Edited by Qiuxue and Noks
Xu Yao and Le Yao were very busy for the next few days. The inspection team was divided into three groups: the first group, led by Tang Ye and Ling Qiao, had to determine a suitable geographical location for the reconstruction of the secondary home city in Huaxia; the second team, led by Yan Jie and Yang Hengtian, had to devise a plan on how to build a new civilian network; and the third, led by Xu Yao and Ye Linran, had to handle the resettlement colonies for the undead, along with supervising the construction and design of various other key projects.
Ye Linran arrived at Huaxia later, and not with the first batch of the reconstruction team. He had followed Commander Guan Xuefeng and had brought with him a number of people. There were not only mechanical designers present in his team, but also designers from the construction industry, road and bridge building experts, and many other professionals from various different industries.
Recently, Le Yao had to see new faces every few days. In the morning, he would learn from the teacher’s online class at home. At lunch, Xu Yao would pick him up to have lunch together in the cafeteria, and then he would send him home to rest. Le Yao would then spend the rest of the afternoon and the evening planning and studying for the establishment of the Huaxia Museum.
Since it was impossible for him to manage it alone, he also asked Ji Fengyu to search for spirits who had majored in history and archaeology in the Underworld, as well as to keep an eye out for a curator. Those spirits who could cooperate well and fulfill his requirements would be paid well using food and accommodation.
There were currently no transportation or communication facilities in the Underworld, but the advantage they had was that they could drift around to get to different places. In this way, news of the recruitment spread very fast and very wide, and in just a few days, a number of ghosts actually came to be 'interviewed'. Among them was an old lady in her sixties, with short and neat hair, bright eyes, and sharp features with pronounced wrinkles. At first sight itself, her very serious personality left a strong impression on Le Yao.
“If everything here is included, which one do you think is the oldest?” Le Yao asked. The things he referred to were all those items, earned through his Underworld business, that had been used to pay for the 'accommodation fees', and all of these were from the Qing Dynasty. He had previously appraised them, hence already knew their characteristics. So he would be able to catch the other party's mistakes immediately.
“Him.” The old lady didn’t point at any of the objects and instead pointed directly at Rong Gui instead. “He's the oldest.”
“Ah?” Le Yao had already thought of the idea of including Master Rong in this question after he had peered at Master Rong’s eyes. He did this because he had wanted to confirm whether the old lady really had a good understanding of antiques, and the result was, she accurately singled Rong Gui out.
Rong Gui, quietly coiling two walnuts in one hand, was silently guarding Le Yao from the corner of the room. After overhearing their conversation, he didn’t get angry, but his frown deepened till it could kill flies.
Le Yao couldn’t resist and laughed. “Grandma He, you're so funny.”
“Not really,” said the old lady, who was called He Shujie.
Ji Fengyu asked, “How did you know?”
Generally speaking, the spirits of the dead could sense the strength of each other’s spirit body, but they weren't able to ascertain when someone had died or when someone had been born. How could the old lady deduce that Rong Gui had had the 'longest life' at a glance?
He Shujie replied, “Do you still need to ask? Young man, look at the hat on his head. It’s so new. You must have burned it for him not long ago, right? This hat is called a 'SiFang PingDing Hat' or 'Sifang Hat'. This type of a soft square hat was created in the early Ming Dynasty. If he was not used to wearing this kind of a thing, I don’t think you would have burned it especially for him, don't you think? What’s more, the clothes he wears are also typical of the Ming Dynasty style. As for those things you brought, they are all from the Qing Dynasty. Not all of them are authentic, so I won’t say much about them.”
Le Yao was very impressed by her answer. Rong Gui’s clothes and hat were indeed burned by him, and they had been made according to his preferences. Rong Gui was indeed from the Ming Dynasty and her analysis of the SiFang PingDing Hat was also correct.
Le Yao asked, “Did you study history when you were alive? Can you tell me which dynasty's culture you mainly studied at that time? And, what kind of work were you good at?”
He Shujie answered, “I mainly studied the Song Dynasty's culture. As for what kind of work I was good at, I was a university professor before I was alive. Naturally, I am good at teaching.”
Le Yao roughly had a suggestion form in his mind. He asked some people to bring out three cultural relics from the Song Dynasty and show them to He Shujie. He Shujie not only described the origin of these antiques at a glance, but also enlightened them to a little story about the Song Dynasty. Le Yao listened with great interest, and finally decided to hire Teacher He and provide her with free hotel accommodation services, as well as delicious food. Soon after that, he learned that she had a group of students.
This group of students had also studied history, and they hadn’t idled around in the years they spent in the Underworld. They had continued to use some of the existing facilities to study and learn more about history and culture. There wasn't a better way to say it, but for them, the days were very long. After undergoing much anxiety and uneasiness when alive, they needed to find something to do before they fell into despair in death. Just like how Bei Hongli and Wang Feixia learned about some of Tarot's culture through various means in this far-flung future, some people would find great significance in certain matters and embark on a direction to better themselves when faced with a dilemma.
After discussing with Teacher He, Le Yao requested all her students for help. Le Yao also provided them with paper, pen and a good environment, so that they could sort out the gathered data and materials, while he himself began to study on how to make a computer that could also be used in the Underworld.
He had burned a model of the computer itself, but what they ended up receiving in the Underworld was an empty shell, which didn't meet the expected requirements and couldn't be worked with.
“Try to be more precise.” Xu Yao said, “You can ask Uncle Ye for help.”
“Un, otherwise the efficiency in doing tasks will be too low.” Le Yao subconsciously massaged his waist, feeling sore on both sides.
He had tried his best to use lessons and work to divert his attention, but his stomach was still getting bigger and bigger, and its impact on his everyday activities was very obvious. He felt very heavy now and was no longer as flexible as before. He also felt more and more uncomfortable when he slept and always needed to turn over multiple times before being able to find a good position.
Those in the reconstruction team, who didn't know him well, even thought he was on the verge of giving birth. Le Yao didn't know whether to laugh or cry whenever he heard this.
Speaking of which, thanks to the necklace and bracelet that Xu Yao had given him, he was able to stay miraculously cool throughout the day. Otherwise, he couldn’t imagine how he would survive outdoors in such hot weather.
Both Father and Mother Xu were distressed to death upon witnessing their daughter-in-law's condition, and scolded Xu Yao heavily. Of course, Xu Yao was also distressed about Le Yao's tired condition, but he also had his own considerations.
Although Le Yao was young, he wasn't the type of person who liked to stay at home and lounge in comfort every day. Otherwise, with his current physical condition and state of pregnancy, he could choose to eat, drink and stay at home in leisure. However, compared with many other Omegas, Le Yao had so much knowledge and so many ideas, and in his mind, he had always wanted to do something for Huaxia. Xu Yao also felt that since he had the ability to provide a space for Le Yao to bloom, he should simply respect Le Yao's choices.
Of course, the reality was that he also wanted to force Le Yao to take rest, but in the end, he couldn’t bear to do so.
It had been more than half a month since the reconstruction team had arrived at the Flying Wolf Division, but Yan Jie had still not been able to discover Le Tianyu's whereabouts. Since the time that Le Tianyu had taken off his communication device, it seemed that the man had evaporated. When the prisoners' escort ship Le Tianyu had boarded arrived at Tarot, Yan Jie investigated it, but Le Tianyu was no longer there.
Even though Le Tianyu wasn't much of a threat, his presence triggered something that Xu Yao couldn’t articulate. His instincts were telling him that something bad was going to happen.
“Why isn’t Uncle Ming back yet?” Le Yao asked Xu Yao casually.
“Well, he won’t return for a little while longer. Why do you ask all of a sudden?”
“Nothing, it’s just that you have been too tired recently. Sometimes, you get distracted easily.” As no one was around, Le Yao leaned over Xu Yao's arm and grabbed his hand. “Wouldn’t it be better if you had more people helping you?”
“That’s true, but Uncle Ming also has something to do in Xingdu. If he comes back, no one else would be able to manage it.” Xu Yao asked Le Yao, “Have you ever tried to calculate Le Tianyu's fate these days?”
“No. Hasn't Yan Jie been watching over him the entire time? What’s the matter?”
“Try divining it.”
Le Yao stretched out his hand and sighed, “My fingers are thick, it may be not accurate.”
Xu Yao squinted at him: “…”
Le Yao laughed, “He he he, I'm just kidding. Ah, well, well, I'll count it. Why are you looking at me like that?” Le Yao pinched his fingers and muttered these last sentences silently. After a while, he suddenly frowned. “It's strange. He's still alive, but it seems like he's feeling very scared. Did our men do something to him?”
“No,” said Xu Yao.
Xu Yao had previously told Yan Jie to find a proper time to disclose the affair between Le Feishan and Jiang Xinduo, as well as Le Tianyu's real identity to Aldrich. But Le Tianyu hadn't appeared in Tarot, so the secret had not been successfully revealed and Uncle Ming had nothing to gain. The only change during this period of time was that Jiang Xinduo had become certifiably insane.
However, not only did Le Feishan not send Jiang Xinduo to the mental hospital, but he also found someone to monitor her and prevent her from going out of the house. Although this matter hadn’t spread, Zheng Yiyang went to 'communicate' with Uncle Ming every night, so he knew.
The Jiang Family were very dissatisfied with Le Feishan. They thought it would be better to send Jiang Xinduo to the hospital for treatment, but Le Feishan wouldn’t do so, because every time Jiang Xinduo went mad, she would always mutter incoherently, 'I’m sorry, Yiyang, you let me go, okay? Please let me go.'
It was fine if only Le Feishan heard it, but if outsiders found out, it would become a big problem.
When they had their scheduled call the next day, Xu Yao asked Uncle Ming, “Uncle Ming, have Wan Deqing and Le Feishan still not met yet?”
Wan Deqing had just marked Le Tianyu, which was equivalent to recognizing Le Tianyu as his wife. He won't go back to Blood Prison without seeing his father-in-law, right?
Uncle Ming replied, “No. Le Feishan seldom goes out these days. Except for working in the military department during the daytime, he has been at home all the time. Our people have been observing him, but they haven’t seen him contact Wan Deqing at all.”
“Continue to pay close attention. Once they come into contact, tell me as soon as possible,” said Xu Yao.
“Alright, rest assured.”
Xu Yao ended the communication and Yan Jie, who was beside him, asked, “Brother Xu, do you think Le Tianyu will be sent back to Blood Prison again?”
“It is possible. But I think there should be something more than that. Think about it, if you were a father, would you let your son be a partner to someone with a bad reputation? Or when the other party has no great use or value? Although the environment of Blood Prison is bad, it can be said that being a warden there is equal to being a local tyrant. Why did the man surnamed Wan agree to marry Le Tianyu? You should know that before any of this, this man surnamed Wan had nothing to do with Le Tianyu, and it's impossible that it could be out of fondness for him.”
“But you also said that this man surnamed Wan and Le Feishan are old comrades-in-arms. Would it not be normal for their sons to get married?”
After thinking about it for a while, Xu Yao conceded that it was a reasonable conjecture. But he still felt that he had overlooked something.
At the same time, Le Tianyu, who should have arrived in Tarot, woke up. There was darkness all around him, and the air was full of a moldy smell. He quickly covered his nose and sat up, when a strong light suddenly shone upon his face.
He quickly covered his eyes. “Who?!”
In the dark, a rough laugh, which didn’t seem to come from a human being, echoed throughout his surroundings, and a huge figure suddenly towered over Le Tianyu, covering his entire body in its shadow.
…
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