As a lord, I was forced to farm

Currently, the most romantic thing for the two of them is to quietly watch the sunrise and sunset on Dongtuo Island.

The floating Dongtuo Island offers a panoramic view of the entire Lingze Islands and is also an excellent spot to watch the sunset. Qi Yu was not the first person she brought to Dongtuo Island; Jiang Nancheng and Zhou Yixiao had both been to Dongtuo Island with her before. However, this was the first time they had waited from dawn until sunset.

The fiery clouds on the horizon were clearly layered, and the orange-red afterglow bathed the sea, making the shimmering water resemble a cascading galaxy.

A moment later, the last rays of the clouds gradually dimmed, and the quiet twilight slowly enveloped the area. Not far away, twinkling lights appeared on the ground, the lights of the city of Dasu. Perhaps they were not as bustling as modern lights, but each twinkling light symbolized a new beginning.

"You are already the Prince of Dasu." Qi Yu held her hand and noticed that she was walking very fast. Perhaps if he didn't work hard, one day she would overtake him and leave him behind.

Perhaps that's what love is like—a constant fear of loss, even though Qi Yu is already exceptionally good.

"Lower your head."

Qi Yu was slightly stunned, then obediently lowered his head. The soft touch bloomed on his lips, then vanished in an instant.

Jiang Ran's eyes were smiling, maintaining a calm, solemn, and gentle demeanor. "When I become emperor, I will marry you."

The silvery moonlight bathed the man's slightly lowered head. Qi Yu suddenly pulled Jiang Ran into his arms, his handsome face nestled against the side of her neck. His deep voice sounded somewhat muffled as he asked, "Then when will you become the Emperor of Da Su?"

"ASAP."

……

Qi Yu's appearance at the Jiang residence, where he seemed to be behaving intimately with the Prince, caused a slight excitement among the Jiang family's servants, especially Chief Steward Li Fusheng.

He had seen this handsome, god-like man before, and he was somewhat excited then, but the atmosphere between them wasn't as ambiguous as it is now.

Steward Li was somewhat excited. Seeing that His Highness the Prince was not present, he respectfully poured a cup of spiritual tea for him and bowed slightly to ask Qi Yu, "Young Master Qi, when will you and His Highness the Prince have a son?"

"Cough cough." Qi Yu choked on his tea, covering his mouth, a faint blush spreading across his usually cold and handsome face.

"Manager Li, go and take inventory of the warehouse. Don't just stand here." Jiang Ran lifted the curtain, raised her eyes, and lazily glanced at the busybody.

Steward Li was somewhat embarrassed. "Yes, Your Highness, I'll go right away."

Jiang Ran handed Qi Yu a handkerchief to wipe the water off his body, poured him another cup of tea, and shook her head, "Manager Li and the others just like to meddle in these things, don't take it to heart."

Qi Yu nodded. In fact, he understood. Aunt Qi and Uncle Feng were similar, after all, the Qi family had only one son per generation for several generations and had few members.

This world is too chaotic; it's not surprising that something could happen at any moment. The weak are left bewildered and helpless. Perhaps the presence of a successor could alleviate this sense of unease.

Jiang Ran and Qi Yu sat together quietly drinking tea. Suddenly, they remembered something recorded on the Map of Despair: "Legend has it that there is a sacred lotus in the Western Sea. If the essence of a man and a woman is put into it, even if the essence provider dies for ten thousand years, the lotus will still bloom and nurture the bloodline of the essence provider. Moreover, the fetus is very likely to inherit the most outstanding talent of the essence provider."

Qi Yu turned to look at Jiang Ran, his expression slightly shifting, "There is such a wondrous thing."

"Rumors in the book."

Qi Yu became more serious: "It's worth exploring."

Jiang Ran lowered her eyes and smiled faintly. Perhaps Qi Yu was facing the same dilemma as her, and did not really want to conceive a child when his career and cultivation were at their peak.

To explore the Pregnant Lotus, one needs at least a celestial ship that can withstand any storms or monsters and at least the cultivation levels of the Dan Tian and Tui Fan realms. Therefore, the two stopped their conversation here and Jiang Ran told Qi Yu that she wanted to build a palace.

"The Qi family has connections; I'll help you."

After spending half a month at Dasu, Qi Yu's injuries were completely healed. The two discreetly traveled through the teleportation array to the Qi family. Jiang Ran went to the Illusionary Burning City Secret Realm as she wished and saw some ancient formations that countless Qi family members had fought tooth and nail for.

Jiang Ran wisely avoided touching those lost and precious secret formations.

“These books on formations are mostly written in ancient script,” Jiang Ran sighed. “Then how do you plan to reconstruct these lost formations?”

"There is a dictionary of ancient characters in the clan school. With the help of this dictionary, we can roughly identify some of the ancient characters. For the rest, we guess and experiment, trying our best to restore or innovate those formations."

Teleportation arrays are one of the formations that have been passed down since ancient times. No wonder the Qi family is a prestigious family; they even have an ancient dictionary.

Jiang Ran once wanted to exchange for an ancient Chinese dictionary from the system, but it required an astonishing ten billion reputation points.

"You really want to lend me such a precious ancient dictionary? Won't the other members of the Qi family have any objections?"

Qi Yu took her hand and said calmly, "I am the head of the Qi family."

"However, ancient dictionaries should not be circulated outside the family," he cautioned.

"Understood."

……

Qi Yu led Jiang Ran to the Cloud Top Library, which was only accessible to direct descendants of the Qi family.

Nestled atop a misty mountain, the Cloud Top Library is built on a foundation of bluestone, resplendent in gold, and boasts nine stories. The library houses a rich collection of books, covering everything from astronomy and geography to ancient secrets, cultivation techniques, and the inheritance of alchemy and weapon crafting.

Jiang Ran finally saw the ancient script dictionary she had been looking for; it was very thick.

Sitting on the ground, Jiang Ran flipped through the dictionary pages rapidly, as if blown by the wind.

Qi Yu was used to it. He knew that Jiang Ran could read ten lines at a glance and had an amazing memory. He also picked up an ancient book about formations and sat down to flip through it gently.

After spending half a day in the Cloud Top Library, Jiang Ran memorized the contents of the ancient Chinese dictionary.

Afterwards, Qi Yu took Jiang Ran to enjoy the delicacies prepared by the Qi family's head chef. After lunch, Qi Yu summoned Feng Bo and explained to him that Da Su was going to build several palaces recently, and the construction of the palaces would require high-quality spirit bricks and fine spirit wood.

After learning about it, Feng Bo introduced Jiang Ran to the famous brick and tile kilns in Mingxiao City.

Feng Bo said, "The blue bricks fired in the Qingling Kiln are hard and impervious to water and fire, and can withstand the impact of large magical beasts. They have a pure color, and the walls built with them are magnificent. The mansions of the major families in Mingxiao basically all use this kind of blue brick..."

Jiang Ran naturally believed Qi Yu and Feng Bo's introduction.

The Qingling Kiln was renowned, and ordinary people couldn't even order the bricks. Thanks to the Qi family's connections, Jiang Ran sent her men to negotiate the price of the Qingling bricks with the kiln owner.

Given the size of the Eight Giant Apes, the palace built by the Da Hua family would be quite large, requiring hundreds of millions of bricks. On the market, a blue brick costs about five for one crystal, but after bargaining, Da Su managed to get it for eight for one crystal. Da Su initially ordered 500 million blue bricks, which would cost him 620,000 spirit crystals.

These 500 million bricks are definitely far from enough.

“Even repairing an empty wall costs a fortune.” Jiang Ran shook her head after receiving the bill and paid for it with the spirit crystals given to her by the Da Hua family.

Jiang Ran didn't stay at the Qi family for long.

After a month of tender time together, Qi Yu needed to go into seclusion to study the array formation manual he had brought back from Illusionary Burning City, and Jiang Ran also had many matters to attend to. (End of Chapter)