Liyang.
A maid entered from outside the door, lowering her brows and bowing respectfully, “Your Highness, the things you requested earlier have already been prepared.”
Hearing this, Li Xi put down the silk she had been writing and drawing on, but did not lift her head, only said in a calm tone, “Go invite Young Master Chengjiao to come here.”
“Yes.”
After the maid’s reply, leaving the room, Li Xi slowly stood up, holding onto the desk, thinking to herself that she would later have two carpenters make her a small stool. In the Warring States, kneeling in this manner seemed novel at first, but after sitting for a long time, it really caused some spinal discomfort.
With that thought, Li Xi pulled aside the curtain beside her, lifted the pink object from the exposed shelf, and then directly carried it toward the outside.
Upon leaving the room, when she saw the first servant in her line of sight, Li Xi casually handed over the object, then proceeded toward the place she had told the maid to invite Chengjiao to.
—She had actively invited Chengjiao; she couldn’t fail to attend her own appointment.
Coincidentally, just as Li Xi arrived at the invitation site, Chengjiao was coming from another direction.
Seeing Li Xi, the little boy, still small in size, instantly felt his nose not being a nose, eyes not being eyes, and said in a fierce tone, “You demon woman, what do you want with me?”
Even though Li Xi had now fully demonstrated her divine abilities before everyone, firmly proving her identity as a goddess, Chengjiao still firmly believed she was someone who bewitched kings and confused the masses.
—Li Xi is not as good as she appears. She is definitely not a good person!
Recalling the previous “threats and intimidation” from Li Xi in Xianyang Palace, and remembering how he had sent people to thoroughly investigate her life history—seeing she had been utterly foolish in the past—he knew this woman was definitely suspicious. But when he reported this to his royal brother, he only received a faint, “I am aware of what you say. But precisely because of this, it only makes the goddess appear truly extraordinary, isn’t that so?” Immediately, Chengjiao’s eyes were filled with battle intent.
—During his stay in Liyang, he would definitely expose this demon woman’s fox tail and never allow her to deceive his royal brother! He swore it!
So no matter how much he was bullied by this demon woman in Liyang, the proud young prince of Qin would endure with patience and dignity!
While flames of determination burned in Chengjiao’s eyes, Li Xi, as if seeing nothing, spoke, “I have heard that Young Master has a lively and cheerful personality. Yet the royal palace is stifling. Therefore, Li Xi has specially prepared this place for your amusement.”
“…Uh?” Chengjiao, imagining himself about to be trampled like a little cabbage, was dumbfounded. This development was completely different from his expectation of being tormented to death by this female devil. He was slightly suspicious, “You are so kind-hearted?”
Li Xi curved her eyes and said softly, “Not only that, I also prepared a gift for the Young Master.”
Saying this, she turned and received the unknown pink object from her servant behind her, handing it to Chengjiao.
Seeing Li Xi soften her attitude, speak gently, and even give him a gift, the soft-hearted boy suddenly felt a bit embarrassed.
Looking at the pink thing in front of him with a pair of big ears, seemingly a cute little animal, Chengjiao asked, “Is this a rare beast you found? A pet for me?”
For some reason, he felt this object seemed… strangely familiar.
Hearing him, Li Xi suddenly showed a somewhat ambiguous smile and said, “If Young Master thinks so, it is not wrong.”
After all, this white pig was indeed specially obtained for Chengjiao. Previously, the system had acquired some energy from the first batch of players. After reserving enough for an additional 300 beta players, she exchanged part of it for some flora and fauna.
Having Chengjiao raise pigs and undergo some social hardship had been her plan from the start. After arriving in Liyang, she had instructed people to fence a large area to build a pigpen, along with planting various pig fodder.
Later, she realized that pigs in the Warring States were all black, with long maturation periods and high initial costs. So, while the system still had surplus resources, it produced a genetically strong and domineering white boar, along with some otherwise useless but extremely cheap pig fodder seeds.
Once the boar matures and is bred, it would produce many quickly growing white pigs. In one to two years, every Qin citizen could have meat at will—a luxury unimaginable to the people of the other six kingdoms.
During the Warring States, due to low productivity, commoners were lucky just to have enough to eat. Meat was a genuine luxury; many ordinary people might never have the chance to eat it in their lifetime.
Thus, when news of this spread, it would inevitably increase Qin’s population support while reducing that of the other six kingdoms.
And in doing so, Ying Zheng would naturally gain popular support.
He would suppress rebellious elements from the root.
—Once ordinary people were full, warm, and occasionally enjoyed a meat meal, who would still complain about a good life and wish to rebel against Qin?
Thinking this, Li Xi glanced meaningfully at Chengjiao, who was still deceived by her sugar-coated trap and unaware of the scheme.
She said with intent, “Young Master, take good care of this little fellow.”
Focus on raising the pig properly; don’t think about unnecessary things.
Ah, bullying an innocent, naive child—her conscience truly felt sweet.
Watching Chengjiao high-five the clean, pink little piglet, Li Xi couldn’t help but think so.
Liyang, on the city wall.
“Hey! Squid, aren’t you logging off yet? You don’t rest at all?”
Watching “Squid Eating Cats” still diligently carrying stones back and forth, Yan Samoyed, who had just logged off for a meal and returned, couldn’t help asking.
Yan Samoyed was the girl who had almost drooled over Li Xi; her game name was straightforward and unconventional, openly showing everyone she was a “face-lover.”
Hearing this, Squid Eating Cats scratched his head and replied, “Even though I’ve been playing a long time, I don’t feel tired at all; I even feel energized and could move stones for three more days and nights!”
Then he thought and added, “But Dog Bro, you’re right; I should log off for a bit.”
The nickname “Dog Bro” was given to Yan Samoyed by everyone during their time in Da Qin, because she was so obsessed with Li Xi’s (face).
He was logging off not due to fatigue; as he said, he was full of energy and could continue in-game for three more days. But as a game streamer, having discovered a game with great potential, he wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to promote it on his account and attract fans.
Squid Eating Cats logged off immediately, greeting Yan Samoyed before quickly exiting.
Back in the real world, You Yu first stretched out of habit. After doing so, he realized something unusual—the entire time he had played Da QinHe had maintained a seated posture, yet his spine and waist felt no pain.
Could it be that happiness truly makes one feel refreshed?
He felt a bit suspicious.
Then he didn’t think further, attributing it to his excitement from discovering Da Qin. He opened a document to write his gaming experience and recommendations, adding screenshots from within the game.
After an hour of work, he finished the draft and edited gameplay recordings into a simple promotional video.
He wondered if Da Qin would later enable live streaming—editing was truly tedious…
With that thought, he sent the promotional video and draft, then collapsed onto the bed behind his chair.
Had he checked online before posting, he would have seen that his treasure had become viral in just a few hours, with thousands criticizing it.
Its popularity was so high that several people accused him of being a shill right after he posted, but as a newly finished “corporate drone,” he only wanted to lie flat.
About a dozen hours later, after Da Qin was being widely criticized online, Li Xi finally learned about the public backlash caused by excessive marketing.
She casually asked, “How’s the marketing going?”
At the time, Li Xi was preparing a stone mill at Liyang, having previously had local skilled craftsmen make one so she could eat fine grains—otherwise, continuing to eat local Warring States millet would drive her crazy.
Before coming to Liyang, she had already prepared a stone mill in Xianyang to enjoy fine grains for a few days.
Stone mills were heavy and inconvenient to carry long distances. Also, she didn’t want to see her brother quickly returning to eating “rough food.” So, the Xianyang mill stayed at home.
As for why Li Xi, a respected Qin goddess, would personally grind the millstone—a laborious task—the reason was simple: she disliked how slowly the servants worked.
Since she was once foolish and her family worried about her being bullied, she trained in martial arts from childhood. With her talent, she possessed what could be called “innate divine strength,” so grinding the stone herself was no different from ordinary people crushing garlic—quick and effortless for her.
Hearing this, the system felt a little guilty and cautiously replied, [The hype was created, but I… may have accidentally… burnt Da Qin.]
“Hm?” Li Xi only lightly asked, without stopping her hands.
[It’s just…]
Under her questioning, the system confessed fully, and finally, dejectedly said, [That’s how it is. What should we do, host? Is Da Qin doomed? QAQ]
Seeing the system start crying again, Li Xi rubbed her temple, exasperated, and asked, “So, how is the energy change?”
[Uh…] The system was momentarily stumped, seemingly checking, then replied, [It increased a lot?]
Li Xi asked again, “How about the number of beta applicants?”
[Let me see… wow! Already over six thousand, host!]
She then said calmly, “As I said before, marketing is meant to attract those lacking initiative, harvesting low-quality but large-quantity energy sources.”
“Later, from those either attracted or angered by marketing, we gain deeper affection, forming a virtuous cycle. Those who truly dislike marketing weren’t the players I wanted at this stage.”
“So just review these beta applications carefully, prioritizing those with skills that can contribute to Qin’s infrastructure development.”
After all, she wasn’t running a charity; player quality mattered.
—Players build Qin, she gives them quadruple time. A mutually beneficial arrangement.
For players, this was an unprecedented 100% realistic holographic game; for her, it was the real world.
She accepted capable “Fourth Disasters” for experiments, but those who were useless in her world? The farther, the better.
[Yes, host! No problem, host!]
Hearing Li Xi, the system responded quickly, then resumed its usual brainless praise, loudly saying, [Host, you are so clever and wise! Brilliant and mighty! The system’s host is the best!]
Li Xi: “…Do more, talk less.”