Chapter 10 Qin 10

Although she said she thought Taishu Jiu could handle it alone, Zhu Qing'ai still returned to Qin after shedding her 'Zhao' identity.

Because of the connection between the host and the system, Zhu Qing'ai easily found Tai Shujiu's location.

At this moment, Taishu Jiu is in the field she bought for him, probably still recording data on the crops in the field.

Zhu Qing'ai had long noticed that Tai Shu Jiu was very sensitive to numbers. She suspected that his pitifully low emotional intelligence had been transferred to mathematics, which might be a common problem after a program becomes a living being.

Zhu Qing'ai bent down and peeked out from beside Tai Shu Jiu: "Good morning?"

Taishu Jiu: !!!

Now that the system is the other party, the characteristic of appearing and disappearing without a trace has also been transferred to the other party. If the system does not report, the host will not know where the system has gone.

"No need to speak, just chat in the private chat channel." Zhu Qing'ai had already seen the person pretending to be an ordinary farmer loitering by the field. Her lips twitched. This was only enough to fool Tai Shujiu.

What kind of good farmer wouldn't be tending to his crops at this time, but instead wandering around other people's fields?

[Host Taishu Jiu: Good morning, host.]

Looking at Tai Shujiu's serious reply, Zhu Qing'ai felt as if she were taking care of a child, except that this child used to be an intelligent program.

"It sounds weird how you address me. You're the host now, and I'm the system," Zhu Qing'ai said casually. "You should at least show some respect for the prefix before your name."

[Host Taishu Jiu: Okay, good morning, system.]

"...You can call me Zhu Qing'ai, or Qing'ai."

[Host Taishu Jiu: Good morning, Qing'ai.]

"Sigh..." Zhu Qing'ai sighed and decided not to argue with this person anymore.

She asked, "I didn't ask in detail a few days ago, but I have time to ask Ying Ji what's going on today. Is he so easy to deal with?"

The polite way she had prepared to refuse was no longer needed.

Tai Shu Jiu recounted the events of the past few days in the private chat channel. Zhu Qing Ai remained silent for a moment before commenting, "...Fools are sometimes lucky."

Taishu Jiu frowned and protested in the private chat channel: [Host Taishu Jiu: Qing'ai, this is swearing, which is classified as bad behavior in human society.]

“No way, you’re just too rigid in your learning,” Zhu Qing’ai squatted down opposite Tai Shu Jiu, looking at him with a sincere expression. “I was clearly praising you.”

If it weren't for Taishu Jiu's seemingly 'foolish' question, how could Ying Ji have trusted him so much, when there was only one person keeping watch around?

Therefore, Zhu Qing'ai sincerely felt that she was praising someone.

Praising someone for being blessed is a form of praise, isn't it?

Taishu Jiu: ...

He's not stupid, really.

Even if you beat him to death, he wouldn't believe it was a compliment.

Even if it wasn't in the two collections of human behavior she gave him before, based on the several hosts he had worked with, he could conclude that this didn't sound like a compliment.

Seeing that she hadn't managed to fool anyone, Zhu Qing'ai felt bored and coughed to change the subject.

How's your farming going?

[Host Taishu Jiu: That's good. At this rate, I'm confident I can double production within five years.]

Zhu Qingai nodded. For modern high-yield crops, this yield is naturally nothing, but for the current era, it is already incredibly excellent.

After expressing her approval of Taishu Jiu's progress, she thought for a moment and then added with concern, "Don't let that old fox Ying Ji fool you while I'm gone."

Because of this sentence, Taishu Jiu suddenly remembered the curved plow that he had sold for two thousand coins a few days ago. He realized immediately after the sale that he had definitely sold it too cheaply, so he decided to keep quiet about it in front of Zhu Qing'ai.

"Are you really alright?" Zhu Qing'ai was very skeptical. She looked around and saw several drying racks, raising an eyebrow as she asked, "Are you making paper?"

[Host Taishu Jiu: Recording with bamboo slips is too troublesome, and I want to store some blueprints; carving them with wooden boards or copper plates is even more troublesome.]

Looking at the things on the drying rack, Zhu Qing'ai finally understood what the suspicious person who had been peeking around was looking at.

Ying Ji is probably planning to swindle people... No, she needs to keep a close eye on her host and at least get a good price for her.

After distributing the main storyline progress rewards as usual, Zhu Qing'ai didn't leave immediately. Instead, she instructed, "If Ying Ji wants this paper, no matter what he says, just remember one thing: 'Sure, but he'll have to pay extra.'"

For a moment, Taishu Jiu thought that his sale of the curved plow at a low price had been discovered, but Zhu Qing'ai did not say anything. As she turned around, her figure gradually faded away, obviously returning to Handan, the capital of Zhao.

Taishu Jiu even had some doubts. Perhaps Ying Zheng was actually her host, and he was just a prop.

****

"Forget it, after thinking about it, I've decided to put an alias here for peace of mind."

Taishu Jiu immediately feigned a shocked expression: "Are you... having a split personality?"

After he finished speaking, he realized his mistake and immediately shut up. Fortunately, he had controlled the volume of his words, so even if someone passed by, they probably wouldn't have heard him.

Qin nodded calmly: "Sir, you are very talented. It is only right that I take care of you."

[System 99 (Zhu Qing'ai): Of course, it's because I'll inevitably have multiple aliases appearing together sooner or later, so I'm just getting used to it in advance.]

[Host, Taishu Jiu: You spoke in the tone of 'Qin,' I didn't react for a moment.]

[System 99 (Zhu Qing'ai): So I was worried you'd get kidnapped?]

"And it's time to build momentum for you."

Tai Shu Jiu continued with his work, but didn't forget to ask Zhu Qing'ai in the private chat channel how to create momentum.

According to the system's explanation, it's definitely not appropriate for him to create momentum on his own, and the system itself is not a physical entity, so there are no other options besides these two. After all, they don't have any power in Qin, they are just fighting alone to unify the country.

But Zhu Qing'ai retorted directly, "Why isn't it appropriate?"

"If there is no physical body, then there is no physical body. As long as it looks like a person, that's enough. Moreover, human memory is amazing. Sometimes, even when you see something for the first time, you can have the illusion that you've seen it before."

When Zhu Qing'ai was still human, she made many illusions unique to humans. For example, she would lock the door when she went out, but forget whether she locked it three seconds later, or she would remember that she had locked the door even if she had just left the door less than three meters away.

Now that's good, she won't make that mistake anymore. One second she wants to recall, and the next second her database will give her the result.

Thank you, Tai Shu Jiu, for the legacy you left her.

She could create another pseudonym to promote Taishu Jiu. In any case, some people in Xianyang City already knew about Taishu Jiu, and the surrounding neighbors also had an impression of him. She just needed to control the direction of public opinion.

With such favorable conditions, she was confident that she could make Taishu Jiu's reputation far surpass that of his time, so that as long as people had food to eat in the future, they would still remember him.

The reputation points earned by the host, rounded up, are essentially her performance record, aren't they?

Zhu Qing'ai had a clever plan in mind: once she achieved sales, she wouldn't be far from establishing a real business, and she wouldn't have to be a ghost anymore.

Then Taishu Jiu saw Zhu Qing'ai happily humming a little tune as she drifted away.

Taishu Jiu, who was still checking the paper, paused, realizing that what he had said made a lot of sense.

He never imagined that he could catch the eye of the emperor/king by farming. His previous hosts... well, let's not talk about them...

How could anyone think they could replace Li Shimin? He still couldn't understand what his former, former, former host, who was obsessed with becoming a dragon overlord, was thinking. He was just a system, not a god.

Even in chaotic times, one should consider who their opponent is before rebelling...

****

On the other side, Zhao went to see Ying Zheng as usual, as if nothing had happened to her, and in fact, there was nothing for her to do.

She wandered the world like a lonely ghost, and no one could see her. After trying the dream-sending trick a few times without success, she stopped doing it.

Although it occasionally seeks amusement in human dreams, it no longer initiates conversations with people.

Ying Zheng was more interesting than many others before him.

Today, she knelt beside Ying Zheng, closed her eyes and nodded gently, listening to the teacher opposite her teach Ying Zheng to recognize characters.

Ying Zheng held a writing brush, but it was clearly not as good as the ones used in later generations, and he found it difficult to write at such a young age.

Furthermore, he only dipped his brush in water when writing on the bamboo slips. Although they received assistance from the Zhao family, they could not afford to waste the bamboo slips at will.

Zhao looked at the slightly immature Qin seal script that he had written and suddenly laughed.

Ying Zheng continued writing without changing his expression until the teacher said it was okay. The teacher then randomly checked a few more words, stroked his beard with satisfaction, and nodded.

He said with a smile, "Your intelligence is rare in this world."

"After studying for a while longer, you can learn more difficult things. I wonder what you are interested in, young master?"

Ying Zheng suddenly remembered the bamboo slip that the man had touched his forehead a couple of days ago, so he looked up and asked the teacher, "May I study the Qin laws?"

The Master clapped his hands and laughed: "Excellent! Even minor officials in Qin must be familiar with the Qin laws, which shows their importance. As a prince, you should indeed study the Qin laws."

"You can't just pretend you didn't see this, can you?"

Ying Zheng: "..."

There were many writing systems during the Warring States period. The states of Wei, Zhao, and Han all originated from the Jin system and naturally used the Jin system of writing, which was quite different from the Qin system.

The Zhao Law, which was found by Zhao, was naturally written in this script. Ying Zheng could understand the Zhao people's speech, but recognizing the characters was more difficult for him.

Fortunately, the Master spoke up at this moment, diverting Zhao's attention and reducing his risk.

"It's a good thing you learned Qin script from the beginning, otherwise you would probably have to learn another script to learn Qin law now."

"Why does the Master say that?" Ying Zheng pretended to be a curious child, his innocent expression no different from that of an ordinary child.

The Master stroked his beard and said leisurely, "Of course, it's because different countries use different writing systems. Just because you know the writing system of one country doesn't mean you know the writing system of another."

"Then why don't they use the same script?"

"This..." The Master paused, frowning as he murmured, "But the vassal states all intentionally differentiated themselves... After the enfeoffment, naturally many different writing systems evolved..."

"Even if the Zhou emperor stipulated what to use, there were always different characters emerging. Some people have proposed such ideas, but no one has been able to realize them yet."

Zhao's expression suddenly turned indifferent. She rested her chin on her hand and tilted her head to look at Ying Zheng, her thoughts unreadable.

A note from the author:

----------------------

Zhu Qing'ai: I understand. It's because Ying Zheng thought learning multiple scripts was too troublesome, so he decided to unify the script.

-

While I was wondering how Ying Ji died, a thought suddenly popped into my head: Ying Ji died and traveled back to the Three Kingdoms period, becoming Cao Pi. He discovered that his faction lacked national consciousness, and his elderly mother was in the neighboring Shu Han. No problem, he could just snatch his mother away. So, before he could even decide whether to support Liu Shan (A Dou), the "Han" was snatched away and stood face to face with Cao Pi. Suddenly, she realized that the person in front of her looked so familiar. She was silent for a moment: "Ji'er?" Ying Ji immediately felt a warm sense of relief. His motherland actually remembered him. He was so touched.

Although it was Cao Wei, it wasn't actually a friendly situation for them. This included Ying Ji's madness, changing his name to Cao Ji and renaming the state of Wei to Qin, among other things. Then, a group of people from the former Wei state felt their ruler looked increasingly familiar, resembling certain historical figures, and seeing his exceptionally long reign, they felt he was even more like that great demon king of the Warring States period. Cao Cao was content to be a loyal minister of the Han Dynasty, while he was content to be the founding emperor of Qin, leading Qin to its national peak—a victory!