My wife is an immortal black snake.

Page 3

Should we talk to her about a conservative management approach? Or a moderate approach that allows for development at a certain pace? Or perhaps a more aggressive approach, risky but capable of bringing about social reform while simultaneously driving rapid urban development?

The Duke of Kosiché is not herself; she possesses the ability of a "puppet show," ensuring that even the most radical policies will keep the people in line. She can't gamble everything on radical strategies. So, what should she do?

Yang Hao pondered for a long time, but in the end, it seemed that Miss Koschie couldn't wait any longer.

"Let's leave this topic here. I don't expect a satisfactory answer, but in a collaborative relationship, someone will inevitably have to do work that others aren't good at. Let's talk about something else, like your company?"

...Miss Koschke is a good person. Knowing I was struggling with this issue, she simply resolved it herself? Giving me a chance without damaging our relationship?

What a great person! But looking at it this way, it seems like my marriage might actually be in the works...

Yang Hao breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that if it were about talking about his past life, there would be so much to discuss...

......

Meanwhile, in his own bedroom, Kosiché sat on the edge of his bed, looking with interest at the message "[Typing...]" on his phone screen.

She didn't expect Yang Hao, as a white-collar worker, to offer any advice on managing a duchy with four cities. Besides, she knew that continuing the conversation on this topic would only make both of them uncomfortable.

She wanted to understand the secrets of his Originium Arts, how he had transmitted the phone, and even more so, what underhanded tactics he had used to transform Haier Brothers from a ruthless capitalist company into a philanthropist. Therefore, after much deliberation, she decided that ending that difficult topic herself was the right thing to do. Continuing the conversation could potentially ruin their relationship.

"Heh. It seems this Mr. Yang Hao has many secrets." She chuckled sinisterly, scrutinizing several keywords in the text message Yang Hao sent for a while. "Although what's written down doesn't seem to have any problems compared to the intelligence gathered by the Serpent Scales... but what's the crucial point? Hmm... good luck? Mr. Yang Hao, anyone with eyes can see that your luck is extraordinary."

Should she bring it up now? She shook her head, thinking it best not to reveal that she was investigating his background. So what should she do? How could she uncover his secrets? If she could find out, making the great nation of Ursus even stronger wouldn't be impossible...

Should we wait for him to tell us? Or should we figure it out ourselves? No, simply figuring out his secret is meaningless. The point is, he must willingly use his secret for himself and for Ursus.

Thinking about this, Kosiché suddenly had an idea.

Why don't we exchange gifts? Perhaps by doing so, we can learn more about each other's lives.

Exchanging gifts is a common practice in blind dates.

However, Kosiché plans to add something to the "gift" he sent.

Thinking about the information her gift would bring her, Koschke couldn't help but chuckle a few more times before lying down on the bed and tossing her phone aside. Like a noblewoman who had never left the palace, she was genuinely curious about the Colombian white-collar worker.

Chapter VII

Early in the morning of April 9th.

Yang Hao was in a good mood.

Even on his way to work, he couldn't help but feel happy, and he would hum a cheerful tune with almost every step he took.

"A wonderful new life is about to begin!"

Snapped!

He was excitedly muttering to himself when a large hand suddenly slapped him on the shoulder. Yang Hao didn't even look at the hand on his shoulder; he knew that no one but that fat bastard Jack would do such a thing.

Why are you in such a good mood today?

Sure enough, when Yang Hao turned around, he saw his friend's pale face, which looked like he had kidney deficiency, and the orange-yellow bread crust that he was weakly holding in his mouth.

Tsk tsk... Why doesn't this fatso die in bed?! Yang Hao thought darkly, Jack will probably lose weight in another two months.

After all, what can you say? Women are like tigers at 40. Although Jack's wife isn't quite 40 yet, she's probably close...

...Wait a minute?

...How old is Miss Koschek now?

Suddenly, the gloomy expression on Yang Hao's face vanished, and cold sweat poured from his forehead, then cascaded down like a waterfall.

He glanced at Jack again and noticed that the fat man's legs were trembling as he walked, and his mouth was so weak that he couldn't even hold the edge of a piece of bread properly. He began to feel fear about the possible married life that might come his way.

After all, Miss Kosichelle is a duke, isn't she? The duke of Ursus, even if the title was bought, would probably be close to 30 years old by the time of inheritance, right? Even if she were the youngest, she would probably be the same age as me, around 28 years old?

Although Yang Hao doesn't dislike women older than himself [there's a sense of security in being taken care of by them], that doesn't mean he—

"Hey, what are you standing there for? Why don't we sit down for a bit? Ouch... my back..."

Yang Hao and Jack sat down on a bench about ten steps from their workplace. To be honest, it was a bit chilly on the bench in the early morning, but the two men didn't seem to care.

Jack confided in Yang Hao about his frustration with his wife, who was like a lion and a tiger, after they got married. He told Yang Hao how he secretly went back to the bedroom to rest, and how he managed to wake her up with incredible strength when she discovered that this fat guy was tiptoeing to sleep next to her.

While expressing his condolences, Yang Hao's eyes were practically glowing with envy and jealousy. Even the joy he felt yesterday from Miss Kosiché's wish for them to exchange gifts was somewhat dampened.

"So, why are you so happy today?" After Jack finished explaining his frustrations and reluctantly ate the bread crusts his wife had punished him with, he looked at Yang Hao curiously. "This isn't like you—even when you were happy before, you wouldn't be so overjoyed that you were practically floating. And you're all smiles. What happened?"

"—Good news." Yang Hao shrugged.

"Of course I know this is a good thing, but what the hell is it? A promotion?"

"No, it's not a promotion. It's related to my relationship."

"..." Jack's eyes suddenly sharpened. He scrutinized Yang Hao's entire body with a serious expression, as if checking whether Yang Hao had any woman's products stuck to him.

After a while, having found nothing, he looked suspiciously at Yang Hao's crotch:

"Did you lose your virginity yesterday?"

How did this guy come to this conclusion? Yang Hao stared at his friend in astonishment, wondering how he could possibly do something like this before getting married.

"Has your wife drained your intelligence?"

"How could that be! But I can't think of anything else besides this accident!"

"Couldn't it have been Margarita who agreed to it?"

"No, impossible. This mystical Sarkaz Blood Demon will probably wait for decades before agreeing to your request, so forget it."

Even Jack didn't think Yang Hao would be all smiles because of Margarita. But oh well... who hasn't been through something like this? So after thinking for a moment, Yang Hao decided to tell Jack about his true experience.

In other words, Yang Hao revealed that he might have actually found a marriage partner. Right there in broad daylight. Of course, he omitted some details—such as the fact that the Ursus female online friend was a duke.

...

Jack remained silent for a long time after hearing this. Yang Hao could see his face constantly changing and contorting, finally settling into a strange and complex expression for some unknown reason:

"My good brother," Jack said earnestly, "I know you've always wanted to get married and settle down, but that's not a reason for you to imagine a girl contacting you!"

"What?! You don't believe me?" Yang Hao looked completely bewildered at Jack, as if he were a stray dog ​​passing by on the street. "I treated you like a brother, and you don't even believe what your brother says?!"

"How am I supposed to believe this?! A guy who was talking about Margarita just two days ago is now telling me he found a girlfriend from Ursus online?! You keep telling me you've been drugged lately? How could our Columbia city's internet possibly be connected to Ursus?!"

Jack clearly distrusted Yang Hao's story. After all, it made sense; what Yang Hao had told him was far too bizarre and outlandish.

Let's not even talk about... let's not even talk about what kind of mental process this seemingly innocent man went through before he gave up on Margarita.

The fact that he found a woman from Ursus through mobile internet and started an online romance is outrageous enough, okay?! Where is this? This is Colombia!

It's at least as far as Casimir in Colombia from Ursus! And the city we're standing in right now is the westernmost city in Colombia, so it's even farther!

So how exactly did you manage to contact that female netizen from Ursus? Are you sure you're not out of your mind? For a moment, his good friend Jack was genuinely worried that Yang Hao was overthinking things and ruining his brain...

"Fuck you!" But facing Jack's concern, Yang Hao just stood up from the bench with a sour face. "I fucking found someone I can really talk to! Oh well, believe it or not, when I get married, I definitely won't give you an invitation!"

"you--"

"Stop saying anything, let's go, we're going to be late."

The fact that his best friend didn't believe him broke Yang Hao's heart, but it also strengthened his resolve to get married as soon as possible.

If things are going well with Miss Koschei, then let's move on to the next step. He sighed, pondering what topic to bring up tonight to cheer Miss Koschei up.

...and the matter of gifts.

chapter eight

The matter of the gift was giving Yang Hao a real headache. He didn't know the exact location of Miss Koschitch's residence, nor was he sure if his phone could deliver the gift directly, so after much thought, he decided to prepare for both possibilities.

After finishing work on the 9th, Yang Hao was picking out a suitable gift on the city's commercial street.

However, he didn't head towards the high-end gift shops because he knew very well that the luxury goods he had bought with his entire fortune would at best be mid-range items for a lady who could afford to be a duke. So he wanted to find another way; he wanted to find unique gifts, modify them slightly, and then send them over by messenger of natural disasters or by using his own abilities.

"Duchess... I hope to choose a gift for her that can express my feelings... a small sculpture?"

He walked around the street with a headache, muttering to himself, and finally shifted his gaze to a corner of the commercial street, to an inconspicuous general store.

This general store... well, how should I put it?

It's also somewhat related to Yang Hao.

Because it's an off-map reward that appeared after the last worker strike... Although Yang Hao didn't understand what it meant at first, upon closer reflection, the worker strike did seem to have something to do with him, didn't it?

"excuse me--"

Here we must delve deeper into Yang Hao's abilities with the "Puppet Stage".

The Puppet Stage possesses an auxiliary ability called National Policy, which Yang Hao accidentally triggered during the last worker strike when he was bored and randomly clicking around.

At first, he didn't know what the consequences of this "national policy" that would automatically load once clicked would be, so he clicked on a national policy called "Colombian Workers Stand Up" with a "let's have some fun" attitude.

...Seventy days later, the city's workers actually stood up and went on strike. For a while, Yang Hao, in order to clean up his mess, had to step in and end the incident, while also using political points to benefit himself.

This general store is the extra shop that appears outside the map after the event ends. Yang Hao studied its meaning for a long time and finally came to this conclusion: this general store will appear whenever he has a need, no matter where he is, making it a very convenient reward.

But... does this general store really have any gifts that Miss Koschei would like?

Yang Hao wasn't sure. So he could only bite the bullet and, under the tutelage of a lurking, shadowy boss whose true identity was unknown, began selecting a suitable gift from the dazzling array of goods on the shelves.

While he was searching for a gift, the shop owner, whose body was shrouded in black mist, held a sickle and spoke in a sinister voice that was neither human nor laughing, explaining the goods to Yang Hao.

"This is--"

"The ashes of Joan of Arc might come in handy if you want to create a nation with French culture."

"hiss..."

Yang Hao immediately pulled his hand back from the small, transparent bottle that appeared to be a spice bottle.

Yang Hao had initially thought the white powder was some kind of exotic spice... but it turned out to be ashes?! But then again, Joan of Arc's ashes? Wasn't she cremated twice, leaving not even ashes? And the country that founded French culture? Hmm?

The idea of ​​using the ashes of a French saint to create France? That's outrageous... And then again, I didn't mean it that way.

He was sweating profusely and decided to temporarily ignore the transparent bottles filled with powder and look at some other good things instead.

"And this is—"

Yang Hao looked at a long spear placed on the shelf. The spear seemed to possess a strange magic, making it impossible for him to look away.

"This is Longinus, the spear that once pierced the body of God. However, only the spearhead of my Longinus is genuine. If you want to establish a state religion with Christianity at its core, you should be able to use it?"

"grass!"

What the hell is this shop?! Putting aside whether it's real or fake, Yang Hao, as a time traveler, at least knows what God is, right?!

The spearhead that pierced God is now openly displayed on your shelf? Shopkeeper, isn't your real name Lucifer or Satan? Selling things like this... are you planning to show me something even better for prophecy later?!

Yang Hao's inner complaints were confirmed two minutes later. They left the shelf where Longinus was located, and soon they arrived at a product area filled with a high-tech atmosphere.

With the shop owner's amiable explanation, Yang Hao stared blankly at the dazzling array of Starry Sky props before him, lost in thought.

"This is an independent purification core. With it, you can double the speed at which you build robots!"

Purge the core leadership? What's that all about? This doesn't sound like something from modern times...

"This is a star chart, a small tool for gardening. Would you like it?"

Ah, I don't need to do gardening, and why do gardening tools have such fancy names? On another note, does Miss Koschie like gardening?

"And what about this? The blood of the first vampire. If you need it, you can transform yourself into a vampire. Even if it's just for external use, it can completely satisfy a vampire's craving for blood, allowing them to eat normally while obtaining it—"

"Huh? This? Can I have it? By the way, how do I pay here?"

This? Margarita seems to have complained about some of the difficulties of being a blood demon before. She needs to drink blood, and she needs to drink blood from humans.

Will this thing allow her to stop sucking blood and eat normally from now on?

Yang Hao blinked, thinking that Margarita didn't eat normal food much before, partly because her body couldn't absorb the nutrients from normal food, and partly because, as a blood demon, she really didn't have an appetite for normal food.

Um...

Sigh, should I leave her a gift before I leave? After all, even if I get married, it's probably not Miss Kosiché who will marry into my family, but me... What kind of decorum would it be to let a duke [even if he bought his position] leave my territory?

This is definitely not because being a gigolo was enjoyable in the past, but because Yang Hao simply couldn't afford to put on a show of power to marry the Duke...