27: Chapter 27 Unrelated to Romance

"Children?" Zhuge Jinyu was stunned.

She had never thought about this question before.

"Yes, look, these are the children I am gifting to you."

Zhuge Jinyu gazed at Su Chen, her mind going blank for a moment.

Immediately following that, her imagination ran wild.

Gifting... gifting... gifting me a whole group of children??

And a whole group at that?

"Ah~" The young girl's pretty face turned crimson in an instant.

Sir wants to give her children?

This kind of matter made her feel so ashamed just thinking about it.

But why was there also a sense of anticipation?

Taking advantage of the moment when the civil and military officials had their heads bowed, Zhuge Jinyu lowered her head, bit her red lips, and tugged at the hem of Su Chen's manifested robe.

"Sir, why are you bringing this up now?"

"Wait until Xiao Yu reshapes... for you..."

Damn!

Su Chen suddenly felt dizzy.

This was big trouble.

Not to mention that this girl, Zhuge Jinyu, was already overthinking things; if one were to tell an ordinary woman that they wanted to give her children, she would likely immediately jump to the wrong conclusion.

If it were him, he would probably be the same.

Su Chen cleared his throat and hurriedly got to the main point.

"Prime Minister, please look. This is a special institution I specifically instructed Huang Ying to establish here, the Nourishing Sanctuary, though it is also called an orphanage."

"It takes in most of the homeless children within the Great Qian capital, serving functions like a school, and providing food, clothing, housing, and transportation."

"The goal is not just to raise these children to adulthood, but to cultivate them into talents."

"Tell them, if they have no home, then Great Qian is their home!"

The inspiration for establishing the Nourishing Sanctuary also came from Su Chen's experience on Blue Star.

He had lost both parents in his youth; if not for social welfare institutions and support, he would never have made it to the point of getting into university.

Suddenly, countless children, led by Huang Ying, walked out of the gates of the Nourishing Sanctuary.

They all wore uniform red clothing, looking like clusters of red flowers.

"Xiao Yu, these are the children I am gifting to you."

"I believe that now, or in the future, when they grow up, they will always protect this country."

"Unifying the world is not an easy task that can be accomplished overnight."

"If one day I truly leave, they will still be here."

"Their descendants will multiply, and they will live on forever."

Zhuge Jinyu looked at Su Chen.

She still remembered that not long ago, she had just said it.

This time, she chose peace and prosperity for the nation.

And so, Sir had gifted her a peaceful and prosperous nation.

The two stood in silence, merely gazing at each other.

Their eyes met; tears welled up in the girl's eyes, and the corners of Sir's mouth curled up.

Zhuge Jinyu looked at Su Chen's blurred face.

"Thank you."

"I like this gift very much."

Suddenly, a breeze blew by.

The wind brushed past Su Chen's cuffs and her white robes.

It blew past a romance that had nothing to do with themselves.

Turning around, Su Chen's words were not only directed at the Female Prime Minister but also at all the commoners and civil and military officials present.

"Everyone, there is still one flaw in this Nourishing Sanctuary."

"Most of the children here have no traceable names or surnames, so most of them lack registration."

"I think it might be better if His Majesty or the Prime Minister were to bestow names and surnames upon these children."

After speaking, he curled his lips and looked at Zhuge Jinyu and Liu Dou.

"Your Majesty, would you like to go first?"

The young Emperor Liu Dou was merely unlearned, not truly stupid.

He naturally knew that if it weren't for the fact that Zhuge Jinyu was his aunt and had been entrusted by his mother, she could have ascended the throne as the female emperor at any time.

So, without waiting for anyone else to speak, he took the initiative to step back two paces and sat at the children's table.

Zhuge Jinyu's beautiful eyebrows also curved.

Foolish Sir, he had fed the meal right to her mouth.

Although Great Qian was currently implementing benevolent governance, both Su Chen and she knew that bringing over the methods from the modern Blue Star was unrealistic and impossible.

In the minds of the common people, nobles, officials, and cultivators were simply a level above them.

This could not be changed in the short term.

But if these children could truly receive a name and surname bestowed by Zhuge Jinyu, it would undoubtedly be a tremendous favor.

It was equivalent to instantly elevating them from the humblest commoners to the same status as nobles and bureaucrats.

Simply put, it was raising loyal retainers.

Once this group grew up, they would surely devote their lives to Great Qian and the Zhuge Family, serving until their deaths.

"Sir..."

Given the relationship between the two, there was no need for excessive words.

"Thank you."

"If there is a next life, this maiden will surely serve you as a beast of burden."

Su Chen smiled slightly.

"Why wait for the next life?"

The young girl stuck out her tongue.

"Sir is stupid!"

"You are merely a lonely ghost in a mirror, not a living person, so how can you not let this maiden wait for the next life?"

"Look at yourself now, do you have even a hint of a living person's appearance?"

That was true.

The Female Prime Minister was the Female Prime Minister; not only did she learn other things quickly, but she had also quickly picked up being sharp-tongued.

"Very well, you silly girl, you've learned to use Sir's own tactics against him!" Su Chen feigned anger.

The young girl said playfully.

"These are all things Sir used to tease me first; I learned them all from you."

Su Chen did not speak again, and Zhuge Jinyu did not reply either.

Unconsciously, she unconsciously leaned a little closer to Su Chen.

She let the breeze that had just blown between them brush across her face again.

Yet her beautiful fox-like eyes were always directed toward Su Chen, as if she could never see enough of him.

In a corner where Su Chen could not see, her long eyelashes blocked the deep sadness that flashed in her eyes.

"There must be a next life..."

The Sir in her eyes could not be a lonely ghost; he was clearly an immortal exiled from heaven.

But she could not let go of this world, nor could she find immortality.

It was early summer, and Su Chen sighed lightly, speaking with the wind.

It was nothing more than a chance encounter.

The best gift he could give her was a peaceful and prosperous age, a unified Great Qian.

He really did not notice that Zhuge Jinyu, who was beside him at this moment, had quietly walked to the front of the stage.

"Then... for these children, boys shall be given the surname Su, and girls shall be given the surname zhuge."

"It is decided."

"Ah???"

The officials below the stage were in an uproar.

In the Great Qian Immortal Dynasty, there was a tradition that was different from Blue Star, but could still be considered unwritten.

For descendants, if they were legitimate, boys took the father's surname and girls took the mother's surname.

If they were illegitimate, they all took the father's surname.

After all, in the fantasy immortal dynasty, the legitimate wives of wealthy families were mostly cultivators with considerable cultivation and extraordinary family backgrounds.

Ordinary women or collateral branches might not care about this, but most legitimate wives still required their descendants to leave some trace of themselves.

But right now, what was the meaning of Zhuge Jinyu's action?

Directly using her own surname and the State Preceptor's surname to name these orphans.

Not only was her ambition obvious to everyone, but she was also rightfully occupying the position of the State Preceptor's legitimate... wife?

For a time, many old officials kowtowed one after another, begging Zhuge Jinyu to retract her command.