Chapter 49: Fusu Returns to the Capital [Jinjiang Authentic Edition Exclusive Release·Can It Be the Same…?
In the afternoon, the autumn sunlight is still golden, but it does not have the scorching temperature of summer.
After waiting on the Weishui Bridge to say goodbye to his father-in-law who was talking incoherently and incomprehensibly, the dusty Fusu rode into the royal city on horseback and went straight home to wash up.
After a comfortable hot bath in the bathroom, Fusu, with his half-dried black hair half-tied and half-dry, dressed in a comfortable crescent-shaped white robe and Tangmu clogs, came out of the bathroom and walked into the bedroom. He saw his wife sitting on the soft couch by the window, flipping through scrolls of bamboo slips. Confused, he approached and asked, "What's going on?"
"Ling, did something major happen in the capital while I was away? Why did the officials I met in the southwestern town stare at my black horse when they saluted me? They also looked at me with strange eyes and said strange things to me. I couldn't understand them at all. It was completely baffling!"
Seeing her beloved, the fair-skinned, gentle and refined eldest son of the empire, return with a much darker complexion and rougher skin, his handsome features worn down by the scorching sun near the Great Wall. She wondered how long it would take for his skin to become white again. Wang Ling felt a pang of pain in her heart! She wished the wind and sand outside the Great Wall would quickly return her to her former beauty and elegance!
She sighed regretfully in her heart, picked up the kettle on the table and poured a cup of warm tea into the ceramic cup. She pushed the ceramic cup to the person opposite her and said with a smile while looking at Fusu:
"Don't worry, my dear. You should have a cup of tea to moisten your throat first. A lot has happened in the capital this summer. I'll tell you about them one by one."
"Tea?"
Fusu heard this unfamiliar term from his wife for the first time. He looked down at the ceramic cup in confusion. Seeing the slightly yellowish water in the cup, he couldn't help but pick up the ceramic cup and take a sip. After tasting the unique taste of the tea, he looked at his wife with some surprise and asked curiously:
"Ling, what kind of water is this? It tastes surprisingly good to me."
"Chrysanthemum and wolfberry tea."
"Chrysanthemum? Goji berries? Tea?"
When Fusu heard this unexpected answer, he couldn't help but look down at the ceramic cup in his hand, and repeated these three things with a strange look on his face, which seemed to have no connection at all.
Wang Ling further explained with curved eyes:
"Hahahahaha, my dear, you don't know that shortly after you left the capital in early May, the Black Bird gifted Ying with four more treasures, one of which was a can of something called 'tea', which was a common drink in the ancient Ba and Shu countries."
"Xuanniao told Ying that drinking tea daily is not only refreshing but also good for the body. Now, not only does His Majesty make tea every day in the palace, but the nobles throughout Xianyang City are also studying how to drink tea. In just one summer, they developed three varieties of tea: scented tea, leaf tea, and milk tea. What you are drinking now is scented tea."
Upon hearing this, Fusu's eyes widened in shock:
"Ling, what did you say? You said the Black Bird gave Ying another treasure? I remember when I left the capital, Ying went to the palace to look for my father, wasn't it to present treasures to him?"
Seeing Fusu's shocked and incredible look, Wang Ling's smile became even brighter. He nodded repeatedly and said proudly:
"My dear, you don't understand the situation. I am very much loved by the Black Bird. During the time I was away from home, I was able to receive treasures from the Black Bird from time to time. Going to the palace to present treasures has become a common occurrence."
"The treasures the Xuanniao gifted Ying were not only numerous but also very novel. For example, some treasures, like the self-absorbing diapers from outer space for babies, sweet milk powder specially for infants, and crystal bottles for babies to drink water, were all specially gifted by the Xuanniao to Ying for his own use. Other treasures, such as the drawings of magical agricultural tools from outer space, drawings of buildings that keep warm in winter and cool in summer, and paper books containing precious secret recipes, were all gifted by the Xuanniao to Ying, so that he could use them to benefit the entire Great Qin."
"After just a few months of development, the Great Qin of today is completely different from the Great Qin when my beloved left the capital. Not only have every village and county under heaven built propaganda walls and stone mills dedicated to promoting the court's policies, but everyone from the nobility to the common people is also inventing new ways to make wheat and bean food, and even stir-fry dishes. Even the previous deadly conflict between the Confucian and Legalist factions in the court over the book burning issue has been completely resolved by Ying's brilliant plan of 'Four Steps: Book Control Order' and 'Dispatching Confucian officials as envoys to the small kingdoms surrounding the Great Qin.'"
"Now, the common people across the country not only have new delicious food to eat, but they are also very active in submitting books to the emperor. Many nobles from fallen nations are vying for the position of 'Zhi Dian Lang' in the imperial court."
"What are these? Ling, I know about wheat and bean food, but what is the 'Four-Step Book Control Order'? Why did Ying send Confucian officials on diplomatic missions to the surrounding small kingdoms?"
Listening to the string of new words coming out of his wife's mouth, Fusu's eyes not only did not become clear, but became more confused.
If he remembered correctly, he had only been in the Great Wall for three months, right? Why did it seem like he had been there for three years? He was fine when he left, but when he came back, he couldn't even understand what his wife was saying?
Seeing that her husband was completely bewildered and clearly unable to follow her pace, Wang Ling leaned forward slightly across the table between them and began to explain the story in detail, starting from the beginning.
"My dear, if you want to fully understand the current accusation order being implemented throughout the country, you must first start with the fierce dispute between the Confucian and Legalist factions in the court before I left the capital..."
About an hour later, the sunlight outside the window gradually began to set in the west.
After Wang Ling talked until his mouth was dry and he drank three cups of scented tea in a row, Fusu's eyes changed from confusion to emptiness, emptiness to complexity, complexity to simplicity, and simplicity to confusion again.
He seemed to be in a daze, staring at his wife blankly, unable to utter a word for a long time.
My God! When did Xianyang City develop into something he didn't recognize without him knowing?
What does it mean? "My dear, you don't know, right? Actually, the sky above us is not square, and the earth under our feet is not round. The land we step on every day is an extremely large sphere called 'Earth'."
"What do you mean by—" "My dear, you can't guess, can you? The elixir of immortality that Your Majesty had the alchemists painstakingly refine not only doesn't grant immortality, but also contains heavy metal toxins just like the auspicious metal vessels! The elixir formula passed down from the Shang Dynasty is wrong!"
What else does it mean? "To control the complexities of public opinion and accelerate the pace of ideological unification, the upper ruling class must proceed in four steps: first, 'information control', then 'cultural integration'. After completing the first two steps, they must also pursue 'information monopoly' and 'contradictory transformation' throughout the world?"
He clearly didn't understand every word his wife said, so why couldn't he understand a single sentence?!
Even more painful, aggrieved, and perplexed than not understanding his wife's words was this: his father didn't understand his thoughts, but why didn't his son understand them either? Why was his young son so mischievous? On the occasion of the imperial farm's bountiful harvest, in front of all the civil and military officials, he "called the horse his father"?! No wonder his father-in-law rode his horse to block the Weishui Bridge, telling him to "cultivate the father-son relationship"! No wonder every official he passed on the way back to the imperial city was eager to see the black horse under his crotch!
It’s connected, everything is connected!
"Ling, you, do you think Ying doesn't like me as a father?"
A frustrated expression appeared on Fusu's face, his eyes couldn't help but become dim, and he asked in a somewhat melancholy tone.
This was not his imagination. After all, the ironclad facts were right in front of him. He, the eldest son of the empire, had been away from the capital for three months, but not only had there been no chaos, but the capital had become even more prosperous under the leadership of his father and with the help of his son!
The emperor's eldest grandson, who was less than one year old, could not only entertain his parents in colorful clothes in the palace to make his grandfather and mother happy, but also actively offer suggestions among the ministers.
Just a tiny baby, still wearing diapers, sucking on a pacifier, unable to speak elegant words, was able to "help" his father and important officials in the court solve complex and thorny government issues; "middle" was able to stop his father from taking deadly poison pills at the right time, and lead the mysterious alchemists onto the right path; "lower" was able to seek benefits for more than 20 million common people through his ingenious ideas, and what was even more "unbelievable" was that he could communicate with the black bird, be loved by heaven, and receive treasures from heaven from time to time!
Is this something a baby can do?
The nursing son not only did what he was supposed to do as a "baby" (sucking on a pacifier, wearing diapers), but he also did what he was supposed to do as an "adult" (listening to politics, discussing politics)! Not only did he act like a good "grandson", but he also squeezed him, the "son", out of the picture!
It seems that the entire royal family and the entire eldest prince's mansion are the same with or without him!
Seeing her beloved's face full of grievance and loss after suffering a great blow, Wang Ling could only raise her hand dryly and pat the back of the eldest son's hand to comfort him:
"It's alright, my dear. He's still very young. Even if he's bright and clever, he can still be mischievous. And you have to admit, if I hadn't exaggeratedly 'pointed to Ma as his father' in front of His Majesty and the entire court at the Imperial Farm, shocking them speechless, how could His Majesty and the officials have remembered—My dear, you've been away from the capital for quite some time?"
Fusu: “…”
"Besides, don't underestimate yourself. Ying is, after all, a child chosen by the Black Bird. Naturally, he's different from ordinary babies. Although Ying is indeed a little too capable, he makes us, as parents, look a little useless."
"But don't say anything about the royal family and the palace, or that it's the same with you or without you. I'm not talking about the royal family, but our family will never leave you. You know, if you, my dear, don't come back from the frontier, this palace we live in will no longer be the eldest son's mansion, but the emperor's eldest grandson's mansion. Although on the surface it only looks like a plaque hanging at the gate, in reality it's a whole generation apart. How can it be the same?"
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