Chapter 233, exclusively published on Jinjiang Literature City, bestows the title of Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince.
Do you still want the Crown Prince's contract with the Vampire Vine?
Of course not!
Lu Xuan had already said that he might die suddenly, so how could the new emperor possibly let his crown prince take such a risk?
If it weren't for Lu Xuan saying those words, he would have been furious and dragged the person out on the spot.
The new emperor took a deep breath to calm his trembling emotions, and said with a hand on his forehead, "Is there no other way? The crown prince is young, and there are too many unexpected events during this period of catastrophe. I still hope that he can gain more power to protect himself."
After all, the palace is not a monolithic entity.
Lu Xuan raised an eyebrow and said, "If it's just for self-preservation, I can trade for a few more individual protective shields for His Majesty to protect the Crown Prince and the other princes and princesses."
The new emperor sighed, "The protective shield can only defend against military threats; it cannot stop other threats."
The threats in the palace never come from overt dangers; assassin attacks are actually rare. The palace is more often hampered by other unpredictable means, and protective shields are not always effective.
Lu Xuan said "Oh," and then said, "So we don't need the protective shield?"
The new emperor: "...I still want it." Last time, he was the only one who received it, and recently, his ministers have been hinting that he should persuade Lu Xuan to make more trades.
Whether the ministers can receive it or not is another matter, but he still wants those he cares about to have as many means of self-defense as possible.
But the Crown Prince... sigh.
The new emperor, still unwilling to give up, asked, "If the vampire vine can't be contracted, what about other plants?"
Lu Xuan said, "As long as you learn the method of forming a contract, you can also form a contract with ordinary plants."
There are quite a few threatening species among common plants, such as various highly poisonous plants, poisonous mushrooms, poisonous flowers and grasses, as well as thorny plants, cacti, thorns, etc.
The new emperor hesitated: "This..."
Ordinary plants aren't dangerous enough, are they?
[In the past, conditions in the ancient plane were very primitive. Even highly poisonous plants were sufficient, and many cardiac and neurotoxins had rapid onset.]
[Times have changed. The streamer brought out a large quantity of Star Alliance emergency medical supplies, some of which are effective antidotes. As long as you carry a few antidotes with you, ordinary poisons will be completely ineffective.]
[Moreover, having a crown prince contract with a poisoner and resort to such despicable means—it wouldn't look good if word got out.]
This is precisely what the new emperor is worried about.
Cacti and thorny plants would be worth considering.
With the Vampire Vine being such a gem before them, these things seem rather unsatisfactory no matter how you look at them.
As an emperor, the new emperor felt that he and his offspring should enjoy the best of everything, and now he was being asked to settle for second best... He naturally couldn't understand it.
Lu Xuan thought back to how easy the new emperor had been when they made their deal, and said, "It's not advisable to have the little prince contract with a branch of the vampire vine, but it's worth a try to cultivate a low-level vampire vine from a seed."
The new emperor immediately perked up, looking at Lu Xuan with joy and understanding.
He knew Lu Xuan would have a way!
The new emperor confirmed, "Would the difference between a low-grade vampire vine and the mother plant of Marquis Yunxian be significant?"
Lu Xuan nodded matter-of-factly: "Naturally, it can't be compared. However, it is still far superior to other plants."
After all, it is a highly aggressive mutant plant. Even if it is only the lowest level one, it is not comparable to ordinary plants or harmless mutant plants.
Besides, even if he were to give it to the young prince, he wouldn't actually give him a first-level vampire vine.
At level one, you can contract with mutated plants that are no more than two or three levels higher than yourself. Contracting with plants three levels higher than yourself is riskier, but it's still worth a try if they are only two levels higher.
Even in ancient times, a level three vampire vine could roam freely.
However, “the seeds of mutated plants are not easy to cultivate, and whether it will succeed in the end remains to be seen. Your Majesty should not have too high hopes.”
The new emperor nodded in understanding and said, "I understand. If Marquis Yunxian can truly get the Crown Prince to form a contract with the Bloodsucking Vine, I will appoint you as the Crown Prince's tutor, and the Crown Prince will take you as his teacher and treat you with the same respect he shows me."
Lu Xuan showed no surprise on his face, and calmly said, "It's not too late to talk about other things after I have really cultivated a suitable plant."
The new emperor was anxious, but he knew that this matter could not be settled immediately, so he could only put it aside for the time being.
Afterwards, Lu Xuan traded several single-person protective shields with the new emperor and left the palace.
On the way back to the Marquis's residence, the live stream chat was flooded with comments.
[His first request was for the streamer to become the crown prince's tutor. Once the crown prince ascends the throne, wouldn't the streamer become the emperor's advisor? 666.]
[They even said the crown prince should treat the streamer with the same respect as his own father. Doesn't that mean the streamer and the emperor are practically brothers?]
The emperor really went all out.
[I'd do it too! I'd be willing to be the streamer's son, let alone his teacher! Dad, look at me!]
[I'm the streamer's favorite son, Daddy, I'm hungry, I need food!]
[Pah! The streamer doesn't care about you cheapskates, you bunch of opportunistic swindlers.]
[Whether it's a son or not doesn't matter, just asking if you want the same low-grade vampire vine.]
The answer is definitely yes! They want to so much!
Rather than discussing the title of Crown Prince Tutor promised by the new emperor, most viewers were more focused on the vampire vines.
Countless people left comments on the screen, clamoring for the same items as the young prince, or even a batch of vampire vine seeds from a secret source.
Lu Xuan casually replied, "The Star Alliance has countless powerful mutated plants. If we can't contract high-level plants, can't we at least get their seeds?"
It was an exception to consider giving the young prince a low-level vampire vine. He didn't intend to produce too many offspring for his own vampire vine, as there would be many similar ones everywhere, even if those places were not in the same plane as him.
[Cough, I hadn't thought of doing it this way before.]
While the existence of mutated plants and animals wouldn't pose a significant danger to the Star Alliance, they're already struggling to contain the highly aggressive mutated plants; there's no reason to specifically seek out seeds for cultivation.
[As the streamer himself said, high-level mutated plant seeds are inherently difficult to cultivate; otherwise, they would have already become rampant even without human intervention.]
Other high-level mutated plants require time, effort, and even risk to obtain, but the streamer's Vampire Vine is powerful, famous, and readily available.
Lu Xuan chuckled lightly, "So close at hand? Isn't it far away?"
[Hehehe, if the streamer is willing to hold a giveaway of Vampire Vine Seeds, it's just around the corner!]
[Yes! Streamer, go ahead and draw lots! We don't even need the evolution fluid, we just want the Vampire Seeds!]
Even if they aren't wood-type ability users, there are plenty of wood-type ability users who would be willing to pay a high price to buy the seeds they draw, so how could they not be stuck with them?
Lu Xuan refused cleanly and decisively: "No, stop nagging, it's useless."
The audience kept pleading with Lu Xuan until he returned to the Marquis's residence, but they couldn't change his mind. They could only regretfully follow his advice and turn their attention to other mutated plants.
Back at the Marquis's residence, Lu Xuan sent a group message to the other superhumans he knew in other gathering places, informing them that the emperor would bestow titles upon them and making them happy.
As expected, Lu Xuan's communications were immediately overwhelmed with calls.
Among the most excited were Hua San and Du Chenghai from Feng County.
Ever since they learned that the government had started disaster relief and that Feng County would eventually be taken over by the authorities, they felt uneasy. Even though they had rationally come to terms with it, they were more inclined to live for the moment than before.
But if they could obtain a title, even just the lowest baron, they would step into the aristocratic circle and complete a class leap, how could they not be overjoyed?
Lu Xuan was so flattered by the barrage of compliments that he almost regretted sending the message.
·
In the following days, guests flocked to the Marquis of Yunxian's residence.
They all come to our door to order heated rooms.
Last time, Lu Xuan didn't have enough seeds or points to buy greenhouse materials, so he couldn't expand the trade. This time, he can loosen up a bit.
Each noble family in the capital owned at least two or three estates of varying sizes. Without overstepping the bounds of the new emperor and the government, each family had booked several hundred to a thousand acres of greenhouses with Lu Xuan.
There were dozens of households that purchased the property, and the total number was almost equal to the total scale of the last housewarming event held by the Beijing authorities.
The Bai family and the Marquis of Weiyuan's mansion also ordered 500 mu and 1,000 mu of greenhouses, respectively.
With their own production, both families stated that they would no longer accept dividends from the Marquis of Yunxian's mansion.
Lu Xuan did indeed intend to leave a few more agricultural robots to manage the farmland in the capital.
However, the capital city was not his territory after all, and it was hard to guarantee that no one would deliberately cause trouble with ulterior motives, so he still retained 10% of the profits and asked the Marquis of Weiyuan's mansion to help take care of them.
Besides ordering housewarming packages, many people who came to his door were also subtly probing Lu Xuan, asking him if he had any plans to arrange marriages for his trusted subordinates.
Lu Xuan: What was bound to happen has finally happened.
Lu Xuan casually told the person who came to test him, "Several of my trusted confidants have already been married."
The visitor pressed further, "Oh? I don't know which family the betrothed to is from. Let me see who has the audacity to snatch her away?"
Lu Xuan smiled and said, "The steward and the captain of the guards each ordered a head maid."
The newcomer: "!?"
Internal digestion?
The newcomer was clearly taken aback, but quickly added, "Doesn't the Marquis's residence have a captain of the guards? Where is the other one?"
Lu Xuan: "He also has a fiancée who stays with my sister to serve her. I will transfer him back later."
The person who arrived: "!!!" Are you really not leaving anyone any chance at all?
"Was this marriage arranged by you, Lord Marquis, or...?"
Lu Xuan calmly replied, "I'm not the kind of person who interferes with my subordinates' marriages; they all chose to do so voluntarily."
The visitor: "..." That's even more outrageous!
The news that the visitor had been keeping quiet among the trusted subordinates of the Marquis of Yunxian's mansion quickly spread among the powerful and influential circles in the capital after the visitor left.
Each company has different targets, so their complaints also differ.
"The person I had my wife arrange for the captain of the guards at the Yunxian Marquis's residence is, after all, a distant niece from my maternal family. Her family business is quite successful, and she just came of age this year. Isn't she more beautiful than Shui Ling, the head maid of the Yunxian Marquis's residence? Is that guard captain blind?"
"The steward of the Marquis of Yunxian's mansion is old enough to be a grandfather. What does the head maid of the mansion see in him? Is it because he's old enough to die soon?"
"I thought the steward entrusted with such an important task by Marquis Yunxian would be a very steady and well-mannered person, so I specially chose a gentle and charming beauty. I never expected that the old man would like to eat young grass! What a lecherous old man!"
The person who complained had no idea that he was more than ten years older than Lu Xuan's steward, and that the number of young and beautiful concubines and maids he had brought back after the disaster in the backyard was too many to count on one hand.
They were just thinking that since Lu Xuan had already said that his confidants were already married, they shouldn't openly send people over.
The candidates we had previously selected are no longer suitable.
When they were looking for a wife, they were all treated as legitimate wives, married in a proper and formal manner. Now that they are married, sending her away would be like sending her a mistress/lover, which would naturally lower their status and make it inconvenient to put her out in the open.
At the same time, we also have to consider that if things go through, it will offend the other party, and there will be the risk of them speaking ill of us in front of Lord Yunxian. In short, it's very troublesome.
Many people privately complained that Marquis Yunxian was being tactless, saying that it was clearly a mutually beneficial arrangement, so why did he not give them any loopholes?
But as soon as Lu Xuan announced that single-person protective shields could be traded, the people who were talking fell silent and put the matter of the servants out of their minds.
Ultimately, the reason for winning over the steward and guards of the Marquis's mansion was to get more good stuff from Lu Xuan.
Now that the good stuff is out in the open, why bother with those short-sighted servants? The important thing is to grab the treasures!
Recently, Lu Xuan has achieved several accomplishments, unlocking previously restricted items such as mechs and spaceships, and the single-person protective shield is also within the scope of unlocking permissions.
After trading several protective shields for the new emperor, Lu Xuan bought ten more from the shop and put them up for limited sale.
Because there were few items and many people wanted them, Lu Xuan let those who wanted them bid against each other.
Ultimately, the ten individual protective shields were sold at an average price of 50,000 jin of mutated grain.
He spent five million points and ended up earning 120 million, which is an outrageous profit.
Although the aristocratic families had many petty schemes that annoyed Lu Xuan, they were undeniably wealthy.
The capital city has only harvested grain once so far, and it's all in the hands of the government. Somehow, these nobles have obtained so much mutated grain, and they've used it all for private purposes. Not a single one of the ten households has asked for an IOU; they've settled the accounts for the grain on the spot.
Considering the tangible points earned, Lu Xuan became more lenient towards these aristocratic families.
Viewers, however, were puzzled: "Such a useful individual protective shield, why doesn't the streamer give it to the villagers first?"
That's right, right now, apart from the Lu family, no one else in the village has had the chance to change their status.
Lu Xuan said, "The two are not contradictory. Besides, do you really think anyone in the village would switch?"
Audience: ? What do you mean? Who wouldn't want to trade for something good?
Lu Xuan shook his head, "Even good things need to be considered in terms of suitability."
Even if the protective shields given to the villagers don't use an auction model, they should at least be exchanged for 10,000 kilograms of grain, otherwise the value of the protective shields won't be apparent.
No matter how wealthy the villagers are, their upbringing has made them accustomed to being frugal, especially since this is not a small amount.
Ten thousand kilograms of grain could buy a safe house.
Nowadays, there is basically nothing that can threaten the safety of the villagers; natural disasters and man-made calamities are mostly nothing to fear.
There are still city protective shields left in the village that he hasn't taken back. Who would be so extravagant as to replace them with single-person protective shields?
In particular, protective shields are not something you can use for free indefinitely after you buy them.
Just like buying a car today, it's easy to buy a car but difficult to maintain it. Every time you use it, it consumes a lot of energy, and the longer you use it, the more energy you consume. It can be said to be a bottomless pit.
The nobles valued their lives and had enough wealth to not care about such investments, but the villagers couldn't possibly be indifferent.
Looking at the entire Yunlu Village, apart from Lu Qing and Lei Yan, who each received an item for free due to their romantic relationships, the only one who was truly willing to spend a lot of money was probably Xiong Mao.
After all, he was truly willing to give up anything for Su Ying.
Others, even if the man wants to spend money on his wife, she will not agree.
Similarly, only Su Ying wanted to enjoy herself and live a good life in her daily life, greedily and naturally choosing to have it all.
Those who obtained the protective shield were not without regrets about spending 50,000 catties of grain in one go, but when they thought that having the shield meant having an extra life-saving charm, their joy outweighed their regret. Some even held a grand banquet, specially inviting many people to their homes to activate the shield on the spot to verify its effectiveness, making a great show of themselves.
While others weren't as ostentatious, they still frequently paraded around wearing protective shields and showed them off at the homes of colleagues and friends.
Others who couldn't get it for various reasons were both envious and annoyed, and could only try to distract themselves.
As it turned out, they discovered another pleasant surprise.
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Author's Note: Thanks to "A Skinny Salty Fish" for the +32 nutrient solution.
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