While having his meal, Xiaotian noticed the absence of his father, the Lord Ruler. He asked, "Mother, where is Dad?"
Mother Tang handed Xiaotian a pair of chopsticks and said, "He is still busy and has no time to eat."
"Oh, I see."
Xiaotian took a sip of rice porridge and picked up a bit of salted vegetables. His breakfast was as simple and unpretentious as that.
Remembering something, Mother Tang said, "Oh, by the way, what you wrote yesterday..."
"Ah, that just popped into my head. I didn't know what it was, so I just wrote it down anyway."
That was the only way Xiaotian could explain it. Could he possibly tell her that in his past life he had been a college student? That would surely frighten his mother half to death.
"I see. Well, you must help your father as much as you can."
Mother Tang stroked Xiaotian's head, her face full of maternal affection.
At that moment, Xiaotian heard a "ding" sound, and his heart tightened, because this felt like a system.
"Could my cheat have arrived? System, little system, speak! Talk to me!"
Xiaotian shouted inwardly. The next second, a light screen appeared before his eyes, displaying four Simplified Chinese characters that were currently loading.
"Holy cow, it's really here! What kind of system is this? Can it buy things, or does it enhance knowledge?"
Xiaotian's heart raced with excitement. This was a system, after all! Like a conceptual deity, there were no weak systems; as long as he used it well, he could finally fulfill the dreams in his heart.
What? What dreams could Xiaotian possibly have? Naturally, they were a man's dreams: to be a total badass when it was time to be a badass, and to have women when it was time to have women. Weren't these a man's ultimate dreams?
After finishing his meal, Xiaotian hurried back to his room. He looked at the light screen, visible to him alone and entirely imperceptible to anyone else.
Yet half a day passed, and the system was still loading. This left Xiaotian deeply depressed, ruining his mood entirely.
"Whatever. Let's go out for a stroll."
Xiaotian stood up and left, calling upon a few guards as he boarded an open-topped sedan chair and headed outside.
"Oh, the evils of the old society," Xiaotian muttered, shaking his head helplessly. Yet he was actually quite enjoying it. He just didn't know which world this was—a historical world or another realm entirely.
If it were a historical world, Xiaotian had never heard of a country called the Tang Kingdom. Besides, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms era had ten states, whereas the Tang Kingdom was surrounded by more than twenty countries. That didn't add up.
An alternate realm didn't fit either, because here they used Huaxia characters and spoke Mandarin Chinese, even though their weapons were a bit trashy and their houses weren't made of concrete.
"Ah, right! Concrete! I need to write that down immediately. Concrete seems to be..."
Xiaotian began pondering the manufacturing method for concrete. In his past life, he had read novels where concrete changed the nation, and there was a saying in Huaxia: *If you want to get rich, build roads first.* As the future Lord Ruler, he had to bring this into existence.
Back in his past life, Xiaotian had even searched for how to make concrete on Douyin, so he still remembered a bit of it.
"Come here."
Xiaotian gave a flick of his little hand, and a guard immediately stepped to his side, asking, "What are your orders, Young Master?"
"Pen and paper."
Xiaotian extended his hand, and before long, pen and paper were placed in his grip. He began writing down the production method for concrete at a rapid pace.
"Thank goodness for Douyin," Xiaotian sighed inwardly. The method for making concrete was quite simple: limestone, clay, and iron ore, fired together, and finally ground into powder.
"Young Master, look ahead."
The guard pointed forward, and Xiaotian raised his eyes, freezing instantly at the sight of a little girl.
The little girl possessed an extraordinarily fair complexion, her skin white beyond belief, and her hair was a shade of blue-white. Most importantly, she was exceptionally adorable—otherwise, Xiaotian wouldn't have been struck dumb.
"Put it down."
Xiaotian hurriedly ordered the bearers to lower the sedan chair, then walked over to the girl and asked, "What's wrong? Where are your family members?"
The little girl looked at Xiaotian, tilted her head, and said, "I have no family."
"No family!"
Xiaotian was overjoyed. This was a lost maiden with no family, and to top it off, she was utterly adorable. If he were to take her back...
Xiaotian wiped away some drool and asked the girl, "What's your name?"
"Ōtsutsuki Kaguya."
When Kaguya finished speaking, Xiaotian wore a blank expression and muttered, "Ōtsutsuki Kaguya? Japanese?"
Xiaotian had watched Naruto, but before transmigrating, he had only seen a little over three hundred episodes, which hadn't introduced Kaguya yet.
As for Kaguya herself, she was equally baffled. Though she was naturally an adult, the moment she arrived near the borders of the Tang Kingdom, an inexplicable force had shrunk her physical body.
"Young Master, where is Japan?"
The guard scratched his head, racking his brains, but he had never heard of any such place.
"Get lost! What does it have to do with you? Don't interrupt this young master's girl-chasing."
Xiaotian kicked the guard away, turned back to look at Kaguya, and said, "If you don't mind, why don't you come live at my home? I am the young master of the Tang Kingdom, and my father is the Lord Ruler. Raising you will be a breeze."
"I..."
Kaguya wanted to say something, but Xiaotian didn't care what she thought. He grabbed her hand directly, returned to the sedan chair, and ordered, "Lift the chair, we're heading back."
And just like that, the group returned.
Dragging Kaguya along, Xiaotian sprinted into the palace. Upon spotting his mother, he shouted eagerly, "Mother, I want her to be my child bride!"
At these words, Kaguya froze. She naturally understood the meaning of a child bride.
Mother Tang wore a look of maternal affection as she said, "Alright, alright, alright. I'll listen to whatever Xiaotian wants. Oh? What is this piece of paper..."
Xiaotian picked up the paper in his hand and said, "This is the method for making concrete. It can pave roads and be used to build houses. Could you please give this to Father?"
"Concrete?"
Mother Tang picked up the sheet of paper and examined it closely, yet she still couldn't make sense of it. Glancing at the people around her, she instructed, "Half of you stay here to wait on Xiaotian and help arrange living quarters for this little girl. The rest of you, come with me to see the Lord Ruler."
"Understood."
The attendants acknowledged the order, and Mother Tang departed.
"Come, I'll take you to your living quarters."
Xiaotian pulled Kaguya forward as the latter debated whether or not she should resist.
If she resisted—well, Kaguya currently possessed virtually no abilities and naturally couldn't do a thing, as that inexplicable power had sealed her strength. But if she didn't resist, she would at least have a few years of peace, since Xiaotian couldn't possibly do anything to her just yet.
Meanwhile, seeing his wife approach, the Lord Ruler hurried forward and asked, "What is it?"
"A state policy your son sent you. It says this stuff can turn into stone."
With that, Mother Tang handed over the sheet of paper.
The Lord Ruler took it and scanned it. Within mere seconds, a smile broke across his face, though the surrounding ministers remained clueless.
"Good! Splendid! Xiaotian truly deserves to be a heavenly deity descended to earth; he even possesses the art of turning stones into gold."
Only when the Lord Ruler spoke did the officials react. Turning stones into gold—wasn't that divine magic?
"Congratulations, Lord Ruler! Rejoice, Lord Ruler! With the Young Master's assistance, our Tang Kingdom will surely flourish even more!"
One of the ministers spoke up, and the rest quickly chimed in with agreement.
"Indeed, the Young Master is our auspicious omen!"
"With the Young Master here, we will certainly grow ever stronger."
Hearing these remarks, the Lord Ruler waved a hand and commanded, "Silence, all of you. Now that we have the method for making concrete, we must carefully consider where to begin."
The ministers knew their country was about to grow stronger, and Xiaotian's importance had risen dramatically.
"Oh, by the way, Xiaotian also found a child bride. Though the girl's skin is terribly pale, she is quite pretty."
Upon hearing Mother Tang's words, the Lord Ruler was stunned once more. "A child bride? He's still so young... Ah, right, a heavenly deity descended to earth—such trifles don't matter. Fine, let him do as he pleases."
A child bride was harmless enough, and knowing he only had a few more years to live, the Lord Ruler wanted to accomplish as much as possible to pave a smooth path for Xiaotian.
Elsewhere, Xiaotian looked over the neat and tidy room and asked, "How is it? Do you like it?"
Upon seeing the room before her, Kaguya genuinely liked it. "Mm, it's very nice. But why aren't you suspicious of my identity? My appearance is clearly different from yours. Could you..."
"Psh, what's so strange about that?"
Xiaotian chuckled softly. "So your skin is a bit pale and your hair isn't black? Our country even has people with brown hair, so what's to fear? Besides, you're just a kid, what could I possibly be afraid of? Oh right, how old are you?"
Xiaotian didn't care about anyone's background; after all, he was a transmigrator.
"I... am four years old."
Kaguya's true age was immense, but calling herself four years old was already stretching her diminutive stature.
"Four years old? That's about the same as me! Great, from today on, I'll call you Little Sis, and you can call me Big Bro, or Brother, or even Bro Tian."
Xiaotian took Kaguya's hand and led her to the bed. "Try it out. If it's not comfortable, I'll have them change it for you."
Kaguya hadn't expected Xiaotian to be so enthusiastic, dragging her straight to the edge of the bed like this. If he grew up like this, wouldn't he turn into—well, you know?
And so, Kaguya settled down to live there, while over on the Lord Ruler's side, things were absolute madness. A single meeting lasted for five days straight, with new developments arising every single day.
In the blink of an eye, Xiaotian was seven years old.
Over these past two years, Xiaotian spent his time either accompanying Kaguya or pondering how to strengthen the nation. As for the system? Forget it—better not mention it, because just thinking about it made his blood boil.
Two years had passed, and the system was still loading. Xiaotian couldn't help wondering if this system was too outdated and needed a hardware upgrade, but since he had no idea how to upgrade it, he could only shelve the matter for now.
As for Kaguya, under Xiaotian's unremitting efforts, the two of them had finally developed genuine affection for one another.
On this day, the pair went up into the mountains, followed by dozens of guards, given Xiaotian's precious status.
Truth be told, without Xiaotian, there would be no such thing as the mighty Tang Kingdom of today, so his life was naturally of the utmost importance.
At that moment, Kaguya spotted some fruit hanging from a tree ahead and said, "Brother, I want to eat that."
Xiaotian looked up, smiled, and said, "You want to eat that? Then give me a kiss."
Kaguya's pretty face flushed red as she glanced at the guards behind them. The guards instantly caught on and promptly turned around.
Seeing this, Xiaotian deeply wished he could praise them for being so considerate.
Kaguya leaned in and gave Xiaotian a quick kiss on the cheek. He chuckled triumphantly and said, "Just watch me."
Xiaotian walked up to the base of the tree, gave a mighty leap, and sprang directly into the branches. He plucked the fruit and asked, "Well? Aren't I awesome?"
"Hurry down."
Kaguya looked worried. Xiaotian nodded lightly and replied, "Alright, I'm coming down right now."
Just as Xiaotian prepared to descend, a tree branch snapped unexpectedly, sending him tumbling straight down.
As ill luck would have it, a stone happened to be resting on the ground below, and Xiaotian's head made intimate contact with it. He passed out cold on the spot.
Panicking, Kaguya cried out, "Xiaotian..."