Chapter 50 — The Main Force

Rebecca, who had been shading her eyes with her hand nearby and staring at who-knew-what, noticed Gao Song's movement and turned to look at him with a frown. "Why are you sighing? Can't I even take a break here?"

"Don't always think so badly of me, all right?" Gao Yang gave her a helpless look. "When have I ever truly exploited you?"

"Sparring with you is fun!" Amber said with complete self-assurance. "This is the first time I've ever met a great noble who can trade barbs with someone without getting angry—it feels so fresh!"

Gao Yang turned his head away and ignored her.

But Amber had no intention of letting it go. "Hey, hey, you still haven't said—why were you sighing?"

"Too slow," Gao Yang said, shaking his head. "Far too slow."

Amber's eyes went wide. "You mean the speed they're working at? This is still slow?!"

Then she waved her arms exaggeratedly. "Have you no conscience at all! These people are the fastest-working serfs and laborers I've seen in my whole life! Yesterday they finished the entire additional fence wall in less than a day, and today they've already started building the blacksmith's forge—do you know this speed is already insanely fast?!"

Then she began to mutter. "Earlier, when I saw you give them meat and forbid flogging and corporal punishment, I actually thought you were a good person…"

Gao Yang glanced at her. "I am a good person. And I'm not blaming these people for working poorly—I'm not blind; I can see they're not slacking off. But overall… the fact is that the pace of this camp's construction can't keep up with my plans."

"Your plans were unrealistic to begin with," Amber said with a pout, then looked at Gao Yang with some suspicion. "Speaking of which, I felt something was off before… You've been acting strange these past two days, always looking like you've got something weighing on your mind, and you've drawn all sorts of odd things on paper. Especially this morning—the camp had barely gotten its frame up, and you were already thinking about building a barbican… What are you panicking about?"

Gao Yang did not turn his head. "Panicking about the end of the world, panicking about the sky falling, panicking about visitors from beyond the heavens—will that do?"

"You just won't admit it. Hmph—but I've been watching, and you are panicking," Amber said, hands on her hips. "Let me think when it started… Ah, right, it was when those red spots appeared on the sun! Ever since then you've been restless and uneasy…"

This time Gao Yang really was a little surprised. He looked Amber up and down. "Do you just sit around observing me all day when you've got nothing to do?"

"Where would I find the time for that?" Amber said, hands on her hips. "But the thing is, your change couldn't be hidden from anyone, all right? In fact, those two great-granddaughters of yours—who are heaven knows how many generations apart from you—noticed too. They just didn't dare ask you about it…"

Gao Cen was stunned. "Really? It's already that obvious?"

After a brief moment of blankness, he could not help but start reflecting on the recent shifts in his own state of mind, and considering how he should adjust. Meanwhile, Amber pinched her chin and thought for a while, then suddenly threw out a question: "What are these 'visitors from beyond the heavens' you mentioned just now?"

Gao Yang: "…"

How could this one's reflex arc be as erratic as Brownian motion—long one moment, short the next? He had thought she hadn't reacted at all earlier, and assumed the word had never even registered with her…

Just then, a small figure suddenly appeared at the edge of Gao Yang's field of vision: little maid Betty, in her coarse cloth dress, was trotting over this way.

The little girl ran up to Gao Yang, gulped down a few deep breaths, then blinked her big eyes and said, gawking: "Lady Hetty asks you to come over."

"What does she want?"

Betty thought for a moment: "Forgot!"

Gao Yang: "..."

Just then Amber noticed that Betty's hands were empty, and could not help asking out of curiosity: "Where's that treasured frying pan of yours?"

Betty tilted her head up and answered with a perfectly serious face: "Miss Rebecca said this is our new home, and since we're home, I put the frying pan in the kitchen."

Carrying the cookware when going out with everyone, and putting it back in the kitchen once they were home—that too was something Mrs. Hanson had taught her.

And by this time Gao Yang already knew why Hetty had sent for him.

He had already seen those figures appearing in the distance to the west.

The second group... had finally arrived.