19
The next day, Xie Zhengjie woke up a little later than usual.
The night before, he attempted to resume his cultivation.
The young man used a portion of his energy to examine the structure of his body, confirming that his spiritual cultivation had significantly depleted.
The main cause was the depletion of his spiritual energy, not the physical structure that supported it.
It was akin to water in a cup: if the cup was too small, it couldn’t hold much water; if the cup had cracks, water would seep out.
However, with his current lower cultivation stage, he couldn’t fully verify the extent of the issues.
Only with higher cultivation power could he uncover more profound problems.
Previously, he preferred staying in the room because a quiet and safe environment was crucial for his training.
Under current circumstances, Chen Linyao’s bedroom provided the best conditions for him.
At 7 a.m., the young man finally woke up.
Earlier, he’d heard the sounds of movement outside the bedroom, indicating that that woman had woken up before him.
There was the sound of water running and the rustling of clothes against skin.
He began to feel that living together might be getting too risky.
What if, while, the prince like him, dressing after a bath, she overheard the sound of his clothes brushing against his skin and got the wrong idea?
That would surely be a major issue.
Xie Zhengjie waited until the sounds outside subsided.
Soon after, the sound of the door opening came, and then everything went silent.
Exiting the bedroom, the young man found that she had indeed left, but she had left numerous notes behind.
On the door, she’d hung his outfit for the day, neatly ironed and wrinkle-free.
On the dining table sat a large plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes, accompanied by a note instructing him to divide it into two meals.
In the bathroom, there were notes about where to hang his towel and place his laundry.
Around the apartment, many things were labeled with notes, including her peculiar device from the night before, which bore a stern warning: Do not touch under any circumstances.
Xie Zhengjie began to think seriously.
When did she figure out that he could read?
Just then, his smartphone rang.
When he answered, it was Chen Linyao on the other end.
“Are you awake yet?”
“I’m awake.
Where are you?”
“It’s Monday, so I’m at work.
But don’t wander too far if you go out.”
“Work?
What kind of work?”
“We’ll talk about that later.”
“One more thing—when did you realize I could read?”
There was a pause on the line before Chen Linyao suddenly exclaimed, “Oh no!
I completely forgot about that!
That means you’ve already seen everything I wrote.”
“No need to worry.
I can read all of it.”
“You can?
How?”
“I bought a book yesterday to study your language, didn’t I?”
“You’re telling me you learned Chinese in just one day?!”
“How else would I have been able to read those strange messages on that device yesterday?”
“Right!
So you really figured it out in just a few hours?
That’s enviable.”
Chen Linyao then started rambling, recounting her university days, gossiping about a particularly arrogant but brilliant classmate, and imagining how that person would’ve been humbled if he had been there to study alongside them.
“I’ve arrived at work. I’ll have to hang up now.”
The call abruptly ended, leaving Xie Zhengjie somewhat bewildered.
He felt there was something wrong with this dynamic.
Why did he have to listen to her talk so much without responding?
This didn’t seem right.
Back in his kingdom, only courtesans in taverns or brothels were expected to listen to someone prattle on without engaging in the conversation.
Of course, he had merely heard of such customs and never partaken in them himself.
He felt as though his status had been significantly diminished.
At the very least, there should have been some interaction in a conversation.
Glancing at Chen Linyao’s number on his phone, he decided to make a call.
The dial tone rang a few times before Chen Linyao answered.
“Do you need something?”
“I was just testing it out.”
“Oh, then I’ll hang up.”
After the call ended, Xie Zhengjie dialed her number again.
“What is it now?”
“I was curious if you’d answer every time.”
“Listen, if it’s not important, don’t call me. I’m at work. If it’s not urgent, just send me a WeChat message. I’ll teach you how to use WeChat when I get home tonight.”
She hung up again, but Xie Zhengjie found the experience somewhat amusing.
He stared at the phone number in his hand.
Hmm, better stop for now.
Xie Zhengjie ate his meal while casually watching television, as had become his habit.
A commercial about the imperial palace and rolls of white paper caught his attention.
For a while, the young man sat watching the back-and-forth scheming between the Empress Dowager and the Empress in the advertisement.
It oddly reminded him of the rivalries between his own imperial mother and grandmother.
Could it replace the embroidered cloths used to present respects to the Empress Dowager?
Such nonsense in advertisements.
And what was that?
Using the white paper to make prints of the fish the Emperor caught?
And another one—did its stickiness really reflect desserts floating among the clouds?
Xie Zhengjie was entranced.
The white paper roll seemed capable of resolving conflicts between the Empress Dowager and the Empress in astonishing ways.
Its multipurpose use intrigued him to the point of wanting a roll for himself.
But right now, he had no money.
The Crown Prince of Xie pondered seriously.
It seemed that, regardless of where one was, money remained essential.
If he could, he would buy spiritual herbs to exchange for precious gemstones to bring back.
However, when he had entered the cave beneath the mountain—a mechanism resembling the ancient structures he encountered in Xie’s borderlands—he realized his current cultivation level was too low to activate it again.
In the imperial palace, funds were allocated for his use.
Even during his studies, he relied on bartering valuable items, as was customary.
Thinking about it, the quickest way to earn money was still to identify people’s desires and exchange for what they wanted.
At the academy in the Xie Kingdom, he learned that people there sought elixirs, spiritual pills, copied ancient scrolls, and enchanted weapons.
But here, he had no idea what people valued.
The people here didn’t even cultivate immortal arts.
Xie Zhengjie hesitated over whether he should focus on elevating his spiritual cultivation to concoct potions and unlock the mechanism to return to the Xie Kingdom, or find a way to make money first.
If he continued to rely on the woman he lived with, he would owe her countless debts, potentially becoming her subordinate against his will.
He didn’t find cultivation particularly difficult, but without the ability to concoct potions to accelerate his progress, it might take years to regain the level needed to produce alchemical flames.
Having tools but being unable to use them—it was truly maddening.
In the end, Xie Zhengjie decided to explore ways to earn money first.
Spending years cultivating while accumulating debts was far from ideal.
The Crown Prince of Xie turned to his smartphone again.
Typing “ways to make money,” he encountered unfamiliar terms like “working online from home for a few hours.” He had no idea what internet meant.
Moreover, the advertisements seemed suspiciously deceptive.
Could something so simple be possible?Finally, the young man decided to take the key and step outside, determined to figure out how to make money for himself.