiao is the real Li King, with this shared experience, the two might just end up together!
From then on, the Li King and the Yan family will join forces to make the border city prosperous, and the small businesses I cooperate with the Yan family on will also grow bigger and stronger.
Young Daoist Ji will do nothing and live the life of a rich tycoon.
Hehe, Jin Sui thought more and more happily, repeatedly serving dishes to Miss Yan Twelve, “Eat quickly, Miss Yan. Eat well and sleep well. Tomorrow morning, we’ll go play in the borderlands.”
Miss Yan Twelve recalled the time she ran to the borderlands and was bitten by a snake, then found and rescued by the Prince.
Her face turned red with shyness, and she nodded shyly. The meal was enjoyed by all.
After dinner, Miss Yan Twelve suggested a walk. Jin Sui happily agreed. Accompanied by Han Xing, the three of them strolled under the moonlight and finalized the hunting plans for the next day.
After the walk, Miss Yan Twelve still didn’t want Jin Sui to leave. She said she had sold another twenty copies of the 《Thirty-Six Stratagems》, but everyone said they wanted the Prince’s signature.
Jin Sui asked and learned that the two treasures the Li King displayed at the Treasure Contest, the Seven Colors Lamp and the Treasure Mirror, had won first and second place respectively.
The gentry young masters and ladies of Yandi were all spreading rumors that the Li King had many treasures. If it weren’t for the fear that the border city would be too chaotic after the battle with the Tartars, they would have long ago wanted to come to the border city to visit the Li King.
However, while other treasures in the Li King’s possession were unobtainable, the military strategy books priced at a hundred taels each could be bought. But a hundred taels for a book was still a bit expensive. However, with the Prince’s seal and signature, it would be different.
Jin Sui readily agreed and immediately took twenty copies. She was about to use Jun Yanqing’s personal seal, but Miss Yan Twelve stopped her, “Everyone wants the personal seal of Li, the Boundless King.”
Jin Sui burst out laughing, not expecting that ancient people could be so abstract and actually like such a bizarre personal seal.
If Gu Changxiao changes back to his own personal seal in the future, and they can no longer see ‘Li, the Boundless King,’ will they be disappointed?
“Bring the money from selling the books next time.”
“Don’t forget Miss Yan’s share!”
Miss Yan Twelve’s eyes darted, “I don’t want a share. I want something else, is that okay, Your Highness?”
Jin Sui spread her hands, “Of course! Tell me, I’ll give you anything this Prince has!”
Her share was as much as two hundred taels! Apart from things from my space, even if you added the house the Li King was currently living in, it wouldn’t be worth two hundred taels!
Saved again! I’m truly an unremarkable money-saving genius!
Miss Yan Twelve rested her chin on her hands, smiling adorably, “I want the first prey Your Highness catches tomorrow.”
Jin Sui generously agreed, “What is that? Everything this Prince catches tomorrow will be at Miss Yan’s disposal.”
Coaxing Miss Yan Twelve happily to go to sleep, Jin Sui then returned to the thatched hut.
She didn’t forget to bring Gu Changxiao two large flatbreads. Seeing him still looking at the hand crossbow blueprint under the lamp, Jin Sui handed him the bread and smiled,
“Don’t rush, keep improving it slowly. You didn’t eat enough for dinner, did you? Come, let’s have a midnight snack.”
Gu Changxiao looked at her, “Don’t you need to accompany Miss Yan anymore?”
Jin Sui felt his tone made her skin crawl, “Why are you being so sarcastic? I know you don’t like Miss Yan now, but she’s the money god of our border city!”
“She came all this way and brought us ten thousand taels of silver. What’s wrong with me lowering myself to please her? Are you saying I’m losing the Li King’s face?”
Gu Changxiao suddenly grabbed a flatbread and took a big bite, feeling as if he was being unreasonable.
He had never felt this emotion before; it was new and he hated it.
Whenever he was with young Daoist Ji, he couldn’t control his emotions, as if he had fallen ill.
He clutched his chest. Should he find a doctor?
Jin Sui saw him obediently eating the bread and smilingly pointed to the tea stove in the corner. She changed to coal balls to heat the tea. The tea was black tea from her space, and adding some sugar made it perfect with the flatbread.
Gu Changxiao couldn’t help but look at young Daoist Ji, who was drinking tea with his eyes squinted. He felt that if they just sat there like this, he would be unable to stop himself from overthinking.
He spread out the blueprint again and discussed the improvements to the hand crossbow with Jin Sui.
They chatted until the moon was high in the sky. When Jin Sui was so sleepy she was about to fall asleep, she noticed that Gu Changxiao’s usual small couch was gone.
Gu Changxiao wanted to go out and look for it, but Jin Sui pulled him back, “Forget it. Where can we find it in the middle of the night? We’ve slept in an open-air shed by the seaside before. The conditions in this room are definitely better than a shed!”
As she spoke, she rolled up one of her clothes to make a pillow, placed the only pillow at the other end, and smiled, imitating Zhou Yu’s tone:
“It’s been a while since I slept on the same bed as Zi Yi. Tonight, we’ll sleep with our feet touching.”
After saying that, she rolled to the inner side of the bed and fell asleep within moments, hugging the quilt.
Gu Changxiao stood by the bed, looking at the sleeping young Daoist Ji, and didn’t move for a long time.
He hesitated between being sentimental and looking for the small couch or going out to sleep in the haystack, or frankly sleeping with young Daoist Ji with their feet touching.
He wasn’t afraid of what others would think. He felt he couldn’t overcome the hurdle in his heart. Young Daoist Ji was simple-minded and completely unguarded towards him, while he…
In the end, Gu Changxiao lay down on the bed.
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