In a chaotic and famine-stricken era, I picked up an empress to be my wife.

Even with the moisture obscuring her figure, Dugu Meng's perfect figure was still clearly visible.

An unprecedented visual shock struck, causing Shen An's eyes to widen instantly and even his breath to stop.

Eyes facing each other.

Dugu Meng had no idea he would come in.

She only cried out in surprise when a mouse suddenly darted out.

After a brief moment of shock, she clutched her chest and squatted down, exclaiming, "Ah! How did you get in? Get out!"

Shen An then seemed to snap out of a daze and quickly turned around, saying, "I... I thought..."

"Stop talking and get out!"

Dugu Meng speaks extremely fast.

Shen An didn't explain further, pushed the door open and went out, closing it behind him.

With a "snap," the door slammed shut.

Once again, Dugu Meng was alone in the bathroom.

The initial panic gradually subsided, replaced by a complex feeling that was hard to describe.

In the past, her true gender would have been her greatest secret; whoever knew would die, let alone if her body was seen, in which case she would have executed the entire family.

But this time…

She expected to be furious, but apart from panic, she felt no anger at all.

She didn't understand why she was like this!

She didn't like this feeling, but she couldn't control it.

She stayed in the bathroom for almost half an hour before coming out.

Shen An was still waiting outside. When he saw her come out, he immediately stepped forward, scratching his head and explaining, "Just now, I..."

"Nothing happened just now. You've been running around all day, you must be tired. Get some rest."

Dugu Meng interrupted him, her tone tinged with coldness.

After saying that, she went back into the house and closed the door.

Shen An stood in the courtyard, staring at the door, frozen in place.

While waiting outside, he went through all the possibilities he could think of.

After Dugu Meng came out, she turned against him, beat him up, made him take responsibility, and even wanted to kill him.

He had even decided that if she asked him to take responsibility, he would agree.

He never expected her to say, "Nothing happened."

But this is for the best.

Their social statuses were worlds apart, so why would she care about his sense of responsibility?

But he has his own principles.

Now that he'd seen her body, even if she wouldn't let him take responsibility, he had to do something.

In the past, I helped her mainly because of her status, thinking that she might be useful in the future.

Things are different now. No matter who she is, he has to help her regain her freedom and escape danger to make his efforts worthwhile.

Neither of them slept soundly that night, tossing and turning, the image of the bathroom constantly replaying in their minds.

When Shen An woke up the next day, it was already broad daylight.

He pushed open the door and saw Shen Xiaoqi squatting in the yard, eating the snacks he had brought from Qingping County the day before, his cheeks bulging out.

At this moment, Dugu Meng also came out.

Shen An's heart tightened as she pondered how to greet him in order to ease the awkwardness of yesterday.

Dugu Meng strode up to Shen Xiaoqi, pointed at his nose, and said, "You, Shen Xiaoqi, you've finished eating, what am I supposed to eat? Your brother must have bought it for the two of us!"

"Hehe, this is delicious! I saw you guys weren't eating it, so I ate it myself!"

Shen Xiaoqi chuckled and stuffed the food into her mouth.

"Don't eat it! Don't eat it!"

"I'll eat, I'll eat!"

Dugu Meng chased Shen Xiaoqi all over the yard.

Shen An stood under the eaves, watching, and the tension that had been building up all night slowly eased.

He took out another portion from inside the house: "Dugu Yue, here's your snack."

Dugu Meng then stopped, took the oil paper package, and said, "You're thoughtful to save some for me, otherwise your brother would have eaten them all!"

After saying that, Dugu Meng opened the door and stood in the courtyard eating slowly, as if nothing had happened last night.

After she finished eating, she even asked, "Did your trip to Qingping County go smoothly yesterday?"

"It's alright. The goods have already been tested by someone. I'll go back in two days. The deal should go through," Shen An said.

"So what's next?"

"The hair we have in this mass grave is limited. After we reached an agreement with the other party, we can't supply it in large quantities, and we can't expand the scale."

Ma Tianming hasn't given me control of the other mass graves yet; I have to go out and collect the dead people's hair myself.

"Where can we collect it?"

"Black Six's stronghold, and four other mass graves, they all have resources there," Shen An replied.

Dugu Meng frowned slightly: "Hei Laoliu beat up one of our men last time, is it alright to go find him?"

"I'm going to do business with him and help him make money, not cause him trouble. What's wrong with him?" Shen An said, glancing at the sun. "But before that, I need to make another batch of gas masks."

Dugu Meng heard a new word she had never heard before.

But unlike before, after being repeatedly proven wrong, she no longer questioned it much. Instead, she became interested, even expectant: "Gas mask? What's that?"

"The main reason why corpse carriers don't live long is that they inhale the stench of the dead and contract diseases."

"These masks can block most of the corpse aura. I have three of them ready-made; I can show them to you."

As Shen An spoke, he went into the side room and rummaged through it for a while.

Dugu Meng's heart skipped a beat.

Aside from the fact that she had never heard of the function of gas masks, she also believed that Shen An made gas masks for the sake of the lives of those corpse carriers.

How many people in this world possess such a broad mind?

In fact, Shen An did not have such a saintly idea.

He didn't care about the lives of anyone except Old Zhao.

The reason Shen An made them gas masks was because he considered them as his first batch of subordinates. Naturally, he wanted them to live longer so that they would be grateful to him, follow him wholeheartedly, and serve him!

Soon, Shen An took out three simple gas masks.

This was made on the seventh day after he arrived in this place. The two were ones that he and Shen Xiaoqi had used before, but a month ago Ma Tianming saw them and said they were ugly and indecent, forcing them not to use them.

The other one was for Old Zhao, who never believed that this thing could prevent disease and had never worn it.

Dugu Meng looked at the object, which was made of coarse linen, with a closed top, two holes for the eyes, and a thicker area around the mouth and nose than the rest.

She turned it over and over but still couldn't figure it out: "How does this thing block the aura of death?"

Shen An turned the mezzanine over to show her: "It's the third layer inside here."

The outermost layer is coarse cloth, soaked in vinegar and wine, which can block out dirt from the outside.

The middle layer is made of charcoal powder mixed with lime and dried mugwort. The charcoal powder absorbs foul air, the lime neutralizes toxins, and the mugwort dispels miasma.

The innermost layer is made of thin linen, which clings to the skin.

After three layers, most of the corpse odor couldn't enter the mouth and nose.

After listening, Dugu Meng didn't understand the underlying principles, but it made a lot of sense, and she felt an even stronger desire to learn more about Shen An.

She finally couldn't hold back anymore.

She asked, "Shen An, this gas mask, charcoal, crossbow, and that solar water heater are all things I've never heard of before. Where did you learn them from?"