"Mom."
Lily, on the other hand, was visibly moved the moment she saw the middle-aged woman. She turned to rush forward for a hug.
But to her surprise, the middle-aged woman shouted loudly, "Stop right there, you little brat! Who told you to come back?"
After Lily was sold to City Lord Shen Du, her family had basically severed ties with her. Now that Lily had suddenly shown up, if the city lord found out, wouldn’t he blame them? So at this moment, the middle-aged woman’s fear far outweighed any joy at seeing her daughter.
"Mom! What’s wrong with you?" Lily stopped in her tracks, staring at the middle-aged woman in confusion, tears brimming in her eyes.
Seeing this, the middle-aged woman’s heart softened. "Girl, hurry back before the city lord finds out. If he blames us, our whole family will suffer."
"No need to worry about that. Lily came with me—Shen Du wouldn’t dare blame anyone."
Just then, Ian Song stepped forward, speaking calmly.
The middle-aged woman turned and saw a fair-skinned, short-haired young man dressed oddly. Hearing this young man call City Lord Shen Du by name, she was utterly shocked and quickly bowed. "May I ask who you are, young master?"
"Mom, this is Young Master Song, the city lord’s honored guest," Lily quickly explained.
"Hello, Young Master Song."
Hearing that he was the city lord’s honored guest, the middle-aged woman was shocked and a bit fearful, and couldn’t help but kneel.
"You may rise, there’s no need for such formalities."
Ian Song raised his hand slightly.
Since Lily hadn’t come home secretly and was accompanied by an important guest, the middle-aged woman finally relaxed. Mother and daughter chatted for a while, and Ian had Autumn deliver a bag of millet to Lily’s family, earning even more gratitude from the woman.
He stayed at Lily’s home for more than half an hour, then went to Autumn’s family and, naturally, brought a bag of millet as a gift.
On the way back, the two girls were especially lively, already feeling extremely close to Ian Song.
Back at the city lord’s manor, thanks to Ian Song’s protection, Lily and Autumn’s status had greatly improved. Not only did they now get monthly wages, but each also had her own room.
You have to understand, they were sold into the city lord’s manor, so normally there was no pay, and for lodging, they had to share a room with other servants.
Now, with wages, their own rooms, and even proper names, the two girls were overjoyed. But they both knew all of this was thanks to Young Master Song, so they served Ian Song even more attentively.
If Ian Song didn’t insist otherwise, the two girls would probably even refuse to let him feed himself at meals.
Over the next few days, Ian had Shen Du gather a large number of books and move them into his small courtyard.
All the writing in the Shenzhou Continent used traditional Yanhuang characters, which were a bit of a hurdle at first, but Ian quickly adapted—his memory was monstrous now, after all.
The only thing that bothered him was that all the texts were written on bamboo slips.
A single roll of bamboo slips only held a few hundred characters, and even if you filled a whole room with them, you’d get barely a million characters total—just a few ordinary books by Earth standards.
"Looks like I’ll have to invent paper as soon as possible!"
Besides reading books from this world, Ian also had Shen Du collect maps of the continent.
After studying dozens of maps from various countries across Shenzhou, he discovered another headache: the measurements and units here were a total mess. Clearly, he’d have to unify the system someday.
But creating a unified system of measures wasn’t something you could do overnight. He’d need enough influence before people would accept his ‘invented’ standards.
Finally, on the fourth day, Victor Zhao sent word that the entire Lingshui Prefecture had been taken.
In the real world, the main administrative units are village, township, county, city, and province.
But in the Shenzhou Continent, every country only has villages, counties, and prefectures. The state hardly cares about villages, but there are upper, middle, and lower grades for counties and prefectures. Edgehaven is a lower county, while Lingshui Prefecture is a middle prefecture.
The original Qi Kingdom had nine prefectures and thirty-three counties.
The neighboring states of Chu, Yan, Zhao, and Qin were about the same size as Qi.
But after Yan and Zhao annexed Qi, their territories expanded greatly, making them the two largest countries on the Shenzhou Continent.
City lord’s hall.
Ian Song sat in the chief seat, now dressed in the embroidered robes of the era, though he felt a bit uncomfortable. To curry favor, City Lord Shen Du not only assigned Lily and Autumn as Ian’s personal maids, but also delivered the best tools and food available.
Of course, what was considered the best here was still extremely crude in Ian’s eyes.
Just yesterday, Shen Du even sent ten sets of clothes, custom-made by the best tailor in Edgehaven.
"Young Master, you truly are a divine man."
"Young Master truly lives up to being a disciple of an immortal—he can cover the clouds with a wave of his hand and summon rain with a turn of his palm."
"With Young Master’s help, the restoration of Qi Kingdom is finally within reach."
Upon hearing that Lingshui Prefecture had been taken by Victor Zhao’s army, Bruce Meng, Sean Song, and Shen Du were all overjoyed and showered Ian Song with praise.
Ian Song waved his hand, "Alright, that’s enough flattery."
Just then, a voice called from outside the hall: "His Highness the Crown Prince and the Princess have arrived!"
As soon as the words fell, Ian saw Crown Prince Daniel Jiang and Princess Jade Fox enter the hall, surrounded by four maids. Right now, Daniel wore a solemn expression, eyes straight ahead, chin up, actually projecting some princely authority.
The moment Jade Fox entered the hall, her beautiful eyes couldn’t help but secretly study Ian Song.
Ever since arriving in Edgehaven, she hadn’t seen Ian Song again until now.
"Greetings, Your Highness the Crown Prince! Greetings, Princess!"
Bruce Meng, Sean Song, and Shen Du quickly knelt in salute, while Ian Song remained seated, unmoving. No way was he going to kneel to some little brat—even if he were emperor, Ian wouldn’t do it.
"Ian Song, why aren’t you kneeling?"
Daniel Jiang looked at Ian Song provocatively.
As soon as he said this, Bruce Meng’s expression changed drastically, Shen Du wore a cold smile, and only Sean Song showed a hint of disdain.
In Bruce Meng’s view, Qi’s restoration depended entirely on Ian Song, but the crown prince didn’t know his place and demanded Ian kneel. Bruce was loyal to Qi, but Ian had no allegiance—he was supposedly an immortal’s disciple from overseas. If Ian got truly offended, with his power, he could abolish this crown prince and no one could stop him.
Ian Song’s face darkened. "What makes you think you deserve my respect? You’re a crown prince of a country that’s already lost its state, still putting on airs in front of me—do you really have that qualification?"
"Your Highness, don’t be rude to Young Master Song!" Princess Jade Fox reacted quickly, immediately admonishing Daniel Jiang.
"Young Master Song, His Highness is still young and ignorant, please don’t take offense!" Bruce Meng pleaded apologetically with Ian Song.
Ian Song snorted, "Hmph, I’ve always said this brat needs a good lesson. With his current attitude, even if I help him reclaim Qi’s lands, it won’t be long before he loses the kingdom again. Frankly, it’d be better to depose him and make a new crown prince. Princess Jade Fox seems pretty good—why not make her Qi’s female crown prince instead?"