Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

Within Jinling City, a storm is brewing in the shadows, and Shen Lang, the figure at the center of this storm, has been having an incredibly fulfilling few days.

"Drink~"

Inside the courtyard, Shen Lang, who was meditating, let out a soft shout, and his whole body exuded an aura of soaring into the sky.

"He has broken through to the late stage of the Innate Realm."

"Yu Huang Chaos Technique has also broken through to the second level, that feels great."

Feeling the changes in the flow of energy within his body, Shen Lang felt that his five senses were much sharper than before, and his body felt lighter than ever.

More importantly, after breaking through to the second level of the Yu Huang Chaos Technique, the internal energy can circulate and improve cultivation level automatically with breathing, eliminating the need for deliberate effort to boost cultivation.

This made him feel very comfortable, after all, in this fantasy world, having more cultivation ability is equivalent to having more security.

After comfortably stretching his arms, Shen Lang glanced at the sky and decided to go to the construction site to check on the progress. If all went well, he planned to build the boiler room for steelmaking within ten days as well.

After opening the door and finishing breakfast, Shen Lang headed straight for the construction site outside the city.

When he arrived at the construction site, he was very satisfied with the progress he saw.

The foundation has been laid; all that's left is to start building the first factory.

At that moment, an alchemist came to Shen Lang's side.

"Commander Shen, as you instructed, we have successfully built our first textile machine entirely by hand. We would like to ask you to inspect it."

"Take me to see it quickly."

Upon hearing this news, Shen Lang was very excited and immediately led the alchemist to inspect the finished machine.

Inside a dark little house, there were two assembled machines, the main parts of which were made of bronze and looked very ornate.

After checking it once, Shen Lang quickly recalled the textile machine process flow in his mind, which was basically consistent with the drawings. He breathed a sigh of relief and gave them a thumbs up.

"Well done, thank you for your hard work. By the way, which parts of this textile machine are the most troublesome for you?"

The alchemist who brought Shen Lang over immediately replied, "In response to Commander Shen, although the other components are somewhat complex, mass production is not a problem once we understand their performance and principles."

The manufacturing process for these gears, however, is extremely demanding. Even the slightest deviation can lead to imbalances in the mechanical operation, or even breakage and wear.

Therefore, I suggest that a corresponding mold be made to ensure that the gear precision remains at a qualified level.

Shen Lang: "What's your name?"

The alchemist bowed and said, "In reply to Commander Shen, my name is Deng Hongyu."

"Deng Hongyu, effective immediately, you will be the leader of the alchemists' team, with the same salary and benefits as ordinary people."

Once the boiler is up and running, you will be in charge of researching the iron smelting process to strive for the production of qualified steel.

Deng Hongyu was overjoyed: "Thank you for your promotion, Commander Shen. I will certainly live up to your expectations."

Shen Lang nodded and looked at the others, saying, "Don't be discouraged. Once the factory is fully completed, I will personally petition His Majesty to remove your slave status and restore your freedom."

"If you're willing to stay, I'll give you the rewards an alchemist deserves. If not, I won't force you; I'll just provide some travel expenses so we can part amicably."

"Thank you, Commander Shen."

The alchemists thanked them repeatedly.

In terms of salary, the greatest attraction is the prospect of escaping slavery.

For them, regaining their freedom was equivalent to dignity.

Shen Lang circled the spinning machine again, muttering to himself, "It seems necessary to find someone to test the efficiency of this machine."

In fact, Shen Lang also knows how to weave and spin yarn. He learned this during his confrontation with a system called "Agricultural Trade System" in the long river of time.

But he wouldn't do that kind of womanly work. After all, in this era, a man working on a spinning machine would definitely be trending on social media and criticized by all sorts of heroes for a whole year.

Just imagining this scene is terrifying; it seems necessary to grab a few top-tier (T0) versions to get myself trending on social media.

Shen Lang glanced at the group, gave them a few instructions, and then headed towards the construction site.

As soon as they entered the construction site, Su Yun came to Shen Lang's side with a happy expression: "Commander Shen, you've arrived."

Shen Lang was very satisfied with the current progress: "Chief Su, thank you for your hard work these past few days."

Su Yun smiled and waved her hand: "What's so hard about this? Compared to my previous life of wandering the world, this is too comfortable."

Shen Lang glanced at the Jingwei Division members around him, and after thinking for a moment, reluctantly took a money pouch off his waist.

"Everyone has worked hard these past few days, and as their boss, I haven't done much to show my appreciation. Here's some money; take it and buy yourself a drink when you have some free time."

Su Yun quickly declined, "How can we accept this? Commander Shen, please take it back. How can we possibly take your money?"

Shen Lang's expression changed: "Just take it. Why all the nonsense? What, are you looking down on me? Then all of you, get back to the Jingwei Division and await orders."

"Then thank you very much, Commander Shen."

Seeing Shen Lang get angry, Su Yun reluctantly accepted the money pouch, but her heart was filled with warmth.

Just then, a rider approached rapidly from afar, stopping ten paces away from Shen Lang.

Soon, a man dismounted from the horse, walked up to Shen Lang, cupped his hands, and said, "This humble servant, Li Hanyun, a guard of the Imperial Guard, greets Commander Shen."

Shen Lang: "What do you want from me?"

Li Hanyun: "His Majesty has issued an edict summoning Commander Shen back to the palace immediately, as there are important matters to discuss."

"Got it. I'll be there right away."

Shen Lang left a message and turned to Su Yun and the others, saying, "I'll have to trouble you guys here. I have to go back now."

Su Yun: "Shen Baihu, go ahead and do what you need to do. We're here, nothing will happen."

"Ah."

Shen Lang responded, and then vanished from the spot in a gust of wind.

Li Hanyun exclaimed in surprise, "Commander Shen's movement technique is so fast..."

Su Yun smiled and said, "Of course, this is our Jingwei Division's trump card."

"Oh."

Li Hanyun nodded.

……

Inside the Weiyang Palace, Jiang Mengxuan has been having a terrible headache these past few days.

The reason for the headache was that Xu Jingyan, the third senior brother who always found it tiring to even talk to himself, had been writing letters to him non-stop since he left that day.

The letter contained nothing out of line; it was just casual conversation and some suggestions regarding cultivation.

At first, Jiang Mengxuan didn't pay much attention, thinking it was just her third senior brother's concern for his junior sister, and she also replied by sharing some relevant cultivation experience.

But things gradually became more and more strange. In just six days, Jiang Mengxuan received more than twenty letters from Xu Jingyan, and today she received nine letters in one go, which made her keenly aware that something was wrong.

It doesn't matter when you write letters, but it's precisely at this crucial moment when you're about to get engaged that you keep writing letters to another woman, sharing your daily life?

Did you consider your partner's feelings when you did this?

Suddenly, a terrifying thought popped into my head.

Could Xu Jingyan be interested in me?

A woman's intuition is quite mysterious; sometimes it's as accurate as dropping a needle into the ocean, leaving no ripples whatsoever.

But sometimes it can be accurate, predicting everything that comes to mind, especially when it comes to emotions, where it is extremely sensitive.

The thought of this possibility didn't bring Jiang Mengxuan any joy or shyness at being chosen by such a favored man; instead, she felt a sense of disgust towards Xu Jingyan's scumbag nature.

She was long past the age of idolizing people, and a relationship with Xu Jingyan was simply impossible.

Furthermore, it's impossible to have an ambiguous relationship with a man who is already married to someone else; that would be a blatant trampling on one's dignity.

Jiang Mengxuan believes that her man must never be unfaithful, and must remain faithful to her both before and after marriage. This is her bottom line.

She doesn't object to the scenario of several women sharing one husband, but it would never happen to her. Even if her husband has no feelings for her, she would never seek out other men to satisfy her desires; it's disgusting.

Jiang Mengxuan really wanted to tell Xu Jingyan to stop, but she was troubled by the lack of concrete evidence. After all, the letters he wrote were written in the tone of a senior brother caring for his fellow disciples, and everything was probably just her own guess.

To prevent the situation from developing in an unpredictable direction, Jiang Mengxuan immediately came up with a plan to make Xu Jingyan give up completely.

On the seventh day of next month, she plans to take Shen Lang with her to the Zixia Sect to attend Xu Jingyan's engagement ceremony.

Lost in thought, Shen Lang had already stepped into Weiyang Palace.

"Your Majesty, what do you want with me?"

Jiang Mengxuan replied directly, "On the seventh day of next month, you will accompany me to the Zixia Sect. Don't refuse, and you can name your terms."

Shen Lang frowned, thinking: What are you up to now? No, there must be some ulterior motive. I absolutely cannot agree.

Just as he was about to refuse, Jiang Mengxuan spoke again: "One thousand taels of gold, as payment for your accompanying me on this trip to the Zixia Sect. Can you agree to that?"

Shen Lang immediately replied, "It is my honor to serve Your Majesty. I don't care about money at all."

My inner screams madly echoed again: Another thousand taels of gold! As expected, fleecing the emperor is far more lucrative than self-reliance in those farming novels. It's awesome! Please shower me with money!