Of course, even if the First Emperor racked his brains at this point, it was still a difficult situation.
They certainly couldn't figure out why Li Lin was different from ordinary people.
After all, ordinary people have a strong desire to become officials and hope to leave their mark on history and make great achievements.
And what about Li Lin?
His ideas are quite different from those of the ancients.
He doesn't like being famous.
In his past life, he had already developed this mindset and was used to a life of leisure. He didn't like doing so many things.
Nowadays, he has little to no opinion about the First Emperor; on the contrary, he is full of goodwill and respect for him.
But old habits die hard.
He'll swim if he can, and he'll slack off if he can; he has absolutely no interest in becoming famous.
These days, people who become famous...
It must have been very tiring.
It is essential to maintain a persona, an external, virtual persona. If that persona collapses, it could be life-threatening.
That would be very bad.
I'd better just lie here and do nothing.
Those who are not greedy for credit, have few desires, and are accustomed to protecting themselves often live the most carefree and longest lives.
For example, Jia Xu from the Three Kingdoms period.
And Li Lin's idol was none other than Jia Xu.
"this......"
Li Lin was speechless. "I'm so disgusted! Why did I even inscribe my name on this in the first place? Now look what's happened! The First Emperor found out! What am I going to do? If I don't create the Four Great Inventions for him, he might chop my head off for deceiving the emperor. But I can't create them! How can I do it all by myself? Besides, I'm a lazy person by nature. I don't even dream of becoming a high-ranking official or receiving any great rewards."
If His Majesty knew I was this kind of person, he could give me some easy tasks, or perhaps some men to command. Of course, I could also have Fusu as my apprentice and teach him these things; in short, I definitely don't want to do it myself—that's too tiring!
"What do you mean, 'what do you mean, 'what do you mean, '?' You brat, if you dare to lie to me today, you will die the same way that the charlatan Xu Fu died. Do you understand?"
The First Emperor's face suddenly darkened, and he felt a pang of regret: Damn it, I never expected this kid to think like this. He actually likes to slack off and doesn't even want any rewards? He's indifferent to everything?
etc!
It seems that his previous suggestion to me was to promote Huang-Lao philosophy and enter a state of non-interference in governance.
The Huang-Lao school of thought is a Taoist school.
Why is this rascal's mentality so similar to Zhuangzi's attitude towards life?
Could it be!
Could this rascal be a successor of the Taoist school?
call!
I finally understand. After all this, this kid is a successor of Taoism. No wonder he regards money as nothing and is so disdainful of status, rewards, and merits.
Because Taoism advocates this, didn't Zhuangzi say, "The divine man has no merit, the sage has no fame"?
Alas, I've suffered a huge loss!
If I had known earlier that this brat was a Taoist successor, I definitely wouldn't have married Manyin to him. This kid is completely impervious to reason; this investment of mine has yielded absolutely no return! A huge loss…
"Your Majesty, please do not be angry. This was indeed drawn by me when I was young. Now that Your Majesty has found it again, I feel as if I have rediscovered the breath of youth. It is quite a feeling of 'youth returning'."
"Also, Qinghui?"
The First Emperor's expression was merely gloomy on the surface; in reality, he was feeling both amused and exasperated.
However, this is just wishful thinking on his part.
After all, Li Lin's behavior is very similar to that of Zhuang Zhou, a representative figure of the Taoist school. It is quite normal for him to mistakenly believe that Li Lin is a successor of the Taoist school.
After all, the Qin Dynasty unified the world.
Although the era of the Hundred Schools of Thought came to an abrupt end, Qin Shi Huang was not like Emperor Wu of Han, who suppressed all other schools of thought and exclusively promoted Confucianism.
Although he governed the country using Legalist principles, he did not restrict the development of other schools of thought in the slightest.
He was naturally familiar with Taoism, and could even recite several famous Taoist texts.
On the contrary, the First Emperor despised Confucianism, believing that Confucianists only talked about grand principles but were actually full of scoundrels and thieves.
"Your Majesty, this is a term we locals created specifically to refer to when we've rediscovered our past memories. It can also be pronounced 'Ye Qing Hui'!"
"Oh? That's interesting!"
The First Emperor nodded as if he understood, but the reason he was so anxious to bring Li Lin here today was not because of any "reminiscence," but because of the Four Great Inventions.
So he immediately stopped hesitating on the topic and changed the subject, saying, "You said the things on the bamboo slips were things you did when you were young, so how confident are you that you can recreate them now?"
"Your Majesty, would you like to hear the truth or a lie?"
"The truth!"
"One-tenth..."
"What? Only one-tenth?"
"Your Majesty, what I meant was not one percent, but none at all..."
The First Emperor's expression suddenly changed, becoming even more gloomy. His gaze towards Li Lin became extremely sharp, and his imperial aura instantly filled the side hall.
It was as if, in the next second, a mountain of corpses and blood would appear.
[Hmph... His Majesty was fine just now, how did he suddenly become so terrifying? He... it shouldn't be like this, how could his expression change faster than flipping through a book? I'm telling the truth, the real truth! If only he knew how complex the manufacturing process of the Four Great Inventions was! Gunpowder alone required thousands upon thousands of trials. The Taoist priests, from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, spent five hundred years developing gunpowder. Now His Majesty wants to achieve it all in one fell swoop? How is that possible?]
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