Chapter 561: My Dear Aunt, So You Can Be Shy Too.

Chapter 561 -306: My Dear Aunt, So You Can Be Shy Too.

Lu Yuan chuckled wryly and replied, “You rascal, back from Wa Country already! A triumphant return, I see!”

“Well, of course! It was a total cakewalk for some of us over there. I just happened to be passing through Taiping City,” Gu Gaoxu said, holding the phone.

“A shame. I haven’t been in Taiping City for the past two years. I’m in the Imperial City now,” Lu Yuan said, standing atop the city wall, his fingers toying with a loose piece of an old, green brick.

“Whoa! Brother Lu, not bad at all. You’ve made your way to the Imperial City,” Gu Gaoxu said, a hint of surprise in his voice.

“Brother Lu, I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other very soon!” Gu Gaoxu declared confidently.

“Sounds good. I could use someone to drink and shoot the shit with here in the Imperial City.”

“Deal. See you around, Brother Lu!” With that, Gu Gaoxu hung up.

Gu Gaoxu set the phone down in the carriage. One of his feet, wrapped in bandages, was propped up high.

Outside the carriage, a mounted soldier asked, “General, are we still heading into Taiping City?”

“Forget about it. We’re heading straight back to Yandu!” Gu Gaoxu bellowed.

“Yes, General.”

News that the Divine Ling Empire’s grand army had crushed Wa Country soon reached the Imperial Capital.

Strangely, to all the civil and martial officials, His Majesty the Emperor did not seem overly pleased by the news, nor did he order any grand celebrations to be held with great fanfare.

The Emperor issued a decree, ordering all generals who participated in the campaign against Wa Country to return to the Imperial Capital for a debriefing.

It was expected that the Emperor would also use this opportunity to bestow generous rewards.

Over the past few years, the Divine Ling Empire had dispatched hundreds of thousands of soldiers in successive waves to crush Wa Country.

Among those hundreds of thousands of troops, the unit with the most distinguished combat record was the Yanshan Right Guard, led by Gu Gaoxu.

The Yanshan Right Guard had the advantage of advanced firearms, which inflicted massive casualties on the soldiers of Wa Country.

One could even say they fought a war far ahead of its time.

This was especially true for Gu Gaoxu, who had somehow acquired several automatic firearms.

Several men were tasked with reloading his weapons; he did nothing but fire.

Not even a hundred enemy soldiers could get near him.

Wa Country had more than just soldiers; it also had a vast number of Xingzi with profound cultivation.

This was when the Daoists from the Divine Ling Empire’s Celestial Dynasty Palace and Le Shen Temple were needed to deal with these Xingzi.

The war between nations had raged for three years, and the loss of soldiers and generals was immense.

Even the Daoists from the Celestial Dynasty Palace and Le Shen Temple were decimated, with fewer than three in ten surviving.

The unit with the lowest casualties of all was Gu Gaoxu’s Yanshan Right Guard.

The Three Yanshan Guards under Gu Di’s command were so formidable in battle that they aroused the Emperor’s suspicion.

Fortunately, the Yanshan Guard was under the command of the Emperor’s own fourth son.

It wasn’t an army belonging to some outsider clan.

Thanks to his outstanding battlefield command and military achievements during the war, Gu Gaoxu received high praise from his father, Gu Di, upon his return to Yandu.

The first few days after his return to Yandu kept Gu Gaoxu incredibly busy.

After paying his respects to his father, he spent all his time at the factory he had established in Yandu.

He even refused invitations from his eldest and third brothers to go out drinking.

By the light of a Spirit Stone Lamp, Gu Gaoxu cracked his neck and tilted his head, staring at the figures in the ledger and muttering to himself.

“Ones… tens… hundreds… thousands… ten thousands… hundred thousands… millions.”

Gu Gaoxu pressed his right index finger to the ledger, counting the digits one by one, his heart pounding with excitement.

He never imagined that in just three years, the factory’s profits would accumulate to several million in silver.

The person managing the factory’s finances was one of Gu Gaoxu’s most trusted confidants.

Not even Gu Gaoxu’s own father knew exactly how much money the factory was making, only that it was a great deal.

Holding the ledger, Gu Gaoxu dismissed the servants waiting on him nearby.

Gu Gaoxu picked up the phone and dialed Lu Yuan.

‘Who could be calling this late?’

「At that moment」 Lu Yuan was quite busy, and the ringing phone was an unwelcome interruption.

Lu Yuan continued his rhythmic movements, reaching over to grab the phone from the nightstand.

Zhao Qiao’Er had her large rear high in the air, braying like a donkey!

“Darling, whose phone is that?”

Zhao Qiao’Er turned her head to look at Lu Yuan, asking between gasps.

“It’s Gu Gaoxu,” Lu Yuan replied, glancing at the caller ID.

“Mmm~”

“Dear nephew, don’t you dare stop!”

After speaking, Zhao Qiao’Er buried her face in the pillows.

This allowed her to raise her hips even higher.

Lu Yuan gave her a slap, which echoed with a crisp SMACK.

“Don’t you worry,” Lu Yuan said, putting his back into it. “I’ll be sure to satisfy my dear auntie.”

Lu Yuan answered the call. “It’s pretty late. What’s up?”

The phone only got a signal once Gu Gaoxu was back on the soil of the Divine Ling Empire.

Gu Gaoxu was an odd man. He’d been away from home for three years, but upon returning, he didn’t seem to be craving his own wife.

Instead, he was constantly calling Lu Yuan.

“Brother Lu,” Gu Gaoxu said excitedly, “guess how much money we made these last few years!”

“How much?” Lu Yuan asked mechanically.

He had absolutely no interest in the conversation; his attention was focused entirely on Zhao Qiao’Er.

“Hello? Hey! Brother Lu, you could sound a little more excited, you know?” Gu Gaoxu said, still holding the ledger.

Gu Gaoxu had no clue what Lu Yuan was currently occupied with.

‘Though if he listened carefully, he might be able to guess a thing or two.’

“Ah, forget it. I’ll just tell you. We made a full three million in silver!”

Unable to contain himself, Gu Gaoxu blurted it out.

‘The number was within Lu Yuan’s expectations.’

‘After all, while the annual profits from the factory in Taiping City weren’t as high as the one in Yandu…’

‘…over the past three years, it had still brought in over a million.’

‘Lu Yuan had stored most of the money earned from the Taiping City factory in his System Space, which he carried with him at all times.’

“Not bad. That’s certainly a lot,” Lu Yuan continued to feign interest.

Lying prone, Zhao Qiao’Er listened to their conversation, covering her mouth with her hand to keep from making any noise.

‘Three million in silver?’

‘Back in the day, the Zhao Mansion couldn’t have earned that much even if they’d mined the Spirit Stone Mine day and night.’

Gu Gaoxu asked, “That’s so much silver that even if we converted it all to gold, it would still fill several carriages.

Do you need me to transport it to the Imperial City?”

Gu Gaoxu was asking to settle the last three years of dividends with Lu Yuan.

‘Looks like I didn’t misjudge him,’ Lu Yuan thought. ‘If this were anyone else, would they really be offering to pay up?’

‘Never mind money they’d earned together—some unscrupulous people wouldn’t even pay back money they’d borrowed.’

Lu Yuan thought for a moment before saying, “I’m not short on cash right now, so there’s no rush.

Just hold on to it for now. That money will have a greater purpose in the future.”

Gu Gaoxu agreed.

“Understood!” he said in Japanese.

It was one of the few phrases Gu Gaoxu had picked up out of curiosity while in Wa Country.

Hearing Gu Gaoxu spout that foreign gibberish, Lu Yuan felt a surge of anger.

He couldn’t stop his body from giving a powerful thrust as he snapped into the phone:

“Speak our language!”

On the other end of the line, Gu Gaoxu chuckled.

“If we’re going to rule them in the future, we have to learn their language, right? Otherwise, they could be insulting us to our faces and we wouldn’t even know it.”

Lu Yuan was so engrossed in his conversation with Gu Gaoxu that he’d completely forgotten about Zhao Qiao’Er.

That last powerful thrust had struck a deep chord within her.

Zhao Qiao’Er couldn’t help but cry out loudly.

Gu Gaoxu, on the other end of the line, heard her cry loud and clear.

“Holy crap!” Gu Gaoxu burst out in surprise. “Brother Lu, what are you doing over there?”

Lu Yuan immediately hung up, tossed the phone aside, and grabbed a towel from the nearby clothes rack, stuffing it into her mouth.

「Afterward」

Lu Yuan wrung out the towel right in front of Zhao Qiao’Er.

Blushing furiously, Zhao Qiao’Er pulled a blanket over her face and slapped at Lu Yuan randomly with her right hand, muttering curses.

“It’s all your fault! All your fault! I’m so embarrassed I could die…”

Lu Yuan looked at the 6’2″ Zhao Qiao’Er acting so shy and couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Well now, my dear auntie. I didn’t know you had a shy side.”