Chapter 572: Nurturing the Common Folk

In winter, the sun rises and falls with snow.

This year's weather has been abnormal; even the south has seen a thin layer of snow, blanketing the bluestone streets of Yicheng, so pedestrians stumble with every step, slipping at each pace.

The old Shopkeeper of Huichun Hall shook the coarse-cloth garment on his body.

It was a wool-felt-like garment, windproof and snowproof; with a shake of the body and a wipe of the palm, the thin snow scattered away, the chill unable to seep into his body—the old Shopkeeper had never worn such a thing in his old days.

After Qin Huang reclaimed the old lands of Chen, the official merchant roads were opened to all directions; from the Western Regions and the grasslands, wool and leather were transported out in an endless stream. The mountain-guarding folk of the Holy Mountain in the most remote Western Regions city could drink Jiangnan's tea, and the Central Plains' herbs could strengthen one's qi and blood.

The fishing folk of Jiangnan could wear thick gear and ignore winter's chill to fish through the night. The era seemed not to have changed all that much, yet somehow it seemed to have undergone an earth-shattering transformation.

The old Shopkeeper stepped out and saw a Mohist mechanical carriage on the road.

It looked like a giant horse-drawn cart, powered by mechanisms; its speed wasn't fast, no match for a galloping warhorse, but compared to two legs it was certainly far more comfortable.

It moved along a fixed track.

It only ran on the main thoroughfare, and a single copper coin was enough to ride it.

He had already grown accustomed to pulling out a copper coin, squeezing in, squinting his eyes, and listening to the people around him discuss the affairs of these days—after Your Majesty Qin Huang's campaign against the State of Ying, there were no more wars in all directions, and the realm had welcomed a peaceful era that had been hoped for and awaited for over three hundred years.

Peace, huh…

The old Shopkeeper turned those two words over in his mind.

Sometimes, he didn't know what those two words truly stood for.

Hearing a bout of crying, the old Shopkeeper's wooden face turned, and inside the crowded Mohist mechanical carriage he saw a young woman scolding in anger: "You went off to play again?"

"The teacher says nine out of ten of your arithmetic problems are wrong!"

The child was still stubbornly defiant, saying: "You—Mother, how do you even know I got them wrong!"

The woman reached out, pinched the child's ear, and twisted it, saying in exasperation:

"How do I know?!"

"Eight or nine years ago, when Your Majesty Qin Huang pioneered early childhood education, your mother here was the very first student of that day. The enlightenment teacher instructing you now was my junior fellow student back then. You, you!"

"Such a simple Jiugong Eight Shoulders Diagram, and you still haven't memorized it!!!"

That line was both anxious and vexed, carrying also a helpless, amused laugh.

The woman looked to be only twenty-three or twenty-four at month's end; a woman of that age in this era would long since have married and had children. Eight or nine years ago, at fourteen or fifteen, she had entered the children's school.

For this woman, it was a matter of course.

But the words from her mouth left the old Shopkeeper stunned. He didn't know why, but he thought of that line—"Such a simple Jiugong Eight Shoulders Diagram"—and for this old man who had lived through the old era and the changes of today, the impact was so immense.

A dozen or so years ago, that little pharmacist had, at thirteen or fourteen, solved this Jiugong Diagram and thus been valued by the Xue family, becoming a minor arithmetic teacher. But now, this child was only seven or eight, yet was taken for granted to be expected to master these things.

The feeling of the changing times flowed on like running water.

The old Shopkeeper was dazed for quite a while.

"…Peace."

He watched the people coming and going on the street; gone was the lavish air of Dacheng of the State of Chen from a dozen or so years ago, yet there was an indescribable sense of hope. Even if the days were lived the same as before, just silently chewing on those eight words—"peace under heaven, no more wars"—brought a subtle, indescribable stirring of emotion.

The old Shopkeeper squeezed into the Mohist mechanical carriage, and in far less time than before arrived at a small tavern. The tavern's fat Shopkeeper, his hair all white, was smiling as he set up the wine banner; seeing him come, he beckoned the old Shopkeeper down.

"Come, drink!"

The fat proprietor laid out a great spread of wine and meat, covering the table, and also stewed some mutton. The old Shopkeeper was somewhat astonished and asked: "Today you're actually willing to spend this much capital?"

The fat Shopkeeper said: "I don't know either, it's just that the taxes have been lowered again."

"The price of mutton and pork is a few portions cheaper than before; cloth and such are also much cheaper than before."

"But we don't understand these things anyway. In any case, grain prices have stabilized quite a bit—at least it's not like back in the days of Duke Ding Li, when prices rose every few days. Come, come, taste my cooking!"

The tavern's fat proprietor raised his brows proudly. The old Shopkeeper took off his thick outer garment, hung it aside, and sat at the table. The proprietor still poured him his one-cash-per-cup wine. The old Shopkeeper lifted the wine and looked outside.

After a long, long while, that wooden face finally carried a trace of a gentle smile.

"Good days, these."

The fat proprietor laughed heartily and said: "That's right, come, come, drink, drink!"

Neither of them was young anymore, especially the old Shopkeeper, who was now already past seventy. Were it not for being a Physician and tending his body, he likely would not have had such vigor. The fat proprietor was also already in his fifties, with quite a bit of white hair.

The fat proprietor tidied up the things, wiped his hands, and sat down as well.

One street, one tavern, two old friends, one table of wine and meat.

The fat proprietor said: "Your one-cash wine."

"Cheers!"

The old Shopkeeper of Huichun Hall normally loved wine but was not a drunkard, never drank to excess; each time he came here he only drank one cup—one-cash wine, with a hint of wine but not enough to intoxicate. The two of them clinked cups.

The old Shopkeeper, as always, tipped the cup to his lips and downed it in one go.

A fierce surge of wine rushed down his throat.

"Cough cough cough cough!!!"

The old Shopkeeper's face flushed red all at once. He coughed violently and said: "This, this wine…"

The fat proprietor said: "Grain prices dropped, so the wine's quality improved."

"In other words—"

He suddenly burst out laughing: "In the past, taxes were high and grain was dear, so the one-cash wine you drank was watered down!"

The old Shopkeeper opened his mouth, but felt the wine's strength rising, his head dizzy and vision swimming. Feeling exhilarated, he tried to stand, but only leaned back and sat down again, pointing at the fat proprietor, not knowing what to say, just laughing out loud.

Both of them laughed heartily, utterly carefree.

The fat proprietor said: "You know your letters and such, so write a name for my new wine."

The old Shopkeeper rose unsteadily, and in one fluid motion wrote two large characters on the red paper, then tossed down the brush, carrying a few traces of Mu Zi Yi's free and easy spirit.

He pinched that cup of unwatered wine and only said:

"So the so-called peace is nothing more than right here… in the daily lives of the common folk."

"Good—peace!"

The old shopkeeper lunged forward, slumped onto the table, and was already fast asleep. The fat shopkeeper slowly sipped this undiluted, one-coin-per-cup liquor, watching the people coming and going outside. He took advantage of the liquor's boldness and leaned forward to look.

He saw two characters written on this new jar of wine.

Great Peace.

These two characters were nothing like the ones written back at the Huichun Hall when he was writing prescriptions—those had been illegible. These seemed to have been stained by that fierce, fierce liquor's breath, so when the brush came down, the strokes turned bold and fierce.

The fat shopkeeper picked up his brush and wrote, adding one character: Drunken.

"Drunken Great Peace, Great Peace Drunken, hahahaha ha."

Then he too swayed drunkenly and collapsed onto the table.

After Qin Huang broke through Ying, the officials and noble houses of Ying State did not put up much resistance—rather, how could they resist? Qin Huang, the world's foremost divine general at only the age of weak crown, a legend of the martial way, with the body of a hegemon.

This lord emperor was right there, and even killing him they could not kill him.

The noble houses, exerting all their strength, could perhaps inflict on Qin Huang only the tiniest of superficial wounds.

There was no way around it—they couldn't win.

Surrender, surrender.

Only, in their hearts they were terrified, truly worried, for they were about to face that one who had shaken the world, and even to a certain extent, shaken the annals of a thousand autumns—【Yan Daiqing of the Western Regions】. But fortunately, fortunately.

The one who came was not Yan Daiqing of the Western Regions.

It was a youth who looked extremely reliable, extremely warm and approachable, named Wen Qingyu. While they were chatting and laughing, the remaining lords of Ying State's noble houses sighed and lamented, saying: "We are fortunate that Mr. Wen Qingyu came; in our hearts we truly were afraid."

"We truly worried, worried that it would be that Mr. Yan Daiqing who came. If Mr. Yan Daiqing had come, I'm afraid we would truly be... in for more ill fortune than good."

Wen Qingyu smiled warmly and said: "His Majesty Qin Huang is not one who delights in killing."

"At most you would simply no longer have the power and authority of days past—how does that amount to ill fortune outweighing good?"

The gathered noble houses all sighed heavily, saying: "My family has been dukes and ministers for generations. To have no power, to fall to the level of mingling with common folk—is that not precisely the decline of a house?!"

"Oh ho?"

Mr. Wen Qingyu's smile grew all the more sincere and reliable.

He raised his cup and said: "If that is so, how about I come and help you all?"

The noble houses wore pleading expressions, saying: "We know of His Majesty Qin Huang's might, and we have absolutely no desire to struggle against His Majesty Qin Huang. We submit—we only hope His Majesty can preserve our families."

Wen Qingyu smiled and said: "Gentlemen, you are the finest of fine people."

"All of you are excellent noble houses. I also know that you all, in ordinary days, rarely do anything corrupt or unjust, nor do you bully others with your power. Compared to Chen State, the Central Province, and those whom Ying Wu Di Jiang Wanxiang cut down, you count as truly excellent."

"How could I not put in a few good words for you all?"

The elderly noble relaxed a breath, but at this moment, a calm voice came through:

"Among the noble houses, there are those who bully others with their power and go against the commands of their ancestors; there are those with wealth beyond measure who bully men and seize women; and there are those who, relying on the strength of their clans, only manage their own affairs and seldom look outward. Noble houses are like people—each has good and evil."

"However, gentlemen, do you know what is most important to His Majesty?"

This clear, cold voice carried a sense of calm.

Only, when this voice fell, that warm, serene, sincere, and reliable Mr. Wen Qingyu's expression gradually stiffened. The place had been extremely secluded, yet the great door was suddenly pushed open, and a youth of around thirty, pure as jade, paced in.

Dressed all in white, decorated with green bamboo, his hair bound in a topknot with a blue hair ribbon.

At his waist hung a long sword and a jade stone of greenish-white hue.

The well-read elder answered: "Naturally, it is those who do good and remove evil."

That youth only spoke, warm as jade:

"It is the dead noble houses that are most important."

At this, the place fell utterly silent. The noble houses' faces froze and paled bit by bit. Wen Qingyu sighed and said: "With words like that, am I not finding it very hard to do my job?"

The elder's face went pale, and he said: "You, you!"

"Who are you?! We wish to speak with His Majesty, to speak with Mr. Wen Qingyu!"

"Such a great matter concerns countless people of noble houses great and small..."

That warm youth stepped forward half a pace and said calmly:

"Yes, it concerns the common folk of the world!"

"How can noble houses such as yourselves be mentioned in the same breath as the common people of the world?!"

This single sentence cut off all the elder's hopes. He gasped for breath, but just as in days past when noble houses applied pressure, almost out of habit he asked: "Who, exactly, are you?!"

The youth, whose bearing was pure and whose spirit was rich as jade, shook his sleeve and said evenly:

"I am Yan Daiqing."

Those three characters came out.

It was as if they had drained all the air from this place.

The gathered noble houses were all silent in death. A vast despair hung over the place. The elder's face went from white to blue, from blue to red. He had been a renowned scholar of his generation, yet because of those three characters, he actually spurted fresh blood from his mouth and collapsed backward.

"Ah, Grandfather, Grandfather, what's wrong with you!"

"Grandfather, physician, where is the physician?! Grandfather's pulse has stopped!"

"Dead, dead..."

"Grandfather was scared to death by Yan Daiqing!"

The corner of Wen Qingyu's mouth twitched.

Yan Daiqing's expression did not change, as he looked at Wen Qingyu, whose expression also did not change.

Neither of them looked the least bit refreshed!

………………

Sa Atandi sighed.

Mr. Wen Qingyu and Mr. Yan Daiqing seemed to have come to blows again. When the two gentlemen grew annoyed, it seemed one felt the other had ruined his reputation, while the other felt that this time it was he himself who had spoken those three characters.

Sa Atandi sat on the rooftop, just as she had in her younger days in the Western Regions. A scroll rested on her knee. She picked up her brush, dipped it in ink, and on this white paper wrote character after character, each one brimming with tremendous spirit.

The historian's brush is like a blade.

【Qin Huang, whose taboo name was Li Guanyi, his virtue surpassed all emperors, his Wu Gong eclipsed even the Red Emperor】

【His full style was Emperor of Great Qin】

【The Emperor, in his youth, managed the four corners; by the time he came of age, he governed hundreds of millions; first he used Wu Gong to unify the realm, and at last with civil virtue he won over the distant peoples】

【In civil and martial talent alike, he stood above all antiquity; he drove heroes forth, gathered the worthy and the just, loved to employ the good at strategy, delighted to hear honest remonstrance; he rescued the people from fire and boiling water, and set them upon mats and couches; he turned bandits into gentlemen, and transformed groans into songs of praise】

【Food and clothing abounded, punishments were set aside unused; the chieftains of the Turks submitted as vassals; Saibei and the Western Regions were wholly made into commanderies and counties】

【All beneath heaven one state, the Nine Provinces and the Four Seas alike were unified】

【Since the Three Dynasties, such a flourishing of the Central Plains had never been seen】

————《Biographies of History · Annals the First》

"Hey! Hey!! Azhao!"

A voice came over. Sa Atandi lowered her eyes and looked, and saw the youth Xue Changqing over there—this fellow had also secretly gone to the battlefield, taking the route of Yuwen Lie's great army, and now had an extra scar on his face.

This fellow had spoken to Xue Daoyong about going to the battlefield.

Xue Daoyong told him to go to the fiercest battlefield.

The original intent had been to let Xue Changqing temper himself, to wash away the slight remaining impetuousness in him, but Xue Daoyong had only given him some encouragement, never expecting that he was facing a lad of eighteen or nineteen.

Xue Changqing took it seriously.

So without a second word, he ran straight to the very front, and fought the Yuwen clan's great army to the death, even using a false name.

He personally earned merit in battle; while fighting, watching his comrades-in-arms die one after another, fall, his eyes turned completely red, and he became a true Fire Qilin army warrior; after cutting down quite a few opponents, he collapsed on the battlefield from exhaustion.

Sa Atandi was always calm, but when she thought Xue Changqing had died, her vision blurred and she nearly fainted.

Later, when she used a strange art to find Xue Changqing, the lad was still recuperating in the rear with his comrades, clamoring all day to go to the front lines to rout the routed army and earn merit.

These years of bickering with Sa Atandi—Xue Changqing looked at the girl who was crying into a tearful mess, his head went dizzy and he proposed on the spot, and was publicly 'forcefully kissed' by the girl who had grown up in the Western Regions alongside Master Yan Daiqing and Master Wen Qingyu and their group, the former tribal priestess.

The comrades-in-arms on the battlefield all froze.

Xue Changqing froze even more.

Looking at the lad sitting there, she dragged Xue Changqing, whose injuries had not yet fully healed, back and gave him a beating; when the matter was reported up, the front-line army corps was still in the thick of it, and Qin Huang was waging war across the lands.

The all-capable Lei Laomeng froze.

The all-capable Lei Laomeng fell to pondering.

The all-capable Lei Laomeng, at the front and rear of the battlefield, hand-rubbed everything needed for the wedding.

Xue Changqing and Sa Atandi were wed on the battlefield.

The result was that when the news reached the rear, and the ears of Yan Daiqing and Wen Qingyu—

It was already the wedding invitation.

Xue Daoyong's great laughter never ceased; this time he did not only pat Wen Qingyu on the shoulder, but patted Yan Daiqing on the shoulder, then patted Wen Qingyu on the shoulder, then patted Fangzi Qiao on the shoulder, then patted Xu Tiange and Pan Wanxiu on the shoulder.

"Young people, young people."

"Hahahahahaha."

Later, Master Yan Daiqing had the feeling that the little lass he had watched grow up had been pried away by a rash, yellow-haired youngster, his stomach ached terribly, and only by getting out of sight did he ease his mind, so he ran off to the State of Ying, venting all his fury upon the noble families there.

This time, the noble families of the State of Ying faced—

Two Yan Daiqings!

At this moment, Xue Changqing's eyes still held a foolish grin; standing there he called out, and Sa Atandi said:

"What are you calling me for?"

Xue Changqing scratched his head and said: "I just wanted to call you."

Sa Atandi said: "I'm going to keep writing my book."

Xue Changqing called out again: "Azhao!"

Sa Atandi: "Mm."

"Azhao, Azhao!"

"Mm."

Even though Sa Atandi was very busy, whenever Xue Changqing called out to her, she would always still give a response, so the smile on Xue Changqing's face grew ever richer, his mouth almost splitting to his ears; finally remembering his great matter, he said:

"Ah, there is something. I came bearing a military order; right now there is a very important matter that needs Your Majesty to personally decide, but no one has been able to find Your Majesty's whereabouts anywhere."

"You are His Majesty's traveling Shi Guan, and also His Majesty's imperial diarist and remonstrance official."

"So I was thinking, would you happen to know where His Majesty is right now?"

"Azhao, where is His Majesty?"