Chapter 135: Grand Gift to the Emperor (2)
Until today, Gong Che had kept his oath to restrain himself and never pa.s.s a certain point whenever Gong Yi Mo was with him. It’s been a long time since they’ve been this intimate, holding hands. This made him feel nostalgic.
Gong Che looked at his sister’s back. She wore men’s robes that were silver-white in color, along with a crown on her hair bun, but even so, Gong Che felt that her beauty was extraordinary. The bright moonlight seemed to make her clothes and her personage s.h.i.+ne, like a fluorescent b.u.t.terfly that guided him through the woods. All of this was as beautiful as a dream.
He didn’t know how much time pa.s.sed before Gong Yi Mo stopped, turned around and looked him in the eyes.
She had grown taller and was now one meter six or eight centimeters in height. That was why it was easy for her to look at him eye to eye and slightly tiptoe up to his ears as she proudly whispered,
“Come Prince, take a few more steps forward and go left.”
Her warm breath made Gong Che feel weak and numb within his heart. He almost mindlessly obeyed Gong Yi Mo’s directions without thinking about what surprise she had prepared.
“Tada!” Gong Yi Mo cheered excitedly.
When Gong Che opened his eyes he still needed a moment to adjust his vision to his surroundings. Once his eyes were fixed on the view before him, he couldn’t help but gasp in shock!
“This… this is…”
Gong Yi Mo laughed triumphantly! “Are you surprised? Wasn’t expecting that? This is the fleet that the s.h.i.+pyard spent a whole year to carefully craft.”
She jumped to Gong Che’s side and laughed loudly, “I’ve already budgeted the resources needed to open the main pathway of the Grand Ca.n.a.l by the end of this year, which includes the other tributaries and the time to build the embankment! And the emperor’s birthday is by the end of the year. At that time, we will take the lead in sailing these boats and have thousands of people accompany us. How about sending this particular s.h.i.+p to our Father Emperor as a gift?”
That’s right. Right in front of Gong Che was a ma.s.sive boat that he had never seen before in his life!
It was four stories high, as tall as a palace, and yet in stood on the water like a powerful and domineering king that overlooked all living beings.
And on both sides of the hull, there were countless scales that were made with the same design, each one of them reflecting a cold light. Unexpectedly these were all made of metal! Such a design was unprecedented!
After feeling excitement, Gong Yi Mo felt somewhat emotional and embarra.s.sed. She looked up at the huge s.h.i.+p that cost her a huge amount of effort. Since there was no electric welding in this era, she could not make the entire boat out of metal. But after catching glimpses of fishes from time to time, she got the idea of using a fish scale arrangement to give the s.h.i.+p a metal armor!
She said faintly, “If we offer this huge boat before many people during our father’s birthday celebration, surely the emperor won’t care much about those rumors any longer. Next year you can safely complete the ca.n.a.l and tributary repairs. When you finish the project in just a period of two years, you will be famous throughout history!”
Gong Yi Mo sighed to herself when she spoke.
When she first ordered the s.h.i.+p to be built, her initial intention was simply to please the emperor. After all, he had been kind to her. She also considered him as a father and loved him just the same. But since their situation had become a pressing matter, she had to think of a way to kill two birds with one stone. Although it still a way to send a present, the intention was no longer pure.
‘Just…I just hope the emperor will like it.’ Gong Yi Mo couldn’t help but smile when she remembered that old man.