Chapter 141: Sky Screen Streaming System (16)

Before moving, the three aunt and niece/nephew could only squeeze together to sleep on one bed.

Fortunately, her bed was 1.8 meters wide and 2 meters long, so it wouldn't be too crowded for three people to sleep horizontally.

She slept in the middle, her little niece slept between her and the head of the bed, and her nephew slept at the foot of the bed.

Right against the foot of the bed was a changing stool, so there was no fear of him rolling onto the floor after falling asleep.

As Xie Yang made the bed, Xie Jilin opened his mouth to speak several times but stopped.

Men and women should not share a mat after the age of seven; he was seven years old this year, could he still sleep on the same couch as his aunt and sister?

But he really wanted to sleep with his aunt; his aunt smelled nice, just like his mother.

Anyway... anyway, his aunt said they would move in a few days, and after moving, both he and Jinbao would have their own rooms.

"Let's go! Time for a bath!"

Xie Yang finished making the bed and called out to the two children.

Xie Jilin immediately put his tangled worries to the back of his mind and happily went to get his pajamas.

Xie Yang bathed her niece first, carried her to the bed after she was clean, and turned on the television for her to watch some cartoons before sleep.

Her nephew could bathe himself, but he needed her help to wash his hair.

She figured this long hair would be kept until the end of August at most, and it would definitely have to be cut before school started in September.

After all, one of the regulations on student appearance in primary and secondary schools was: boys are not allowed to have long hair.

"Aunt."

Xie Jilin called out softly.

He was sitting on Xie Yang's vanity stool, leaning back against the edge of the bathtub, his hair hanging right into the tub, while Xie Yang held the showerhead and adjusted the water temperature.

"What's wrong?"

"Is my hair very strange?" he asked softly, pursing his little lips.

While waiting at the airport this morning, a child he didn't know laughed at him for looking like a girl, saying only girls kept long hair.

Although Feng Zinuo had helped him scare that child away, this sentence kept spinning in his mind.

But one's body, hair, and skin are gifts from one's parents; would it be unfilial to cut it as short as Feng Zinuo's?

"It's not strange!" Xie Yang said gently, "But there is a phenomenon called the 'Aronson effect,' also known as the 'silent majority effect.' It means that people generally tend to avoid becoming an 'outlier' or a 'misfit,' believing that conforming to the aesthetics, habits, and appearances of the majority is the only way to be safe."

"Why is the majority here short-haired? Can't everyone keep long hair?"

"That's a good question." Xie Yang thought for a moment and said, "Perhaps it's because the appearance of hair clippers made trimming hair a very simple matter. So gradually, people stopped keeping long hair. Especially men, who mostly do manual labor and sweat a lot; short hair is easier to manage."

Xie Jilin thought about it carefully; it seemed that in Daliang, he had never heard of hair clippers, only scissors.

"Are hair clippers the same as scissors?"

"Of course not. Shall Aunt take you to a barbershop to experience it next time?" Xie Yang asked tentatively.

"..."

The little guy's body stiffened, clearly showing some resistance.

Xie Yang didn't force him: "There's no rush for this. Aunt has a lot to be busy with lately, and I wouldn't have time to take you anyway! Let's talk about it later."

The little guy let out a sigh of relief.

"How is the water temperature?"

Xie Yang gently wetted his hair and squeezed out some shampoo to lather it up.

"It's not hot or cold, it's very comfortable."

"That's good. Tell me if it's too hot or too cold."

"Mm."

"Close your eyes."

The little guy obediently closed his eyes.

A moment later, he couldn't help but ask the question he had been curious about for a long time: "Aunt, where does the water come from?"

Whether at the Police Station, the hotel, or home, he never saw water vats or cisterns, yet there was a constant stream of water flowing out of the small openings.

"This is called tap water. It is transported from a water treatment plant through pipes to every household."

"Is the water treatment plant in the sky?"

Xie Yang laughed: "Of course not. Water treatment plants are generally built near water sources. They disinfect the water from rivers and lakes and then transport it to every household through water pipes."

"But we live so high up, how does the water get up here?" Xie Jilin was very confused.

He only knew that water flows from high places to low places; he had never heard of it flowing from low places to high places.

"Using electric water pumps or high-level water tanks, I suppose."

Xie Yang hadn't studied this in depth either.

"Electric water pumps? Do they also use electricity? Then where does electricity come from?"

As soon as this question was asked, the core court officials led by Xiao Yanze all pricked up their ears.

They had discussed this issue for an entire day, and now the Little Marquis had asked it; they wondered if the Little Marquis's aunt would answer it on the spot.

"Electricity, that's a very complex and vast system." Xie Yang was afraid of explaining it wrong, so it would be better to leave it to the cartoons for popular science, "In a while, Aunt will find you a cartoon. After watching it, you'll have a preliminary understanding of where electricity comes from. If you want to study it further, you'll have to learn for many years. Universities even have specialized majors for studying the field of electrical science!"

The core leadership of the Daliang Kingdom: "..."

No wonder the Imperial Son-in-law didn't bring out electricity; it turned out to be so complex.

"Your Majesty, please allow this subject to take notes while the Little Marquis watches the cartoon."

Xiao Yanze: "Granted."

He immediately ordered the palace attendants to prepare brush and ink.

After Xie Yang finished washing her nephew's hair and drying it with a hairdryer, she tied his hair up into a high bun, put on a shower cap, and let him bathe himself.

After getting squeaky clean, the siblings put on loose pajamas, sat side by side at the head of the bed, and watched the cartoon Xie Yang had found for them, which contained common knowledge about electricity, with rapt attention.

The Minister of Works and the others, by the flickering light of candles, held their brushes to copy down what was mentioned in the cartoon about where electricity comes from—

Electricity is generated from power plants.

Common types of power plants include thermal power plants, hydroelectric power plants, wind power plants, nuclear power plants...

In a power plant, the most critical piece of equipment is the generator; it is the device that directly produces electrical energy.

The question arises—

"And where does the generator come from?"

The cartoon didn't say.

Perhaps this is what Aunt meant by a "complex and massive system," involving higher fields of knowledge.

The Minister of Works distressfully set down his brush: "Your Majesty, it seems we cannot fully understand this thing called 'electricity' tonight."

The Little Marquis and the Princess had only watched two episodes of the cartoon before their aunt required them to turn off the lights and go to sleep.

The Sky Screen also quieted down as a result, returning to the stillness of the night.

Xiao Yanze: "The hour is late, all you beloved ministers should also leave the palace and return to your manors!"

Beloved ministers: "..."

Discarded as soon as we're used!

But who could help it, since this is the Emperor!

After coaxing her nephew and niece to sleep, Xie Yang returned to the living room, sat cross-legged on the sofa holding her laptop, and clicked to open the Invisible Aircraft Terminal purchased from the System Mall using points.

That human trafficker disguised as a vagrant, although he failed to abduct her nephew and niece, had abducted two other children and, just like in the original world, sold them to Shanli Village.

The human trafficker was also staying in Shanli Village tonight.

Through the Invisible Aircraft, Xie Yang locked onto the location of Shanli Village, gathered some evidence, composed an email, and spent another sum of points to have the Main System mask her IP address and send it out anonymously.