Chapter 83 - The Little Kitty

Heilong-kou (Black Dragon-Mouth/Pass)

Heilong-cheng (Black Dragon-City)

Censorate (Supervisory Court)

Yuling City (Jade City)

Jingui Town (Golden Turtle Town)

Xuanwu City (Black tortoise City)

…

At the moment, Yin Jixue was in her study reading the latest agricultural report from the Inspectorate.

To her surprise, the crops planted in the scorched earth around Black Dragon City were growing remarkably fast. Ever since the farmers had watered the fields, the first batch of vegetables had already reached harvest.

There was now such an overwhelming variety of vegetables being sent to the palace that she could finally afford to be picky with her meals.

The scorched land seemed to have transformed into compost-rich soil. Since the seeds she provided had been sown, the once-barren ground had become fertile—perhaps due to it lying fallow for so many years.

Yin Jixue thought to herself: Maybe this is what they call fighting poison with poison.

Right now, Black Dragon City has no shortage of vegetables at all.

Especially with the warming weather and a single spring rain, plus the demon folk outside the city learning scientific farming methods and tending their crops daily, the produce being delivered to the city was just the surplus after keeping enough for themselves.

Yin Jixue sent several palace chefs to hold temporary cooking classes, training local demonfolk in frying, stir-frying, stewing, and braising, and helping them recognize seasonings—so that inns and restaurants in the city could operate normally.

It was said that the entire demon realm cooked the same way—at most, they'd stopped eating raw meat. Delicious? Not likely. Hosting a noble guest usually just meant roasting a chunk of high-grade beast meat.

Meanwhile, the Daily Goods Factory had sent over coriander- and celery-scented soaps. Yin Jixue flatly refused both. She'd rather stick with her cool, refreshing mint. Still, she didn't stop production. After all, some people liked coriander, and some hated it.

The factory craftsmen were already showing creativity by using vegetables as fragrance bases for soap—though these two particular scents made her wrinkle her nose.

She remembered that she still had several chests of dowry—precious spices from the human world's royal court.

Using the system's search function, she cataloged and backed up all the spices, then had them delivered to the Daily Goods Factory.

She issued new orders to the factory.

Half the craftsmen would continue working the production lines for shampoo and soap; the other half would split into two groups—one to develop new scents for soap, the other to begin research into toothpaste and perfumes.

She had already written out basic formulas for perfume, toothbrushes, and toothpaste.

She even made a personal trip to the Inspectorate. Mostly because she hadn't driven her sports car in a full day and night—and she missed it.

This time, Yin Jixue didn't floor the accelerator. Instead, she cruised leisurely through the streets toward the Inspectorate.

Along the way, she saw all kinds of foreign merchants in different tribal attire bustling about. At last, Black Dragon City had begun to show real signs of life.

At least now, walking down the street didn't mean seeing the same familiar faces everywhere.

Though the city's shops were still relatively simple, the factories behind them had full production lines, and each store could be personalized by the demonfolk who ran it.

Simplicity didn't stop commerce. As long as merchants wanted to buy, shopkeepers could immediately place an order with the factory and have the product ready by the next day.

Yin Jixue's sports car naturally drew plenty of attention.

Especially from the foreign merchants, most of whom could only get their hands on shared bicycles or borrow scooters from local kids for fun.

The city's public buses weren't for sale—so how about this smaller, sleeker "iron box"? Was that for sale?

They arrived at the sports car dealership, only to learn that the craftsman who made them had gone traveling and wouldn't return for three to five days. If they wanted to place an order, they'd need to register their interest at the shop, and the craftsman would begin production once he returned. The owner would personally visit their inns to notify them.

After some discussion, only two merchants wrote down their intent to buy—one of them from the same caravan as the Qingluan youth.

Sports cars were expensive, but they promised high value in return.

Still, most of the merchants had come to buy glass and hadn't brought enough capital for large purchases. The longer they stayed in Black Dragon City, the more treasures they discovered—and with bulk purchases, the prices weren't even that steep. There was no need to bankrupt themselves over a car.

If sports cars became truly popular, they could always order one later.

What caught their attention were the daily-use products and the city's limited-edition fabrics.

Rumor had it that Black Dragon City was developing a new type of clothing that could keep a demon warm even while walking through snowy mountains in winter.

If they could get their hands on even one or two of those outfits, they might be more profitable than a car. Daily necessities like these were guaranteed to sell well.

At the Inspectorate, Lin Zhong personally handed Yin Jixue the latest transaction reports.

Many merchants had already ordered full shampoo-and-soap sets and were eagerly awaiting more scents from the factory.

In terms of volume, personal care product orders had surpassed even those for glass. But topping the list were still paper and pencils.

For some baffling reason, the merchants were buying paper by the sheet!

Yin Jixue didn't want to be a profiteer…

But they had managed to inflate paper prices to astronomical levels. Sure, the ancient paper was expensive, but demon folk didn't even have imperial exams—what did they need so much paper for?

She had thought about lowering the price, but figured that even if she did, the merchants would still resell it at high prices. Might as well let the profits fall into her hands instead.

This time, merchants from every tribe had brought their regional specialties.

While the demon realm didn't have a mature currency system, they weren't lacking in valuable goods. Being traders, they had a sharp sense of what held value.

And most importantly—Black Dragon City lacked everything. Whatever was brought here was bound to be needed.

After reviewing the trade records, Yin Jixue gave her instructions: "Continue accounting like this, and send a copy to the palace every day. Taxation is the foundation of a nation—be precise. Don't overcharge, but don't under collect either."

She fully trusted the demonfolk, but as tax volumes grew, so did the chances of calculation errors. She wasn't worried about tax evasion, just accuracy.

Leaving the Inspectorate, she saw that the plaza was mostly empty of locals—it was work and school hours, after all.

A glance across the square showed only foreign merchants learning to ride bikes.

Yin Jixue couldn't help but feel a surge of pride.

Look at this. This is the Black Dragon City I rebuilt.

Just as she got back into her sports car, a black-and-white kitten leaped onto the hood—skinny and pitiful.

There were no cats or dogs native to Black Dragon City, so it must've been brought in by a merchant. But was it for sale?

Yin Jixue glanced around. No one seemed to be looking for a lost kitten.

Grabbing it by the scruff, she said, "Off you go. If I take you home, you're not getting returned."

It had been so long since she'd seen a kitten—she couldn't resist giving it a sneaky pat.

She set it back down, but the kitten jumped right back into the car.

Sighing, Yin Jixue got out, picked up the kitten, and brought it to the Inspectorate. But before she even reached the service desk, it wriggled free and ran off.

By the time she started the car again, the kitten appeared out of nowhere and jumped right back in.

"Fine," she muttered. "I'll bring you to the palace. Ruoshui can help find your owner. You're not a stray."

Though deep down, she couldn't help wondering—what if no one claims it?

Ruoshui frowned. "This little tiger looks like the young prince of the Winged Tiger Tribe… but none of the clan elders came with the caravans this time."

Pureblood Winged Tigers were white tigers.

Feng Xiu tried to comfort her. "Her Majesty thinks it's just a kitten, so let it stay and keep her company for now. We'll deal with it when His Majesty returns. I remember hearing that the Winged Tiger Prince was born with a disability—unable to take human form. Maybe someone smuggled him out."