Cannot Keep Pretending

  “Dear wife, if you don’t want husband to die of hunger, it would be best to give that thing back to me. That is quite filling.”


  Was it possible for it to not be filling? Feng Yu Heng looked at the thing in her hand. It was Yili yogurt. Hey, hey, what exactly had she done while producing slag? Sure enough, her old habits had resurfaced. Once she became especially focused on any matter, she would forget important bodily needs like food and water. But forgetting was only on a conscious level. Her mind, however, would continue to send and receive information. At the same time, the body would be quickly directed by the brain to do these important things. Often times, she would not notice these things due to her concentrating on something. For example, while producing slag for steel, she drank while pulling out bottle after bottle of water from her space. When hungry, she would take out food like yogurt from her space. Either way, these things were all done subconsciously. Her conscious mind would not notice it at all.

  Feng Yu Heng continued to think. Her space also had instant noodles. Fortunately, she did not bring out those instant noodles.

  “That……” She found it a little hard to continue pretending. The floor was covered in bottles, and there were even some sandwich wrappers. Xuan Tian Ming was not an idiot. If she did not say something now, she would not be able to give any explanation. Thus she helplessly said: “If you have anything you want to ask, go ahead. The things that I can confess to, I will. If I truly cannot explain, do not pick on me.”


  Xuan Tian Ming smiled bitterly and reached out to her. Feng Yu Heng was startled. Thinking a little, she also reached out her hand; however, as a result, Xuan Tian Ming said: “What are you giving me your hand for? I want you to let me drink more of that sweet and sour drink. Husband is extremely hungry.”


  Very well! She admitted defeat and obediently handed over the remaining yogurt. In her mind, however, she was thinking that she had to put some more food in her space when she had some spare time. Things like steamed buns, dumplings, noodles, pastries and fruit, she needed more of. In case there was an urgent matter, she would have more choice when it came to food.

  Xuan Tian Ming very seriously finished drinking the yogurt before saying to Feng Yu Heng: “I don’t have anything to ask. It hasn’t been just a day or two since I knew about the heavens existing in your sleeves. I already began to feel that it was odd in the mountains of the Northwest. At that time, your sleeves had already become torn, so how could there possibly be anything inside them; however, you really did pull out a strange bottle. Naturally, I felt that it was quite mystical. Before the end of the year, you helped treat the soldiers that had been poisoned. Right before us, you began to take out a large number of things. I am not dumb, nor am I blind. I could see it all.”


  The more he said, the more Feng Yu Heng felt uneasy. She could not help but walk forward and partially kneel at Xuan Tian Ming’s side: “Since you could see it all, why did you not ask me about it? Did you not think that it was weird?”


  Xuan Tian Ming, however, spoke as though it was a matter of course: “Even if you were a monster, I wanted to marry you. Moreover, it’s just a coincidence that you obtained such a heavenly sleeve. Un, or perhaps I should say that it’s your wrist.”


  She had to admire Xuan Tian Ming’s observation skills. At the same time, she felt that the excuse that he had found for her was very good.

  Thus the girl nodded, “You are correct. I indeed happened to obtain something to hide a world on my wrist, but this is a great secret. Xuan Tian Ming, in this world, only you and I know this. A third person must never find out about it. Even if it is seventh brother, you must not tell him.”


  Xuan Tian Ming suddenly became very happy. This girl had said that seventh brother must not find out, which meant that in her mind, seventh brother could not compare to him! He always felt that Feng Yu Heng treated Xuan Tian Hua very well, and he knew that aside from himself, Xuan Tian Hua also had a special spot in her heart. Before, he had been a little bit jealous. Now, however, upon hearing her personally say this, he felt very satisfied.

  “Very well, I will not tell anyone.” Xuan Tian Ming happily promised her then patted the little girl’s head, “Let’s go. Let’s go and eat something proper and get a good sleep. We still have plenty of hardship ahead. If we don’t eat and sleep now, how could our bodies handle it?”


  The body was the most basic foundation of life. Feng Yu Heng naturally understood this reasoning, thus she nodded and obediently followed Xuan Tian Ming out of the cave.

  Seeing that the two had finally come out, the soldiers outside let out a sigh of relief. Ban Zou quickly stepped forward and said: “Your Highness, master, food has been prepared. Will it be sent to your bedroom?”


  Xuan Tian Ming nodded, “Send it.” He then had Feng Yu Heng push him along to the cave.

  This time, the two rested until they woke up at noon the next day. Either way, Xuan Tian Ming already knew about the space hidden in her wrist, so Feng Yu Heng stopped being secretive, directly ordered Ban Zou: “Go tell them to prepare some more food and place them in food boxes. It would be best to prepare three meals worth of food. His Highness and I will bring them into the cave to eat.”


  Ban Zou was puzzled, “Wouldn’t they all go cold?” Thinking of how that cave had a furnace, he said: “Even if it can be heated, it would lose its freshness. No good, no good. You keep coming up with these poor ideas.”


  Xuan Tian Ming, however, said: “Just listen to her and go prepare them.”


  Ban Zou had become accustomed to bantering with Feng Yu Heng, but he did not dare say a word when Xuan Tian Ming spoke, thus he quickly said: “This servant obeys.” He then left to tell the chefs to prepare food.

  Feng Yu Heng became depressed, “He is clearly my hidden guard, but why does he not listen?”


  Xuan Tian Ming told her the truth: “It’s because you spoiled him.”


  Very well, it was possible that she had spoiled him, but this was very good. She did not want him to change. A hidden guard was not a servant. She liked for her hidden guard to have some ability to think for themselves and not act like robots, only knowing how to follow orders.

  Under an hour later, the two finished eating lunch, and Feng Yu Heng put the food boxes into her wrist in front of Xuan Tian Ming. This sight caused Xuan Tian Ming to stare wide-eyed and slack-jawed.

  Finally, the two once again entered the cave to produce steel. This time, they decided that they would boldly advance another three steps all the way to the melting stage to produce a melted slag.

  Once the stone door of the cave was closed, Xuan Tian Ming once again held the “Feng shi’s Method for Producing Steel” in his hands. After carefully studying the next three steps and familiarizing himself with them, he then asked Feng Yu Heng: “What does it mean to provide energy to the melting pool?”


  Feng Yu Heng sighed and said: “This method for producing steel is something that our current equipment will not allow for. We do not have it right now, so we will need to change that.” She then pointed a little further down: “Look at the remarks that I made. This source of energy should have been electricity. Right now, I want to change that from electricity to the bellows. We will use the bellows to achieve this. I don’t know if it will work, so we will need to try a few times.”


  Xuan Tian Ming pointed at the large bellows in the cave and said: “The cave has a ventilation shaft. The amount of wind created by this bellows will not be low. I don’t know if it will be enough. I will try it in a bit, so watch carefully.”


  “Good.” Feng Yu Heng connected the air duct to the furnace then poured the slag in. She then nodded to Xuan Tian Ming, “Okay, give it a try. Remember, you must slowly add strength. You must not be hasty.”


  Xuan Tian Ming expressed that he understood then turned his wheelchair and moved to the bellows, “Beginning preparations.” Once he said this, he immediately began moving.

  His movements were slow at first, but he gradually began to put in some more strength. Listening to the bellows blow was quite entertaining, and the wind it created was extremely large, but the worry in Feng Yu Heng’s heart did not seem to disappear.

  Wind truly could not be compared to electricity. How could using the bellow be compared to high-voltage electricity? She sat down on the ground in frustration and waved to Xuan Tian Ming, “No good, stop for now.”


  He stopped but did not look tired, “No good?”


  Feng Yu Heng let out a long sigh, “It seems that I need to rethink things and change the design of the furnace.” Once she thought of this, she immediately understood that she had dug herself another hole and buried herself in it! How could it be so easy to make an electric furnace? Moreover, even if she could make one, this was just a small experiment involving her and Xuan Tian Ming. SHe could bring electric things out of her space. But what about when they began mass production? She did not have the ability to produce that much electricity.

  Feng Yu Heng immediately rejected her own idea on the spot.

  “That won’t work.” She helplessly said: “It cannot be changed. We must think of a way to increase the power. This is no good. Even if you put all you could into these bellows, they do not produce enough energy.”


  Xuan Tian Ming thought a little then asked her: “You mean to say that the reason for the failure is the bellows? If it could provide even more energy, it would succeed?”


  “That is how the theory works.” She did not dare speak too resolutely, “At least, we can try.”


  “That’s easy to handle.” Xuan Tian Ming said: “This place is limited by the environment, and there are limits to the amount of wind that can be produced, but if we were to go outside, this difficulty would immediately be resolved. There are furnaces outside of Xu Tian Cave too. But they are not secret enough, so we decided to build them inside. But the matter of keeping it a secret can be resolved. In the worst case scenario, we will just increase the protection. Either way, it would be better than staying here.”


  Feng Yu Heng’s eyes lit up. That’s right, Xu Tian Cave had shackled up her thoughts, as she had been thinking entirely about how to produce steel here. She had completely forgotten that she could go outside.

  She became spirited and said: “How could I have forgotten about this? This is perfect, we will use this chance to divide the space. The things that can be completed inside will be done inside. The things that absolutely must be completed outside, they can be arranged to be done outside. Like this, there will be nearly no need to keep things secret because this will only be a few steps, and there are 19 steps to producing steel. There’s no point in just learning one or two steps.”


  The two reached an agreement and quickly left the cave. Xuan Tian Ming immediately ordered people to bring things to the furnace outside. He then told people to begin creating separated spaces and clear out an open area.

  Some soldiers brought out an even larger bellows. This time, there was no need for Xuan Tian Ming to work, as the soldiers lined up to help out.

  Feng Yu Heng chose a few to come in and help with the bellows. This bellows was extremely large and required four people to work together to move it. She gave a few instructions, and the soldiers tried a few times before finally being able to get 70 to 80 percent of maximum efficacy.

  Feng Yu Heng once again connected the air duct to the furnace then pulled Xuan Tian Ming over to sit at the furnace’s side to carefully observe. From time to time, she would direct the soldiers on how much force to put in. Like this, they still failed four times in a row.

  Feng Yu Heng was not discouraged, as she told the soldiers: “If producing steel was so easy, it could not become Da Shun’s advantage. For you to be able to participate in the first attempt at producing steel is something that will be remembered. You should feel proud.”


  Hearing her gracious words, the soldiers swept aside the gloominess that came from failure and once again returned to work.

  On the soldiers’ eighth attempt, while Feng Yu Heng was observing the furnace, a hint of joy suddenly appeared in her eyes.

  Xuan Tian Ming personally saw this joy become brighter and brighter. Finally, everyone heard a beautiful and heart-warming shout: “It succeeded!”