As a lord, I was forced to farm

Chapter 792 Reunion

Why was I so stupid back then? Just because my companions were mocking me, I deliberately didn't protect Jiang Nancheng. If I had at least left a contracted beast by Jiang Nancheng's side, if I hadn't been so clingy and thought that Jiang Ran would let it go because of the power behind her, would I have ended up like this?

But there are no "what ifs" anymore.

The Imperial Guards tossed her over to the teleportation array, and with a flash of white light, a disheveled Zhuang Xiangli appeared in Mingxiao City.

The Zhuang family members, who had been waiting for a long time, quickly helped her up. Seeing her disheveled state and weak breathing, they couldn't help but ask, "What did they do to you?"

Zhuang Xiangli cried out, "My cultivation is completely destroyed."

Upon hearing this, the Zhuang family members looked at her with a slight flicker in their eyes and involuntarily withdrew their hands from hers.

……

Jiang Ran's shrewd example of making an example of someone to scare the monkeys really frightened them.

Fang Qiaosheng's face was pale. If Wei Fengsheng hadn't stopped him, he would have hugged Jiang Ran's leg and cried. He immediately raised his right hand, held up three fingers, and promised, "I'm very good. Last month I refined more than a thousand spirit talismans and made a lot of money. Please don't do that to me!!!"

Others also stepped forward to show their loyalty. Gong Rong gave a fawning smile, patted his chest, and said, "I will absolutely dedicate myself to teaching at Suhong Academy!"

"Me too, Prince Dasu, if you tell me to go east, I would never dare to go west!"

What torments these geniuses more than being forced into labor is having their talents destroyed.

Jiang Ran raised an eyebrow. Although losing one of the workers was "heartbreaking" for her, it was worth it to motivate the other workers.

……

After sending back Fang Qiaosheng and others who kept pledging their loyalty, Jiang Ran looked at the territory's fiscal revenue and expenditure for the previous year.

After the year of disaster, Dasu City's economy experienced a major recovery. Not only were there bumper harvests of crops, but thanks to the cooperation of the Hundred Rivers Blue Whale, Dasu's fleets returned fully loaded every time, naturally making a fortune in the Mingxiao City and Tianchen County area.

The cooperation with Feng Chi went very smoothly. In addition to the other businesses of Qu Shui Lou and taxes, after deducting the share that Jiang Ran received personally, as well as the county's military, education expenditures, official salaries, engineering facilities and other expenditures, Da Su still had a fiscal surplus of 90 million spirit crystals last year.

The granaries were overflowing, which was a remarkable achievement for a newly established county.

Another birthday has passed, and Jiang Ran is now nineteen years old.

Meanwhile, Qi Yu, who was vying for the secret realm in Ningluo, finally received news and returned to the Land of Clouds Grief.

The day after returning to Mingxiao City, Qi Yu went to Dasu.

After more than a year apart, seeing each other again felt like a dream.

Jiang Ran carefully examined Qi Yu. He seemed to have dressed up meticulously, his style still being a crisp and neat black outfit. The fitted clothes hugged his lean and muscular abdomen, and he wore an exquisite belt with silver trim around his waist. He also wore silver wristbands inlaid with gemstones, and his long hair was tied up with a jade crown, revealing his clear and three-dimensional eyebrows and eyes. His handsome face was impeccable.

Qi Yu was also looking at her, his gentle gaze slowly tracing her face.

No matter how capable he is, Qi Yu is only in his early twenties. He and Jiang Ran had just confirmed their relationship and had to be separated for so long. Now that they are seeing each other again, he feels an indescribable sense of belonging and satisfaction. It makes his heart itch, as if a million ants are crawling all over his heart. He needs to find a way to calm this feeling.

Holding Jiang Ran's hand, their figures overlapped in the warm sunlight. Qi Yu cupped her waist, lowered his head, and gently sniffed the faint fragrance of her hair like a puppy. Their upper bodies were pressed together, separated only by a layer of clothing, amplifying their senses and transmitting their burning body heat continuously.

Jiang Ran buried her face in Qi Yu's neck, their breaths mingling. Her heart stirred slightly, and she slipped a hand inside the gap in his clothes, touching his smooth muscles.

"Hmm..." Qi Yu groaned, his ears turning slightly red, and his face showing a hint of panic.

"Injured?" From the moment Qi Yu approached, she could smell a faint scent of blood on him. Frowning, she lifted a corner of his clothes and saw a horrific wound an inch from his heart, running from his chest to his abdomen. If it had been slightly off, even Hua Tuo reborn wouldn't have been able to save him.

Qi Yu awkwardly closed his clothes. "It's nothing, just a minor injury. It's already been treated and will be fine in a few days."

Jiang Ran disagreed, saying that someone who is injured should rest and not run around. "It's one thing for you not to be careful, but Aunt Qi and Uncle Feng actually agreed to let you run around before you've even recovered?"

“They don’t know.”

"..."

So it turns out they sneaked out.

"Then you should recover from your injury here before going back to Mingxiao. You'd better tell Aunt Qi in advance so they don't worry." Jiang Ran remembered that the Qi family still had many competitors and rivals.

Qi Yu nodded obediently, a stark contrast to his usual cold demeanor.

The two chatted about their experiences and observations in recent years.

Without needing to ask further, Qi Yu stood here with a relaxed expression. The Illusionary Burning City Secret Realm, which the Qi family wanted to reclaim and which was said to contain many ancient formation manuals, had already been obtained by him.

“Besides some formations, I also have something special in Illusion Burning City that I brought with me. I think you might be interested.”

As Qi Yu spoke, he took out a seemingly cute and exquisite bronze tiger, which lay quietly in his palm. It had some rust on its body, but the gold-inlaid inscriptions and neat seams on it indicated that this seemingly broken thing had an extraordinary identity—"...This is a tiger tally?"

Jiang Ran took the bronze tiger from Qi Yu's hand, slightly taken aback.

Qi Yu nodded. "It might be something left behind by an ancient dynasty. There's only half of it here, but judging from the mortise and tenon joints, it should be the half that the monarch held."

Jiang Ran held the tiger tally, her palms slightly warm, experiencing a strange sensation.

Qi Yu: "The ancient dynasty has already fallen, this tiger tally is of no practical use..."

“...But its collectible value is priceless.” Jiang Ran put away the tiger tally and said with a smile, “Once you’ve recovered, could you take me to see Illusion Burning City? I’ve recently become interested in ancient scripts.”

Qi Yu nodded slightly.

Jiang Ran then told Qi Yu about the Void Island and took him on a tour of the Lingze Islands.

“Those eight giant apes are quite strong. We should try to spar with them sometime,” Qi Yu said.

After passing through Ning Luo's group and being on the brink of life and death, Qi Yu's cultivation also advanced by leaps and bounds. At this moment, he is at the peak of the Sea of ​​Consciousness Realm and the first level of the Profound Bone Realm.

Speaking of Wuxian, this little guy also missed Jiang Ran terribly. After being released from the spiritual realm by Qi Yu, the black sesame ball clung tightly to Jiang Ran's arms and refused to leave, meowing softly.