Chengcheng County.
Outside the city walls, an enormous factory squatted across the plain like a steel-and-brick beast that had decided, very politely, not to crush the county beneath it.
It wasn't arrogance—just necessity.
Chengcheng County, from one end to the other, barely scraped together two square kilometers. There was simply no way it could swallow a fully integrated factory that handled spinning, weaving, dyeing, tailoring, and embroidery, all in one place. So the factory was built outside the walls, where land was cheap, skies were open, and nobody complained about noise unless it interfered with gossip.
High concrete walls ringed the compound. At all four corners stood watchtowers, and in those towers stood guards.
Female guards.
Strong-backed, sharp-eyed women militia, bows slung over their shoulders, arrows feathered and ready. From a distance, the place didn't look like a factory at all—it looked like a brand-new county town that had decided to skip bureaucracy and get straight to productivity.
And the factory truly was staffed entirely by women.
At the very beginning, a handful of men had been hired—mostly tailors, because certain old habits died slowly. Unfortunately for them, the Chengcheng Technical Workers School opened shortly afterward and promptly abducted every last one of those male tailors, upgrading them on the spot into "tailoring instructors."
Just like that, the factory lost its final traces of masculinity.
What remained was a square-kilometer Daughter Kingdom.
The name, naturally, came from Chun Hong.
She was one of the four secretaries, clever, lively, and utterly uninterested in rigid titles. After hearing the women jokingly call the place "our little kingdom," she shrugged and made it official.
"Fine," she said. "Daughter Kingdom Textile Factory it is."
Nobody objected.
Early morning light crept across the compound as the factory stirred awake.
In the women's dormitories, rows of workers rose from their beds, washing up, braiding hair, and—more importantly—gossiping with the efficiency of seasoned professionals.
"Hey, did you hear?" one whispered loudly enough for three rooms to hear. "Xi'an's a mess again."
"Oh?" another replied, splashing water on her face. "From where did you hear that?"
"Elder Brother Li, the cargo hauler. He came back from Xi'an last night."
"Don't keep us hanging!"
"They say the Prince of Qin's residence snatched all the Celestial Fertilizer straight out of the government store. In broad daylight! Lord Wu Shen's furious, Shi Kefa nearly exploded on the spot."
Someone laughed. "Shi Kefa's still a Jinyiwei, and even he gets bullied. That Prince's residence really has no shame."
"No shame?" another scoffed. "In Xi'an, the Prince of Qin is the law. Is heaven. How can heaven be lawless?"
A brief pause.
Then someone narrowed her eyes. "Hold on. How did Elder Brother Li tell you all this?"
The room fell silent.
Outsiders weren't allowed into the factory. Everyone knew that.
One girl slowly turned. "Yaya… did you sneak out again?"
Yaya froze.
And then chaos erupted.
"Ohhh—so that's it!"
"Yaya, when is Elder Brother Li going to marry you?"
"Didn't he say he'd marry you after earning silver on this Xi'an trip? Don't tell me he ran out of money again?"
Xi'an, imperial politics, fertilizer theft—instantly forgotten.
Somewhere far away, the fate of the empire quietly lost to romantic gossip.
At that moment, a head popped in beside them.
"Wow," a bright voice said. "That sounds interesting. Tell me too."
The women turned.
And collectively inhaled.
"S-Saintess?!"
Gao Yiye stood there smiling, hands clasped behind her back, eyes shining with unmistakable curiosity.
She giggled. "Don't stop on my account. I came to see Chun Hong."
Flustered, someone blurted out, "Factory Manager Chun is in the innermost building—the leadership dormitory!"
"Thank you!" Gao Yiye waved cheerfully and walked off, then turned back. "Oh—when Yaya and Elder Brother Li get married, remember to invite me. I'll come drink the wedding wine."
Yaya's face went crimson.
"T-thank you, Saintess! I definitely will!"
"Me too!" someone shouted reflexively.
At that moment, the Dao Xuan Tianzun embroidery stitched into Yaya's cotton thread chestpiece spoke calmly:
"You must also inform me."
The dormitory exploded into screams.
"Dao Xuan Tianzun—!"
The embroidery smiled faintly, then its threads relaxed, returning to stillness as Gao Yiye and her escort moved away.
Only then did the women breathe again.
"Every time the Saintess appears, I feel like my soul's being inspected."
"Did you see her guards? Some of them are really handsome."
"What? Why didn't you tell me to look?!"
"You were bowing so hard your forehead nearly hit the floor."
"Aren't you scared?"
"Scared of what? Dao Xuan Tianzun and the Saintess are kind. They're not like those officials who love kneeling more than justice."
"Then let's follow them!"
"Right! Go see the handsome soldier boys!"
With laughter and footsteps, a wave of women followed after.
Up ahead, Gao Yiye walked calmly.
Behind her walked Flat Rabbit and Zheng Gouzi.
Flat Rabbit's gaze was fixed straight ahead, expression solemn, posture rigid, like a monk escorting scripture.
Zheng Gouzi, meanwhile, looked like he was afraid his eyes might miss something important.
He nudged Flat Rabbit. "Hey. That girl over there. Radiant."
Flat Rabbit snorted. "Fair faces bring ruin."
Two steps later.
"Look! That one's smiling at us."
Flat Rabbit replied coolly, "Paint fades. Bones remain."
"She waved!"
"Women dull the edge of the blade."
Zheng Gouzi finally snapped. "Damn it! Rabbit, are you even a man?!"
Flat Rabbit replied calmly, "No. I'm a male rabbit."
Zheng Gouzi fell silent.
Flat Rabbit continued, hands behind his back. "I walk this world not for romance, but for righteousness. While chaos still reigns, how can one speak of settling down?"
Zheng Gouzi waved him off. "Talking to you is a waste of perfectly good scenery."
They arrived at Chun Hong's residence.
Chun Hong rushed down, eyes lighting up as she grabbed Gao Yiye's hands. "Saintess! What brings you here?"
"I missed you," Gao Yiye said simply. "I've had more free time lately. Thought I'd walk around, see how my sisters are doing."
Chun Hong smiled. "Everything's running smoothly. Production's steady, embroidery's improving, silver's flowing in from Xi'an."
"Good!" Gao Yiye laughed. "We should drain those rich people dry and hand the silver to our workers."
Chun Hong sighed softly. "You can't drain them. Their pockets are bottomless. Whatever silver flows out, they'll pull it right back—with interest."
Gao Yiye fell quiet.
Chun Hong lowered her voice. "Saintess… have you heard? In Xi'an… even Wu Shen and Shi Kefa were bullied. The Prince of Qin's residence seized the Celestial Fertilizer outright."
Gao Yiye froze.
"…Something like this actually happened?"
The words hung in the air.
Light as snow.
Heavy as iron.