A whistle blew a moment later, and the eagle appeared on the stone quarry outside the courtyard, making some noise. Several men in black leaped out from the shadows, watching from afar.
These men were sent by the emperor to secretly protect Su Muqing and Kebina. Although Lu Yuzhi and the others were all skilled in martial arts, the emperor was still uneasy.
Especially since one was the newly appointed princess and the other was a candidate for the throne. Kebina had already been targeted for assassination and was a priority protection object. Meanwhile, Su Muqing’s weapons exhibition unexpectedly exposed the prisoner exchange case.
Although the case had not yet concluded, it had already implicated many, with numerous court officials being punished and reprimanded. Thus, Su Muqing had offended quite a few people.
The secret guards looked at the large black shadow in the distance with confusion. "Why did Divine Eagle suddenly descend?"
"I don't know...!"
"Everyone, continue your watch! The princess and I are going out." Suddenly, a voice sounded from behind them, carrying a hint of coolness.
The sudden voice startled the secret guards. They turned sharply to see Lu Yuzhi with his arm around Su Muqing's slender waist, standing not far behind them. If an enemy were in their position, they could have been wiped out silently.
The secret guards felt they had failed in their duty and knelt to beg for forgiveness. "Greetings, Princess, Young Master Huo. We deserve death!"
"It's alright, get up first! There will be no punishment this time. Remember to remain highly vigilant at all times in the future, otherwise..." Lu Yuzhi did not finish his sentence but cast them a cold glance. Then, he directly held Su Muqing and flew to sit on the eagle's back.
"You guard the Young Lord. You don't need to follow us." After the two were seated, Su Muqing instructed. The eagle spread its wings, flapped them a few times, and slowly ascended, disappearing into the night under the gaze of the secret guards.
How could they not understand what Young Master Huo had just said? As secret guards, if their vigilance was too poor, they were not suitable to follow their masters. Although today's incident seemed minor, if it were a different master, they would certainly be severely punished, even if not executed.
The secret guards standing in place exchanged glances before leaping into the surrounding trees or bushes, continuing their protective duties in concealment.
Since the princess had already told them not to follow, they knew they wouldn't be able to catch up. It was better to obediently guard the other master in the manor.
Su Muqing frowned as she looked at the person sitting beside her. She wondered if it was the influence of the Ice Root Grass, but she felt that Lu Yuzhi's temperament seemed to be growing colder.
Lu Yuzhi sensed Su Muqing secretly observing him. He cupped the back of her head and turned her small face towards him. "What's wrong? You've been sneaking glances at me!"
Su Muqing raised her hand, cupping Lu Yuzhi's face, and playfully squeezed it. "Sneaking glances? I'm looking openly! Staring intently."
Lu Yuzhi moved his hand from the back of her head, pulling her gently towards him. Su Muqing released her hands from squeezing his cheeks and looked into his eyes in a daze.
Lu Yuzhi's eyes were truly beautiful, like bright stars twinkling in the deep night, containing the swirling vortex of a boundless ocean. Once met with his affectionate gaze, one would be drawn in and unable to look away.
Especially since Lu Yuzhi had a head of silvery white hair. In the dark night, the faint light reflected on his hair was like the Milky Way poured from the sky, with the stars within scattering and floating out.
Su Muqing was completely mesmerized until her lips were gently bitten, bringing her back to her senses. Lu Yuzhi slowly closed his eyes, his thin lips pressing against her rosy lips in a tender embrace.
Su Muqing also slowly closed her eyes, feeling the warm and moist sensation on her lips. The two of them kissed passionately in the quiet night sky, enveloped by the night breeze, everything so beautiful and intimate.
It was not until the eagle let out a "coo coo coo" sound that the two of them snapped out of their shared reverie. Su Muqing, with a flushed face, pushed the person in front of her away. Her eyes, filled with autumn water, made Lu Yuzhi’s heart flutter.
He closed his eyes tightly, pressing Su Muqing's flushed cheek against his chest, forcefully suppressing the raging desires within him.
Su Muqing listened to his pounding heart, and mischievously poked him on the chest with her finger. Lu Yuzhi reached out, caught her mischievous little hand, and squinted at the playful girl in his arms.
Sensing his intense gaze from above, Su Muqing calmed her inner turmoil. She then wriggled out of Lu Yuzhi's embrace, ignoring his dangerous gaze, patted her flushed cheeks, tidied her slightly messy hair, and turned to leap off the eagle's back.
Lu Yuzhi watched the retreating girl with a helpless shake of his head, a faint smile tugging at his lips. As the eagle descended to a certain height, he also leaped off, landing and then quickly catching up to the girl walking ahead, pulling her into his arms.
"Run slower, be careful not to fall." Lu Yuzhi released her, his voice full of doting and concern. After speaking, he took Su Muqing's hand and walked forward.
"I'm not that clumsy!" Although Su Muqing protested verbally, she still held his hand tightly.
Hand in hand, they leaped over the dark bushes to the side of the lake. Su Muqing took out two large lanterns, holding one in each hand, and then walked around the lake to the side of a mountain.
Lu Yuzhi shone his lantern at the surrounding environment. The area was all bare, grayish mountain bodies, with exposed stones that were somewhat whitish inside. Other than that, he found nothing special.
He looked at Su Muqing, who had been in a daze for a while, with confusion. After her eyes regained clarity, he asked, "What's wrong? Are there any special meanings to the stones in this mountain? You kept staring at the stones here in the afternoon."
Su Muqing nodded, pointing to two stones of different colors. "The stones here are mostly limestone, the main component for making cement. And these white ones are niter. Ordinary niter can be refined to make firearms, but it has a greater use—niter ice!"
"Ice? How can niter make ice?" Lu Yuzhi asked, looking at her in confusion.
Cement was a gray powder; he had seen that. If it was made by crushing this gray mountain stone, it was not impossible. However, in the Great Yu Dynasty, niter was usually sold in small quantities at pharmacies, and he had never heard of it being used to make ice.
"Actually, the principle is very simple. Niter absorbs heat when it encounters water. After absorbing all the heat from the water, the water naturally freezes. I'll cut a large piece now and take it back to demonstrate for you." Su Muqing briefly explained the principle of niter ice to him while taking out a small diesel stone cutter.
Lu Yuzhi took the machine from her hand, pulled the rope on the side of the cutter, and after a few tries, the machine roared to life. Su Muqing put a transparent mask on his face and then watched him cut a large protruding stone from the white mountain body.
After the niter was cut, Lu Yuzhi went to the gray mountain body and cut a large piece of limestone from there as well.
Su Muqing put the two different stones and the tools into her space, then took out a clean set of clothes for him to change into. After cutting the stones and changing clothes, they walked around the lake from another direction.
Fortunately, Su Muqing could fly, and Lu Yuzhi had recovered his peak lightness skill. Moreover, both of them had been through the gates of hell and were quite brave! Otherwise, circling such a large lake in the middle of the night on foot would have been exhausting, and the rustling of wind and grass, the startling of birds and trees, and the eerie surroundings in the middle of the night would have been terrifying.
After several rounds, Su Muqing had found suitable spots. She chose four locations. Since time was short, she would install manual windmills at these four points first and try to switch to windmills later if there was an opportunity.
The two of them worked until past four in the morning. Su Muqing saw that it was almost dawn, so she asked Lu Yuzhi to wash up outside and then prepared to bring him into the space to rest.
Lu Yuzhi raised an eyebrow, looking at the little girl in front of him with a deep gaze. Then, he slowly raised his hand and, in front of her, untied the fastenings of his clothes one by one.
Su Muqing saw his suggestive actions and the wicked smile on his lips. She couldn't help but swallow her saliva, her voice stammering, "What...what do you want to do?"
"Didn't you ask me to wash up here?" Lu Yuzhi tilted his head, his voice very soft and filled with strong allure.
"Oh! Then hurry up and wash. I won't peek." Su Muqing gave a perfunctory "oh" and then pretended to cover her eyes. She said she wouldn't peek, but the gap between her fingers was as wide as two eyes.
"Hahahaha... You're so cute!" Seeing her playful actions, Lu Yuzhi couldn't help but burst into laughter. He stopped undressing, held the collar of his shirt with one hand, and then stepped forward to pinch her cheek.
Su Muqing clasped Lu Yuzhi's hand and smiled at him. "That's right, Brother Lu! You should smile more like this in the future. You don't know how handsome you look when you smile! All the beautiful scenery in the world pales in comparison to you! I remember you used to smile a lot not long ago. Why are there fewer smiles on your face after your powers recovered?"
Lu Yuzhi reached out with both hands, poked the little dimples on Su Muqing's cheeks, and gently pinched her little nose. He said with a doting expression, "Okay! Since you like to see me smile, I'll smile more when I'm with you, so you can see enough!"
"How could that be? With such a beautiful man like you always around me, I don't even need to do eye exercises! When will I ever get tired of looking? It's getting late, Brother Lu, hurry up and wash up. Let's go back to the space to rest. Wait for me, I'll get some hot water for you." Su Muqing stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek, then urged him and prepared to fill his washbasin with water.
"No need to go through so much trouble. I can just wash in the lake." Lu Yuzhi stopped Su Muqing's actions, quickly took off his outer clothes, revealing his well-built upper body. He then leaped into the center of the lake and dove straight down.
After a few breaths, Lu Yuzhi surfaced. The lake water dripped down his face, and his wet silver hair clung tightly to his face and chest. From this 360-degree angle, his beauty was still perfectly captured.
Su Muqing stood on the shore, staring blankly at the center of the lake. It's good to have good eyesight! What a beautiful scene of a beauty emerging from the water! In such a beautiful setting, she felt that her fatigue and sleepiness had all vanished in an instant!
Lu Yuzhi looked at the little girl on the shore, her eyes darting left and right, and licked his lips with amusement. This girl truly made him helpless. Sometimes her actions and words were so naughty, always unintentionally provoking him to the point of no return.
But when he made a move to advance further, she would become shy and avoid him or hide! In the end, she had the intention but lacked the courage!
Lu Yuzhi quickly finished bathing, then got out of the water and came to the shore. He took the clean dry clothes from Su Muqing's hand and went behind a tree to change by himself.
After he was done, Su Muqing took his wet clothes and then brought him into the space with her. She threw the wet clothes and the previously changed dirty clothes into the washing machine. Then, she picked up the hairdryer and blew Lu Yuzhi's silver hair until it was eighty percent dry.
Tired from the day's work, Su Muqing also took a bath in the bathroom. After the two of them were tidied up, they began to rest in the space. Having worked for a day and a night, they slept for a full seven or eight hours. Even Lu Yuzhi, who usually slept little, slept until he woke up naturally.
When he woke up and finished washing, he found that Su Muqing was still asleep, so he went to the kitchen to cook porridge. He was now very familiar with all the kitchen utensils in the space, and he was also responsible for arranging the ingredients and seasonings.
Lu Yuzhi prepared a delicate breakfast and laid it all out on the table. Then, he went to Su Muqing's room and gently knocked on the door. "Muqing? Muqing? Are you awake? Breakfast is ready, hurry up and eat!"
He knocked and called out, but there was no response from inside. Lu Yuzhi Push the door open in confusion. Seeing the scene inside, he couldn't help but laugh and cry.
Su Muqing was lying on the soft big bed, sleeping soundly. Her legs were tucked into the quilt, her hands clasped beneath her face, and her lips were slightly pursed, like a baby. She looked incredibly cute.
Lu Yuzhi went forward and squeezed her plump cheeks, then gently pecked her lips. He had discovered that Su Muqing was a heavy sleeper and always slept very deeply, so much so that she wouldn't wake up even if she were stolen. If the environment was peaceful, it felt like she could sleep forever!
With great effort, he managed to coax the sleeping girl out of bed and even carried her to wash up. If it weren't for the fact that Su Muqing felt it was too mushy and embarrassing, Lu Yuzhi would have wanted to carry her and feed her bite by bite.
After breakfast, it was not yet six o'clock. Su Muqing took out the blueprints for the manual windmill and sat down with Lu Yuzhi to study them. Although there were prompts from the space system, she truly lacked talent for these interlocking contraptions.
Furthermore, the water channels connecting to the windmill needed to be distributed thoughtfully. She had to plan the layout carefully to ensure the shortest and most convenient channels to achieve labor-saving irrigation for this large area of land.
Lu Yuzhi truly lived up to his status as a person with a noble soul in this world. Not only was his appearance excellent, but his intelligence was also top-notch. Su Muqing handed him the blueprints and the model, and he was very interested, examining them carefully.
Then, without any help from the system, he single-handedly assembled the entire model. He also memorized the principle of the windmill thoroughly in a short time, completely outshining Su Muqing.
People like Lu Yuzhi were born prodigies, destined to be top students in any era or world.
Seeing that he had learned how to assemble the windmill, Su Muqing then began to discuss the distribution of water channels with him. Lu Yuzhi observed the location of the lake on the map and then started writing and drawing on another piece of paper. Currently, they were using the land of Hengqing Manor as a test site, which also facilitated the general placement of the water channels.
The two of them stayed in the space for six to seven hours before drawing the fixed points for the windmills and the distribution map for all the channels. It wasn't until past eight in the morning that they emerged from the space and immediately whistled to summon the eagle.
The eagle had been flying around nearby and had even flown back to Hengqing Manor once. The two of them hopped onto its back and sat down, and the eagle flapped its wings and flew back.
When Kebina and the others woke up, they discovered that the two were gone. After hearing the report from the secret guards outside the courtyard, they learned that the two had gone out in the middle of the night and had not returned all night.
However, the Divine Eagle had returned once in the early morning, but after circling without seeing anyone familiar, it flew away again. Leng Ren and Leng Feng thought their master had abandoned them, or why else would they have disappeared for an entire night without a word?
Just as everyone was immersed in speculation, a "chirp" sound echoed from the sky. Leng Ren quickly got up and ran into the courtyard. He saw that the eagle had indeed returned, with two people sitting on its back—the Young Lord and Miss Su.
After the two of them dismounted from the eagle's back, others saw their new clothes and remembered what the secret guards had said about them being out all night. Everyone smiled ambiguously, looking at them with significant eyes.
"Hurry up and put away your lecherous gazes! What wicked thoughts are you all thinking! Hurry up and eat breakfast, then come with me to the lake. Brother Lu and I were busy there all night and finally arranged the plan and steps. We have a lot to do today!" Su Muqing stepped forward and tapped Wan Yan'er's forehead, then tapped Kebina's head. Among them, she and Kebina had the most gossipy eyes!
After tapping them, she took out the densely drawn blueprints from her sleeve. Wan Yan'er took them and looked at them for a moment, pouting in confusion. "You stayed up all night researching this?"
"What else? What could we do in the wilderness?" Su Muqing said this while looking into the distance, her tone clearly a bit shaky.
Although the two of them hadn't done anything further, intimate things, they had kissed and hugged all night, and her lips were still a little tingly. Oh! It was so embarrassing!
"What are these scribbles you've drawn? I can't understand any of them!" Wan Yan'er turned the blueprints around several times but couldn't understand them at all.
Finally, she pushed the blueprints back into Su Muqing's hand, crossed her arms, and sat down at the dining table. Thinking about so many brain-taxing things was not as good as sitting down and waiting for breakfast.
Before she could put the blueprints back into her sleeve, Kebina snatched them from Su Muqing's hand again. To his surprise, his gaze was instantly captivated after seeing the waterwheel blueprints, and he was reluctant to put them down even while eating.
Seeing that he was almost feeding the rice into his nose, Wan Yan'er snatched the blueprints back and stuffed them into Su Muqing's embrace. Kebina was furious. The two first bickered, then devolved into a fight over the shredded pickles and peanuts in front of them.
Su Muqing shook her head, too lazy to bother with the two childish people. She turned and instructed several stewards to quickly find people with carpentry skills.
She also emphasized the urgency and that the more craftsmen, the better. She also asked them to find a batch of strong laborers. She intended to modify the land layout, which would require a large workforce. She also explicitly stated that the wages for land modification would be paid extra.
Upon hearing Su Muqing's words, the stewards felt a bit troubled. Although she was a princess personally appointed by the emperor, Hengqing Manor was the property of the Regent's Mansion. If major changes were to be made to the land, they would have to ask the master of the mansion for their opinion.
The stewards looked at each other. Finally, they shifted their gaze to the little Young Lord, who was currently arguing fiercely with Wan Yan'er.
Fortunately! There was a master of the Regent's Mansion here!
Kebina, whose peanut had just been snatched from his chopsticks, was extremely distressed. Just as he was about to retaliate, Wan Yan'er suddenly tugged at his sleeve and then tilted her chin, hinting for him to look behind him.
Kebina put down his chopsticks, turned his head, and saw several stewards staring at him. "Why are you all looking at me? Hurry up and do as the Princess said! Didn't I say yesterday that from now on, all matters in the manor are to be handled according to the Princess's instructions! You don't need to come and ask me if you agree with what she instructs you to do!"
Since the master of the mansion had spoken, how could they have any room for objection? The stewards repeatedly nodded, accepted the task, and retreated. They eagerly sent people on horseback to search for skilled carpenters and laborers in the vicinity.