Chapter 405: Kitten's Heartbreak (x)

Du Shanü's remark was entirely a passing fancy.

If she said this to others, she might have intended it as a warning.

But to Yu Baobao, what she truly wanted to say was simply "don't worry".

Yu Baobao worries about the Deposed Crown Prince being burned, worries about harming the people and wasting finances, and even starts worrying about the peach tree......

She can understand, but that doesn't mean she agrees.

She is not lacking compassion, but the notion of universal harmony, universal love......

Such words can only deceive those bookish simpletons full of literary poetry and overly thoughtful and sensitive.

As long as one truly steps down to earth, step by step from among the common people, one will discover a horrifying fact——

To control this world, only grace is absolutely insufficient.

Today you give someone a bowl of rice, tomorrow you give someone a bowl of rice, the day after you give that person another bowl of rice......

If this continues, the person will not feel that giving him rice is your kindness; they will only feel it is entirely natural.

When one day you stop giving him rice, he will only feel that you owe him rice.

Such thinking is what is most terrifying and frightening.

This is also why Du Shanü has always refused to personally distribute porridge or personally bandage the wounded.

A rare occurrence might be remembered, but when those trifles become daily chores, she is destined unable to undertake great undertakings.

Furthermore......

Compared to lowering one's status to exchange for fleeting thanks and praise.

A blade hanging over one's head, about to fall but not yet fallen, is destined to be more useful.

An important point Du Shanü grasps from Yu Baobao and Chinu is——

To let the people feel grace, one must also let them feel the Son of Heaven's unangered might.

Grace and might employed together is the best choice.

If only Yu Baobao's grace, or only Chinu's previously wielded might, then perhaps it is far insufficient.

A harmonious, or relatively harmonious feudal dynasty, has absolutely nothing to do with universal harmony.

Rather, it is ruler as ruler, minister as minister, father as father, son as son.

Everyone lives according to their own status.

Farmers cultivate; part of the grain they produce is paid as tax, taken to the market to exchange for what they need; hundreds of lower-class people contribute the most basic labor.

Further up, merchants travel south and north, bringing goods to the four borders.

Further up, the government is honest and clean; it not only maintains public order and stability, but also must maintain market harmony, establishing layers of expenses under the class system......

That's right, that's right.

Such expenses, in fact, a large part is for protection.

Set relatively low prices for easily obtainable goods, and relatively high prices for hard-to-obtain goods.

The fewer high-priced goods there are, the harder they circulate; the higher-ups look down on and fail to understand the lower-class expenses; in peaceful times, this becomes a covert form of protection.

Those in power only need to consume the authority brought by this class; many things naturally remain, and those below can also keep what belongs to them.

During Du Shanü's two months of postpartum confinement, bored out of her mind, she idly read many histories and even discovered something quite remarkable——

That is, the act of repairing tombs, once despised, seems not entirely so.

Many people seem to assume that repairing tombs is a great burden on the people and finances, but this also depends on the reigning monarch's achievements and conduct.

Nowadays medicine is neglected; every few years, if a natural disaster occurs, there is likely to be a man-made calamity.

Plague, dysentery, refugees, pillaging......

Too many to count.

Sending people for one- or two-day disaster relief is certainly possible.

But as time drags on, one must prevent lower officials from layer upon layer of corruption, and also worry about where to place these refugees.

Thus, "work for relief" became an excellent recourse.

What refugees?

No matter what refugees, do you want to start anew?

If so, we don't care where you came from, whether you have public verification; enter an artisan register, we'll give you rations, go work or not?

The refugees originally left their hometowns resolved to risk life and limb; if there is a livelihood, how could they not go?

But where exactly is there such a project that can let the refugees start work?

That is naturally repairing the palace, repairing the imperial mausoleum!

Regardless, it must be done; if the project is large and the treasury is still fairly ample, we can even pay some wages; the refugees gain registration and wages, and soon can find a foothold.

At the latest within a few years, they can take root, become re-registered as good citizens; what worry is there about vagrancy and revolt?

Thus, those in power sometimes must, against all odds, think of every means to toss people around.

Just like the peach tree before us, if not pruned, it blooms in chaotic disarray.

But if someone prunes it, the peach blossoms won't have as much energy to flower; naturally they'll reserve the remaining energy for fruiting.

Authority.

Authority.

Du Shanü wants to tell Yu Baobao——

They perhaps will henceforth be able to enjoy authority more openly and grandly.

After all, Du Shanü has always had a secret in her heart......

She likes the sight of Chinu kneeling and wailing in grief.

That is her shouting out that one of the most fundamental causes of what she wants for the world is.

If one were to say, Chinu was born a slave......

Then she, Du Shanü, was born to be Chinu's master.

Everything follows its natural course; it's simply that.

Under the boundless setting sun, a girl held a sword in one hand and a flower in the other, extending it toward the gentle youth.

Yu Baobao stared for a long while before realizing she should take hold of that flower stem, which was about the length of a forearm.

Since they were to make food, using wilted blossoms would surely be unsuitable; the segment of flower stem that Du Shanü cut was extremely tender, not a single petal having fallen.

Feeling the bashful, hesitant tender shoots in her hand, Du Shanü originally thought Yu Baobao would be pleased this time.

However, the youth before her, in the moment he dazedly reached out and touched the peach blossom petal, completely lowered his eyelids:

"Wife Master...... I sometimes truly feel that you and Chinu are a match made in heaven."

Those words were more than just abrupt.

Du Shanü had originally been waiting for her own Yu Baobao to praise her, then go on to wildly chop a bundle of peach blossoms; hearing those words, she was instantly startled.

She tried to see traces of teasing or mockery on Yu Baobao's face, but there were none; he seemed merely to have finally awakened from a long dream of years, losing his former dazed and confused appearance.

He lifted his eyes to look at Du Shanü; the two gazed into each other's eyes, and Du Shanü instantly saw his slowly flowing, clear eye color.

Yu Baobao gripped that peach blossom stem, allowing the sunlight to gradually press down upon his shoes:

"...... The two of you are more like, you two clearly seem, seem......"

Whether it be that yearning for power and status, or that overwhelming ambition......

The two of them are clearly the kindred spirits who can stand side by side to the end.

He is so stupid.

He is so stupid.

How could he not have realized?

He always said he didn't mind Chinu joining this household, but today he finally realized—clearly, it wasn't Chinu who joined this household!

The reason Chinu has always been reluctant, being awkward, to come see him......

Actually, it's because in this household, there just happened to be an extra 'him'!

He is the odd one out among the three!

He is the only one among the three who cannot keep up with the pace, the odd one out!

?? Yu Baobao: terrified of being abandoned. jpg

? Author: every day praying in trepidation not to have a power outage. jpg