cement

The courtyard was silent. The two of them sat quietly, neither speaking.

Yet, Gao Yuan could see the desolation in Yang Xin's eyes.

The New Year was approaching. On festive occasions, one misses one's dear ones all the more. She must be thinking of home again.

"System, come out."

"Here, Host."

"Can I directly use an s-rank lottery card to exchange for a chance to send Yang Xin back?"

"Any rewards the Host obtains from the lottery are probabilistic events. The system cannot intervene. The Host is advised to work hard to accumulate more lottery cards..."

Before the system could finish, Gao Yuan closed the system interface.

This system is really a scam. After getting the lottery card, Gao Yuan had checked.

He was certain he had seen a reward similar to that, called a 'spacetime wormhole'.

But there were over a hundred rewards on the S-rank reward wheel. The chance of drawing a specific one was far too slim.

After some thought, he decided not to tell Yang Xin. What if he didn't draw it, or drew something he didn't want?

He didn't want to be the kind of villain who gives someone hope only to shatter it himself.

While he was struggling with this, Yang Xin spoke up.

"Gao Yuan, if... I mean, if there was a chance to go back with me, would you be willing to return?"

Gao Yuan looked at the sky and thought for a while, then finally shook his head.

"I won't go. In my original time, I have nothing left to miss;

But here, I have my beloved, my children, my comrades-in-arms, and my work."

Yang Xin was visibly disappointed. She let out an "Oh" and fell silent.

Gao Yuan quickly changed the subject.

"Yang Xin, didn't you say before you had a surprise for me? Where is it?"

Yang Xin snapped back to attention. She quickly fixed Gao Yuan's hair bun and pulled him up from the reclining chair.

"Come, follow me!"

The two jogged to a courtyard under renovation, where Gao Yuan froze.

He walked over to the completed building, touching and knocking on it, then turned back to Yang Xin with a surprised look.

"Cement? You made cement?"

"Yes, but it's still in the experimental phase. I was planning to inform you after some time, once I confirmed its durability was fine."

Gao Yuan hugged Yang Xin and gave her pretty cheek a hearty kiss, earning a look of disgust.

"Sorry, sorry, I'm just too excited. Do you know how important this is to me?"

"Of course I know. Otherwise, I wouldn't have specifically instructed Sister Yueying to research this."

The girl wiped the saliva from her face.

"Actually, you should thank Sister Yueying the most. To make the cement, she spent every day in the lime kiln;

A beautiful young lady like her, covered in dust and grime all day long."

Gao Yuan felt a bit awkward. He hadn't paid much attention to this girl he had summoned.

"Where is Sister Yueying?"

"She's sick, lying in her room. Aren't you going to see her?"

"Oh, oh, oh, I should go see her, I should go see her."

Gao Yuan nodded and turned towards the courtyard where Princess Consort Huang Yueying lived.

"Hmph, that dog of a man! Hearing someone else is sick, he runs faster than he flies. It's infuriating!"

The girl stamped her foot and stomped back to the study in a huff.

Princess Consort Huang Yueying lay quietly in bed, her golden, silky hair spread across the pillow.

Her captivating blue eyes were gently closed, her delicate red lips slightly parted, her breath fragrant.

Her slightly sickly appearance made her look more and more like a large, exquisite Barbie doll, evoking pity.

Seeming to hear movement, the girl opened her eyes. Seeing Gao Yuan, she blinked twice and struggled to sit up.

Gao Yuan quickly walked to the bedside and gently pressed her back down.

"If you're not feeling well, don't get up. Rest properly. The New Year is almost here; there's plenty of good food and fun waiting for you."

The girl obediently lay back down.

"It's just a slight chill. I've troubled you."

"Are you feeling better?"

"Mm, resting for two days has helped a lot. I should be fully recovered in another day or two."

"That's good, that's good. By the way, what would you like to eat for the New Year's Eve dinner? I'll prepare the ingredients early."

Having lain in bed for days, surviving on nothing but porridge and soup, her mouth had long grown tasteless.

Coupled with her being a foodie, Gao Yuan's question nearly made her drool.

"Mm... I'd like hot pot, preferably sour fish soup or sour beef soup."

"Good. Get well quickly, and I'll personally cook you a sour soup hot pot."

After chatting with the girl a while longer and seeing she was getting tired, Gao Yuan got up, said his goodbyes, and left.

When those above have a preference, those below will follow it excessively. Gao Yuan's fondness for hot pot was well-known. Combined with the sour soup recipe he brought, which was indeed refreshing, eateries everywhere started offering sour soup hot pot.

Without tomatoes, the main ingredient for the sour soup base became fermented rice water mixed with lemon and combined with pork bone broth. It was exceptional whether used for stewing fish or cooking meat.

As for ingredients, besides buying some fish in advance and keeping them in mountain spring water to remove the earthy smell, he also ordered a wild ox from a butcher shop.

Not every farmed ox is suitable as a draft animal. Those that are unruly are reclaimed by the government office and, after confirmation, turned into beef and cowhide. But Gao Yuan didn't want to buy that.

The reason was simple: even if you ate non-draft cattle, others could easily interpret it as you using your privilege to slaughter draft cattle wantonly.

Most crucially, if he did it, others would use it as a precedent to act recklessly. Before long, the meat of those draft cattle would end up on the tables of the nobility.

The women, hearing that Gao Yuan was preparing the New Year's Eve dinner early for Princess Consort Huang Yueying, felt a twinge of jealousy.

During dinner, the four women said nothing, just looking at Gao Yuan with resentful eyes, making him feel as if he were sitting on pins and needles.

"Um... my ladies, is something the matter?"

Mu Qing, the most outspoken of the four, directly stated the reason.

"Nothing. Husband, you are as gentle as water and cherish the fair sex. What could we possibly say?"

Gao Yuan secretly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

"Phew, thank goodness. I have a perfectly justifiable reason. No, it's not just a reason; it's simply a reward."

Gao Yuan straightened his back a little, cleared his throat, and first explained the wonders of cement to the women.

"Look at Sister Yueying. She invented the repeating crossbow for us, and now she's come up with cement. Now that she's sick and just wants hot pot, how could I not be attentive?"

The four women exchanged glances. Though not entirely convinced, they reluctantly accepted Gao Yuan's excuse.

"Thank goodness. I thought your taste had gone awry, fancying such an ugly woman."

"Uh..."

Gao Yuan felt he needed to defend the reputation of his meritorious subject.

"Actually, her appearance is considered quite beautiful in Western countries. It's just a bit unconventional here."

The women visibly became interested, putting down their chopsticks to ask.

"Western countries? Do you mean the Western Regions?"

Zhao Xiyao shook her head.

"The palace also has dancers presented by the thirty-six kingdoms of the Western Regions. They don't look like that."

Gao Yuan searched his memory briefly before beginning to explain.

"West of the Western Regions, there's a country called Persia. It's a powerful nation with a vast territory, not inferior to Daqian. West of Persia, there's a powerful country called the Roman Empire, also known as Da Qin. People there all have golden hair and blue eyes like that."

Song Yao suddenly slapped the table.

"I remember now! I heard from my father that during the Emperor's northern campaign, he once received an envoy from the West, from a country called Persia. Father thought it was a minor country and didn't pay much mind. So it's actually a powerful nation."