Chapter 78: （ Requesting First Subscription ） Perhaps it’s time to look for the Monkey!
The next morning, Yuan Ye ate breakfast and finally had fried eggs, still runny, completely saying goodbye to the bland boiled eggs. His mood improved, and he felt that if things continued to develop like this, braised pork would be within reach.
He decided to take a day off to reward himself. After eating, he wandered around the house. When he reached the front yard along the wooden corridor, he looked up and saw A Qing feeding chicks—she held a flat basket, focused, and continuously sprinkled bran to a group of fluffy, golden chicks. Most of the chicks pecked at the food, but some playfully ran around her, and some even pecked at each other.
She didn’t get angry. She gently picked up the chicks to play with them for a bit, then gently put them back, telling them not to fight and to eat well.
It was a very ordinary rural scene, nothing special, but it had an indescribable peaceful beauty that made Yuan Ye stop and admire it.
First, he looked at the cute and lively chicks, then his gaze shifted to A Qing.
It was around eight or nine in the morning. The sun was neither too high nor too low, and the soft, clear light shone on A Qing, making her figure appear even more slender and tall. It also cast a faint golden glow on her dark hair and little bun. Her usually cool and expressionless face now held a warm smile, and if one looked closely, they could see faint dimples.
Her eyes were also very gentle at this moment. She wasn’t a peerless beauty; her features were merely delicate. But when her eyes became gentle, she possessed an indescribable graceful aura that made her whole person more vibrant and radiant, like a dragon painting that had been brought to life.
Yuan Ye watched for a while, and a warm smile involuntarily appeared on his face, as if he had been infected.
Hmm, he hadn’t seen A Qing like this before. A Qing was usually like a doll, expressionless most of the time. Sometimes she could sit still for hours without moving. It was rare to see her so childlike…
Hmm, it wasn’t exactly childlike!
Yuan Ye looked again carefully and noticed that A Qing seemed to have grown a bit taller in the past few months, at least five centimeters. He saw her every day but hadn’t noticed—perhaps because she could eat freely during this period and had sufficient nutrition, she had grown taller?
She had grown taller, and her small face was no longer dirty like when he first met her. Looking at her now, she resembled a middle school girl from his previous life. One could no longer say she was childish.
But why hadn’t A Man changed? She ate the same things. She didn’t seem to have grown much and still had that annoying look all day!
Yuan Ye’s thoughts began to wander uncontrollably again. A Qing soon noticed him standing on the corridor, lost in thought. She couldn’t help but tilt her head in curiosity, and the little bun on top of her head seemed to sway into a question mark.
Yuan Ye snapped back to reality, walked over leisurely, and asked with a smile a very obvious question: “Are you feeding the chickens?”
A Qing tilted her head again, looked at the chicks, then at him, and didn’t reply. Her personality was such that she wouldn’t usually engage in such an obvious question.
Yuan Ye wasn’t surprised. After all, they had lived together for over a hundred days. He was already used to it. He looked at the lively chicks with interest and asked, “Are these your chickens?”
A Qing nodded gently: “I wanted… to pass the time.”
Yuan Ye nodded in understanding. A Qing was currently his personal bodyguard, and he had been spending most of his time in the laboratory, rarely leaving the house. Therefore, A Qing had nothing to do.
Yuan Ye was very accommodating in this regard. He was actually very generous and willing to consider the people around him. He immediately said, “I won’t be in danger at Takeuchi Manor. If you’re free, you can go out and explore. You don’t have to stay home all the time.”
A Qing shook her head slightly: “It’s fine. When I’m… idle, I also study literacy.”
She wasn’t like A Man, who couldn’t sit still for three minutes. On the contrary, she liked her current life very much—quiet and peaceful. She was happy to feed the horses and donkeys every day, play with the little monkeys, feed the chicks, practice martial arts, and study literacy. She didn’t need more.
“That’s fine then!” Yuan Ye didn’t force her, mainly because he couldn’t quite figure out what she was thinking. But speaking of literacy, he immediately asked with concern, “Are you encountering any problems?”
A Qing was actually a bit slow and didn’t like to communicate with others. If she couldn’t learn something, she would struggle with it alone. She actually had many problems, but she didn’t want to trouble Yuan Ye, so she hesitated whether to nod.
Yuan Ye could see it. He didn’t shy away from it either. He had been busy improving their living conditions during this period, and he hadn’t been a good teacher. He immediately said, “I have time now, I’ll help you.”
The two went to Yuan Ye’s study. A Qing took out the “textbook” she had copied and asked him for help with sentences she couldn’t understand and characters she didn’t recognize. Yuan Ye patiently answered her questions and also pointed out some copying errors in her “textbook,” asking her to correct them herself.
A Qing obediently moved a low table and sat down to diligently correct the errors. Yuan Ye sat cross-legged beside her and watched for a while. He noticed that the little bun on top of her head was constantly swaying. He couldn’t help but suggest, “Have you ever thought about… growing your hair out a bit?”
The scene of A Qing feeding chicks had left a deep impression on him. He felt that since A Qing was already a young girl, she didn’t necessarily have to keep her hair in a boyish style, always tied in a childlike little bun. She could change it.
For example, he thought that A Qing would look good with a “hime cut,” which is commonly known as “princess cut” in later generations. The back hair would be long, straight black hair, the hair on the forehead would be cut to a flat fringe at eyebrow height, and the “hair ends” that hung down to the temples would be cut straight to the jawline. It would definitely suit her face shape and temperament.
Well, he didn’t mean anything else. He was just making a suggestion. After all… looking better never hurts, right?
A Qing was diligently correcting errors when she heard him say that. She tilted her head in surprise and looked at him. After looking, she realized what Yuan Ye was talking about. She quickly reached up and touched the little bun in the middle of her head, her small face suddenly flushing red.
Yuan Ye also realized it. He felt that his words were too presumptuous. After all, they weren’t that close—compared to A Man, he and A Qing were indeed not very close. After all, he and A Man were almost at the point where they could accuse each other of talking nonsense. Perhaps in a few more months, they would be sparring daily.
He quickly prepared to say, “I’m sorry, just pretend I didn’t say anything,” to forcibly smooth things over and avoid future awkwardness. However, before he could say it, A Qing lowered her eyelids and replied, “My hair is too long… it’s inconvenient when facing enemies.”
So that was her consideration?
This reason was irrefutable to a practical person like Yuan Ye. He felt a bit regretful but still acknowledged it, “Safety first. Then short hair is indeed good.”
A Qing didn’t say anything else. With a slightly flushed face, she continued to correct the errors. After Yuan Ye watched for a while and felt there were no issues, he left. Only then did she blush again and touch the little bun on top of her head, imagining what she would look like with long hair.
Before, no one had ever asked her that. Now that someone had, she was also a little curious…
………
Yuan Ye felt a bit regretful. He actually wanted to see A Qing with long hair feeding chicks. The scene would have been even more gentle. But if it wasn’t possible, there was nothing he could do. This world didn’t revolve around him. Everyone had their own thoughts!
He didn’t go far. He didn’t plan to mess around in the laboratory today. He sat down at his desk and read to pass the time—he had borrowed quite a few private notes from nameless samurai from Aragiko Kannon Temple. He randomly flipped through them when he was idle, as it helped him understand this era better.
However, the content was hard to describe.
According to many people’s stereotypes, they would think that ancient Japanese people greatly admired ancient Chinese people. After all, if they didn’t admire them, they wouldn’t have sent so many people. In an era when seafaring conditions were not developed, they risked their lives to go to China to study and even racked their brains to abduct Chinese monks. But based on the notes he was reading, it was completely the opposite.
Most of the notes were filled with criticism. Especially regarding the Heian period Japanese imperial family’s attempt to imitate the Fubing system to establish a standing army, which ultimately failed disastrously and caused nationwide turmoil. Almost all the notes mentioned this, considering it the main reason for the end of the Heian period.
Furthermore, the two failed Mongol invasions of Japan, which resulted in near-total annihilation, led most of the note-takers to believe that Japan was the country on the correct path. China might have been a great power in the past, an object of study, but it couldn’t even defeat the Mongols. Clearly, Japan was already better and stronger. It was time to forge its own path. Perhaps even the grand and significant name “China,” which held a special meaning in the Chinese cultural system, should be transferred to Japan.
In addition, Japanese shrines, in order to enhance their own authority, vigorously promoted “divine winds protecting the nation,” thus forming the ideology of “Divine Japan,” believing that Japan was a divinely favored nation and should rule the world.
Yuan Ye read for a while and found that it was similar to the few books he had read before. He put down the notes and began to pace around his desk, thinking.
His history knowledge was average. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have struggled so much in medieval Japan. At first, in Hibitsu Village, he was like a startled bird, even needing Yayoi to taste his food before he dared to eat it. But no matter how poor his history knowledge was, he knew that the monkey, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, had launched the Invasion of Korea War.
Before, he didn’t understand why the monkey would go mad like that. Japan wasn’t exactly stable domestically, with local powers of varying sizes. Yet, he still did it, even directly proposing the crazy slogan “conquer China in two years, conquer India in three years.” Even before launching the war, he had already arranged for the “Kanpaku” of Japan and China, and planned to move his castle to Ningbo to personally command the next round of war to conquer India.
Looking back now, the monkey seemed to be influenced by this trend of thought, or even to cater to it. To make his own rise from commoner to “ruler of the world” more legitimate and to gain a divine halo, he launched the Invasion of Korea War. He wrote a letter asking the King of Joseon to yield the roads so he could pass through to attack the Great Ming, or else he would deal with him first. But the King of Joseon decisively refused and directly sought aid from the Great Ming, directly leading to the outbreak of the “Imjin War.”
This war had a significant impact. Even though the monkey failed and directly led to the downfall of the Toyotomi clan, the Great Ming was not at ease. It fought for six or seven years, needlessly spending tens of millions of taels in military expenses, and indirectly led to the rise of the Later Jin.
In a sense, the Manchus should thank the monkey. The Imjin War depleted the Liaodong region, to the point that Joseon called after the war, “The Liaodong region was devastated by the Imjin War, with sparse population and all mules and carts gone.”
If Liaodong hadn’t been depleted, if there hadn’t been sparse population and weakened military strength, Nurhaci might not have been able to unify the Jurchen tribes so easily.
So…
Yuan Ye walked around his desk dozens of times. His scattered thoughts finally managed to converge. He nodded slowly, feeling that he had initially established a foothold in the Japanese Medieval Period and had gained some small power. Perhaps it was time to go look for the monkey.
