Chapter 649: The Clothes Are Ready
For Gao Family Village, defending a city was no longer a problem.
With riflemen wielding Chassepot Rifles stationed atop fortified walls, not even the most formidable army could hope to breach a city defended by the people of Gao Family Village.
However...
The people of Gao Family Village were different from the imperial court.
The court could hunker down in strongholds, uncaring of the fate of the common folk in the surrounding countryside.
Gao Family Village, however, could not.
After hearing the messenger’s report, the thought of merely "defending the city" didn't even cross Xing Honglang's mind for a second. Her primary concern was how to protect the Salt Villages.
Along the entire forty-li circumference of Xie Lake, there were Salt Villages belonging to Gao Family Village. Many salt artisans lived there, managing vast salt flats. Some Blue Hat technical workers also resided in these Salt Villages, overseeing the steam pumps used for water extraction.
Furthermore, several factories had been built around the salt-producing region. One of them was a salt refinery, which used a "divine method" to process the coarse salt produced by the artisans, transforming it into cleaner, snow-white table salt that lacked any bitterness.
The lands surrounding Hedong had already been thoroughly shaped by Gao Family Village's influence.
All these places needed to be protected.
Considering this, Xing Honglang felt a heavy burden settle on her shoulders.
Gao Family Village's scouts were urgently dispatched, fanning out towards Jincheng to ascertain every single move of the roving bandits. They absolutely could not be allowed to approach Hedong's defenses unseen.
Meanwhile...
At Puzhou First Textile Factory.
The steam-powered looms emitted a continuous thrumming sound as the female workers skillfully operated the machinery.
Puzhou had a bountiful harvest this year, and cotton farmers happily received bags of money. The cotton they grew was collected and sent to the textile factory, where the steam looms transformed it into cotton yarn and fabric.
In a small office behind Puzhou First Textile Factory.
Gao Yiye was threading a needle, making the final mending touches. After a good while, she suddenly stood up, lifted a cotton outfit from the table with both hands, and gave it a sharp shake, smoothing out the fabric. It was a beautiful, stylish martial attire.
"Ta-da!" Gao Yiye tilted her head, smiling playfully. "Heavenly Lord, Heavenly Lord, look! The martial attire I made for you is finally finished!"
The design of this martial attire, of course, had been provided by Li Daoxuan. It boasted a post-modern wuxia style, interspersed with gold and silver threads, making it exceedingly opulent.
The Puppet Heavenly Lord, who had been dozing off across the table, was roused by her call. He stood up, a smile gracing his lips. "Very well, I'll try it on then."
He was about to change!
But Gao Yiye showed no intention of withdrawing. Instead, she leaned closer, as if to help him undress.
Li Daoxuan chuckled. "Oh, isn't this a bit... improper?"
Gao Yiye bit her lower lip. "It's nothing, really! I saw this statue of the Heavenly Lord even when it was being made, you know. It wasn't wearing a stitch of clothing then."
Li Daoxuan was speechless.
That was preposterous!
When he wasn't co-sensing with this statue, it was merely an inanimate object, like a plastic mannequin in a clothing store. It was perfectly normal for a shop assistant to dress and undress it.
But once he "co-sensed" with it, he felt the statue was himself, and then it was no longer quite the same. Allowing a woman to handle him and dress him felt decidedly strange, didn't it?
But then...
To comment on such a strange thing would be to betray an attachment to earthly appearances.
Oh, patron, one must not become fixated on form!
It wouldn't do for others to realize he was just an innocent young man.
He held out his arms. "Go on, then!"
Gao Yiye's cheeks flushed faintly, and she felt a peculiar flutter in her heart. In truth, her thoughts mirrored Li Daoxuan's. When the Heavenly Lord wasn't possessing this statue, she felt nothing while handling it. But with the Heavenly Lord possessing it, helping it change clothes brought a little thrill.
Oh dear, oh dear! I'm such a naughty girl.
With a blush, she peeled off Li Daoxuan's Daoist robe, revealing the smooth, silicone body. As she removed the clothes, pretending her hand slipped, she subtly brushed against the Heavenly Lord's body...
The sensation under her touch was incredibly similar to real human skin.
It was as if she had truly touched the Heavenly Lord himself!
A nascent feeling, stirring deep within her soul; a profound emotion she couldn't unravel, ceaselessly occupying her thoughts.
She bit her lower lip, swiftly dressing the Heavenly Lord in his new attire.
It wasn't until he was fully dressed and she had stepped back a few paces that her heart finally calmed a little. She brought over a mirror for the Heavenly Lord to see.
In truth, the Heavenly Lord had no need for a mirror. He could simply end his "co-sensing" link, allow his consciousness to float back to his physical body outside the box, then peer into the box with his own eyes, inspecting his avatar from head to toe, at a full 360 degrees, to see just how handsome it looked.
Gao Yiye felt that this martial attire, when worn, resembled the outfit of the great hero Guo Jing—no, wait, Yang Kang.
Yang Kang's clothes were far more stylish than Guo Jing's.
Li Daoxuan certainly wouldn't wear Guo Jing's clothes. His top priority was looking handsome; everything else was secondary.
He chuckled aloud. "The clothes are very well-made, I like them immensely."
Gao Yiye beamed with delight. "It's best if the Heavenly Lord likes it."
Li Daoxuan smiled. "My clothes are ready, what about yours?"
Gao Yiye replied, "Mine are ready too! I'll put them on for the Heavenly Lord to see."
With that, she took another martial outfit, a female version, from the wardrobe, ready to change into it.
And she did so without hesitation, right in front of Li Daoxuan, beginning to unbutton her clothes.
Li Daoxuan shook his head, thinking to himself: *This young woman truly doesn't shy away from me, does she?*
Then again...
Ever since the "Observation Mode" was enabled, allowing his vision to penetrate walls, whether she tried to avoid him or not made little difference. Li Daoxuan was entirely relying on his gentlemanly conduct to restrain himself.
Respecting women couldn't just be an empty slogan.
Li Daoxuan closed his eyes. After a good while, he opened them again and saw that Gao Yiye had already changed into her martial attire. *Hm, quite good,* he thought. It was a style Li Daoxuan liked, reminiscent of Huang Rong's, only with an image of the Heavenly Lord embroidered in gold thread on the chest.
As for the fact that Yang Kang's clothes and Huang Rong's clothes formed a matching pair, that wasn't the main point, and shouldn't be dwelled upon.
"How do I look? Is it pretty?" Gao Yiye spun around playfully, a wide smile on her face.
"Beautiful!"
"We agreed, didn't we? Once the clothes were ready, you'd take me out! To Luoyang!"
"All right, all right, Luoyang it is."
Li Daoxuan said, "But you should mentally prepare yourself. Luoyang suffered a major flood in June, and almost half of the Henan plain turned into a yellow flood zone. Perhaps... the scenery there might not be as beautiful as you imagine."
Gao Yiye slowly nodded her head. "I am ready. To witness the suffering of the world with the Heavenly Lord, and to save the common people."
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