Bonus chapter for 24,000 nutrient solutions: "I love my cousin the most..."
The family of four ate watermelon, and the watermelons grown by the palace staff were also growing very well.
Banban sold the fruit outside the palace. In his spare time, he discussed with the serfs how to grow various fruits and published a book. He then had tens of thousands of copies printed at the royal printing house and sold them at a low price while keeping costs in mind.
The serfs received the book and were filled with disbelief; they all picked it up and flipped through it.
Cong Yun poured them tea, a smile appearing on her lips: "What's wrong with you all?"
They hesitated and dared not speak. Kui smiled and said, "Aunt Yun always asks questions she already knows the answer to. How could we servants have imagined that our names would one day be engraved in the editorial column?"
The serf named Zhinu nearly dropped his jaw. "Exactly, exactly!"
Yun casually flipped through a couple of pages and saw that after the queen's name, several serfs' names were listed side by side. Inside, each instruction was marked with the corresponding serf's name, but the queen's name was not listed. This was to announce to the world that the queen was merely the compiler, not the one who actually taught the planting process.
This was incomprehensible to these serfs, as many in power have always appropriated the fruits of the labor of the lower classes without any remorse.
She smiled and said, "The Queen not only treats you well, but she also won't steal your credit. You even receive a monthly salary. If you are loyal, there will be even better things waiting for you in the future. Just don't make the mistake of betraying your own people." By the end of her words, her tone was full of authority and ruthlessness.
This maidservant had served the Queen since childhood and was quite different from the other maidservants. What she said and did was exactly what the Queen wanted. The serfs hurriedly expressed their loyalty, their hearts filled with warmth, wishing they could serve the Queen for the rest of their lives.
Seeing this, Cong Yun smiled with satisfaction. "Everyone, please don't stand on ceremony. The Queen has instructed that you dine in the palace today. The kitchen has specially prepared several tables, and the dishes are all carefully selected by the Queen last night."
You have to give someone a sweet treat and then punish them; a combination of kindness and severity is the only way to ensure long-term success.
The Queen was kind-hearted, so Yun had to keep a low profile, fearing that someone might be disloyal to her.
Because potatoes damage the soil, the royal family ordered that they could not be planted year after year. Even so, the harvest from one planting cycle was quite plentiful. After a little work, three or four months would pass by.
In late autumn, battle reports arrived from the front lines.
The Qin-Chu War, which lasted for more than three months, came to an end. In the decisive Battle of Qinan, Xiang Yan was defeated and killed by suicide. The State of Chu lost its last military pillar.
Wang Jian and Meng Wu led the Qin army to capture Shouchun, the capital of Chu, and took Chu general Fu Chu prisoner.
At the same time, a new message came back, completely shattering Changwenjun Mi Dian's hopes.
—Mi Qi, the Lord of Changping, rebelled against Qin and was enthroned as the last King of Chu.
Upon hearing this news, Banban sighed and remained silent for a long time.
Yang Jiang's tea-making skills have improved recently, and her movements are fluid and graceful. "I heard that Mi Dian has been staying at home all day drinking. He should be showing his loyalty to his brother the more this is the case," she shook her head, wondering what Mi Dian was thinking. "But he went to court drunk and was punished by his brother the more he was drunk."
"He can't be thinking about how to defect to the new King of Chu, can he?" She curled her lip, giving him a cold and sarcastic look. "I think he's courting death."
Yang Jiang, having once been a princess of the Han faction, was already at odds with the Chu faction and harbored no goodwill towards anyone surnamed Mi. It is not surprising that she would take advantage of Mi Dian's misfortune to ridicule him.
He doesn't concern himself with any affairs of state, and won't interfere in the slightest. He only does what he can, and doesn't understand anything beyond that, so he won't talk about it outside.
After briefly discussing Yang Jiang's distress over the Chu-Han affair, she poured out her grievances, and only then did Banban realize that the factional struggles were often undercurrents, not in the open, but beneath the surface.
When Ying Zheng returned that night, he learned that Mi Qi had become the new King of Chu and was continuing to resist Qin in Huainan.
"Utterly naive and absurd!" Ying Zheng angrily retorted, "Our Qin army marched south with unstoppable momentum. How does he intend to resist? To die for his country?"
As it turned out, Ying Zheng's prediction was correct.
Half a month later, the war against Chu came to a complete end. Mi Qi's army was powerless to resist the Qin army's attack and was routed within a few days.
He chose to die on the battlefield.
"What a Chu man, Mi Qi! What a Chu king, Mi Qi!" Ying Zheng was furious like never before. He wished he could kill Mi Dian to vent his anger.
This is indeed taking one's anger out on others.
However, he ultimately did not do so.
“King Zhaoxiang is right. Those who are loyal to the world are not loyal ministers; those who are loyal to me are the true loyal ministers.” He felt betrayed, and Mi Qi’s actions were a disgrace to him. His most capable prime minister in the past had turned against Qin, becoming the King of Chu’s way of attacking Qin, making his trust the biggest joke.
Banban understood that when he said "I have no fate with Mi Qi, let him go" before, he thought that Mi Qi cared about the common people and wanted to stay in Chu to help the displaced people settle down. He never expected that Mi Qi would rebel against Qin and sit on the throne of Chu.
What's the difference between this and slapping him across the face on the spot?
That night, Ying Zheng suffered from insomnia.
Banban simply got up and grabbed a pot of good wine, and the two of them enjoyed the moon and the wine.
The last time she drank with him like this was on the day Meng Ao passed away.
The couple looked at each other in silence. Banban didn't know how to comfort him, so she just held his hand and leaned against him. He wasn't asleep, so she stayed with him.
The autumn wind is bleak, I gaze at the moon and sigh deeply.
Ying Zheng never held onto such negative emotions in his heart. Once dawn broke, he would turn the page on even the most unbearable things and never let them linger in his mind.
He learned this from his cousin.
"It's dawn."
Ying Zheng composed himself and said, "Cousin, go back and rest. Thank you for keeping me company last night."
“Why do you say that, cousin?” Banban sighed and said resentfully, “I know you can’t sleep even if I tell you to rest. Go take a bath before you go. A fresh look will make you feel better. The fall of Chu is ultimately a good thing.”
As she spoke, she sniffed him, and a faint smell of alcohol lingered in the air. His alcohol tolerance was now a mystery; Banban hadn't dared to drink much last night, and she herself couldn't hold her liquor—she would pass out after just a few drinks.
The only time she knew he was drunk was when she was a teenager and was about to leave the palace to return to the Ji family. He got drunk and made a mistake. When he woke up, she was already packing her luggage, which made him angry and they had a big fight.
Ying Zheng smiled slightly, his mind completely at ease, and gently stroked the hair by her ear, "I understand."
When Wang Jian and Meng Wu returned to the capital in triumph, a celebratory banquet was held in the palace.
Afterwards, they held a meeting in Chengzhang Hall. As a monarch, he naturally had to inquire about the battle situation, which was a familiar task for Wang Jian.
Banban listened with great interest from the side.
Wang Jian's description was precise and his words were sharp. Li Si even wanted a dish to accompany his wine and cheered from time to time. Han Fei, who was guarding Crown Prince Ying Zhao, listened to a few words and cast an admiring glance at Wang Jian.
"The only downside was that before Xiang Yan committed suicide after his defeat, he uttered an ominous phrase."
"Oh? What's so unlucky about it?" Ying Zheng raised his eyebrows, urging him to speak frankly.
Wang Jian concealed everything, saying, "He said, 'Even if Chu has only three households left, it will surely be Chu that destroys Qin.' That's utter nonsense."
Three households?
Hesitant and uncertain.
Ying Zheng wasn't angry. He glanced at his cousin and, seeing that she indeed didn't understand what "three households" meant, said casually, "The three households refer to the Zhao, Qu, and Jing clans of the Chu state. Xiang Yan is so confident in making such a vow."
"If the Chu state had not been controlled by these three major clans for so long, leading to internal corruption, severe infighting, and deep-seated problems, the Chu state would not have declined to this extent."
"Is Qu the same as Qu Yuan?" Banban leaned closer and whispered to Ying Zheng, covering her hand.
Ying Zheng looked at her with surprise, "You still recognize Qu Yuan?"
Banban pinched his arm. Who do you think you are?
After her ministers left, she immediately glared at them coldly and said, "You underestimate me!"
"I don't."
"You have it."
How can I despise you?
"The look you gave me just now was saying, 'You?'"
"I am indeed very surprised." Ying Zheng laughed, saying "Alright, alright" several times, and reached out to hug him. "It's my fault. Isn't it because you don't like studying history?"
"It's understandable that people don't like to learn. My cousin not only wants me to learn about Zhao and Qin, but also about other states. It's so confusing! How can it be unified into one thing and easy to understand? I'm getting dizzy from all this learning."
These words struck a chord with Ying Zheng, who hastily apologized, "Indeed, I did not underestimate you; I was simply surprised. So how did my cousin know about Qu Yuan?"
Banban honestly said, "We celebrate a festival every year in our area to commemorate Qu Yuan. We also race dragon boats and eat zongzi (sticky rice dumplings)."
"...A national holiday?"
"Uh-huh!"
"..." Ying Zheng vaguely sensed the impression that Qin had left on later generations in terms of conquering other states. "Qu Yuan was a famous minister of Chu who resisted Qin. He once allied with Qi against Qin and held a high position in Chu. If his reforms had not touched the interests of the Chu nobles and been slandered, he would not have been alienated and exiled by King Huai of Chu."
"In memory of him..." No wonder my cousin said King Zhaoxiang was a major villain; perhaps the Qin state was too?
"This is because after General Bai Qi conquered Yingdu, the capital of Chu, Qu Yuan committed suicide by throwing himself into the river to show his patriotism."
"As for why we eat zongzi and race dragon boats, I have no idea," Banban shook his head.
“I know…” Ying Zheng’s expression was somewhat strange.
"Legend has it that Qu Yuan drowned himself in the river, and the common people of Chu were extremely saddened. They rowed boats to try to retrieve him. The dragon boat you mentioned is also a type of boat, so it must have a similar meaning. Since it is a festival, the forms are derived from it."
"Huh?" Banban had a funny idea. "So, the rice dumplings aren't meant to be thrown into the river to prevent fish and shrimp from eating Qu Yuan's body, are they?"
"How would I know?" Ying Zheng pinched her cheek. "What is a zongzi? Is it a rice ball? You only remember eating it?"
“Yes, yes, it’s rice dumplings.” Banban pulled his hand. “Then let’s eat zongzi too. Let’s wrap them in bamboo leaves into a triangular shape.”
Before she could finish speaking, she excitedly changed her mind, "Shall we go on a trip to Chu?"
"I'm afraid it will take some time. We need to get the Chu region sorted out first, otherwise it won't be safe." Ying Zheng squeezed her fingers. "Wherever you want to go, I'll go with you."
Banban was delighted to hear this, and sat in his lap with sincere admiration, saying, "I love my cousin the most."
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Author's note: I didn't win...
I really am from Henan, so I really can't pass!
I'm taking a week off and will resume extra updates next Thursday. I'll be updating daily as usual this week, and I'll use the time to fix some bugs in the previous chapters and make minor revisions to some plot points. You don't need to look back; I'll mention the changes in the author's notes when I update a new chapter each day.
Okay, I know everyone agrees, mwah, let's send a red envelope!
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