Luo Leg-Hair truly hadn't expected this. He had just arrived, hadn't done a single thing yet, and already he was given a beautiful house. Solid structure, sturdy roof, outer walls resembling thick wooden planks—but far stronger—and the interior walls… made from a single massive iron plate.
He stood frozen.
Compared to the flimsy wood-shack he lived in back in the county, this was like jumping from a dog kennel to a noble's mansion—no, ten thousand times better.
"Li Da… this house… this good of a house… it's really for me?"
"Of course it is," Li Da chuckled. "I have one too. Exactly the same."
"But I haven't done anything for Dao Xuan Tianzun yet…"
"Just call him Tianzun," Li Da said. "Add 'sir' or 'lord' and he'll send down a decree yelling at you."
"…"
This was Luo Leg-Hair's first time hearing that a god would issue divine decrees specifically to scold people. Absolutely unheard of.
Li Da leaned in and whispered,
"We've got two young lads in the village—Gao Chuwu and Zheng Daniu. Tianzun scolded them from the sky and called them 'two idiots.' Now the whole village calls them Idiot One and Idiot Two. That's what happens when Tianzun scolds you. Don't follow their example."
Luo Leg-Hair sucked in a cold breath.
What kind of divine realm had he stepped into?
Gao Yiye glanced around his empty room.
"There's no furniture yet. You'll sleep on the floor for a day or two. I'll send a few labor reform convicts to chop wood and make furniture for you."
"Labor reform… convicts?" Luo Leg-Hair stammered.
Gao Yiye nodded.
"If someone commits crimes or misdeeds, Tianzun sends them to labor reform to wash away their sins through work."
The words made Luo Leg-Hair's heart clench. He hurriedly bowed.
"Don't worry, miss. I'm a very well-behaved man."
"Don't call me 'miss immortal,'" Yiye muttered. "That sounds weird."
Li Da laughed.
"Everyone calls her Saintess, but she doesn't like it. So many people call her Yiye again."
A while ago, after hearing advice from Madam Third, Yiye had tried to act proper and dignified—striking poses, speaking slowly, pretending to be collected.
But after Li Daoxuan personally told her to stay true to herself, she dropped the act and returned to her lively, spirited nature. The villagers loved her even more like this. She loved it too.
Luo Leg-Hair carefully tested the waters.
"Yiye… girl… Tianzun wants me to make paper, but… I have no tools… no materials… How do I even begin?"
Yiye smiled.
"Tell us everything you need. Tianzun is listening from above."
Luo Leg-Hair trembled, looked up at the sky, saw nothing, and felt his scalp tighten.
"I… I'm best at bamboo paper… so… first I need a big soaking pool… to process the bamboo pulp…"
"A big pool?" Li Daoxuan casually grabbed a mineral water bottle cap, filled it with water, and dropped it into the artisan courtyard.
While Luo Leg-Hair was still staring upward, something red flashed through the air—
BANG!
A full-sized water pool slammed into place, already filled with clean water.
Everyone else just nodded respectfully toward the sky and went back to their tasks.
Luo Leg-Hair, however, collapsed backward with a terrified squeak, legs trembling.
Yiye laughed.
"Don't panic. You've got your pool. What else?"
"I… I need bamboo… a lot of bamboo… and lime… lime…"
"Bamboo is easy," Li Daoxuan said. "Yiye, assign a labor convict. His new job is supplying bamboo for the paper workshop."
"Okay!" Yiye answered crisply.
Next—lime.
Li Daoxuan could have easily hopped downstairs, stolen a handful from a modern construction site, and given Luo Leg-Hair a whole mountain of lime. But he paused.
Food was different—during drought years, the villagers genuinely couldn't solve hunger by themselves. Helping them was reasonable.
But lime?
Lime was something they could produce on their own. And giving them the job meant creating work—a chance for the villagers to earn value, pride, purpose.
"Yiye," Li Daoxuan said, "ask the villagers who knows how to make lime."
Turns out, this was easy.
The three mud-workers who led the construction of the Daoist Hall last time immediately jumped out. Lime-making was their specialty.
During the building project, they'd earned piles of bonus rewards and lived like kings for a while. But afterward… no more work. They had been living on basic rations alone, feeling secretly disappointed.
So when they heard lime-making was needed, they practically flew into the air and shouted toward the heavens—
"Tianzun! We know how! Please let us handle this!"
Seeing their excitement, Li Daoxuan knew he'd made the right choice.
Every human needs to feel useful.
If a person has no value, their spirit hollows out.
"Good," he said. "The three of you will handle the lime."
With lime settled, the remaining tools—mallets, pounders, bamboo frames—were even simpler. In ancient villages, woodworkers were everywhere. These tasks could easily be assigned to labor reform convicts.
Just like that, the entire papermaking operation was arranged.
Morning arrived.
Li Daoxuan sat at his computer, editing a short video. Peace filled the box beside him. The medical nebulizer continued misting the tiny world below. Outside Gaojia Village, gentle drizzle covered the fields, where crowds of little villagers dug and prepared soil for autumn wheat.
He finished editing the papermaking video and added the caption:
"A papermaking artisan creating traditional bamboo paper…"
Uploaded.
And of course, added the shopping link.
Just then, QQ pinged.
It was "One Bucket of Pudding" from the toy factory:
"Mr. Li, about that project we discussed—making micro ancient-style toys—we've finished the first batch of samples. Sending photos now. The physical items will arrive soon. Please see if they're sellable."
A flood of pictures arrived.
Li Daoxuan stared—and burst into laughter.
The factory had really gone all-in:
Miniature ancient houses, tiny forts, little waterwheels, windmills, horse carts, siege engines, battering rams, crossbows…
All 1:200 scale, all adorable.
The best part?
Many of them actually worked.
The tiny catapults could shoot pebbles using nothing but plastic elasticity.
The miniature crossbows had thin rubber strings and could shoot tiny plastic arrows.
Absolutely delightful.