Chapter 214: After Binding the Child-Bearing System, Becoming a Winner in Life Chapter 215: The Road to Turning the Tables While Flee

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Main Character:

Shen Yao

Qi Chen and his party collected as they traveled; although the team kept growing as refugees joined, the overall growth rate trended toward stability, all within their manageable range.

It was also at this time that Shen Yao truly believed the words Qi Chen had spoken.

As it turned out, these people had long held a measuring rod in their hearts; the scheming that commoners don't understand had wound through their minds who knows how many times.

The closer they got to Changzhou Prefecture, the visibly better Qi Chen's mood became.

Qi Haochen had already passed his first birthday on the road; although they didn't hold a grand celebration, Qi Chen still brought out a great deal of gold, silver, pearls, and jade.

All were gifts for their own son; Qi Chen also lamented that the timing was wrong, otherwise their son's celebration would have been several times better than the present one.

Wei Cheng's several older brothers and sisters each sent their own gifts as well.

Not worth much money, but all were tokens of goodwill; Shen Yao accepted them all, even having the maids record them in a register, to be taken out and given to Qi Haochen himself once he came of age.

"Concubine Shen, in a few more days the carriages and horses will arrive at Changzhou Prefecture.

The Prince sent this slave to ask Concubine Shen to take good care of yourself and the Eldest Miss."

The steward's voice sounded at the window side; after receiving Shen Yao's definite reply, he left directly.

As for Shen Yao sitting in the carriage, she was pondering other matters.

Qi Haochen lay sleeping soundly in the bedchamber wearing only a dudou; fearing he would catch cold, Shen Yao took a thin blanket and covered his belly.

The Dragon Boat Festival was imminent; at their travel speed they would likely not make it in time.

Sure enough, the weather grew hot; neither man nor beast liked traveling under the scorching sun.

They rested for an hour and a half at noon, waiting out the hottest stretch; ordinarily everyone would also drink a bowl of chilled mung bean soup to dispel the heat.

Shen Yao was cared for very thoroughly here; even the mung bean soup had been iced.

"The ancients' wisdom is still very strong," like the ice bowl held in her hand, it was made using the nitrate ice-making method.

There were even other little tricks for cooling off and beating the heat, all crystallizations of the ancients' wisdom, in no way inferior to modern times.

Lying in the carriage, with a small fan sending cool breezes beside her, Shen Yao half-closed her eyes and discussed the Changzhou Prefecture matter with the System.

The point of discussion was that life was getting harder and harder; the high-yield seeds in the space needed to be brought out — first, to stabilize the situation in Changzhou Prefecture; second, to lay groundwork in advance for the coming disasters.

Grain can keep people alive; only with enough grain can those commoners eat their fill.

Qi State's foundation is thick enough; Shen Yao need not worry about the country falling and the family perishing, but as disasters gradually rise, each person looks out for themselves.

Qi Chen wants to take the opportunity to pull benefits to his own household; he will certainly need confidence.

Under a disaster background, what is hard currency? Naturally, it is grain that lets people survive; therefore those high-yield seeds are indispensable.

"Host, how do you plan to bring them out? Qi Chen isn't a stupid person with no reaction."

If it's too outrageous, Qi Chen might just turn around and kill the Host.

"Look, the one sleeping soundly in the bedchamber is Qi Chen's own son.

Since you can give Wei Cheng and the others spaces, then also arrange one for Qi Haochen.

Then you just need to put those seeds inside; no further explanation needed."

Shen Yao quickly settled on the scapegoat; anyway, with Qi Chen's wrecked body, having a fine son like Qi Haochen is already heaven's blessing; for now they just have to rely on this sole seedling to live well.

The System said with difficulty, "N-now? Qi Haochen is only so big; he can't even speak clearly yet."

Shen Yao raised an eyebrow, "The son can't explain clearly, but isn't there still his birth father?

What are you good for? Didn't we agree you could exercise maximum permissions?"

Give the birth father a dream-visitation-by-immortals scene too; with Wei Cheng's group as precedent, the System should be able to perfect it further on that basis.

System: ……

The System didn't expect the Host to say this, but this is indeed very like the Host's operation.

Lowering its head and silently committing these to heart, the System promptly saw to this matter after Qi Chen's party arrived at Changzhou Prefecture.

……

"Your Highness?"

Having slept a nap and gotten up intending to handle proper business, Shen Yao looked up and saw Qi Chen hurrying over.

Qi Chen's face was covered in untrimmed stubble; his whole person was unruly and unrestrained.

"Yao'er, where is Chen'er?"

Qi Chen's eyes scanned everywhere, trying to locate Qi Haochen.

Shen Yao walked quickly to Qi Chen's side, pointed toward the side room outside, "Chen'er is still sleeping; does Your Highness want to see Chen'er?"

Qi Chen nodded; the man rubbed his face with his hand, "I'll take Chen'er to the front courtyard."

Without waiting for Shen Yao to react, Qi Chen turned and hurried to the side room, scooped up the just-woken Qi Haochen, and carried him off to the front courtyard.

Shen Yao: ……

Shen Yao called out the System to ask just how it had done it; Qi Chen's frantic appearance was as if not seeing Qi Haochen would cause a catastrophe.

The System was incomparably pleased with itself, "Host needs to properly thank me.

I greatly strengthened Qi Haochen's importance in Qi Chen's heart.

Not only that, I also put in a good word for Wei Cheng and the others; Host, just wait and see."

Shen Yao felt the System was getting a bit too carried away; with that showing-off look, if it didn't mess things up, the two of them would be unlucky together.

"Host, guaranteed success; right now Qi Chen is holding Qi Haochen and experimenting."

While talking to Shen Yao, the System didn't forget to remotely observe Qi Chen's operation.

Who made this her own affair? She had to give herself some confidence first, otherwise she wouldn't be firm when speaking to the Host later.

Shen Yao:...

Shen Yao arranged her makeup with a speechless expression, telling the system in her heart to keep a close watch and not forget to tell her the process after the front courtyard was done.

What process could there be? At most, Qi Chen would laughingly pull his biological son Qi Haochen to try various things.

After all, the space and seeds were on Qi Haochen, so if Qi Chen wanted them, he definitely had to ask Qi Haochen to take them out.

But the key to the problem came: Qi Haochen was a young child who could only speak one word at a time, so how could Qi Chen's words be correctly understood?

Qi Chen:...

Qi Chen tried various things wearily, and finally, just as he was about to give up, Qi Haochen raised his hand, and a small bag suddenly appeared beside him.

Qi Chen's eyes lit up; when he opened it, the bag contained the seeds the Immortal in the dream had mentioned.

Yellow seeds no bigger than a fingernail each—corn, perhaps?

"Son, quickly take out two more bags for Father," he remembered there were also sweet potatoes and potatoes, both high-yield crops.

Pity the son was too young; many miraculous seeds still couldn't be taken out, otherwise, with his advance layout and management, his own son's starting point would be far higher than his peers.

Qi Haochen laughed happily, completely unable to understand what his biological father meant.

But the magical trick of waving a hand to make something appear and disappear still interested him; he clapped his little hands and kept trying back and forth, while Qi Chen took the opportunity to take the seeds he wanted.

The seeds Qi Chen obtained were all handed to the General Manager to plant on their Qin Wang Fu's Estate, with Bodyguards arranged to protect them, all strictly guarded.

But these seeds would take several months to mature and bear fruit after planting; after Qi Chen was busy, he would definitely do other things with the remaining time.

First was the arrangement of the refugees who had followed behind; according to closeness and distance, they were all scattered to live in villages and towns around Changzhou Prefecture.

Not only that, Qi Chen also normally recruited workers to dig ore in the mines.

As newcomers, Qi Chen definitely had to make money first; best to make money generate money, to make Changzhou Prefecture prosperous, so he could pay more taxes and tributes.

During this period, the Shen Family also found a Small Courtyard to settle in Changzhou Prefecture.

Refusing the help of Qi Chen and Shen Yao, the Shen Family used the silver left over from the previous family division.

Even Shen Fugui and Lady Zhou warned Shen Danian's family not to take an inch and demand a mile.

"As for your Third Sister's place, helping us is a favor, not helping is our duty; now that we've come to Changzhou Prefecture, we can't drag your Third Sister down in this matter."

After Lady Zhou finished speaking, Shen Fugui added that they would find work in Changshan Prefecture to support the family.

The pig-butchering business could be picked up again, and besides, they could do some small trades.

Just like that, after buying the house in Changzhou Prefecture, Shen Fugui took Shen Dayou to continue butchering pigs and selling meat, while Lady Zhou rented a small store, pulling Lady He and two granddaughters to sell miscellaneous small household items.

When Lady Zhou entered the residence, and Shen Yao asked about her family's situation, Lady Zhou could already laughingly tell the whole story of their making money.

"It's all thanks to Cheng'er and them coming up with ideas; this Qin Wang Fu is indeed capable. When Cheng'er and them grow up and can take care of themselves, you can breathe a sigh of relief."

Lady Zhou felt heartache for her own daughter; whether married to Wei Fan or to the Luo Prince, her daughter suffered grievances most of the time.

Ai yo, imagining her daughter's pitiful appearance, Lady Zhou wanted to say more nice words to make her daughter more comfortable.

Shen Yao held Lady Zhou's hand and patted it, "Mother, I'm really fine.

You and Father living well there is better than anything. When Cheng'er and them grow up, and with the Prince not being too calculative, their future prospects will be good."

At least much better than staying in the Wei Family; no matter how capable Wei Fan is, he still has to rely on his wife's family to climb up, and he can't offer much help to Wei Cheng and them.

But Qi Chen is different; Qi Chen has his own power and his own Fiefdom. Wei Cheng and them have a starting point that Wei Fan can't climb to in his entire lifetime.

"Mother, I want to change Cheng'er and them's names; the Wei Family and Wei Fan have nothing to do with them."

What's the point of the surname Wei? The surname Shen sounds much better. Besides, having come to Changzhou Prefecture, household registration needs to be redone.

Fortunately, her backer is her pillow-side person; Shen Yao thinks this kind of backdoor shouldn't be missed. Keeping the Wei surname would trouble herself and others.

Lady Zhou's eyes lit up at the news. "Can it be done? Then change it as soon as possible."

Even Lady Zhou carefully asked Shen Yao if she could let Wei Cheng and them take the surname Qi.

The Qi surname of the Imperial Clan Relative—that was the state surname, a tremendous honor.

Shen Yao:...

Shen Yao shook her head to indicate that wouldn't do; it was safest to just take the surname Shen.

"Fine, Shen Cheng, Shen Shi; sounds like good sons of our Shen Family."

Lady Zhou chanted the two names happily, then once again steered the topic elsewhere.