We arrived at the Donglai Pawnshop again, and this time there were hardly any people in the alleyway.

Chen Jing was startled.

It seems today is the day the test begins...

He quickened his pace and hurried inside.

When Chen Jing arrived at the pawnshop, he found that the door was tightly closed, and there was only a woman standing there, wearing old and patched clothes, tall and strong, with fair skin and attractive features.

Four large characters were written on it:

Come again tomorrow.

Chen Jing's lips twitched, and he almost cursed out loud.

No wonder no one was there. This time, they didn't even bother to open the door and say hello. It turns out they just left a note on the door before.

That's so irresponsible and reckless!

Chen Jing breathed a sigh of relief and was about to leave when the woman with worn clothes and fair skin suddenly walked over from the door.

"etc."

Chen Jing turned around in confusion and looked at her.

Dao Nan seems to have mentioned this woman before... Right, she's the woman who dared to bathe in the river in the boat district every day... I heard she's a bit mentally challenged, but has tremendous brute strength, uh, I don't know if it's normal brute strength or some kind of innate extraordinary ability...

"I am Li Aidan," the woman said politely, but her voice was hesitant.

"Chen Jing." Chen Jing did not hide anything, waiting for the other party to continue.

Li Ai seemed to be considering what to say, and after a moment, she said:

Why did you come here and then just leave without waiting?

Chen Jing hesitated for a moment, then said, "Did you see the note on the door? It says we should come back tomorrow."

"I see!" Li Aidan exclaimed with a look of sudden realization.

"You're such a good person!"

Chen Jing looked embarrassed and didn't know how to respond until the other person left.

...

In Pan Fengyu's study, Chen Jing was studying alone.

Thinking about how he had spent one Blue Sun Coin for this short period of study, Chen Jing became very serious.

“You have a basic level of literacy, so I’ve decided to have you learn to read by studying history.”

Chen Jing sat up straight and listened attentively, thinking to himself that he really wasn't used to not having a notebook.

"Today I'll tell you about the war in ruins." Pan Fengyu opened the book and had Chen Jing read it aloud, telling Chen Jing how to pronounce the words he didn't know and what they meant.

"Is this studying history...?" Chen Jing muttered to himself as he began to read.

Before he time-traveled, he went to university. Although he read from the books, the teachers at least knew how to use the blackboard and PowerPoint, and had their own understanding of the material.

It's not like I'm just looking at the book directly...

"Qin was a great empire spanning the entire continent, with a vast territory. To the north and south lay boundless oceans, to the west deserts and wilderness separated by mountains, and continuous rainforests and wetlands. To the east, nomadic peoples roamed the vast grasslands, and barbarian tribes nestled among the towering mountains also paid tribute to Qin every year..."

"How did the war of ruins occur, and why did it last so long? This is an academic question that needs to be studied. To discuss this, we need to study the state of the continent before Qin's unification."

Before Qin unified the country, there were nearly ten political powers on this continent. Among them, four were kingdoms with brilliant civilizations, their own cultures, and a crown, which could be called dynasties.

"In the southwestern region of the continent, the Yuan Dynasty conquered southwards and ruled the main territory of the present-day Blue Dynasty; in the north, the Snow Dynasty occupied the continuous coastline and controlled the area now known as Zhou Tian Island, the Star Strait, and parts of the present-day Xia Dynasty; in the southwest of the Snow Dynasty, sects and religions that believed in Heaven ruled the city-states there, known as the Heavenly Federation, which was later unified by the Zhou Emperor and was the earliest Heavenly Dynasty. The Heavenly Dynasty controlled parts of the present-day An Dynasty and the main area of ​​the Heavenly Dynasty; in the southeast, Zhao Song En, a commoner who killed the emperor, conquered city-states, small countries, and grasslands, and defeated the originally tyrannical king to establish the earliest Song Dynasty."

As Chen Jing read aloud, he asked about the pronunciation and meaning of some words and phrases, and Pan Fengyu explained them in detail.

The King Killer Zhao Song En... shares the same title as the "Miracle King"? He was the first king killer, and he ascended the throne by killing the king. Because of him, king killing was glorified, and the blasphemous title of king killing was turned into a compliment?

"...These independent dynasties existed for hundreds of years and developed a rich nationalist culture."

After repeatedly asking about the pronunciation and meaning of that term, Chen Jing's expression turned strange.

In a history book, he saw terms that would only have appeared before the modern era.

That's true. This world has guns, cannons, and paper money; its technological level is modern or even later... I was just born in Ash City, in the misty ancient Song Dynasty, so I don't know...

Chen Jing calmed himself down and continued reading:

"...Although Qin Shi Huang unified the various states of the continent, accomplishing what the regicide Zhao Song En failed to do, unifying the world is easy, but governing it is difficult. The unified language, currency, and cart tracks did not eliminate deep-seated cultural differences. His practice of enfeoffing his children as kings of various vassal states did nothing to heal the rifts. When a strong unifying force is lacking, crises can subconsciously cause the people, cultivators, and rulers to revert to the state of division, drawing boundaries with their neighbors according to the pre-unification borders..."

"...All of the above are the root causes of the war in the ruins, and its fuse is the conflict among successors."

After reading this far, Chen Jing's mouth was dry, but fortunately a servant brought in tea. Pan Fengyu also seemed a bit tired.

"That's all for now. I have things to do this afternoon, you can go now," Pan Fengyu said. "Do you want to stay and have lunch with us?"

Having read a great deal of knowledge, and having not slept well yesterday due to cultivation, Chen Jing subconsciously nodded.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!