Just as Yuan Heng was pondering, Wang Jin slowly woke up. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw the man half-propped up looking at him. Remembering the events of last night, his face flushed, and he burrowed most of his body under the covers.
A faint smile touched Yuan Heng's eyes, even as the tips of his ears turned a little pink. He bent down and gently kissed the ger's lips. "Little ger, was your name in that other world Wang Jin?"
Wang Jin was taken aback. So the man did remember. He nodded in confirmation.
Yuan Heng asked, "Did you have a lover there?"
Wang Jin quickly shook his head. There had been suitors in the past, but...
The words were on the tip of his tongue, but he held them back. He simply felt it was safer not to mention other admirers, lest the man get jealous over nothing again.
Receiving Wang Jin's answer, the man was in high spirits. He even went outside and buried the wilted Night Scarlet that Wang Jin had thrown out last night...
In the following days, Yuan Heng was busy with the others building the city. Wang Jin was not idle either. He drew plans based on the city's current state and gave them to Yuan Heng and the others to implement.
Previously, as part of the marriage alliance, Xi Ning had provided the new city with a great deal of supplies. In exchange, the new city offered the techniques for brick-making, the formula for gunpowder, and several other valuable methods, as well as a large quantity of hunted animals.
Now, the new city was not lacking in supplies. Wang Jin utilized them to plan the city layout thoroughly.
He also proposed many management policies to Yuan Heng, abandoning the tribal system and implementing a private ownership plan.
Everyone would initially receive one house. After obtaining a house based on their abilities, they could receive a piece of land and a shopfront. The land could be used for planting, and for the shopfront, depending on what they wanted to open, corresponding people would be assigned to teach them the skills.
The city was built in an orderly manner, but the progress on the city walls was very slow.
To build sturdy city walls, the beastmen worked with extreme care, which naturally slowed the progress.
For the first month, Wang Jin was enthusiastically able to follow Yuan Heng everywhere to observe. Later, however, his pregnancy symptoms suddenly became severe.
It seemed to make up for his previous lack of reaction. Later on, vomiting, daytime sleepiness, nighttime insomnia, and loss of appetite became common.
Because of this, Yuan Heng set aside all his work to accompany and care for Wang Jin.
The pregnant Wang Jin was also exceptionally fragile. He would often lose his temper over changes in his body shape, and Yuan Heng would yield and coax him...
By the seventh month, Wang Jin's belly was so large he couldn't get out of bed. To provide him with better care, Xi Ning sent healers to the new city.
When Wang Jin couldn't sleep, Yuan Heng would stay up all night with him. A man who was usually taciturn actually learned to tell jokes and stories over these few months...
Finally, one day in the ninth month.
Wang Jin was awakened by waves of pain. The ever-alert Yuan Heng beside him actually realized his condition even earlier and had immediately gone to fetch the healer.
After examining him, the healer knew he was about to give birth.
But the delivery process was not smooth. The physician discovered there might be more than one child in Wang Jin's belly. The babies inside seemed to be competing to come out first, causing Wang Jin excruciating pain.
Just when they were at a loss, Qian Sheng and Xi Ning suddenly arrived. As soon as Qian Sheng arrived, he entered Wang Jin's room and sent the healer out.
A moment later...
The sound of a baby's cry came from the room.
Yuan Heng was the first who could no longer restrain himself and rushed in.
He saw three swaddled bundles lying quietly beside Wang Jin: one infant and two little white tiger cubs.
"Ger." Yuan Heng first went to check on Wang Jin's condition. The ger's face was pale and he looked very weak, but his mind was clear. He responded weakly, "Brother Heng."
Yuan Heng's eyes reddened, tears nearly falling.
Wang Jin gave a feeble smile. "I'm alright..."
Yuan Heng pursed his lips, silent for a long time before saying, "Let's not have any more children."
"..." Wang Jin was taken aback, then smiled weakly.
This man probably wouldn't be able to even if he wanted to in the future. Just now, Qian Sheng had told him that these children were originally born with innate weaknesses. Without intervention, even if they had been born, they would have been weak and prone to illness. It was only because the old man used his immortal essence to sustain the pregnancy and bestowed the blessing of offspring that these three babies came to be.
But now that the children were born, that immortal essence was exhausted, and the blessing had been spent. Conceiving again in the future would be exceedingly difficult.
Wang Jin didn't say anything, closing his eyes wearily.
Xi Ning's fingers moved slightly, grasping Qian Sheng's hand, a trace of heartache flashing in his eyes. "You've worked hard."
Qian Sheng shook his head.
The news that Wang Jin had given birth to three children caused a sensation in both the new city and Ning'an City. Everyone came to offer congratulations.
Yuan Heng was initially overjoyed to have children, but after actually having them, he found them quite a nuisance.
Those three children couldn't be separated from Wang Jin for a moment; they needed Wang Jin to hold them all day. He, the father, was instead left neglected.
When he could no longer bear it, Wang Jin left the ger infant for Qi Ger and Mu Ger to care for, gave one little beastman to Xi Ning to take back and care for, and kept only one by his side.
This way, they finally had some time alone.
Not long after, the beast horde arrived. The entire city was on guard, but Yuan Heng was remarkably calm.
Although the city walls weren't fully built, the ancient beast tribe's totem had been brought. With him and the totem there, the beast horde detoured around this place, and they passed through the period very peacefully.
The people from the four tribes were surprised; this was the most peaceful beast horde period they had ever experienced since birth.
Yuan Heng once again made everyone submit.
After the beast horde passed, everyone accelerated construction. A year later, they finally managed to complete the city walls just in time for the three children's first birthday.
Wang Jin, Yuan Heng, and the others discussed and decided to name the new city — Yongheng (永恒城, eternal) City.
The city housed people from five tribes. There were times of disagreement, but most of the time they could understand and adapt to each other.
Yuan Heng assigned positions to the leaders of the five tribes, giving them the same treatment as leaders... Everyone was completely convinced and submitted to Yuan Heng.
After a year of everyone chattering and discussing, the names for the three children were finally decided.
One little beastman took the surname Xi, was adopted by Xi Ning as his son, and named Xi Jue.
[玦 (Jue): a type of ancient Chinese penannular jade ring. In ancient times, it could symbolize determination or a break (from friendship or romance)]
The ger took Wang Jin's surname, named Wang Ju.
[桔 (Ju): tangerine. In Chinese culture, oranges are strong symbols of good luck, abundance, and happiness]
The other little beastman took the surname Yuan, named Yuan Mingchao.
[茗 (míng): young, tender tea leaves or the first flush of tea buds; 晁 (Chao): morning, dawn. It symbolizes the beginning of a new day, hope, and brightness]
The three children were now one year old. The little beastmen had long since learned to run. After they could run, Xi Ning brought them back for Wang Jin and Yuan Heng to raise, fearing the beastmen would become distant from their parents.
Those two little beastmen often ran off and disappeared, requiring Yuan Heng to transform into his beast form and search the entire city for them, catching them one by one and bringing them back. The ger was weaker; at one year old, he had just learned to walk but could already call out "Father" and "A-die" in a babyish voice...
The two little beastmen fought whenever they met, as if inherently at odds. They would scratch at each other with claws not yet grown sharp. But in front of their younger brother Wang Ju, they were exceptionally well-behaved, afraid their commotion might upset the little ger.
Wang Jin often teased them, saying they learned to dote on a ger at such a young age; who knew how they would spoil their own ger to the core when they grew up.
While preparing for the first birthday banquet, Wang Jin talked with Shi Yu all night, wanting to cooperate with him to handle trade between cities and between tribes and cities.
Wang Jin had also been in business before. He proposed various ideas that greatly interested Shi Yu. The two hit it off immediately and planned long-term cooperation to manage specialty product trade between cities and various tribes.
This could not only improve the lives of the people in the city but also boost Eternal City's reputation.
Several years later, in the beastman world, Yongheng City had become as powerful an existence as Ning'an City...
And the city lords of these two cities were actually related by marriage. For a time, the Xi family and the Ancient Beastmen became legends.
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