Governing the country, enriching the people, an unparalleled imperial tutor

Five days later, an imperial edict arrived in the capital.

The edict, written by Emperor Jinghe (Zhao Yan) himself, stated that the court had been initially purged, and the final decision on whether Zhang Lin's remaining followers should be executed or exiled awaited the Emperor's return to the capital. Zhao Yan personally laid out the paper and wrote the edict using the ink he usually spared; each stroke was meticulous and the wording respectful, like a student greeting a teacher.

"Go back." When Zhao Lingxi stood at the city gate to see him off, her left shoulder was already free to move, and she no longer needed to use a wooden stick. "Your Imperial Brother is waiting for you in the capital."

"Let's go back together," Lin Yanzhou said. "Your injury hasn't fully healed yet; you'll need someone to look after you on the way."

Zhao Lingxi glanced at him and did not refuse. After spending the past few days together, she had been completely captivated by Lin Yanzhou and was becoming more and more inseparable from this strange man in front of her.

Before his departure, Lin Yanzhou handed over the reservoir's blueprints to the water management officials, repeatedly emphasizing that it could prevent floods and droughts in years of natural disasters, ensuring the people's basic needs were met. He also gifted a powerful flashlight to Zhou Chongyuan, the general defending the city, so that it could be used to deter any enemy attacks. Unexpectedly, this casual act had a revolutionary impact on later generations, keeping many veteran archaeologists awake at night and sparking an archaeological revolution.

The carriage returning to the capital was much more spacious than the one that had brought them there; Zhou Chongyuan had specially arranged for a double-shafted carriage to be used. The carriage was lined with thick cushions, and the windows on both sides could be opened to let in ventilation, or lowered to block out the air completely. A small copper lamp hung on the carriage wall; although it wasn't needed during the day, it was clear that it had been carefully prepared. When Zhao Lingxi sat down in the carriage, she pressed her fingers against the cushions; the firmness was just right, obviously someone had tested them beforehand.

The road outside the city was difficult to travel, with two deep ruts left by the supply wagons of the Northern Di army. When the carriage wheels rolled over them, the whole vehicle lurched violently. Zhao Lingxi's left shoulder hadn't fully healed yet, and the lurch pulled at her wound, causing her to furrow her brow but remain silent.

Lin Yanzhou reached out and put his arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him so she could sit steadily against the car wall: "Stay close to me, it's bumpy over there."

Zhao Lingxi didn't refuse, or even pause, and leaned closer. When her back pressed against his chest, he could feel her shoulder blades against his chest through his clothes, carrying a warm and real weight that felt like she had just recovered. She turned her head to the side, resting it in the hollow between his shoulder and neck, as if she had found the perfect spot.

Lin Yanzhou didn't look down at her, but his arm went around her back, and his palm gently supported the uninjured area below her left shoulder through her clothes, stabilizing her body as she swayed with the tire tracks. Zhao Lingxi leaned quietly against him for a while, and the sunlight outside seeped in through the gap in the carriage curtain, casting a thin strip of light on the cushion between them.

"Lin Yanzhou".

"Um."

Will we come to Jizhou again in the future?

"Yes," Lin Yanzhou said. "We'll come back to inspect the reservoir after it's dug, and we'll also come back to check on the irrigation canals after they're completed. If you want to come, I'll come with you."

"So, once the reservoir is dug and the irrigation canals are completed, you won't come anymore?"

Lin Yanzhou glanced down at her. She leaned against him without looking up, but her uninjured right hand was gently twisting the edge of his sleeve, circling it around and around, as if it were an unconscious movement.

"No," he said. "I have other things to do."

"What is it?"

"There are many things, and our ambition is not just here, but the whole earth. I want to create a territory even greater than Genghis Khan's."

"Earth? Who is Genghis Khan? Which country's princess was he?"

"Ahem, I'm using terms from our immortal realm, you might not understand them, but you'll get used to it. I'll teach you little by little."

She didn't ask any further questions, but the hand that was tugging at his sleeve stopped, as if it had received a reassuring answer.

The carriage traveled a while longer, and the road gradually became smoother. The swaying inside the carriage changed from violent to a gentle, rhythmic rocking, like a boat slowly moving forward on water. Zhao Lingxi shifted her position in his arms, turning to face him, her right hand looping around his waist and resting lightly on his lower back.

As she tilted her head back, the ends of her hair brushed against his neck, stopping at a very close distance. The light in the carriage was dim; the brass lamps hadn't been lit yet. Only a sliver of sunlight filtered through the gap in the curtains, falling on her profile and elongating the shadow of her eyelashes.

"That thing you said before you went up to the city wall that day..." she whispered, "You said you'd let me kiss you if you pacified 300,000 people. Now the 300,000 have retreated, Zhang Lin is dead, and the capital is pacified. You do the math, how much do you owe?"

"I owe you a bite."

"One bite?" She chuckled softly. "Three hundred thousand people, one bite?"

"Then how much will you say?"

She didn't answer. She pulled her right hand back from behind his waist, braced it against the car wall behind him, and slightly propped herself up. Then she lowered her head and pressed her lips to the corner of his lips.

This time it lasted longer than the last time in the carriage. After her lips touched his, she didn't pull away immediately, but slowly deepened them, as if confirming an answer that hadn't been fully settled before. Her lips had a slightly cool temperature, and she gently brushed against the outline of his lower lip before taking it into her mouth, her tongue lightly sweeping across that lip line.

Lin Yanzhou's breath hitched for a beat, then his hand slid up her waist, his fingertips threading through the wisps of hair at the back of her head, gently cupping the nape of her neck. Her neck tensed slightly under his palm for a moment, then slowly relaxed, like a small animal stretching its body in the sunlight.

As she stepped back, her breathing was a little heavy, but her gaze never left his face. The beam of light in the carriage fell between them, illuminating her flushed ears and slightly parted lips clearly.

"This counts as... paying back part of it," she said, her voice lower than before.

"And what about the rest?"

Zhao Lingxi didn't answer. She lowered her head, rested her forehead against his shoulder, and mumbled, "The rest, you figure it out yourself..."

Any normal man would be tempted to say something like that. "Lingxi, how about I let you experience what 'carriage sex' is like? Are you sure your injury can handle it?"

"Hmm, what is carriage sex? I think my injury is fine now."

"Carriage sex, cough cough, listen to me, I'll teach you." Lin Yanzhou reached his hand inside the princess's underwear.

"You scoundrel, Lin Yanzhou, from the moment you treated my wounds, I belonged to you."

This is how the fusion of the ancient and the modern began inside the car.

The carriage continued its leisurely journey towards the capital. Outside the window, the northern wilderness was turning from grayish-yellow to light green, and a thin layer of spring light floated on the distant mountain ridges.

From an angle she couldn't see, he glanced down at the simple silver band ring on his ring finger. It quietly refracted a sliver of light in the sunlight, inconspicuously placed on his finger like a settled anchor.

The increased round-trip permissions, the unlimited mind-reading ability, and most importantly, the two thousand kilograms of storage space in this spatial ring—my chance to become incredibly rich is here!

He knew that from this moment on, the way this dual-world chess game was played would be completely different.