Chapter 9: Qin, Chu, Yu, and the Peace of Great Heng (Please follow, please vote for monthly tickets)

Although Xu Jia was feigning unconsciousness, he could still listen to the doctor's theories and thought to himself: The principles of this medical art are exactly the same as in my previous life; it seems to be the Warmth-Disease School...

After sending Li Dafu away, Lady Xu pulled Master Xu aside and said, "Since Jidi can only eat vegetarian food, Laoye, let us follow suit and fast for a month. I don't know which god or Buddha was kind enough to send my son back to me..."

Although Master Xu nodded, he still had not dispelled his doubts: was the one who returned truly his own son?

……

Xu Jia had stayed in the Xu residence for three days. Rice porridge nourished the spleen and stomach; although drinking it made him want to urinate frequently, this stuff could even sustain an infant, so it was indeed somewhat effective.

Lady Xu had wanted to find a wet nurse, but once people heard it was to breastfeed a dead person, no one was willing.

Over these three days, through Li Dafu, who was frequently invited to check on him, as well as the deeply affectionate Lady Xu and Master Xu, Xu Jia had already roughly grasped the situation in the Xu residence and the current social background.

First, he himself, Xu Jia, was sixteen years old this year and was a child scholar, with the courtesy name "Jidi."

Second, it was currently the "third year of the Jitai era of the Great Ning Dynasty."

This place was called Qingtian Xiang, Yushan County.

The culture of this world was shockingly similar to Blue Star; the ancient myths and even the pre-Qin period were exactly the same.

But after the Qin Dynasty, Xiang Yu had succeeded in his bid for hegemony and established the Great Chu Dynasty, while the Duke of Pei was enfeoffed as the King of Han.

After the Great Chu Dynasty came the Great Yu Dynasty, where the descendants of Consort Yu took power.

After the Great Yu Dynasty was the Great Wu Dynasty, where the Sun clan vied for hegemony.

In the late Great Wu Dynasty, the Baiyue people rebelled, and a great general subdued the Baiyue, declared himself King of Yue, and then advanced into the north, opening up the Great Yue Dynasty.

After the Great Yue Dynasty was the Great Heng Dynasty, where a family of Confucian scholars hollowed out the imperial court, forced the emperor to abdicate, and the then "Heng" took the throne.

After the Great Heng Dynasty came the current Great Ning Dynasty.

In the final years of the Great Heng Dynasty, northern alien tribes invaded and captured the emperor, the crown prince, and the imperial concubines.

The world fell into great chaos; the Great Ning Dynasty's Taizu quelled the barbarian chaos, was enfeoffed as "Ning" by the child emperor newly installed by ministers, and later, after the emperor abdicated to him, he founded the Great Ning Dynasty.

More than one hundred and fifty years had passed since the Great Ning Dynasty began, and it could be considered a time of favorable weather and good harvests, so the new emperor, upon ascending the throne, set the era name as "Jitai."

This world only diverged from the historical path of Blue Star after the Qin Dynasty, so the thoughts of the Hundred Schools of Thought from the pre-Qin period existed here as well.

Especially Confucianism, which had developed much like it did in the ancient Blue Star of his previous life.

As for the specific situation of the Xu family, Xu Mu was a scholar, and Lady Xu was the daughter of a country squire from a neighboring county, which could be considered a marriage between families of equal social standing.

The Xu family's hundred mu of fertile land was left behind by Xu Jia's grandfather.

Xu Jia's grandfather was originally a boatman who later followed his employer in the porcelain and tea business.

When the employer's business ran into trouble, he went out on his own and achieved some success; after marrying and having children, he began to plan for the family's century-long future.

At the age of fifty, feeling his energy waning and finding society treacherous and his status low, he suffered a great loss.

Thus, he spent his family wealth to donate for the status of an Eighth-Rank Scattered Official and bought a hundred mu of fertile land, becoming a wealthy gentleman in his hometown.

During this time, he also cultivated Xu Mu to study, but he only passed the County Examination, Prefecture Examination, and Academy Examination, obtaining the status of a scholar.

Later, Xu Mu participated in the Provincial Examination four or five times but never passed to become a promoted scholar, and since Xu Jia's grandfather had died, he gave up on the examinations.

It could be said that the Xu family was already a middle-class wealthy family in the countryside, but they still could not be counted as a prestigious clan.

Because Xu Mu had failed the examinations many times, he named his son Xu Jia with the courtesy name Jidi, while he himself lived peacefully in the countryside as a wealthy gentleman, teaching his son in the hope that Xu Jia could pass the Provincial Examination.

"First Rank" referred to the top list of the imperial examinations; there were only three, the top scholar, the second, and the third, and these top three could be granted the status of "Presented Scholar" by the emperor.

The original Xu Jia did not disappoint expectations; he was intelligent and clever from a young age, known as a little prodigy. He began his education at six and studied for ten years; now, at exactly sixteen, he intended to participate in the County Examination.

As a result, he suddenly developed a soul-loss illness, fell into a coma, remained unconscious for seven days, and died without being cured.

At this time, a Daoist came and said that if a person who died suddenly was given a grand funeral, it would hinder the family's luck and feng shui.

Half-coaxing and half-threatening, he made Xu Mu bury the original Xu Jia in a thin-skinned coffin in a hasty manner. This led to the subsequent Jieshi Huanhun of Xu Jia.

After Xu Jia inquired about this, he realized there was a suspicious point: that Daoist.

According to the maid Xiao Hong, the Daoist did not seek any money; Xu Mu wanted to give him twenty taels of silver, but he did not want it, appearing to be merely a kind reminder.

And the Lame Fox, Huaban, said that the Daoist returned in the middle of the night and opened the coffin; this clearly meant there was something going on.

Just as Xu Jia was thinking about this, Lady Xu entered again: "Jidi, your former classmate has come to see you; would you like to meet him?"

How would Xu Jia know what classmates the original body had? Just as he was about to say no, he saw a plump, fair-skinned scholar squeezing through the door frame.

As soon as he entered, he was full of snot and tears, weeping: "Big Brother! Big Brother! I've come to see you! Everyone was afraid you would become a corpse-demon, but only I truly missed you. Oh, Big Brother, you've lost so much weight... you look completely different!"

Xu Jia felt unconfident from being called "Big Brother" sentence after sentence, and he cast an inquiring look at Xu Mu.

That Xiao Pang immediately noticed and was heartbroken: "Have you forgotten even me? I am your good friend of ten years!"

"I've forgotten many things," Xu Jia said, pointing to his head: "It's probably broken here."

Xiao Pang immediately wailed: "How could your clever head be broken? In every exam, if you hadn't let me copy, I would have been beaten to death by Niu Dafu long ago. How could you not even recognize me, Niu Congcong?"

"That... Congcong, keep your voice down. Jidi cannot handle much stimulation right now." Lady Xu could not bear his loud clamor and made a shushing gesture.

Niu Congcong immediately understood, lowered his voice, and took a wooden box from his sleeve. Opening it, it was indeed a mountain ginseng: "Big Brother, I stole this from Niu Dafu; take it to nourish yourself."

Niu Dafu was his father.

Xu Jia glanced at the ginseng; it was about thirty or forty years old, but it was valuable because it was wild.

Oh! This little fat guy is actually quite a good person! Not bad at all. It's just that his personality is a bit dull.

Congcong, the little fat boy, wiped his nose: "I'm afraid it was the work of a quack doctor who called you dead when you were alive and sealed you in a coffin. But it's also good; having died once and checked in with the King of Hell, you will surely live a long life and everything will go smoothly in the future."

The previous words made Lady Xu's face wrinkle; she was superstitious about saying or hearing such things, felt guilty, and dared not bring it up in front of Xu Jia.

Xu Jia, however, said mysteriously: "You're actually right; I did indeed take a trip to the Ghost Gate."

Niu Congcong's eyes widened: "Really? What does the underworld look like? What do the Ghost Gods look like? Are they green-faced and fanged, fierce and terrifying?"

Xu Jia shook his head, his tone serious: "Ghosts are also transformed from humans; whatever humans look like, ghosts look like. Of course, ghosts with deep obsessions will also have some exaggerated physical deformations."

"Amitabha, don't say it, don't say it!" Lady Xu hurriedly interrupted: "Don't you dare speak recklessly about Ghost Gods!"

Although Xu Jia had no feelings for the parents of this world, he had inherited their flesh and blood, which meant he had inherited the "grace of birth," so he could not fail to repay the kindness and could not fail to be filial.

He comforted her: "Mother, I was just joking with him. Staying in the room, I feel depressed, and since someone finally came, I'm just relieving my boredom."

"That's right, Auntie, we boys have some private things to talk about; having you listen here is just too embarrassing..."

Xu Mu:...

Xu Jia:...

Xu Mu still went out the door and sighed. Ever since this son returned from the dead, not only had he forgotten some things, but he also had a sense of detachment from this home, and some of his detailed habits did not match up with before either.

If it weren't for verifying some details on his body, such as birthmarks and the scar left from a childhood fall, she would have thought there was someone exactly the same...

As for that previous coffin, Xu Fu had also gone to see it himself; it was empty inside, which matched up.

They had originally wanted to find that previous Daoist, but it just so happened that the Daoist did not know where he had gone.

Not to mention anything else, Lady Xu had already been to the temple twice: once to fulfill a vow, and once to request a consecrated Talisman, which she placed under Xu Jia's pillow, also wanting to see if some evil spirit had replaced her son.

After all, returning from the dead was an unheard-of matter... how could she not be suspicious?

(End of chapter)