"This... this is amazing! Husband, how did you even do it?" Princess Jade Fox (Qin Nongyu) snapped out of her daze and asked Ian Song in awe.
Lily nodded in agreement, her eyes flickering with a hint of worry. "Yes, yes! General, tell us how you did it! Is this magic? Did you capture our souls in the painting?"
"You little rascal, always letting your imagination run wild." Ian Song gently tapped Lily's nose and said, "This painting technique is called 3D drawing."
The women looked blankly at him, completely lost.
After a moment, Lyra Hale (Qin Xin) asked, "What is 3D?"
"You can think of it as three dimensions," Ian replied.
"And what are three dimensions?" Lyra pressed further.
Ian felt a headache coming on—talking about 3D and three dimensions with people from this world was just too advanced. Suddenly, he had an idea and said to Lyra, "3D and three dimensions basically mean the space of the world we live in."
Lyra froze, still looking confused. The other four women wore similar expressions—in short, no one understood.
Ian picked up a blank sheet of paper and drew a cube on it. Pointing to the hollow part inside, he said, "This is our world. In other words, our world is three-dimensional, and a 3D drawing can also be called a three-dimensional painting. Do you get it now?"
Lyra nodded thoughtfully. "I think I kind of get it now."
"Alright, let's not get bogged down in this. I'll keep painting your portraits." Ian Song waved his hand, thinking that no matter how much he explained, they probably wouldn't truly understand.
As he spoke, Ian began sketching Autumn's portrait. Noticing Lyra's interest in 3D art, he explained as he worked: "To make a 3D painting, you first design a hand-drawn draft, showing the perspective in the sketch. You analyze the content, draw separate perspective breakdowns for tricky areas, and finally use color to bring out the layers and depth."
As he explained, another 3D portrait was finished.
In the painting, Autumn wore a pale yellow dress, a hint of shyness in her brows, looking as though she had just stepped out of the picture.
"That's incredible. Brother-in-law, did you invent this painting technique too?" Lyra asked curiously.
"More or less!" Ian replied.
Ian nodded, handed the portrait to the women to admire, and began painting Princess Jade Fox's portrait next.
In the end, each of the five women received her own 3D portrait, cradling it like a priceless treasure.
............
That day, Ian Song received word that the Qin Kingdom had sent another envoy to negotiate peace with Qi.
This time, the envoy was not Wu Yan, but Prince Wayne Cole, the second son of the King of Qin.
Although Wayne Cole was only the king's second son, he was highly respected by the Qin officials—many hoped the king would name him crown prince.
Sending Wayne Cole to negotiate this time was a clear sign of urgency from the King of Qin.
During this period, General Victor Zhao's army had captured three more Qin prefectures. Out of Qin's total of nine prefectures, four had now fallen—nearly half the country. If Qin couldn't secure Qi's forgiveness, it would end up like Yan and Zhao, annexed into Qi's territory.
Wayne Cole came with a very humble attitude.
Even though Ian Song's demands were extremely harsh, Wayne Cole still accepted them without complaint.
First, Qin had to pay Qi fifteen billion coins in war reparations. Second, of the four prefectures Qi had captured, only two would be returned to Qin.
Though losing two prefectures and fifteen billion coins was painful, it was still better than the destruction of the entire kingdom.
So, in less than half a month, the King of Qin sent the fifteen billion coins.
Qi's territory grew by two more prefectures, and all the officials and generals were thrilled. Now, no country on the Shenzhou Continent could compare with Qi.
A few days later, Victor Zhao led his troops home, and Ian Song personally went out to welcome him.
Victor Zhao had achieved great military merit for Qi. At Ian's suggestion, King Daniel Jiang promoted Victor to Grand General and rewarded him with five hundred thousand coins in gold and silver.
After finishing court business, Ian Song declined several officials' invitations and rode home.
Through recent interactions, Ian realized that Lyra Hale seemed to have developed a faint affection for him. However, she had inner reservations and kept her feelings suppressed. Once her emotions broke through, Ian would truly win her heart.
At that point, he would complete the mission and return to his original world.
But his son hadn't been born yet, and he couldn't bear to leave his two wives and two close maids. So, these days, he deliberately avoided Lyra, afraid that even a little teasing might stir her feelings for him.
Knowing his return was near, Ian had already started arranging Qi's affairs. The military would go to Victor Zhao; civil government would be entrusted to Sean Song and Shen Du.
He was already doing his best to delegate authority to them.
Besides that, he cherished every moment with his four women. Except for necessities, he almost never accepted invitations or attended social events.
"Lyra, is something bothering you? You seem distracted."
In the backyard of the General's Residence, Princess Jade Fox and Lyra Hale were playing chess. Seeing Lyra lost in thought, Jade Fox couldn't help but ask with concern.
Lyra shook her head. "It's nothing, Jade. Let's keep playing."
These past few days, she had clearly felt Ian Song distancing himself from her. For some reason, this made her feel a bit lost and disappointed.
Besides that, she was troubled by another matter.
She had come to Qi on a mission from her sect: to lure Ian Song to Penglai Island.
Palace Lord Donghuang and the Sea God King had already laid a trap there, waiting for her to bring Ian over. And the Palace Lord had only given her one month to complete the task.
Now, she had already stayed at the General's Residence for more than twenty days. It would take at least five days to reach Penglai Island, so there wasn't much time left before the one-month deadline.
But whenever she thought about Ian Song being killed, she couldn't help but feel reluctant.
After a struggle within her heart, Lyra finally made up her mind.
At dinner, Ian Song's sharp observation skills picked up that Lyra Hale seemed out of sorts.
Sure enough, after the meal, just as he was about to take Princess Jade Fox for a walk, Lyra suddenly smiled and called out to him, "Brother-in-law, may I speak with you for a moment?"
Ian nodded and asked Lily and Autumn to accompany Jade Fox on her walk instead.
The two of them went to the study, where Ian smiled at Lyra. "Lyra, you can tell me what's on your mind."
Lyra composed herself and said, "Brother-in-law, you probably know that the royal families of Yan and Zhao are deeply intertwined with our Mountain-Sea Divine Palace, right?"
Ian nodded; he had learned this from Ji Liao, and also knew that every year, Yan and Zhao sent materials and jade to Mountain-Sea Divine Palace.
Now that he had annexed both Yan and Zhao, he could well imagine how Mountain-Sea Divine Palace would react.