After the two had settled their terms, Xuan Zhan spoke bluntly, “Since we’ve reached an agreement, shouldn’t you do something now?”
Jian Junyao understood what Xuan Zhan meant—he simply wanted her to arrange for some food and water.
She glanced outside at Ling Ye and the others, as well as the group of the emperor’s personal guards not far away.
“Do we need to take care of those guards too?”
Xuan Zhan replied curtly, “Their lives are none of my concern.”
Hearing this, Jian Junyao rolled her eyes. “Hah… You’re all talk. If you didn’t care about their lives from the start, why did we run out of supplies so early?”
“What do you know?” Xuan Zhan couldn’t be bothered to explain. “Just do what you’re supposed to do. Don’t worry about the rest.”
Jian Junyao wasn’t the meddling type either. Seeing that he didn’t want to say more, she decided not to press further.
Just as she was about to ask Xuan Zhan what kind of food he needed, the system voice in her mind sounded again.
[The rice has ripened. Does the host wish to harvest it?]
Hearing this, Jian Junyao couldn’t help but curl her lips into a smile, her consciousness quickly entering the Space.
Little did she know, her subtle change in expression was noticed by Xuan Zhan.
What could this woman possibly be so happy about, grinning to herself like that…
As her consciousness entered the Space, her eyes were met with a sea of golden yellow. Several hens clucked incessantly inside the fence, and five eggs lay in a nest made of straw.
Just as Jian Junyao was wondering how to harvest the rice, a dialog box popped up on the floating phone screen.
[The crops have ripened. Harvest now?]
Without hesitation, Jian Junyao selected “Yes.”
In the blink of an eye, all the rice in the field vanished.
Immediately after, another dialog box appeared.
[Does the rice need processing?]
Jian Junyao selected “Yes” again.
In the warehouse beside the field, a small mountain of white rice suddenly appeared.
Jian Junyao was overjoyed. Heaven knew how long it had been since she had seen such crystal-clear white rice.
How wonderful it would be to have a bowl of white rice!
Just as she was fantasizing about white rice, braised pork ribs, and oil-braised shrimp, another dialog box popped up.
[Harvest successful. Gained 100 experience points. When experience points reach 500, the Space can be upgraded.]
Jian Junyao now fully understood that experience points for the Space could be obtained simply by farming.
To upgrade the Space sooner, she didn’t want to waste a single moment. She quickly opened the store to purchase seeds.
The seed store was completely different from other store pages—only one link for rice seeds was available for purchase.
Jian Junyao understood that this was because her Space level wasn’t high enough yet; other seeds hadn’t been unlocked for her.
Regardless, she was more than satisfied just being able to grow rice.
After spending 100 Space Coins to purchase the seeds, selecting the system’s automatic planting option, and collecting the eggs, Jian Junyao’s consciousness returned to reality.
She saw Xuan Zhan sitting in his wheelchair, staring at her with a probing gaze.
Being stared at by such a handsome man made Jian Junyao feel a bit uncomfortable.
“Um… I just wanted to ask you, what kind of food would be appropriate?”
After all, the Space Coins exchanged for the five hundred taels of silver notes were more than enough to feed a few people. Moreover, with Xuan Zhan as a big financial backer, she could always ask for more if she ran out.
“Prepare some water, and if possible, some food. You can decide on the rest based on the current situation,” Xuan Zhan said unhurriedly.
Jian Junyao asked again, “Won’t these things I take out raise suspicion?”
Xuan Zhan frowned. This woman really had a lot of questions.
Still, he replied with a hint of impatience, “With this Prince here, you have nothing to worry about.”
That was exactly the reassurance Jian Junyao wanted.
Indeed, hearing it made her feel more confident.
Xuan Zhan only felt a flicker before his eyes, and suddenly, two large transparent bottles appeared.
Jian Junyao truly had no fear of causing trouble—she had directly purchased three 5-liter bottles of mineral water.
Immediately after, various ingredients began appearing before Xuan Zhan one after another.
White rice, white flour, cabbage, potatoes, radishes, eggs…
She had even thoughtfully bought some oil and seasonings.
Although the variety of food was quite extensive, Jian Junyao had deliberately chosen items that existed in this era, and the quantities weren’t excessive either.
She wanted to first test Xuan Zhan’s ability to legitimize these items before considering whether to bring out other types of ingredients later.
Seeing these supplies, even the well-traveled Xuan Zhan couldn’t remain entirely calm.
He had assumed this woman could only produce strange and unusual things, but he hadn’t expected her to have these as well.
Nevertheless, Xuan Zhan quickly collected his thoughts.
“Good, these will do.”
As he spoke, he pointed toward the direction where he had originally been resting.
“There are a few water pouches over there. Go fetch them.”
Jian Junyao obediently retrieved the water pouches and, without waiting for Xuan Zhan’s instruction, poured the water from the bottles into them. The remaining water was poured into other containers, and the empty bottles were all sent for recycling.
As for the food, since it had no packaging to begin with, it could simply be piled in a corner.
Xuan Zhan was quite satisfied with Jian Junyao’s actions.
This woman had a good sense of awareness.
Just as he was about to call Nanny Song back to cook, the sound of clashing weapons echoed from outside.
Immediately after, Ling Bei’s shout rang out: “Assassins! Protect the Prince!”
Xuan Zhan’s previously relaxed brow furrowed once more as he glanced at Jian Junyao.
“Stay close to this Prince.”
Her body was too weak, and Jian Junyao had no intention of showing off. She followed closely behind Xuan Zhan’s wheelchair to the doorway to observe the situation outside.
At the same time, her consciousness entered the Space, quickly browsing through the weapons interface.
After scanning through the options, Jian Junyao reluctantly spent 10,000 Space Coins to purchase an anesthetic gun.
There was no other choice—given her current financial state, buying an anesthetic gun was already a luxury.
Although the anesthetic gun couldn’t kill anyone, it was at least guilt-free to use, making it perfectly suited for her weakened condition.
Even though this man had agreed to protect her safety, in life-or-death situations, who could guarantee absolute security?
Besides, if this man ever turned against her, she would at least have a means to fight back.
Storing the anesthetic gun in the Space, Jian Junyao looked outside.
She saw Ling Ye and Ling Bei, weapons in hand, engaged in combat with a group of black-clad assailants.
The personal guards sent by the emperor had also joined the fray, but anyone with eyes could see that their efforts were merely perfunctory. If not for this, how could a mere dozen or so black-clad assailants be so brazen?
Xuan Zhan’s expression darkened, his ink-black eyes fixed intently on the scene of the battle.
Just as the Ling brothers had killed several black-clad men and clearly gained the upper hand, countless more black-clad figures came running from the distance to join the fight.
At that moment, Ling Feng and the old steward, who had gone out to search for food, also rushed back. They threw down the meager provisions they had managed to find and engaged the black-clad men in combat.
The number of black-clad men kept increasing, estimated to have reached over a hundred.
Having lacked food for days, the Ling brothers and the old steward were already physically exhausted and soon showed signs of defeat. However, the emperor’s personal guards were not faring much better. They had initially assumed these were their own people and thought they only needed to put on a show.
But that was not the case. These black-clad men, regardless of who they were, attacked with the most ruthless methods.
To save their own lives, the personal guards no longer dared to hold back.