Chapter 29：Traveling With My Husband (4)

On the next day, she did not leave with Liu Shu to the school and instead told her she come when it was time for her to teach the kids. Before Liu Shu left, Xia Lin gave her a small pouch. She told her that the pouch was for the children's breakfast and lunch. She told her to just pull the drawstrings when it was time for the kids to eat.

She then left to the rich part of the town. She had brought Xiao Qiang with her too. She dearly wanted to spend some sweet time with him. But before they could have their own private moments, she needed to go buy a place. That place would become a store where she would sell her designs. She needed to make money and also build up an army in this world.

She traveled around the entire city to look at all the free places. After having searched for about an hour, she finally decided on the main department of her soon-to-be big industry. She was quite proud of herself for having a business mind. The location she chose was populated and once she refurbished the building, it would stand out out of the entire street. Above that, there was empty spaces next to the building she just bought, so it was perfect as she could imagine expanding the main department.

Having decided the place, she bought it and started to fix up the place. It was really rundown after being burned down. It was once a prosperous mansion that a rich family lived in, but they had died in the fire, leaving the place burned. Because of its horrendous appearance and the aura of the place, people avoided it. She definitely agreed with the locals that the place seemed to be possessed by a ghost a little, but she knew that there was none.

The person who had sold her the mansion was so shocked and surprised that somebody actually planned to buy it after a decade had passed. Even she, the person who was the previous deed owner of the place was scared to go near it. But it wasn't her matter, she had made a big profit out of this transaction. She would have never known that in the future, the place would be worth more than a billion gold taels, much more than what she had sold it for, a mere hundred silver tael.

Xia Lin, who was currently busy on how to style the place, was distracted when she suddenly felt someone poke her. Well, it was suppose to be a poke, but it just went inside her body instead.

"Xiao Qiang, I'm busy. I'll make it up for you once class is over today." Ah... He ignored me... "I'll do whatever you want me to do for a week if you can deal with this loneliness for 10-12 more hours."

"Keep your words."

"When have I ever gone back on my words?" She then went back into her focused mode and used her powers to fix the architect of the place to her liking. The entire building changed in an instant and you could see the change. The wood was fresh and healthy again, everything was sturdy again. The mansion seem to be able to go against the royal palace although its out-structure was the only thing that had been fixed.

With everything looking like a fresh canvas, she placed furniture and other things in the mansion. The mansion was four stories tall, so she had used the first two stories for the store. The other two floors were meant for living, and naturally, she would occupy the top floor. The third floor would be where her employees would live in. She wanted to create a place where everybody felt like family.

The first floor was furnished for receptions, a waiting room, a guest room for having tea, and with a door leading to the goods. The first floor would be for selling cloth, clothes, and jewelry. On the second floor, there was two waiting areas with one of them having a changing room plus mirror. It also had two tea rooms. However, one of them was private. The second floor sold more clothes and jewelry that would be much better than downstairs.

After that, she created a door that was linked to the employees and her. This would make it so that only they could open and close the door. This room was going to be selling weapons and armors. Of course, entry way to this room was going to be difficult for the men or women. She was going to make sure of that. The third floor had many many rooms that looked alike. Each with its own lavatory. This was going to be the home for her employees that did not have a place to live in. Other than the rooms, there was a huge dining hall and a huge seating hall. She wanted to make sure they were comfortable. There was a kitchen on the first floor, but it could only be reached from the third floor.

The top floor, was her place. She had made it to be soundproof, magic proof, and bunch of things. It was super luxurious. Looking at the place would make you think, a god lived here. However, she added demonic tastes to the godly tastes too. There was 5 rooms on her floor, each with its own lavatory. There was a private room where no one could get in unless summoned. The stairway had a door to block people from entrance. The place also had a balcony overlooking the garden. On the other side, was windows that looked as if you could never see through it, but on the inside, you could see everything.

Also, throughout the entire place were hidden areas of which you could hide in and attack your enemy from there. Xia Lin had also added something that was not there at first. Down below, she had made a basement for training her army. Some people would most likely ask her why needed an army, but if she wanted to gain info about this world, she needed spies. She also needed power in order to protect the people she cared about. Although she had just stay in the city for three days, she felt homely here. The people may be living in poverty, but they strive much better than the people living with wealth.

She really care about the Liu Family and the children at the school. Also, when she saw how this part of the city has been stricken with poverty, she wanted to help improve it. This is where her army come in place. Once she has power and wealth in this place, nobody would dare cross her.

The basement was gigantically big with 3 floors. A floor for each gender and the third for their breaks and rests. She thought out everything. She meticulously made her future plans. The plans were to take immediate action. She was never a person to create a plan that would take 10 years to activate.

Once she finished, she headed outside to her garden. She had made the front of the garden have a fountain and plants surrounding it. The plants all had a sweet smell to it, but not enough to sting your nose. She had used the right plants to contradict each other, yet support each other.

On the other side was a man made lotus pond and lake filled with koi fish. There were also lots of plants, but these plants helped clear the mind and had a minty and refreshing smell to it. It really made you feel active from smelling it.

The entire place had turned around from horror to grand beauty that the onlookers were freaked. They thought that a ghost was at works, but when they saw two people coming out of the mansion, they sighed a breath of relief. When they had thought that it was just a normal couple fixing up the place, they almost swallowed their tongue hearing, "Sigh... I finished the first part of the business at least. I planned on taking only 30 minutes at this, but it was too hard to choose. All the pieces were so pretty. I think I used an incredible amount of power to build this."

To the onlookers demise, only the girl did the job. They were about to strangle them-self at unbelief. "Even the gods could not build a mansion that big in 1 day, yet she took only an hour or two. What is she!?", they thought silently.

Since she was finished with the store, she went back to the Liu's mansion and also started working on it as she had with the store, but there was a difference. The mansion already had it's original beauty, so all she did was restore the materials used or changed to something better. As for the garden, she made it bloom. She didn't want to change the place too much because this was not her home, and so she can't just do what she wants.

"I heard that the old mansion that got burned down had been reconstructed to something even better. They don't know who did it, but they said it may have not been as big as the royal palace, but it was much more beautiful. It's attracting bees and butterflies from around."

"Mm... Is that so?" Mister Liu looked towards her and asked, "Miss Lin, I wonder what you are up to?"

She smiled proudly and told the father and son her plan. She hadn't told them about the need for an army, but she told them about the mansion. Of course, she also left out details about the basement and everything to do with her future army.

"Does Miss Lin need help of some sort?"

"No. Don't worry about me... Oh right! I made food for you two already. It's in the kitchen and I have used a little bit of my power to fix up the house a little bit. I hope it won't disturb you guys."

"Don't worry. I already saw what you were doing Miss Lin."

"Alright, then. I should off to the school now. I have a class to teach." She left to the Golden House School with her teleportation skills and went to greet the kids.

"Okay, you guys! Line up like how I had instructed yesterday. If you don't remember, it's okay." The children fiddled around to find their spots.

"Today, we'll go much deeper than yesterday. Before that, let's warm you guys up. Run around the who entire school until you are at the back courtyard."

She repeated like how she had yesterday when class ended and saw the students leave with a happy smile. She was also smiling from seeing their smile. However, nobody saw her smile as it had been covered by her mask. She had started to wear a mask everyday now as to not draw attention. It was much easier to walk around without having men around trying to eat her up.

Before she left the school, just like how she did to the store, and the mansion, she fixed up the school. She opened the storage room of the school to put in all the books and materials she had gotten for the kids. The storage room was filled up to the brim leaving no edges empty. She also designed the two courtyards. They looked alike from outside, but when you had a closer look to it, the back courtyard was full of herbs and had a its own greenhouse, while the front courtyard was filled with flowers for beauty.

The garden was beautiful, so she had designed the school to match with the two courtyards.

On the next day, Liu Shu jaws dropped so low it couldn't get any lower. She thought that she had gone to the wrong place, but this was where the school always was at and the sign even said so. The sign? When did the school have a sign?!

"Was it that dude?"

"Sister Shu, I did this yesterday after you left."

"Is that why you didn't come back until midnight?"

"Yes..." Well, one of the reasons. She wanted to search for her army early so she went to the slave market and bought all the slaves from there and thrown them inside of the basement. Before leaving them, she told them to pick a room from the third level and that she would see them the next day. "Sister Shu, I'll come back when it is time for lessons. I'm sure you've heard of the news about how the burned mansion had been restored glamorously."

"Yes. Then, I'll see you later."

When Xia Lin bought the mansion, she had used an alias, Huang Hanying, to buy the house. It was a neutral name, suggesting no gender. Nobody has seen her face, so they could only guess the gender. Also, even if they did see her during that time of her walking out, they could never make sure that it was one owner or a couple. She did her best to hide her traces. Her dream had predicted that the book story-line would go back to normal soon, so she did all of this to hide her presence.

Also because although she wanted power, she did not want to be recognized by people. She wanted to be completely hidden.

The night before that she had gone to buy the slaves, she had bought 300 slaves. Half was male and half was female. She had left them in the basement with no instructions, so today was their first day at work. She also needed to name the store. It wasn't good to leave a blank door sign.

Having her thoughts organized, she left to the third level of the basement that could only be reached from the third floor of the upper ground. All of the slaves were gathered there for no apparent reason, but she didn't mind. It was good. She didn't need to spend extra effort into calling them in.

"All of you from now on are no longer slaves, but family and servant to me. You may address me as Master Lin, Miss Lin, Madam Lin, Sister Lin, or whatever. However! In public areas such as outside this basement, you guys are to never utter my name and only call me somewhere related to Huang Hanying. This is my introduction to you guys. I want to learn your guy's names so I have brought paper and pen for you guys to write your name in."

"Yes Madam!" The previously named slaves were about to write there names down, when they heard another order. "If you don't like your name, write down another name. A name that you like. A name to your personality. A name that you own and not given because you are merely a slave. I want you guys to know that, the day I bought you, was the day you had free roam."

The 300 servants there felt a warm feeling, but they dared not to show it do to the fact that their master had such an icy cold face. They immediately wrote down their names. Many of them changed it, but they were happy to no longer be a slave. They thought, "It felt nice to not be a slave anymore."

After finishing introductions, she went more deeply her talk as to everything. "You guys will no longer be living with a slave contract. I have already terminated it, but that does not mean that I have left you free. I spent hundreds on you to tell you that you are not slaves, but that you are starting a new life living in the underground. I and my husband will be training you everyday to become better warriors, assassins, and much more from now on."

"We thank your kindness!"

"I'm not finished yet. Whether you are free or not, you must always be loyal to me. If you never turn your backs on each other or on me, you will deserve the best. But! The day I hear of your betrayal will be the day you wished you had remained as slave."

"We shall forever be loyal to Miss Lin until the end of our lives."

"I'm not asking you guys to die for me. In any case, your training will start 3 days from now. Use these three days to nourish yourself. When the day of training comes, I will separate you into groups, but as for now, you are free to use the kitchen and anything in the basement and third floor of high ground. In your rooms are new clothing I have made for you all based on your measurements. Since it is your first day, I have already prepared food. You can find it on the third floor of either down or up. My husband will come when three days are over. Disperse!"

For the first time ever, the 300 people were feeling happy. When they were a slave, they were treated even more horrible than animals and had received a shiver of kindness. They barely had enough food, barely had any clothes to cover them and were struggling to live when they were still as slaves. They were kicked and punched for nothing when they were slaves. Yet, the person who bought them, didn't keep them as slaves, but to reborn them again. She had a cold demeanor, but was kind in her own way. She had given them time to rest and nurture their-self for three days. They didn't want to ask for more. Having a master like her, was something they will never see again if they betrayed her. Every single one of them swore that if they ever betrayed their master, they would slit their throat.