The male supporting character was actually myself.

With orders issued one after another, the crew on the airship got busy, and by the time the supply ship was ready, the Cloud Dream City had been completely restored to normal.

"This works?" Jiang Chen was stunned by the other party's actions.

The broken mast was quickly replaced with a new one;

The railings were also pieced together with punk-style metal parts;

The disconnected power connector was quickly reconnected.

"Xiaobai, go see if you can find the power system and destroy it. I underestimated the level of technological development in this mission world."

Putting everything else aside, the Yunmeng family's airship manufacturing technology is truly impressive! He sincerely admired them and ordered the little white cat to do something.

As the little dumpling excitedly skipped away, Duan Lang in the waiting area below was extremely anxious.

"Sir, please help me think of a way! If I can't get on this airship, my future is in jeopardy!"

"Lord Duan, I really... The cabin manager of the Cloud Dream City said that the three seats that were just made available were all snatched up, and even the communal berths in the lowest cabin can't fit anyone!"

Duan Lang then pulled out several silver notes from his pocket and stuffed them into the handover, saying, "Just one boat ticket is all I need. I will reward you handsomely once I have safely taken up my post!"

The steward, sporting a mustache, frowned. He still wanted to climb the ranks, and he had finally managed to establish some connection with Lord Duan, hoping to get things done, but there was simply no one available on the airship…

He pondered for a moment, took the silver notes, and replied, "Lord Duan, please wait a moment. I'll take these silver notes and try again. As long as someone is willing to pay to disembark and give you their cabin, the matter will be settled."

"Thank you for your trouble, sir!" Duan Lang thanked him repeatedly, watching the other man walk towards the supply boat with an umbrella, his heart filled with anticipation.

Meanwhile, Ye Qingqing sat in her cramped bedroom, feeling sullen and unhappy.

My mother was nagging again, talking about mundane family matters and everyday life, which was really annoying to listen to.

What's even more worrying is the torrential rain tonight. I'm afraid I won't be able to run into my sweetheart on the deck tonight. I'm afraid I'll miss her and never see her again. I'm feeling anxious and uneasy.

Chapter Sixteen is Strange

"Qingqing, are you listening to me?" Madam Ye asked, her brows furrowed slightly.

Feeling guilty, Ye Qingqing casually replied, "I'm listening. Is there anything else you need, Mother?"

"You're not getting any younger, you need to carefully consider your future. You need to know what kind of husband you really need, you can't just keep thinking about those unrealistic things!"

Love and romance may seem wonderful and promising now, but economic conditions are actually more important.

I saw that storybook you used to read, something about "Young men from the Five Mausoleums vying to shower each other with gifts, countless bolts of red silk for a single song" and "The eldest daughter marries a merchant, who values ​​profit over parting."

My child, I've seen it too.

From my perspective, that story embellished with romance is just about a beautiful woman who, in her youth, indulged in a life of debauchery and being pampered by a group of men. When she got older and no longer had the advantages of youth, she could only marry an honest businessman, enjoy the stable life brought by his hard work in business, and then complain that he wasn't by her side.

So much so that he would invite a dashing scholar to his room in the middle of the night, where he would play music and sing, showing off his charm!

What does it mean to prioritize profit over separation?

She is clearly cold-hearted and ungrateful by nature!

In her youth, she indulged in pleasure, possessing the qualities to advance her career, yet she only relied on her youth. When her youth faded and she was outshone by younger women, unable to support herself, she had no choice but to hastily marry.

Do you think money grows on trees if merchants don't go out to do business and make a profit?

She's not satisfied with the comfortable life she's given. Does she expect someone to spend every day with her and then just sit around and eat her savings away?

Be practical, kid!

Ye Qingqing's expression darkened slightly upon hearing this.

The book my mother mentioned, "The Song of the Moon on the Pipa," is one of my favorite stories. The heroine in the story was born a courtesan and lived a tragic life. If she hadn't met a talented scholar who loved her, she would probably have died a miserable death.

Their beautiful love story, where they sang and played music under the moon to express their deepest feelings, became the enlightenment for their first love.

A romantic scholar and a gentle geisha, who had a life full of hardships in her pursuit of love, eventually fell in love. The scholar became the top scholar in the world, and the geisha added fragrance to his life, and they lived happily ever after. What a beautiful story!

The words that came out of my mother's mouth were so filthy.

“Think carefully about what your father was like when he was still alive,” Madam Ye advised sincerely. “When I married your father, his family was well-off and he had not yet passed the imperial examination.”

With so much studying every day and night, how could he possibly have time to spend with his newlywed wife?

Once he passed the imperial examination and was assigned a job, he became even busier. Even when you grew up and his work was less busy, how often did you see him in my room?

During the day, he discusses poetry and literature and important matters with various guests and advisors;

He would either stay overnight in the study or in the rooms of his concubines, and only two or three times a month would he stay with me.

Don't you always say that your father is a good person?

If good men are like this, then bad men are even more unpredictable!

Upon hearing this, Ye Qingqing looked at her mother with a firm gaze and replied, "Of course I know that men in wealthy families have multiple wives and concubines and are not faithful. That's why I don't want to marry Luo Jiangchen and live a life of widowhood like my mother!"

I must find a man who loves me back and who has no eyes for other women to spend my life with.

"Young Master Luo made it very clear that day, wasn't it good to be one person for life?" Madam Ye slammed her fist on the table in a fit of anger. "You ruined a perfectly good marriage yourself!"

"He's just saying it for show. Who knows if he'll end up with one concubine on one side and another on the other? He's a businessman, always on the go. He might meet a soulmate and end up staying at home. How am I supposed to know?"

Besides, I have no feelings for him, so there's no such thing as mutual affection between us.

"Ever since our family fell on hard times, I've had to shoulder everything on my own. You really don't know how difficult life has been!"

Before leaving, in order to save money, I dismissed the maids and servants who needed to be dismissed and sold them off, so that I could raise some dowry and not be looked down upon by others.

But you don't even have a maidservant by your side. After boarding the airship, you will live in the bedroom that Young Master Luo has carefully arranged, with maidservants from him serving you. You haven't experienced the hardship of having to do everything yourself.

Think about the lives and chores the servants in your family used to live; if you don't marry into a good family, you might have to do all of that yourself!

Madam Ye said bitterly, "If you can still find a wealthy family to marry into in the future, that's fine; but if you can't find one and don't even have a maid to serve you, then it will be too late for you to regret it!"

After saying that, she got up, took the kettle, and went to the kitchen to get hot water. With no one around to serve her and not wanting her unmarried daughter to do such a thing in public, Madam Ye was feeling very depressed.

As Ye Qingqing watched her mother's departing figure, and thinking about the various treatments she had received since moving to the third-class room, she gradually came to terms with it.

What if my lover's family is poor?

Judging from his clothes and appearance, he seems to be from an ordinary family. Does he have servants at home?

Do I really have to cook, do laundry, and serve tea and water all by myself?

Having been pampered since childhood, these delicate hands have never touched anything other than writing poems, composing lyrics, drawing patterns, and making needlework. They probably don't even recognize what fruits and vegetables actually look like...

Thinking about this, she couldn't help but feel anxious.

If I had asked about my lover's situation last night, I wouldn't be so clueless now!

Lost in thought and with mixed feelings, Ye Qingqing casually pushed open the window, her eyes gazing blankly at the dark, stormy sky, feeling utterly empty inside.

Just then, Duan Lang, who had finally managed to bribe a tourist to give up his bedroom by spending a large sum of money, hurriedly boarded the airship.

Although the storm was still oppressive, he felt a sense of relief and ease. With this feeling of great ups and downs, he was admiring the magnificent Cloud Dream City when he suddenly looked up and saw an open window on the upper floor where all the doors and windows were closed. A beautiful woman with a slightly melancholy air was sitting by the window.

This scene left an indelible mark on Duan Lang's mind.

The girl standing by the window in the rain, lost in thought, is like a girl filled with the fragrance and melancholy of lilacs, her eyes as poignant and dreamlike as a petal drifting through a dream and landing on her heart!

"This way, Lord Duan." The steward held up an umbrella and led him upstairs. "It took a lot of money to find an elderly lady willing to exchange rooms. She felt it was inappropriate to travel in such heavy rain, so after thinking it over, she decided to give the guest room to you, Lord Duan. She will stay overnight in Kunxia Port and wait for the weather to improve before setting off."

I privately asked the waiter to help me find a guest to exchange with, but I haven't had a chance to tell the housekeeping manager about the situation yet.

After the adults are settled, I need to hurry and tell them..."

Upon hearing this, Duan Lang hurriedly took out two more silver notes from his pocket and stuffed them into the handover. "Thank you for your trouble, sir. After you've settled things with the guest room manager, have a couple of drinks to warm yourselves up."

"Thank you, sir!" The steward smiled, his eyes crinkling. "It is my honor to do my part. This way, please."

Duan Lang, accompanied by his page carrying luggage, followed him up to the third floor and stayed in a spacious and beautiful second-class room.

Almost at the same time, in the first-class room upstairs, Jiang Chen was frowning as he compared the blueprints that Lan Jingshu had brought over with the information brought back by the soul weapon.

"Host, something terrible has happened!" The little white cat bounced back in a panic, shouting, "Oh no, oh no! The sabotage mission wasn't finished, and the Green Hat Man has boarded the ship too!"

"What?!" He stood up abruptly, looking puzzled. "That's impossible! I've already taken care of the housekeeping staff. I'll be notified immediately if there's any staff movement. How did Duan Lang get the tickets?"

The little white cat, panting, waved its paws and said, "Never mind the green-hatted man, host, there's something strange about this airship!"

Chapter Seventeen: Completely baffled

"Don't rush, tell me slowly what's strange about it?"

The little white cat rummaged through a pile of blueprints, pointed to one of them, and explained: "I have carefully examined the entire interior of the airship. Just as Miss Lan said, the Cloud Deep Dream City is a new type of airship that is a further upgrade and modification of this model of airship."

Its internal structure is quite similar to the drawing shown in the picture.

Theoretically speaking, the airship's power should be located here, right?

Seeing its furry short paws pat the drawing, Jiang Chen, who had compared the information brought back by the Soul Vessel, nodded in agreement.

"But I couldn't find anything in what used to be the engine room!"

"No fuel, no reactor, not even a hint of temperature... Host... this airship seems to have no power system at all." Even the little white cat found this conclusion too absurd, but the facts were undeniable—it really hadn't found anything.

After listening to its complete account of the entire search process, Jiang Chen was filled with questions.

Can't find the propulsion system? How does such a large airship fly?

There are no cultivators in this world!

Furthermore, while the ancient setting combined with a punk aesthetic might lead to a slightly skewed tech tree, a world without gods or magic still needs to adhere to the laws of physics.

How did the Yunmeng family manage to do that?

He controlled the Horcrux to circle inside the airship several more times, but still couldn't find a power source.

Jiang Chen thought he should ask Lan Jingshu; perhaps she knew the secret.

"Miss, apart from the head steward and the four guards who swore to stay behind, you sent all the maids off the airship. What happened?"

Yan'er was completely baffled, feeling that when she created opportunities for them to be alone, Young Master Luo must have said something terrible.

Ever since she gave Young Master Luo a brief tour of the airship's interior, the young lady has been restless, as if something big is about to happen.

Looking at the Radiant Rabbit peacefully eating vegetables in its cage, Lan Jingshu said with unease, "The number of emergency airships on the Cloud Deep Dream City is far from sufficient, which is a huge safety hazard."

In case of any unforeseen circumstances, I'm afraid...

"An emergency airship?" Yan'er looked blank. "Didn't Master say that the Cloud Deep Dream City was an unsinkable airship that would usher in a new era of airships?"