Chapter 109
The imperial court was still thinking of secretly researching fertilizers to amaze everyone, but officials were unable to share their research with their wives and concubines, so they could only direct their desire to share with their colleagues.
The news that the dozen or so fertilizers developed by Chu Huan "forced" the Minister of Personnel to retire and return home spread among officials at an extremely fast speed.
Chu Ping laughed for a long time after hearing this, and after returning home, he told Wen and Chu Huan exactly what he had heard.
Mother and daughter: "..."
How glorious a feat was it to force a high-ranking official to retire? Just considering the reason for his retirement, I felt the story was a bit too much of a joke.
In order to sit in the position of a third-rank minister, the Minister of Personnel must have gone through countless hardships and obstacles. Chu Huan didn't believe that he would be so embarrassed about transferring a few officials that he wanted to retire and return home.
Most likely, he wanted to tell the emperor and his colleagues through this action: Don’t look for me, I really can’t do it anymore!
However, the fact that the Minister of Personnel had been pushed to this extent showed that the court was indeed having difficulty in employing people. Chu Huan couldn't bear to make things difficult for him any further, lest she push him to the limit and make him quit in anger.
She chose to temporarily stop her research on fertilizers and pick up her astronomy course that she had interrupted.
At this time, winter had already arrived in the capital, and light snow was falling.
Calculating the time, it’s Chinese New Year again.
Chu Huan really wanted to shed a tear of sympathy for her brother, as he wouldn't be able to come back for the New Year this year.
The system wants to cry for Chu Qin. The boy is so miserable!
[I really think your brother has sacrificed a lot for you. This is the second year he's been away on business and can't be home for the New Year.]
Even those busy modern office workers who work 007 and 996 schedules wouldn't be on business trips for two consecutive years and unable to go home for the New Year.
After the Chinese New Year, Chu Qin will be 22 years old, successfully joining the ranks of older unmarried young people in Dasheng.
Men of his age have already become fathers, but he still doesn't even have a partner to marry. It's all tears to talk about it.
"I have to wait until the next imperial examination before I can enter the court as an official. The emperor probably won't send him out again..." Chu Huan quickly retracted her "right" and changed her words, "If the emperor feels my brother hasn't gained enough experience, perhaps he'll have to go out again after he returns."
She changed her mind at the last minute, so the system couldn't firmly say no.
Chu Hua: [Throughout the dynasties, Jiangnan was the most prosperous region, and corruption and fraud were rampant. My brother's visit was merely a decoy and a mascot, and the experience he gained was limited. If the emperor truly wishes to use him, I imagine he'll need to go again.]
System: [Can't we wait until he makes some achievements in the court before going? Does he have to go next year?]
Chu Hua: [My brother was sent out by the Emperor right after the palace examination. He's a disciple of the Emperor and has no connection to any of the other princes. It's the perfect time for him to do this kind of work.]
The system picked up on something: [From what you said, it sounds like you're worried that your brother, after spending too much time in the court, will take sides and eventually favor a particular prince to help him ascend the throne.]
[But isn't Dasheng's system for appointing a crown prince unique? No one knows who the crown prince will be until the very last moment, so why bother taking sides?]
Chu Huan asked in return: "If you think there is such a mechanism, why did the Third Prince go to such great lengths to seduce the daughter of the former Minister of Revenue, and the daughters and granddaughters of civil and military officials?"
Of course, it’s because the more money, connections, and power you have in your hands, the better!
When you are strong enough, you can ignore the rules, become the one who makes the rules, and let others follow your ideas.
Even though they were currently in private chat mode, Chu Huan and the system didn't make their words too clear, lest they get used to saying it and cause trouble in group chat mode.
System: [You've become the Fifth Prince's study companion, so you must be a natural descendant of the Fifth Prince. Your brother was also forced to take sides, right?]
The Emperor had done this in order to tie Chu Huan to the royal ship, so that the old Grand Tutor and the old Grand Preceptor could accept her as a student. It was also because the Fifth Prince was the youngest. But now...
Looking at it from all angles, from top to bottom, it definitely exceeded the emperor's expectations.
Just the compound bow and fertilizer alone must have made the emperor regret so much that he wanted to bang his head against the wall.
He is definitely the one who wants to win over Chu Huan as his confidant the most, and the one who hopes that Chu Huan will not side with the prince!
Chu Hua: [I can't take sides. As long as my brother doesn't become rebellious in middle age, he can't take sides either.]
The system was about to ask "Why?" when it realized it was already a mature system and couldn't rely on the host to analyze everything. It quickly shut its mouth, opened its eyes, and thought slowly.
If you rely too much on others, you will become a useless ruler!
Is it because you know a lot, have many achievements, have a good reputation, and have many officials who owe you favors, that if you favor and support a certain prince, that prince will likely immediately become the crown prince or the next emperor?
The system thought its analysis was pretty good, and it sounded very convincing—the host it had chosen was truly amazing! As expected, she was the future Empress, haha!
Wait, if the host wants to be the empress, then does she have to choose an incompetent prince or emperor to make it easier for her to ascend to the throne?
The fifth prince is still a bit old. If the emperor can work hard and give birth to a sixth or seventh prince, he might even be able to hold the emperor hostage to control the princes! Just thinking about it makes the emperor excited!
Chu Huan had no idea what the little foolish system was thinking about, so she simply confirmed what the system said: "Mostly correct."
System question: [What about the small part? ]
Chu Huan: [The emperor can still sit on the throne for at least another twenty years. I'm a staunch supporter of the emperor. If this emperor dies, there's always the next one. Why should I choose sides so early and bring trouble upon myself?]
System: [……] It is narrow-minded.
He only thought that if he took sides early, he would have the merit of following the emperor and would become the emperor's right-hand man and loyal minister in the future, but he forgot that his host had never followed the ordinary path.
Why walk on that dangerous cliff when there is a safer and more direct road to take?
During the interval between their private conversation, Qingzhu knocked on the door and came in, reporting, "Miss, the servant who went to Shangjia has come to report that Mr. Shang has caught a cold and cannot teach you."
"Is he sick?" Chu Huan asked subconsciously, "Is it serious?"
Qingzhu: "The servant didn't ask too many questions. He came back after learning that Feng Han was ill."
The system suddenly popped up: [It's okay, I'm here, right?]
Chu Huan: “…”
Qingzhu: “…”
The melon-eating system even uses itself as an intelligence system.
After a moment, the system said: [Beauty Shanglu went to the Star Picking Terrace to watch the stars during a heavy snowfall. She went there for several days and got a severe cold.]
[Hiss—good boy! Others would be half dead from a cold, but he looks so gorgeous lying on the bed with a red face and disheveled hair. Sister Huan, do you want to take a look?]
Chu Huan was very tempted but had to refuse: [In ancient times, women valued reputation, and men did too. We can't do that.]
system:【? ? ? 】
Given the host's extreme obsession with looks, how could she let go of such a stunningly beautiful image of a woman that would boost her XP? Why was it so unconvinced?
[That's right. If I show it to you, then others will see it too. We must protect the beautiful Shanglu from being coveted by others!]
Other members of the Chu family: “…” We don’t want to watch it, really!
Although they heard the system calling Shang Lu a beautiful woman all day long, Shang Lu himself was too much of a homebody. Every time he went out, he would look at the stars at night. Few people had actually seen his face, so they were not that looking forward to it.
The system said this in a grand manner, and then switched to private chat mode in a minute: [I will show this to you secretly.]
Chu Huan laughed: [That won’t work either.]
System: [I thought you wanted to keep the beautiful pictures to yourself.]
Chu Hua: [That picture is too private. I won't look at it without Shang Lu's permission.]
This time the system was genuinely surprised: [When did your moral standards become so high? You have so many beautiful pictures on your phone.]
Chu Huan:!!!
She knew that the system had eaten a lot of melons from her previous life, and she didn't know how much it had seen.
Damn it, she's dead, why can't the secrets in her phone disappear with her death?!
The images I collect are all hand-drawn, erotic drawings that are both abstinent and alluring, purely for appreciation. Furthermore, they are created by the artist and shared with the public, which is very different from viewing real-life images without the artist's consent.
The system turned into a nitpicker: [Then why are you eating the melon? Didn't you eat this melon without the person's consent?]
Chu Hua: ???
Who needs the consent of the person eating melons?
If you really need the person's consent before eating it, then the melon will not be real and will not taste the same.
She felt it was pointless to argue with the system on this point, so she immediately attacked with a swift move: "Tong'er, so you want me to stop eating melons and block your melon-eating privileges. From now on, you can only live on the mountain and wait until the melons are consumed before you go dormant in Dasheng and never return to the main system?"
The system was so frightened by the terrible consequences that it dropped its melon seeds.
It froze for a full minute before it said, "Not returning to the main system is fine, but asking me not to eat melons is like asking me not to study. How cruel!"
Chu Huan: “…”
Do you have a strange filter for me? In your eyes, I am a person who is crazy about learning?
[Tong'er, what image do you hold of me?] Unsure, her tone was a little vague.
The system roared: [Love of learning! Super capable! Future Empress!]
The case is solved.
Xiaoshatong added a strange filter without permission.
Chu Hua tore off the weird filter: [Tong'er, I emphasize this for the last time, I have never thought of becoming an empress!]
What you call "superpowers" are simply because I come from the modern era, carrying with me a lot of knowledge that modern people take for granted. My own ability, which people talk about so much, is simply my photographic memory.
I certainly didn't even mention a love of learning. I studied the Four Books and Five Classics to prepare for the imperial examinations and become an official because I wanted to help women in this world achieve higher status and rights.
The system could tell from Chu Huan's tone that she seemed a little angry and didn't dare to argue with her.
[Sister Huan, aren't you being too self-deprecating when you say that about yourself?]
Chu Hua: [I just have a full understanding of myself.]
"What I have done for Dasheng and its people is simply to bring modern knowledge and technology to Dasheng. Because I must keep the secret of my time travel, I take credit for these achievements, but that doesn't mean they belong to me."
The system suddenly realized: So that's it!
The host never considered those as her contributions, so naturally there was no talk of reward. No wonder!
I remember that.
One person, one rule, reached a consensus on this.
Chu Huan wanted to ask about Shang Lu's illness, but she was afraid that the break was too long, and if she asked suddenly, people would notice something was wrong.
Although some people seemed to doubt whether she had known about the exposure of the system's melon-eating range a long time ago, she could still pretend not to know as long as no one asked her about it.
After waiting until the task at hand was finished, Chu Huan stood up and took a walk to stretch her muscles before asking, "How is Phytophthora's condition? Does it require penicillin?"
System: [He has a cold, not a viral cold, nor an infection. What's the use of penicillin?]
Chu Hua: [What did the doctor say?]
System: [I took his pulse and prescribed medicine. Take good care of him. Do you want to go see him?]
Chu Huan wanted to go, but looking at the sky, she felt that it was a bit inappropriate to visit the doctor so late at night.
【Calculate……】
The system knew she was going to refuse after just one word, and quickly came up with a pity story for Shang Lu Meiren: [But Shang Lu Meiren is very miserable.]
His servant was young and not very caring. He did a decent job of serving tea and cleaning, but he struggled with the patients. Sometimes he spilled medicine on the quilt, and sometimes he left the doors and windows open.
[When Shanglu Meiren was little, she was thrown into the lake like you, fell unconscious due to a high fever. She's very weak, otherwise how could she have caught a cold after just a few days of cold wind? I suspect if this continues, she'll be dead.]
Chu Huan's refusal was instantly stuck in her throat. "Qingzhu, pack up and go visit the patient."
Qingzhu smiled and replied, "Yes, Miss."
The system secretly made a scissors gesture, and the trick was successful!
Half an hour later, Chu Huan took Qingzhu, Hongmei and the packed gifts to visit the merchant.
I thought the system's statement was a bit exaggerated, but when I opened the door, I saw a dusty servant.
The servant was very surprised to see Chu Huan: "Why is Miss Chu here?"
"I heard the master was ill, so I came to visit him." Chu Huan tilted her head and instructed, "Qingzhu, Hongmei, go and help."
Qingzhu and Hongmei: "Yes, Miss."
The servant had a look of relief on his face, as if to say, "Save my life!" He led Chu Huan a little way and then ran off to work.
Chu Huan shook her head slightly, knocked on the door and waited for a response before entering the room.
Shang Lu sat on the head of the bed with his coat on, holding a book in his hand. His face, which was flushed due to illness, was as beautiful as a peach, and the teardrop mole at the end of his eye was even more moving. Even his clear voice was tinged with a bit of laziness.
"I just heard your voice. Is there something urgent that happened so late?"
"Visiting you is not an excuse." Chu Huan only glanced at Shang Lu's face and then looked away. The system was right. This face looked even better because of the illness.
The system joyfully called out: [Beautiful Shanglu, we are here to see you~]
Shang Lu smiled: "Thank you, I'm much better now."
Chu Huanxin said: It doesn’t look like that to me.
"Tong'er, the gentleman's face is a little red. Can you help check if he has a fever and what the temperature is?"
Shang Lu was slightly startled and looked up, but found that Chu Huan was not looking at him, and even moved a stool farther away as if to avoid suspicion.
System: [Not found.]
Even if there is such a good opportunity, it won’t say it, hehehe!
Chu Huan frowned slightly, looked at Shang Lu again, and found that his face was really red.
It was difficult for the patient to tell if he had a fever, so she raised her voice and waved to him, "Jia Yi."
system:! ! !
How hasty! I should have gotten rid of Jia Yi earlier!
Jia Yi rushed in and took Shang Lu's pulse. After a thorough inspection, listening, questioning and palpation, he came to the same conclusion as the previous doctor.
He definitely had a fever, but no matter how high it got, there was nothing he could do.
Chu Huan sighed. "Never mind. I've been trying to figure out how to make a thermometer for measuring human body temperature these past few days. I hope you won't need it by the time I'm done."
Measuring human body temperature was intuitive and clear enough, and Shanglu's brain, which was tortured by cold and fever, could react immediately.
"Is it difficult?"
Chu Hua: "It's simpler than a telescope."
The answer is not relevant to the question.
Shanglu knew the real answer: it was not easy.
If it were really easy to do, Chu Huan would have done it long ago and would not have waited until now to say she wanted to do it.
The telescope last time was just a test of the waters, but this time the thermometer... is something that is truly made for him.
Shang Lu suddenly felt that being sick and unable to read or look at the stars was not such a difficult thing to endure.
At least, someone cares about him and would come to visit him in the wind and snow, and even want to use a thermometer for him.
very nice.
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