Chapter 641 Give Me a Knight's Outfit
The cotton fields in Puzhou yielded a bountiful harvest.
A vast expanse of white cotton stretched as far as the eye could see, each boll plump and full.
For the first time, the cotton farmers witnessed the astonishing efficacy of the Celestial Fertilizer, utterly dumbfounded by the incredible yield.
After the initial shock subsided, a frantic harvest season began.
Large groups of cotton farmers, their heads shielded by straw hats, toiled under the summer sun, bending at the waist as they desperately picked the cotton.
This year had seen an abundance of rain; if they didn't pick quickly, another downpour could ruin everything, and that was no laughing matter.
Gao Yiye was also among them.
She wore a pristine white robe, adorned with gold and silver threads, strikingly luxurious. Yet, like the other cotton farmers, she donned a straw hat and bent to pick cotton, her hands deftly moving through the stalks.
This sight truly startled the farmers. "Saintess," they cried, "please leave such rough work to us common folk!"
"Oh dear..."
The farmers were at a loss for how to persuade her.
A hundred guards, having rolled up their sleeves and preparing to help, saw a life-sized Heavenly Lord avatar emerge from the side. It smiled and said, "Don't bother her. Let her enjoy herself. It's rare for her to find something she likes to do. If she can't even do this, how dull would life be?"
The guards froze in unison.
This life-sized Heavenly Lord, designated test-02, was the newest technological marvel from Gao Family Village. It still featured a silicone skin over a steel skeleton, but its internal bones now boasted more joints, allowing for richer, more nuanced movements.
Simply put, it looked much more lifelike.
The only drawback was that its more... intimate features remained unaddressed.
The test-02 Heavenly Lord walked over to Gao Yiye, reached out, and picked up a freshly plucked cotton boll, examining it carefully. "Oh! So this is what cotton looks like. It's subtly different from what I imagined."
Children from the city, after all, often knew little of farming.
Gao Yiye turned her head, her face beaming with a radiant smile. "Heavenly Lord, Heavenly Lord, so much cotton! I can weave so much cloth with this. This time, it's cotton we grew ourselves, no longer shamelessly begged from you."
Li Daoxuan smiled. "That's wonderful."
Gao Yiye said, "I want to use the cloth woven from this cotton to make you a Daoist robe."
Li Daoxuan continued to smile. "A Daoist robe? I have too many. I don't really care for them. Instead, make me a knight's outfit."
"A knight's outfit?" Gao Yiye immediately understood. The Heavenly Lord enjoyed wandering the world like an adventurer; a knight's outfit would surely be for him to disguise himself as an ordinary person and go exploring.
"Alright!" Gao Yiye laughed. "When you go out in your knight's outfit, you have to take me with you."
Li Daoxuan replied, "It'll be very dangerous, you know."
"I'm not scared at all!" Gao Yiye bounced with joy in the cotton field. "The Heavenly Lord promised to take me out! I'll make myself a knight's outfit too. You can be the male knight, and I'll be the female knight."
Li Daoxuan chuckled. "You don't know any swordsmanship. How will you be a knight?"
Gao Yiye reached behind her and pulled out a gleaming silver handgun, about the length of her forearm. "Sir, times have changed."
Li Daoxuan was speechless.
This was certainly amusing.
Li Daoxuan pointed at the small handgun and laughed. "Where did you get that? I've been so focused on Henan these past few days, I didn't even know you'd acquired such a thing."
Gao Yiye giggled. "Li Da made it. He tried shortening the barrel of a Chassepot Rifle and miniaturizing the mechanism and firing pin, and this is what he came up with. He said this small firearm is lighter, easy for women to use, so he gave it to me. The drawbacks are its short range and poor accuracy, but I'm not going to war. For self-defense, the range doesn't need to be very long."
Li Daoxuan shook his head. "Giving such a dangerous item to a young girl to play with is unacceptable. I'll have a word with Li Da later."
Gao Yiye pouted. "But I'm not just any ordinary girl! The Heavenly Lord himself said I work in ideological and political education for the army, so I'm a soldier, too. It's perfectly reasonable for me to practice my shooting skills and carry a firearm, isn't it?"
Li Daoxuan couldn't retract his own words, so he simply spread his hands. "Alright, alright. So, how are your shooting skills coming along?"
Gao Yiye declared, "Within five paces, I never miss."
"Five paces?" Li Daoxuan felt sweat pouring down him. Oh, wait, a silicone figure doesn't sweat.
But upon closer thought, five paces was actually quite good.
Pistols inherently have low accuracy. Those fantastical dramas where characters take down enemies with a single shot from a hundred meters away are just that—dramas. In reality, beyond twenty meters, you couldn't guarantee a hit.
And that was in later eras, with high-precision handguns.
For Li Da's old handgun to hit consistently within five paces was already impressive.
"Very well!" Li Daoxuan smiled. "It seems you've developed some combat capabilities. Once your knight's outfit is ready, I'll take you out."
Gao Yiye was overjoyed.
Being the Saintess had truly been a bit stifling for the girl, suppressing her natural inclinations too much. Fortunately, Li Daoxuan could now use Co-sensing, saving them the trouble of needing her to convey messages everywhere. She could finally soar freely.
Gao Yiye said, "Then I'll hurry and weave the cloth to tailor the clothes!"
Just as they finished speaking, a deep, mournful whistle echoed from the distant river. They looked over to see a large vessel sailing into view. The ship bore a tall chimney, spewing thick black smoke.
Gao Yiye exclaimed, "A steamship! It's here!"
Li Daoxuan's lips also curved into a slight smile. "So, Young Master Bai's steamship is finally ready."
In truth, once the crucial breakthrough in steam engine technology was achieved, steamships were a logical next step, not particularly difficult to construct. However, the Yellow River's treacherous hydrology made experimental voyages risky.
Recently, there had been wild winds and heavy rains, causing the Yellow River's water levels to surge, making any trials even more precarious.
Only in the last few days, with the heavy rains subsiding and the summer sun returning, did this experimental steamship embark on its maiden voyage. It sailed directly from Qichuan Ferry to Puzhou.
"Come on, stop playing with cotton. Let's go see it at Yongji Dock."
Li Daoxuan beckoned.
Gao Yiye quickly ran out of the cotton field and boarded her carriage.
Li Daoxuan, considering the heavy steel skeleton of his body, decided against troubling the horses. His body rose into the air, hovering beside Gao Yiye's carriage, flying along with it.
Of course, Gao Yiye saw a giant hand supporting the Heavenly Lord as he flew.
She wondered inwardly, *What kind of divine art is this? Why does the Heavenly Lord have to grasp his own sculpted body to fly?*
However, she would never doubt the Heavenly Lord.
Just being with the Heavenly Lord filled her heart with joy.
The carriage sped along the ground, the Heavenly Lord floated through the sky, and together they journeyed to Yongji Dock. Along the way, every cotton farmer who witnessed this scene prostrated themselves in reverence...
Comments