I Have a Date with a Thousand-year-old Female Corpse-Chapter 1916 - 1918: Emperor Yu

Chapter 1916: Chapter 1918: Emperor Yu
You couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed upon hearing this, but then you thought, of course, they live in seclusion, how could Huang Shuo, a naive girl, possibly know.
Your unintended mistake has made Huang Shuo’s mood instantly complicated. Although Huang Shuo doesn’t know why she suddenly feels this way, for the moment, she can’t face you. This results in a cold atmosphere between the two of you, which was once harmonious.
Fortunately, you are inherently someone who can’t stand loneliness. Falling behind for a short stretch, you caught up with Huang Shuo and softly apologized, "Sorry, I opened the wooden box without your permission just now."
Huang Shuo didn’t respond to you and continued walking on her own.
Seeing that Huang Shuo didn’t speak, you didn’t attempt to initiate conversation either, and both of you quickened your pace.
The sky gradually darkened, and the two of you still hadn’t emerged from the mountains. You then found a relatively clean spot, gathered some firewood, and started a fire.
Huang Shuo curled up, sitting in front of the fire. She didn’t know what she was thinking and only vaguely heard you saying something, not even realizing when you left.
"Crackle!" The unexpected sound of flames burning firewood startled Huang Shuo, and she realized there was no trace of you within her sight.
Immediately springing to her feet, Huang Shuo’s expression turned somewhat panicked.
At this moment, Huang Shuo’s heart was filled with an unprecedented feeling. Ordinarily, she was used to spending nights alone in the wilderness, but she didn’t know why this time, discovering your absence filled her with sudden panic.
The fire in front of her was very high, illuminating an area of about ten meters around her, but to Huang Shuo, this range seemed exceptionally small, so small that it made her almost unable to breathe.
"Mu Yang."
Huang Shuo tried to softly call your name, but no one responded.
"Mu Yang, where are you?" Huang Shuo became more anxious. The boundless darkness around her pressed on Huang Shuo, gradually eating away her last bit of security.
In a daze, Huang Shuo even imagined that some terrifying entity might be lurking in the darkness.
"Rustle."
A strange sound came from behind Huang Shuo, but when she turned around, she found nothing.
"Mu Yang!" Huang Shuo’s voice became more frantic, but you still didn’t answer.
"Mu Yang, is that you?" Huang Shuo asked tentatively again, "I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have lost my temper at you earlier."
Still no one answered, and by this time, Huang Shuo had already curled up by the fire. Her back was exceedingly hot from being so close to the flames, but she had no intention of moving away, as it was the only thing making her feel safe.
Everything fell back into silence; Huang Shuo could only hear the wind through the mountains at night and the crackling of the fire behind her.
"Rustle."
After an unspecified amount of time, another strange sound echoed!
At that moment, Huang Shuo noticed a shadow emerging from the darkness to her left!
"Ah—"
At that instant, Huang Shuo suddenly broke down, letting out a sharp scream.
"What’s wrong?"
It was your voice!
Upon seeing you, Huang Shuo immediately rushed into your arms, hugging you tightly, making you momentarily bewildered.
Just as you were about to inquire about the reason, Huang Shuo lowered her head and moved aside, not daring to meet your gaze, quietly sitting by the fire and staring at the flames leaping in front of her.
Noticing Huang Shuo’s strange behavior, you quickly placed the already skinned, gutted, and cleaned rabbit onto the prepared wooden rack, then set it over the flames to roast. Standing by the rack, you turned the rabbit meat while observing Huang Shuo, softly asking, "You must be hungry, right?"
Huang Shuo didn’t respond but showed improvement compared to her earlier demeanor, at least nodding slightly.
"It may not be a delicacy, but it will at least fill your stomach." You chuckled, took a wooden box from your pocket, extracted a small brocade bag from the box, and after opening the bag, sprinkled an even layer of powder over the rabbit meat.
Huang Shuo couldn’t help but be curious upon seeing this and under the compulsion of curiosity, she asked, "What is that?"
Upon seeing her curiosity, you knew your method had worked and began to explain, "This is a special seasoning powder I made, containing rock salt and some spices."
Huang Shuo nodded and refrained from further inquiry.
Naturally, you wouldn’t let the just-initiated conversation end blandly, so you soon continued, "Don’t be fooled by how simple these spices look. I actually invested a lot of effort into them. I was seen by elders as someone who was a bit unruly since childhood, always indulging in eccentric hobbies, thus looked down upon by my peers."
Originally, Huang Shuo wasn’t particularly interested, but hearing this, she couldn’t help raising her head, her eyes sparkling as she gazed at you.
Although somewhat surprised, you were glad to have piqued Huang Shuo’s interest, so you divulged the identity and hobbies you had prepared in advance: "Since childhood, I liked making things by hand, but there were no skilled craftsmen around, and with unanimous opposition from elders, I couldn’t implement what I wanted to create. However, as I disliked literary pursuits, after three years in the military and for certain reasons, I left the service and planned to head south to Jingzhou to seek the descendants of Lu Ban to learn their craft."
Huang Shuo listened attentively, which you noticed, and so you touched upon the core reason for going to Jingzhou: "I once had the idea of creating an enormous ship capable of holding ten thousand people using my craftsmanship."
Listening to this, Huang Shuo furrowed her brow slightly and said, "It’s not difficult to accommodate ten thousand people; the challenge lies in the ship’s ability to move on water. Such a ship would surely be a battleship, and being a battleship, it must first be fast in navigation and secondly sturdy. The sturdier the ship, the tighter the wood needed, so it wouldn’t be at a disadvantage against enemy ships in collision. However, this way, the speed naturally falls behind, and without giant oars, it might not be able to move on water at all."
Hearing this, you couldn’t help but inwardly praise Huang Shuo for her deep knowledge in this field. Unfortunately, you knew little about the subject and couldn’t contribute meaningfully.
Nevertheless, Huang Shuo was caught up in enthusiasm, and in discussing with you seemed to have resolved her internal conflict, so she shared everything she knew: "Yet, it might be feasible if wind power were used, although one capable of holding ten thousand people may still be far-fetched. Thus far, a ship accommodating three thousand is considered huge."
"What if Emperor Yu were involved?"
"Emperor Yu?" Huang Shuo exclaimed in disbelief. "You know Emperor Yu?"
Being questioned thus by Huang Shuo, you were taken aback but replied with a smile, "I just overheard an old man mention it once."