Mysterious Gift

Cecilia led her students away, while Uncle Arthur Yuan's family took Leonard Yuan home, busying themselves with unsealing Leonard and preparing to host Cecilia.

Meanwhile, Lily Evans and Edward started working on unloading the cargo.

This time, the shipment was a mixed bag—Lily Evans had practically bought a sample of equipment and materials from every sector of Western industrial civilization.

With all these returning scholars, and with these starter resources, plus Qin’s natural abundance of oil, coal, rare earths, and more—the timing, the geography, and the people were all in place. They could start factories in every industry.

In recent years, Qin’s efforts to promote education had been outstanding—the literacy rate was nearly one hundred percent, and the overall quality of the population had soared. There was now a large workforce with basic skills, who, with a little training, could enter any industry as factory workers.

The dockworkers shouted cheerfully as they carried crate after crate off the ships. When it came time to unload the last ship, Edward winked at Lily Evans mysteriously. “Your Majesty, I have a personal gift for you.”

“Oh? So mysterious?” Lily Evans said in surprise.

“Hehehe, just wait and see, Your Majesty!” Edward whistled, and a few burly dockworkers hauled out a massive wooden crate from the ship’s hold.

The crate was taller than a person and twice as long, and looked incredibly heavy.

“What’s inside?” Lily Evans asked curiously, eyeing the box.

Edward’s expression grew even more mysterious. "Your Majesty, I paid for this out of my own pocket, as thanks for your trust in me."

“Ah, then I must thank you, Mr. Edward!” Lily Evans replied with a smile.

Edward bustled about, directing the dockworkers as they moved the huge crate from the ship to the dock.

Several workers were panting from exhaustion. Lily Evans eyed the enormous crate—she hadn’t brought a cart big enough for this, since everything else, like production lines, had been shipped as separate parts. She’d never expected a box this size.

“I’ll have to send for a large cart,” Lily Evans said to Edward.

Edward shook his head. “No need, no need!”

Then, he walked up to the crate himself and, together with a sailor who’d also just returned from overseas, started to pry it open.

Lily Evans folded her arms and watched from the side, her curiosity growing by the minute. What on earth had Edward gotten her?

Edward and the sailor banged and pried at the crate, and when they finally got it open, Lily Evans was absolutely stunned!

“Ah—this is...a car!” Lily Evans’ eyes nearly popped out of her head. She’d never dreamed Edward would buy her a car as a gift!

Of course, this car wasn’t a modern model, but its performance was already quite advanced. It couldn’t compete with today’s cars for speed, but it could easily outclass any other vehicle of this era.

When Lily Evans blurted out "car," it was Edward’s turn to be surprised. “Your Majesty, you actually know about cars!? This is the latest model—look, bright red! Isn’t it gorgeous?”

“Wow, it really is beautiful!” Lily Evans had seen plenty of luxury cars in her former life, but never anything as antique as this classic.

This thing was a real antique!

Tsk tsk, absolutely fantastic!

Edward chuckled, then elegantly opened the passenger door and said, “Your Majesty, allow me to be your chauffeur and take you for a spin!”