Chapter 68: Chuyun Prefecture Really Has No Good People
Compared to braised pork, Yun Ce was more enamored with the rice he purchased yesterday.
Previously, whether wandering the wasteland, or living a simple and joyful life in Hekou Village, or watching the excitement in Pingyuan City and Sheyang City, he had not had the chance to properly observe this Great Han World.
Just now, he used chopsticks to pick up a single grain of rice, held it in front of his eyes and looked at it for a long time. The uncooked rice was as big as a peanut, and after steaming it became half the size of an egg, perfect to swallow in one bite.
Just the appearance of the uncooked rice made one feel it was a good thing. After steaming, Yun Ce felt that Earthlings’ lives were really too damn bitter.
Yun Ce had planted rice in Ningxia Yellow River Bend before. At that time, to educate party members, he didn’t know which leader’s brain had malfunctioned, forbidding the use of machinery, so it was all manual planting. After three days, Yun Ce felt his waist was gone.
During the autumn harvest, he had held the heavy rice ears and sighed for a long time.
After eating a mouthful of Great Han rice, Yun Ce felt his sighs in Ningxia were unworthy. The just-entered-mouth fragrant, sweet, soft, and glutinous rice was called——rice here!
Feng An said this thing was a kind of water grass by the waterside. It didn’t need planting; it sprouted itself in spring and matured itself in autumn. There were many by sunlit watersides in the southern wasteland, but gathering was difficult mainly because the water where it grew had an insect that liked to suck blood, so no one was willing to gather it…
Hearing his words, Yun Ce wanted to smash the rice bowl in his face.
If even such a thing people were unwilling to gather, then what about those slaves in Pingyuan City and Sheyang City who were about to starve to death? What about that little girl who liked eating soil?
1 Yun Ce put down his rice bowl and said to Zhang Min, who was still eating happily, “When I wandered the wasteland following the pig herd, there were nuts on trees, fruits and roots from plants, food I couldn’t finish eating. After returning to Hekou Village and mixing with people, I first experienced the concept of hunger. So, can it be said that mixing with the Great Han government officials is not as good as mixing with the pig herd?”
1 Zhang Min crunched through a piece of crisp piglet bone, swallowed it, then filled herself another bowl of rice, piled on five or six appealing pieces of braised pork, and only then had time to pay attention to Yun Ce.
1 “Living by enclosing cities, working at sunrise and resting at sunset, these are rules set by the ancestors. People cannot leave their living area by a day’s journey.”
1 Seeing Zhang Min about to eat again, Yun Ce quickly said, “If it’s just for safety, people can set out in groups.”
1 Zhang Min, seeing delicious food right in front of her but unable to eat it, said irritably, “Since you’ve mixed with pig herds, you should know wild beasts also come in groups, and their groups are even larger.”
1 Yun Ce pressed the hand Zhang Min was using to hold her chopsticks and said, “Explain clearly. I saw you all kill the Pig King without any effort.”
1 Zhang Min said angrily, “The Great Han territory spans 100,000 li with a population of 670 million. People who can kill the Pig King number no more than 10,000. You lived well in the wasteland because you are a Pig Demon. A Pig Demon like you could live without worry for food and clothing even if thrown into ghost land.”
1 Seeing the two about to quarrel, Feng An said to Yun Ce, “From childhood, the elders told us not to go to the wasteland, and never alone to distant places. The cities are the safest places.
1 The Great Han opened borders and expanded territory to rich lands and peaceful areas. Wildmen were driven away, barbarians were driven away, ghosts were driven away, large wild beasts were driven away. But the poisonous insects everywhere in the wilderness and some insidious small beasts still exist. They are the most dangerous, and people living long in the wilderness easily get all kinds of strange diseases. Once infected, it’s not one or two people who die, but a group.
1 To be honest, hearing E Ji say you two often camp outside and wander about, I was really shocked.”
2 While Feng An was speaking, Zhang Min ate another bowl of rice, still not satisfied, filled more rice, picked appealing meat pieces, and finally used a wooden spoon to scoop soup juice to mix with the rice.
2 Such terrible table etiquette, if on Earth, no matter how beautiful the woman opposite was, Yun Ce’s chopsticks or bowl would have flown over.
2 Turning his head, he saw E Ji doing the same, even worse than Zhang Min, because she was serving more people, so it was somewhat excusable.
2 While eating, Zhang Min said, “See, that’s why I’m especially tolerant of you. You’re not a Pig Demon, which means you’re a real Han person. As a Han person, you’re the talent we urgently need. Even if you do some outrageous things, we’ll look at you differently.”
2 Yun Ce chuckled, “Those slaves who died in Pingyuan City and Sheyang City must be really grateful for your special regard.”
2 After eating six bowls of rice and three jin of meat, Zhang Min was finally full. She image-lessly rubbed her stomach in front of everyone and said leisurely.
2 “Why do you sympathize with them?”
2 “They’re all people, and Han people at that. Why can’t I sympathize?”
2 Zhang Min rudely pointed at E Ji with her finger and said, “Her ancestor participated in the Dou Ling Rebellion, and was a key figure. That rebellion killed 13 million people, affected six prefectures and twenty-one Prefectural Offices of the Great Han. The court took six years to suppress it.
2 Her family had over a hundred males beheaded, sixty-nine female family members killed, and the rest of the female family members exiled to Chuyun Prefecture, not to be pardoned even upon amnesty.”
3 After finishing about E Ji, she paused slightly, pointed at Feng An and said, “Do you know his family ancestors were major corrupt officials who also hid stolen military rations?”
3 Before Zhang Min could point at Liang Kun, he quickly raised both hands and said, “My ancestors were wronged.”
3 Hearing this, Zhang Min snorted and said, “Wronged? The fishermen of Hushan City still can’t forget a man named Liang Huai, so much so that every midsummer, everyone eats a food called Liang Huai head.
3 You still dare claim wronged?
3 Liu Chang’an, let me tell you, there are no good people in Chuyun Prefecture. Even if they’re good now, their bones still flow with evil people’s blood.
3 They can warm the bed and be used temporarily, but if treated as young lord of the household or close confidants, be careful, after all, they’re not anything good.”
3 Zhang Min ate a big meal at Yun Ce’s expense, fulfilled her obligation to sow discord, and before leaving drank a bowl of wild vegetable egg drop soup Yun Ce made, wiped her mouth with a handkerchief, and got up to leave.
3 E Ji hung her head not daring to look at Yun Ce’s eyes. Feng An anxiously pressed his hand on the table, veins bulging on the back of his hand. Liang Kun looked like life was unbearable, eyes darting around as if about to suicide.
3 Yun Ce filled himself a bowl of egg drop soup, took a sip, and swallowed the food residue stuck to his teeth.
3 Then, hands on the stone table, he said to the three in front of him, “I’m called Yun Ce, not Liu Chang’an. You don’t need to worry about the villainous bones in your blood.
4 Because the bloodline flowing in me is only even less tolerated by the Great Han than yours.
4 Now, continue eating.”
4 Yun Ce these two words, E Ji knew. Seeing Yun Ce say his name, she immediately felt no shame, held her bowl and muttered, “She ate so much.”
4 Feng An withdrew his hand and said casually, “Ancestors are ancestors, I am me.”
4 Liang Kun said nervously, “In the future, I can’t go to Hushan City.”
4 After the three finished speaking, Yun Ce couldn’t help laughing heartily. E Ji laughed along, then Feng An and Liang Kun also laughed. The three laughed until tears flowed.
4 A thief’s son is still a thief. This definition may not be accurate among the populace, but in the eyes of government officials, it is iron law.
4 The government is already full of thieves, great thieves, and evil thieves. If they recruit a large batch of sons of thieves, evil thieves, and great thieves, how can the world’s people survive?
4 Yun Linchuan had once told Yun Ce that when starting a venture, thugs and rogues are all talents. But after great success, to achieve long-term stability, the first thing is to clear such people from the ranks.
4 Sometimes the methods seem ruthless and intense, but it’s much better than burying a big mine for the future. Killing one group of them benefits millions of families. This is the resolve and decisiveness a politician must have.
5 As part of a political family, Yun Ce had never sympathized with any unlucky political animal. First, anyone tainted with politics is no longer human. Their emotions do not connect with ordinary people’s emotions; even joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness have purposes.
5 As for what the real self sitting in the mud pill palace is like, only heaven knows.
5 E Ji, Feng An, and Liang Kun were all good partners who had passed tests, and also the people closest to Yun Ce in this world. Moreover, Zhang Min traced their villainous bloodline too far back. A hundred years had passed, and it was a hundred years in the Divine Dragon calendar. Their villainous old ancestors’ villainous bloodline had long diluted to almost nothing.
5 Even intermarriage of the same person’s descendants after a hundred years is allowed, so if they turn bad, it’s their own affair, having nothing to do with their villainous old ancestors.
5 With the recommendation letter from Zhang Min, Yun Ce, Feng An, and Liang Kun’s registration at the Record Officer and Staff Officer Office went exceptionally smoothly.
5 From then on, the three settled down to study, preparing for the upcoming Grand Competition.
5 Yun Ce, who was reciting King Huo’s Biography《》, suddenly looked up at the diligently studying Feng An and Liang Kun and said, “What will this Grand Competition exam cover?”
5 Feng An looked at Yun Ce in shock and said, “You don’t know?”
5 Yun Ce spread his hands and said, “I’m a wildman. Should I know?”
5 Liang Kun gritted his teeth and said, “Doesn’t your recommendation letter say you’re a talent to assist a king?”
6 Yun Ce laughed, “Of course I am a talent to assist a king, but does that have anything to do with exams?”
6 Hearing this, Feng An immediately picked up his study notes, snatched King Huo’s Biography《》 from Yun Ce’s hands and tossed it aside, saying anxiously, “Hurry and look. Three days from now is the Grand Competition. To show fairness, the exam questions have already been sent to An Ran Building and hung in the center of the main hall.”
6 Hearing this, Yun Ce immediately laughed and said to Feng An and Liang Kun, “I’ll go take a look.”
6 “You can look at that too?” Liang Kun’s voice already carried a rooster-crowing tone.
6 Continue asking for votes, continue asking for votes, beg for votes and subscription to death.
