Chapter 90 Nightmare

After tidying up, Shang Yuji rested her chin on her hand and pointed to where the fork had fallen: "Open the window and let it air out."

Jiangxi tied her clothes, got off the bed, picked up the fork, and smiled, her face still full of spring. The wooden window was half open.

The sky was clear and the air was fresh. A gentle breeze blew, birds chirped and insects hummed, and the warm sunlight felt wonderful on my skin.

I'm a little sleepy.

Shang Yuji rested her chin on her hand, noticed the blue-purple fabric he had placed aside, and casually asked, "Are you making clothing for the Southern Frontier?"

"Yes, my second master showed me a book on weaving clothing from southern Xinjiang." Jiang Xi picked up the fabric and silver ornaments, their clinking sounds clear and bright.

The wedding gift given by Huigu was a set of exquisite silver ornaments that both men and women in Wuming Village, southern Xinjiang, received upon reaching adulthood.

Although silver ornaments and formal attire should be prepared by the elders of the family from childhood until the coming-of-age ceremony, there are always some families that encounter unexpected events and are unable to prepare in time. In such cases, the elder in charge of the matter in the village will provide a complete set of silver ornaments and arrange them properly according to the rules.

Things prepared in advance are never as good as those made to fit perfectly from childhood, but fortunately they still fit the body types of most young people in the village.

Knowing that the gifts were for A-Yue's child and the child's wife, the village elders quickly arranged for two sets of silver ornaments, several bolts of cloth, and a teaching book woven with Wuming totem patterns to be delivered.

The blue-purple fabric is made from silk spun by silkworms unique to Uming. Clothing made from this silk is soft and supple to the touch, with a delicate texture, and is impervious to water and fire, making it a kind of protective soft armor.

After soaking the stems and leaves of a rare dyeing plant in the deep mountains of southern Xinjiang for many months, only a small bolt of cloth could be produced.

The fabric that was delivered was enough to make two sets of Southern Xinjiang costumes for each of them. Jiang Xi took it to the study, intending to weave and embroider bird and animal totems there while waiting for A Ji to return to the room.

He tested the needles on the silk handkerchief to familiarize himself with the weaving technique before deciding to try it on the fabric.

"Aji?" Jiang Xi called softly.

As drowsiness crept over her, Shang Yuji mumbled in response, "Hmm?"

"If you're sleepy, shall I take you back to your room to rest?"

Too lazy to bother, she pulled him to sit on the other side of the soft couch, placed the cushion beside his legs, and then rested her head on the cushion with her eyes closed.

With his still-warm hands, he deftly removed the hairpins and hair ornaments from the back of her head. With her hair no longer held in place, he gently brushed away the strands that had fallen onto her face.

"By the way, once things in Yangzhou are settled, you can come to the capital with me."

"good."

"I need to find time to talk to Elder Yi and the others. They may not be going to the capital, and the martial arts training may have to be suspended."

"Um."

"The capital... I hope everything goes smoothly... After it's over, we can go see other places."

"us?"

"...If other relatives and friends want to come along, that's fine too, but...in the long run, it should be just the two of us..."

Aji's voice gradually faded, and when Jiang Xi looked down, she had already fallen asleep.

The light entering the room avoided her eyes, dividing the space between her eyebrows and eyes. Her black hair, like black silk, shimmered in the sunlight, sparkling in the blink of an eye.

She lowered her brows and closed her eyes, her long eyelashes trembling slightly. The lingering blush on her cheeks delighted him. After watching her for a long time, he finally let go of the hair tangled between his fingers, avoided the silver ornaments, and carefully picked up the needle, thread, and cloth to weave patterns of birds, beasts, insects, and fish.

I can't keep staring at Aji. If I do, I'll never finish embroidering a single pattern today.

But... I should be able to embroider for a while and then take a look, right?

What's this called, work-life balance?

As Aji once said, a balance between work and rest can improve efficiency.

It was reasonable, proper, and appropriate for him to take a break and visit Aji.

Jiang Xi quickly convinced himself that he wouldn't deny his own selfish motive of wanting to keep an eye on Aji.

If he didn't weave clothes, he could keep watching until Aji woke up.

·

The waterwheel is now in a more professional stage. The model was even handcrafted by Mr. Geng and his team. It successfully transported water from low to high places with less manpower and animal power on the simulated stream, which solved the problem of difficult irrigation of fields at high altitudes.

The next step was to go to the site to set up the structure, but this was not Shang Yuji's responsibility. Yi Ning received the task and met with Geng Zhi a few times.

At first, they couldn't reach an agreement. Yi Ning tried to persuade Geng Zhi with reason and emotion—that the government would provide preferential treatment to the Mohist disciples, and that food was a matter of life and death, the people's livelihood was of paramount importance, and the cause of lasting achievements—but she still couldn't convince Geng Zhi.

For Geng Zhi, the more immediate problem was the shortage of Mohist disciples and the crisis of inheritance.

Since that great fire, all schools of thought have declined, and the Mohist school was no exception. Many books were destroyed in the fire, and many people were displaced while fleeing. Now, there are not many people and things left.

Stepping down as the leader of the Mohist school was more about regret than relief or reluctance; it was a sense of helplessness at the impending doom of the Mohist school.

The inevitable fate of the Mohists is to disappear into the annals of history. Their current efforts are nothing more than a last gasp and a death throes.

But unlike others, he seemed to see a completely different path in that girl.

It is not about chivalrous heroes roaming the world, nor about scholars debating and expounding their ideas, nor about developing weapons for the country to attack or defend.

Instead, it explores the principles of reason and the way of heaven, using the "truth" of all things in the world to nourish all things themselves.

Water turbines driven by water power are used to lift water for irrigation... People have noticed these patterns before, but they often take them for granted and rarely think deeply about why they work this way, what the underlying theories are, and what they can be used for.

Experiments are both objects and useful tools; through experiments, we discover truths, and then apply those truths to experiments...

Is this the engineering she mentioned?

It's not that simple. He felt that there was a richer and broader world ahead, waiting for them to explore, and one day the clouds would part and the sun would shine through.

Since the predecessors failed halfway down the path they had taken, why doesn't he try to lead these successors down a different path?

A path that makes a living through "scientific research," seeks the principles of heaven and earth, and deciphers the illusion and reality of all things?

if only……

“If Miss Shang is willing to tell me the science content I mentioned before, I can try to summon any Mohist disciples I can.”

Upon hearing Yi Ning's message, Shang Yuji pointed to herself in confusion and asked, "Huh? Me?"

Yi Ning nodded calmly: "Yes, you."

Therefore, another meeting was held, and Shang Yuji went to the scene with him.

"While I am very grateful for Elder Geng's kind words, I do not know much about this," Shang Yuji said frankly.

She only grasped physics, chemistry, and biology up to the senior year of high school; she didn't understand much beyond that. Besides, as time went on, all she could remember were the theoretical principles. As for application? She was truly sorry, she'd forgotten it all…

No one told her that transmigrating into a book required passing through math and physics tests. If she had known this earlier, she would have studied math and physics diligently and then traveled the world without fear.

Unfortunately, life doesn't allow for knowing things beforehand.

On the contrary, Geng Zhi was more open-minded: "If we only learn from the young lady and don't explore on our own, then we are putting the cart before the horse and confining ourselves to one corner."

It's fast to hitch a ride, but what they should learn is how to build their own ride.

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

Seeing this, Shang Yuji agreed. So what if she had to burn her brain cells like crazy these days? She might as well give it a shot.

That's what she thought at the time, but after having nightmares about reviewing for the high school entrance exam for half a month straight, and writing down all the physics, chemistry, biology, math, and geography knowledge points from her dreams, she fell silent.

Either erupt in silence or perish in silence!

She chose to lie back down and sleep for another fifteen minutes in silence, but then she dreamt of answering questions in the exam hall and woke up in fright.

After waking up, feeling completely drained, with dark circles under her eyes, Shang Yuji got up and immediately began to memorize the key points.

Although I sensed that I could see what I wanted to know in my dreams and successfully found the math and science knowledge I wanted, the dream of reviewing and answering questions in the exam hall was too realistic. Doing questions in my dreams all night was really too much.

She didn't even need to guess; most of the knowledge from the later grades was recalled through dreams.

The thought of having to take the high school exam in her dreams to gain knowledge made her want to collapse on the spot.

The National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao) is the ultimate nightmare for countless students during their school years!

...Actually, even after graduation, dreaming about it is a nightmare.

She dreamt about the college entrance exam after graduation, and breathed a sigh of relief when she woke up. Thankfully, she had already graduated and didn't have to face the exam anymore.

But that doesn't mean she enjoys taking exams in her dreams.

Several times, Shang Yuji wanted to give up on agreeing to Old Master Geng's request. She hadn't slept well for half a month, and she couldn't take it anymore if things continued like this.

But she gritted her teeth and persevered. She was going to the capital in a while. Before going to the capital, she could copy down the knowledge points to give Old Master Geng and the others time to verify and understand them. She was going to the capital to participate in the Princess's version of the "Xuanwu Gate Incident", while Old Master Geng was taking his disciples to familiarize themselves with the principles of mathematics, physics and chemistry. By doing both at the same time, she could save a lot of time.

To prevent her from staying in the capital for too long, and since Old Geng had already finished learning what she had given him, he could only force himself to recall a few more points of knowledge.

Since the notes couldn't be given to Old Geng immediately, they still had to go through Yining's side, and sometimes political factors had to be taken into account.

For example, if someone suddenly appears who believes that the sky is round and the earth is round in the universal understanding of a round sky and a round earth, it's fine to regard that person as crazy, but the worst thing would be to regard them as an outcast and burn them to the ground.

The fate of the last person who refuted the geocentric model and proposed the heliocentric model is well-known.

As for whether Yi Ning will see a theory that almost overturns common sense, think she is an anomaly, and then arrest and imprison her?

For half a month, Shang Yuji was plagued by nightmares. She was so irritable that she skipped the selection of key knowledge points and didn't care which knowledge would be distorted if made public. She would send it away as soon as she finished writing and didn't want to look at it again.

When I was feeling frustrated, I even thought it would be better if I got caught, so I could finally have a reason to catch my breath.

Unfortunately, when she was feeling down, her cold, stern face made people want to keep their distance, and no one dared to approach and disturb her. Even Yi Sha had to avoid her sharp edge.

Jiang Xiqu was also suffering greatly these days, shedding tears in despair. He couldn't persuade Aji, nor could he let her sleep peacefully at night. Seeing her body visibly weakening, he was even more anxious. Why did those so-called math and physics have to torment Aji like this?

But he couldn't stop Aji. This was the result she had worked so hard to achieve. If he tore it to shreds, all the suffering Aji had endured would have been for nothing.

Shang Yuji was naturally aware of his anxiety, but she couldn't stop him from doing his homework in his dream, so she could only comfort him while continuing as usual.

She closed her eyes and drank the soup he brought her to help her sleep.

Even though he fed him sugar cubes in time, it couldn't stop the bitterness of the medicine.

The medicine worked very well, with immediate results, and she regained a restful sleep like a baby.

Although the price was painful studying in my dreams.