My Days as a God in Ancient Times
If it is said that this burly hunter knows about the water source in the deep mountains, it’s somewhat reasonable. But how could this fragile girl know about it?
"Someone, drag them out" Lan An said coldly, almost instantly concluding that these two had other intentions.
So arbitrary and overbearing!
The brother and sister were frightened. The burly man stood in front of his sister, repeatedly kowtowing and begging for mercy, "Your Highness, I really didn’t lie to you. Please send someone to inquire around my house. My ancestors have been hunters for three generations."
Chu Qiuzhe tugged at Lan An’s sleeve, "Your Highness, your suspicion is too much. They haven’t even finished speaking, and you want to throw them out?"
Lan An’s face remained cold, but he still waved his hand for the guards to leave.
"Now, tell me," Chu Qiuzhe began questioning, "How did your sister know about the water source in the deep mountains?"
Though he meant well, Chu Qiuzhe wasn’t a saint, and he didn’t believe such a small and frail girl could go into the mountains alone. However, even if these two had ulterior motives, they should at least be interrogated properly first.
Looking at the burly man’s physique, it seemed like he had some skills, but in the face of absolute power, he was still as humble as dust.
The burly man could no longer care about that. He crawled toward Chu Qiuzhe, "My sister saw it with her own eyes. Though she doesn’t remember the exact route, she remembers the general direction."
Chu Qiuzhe then turned his gaze to the girl behind the burly man, "Miss, please speak in detail. If you conceal anything, I can’t protect you. As you’ve seen, the Prince has once placed a knife on my neck."
As soon as those words fell, everyone's gaze turned to Lan An.
Lan An: "..."
The girl looked to be around seventeen or eighteen, seemingly delicate, yet her gaze was firm. She crawled out from behind her brother and knelt on the ground, "May I ask the noble sir to dismiss everyone else first?"
"Little sister, don’t say it!" The burly man had a look of pain on his face, trying to pull his sister away and run.
"Gege" the girl grasped his arm, "What’s the difference between telling and not telling?"
Everyone in the room understood that there must be something difficult to speak of.
Lan An gave a glance, and everyone exited, leaving only Chen Cuzhi and Chu Qiuzhe.
"You may speak now" Lan An said coldly, his face truly intimidating.
The girl bit her lip, her eyes filled with despair. "A few months ago, my brother and I went into the mountains, hoping to find some wild vegetables. But... but..."
She struggled to hold back tears, but finally spoke, "We encountered mountain bandits, my brother couldn’t defeat them alone, and I was taken by the bandits. It wasn’t until half a month ago that Your Highness led troops to eliminate the bandits and saved me and several other girls."
So that’s what happened, Lan An finally recalled that there was such a matter, and his arm was also injured during that incident. No wonder the girl seemed familiar at first.
In this era, when a girl was abducted by bandits, it was unimaginable how cruel her experiences would be.
"Sorry" Chu Qiuzhe hadn’t expected this to be the case. "You did well, it wasn’t your fault"
Both siblings looked at each other with mixed emotions. After she was rescued, there were some who pitied her, but more who despised her. Even a previously arranged marriage had been called off.
In this era, once a woman lost her chastity, whether it was her fault or not, to outsiders she was tainted. Even if she wasn’t drowned in a pigsty, she would be sent to a convent to live out her days by the light of a green lamp.
No one had ever told her it wasn’t her fault.
Tears could no longer be concealed in the girl's eyes. She choked as she continued to explain how she discovered the water source "I escaped once. I was afraid the bandits would follow the path down the mountain, so I ran deeper into the mountains, turned around for two days, and then saw the lake."
"I originally planned to stay near the water source for a few days and then sneak back down the mountain to return home, but I was found by the bandits." She stumbled through her words, finally explaining everything clearly.
Chu Qiuzhe, being kind, gently comforted the sorrowful girl. After her emotions calmed down a bit, he continued with his questioning.
"How big was that lake?"
The girl thought for a moment. "At the time, I could only see part of the lake, as the rest was blocked by the mountains. The part I could see was about twenty acres"
Twenty acres, and that was just the visible part. The geography of the Yuhook Mountains could be complex; there might even be hidden rivers in the deep mountains.
"That’s enough, enough," Xiao En was also a little excited, "Such a large water source would be enough to bring rain to the entire disaster-stricken area. After that, if you successfully request rain, we can spread the word, and you’ll gain a lot of gratitude points."
Chu Qiuzhe was also quite excited. "Miss, would you be willing to guide us there?"
"I would" the girl smiled, her face flushed. "This noble sir is truly too kind"
The burly man hurriedly crawled forward, "Noble sir, Your Highness, I also want to go. I have plenty of experience in the mountains. Once, I went into the mountains alone for a month and came back without a scratch."
He eagerly promoted himself, afraid that his sister might offend these powerful figures. "I’ve also hunted bears, and I’m quite strong."
The three discussed it for a while and decided to bring along a few more familiar with the mountain paths. The lives of the people must be ensured, and only then would they be willing to work for you. So they would bring a team of guards, which should prevent any major accidents.
"Prepare to leave" Chen Cuzhi thought the siblings were reliable enough. "We depart in five days."
Once the time was decided, Chu Qiuzhe didn’t let the siblings leave. "Miss, you’re a local, right?"
"Replying to the noble sir, our family has lived in Yuhook County for several generations" the girl said shyly, unable to meet the gaze of this holy noble sir.
Chu Qiuzhe nodded "Then will you take me to tour the county?"
Although the girl didn’t understand what was so interesting about the dilapidated county town, she still called her brother to go out with her.
For the past few days, Chu Qiuzhe had been busy with disaster relief and courting the prince. He hadn’t had the chance to explore the area.
There was a reason for asking the girl to guide him. Her reputation wasn’t good, and life might be difficult for her in the future. Now, if she followed this noble sir, her reputation would improve significantly.
Moreover, Chu Qiuzhe needed to understand the local customs and the primary livelihoods of the county people. He couldn’t rely on that high-and-mighty prince for such things.
They spent the entire afternoon walking around, and Chu Qiuzhe gained a new understanding of this world. He waved his hand, telling the siblings to return home.
The siblings sighed with relief. Although this noble sir was approachable, he was, after all, not from their world. The whole afternoon, they had been on edge.
But the next morning, when they went out, the neighbors looked at them differently envy, joy, and even matchmakers came to ask if the girl had any intention of marriage.
The siblings instantly understood why the noble sir wanted them to walk around a densely populated area. They were so moved that they had tears in their eyes and decided to set up a longevity altar at home for Chu Qiuzhe.
With two gratitude prompts sounding off, Chu Qiuzhe smirked.
There was nothing more he could do for the girl. This was all he could offer.
"Why are you smiling?" Lan An looked at him as he was changing his bandages. "What’s so funny?"
“It’s nothing, I just suddenly remembered something good” Chu Qiuzhe quickly finished changing the bandages, then pulled out a piece of paper, densely written with words.
Lan An didn’t take it. “What is this?”
“It’s a cement formula” Chu Qiuzhe had looked into it yesterday. In the county town, only a few main streets were paved with stone slabs, while the rest were dirt roads, and the slightly better ones were just gravel roads.
Anyway, the cement formula was something he had downloaded from Baidu, and he wouldn’t need to put in any effort. He could gain fame and also receive gratitude points. If the roads were paved across the country, the points would definitely be substantial.
Chu Qiuzhe guessed that the people from this ancient world didn’t understand what cement was, so he explained further, “When you went to my... fairy realm warehouse and saw my house, you must have noticed it was different from the ones here, right? That’s a building made of reinforced concrete.”
Lan An’s pupils trembled slightly, clearly realizing that cement houses were precious. If all the people could live in houses made of cement...
In recent years, his older brother’s health had been deteriorating, and he didn’t handle affairs much anymore. Now, he was always assisting the Crown Prince, but the Crown Prince’s maternal family was weak, and many officials were dissatisfied, wanting to replace him with the emperor’s legitimate second son.
Lan An had never had much ambition for the throne; it didn’t matter who became emperor. But the emperor’s legitimate second son was only five years old, and he certainly didn’t want to take care of a child.
So, he was supporting the Crown Prince’s faction.
If he could present this cement, the Crown Prince’s position would surely become more solid.
“Are you moved?” Chu Qiuzhe teased again. “If you’re moved, say something nice for me to hear.”
Even the current emperor had never addressed him as “grandfather,” and Lan An was both helpless and angry.
Was this person always so disrespectful?
Even without considering status, he was older than this man-god.
Just as Chu Qiuzhe thought Lan An would remain silent, a voice deep and seductive, belonging to an adult man came through his ear, reaching his brain.
He instantly felt a mental high.
He couldn’t take it. How could this be? He was the one who started teasing first! He never realized he was such a sound enthusiast before.
He rubbed his reddened ears. “The materials for this formula should be available here. This cement can not only be used to build houses, but also to pave roads.”
Saying that, he couldn’t help but complain, “The roads here are too bad. When the wind blows, all you get is dust.”
“The imperial capital is much better” Lan An, rarely wanting to defend his country, said, “You should visit when you have the chance.”
Chu Qiuzhe nodded in agreement. The imperial capital, well, sooner or later, he would go there.
Once things here were settled, he had to follow Lan An. He had to cure this handsome prince’s paranoia.
He wasn’t going to give up on such an overpowered gratitude value. Not a chance.
Thinking of this, he looked up at Lan An’s head, where a row of red numbers and an exclamation mark had remained unchanged.
As long as Lan An expressed gratitude, it would show up once.
Seeing it but not being able to collect it was so frustrating! Damn!!!
Lan An couldn’t avoid his gaze and turned to meet his eyes.
Maybe it was just his imagination, but he felt like he saw a sense of “not living up to expectations” in Chu Qiuzhe’s eyes!