Chapter 185: A Brighter Future Ahead
Yu Haojie nodded and went with Ye Jiamei to explore their new home.
Halfway there, Tao Ming, bursting with excitement, came rushing from the backyard and happened to run into the couple.
Seeing the joy written all over Tao Ming’s face, Yu Haojie looked at him suspiciously. “Tao Ming, what’s going on? Did something good happen?”
“Food! So much food! And livestock—so many animals! Even in the cellar, there’s a huge pile of ice and a lot of wild boar meat that hasn’t been processed yet.”
Hearing the first part, Yu Haojie and Ye Jiamei were already surprised. But as he continued, Yu Haojie couldn’t shake off the feeling that something seemed off.
“Father, Mother, what are you doing here?”
After a good night’s sleep, Yu Luo had washed up and was heading toward the front courtyard, holding an oil-paper umbrella as she walked through a moon gate, appearing before the three of them.
Upon seeing Yu Luo, Tao Ming hurried over and told her everything he had just discovered.
Of course, all of these were things Yu Luo had placed there herself, so she was well aware of them.
Even the ice blocks had been prepared in advance. When they first arrived in the desolate land, knowing that summers would be unbearably hot, the three of them had secretly stored ice before the winter snow melted. Some of it was even made by leaving water outside the cave at night to freeze naturally, then collecting it in the morning and storing it in the system.
But seeing Tao Ming’s sheer delight, she could only play along, her face lighting up with excitement as she gasped in surprise.
“Really? It looks like my uncles knew we’d be staying in this desolate place for a long time, so they made sure to prepare everything for us.”
Using her so-called uncles as a shield time and time again, Yu Luo could only pray that she would never actually meet these fictional relatives in this lifetime.
But then again, considering how remote this place was, the chances of that happening were slim.
Upon hearing this, the couple exchanged looks of realization.
“Yes, yes, my brothers have always cared for me. Back home, they never let me suffer even a little, and now they’re making sure I’m well taken care of here too,” Ye Jiamei said, playing along without missing a beat. Then she turned to Tao Ming, “Go and check on that young man. He’s fallen asleep again, and we don’t want him waking up alone.”
“Yes, Madam. I’ll go right away.”
After sending Tao Ming off, only the three of them remained in the large courtyard. Ye Jiamei immediately pulled Yu Luo toward the storage room.
“Did you put all of this here?”
Ye Jiamei’s eyes widened in shock. She had already guessed that these supplies were Yu Luo’s doing, but she hadn’t expected her daughter to fill the entire storage room to the brim.
“Yes. Rather than waiting for an excuse to stockpile later, now is the perfect time to do it.”
“You! You’re so bold! Aren’t you afraid of attracting thieves who might come to rob us?”
Ye Jiamei’s initial excitement faded into worry. The thought of living in a land full of people struggling to survive without enough food made her anxious.
“I’m not worried. This storage room has built-in security mechanisms. I’ve already checked it out, and since the system built this house, it’s definitely more advanced than regular homes! There’s something even better—just now, after I woke up, I had a chat with the system. It told me that there’s a hidden underground passage in the main courtyard that leads outside the mansion. If we ever face danger, we can escape through it.
Also, the system prepared a special courtyard for us with a secret chamber and underground tunnels, right next to the main courtyard. I was just about to check it out.”
Hearing this, all of Ye Jiamei’s worries disappeared.
“Did you buy all of these supplies? Or did you take them from the marquis’s estate and the prime minister’s residence?”
“Some were bought, and some were taken. Since I don’t have the opportunity to go out right now, the next time I leave this place, I’ll make sure to stockpile the system’s storage even more. But don’t worry, Mother. I haven’t taken anything too valuable, just daily necessities.
Next, we need to start recruiting soldiers. With such a large estate, we should have at least a few hundred private troops. Who would dare to rob us then?
Oh, wait! We also have an entire walled city built by the system. That will need private troops to guard it too.”
“A city?!”
Hearing this, Yu Haojie could no longer stay calm.
Unable to hold back, he shouted, but Ye Jiamei was quick to react. She covered his mouth and glared at him in frustration.
“Keep your voice down! What if Tao Ming hears us? He has internal energy—his hearing is far superior to ordinary people. Do you understand that?”
Yu Haojie quickly nodded, and only then did Ye Jiamei let go of him.
“What is the system thinking? We’ve only just arrived in this desolate land and haven’t even settled in properly, and now it’s building us a city? Recruiting private soldiers might be easy since Luo has the system and can gather food and supplies whenever needed. But managing an army is another matter altogether.”
“That’s right, Luo. If the rulers of various nations find out that we’ve built a city here and raised private troops, they might send their armies to attack us. How would we even stand a chance?”
What her parents feared was exactly what Yu Luo had been worried about.
But the city was already there, and only one section of the city wall remained unfinished. Once it was completed, it would become a fully fortified city. If they didn’t secure it now, some other faction would eventually take it from them. Losing the city and their home would be one thing, but the sheer unwillingness to let go would be the real issue.
“We’ll do our best and leave the rest to fate. We don’t necessarily need a massive army—what we need are powerful weapons. If we develop formidable defenses, no one will be able to get in.
And I believe that if we truly face an existential threat, the system won’t just sit by and let us die.”
The system remained silent.
“For now, our biggest problem is manpower. We need to hire guards for the estate, and we also need to retrieve the supplies from the cave. We have at least a few thousand pounds of grain stored there. While we may not care too much about that amount, it can be used to win people over and make them work for us.”
“Father is right. I was planning to go back and retrieve everything later. Alright, now that we’ve seen the storage room, let’s check out our own courtyard. Since no one else has moved in yet, we should furnish it properly while we have the chance.”
“Agreed!”
The three of them spent another hour walking around the mansion in the rain.
When they reached the backyard, where farmland had been cleared, Yu Luo took out a variety of vegetable seeds and scattered them over the soil. The land was already moist from the rain, so the seeds would sprout once the rain stopped.
The chicken coops and livestock pens, built by the system, were located in a more remote part of the estate. This ensured that any noise or odors wouldn’t disturb those living in the main courtyard.
Looking at the hundreds of chickens and ducks, the dozen cattle and sheep, and the fine horses in the stables, Yu Haojie couldn’t help but feel that their future was looking brighter than ever.
