My brother entrusted his child to me, and I livestreamed raising the baby, making the Empress cry wi

The car slowly came to a stop.

The tires made almost no sound as they rolled over the light gray marble floor.

The parking area was neatly marked with white lines, and each car sat properly in its own compartment, with the front of the car facing the same direction.

Lin Ye opened the car door, and the autumn wind blew in, carrying a scent of coffee and desserts wafting from the direction of the shopping mall.

He bent down and lifted the little boy off the seat. The little boy wrapped his arms around his neck, shaking his head and showing great curiosity about the building in front of him.

The little head turned back and forth, the little ball on the hat swinging from left to right, and a tuft of fine hair peeked out from the edge of the hat, fluttering in the autumn wind like an antenna.

Lin Ye closed the car door and turned around.

Before us stands the largest shopping mall in Jiangcheng—the Guoyin Center.

The two towers are of different heights. The taller one is covered with a silver-gray glass curtain wall, which is cut into multiple folds. The slanting autumn sun shines on those folds, some of which are dazzlingly bright, while others are shrouded in shadow. The interplay of light and shadow makes the whole building look like a huge, breathing crystal.

The tower's top tapers in a stepped fashion, with a slanted cut at the very top pointing straight to the sky, appearing sharp and austere against the clear blue sky.

The shorter building is solid and imposing, with its facade featuring alternating layers of light champagne-colored stone and glass, creating a contrast between the matte finish of the stone and the glossy sheen of the glass.

The two towers are connected by a low-rise podium, topped with a huge arched glass dome that curves inward like a fully drawn bow.

At the entrance, a huge canopy juts outwards, its edges as thin as a knife blade.

Under the awning was a large glass door, ridiculously tall and wide enough for five or six people to walk side by side. On either side of the door were matte black stone walls, creating a contrast of light and dark with the mirrored pillars.

People flocked in from all directions, converging into the marble plaza, and were then swallowed up by the enormous glass doors.

……

Under the sky, the entire Great Flame Kingdom was filled with gasps of astonishment.

The streets and alleys of every city were crowded with people looking up, some with their mouths open and forgetting to close them, and some who didn't even notice that they had dropped everything they were holding.

The live chat exploded with comments.

[Commoner Wang Xiao: Good heavens!!! So many! So big! And it's all made of that thing called glass!?]

[Commoner Qian Zhong: My goodness! This building must be made of silver! The color, the shine, it's even brighter than our county magistrate's silver seal!]

[Commoner Zhao Da: This building... it looked bright from a distance, but now that I'm closer, it's partially bright and partially dark. How strange!]

[Minister of Works Du Mingyi: Look at that roof! It's not flat! It's sloping! Layer upon layer, and a piece was cut off at the very top! How was it built? How were the bricks laid?]

[Zheng Tong, Construction Department of the Ministry of Public Works: That building isn't square! It's...it's polygonal! Every side is different! How do you build the foundation for this kind of building? How do you erect the pillars?]

[Guan Yue, Department of Construction, Ministry of Public Works: That glass door... opened by itself! No one pushed it! It just opened by itself! Then someone came out, and the door closed by itself again! What... what kind of mechanism is this?]

Guan Yue stood in a corner of the Taihe Hall square, mentally sending out comments and constantly thinking. His hands unconsciously made the gesture of opening the door, his fingers tracing two lines in the air before retracting them, as if afraid of being caught in something.

A young Ministry of Works official next to him whispered, "Sir, could it be that someone is pushing from the inside? Using...using one of those secret doors?"

Guan Yue rolled his eyes at him: "Are you blind? That door is transparent! Can't you see if there's anyone inside?"

……

The comments scrolled wildly, but Lin Ye didn't stop.

He carried the small bag and walked towards the glass door.

The door slid open silently to both sides.

The comments section was scrolling wildly, but Lin Ye didn't stop. He carried the little bag and walked towards the glass door. The door slid open silently. A warm, dry breeze rushed out, carrying a faint, indescribable fragrance, which hit his face, creating a stark contrast with the bleak autumn wind outside.

Xiao Douzi took a deep breath, feeling enveloped in warmth, and her hunched neck suddenly stretched out. She even loosened her grip on Lin Ye's neck, feeling that the furry hat and collar suddenly became superfluous.

"Godfather, it's so warm in here!" she exclaimed cheerfully. "Just as warm as in the car!"

Lin Ye stepped over the threshold and entered the mall. "Because the mall has heating, just like in the car or at home, it's not cold in winter."

"Heating?" Little Douzi tilted her head, her face full of curiosity. "What's heating?"

"Hmm... You can think of it as a way to make the big house warm from the ground, from the walls, and everywhere else." Lin Ye tried to explain in words she could understand, lifting her up a little to hold her more securely.

Little Douzi nodded with an "Oh," seemingly understanding, before his gaze was instantly drawn to the view above him.

Under the sky, millions of people in Da Yan Kingdom were plunged into even deeper horror by the word "heating".

Heating? Heat rising from the ground and from the walls? Not a charcoal brazier, not a heated brick bed, what is it? And—this huge place? How can this "palace," which is larger than all the buildings lining both sides of Zhuque Avenue in the capital, be warm throughout? How is that possible!?

In front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, Shu Jingwei was wrapped in a thick cloak, with two charcoal braziers at her feet, a hot water bottle in her arms, and an animal skin blanket covering her knees. The wind blew in from the end of the square, lifting the hem of her dragon robe, and the cold wind sneaked in through her collar, making her shiver.

She saw on the sky that Little Douzi had taken off her coat, her little face flushed, running around in the "palace" in a thin sweatshirt, even raising her hand to fan herself—because she was hot. Meanwhile, she herself, bundled up like a ball, was still so cold that her fingers were stiff.

An unnamed anger surged up from my chest.

"Guards!" Shu Jingwei suddenly shouted, her voice shrill. The chief eunuch trotted forward: "Your Majesty."

"Give me two more! No, five charcoal braziers!" Shu Jingwei's voice brooked no argument, and she didn't even look at the eunuch.

The chief eunuch broke out in a cold sweat, his lips trembling: "Your Majesty... this year's snow disaster in the western region has reduced the production of silver thread charcoal by nearly half. The rations for each palace have been halved, and your palace is already using 20% ​​more than in previous years... If this continues, I'm afraid the other palaces won't even have enough for heating..."

"What does that have to do with me?!" Shu Jingwei slammed her hand on the armrest of her chair, the rosewood armrest making a loud "crack." "I am the Emperor! The most important person in the world! If I'm cold, I have to be warmed! What does it matter to me if my officials are freezing?!"

The chief eunuch was deathly pale, his lips trembling as he tried to speak, but Shu Jingwei's gaze froze him in place.

"Hurry up and go!" Shu Jingwei's voice rose. "Do you expect me to go and move it myself?!"

"This servant will go right away! This servant will go right away!" The chief eunuch scrambled away.

Shu Jingwei looked up at the sky again, her teeth grinding. She saw Xiao Douzi looking up at Lin Ye with a sweet and satisfied smile, and the fire in her heart burned even brighter.

"Useless!" she muttered, unsure whether she was cursing the eunuch, the Ministry of Works, or the little girl laughing blindingly on the sky. She pulled the animal-skin blanket tighter, her knuckles turning white from gripping it.

The comments section in the bottom right corner exploded:

[Traveling Merchant Hu Dadao: Bullshit! I've traveled all over the country and never heard of such a heating method! A heated kang (a traditional heated bed) requires a coffered opening, charcoal requires a basin, and a hot water bottle requires hot water! Steam rising from the underground walls? That's an earth dragon turning over! Lava! People will die!] [Zheng Tong, Director of the Ministry of Works: Heating… In our Great Flame Kingdom, we need either charcoal basins, heated kangs, or hot water bottles for heating. How many charcoal basins would it take to warm such a large place? And even though the charcoal basins produce smoke and ash, they're clean inside, without a trace of soot!] [Commoner Zhao Daniu: We huddle together in the cold in winter, our hands swollen and feet cracked, while they wear only a single layer of clothing in such a large place! What kind of gods are these people on the celestial canopy?]

She pulled the animal skin blanket around herself tighter, her fingers gripping the edge of the blanket until her knuckles turned white.

The comments section in the bottom right corner exploded with discussion.

[Traveling Merchant Hu Dadao: Bullshit! I've traveled all over the country and never heard of such a way of heating! You need a kang (heated brick bed) with a fire pit, a charcoal brazier needs a basin, and a hot water bottle needs hot water! Heat coming from underground walls? That's an earth dragon turning over! It's lava! People will die!]

[Zheng Tong, Director of the Construction Department of the Ministry of Works: Heating... what is that? In our Great Flame Kingdom, we either burn charcoal braziers or use hot water bottles on heated brick beds to keep warm in winter. How many charcoal braziers would it take to warm up such a large place? And charcoal braziers produce smoke and ash, but this place is completely clean, without a single speck of soot!]

……

The comments section was buzzing with discussion when the screen suddenly changed—Little Douzi broke free from Lin Ye's hand and ran towards a counter gleaming with warm light in the distance. Behind the counter, rows of objects stood neatly arranged, bathed in soft light and vibrant colors; none of them had ever appeared in the Great Flame Kingdom before. Everyone held their breath, their eyes wide with astonishment.

Lin Ye stood there, watching Xiao Douzi run off into the distance, a slight smile playing on his lips. He knew that the real shock was just beginning.

Under the canopy, everyone stared at the counter, their hearts pounding. They saw—inside the counter, displayed…