“Your Highness.”
Shen Shangling’s expression was practically cracking, “I can do it myself. I wouldn’t dare trouble Your Highness to wait.”
“It’s not waiting, this Prince is going too,” Lu Xiao said as he began pulling back his inner garment, “By the way.”
Shen Shangling: “!”
He hurriedly turned his face away, feeling powerless to (complain) in his heart.
What had he just seen? When Lu Xiao pulled back his clothes, right against his thin lower undergarment, he could see such a bulging area… He even doubted whether this guy was normal.
He seriously needed to wash his eyes.
Lu Xiao let out another light snort, then efficiently finished his business. Casting a glance at Shen Shangling and seeing that he was stubbornly twisting his neck to look aside, seemingly blushing a little under the dim lamplight, he couldn’t help raising an eyebrow.
“Aren’t you coming?”
Lu Xiao let out a hum and said, “We’re both men, what on earth are you shy about?”
Saying this, his tone sank, “Hurry up!”
Shen Shangling was shaken by his overbearing tone. Gritting his teeth, he also lifted his clothes.
Living under someone else’s roof, one has to bow one’s head; besides, he really couldn’t hold it in anymore.
“Your Highness,”
However, lacking the thick-skinned nature Lu Xiao had cultivated from piles of corpses in the military camp, Shen Shangling tried to struggle, “Would Your Highness mind turning around? Don’t stain Your Highness’s eyes.”
Lu Xiao let out a hum. Looking at his flushed, purplish face and holding him with one hand, he still turned halfway around.
Shen Shangling quickly finished his business.
Because the room was dead silent, the sound of the relieving process made things exceptionally awkward. Once Shen Shangling finally finished, he felt as though his face was burning up.
“Done yet?”
Figuring he must be done, Lu Xiao asked directly and turned around.
Shen Shangling’s hand trembled; failing to grip the drawstring of his underpants properly, the trousers instantly slid down from his hands.
The ancients didn’t wear little underpants, so he was instantly bared from the waist down. Fortunately, the upper part of his inner garment was rather long, covering most of his buttocks and blocking the areas that ought to have been pixelated.
Shen Shangling: “…”
Panicking and flustered, he bent over to grab his pants.
He made up his mind: the moment he got his pocket money, he would immediately find someone to make a pair of short trunks to wear.
Because he was in too much of a rush, the more anxious he got, the more mistakes he made. His sprained foot was originally dangling limply, and when he suddenly squatted down to grab his pants, he immediately lost his balance.
Shen Shangling felt a sharp pain shoot through his ankle, and his entire body tilted to the side.
Lu Xiao grabbed him by the scruff, supporting his armpits with both hands, and hoisted him right back up just like carrying a cloth doll.
“Th-… Thank you, Your Highness.”
Numb to the point of numbness from awkwardness.
Fortunately, Lu Xiao didn’t say anything more. After dumping him back onto the couch with a cold snort, he turned around and walked back to his side.
Shen Shangling slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, quietly pulling up the underpants piled around his ankle bit by bit and settling them right.
After lying back down, Lu Xiao had a bit of insomnia as well: Every time he closed his eyes, he saw that pair of long, white, gleaming legs Shen Shangling had exposed. Clearly, he had never paid attention to a man’s physique before… This Shen Shangling was truly nothing short of a goblin.
But it didn’t matter. Once in the palm of his hand, if he was a tiger he’d have to crouch, and if he was a dragon he’d have to coil.
Perhaps the food he ate last night had too much heat-inducing potency…
Lu Xiao frowned. In the past, aside from revenge, he had never felt such a surging fever in his chest. Perhaps it was because he had just been reborn, and many things needed an outlet for release?
Lu Xiao tossed and turned, frowning as he slid his hand beneath himself.
It was a long while before he let out a breath of relief.
Early the next morning, just as the sky was turning pale, Shen Shangling woke up.
In Lu Xiao’s study, he naturally couldn’t sleep soundly, but more importantly, he had things on his mind. Yesterday during the break while lecturing to everyone in the west pavilion, he heard Wen Qintan chatting idly with the other two men about some matters concerning Fuzhou.
Fuzhou was not only short of money, but also short of grain.
This kind of grain shortage wasn’t a short-term shortage; rather, because Fuzhou bordered the northern frontier, population reduction there had been exceptionally severe due to successive years of war. Later on, after Lu Xiao’s fief was transferred there, although things had stabilized quite a bit, population drain couldn’t be alleviated overnight.
Lacking a labor force and with few draft oxen, farming and land reclamation by the elderly, the weak, women, and children was extremely difficult.
He had also gathered from the conversation that Fuzhou wasn’t originally the Prince of Dingbei’s fief. Later on, the old emperor played a trick, swapping the Prince of Dingbei’s previously relatively prosperous fief for the impoverished and desolate Fuzhou. Furthermore, the old emperor gave some sort of decree implying that this time the Prince of Dingbei’s fief absolutely could not be changed and was fixed in Fuzhou.
In other words, right now Fuzhou truly counted as the foundation of Lu Xiao’s power.
At this thought, Shen Shangling rubbed his face.
Figuring that Lu Xiao probably wasn’t awake yet, he didn’t dare make a sound, only quietly moving over to the side table, taking up brush and paper to prepare himself: He intended to try and recall the blueprint of the “quenched-shaft plow” (curved-shaft plow).
When they were talking yesterday and heard Wen Qintan and the others discuss the grain shortage in Fuzhou, he had tentatively asked about farming and roughly understood that here in Great Yin, the common people were still using something resembling a straight-shaft plow.
He had once participated in a niche variety show, back when he was obscure. At that time, he had come into contact with some history related to this field and had glanced at the blueprint of that curved-shaft plow. Otherwise, he really wouldn’t have known how to make one.
Shen Shangling closed his eyes, concentrating to recall.
He had to admit that the hypermnesia state after spiritualization was still very useful in this regard. Amidst a wave of headache, he quickly located the clear blueprint of the curved-shaft plow within the jumbled, massive ocean of his memories.
Enduring the pain to pick up his brush, he swiftly sketched it out on paper according to the blueprint.
Once he stopped his brush, Shen Shangling pinched the bridge of his nose—his head hurt, and he felt dizzy.
The moment it hurt, his eyes grew slightly sore as well.
“What are you doing?”
At that moment, Lu Xiao’s voice suddenly rang out from the doorway.
Startled, Shen Shangling looked over and discovered that Lu Xiao was coming in from outside.
This guy woke up even earlier than him?
When did he even get up? He hadn’t heard a peep of it.
However, he quickly noticed that Lu Xiao’s clothes were soaked with sweat, his forehead was sweating too, and steam was radiating off his entire body.
Clearly, early in the morning, this warrior prince must have gone to the mansion’s small parade ground for morning exercise.
His vitality was truly formidable.
While Shen Shangling was stunned in this daze, Lu Xiao had already walked up to him, feeling just like an extra stove brought close to his side.
“This is-”
A look of surprise showed in Lu Xiao’s voice, “A plow?”
“Your Highness can call it a curved-shaft plow,”
Recovering his wits, Shen Shangling hurried to explain, “Hearing Lord Wen and the others mention plows yesterday, I remembered seeing a new type of plow in some miscellaneous book before. But I’m just copying the gourd according to the model; I don’t really understand these things deeply, and I have no idea if this thing is actually useful.”
“Miscellaneous books?”
Lu Xiao smiled faintly, his expression unreadable.
Shen Shangling pressed his lips together. Although this excuse had already been worn out, he didn’t have any other alibis.
Fortunately, Lu Xiao didn’t press the matter at all, immediately ordering someone to summon Wen Qintan over.
Wen Qintan arrived promptly. At first, he looked somewhat puzzled, but upon seeing the blueprint in Lu Xiao’s hand, his fox-like eyes immediately widened considerably.
“A plow?”
Wen Qintan said in astonishment, “A new type of plow?”
Having spent years in Fuzhou, he was thoroughly versed in all matters concerning the region. Unlike Lu Xiao, who wasn’t very familiar with agricultural implements, after a brief moment of thought, he immediately perceived the brilliant advantages of this new-style plow.
“This, this?”
Wen Qintan’s expression clearly stirred with excitement, “Cold Water, did you draw this?”
Lu Xiao frowned and corrected him: “Call him Snow Demon.”
Wen Qintan: “Snow Demon, where did you see this?”
Shen Shangling fell silent for a moment, repeating the excuse he had given Lu Xiao earlier.
Hearing this, Wen Qintan narrowed his eyes, but just like Lu Xiao, he didn’t question further. He had originally thought that being able to produce the method for making hibiscus soap and teaching those concise and clear “formulas” was already extraordinary enough; who would have thought that overnight, this person would deliver yet another such massive surprise.
“I thank you on behalf of the people of Fuzhou,” Wen Qintan gave a deep bow, “What is this item called?”
“Curved-shaft plow,” Shen Shangling replied hastily.
Seeing Wen Qintan’s solemn appearance, his own heart stirred as well. The reason he was in such a rush to bring this out was also because he heard yesterday about the people of Fuzhou suffering from hunger… He had a soft heart, and the moment he heard it, he wanted to be able to help immediately.
In the past, his manager often mocked him for being a “Saint Mother” (overly altruistic), saying that what he earned in the entertainment industry wasn’t even as much as his private donations every year.
He felt that he was gay and didn’t plan on getting married or having children; although he didn’t interfere with his family’s business, the annual dividends were quite substantial. He didn’t lack money, and he wanted to spend any extra money however he pleased. Donating money made him willing, and helping people made him happy.
Right now, he was feeling quite happy.
At this moment, seeing Wen Qintan affirm the utility of the curved-shaft plow and knowing it could help, Shen Shangling couldn’t help curving his lips in joy, the corners of his brows and eyes suffused with smiles.
Wen Qintan looked deeply at him, then cast a sly smile toward Lu Xiao before hurriedly leaving the study with the blueprint of the curved-shaft plow in hand. He needed to immediately consult with his subordinates and secretly commission craftsmen to trial-produce the plow’s functions first.
“What reward do you want?”
Once Wen Qintan left, Lu Xiao swept his gaze over Shen Shangling’s bright eyes and asked with evident good cheer.
“The monthly allowance Your Highness promised last time hasn’t been given yet,” Shen Shangling tactfully reminded him, then tentatively bargained for another reward, “If Your Highness is really going to reward me this time, please reward me with setting up a small kitchen in that courtyard.”
The mansion’s main kitchen would never allow idlers to wander in casually. Even if he had money to buy some ingredients, he needed a small kitchen where he could work his magic.
At the thought of this, he grew somewhat impatient: He really wanted to cook a private meal for himself.
“This Prince will have someone send the monthly allowance to you right away,” Lu Xiao was clearly choked for a moment, speaking only after a pause, “As for the matter of the small kitchen, this Prince grants it as well, and will order people to clean one up for you immediately.”
Shen Shangling immediately set his mind at ease.
His foot hadn’t fully healed yet, so for the next few days, Lu Xiao ordered him to stay in the study. Fortunately, Shen Shangling noticed that although Lu Xiao’s tone was sometimes harsh, he had no intention whatsoever of genuinely tormenting him.
Moreover, Lu Xiao was apparently very busy, rising early and returning late. He and Lu Xiao hardly had much time to spend together, which allowed Shen Shangling to relax considerably.
As for the lectures in the west pavilion, Lu Xiao stopped attending after the first day. Shen Shangling wasn’t surprised, since this guy was plotting treason, he probably had tons of things to handle behind the scenes.
On the other hand, Wen Qintan brought several new people over after listening on the first day. Suddenly, there were seven or eight “students” in Shen Shangling’s “classroom.”
The blackboard had been made long ago; the moment Shen Shangling used it, those “students'” eyes all lit up, clearly seeing that this thing saved a tremendous amount of paper and brushes.
Once his foot healed, Shen Shangling tactfully requested to return to the small courtyard. This time Lu Xiao didn’t say anything, readily giving his permission.
After finishing the lecture in the west pavilion that day, Shen Shangling went straight back to his small courtyard without wasting a single second. The small kitchen in the courtyard had already been set up for him.
Upon returning to the courtyard, he first brewed a pot of clear tea. Speaking of tea, he had to complain—the tea in this Great Yin dynasty belonged to the type resembling thick tea soup, mixed with all sorts of messy ingredients, which he truly couldn’t get used to.
“Buzz~”
The moment he poured the tea, Shen Shangling heard the familiar buzzing sound. Raising his eyes, he saw the chubby little bug flying toward him.
Shen Shangling couldn’t help smiling, holding out his hand to let the chubby bug land on his finger.
The chubby bug transmitted an emotion of excitement, causing him to raise an eyebrow: Good news?
Right at that moment, Shen Shangling noticed that the chubby bug’s two little front legs were actually clutching something the size of a millet grain.
“What is this?”
He couldn’t help asking out of curiosity. He had originally thought the good news the chubby bug transmitted earlier referred to honey in the honeycomb. Looking at this posture, could it be something else?