DLWAV CH25 [Arc 2]

To Ao Ruize, today was indeed a good day.

So he had to retract his earlier words.

Also, even though both involved the stock market, Zhong Chi was much more fun than Country Y.

As for Zhong Chi, facts proved that Ao Ruize was delicious, even more delicious than he had imagined.

His large hands, his arms… the way he looked drenched in sweat… Zhong Chi had been utterly defeated at one point.

The result was that Zhong Chi, exhausted to the extreme, only managed to fall asleep on the damp sheets when dawn was approaching the next day.

When he woke up, it was already noon.

The clothes on his body, along with the sheets beneath him, had all been changed.

With a turn, he rolled directly into Ao Ruize’s embrace.

Now, this place, and even this person, belonged completely to him.

Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the curtains onto his body, reflecting a warmth across the floor.

He thought, those rumors in the Heavenly Palace truly hadn’t lied to him.

And he really had found a practically perfect partner.

How wonderful!

Sensing Zhong Chi’s movement, the corners of Ao Ruize’s lips curved up as well.

Who would have thought? He had originally just wanted a simple vacation.

But his wife had delivered himself to his door.

Thinking of the scene last night where Zhong Chi had wrapped his arms around his neck and softly called him ‘Hubby’ in his ear, Ao Ruize couldn’t help but tilt his head back slightly, suppressing the stirring in his heart.

How wonderful!

He pulled Zhong Chi tighter into his arms, rested his chin on the top of Zhong Chi’s head, closed his eyes, and continued to enjoy this hard-won moment of happiness.

The days that followed passed like flowing water.

A month later, Ao Ruize’s elders and Zhong Chi’s elders formally met.

On a sunny day five months later, Ao Ruize and Zhong Chi held a grand wedding at Huangming Club.

The moment the handsome couple stepped onto the red carpet, thunderous applause rang out.

Watching this scene, the milk dumpling couldn’t help but feel a surge of sorrow.

What is the cruelest thing in the world?

It is that before one has even grown up, one’s wife has already married someone else.

But now, saying anything was useless.

So it decisively turned grief and indignation into strength and started working: “Congratulations, Host, for successfully completing the mission, earning one hundred and twenty points.”

“Congratulations, Host, for earning an extra reward of fifty points during the mission for helping the philanthropist Jin Boshi eliminate his life’s regret.”

However, the milk dumpling was in no hurry to redeem prizes for Ao Ruize, detach from him, and find a new mission and host.

Its tone was full of ingratiation: “Host, can we discuss something?”

Ao Ruize: “What is it?”

Milk Dumpling: “Do you want to continue cooperating with me?”

Ao Ruize: “Hmm?”

Milk Dumpling: “Actually, I can bind with a permanent host.”

“Becoming a permanent host allows you to follow me to other worlds to do missions.”

After experiencing the first mission, it realized it seemed to be a little bit unreliable.

But that didn’t matter; it could totally find a reliable host to complement it.

And wasn’t there a ready-made one right in front of it?

“As long as you successfully complete missions, you can continue to earn point rewards.”

“I’m very generous; I didn’t take a cut of the extra rewards you got, I gave them all to you.”

“Most importantly, after becoming a permanent host, there’s a chance to become an Underworld Deity in the future.”

The milk dumpling said, “After becoming an Underworld Deity, you have the chance to bring Chi Chi along to become a deity too, and then you can be with him for eternity—”

Speaking of this, the milk dumpling felt sorrow well up again.

To think that it, a dignified system, had been reduced to selling its wife for glory.

But Zhong Chi seemed to already be Ao Ruize’s wife.

Oh.

Then it was fine!

The milk dumpling said excitedly, “So, what do you think?”

Hearing this, Ao Ruize raised an eyebrow.

A chance to become an Underworld Deity?

This milk dumpling had some tricks up its sleeve!

However, Ao Ruize didn’t plan to refuse.

After all, it was quite fun; teasing it occasionally could relieve his mood.

Just then, the priest’s voice rang out: “Mr. Xiao, do you take Mr. Zhong to be your wedded husband? To love him, honor him, never leave him, be faithful to him all your life, for richer or poorer… to share joys and sorrows with him, and join hands to create a healthy and happy family, until death do you part?”

Looking into Zhong Chi’s radiant eyes in front of him, Ao Ruize smiled and said, “I do!”

…

For the next decade or so, Ao Ruize remained a regular at Huangming Club, only now the person by his side was Zhong Chi.

Until Grandpa Xiao, and the elders of the Zhong and Chi families, passed away one after another.

One day, after coming out of the swimming pool, Zhong Chi suddenly hugged Ao Ruize’s waist and said, “Let’s go too.”

On one hand, it was because they had no more attachments in this world. On the other hand, while swimming just now, he suddenly noticed that if he looked closely, wrinkles were visible at the corners of his eyes.

Although reincarnated as an ordinary person, growing old was inevitable.

If it were before, he might not have cared, but now, he only wanted to appear in Ao Ruize’s eyes and heart in his most perfect state.

Ao Ruize looked down, met the divine light in his eyes, and simply smiled. “Okay.”

So the next day, the two unfortunately died in a car accident.

When the news came out, countless people sighed.

Later, by a strange combination of circumstances, the police discovered that the driver who caused the accident was actually a serial killer they had been chasing for over a decade but failed to catch.

Even the milk dumpling was confused.

Because in its deduction, both Ao Ruize and Zhong Chi should have lived into their seventies or eighties.

Yet they died now, barely in their early forties.

But this was, of course, a good thing.

Because this way, it wouldn’t have to wait for decades.

“As for Chi Chi’s side, didn’t I ask you to prepare him beforehand? I told him that if he doesn’t find you in the Underworld after death, he should wait for you there for a few years.”

“So the only thing we need to do now is work hard on missions, and then go to the Underworld to meet up with Chi Chi.”

After death, Ao Ruize, who was brought directly to the milk dumpling’s system space, smiled. “Okay.”

The milk dumpling immediately got excited.

“I’ll go look right now to see which small world nearby has developed a loophole.”

“Found it—”

The next second, Ao Ruize’s vision went black.

At the same time, high above the Nine Heavens, a handsome figure followed Ao Ruize’s aura and entered the lower realm once again.

……

“Not good, His Highness Prince An has started running a fever again.”

“Quick, go get the Imperial Physician.”

…

“His Highness Prince An might not make it…”

As soon as Ao Ruize transmigrated, he stumbled upon this scene.

The milk dumpling immediately said: “Host, spend fifty points to exchange for a bottle of Body Strengthening Potion and a bottle of Antidote Potion?”

The Body Strengthening Potion, as the name implies, had the effect of strengthening the body; having it would be enough to help Ao Ruize survive this acute illness.

As for why he had to spend another forty-something points to exchange for a bottle of Antidote Potion, it was naturally because this body harbored more than one type of toxin.

Ao Ruize: “Exchange it!”

As soon as the words fell, two warm currents merged into Ao Ruize’s internal organs simultaneously.

“Pfft.”

Ao Ruize suddenly turned over and vomited a large mouthful of black blood.

“Your Highness—”

The room instantly turned into chaos again.

But very quickly, the old Imperial Physician’s exclamation rang out: “Prince An’s pulse seems a bit stronger than just now…”

Three days later.

Ao Ruize could barely manage to get up.

“Who could have thought? After such a serious illness, His Highness is not only safe and sound but also blessed by misfortune—the Imperial Physician said that thanks to this serious illness, the medicinal toxins in His Highness’s body became unstable and clashed with the fetal poison, irritating the stomach, and finally, His Highness vomited them all out.”

Eunuch Qu Ji spoke while bringing the brewed medicine to Ao Ruize.

Other eunuchs and palace maids chimed in: “His Highness truly has luck as great as heaven.”

“It’s also thanks to the sincere prayers of the common people in Yunzhou City. I heard some families even chopped up their bed boards just to make longevity tablets for our Highness.”

“It wasn’t in vain that our Highness personally went to the dike to supervise the work for their sake.”

…

Ao Ruize took a sip of the medicinal brew and just smiled.

This was an ancient world. Compared to the small world he stayed in before, the history of this world took a turn around the Yuan Dynasty.

In this world, it wasn’t Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang who ended the Yuan rule, but Yang Taizu Zhao Yi.

Currently on the throne was the fifth emperor of the Yang Dynasty, Emperor Yuanxi.

The original host, Zhao Ruize, was Emperor Yuanxi’s eighth son, titled Prince An.

Besides him, Emperor Yuanxi had two other sons.

One was the First Prince, Zhao Ruize’s full brother.

One was the Fourth Prince, Emperor Yuanxi’s legitimate son.

However, the main forces contending for the throne in the court now were only the First Prince and the Fourth Prince.

Because when the original host was born, remnants of the previous dynasty tried to assassinate Emperor Yuanxi. His birth mother, Consort Xian, accidentally drank the poison presented to Emperor Yuanxi by the assassin, causing her to go into labor prematurely.

Later, although they both survived, most of the poison Consort Xian drank was passed onto the original host. The Imperial Physician once predicted he wouldn’t live past twenty.

So from the beginning, he was excluded from the line of succession.

Until three months ago, sudden torrential rains hit the southeast region. Floods broke the dikes in Yunzhou, submerging most of the counties in Yunzhou overnight, leaving wails of despair everywhere.

Upon hearing the news, the imperial court immediately prepared to send an imperial envoy to Yunzhou for disaster relief.

However, regarding the choice of the envoy, the princes and courtiers had their own considerations.

Disaster relief was something that, if done well, would naturally bring both fame and profit.

If done poorly, it wasn’t a big deal; as long as one did their best, Emperor Yuanxi was reasonably wise and wouldn’t punish them severely.

Unexpectedly, at this critical juncture, the Fourth Prince suddenly caught a cold. The Imperial Physician said he needed at least a month of rest to recover.

The First Prince then entered the palace and complained to Consort Xian, saying he was too busy with official duties to spare time for disaster relief in Yunzhou, thus losing such a good opportunity in vain.

Hearing this, the original host, thinking of sharing his brother’s burden and wanting to shoulder some responsibility as a prince to repay the court for the money spent on treating his illness over the years, voluntarily took on the task.

The First Prince was naturally moved upon hearing this. He not only helped prepare sufficient funds and grain for relief but also specially found two officials with rich experience in disaster management for him.

So although the original host fell ill on the way due to poor health, fortunately, they had ample supplies and capable manpower.

Thus, the situation in Yunzhou stabilized quickly.

But unexpectedly, not long after, torrential rain swept through Yunzhou again.

The Yunzhou dike was washed away by floods once more.

Zhao Ruize had no choice but to personally supervise the work on the dike. He executed seven or eight officials who tried to flee before the battle, deterring the others, and barely managed to plug the breach again.

But his health was already poor. After enduring two days and two nights of heavy rain on the dike, his condition took a turn for the worse.

When Ao Ruize transmigrated, he was down to his last breath.

And according to his original fate, he indeed died three days ago.

Ao Ruize couldn’t help but sigh deeply.

The milk dumpling immediately comforted: “It’s okay, it’s okay. Although this world is much more dangerous than the last one, starting directly at the crematorium level, as long as we work together, we can definitely overcome these difficulties.”

“I’m not worried.”

Ao Ruize said, “I just miss my wife a little.”

Milk Dumpling: “???”

Heh, men!

Just then, two anxious voices sounded from outside the door: “Is Prince An feeling any better? We subjects have urgent matters to report!”

Ao Ruize: “Come in.”

Two officials walked in immediately. They were none other than the two capable officials the First Prince had sent to assist the original host with disaster relief.

“Prince An—”

After bowing, the two couldn’t even wait to straighten up before impatiently saying, “We shouldn’t disturb Your Highness at this time, but the matter is urgent, please forgive us.”

“Prince An, there are less than two thousand piculs of grain left in the Yunzhou treasury.”

Yet the population of Yunzhou numbered two million, and they were pouring into Yunzhou City endlessly.

In fact, they had brought plenty of grain this time, but misfortunes never come singly. The secondary collapse of the Yunzhou dike washed away most of the grain stored at nearby relief points.

“These grains can last at most three more days.”

Because of this, they couldn’t even spare time to pursue the local officials who had cut corners during the construction of the Yunzhou dike to line their own pockets, causing the continuous collapses.

“But according to our calculations, the imperial court’s relief grain won’t reach Yunzhou within this month.”

Because the grain reserves in the national treasury and nearby prefecture treasuries had already been brought to Yunzhou by them previously.

“Some grain merchants in the city still have some grain. Although they dare not raise prices wildly due to the court’s laws and Your Highness’s prestige, the grain price in the city has already tripled.”

Most common people couldn’t afford such expensive grain.

If they found out there wasn’t much grain left in the Yunzhou treasury, realizing they had no way to live while those grain merchants were making a fortune, they would probably rebel within a few days.

So what should they do now?

The milk dumpling panicked a little.

Ao Ruize’s fingers tapping on the bedside also couldn’t help but twitch.

However, not long after, he suddenly stopped his hand movements. “In that case, stop the porridge distribution. Take all the remaining two thousand piculs of grain in the Yunzhou treasury to the market and sell them at ten times the premium.”

“What?”

Hearing this, not only the two officials but even the milk dumpling exclaimed in shock.

Shouldn’t the priority be to stabilize grain prices, soothe the people, and then find a way to raise grain?

Yet Ao Ruize not only stopped the relief but also wanted to sell grain at ten times the price?

Wasn’t that taking the lead in driving up grain prices and forcing the people to rebel?

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