Chapter 58 Why Am I Feeling a Hint of Excitement?

“Chu Si said he was hungry, so I brought it out for him.” Ji Ci shoved the hamburger into Chu Si’s arms. “This isn’t a meal. It’s just a snack.”

But Chu Si held it as though it were a hot potato, desperately trying to push it back. “This subordinate hasn’t eaten it. This subordinate isn’t hungry. Madam insisted I eat it.”

The two of them passed the hamburger back and forth. By now, neither wanted it.

Dongfang Jibai’s face darkened. He sat down heavily on a stool and rapped his knuckles against the table.

“Take your food and get out!”

Chu Si immediately snatched the hamburger from Ji Ci’s arms, grabbed several chicken drumsticks from the table and stuffed them into his mouth, scooped up a handful of fries, then took a whole roast chicken.

His cheeks bulged like a hamster’s. “This sub—”

“Get out!”

Dongfang Jibai clenched his fist, his chest heaving with fury.

Tomorrow, Chu Si was being sent away!

Ji Ci edged carefully over to Dongfang Jibai and plopped herself into his lap. She cupped his face in her hands.

“Xiaobai, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sneak a bite. I was hungry, and dinner wasn’t ready yet, so I just wanted a little snack. Don’t be mad.”

Soft, delicate kisses fell at the corner of Dongfang Jibai’s mouth. Her little hand stroked his neck, boneless and gentle.

Dongfang Jibai was clearly starting to give in.

He drew Ji Ci closer. “You find such a rare delicacy and don’t even share it with me. Is Chu Si more important than I am?”

The room was thick with jealousy.

Dongfang Jibai looked like a wronged husband who had caught his wife cheating.

“No, it’s just that too much of that stuff is bad for you. I can eat it, but you can’t have all those processed additives and unhealthy ingredients.”

She leaned toward his mouth, giving him one soft kiss after another.

Dongfang Jibai wrapped an arm around Ji Ci’s waist and brushed a kiss over her ear. “Your husband is unhappy. You’ll have to coax me, Madam.”

“All right.”

Ji Ci swung a leg over him and straddled his lap.

Coaxing a man? That was easy!

Child psychology.

She could soothe him back to the embryonic stage.

The position made Dongfang Jibai’s eyes darken, and his heart began to beat strangely fast.

Why was he feeling a little excited?

Ji Ci picked up a fry and held it to his lips. “Try one.”

Dongfang Jibai took a bite, catching not only the fry between her fingers but her slender finger as well.

He held it gently between his lips, nibbling for a long moment before finally letting go.

“Not bad. I’m going to eat these every day.”

Dongfang Jibai kissed her, his kiss forceful and possessive, as though he meant to make her taste the food’s sweetness.

The kiss went on and on. Ji Ci finally drew in great gulps of air.

Everything she had been thinking about earlier had been kissed right out of her mind.

Dongfang Jibai picked up a few fries and offered them to her. “Have a few. You’ll need your strength for what comes later.”

Ji Ci pouted. What a shameless man! And so considerate, too!

She took the fries, then suddenly remembered something important.

She sprang out of Dongfang Jibai’s lap. “Xiaobai, this is called a potato.”

“Didn’t you just call it a fry?”

“Smack!”

She swatted him and pinched his mouth shut.

“Potatoes grow well in the Northern Frontier. They mature in just three months, and one acre can yield three thousand pounds!” Ji Ci’s eyes sparkled as she spoke.

She must have damaged her brain fighting zombies. How could she have forgotten about the high-yield crops of the future?

Potatoes and sweet potatoes.

With two crops that matured so quickly, the people of the Northern Frontier could finally eat their fill.

Dongfang Jibai’s eyes flickered. A rare look of delight appeared on his usually impassive face. “Three thousand pounds per acre? Are you sure?”

“Of course. Why would I lie to you? I’ll find a way to get you some seeds.”

Ji Ci began bargaining with the system again.

[Master, potatoes exist in this era. Go look for them and you’re sure to find some. I can’t give you anything from my inventory, or it could affect the course of history.]

‘Why are you so rigid? Just pretend I found them myself.’

[Master, I really can’t this time. If I help you cheat, I’ll suffer a backlash.]

‘Then why weren’t you worried about changing history when you helped me eat the hamburger?’

[That could only affect you. It couldn’t affect the whole course of history.]

‘Enough talk. Are you giving them to me or not?’

[No.]

‘I’ve already traveled through time. You’re still worried I’ll change the course of history? If you won’t give me potatoes and sweet potatoes, tomorrow I’ll take the male lead and start a rebellion. We’ll fight our way from Yanmen Pass all the way to Bianjing!’

[In principle, my programming forbids me from doing anything that could alter history. But now, you are my principle.]

The system capitulated quickly, changing its mind in less than thirty seconds.

[Potato seeds: 50 points. Sweet potato seeds: 100 points.]

Ji Ci nodded, a smile spreading across her face, and redeemed them at once.

‘Go plant them for me. I know it’s only one bag of seeds, but they mature quickly. I want three thousand pounds of potatoes and sweet potatoes by tomorrow. Got it?’

[Master, please treat me like a person.]

‘You’re not a person in the first place. Hurry up and get to work!’

Dongfang Jibai watched her fondly, his eyes overflowing with tenderness.

“Come over and eat.”

Now that she had what she wanted, Ji Ci had a healthy appetite again.

She and Dongfang Jibai cleared everything off the table.

Leaning against Dongfang Jibai, she let her consciousness sink into her pocket realm.

Quite a few of the horses there had foaled. Foals raced across the pasture, and Ji Ci’s eyes lit up as she carefully counted them.

Twenty-seven foals.

At this rate, she would have more and more horses.

While she was absorbed in the pocket realm, Dongfang Jibai’s hands had already started wandering. He gave her soft little breasts a squeeze.

His eyes darkened. They’d grown, and the feel of them was better than ever.

Outside the bedroom, Xin Tian called out, “Master, we’ve brought back the poultry. Where should we put it?”

Ji Ci immediately got up and hurried to open the door. The courtyard was full of bamboo baskets holding chickens, ducks, and geese.

There was also a large vat filled with fish.

“Leave everything here. You can go rest.”

Once everyone had left the courtyard, Ji Ci waved her hand and moved all the poultry into her pocket realm.

She fenced off another hillside and let the birds roam there. Then she had the system feed them the grain that had burned, rerouted the river, and put the fish in it.

By the time she finished, it was already dark.

Dongfang Jibai sat with Ji Ci in the study, watching her frown one moment and quietly laugh to herself the next. His gaze was tender as he sat nearby, writing letters.

At last, Ji Ci hopped down from the daybed. She had finished reorganizing her pocket realm and expanded the farmland.

The granaries were already full, with enough food to feed the people of the Northern Frontier for an entire year.

Her pocket realm was a world of its own.

Here, she was its master. As long as her consciousness was strong enough, she could expand it at will.

With fertile land that never ran out and provisions that could never be exhausted, the realm of all under heaven was within her grasp.

She went over to Dongfang Jibai and tugged at his arm. “I’m sleepy.”

Dongfang Jibai smiled. Heaven knew how painfully he had waited.

He had no idea what kind of world lay inside his beloved wife’s magic pouch, but with so many chickens, ducks, and geese going in, it certainly needed to be put in order.

He scooped Ji Ci up in his arms and strode toward the bedroom.