I traveled with them to the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 13 First Intimate Contact

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"Queen Mother Chun?!"

At the same time that Zhang Chun saw Zhao Ya, Zhao Ya also saw Zhang Chun.

When Zhao Ya was writing historical novels, he often searched for information online, and eventually he came across Zhang Chun's videos.

To be honest, the reason why Zhao Ya fell in love with Zhang Chun was because her skin was as white as jade, and she had a beautiful appearance and elegant temperament.

After watching the history explanation videos recorded by Zhang Chun, Zhao Ya, who also studied history, had to admit that Zhang Chun was more proficient in history than himself, especially those details, which she knew like the back of her hand. She could tell the time of various historical events without any mistakes, and she could also analyze the political factors in historical events and explain them clearly.

It is also because of this that Zhao Ya read all the history of the Song Dynasty explained by Zhang Chun, and copied many of Zhang Chun's inferences and conclusions when writing novels.

It is worth mentioning that whenever Zhang Chun talks about the powerful empress dowagers in history, her eyes are full of light, and her words are full of admiration and yearning for these empress dowagers. Therefore, some of her fans call her "Empress Dowager Chun".

After seeing Zhang Chun again, Zhao Ya was basically certain that the five women, Zhang Chun, Li Lin, Ye Shiyun, Ma Xiaojiao, and Yuan Qingcheng, had all traveled through time.

One of the purposes of Zhao Ya's visit to Cide Palace this time was to see if he could find out whether Ma Xiaojiao and Yuan Qingcheng were time travelers, and also to see if Zhang Chun, Li Lin, and Ye Shiyun had also traveled through time?
Ma Xiaojiao is an inventor. She has a lot of knowledge of physics and chemistry in her mind, and she also has strong hands-on ability. If she really traveled through time, as long as Zhao Ya got her and made good use of her, she would definitely be able to greatly improve the productivity of this era, and even allow the Song army to use advanced firearms hundreds of years in advance.

Not to mention Yuan Qingcheng, the agricultural scientist. If she had traveled through time, as long as Zhao Ya got her and let her research high-yield hybrid rice, it would definitely greatly stabilize Zhao Ya's rule. Moreover, she could also develop many fruits and vegetables that are not available in this era, enriching the food culture of this era.

Li Lin, who is proficient in military affairs, and Ye Shiyun, who is proficient in economics, are also very useful.

Even Zhang Chun, whose skills overlap with Zhao Ya's, can help Zhao Ya fill in the gaps and offer advice.

In short, if Zhang Chun and the other five girls also traveled through time, they would almost be Zhao Ya's golden fingers.

How could Zhao Ya not pay attention to them?
However, Zhao Ya is still not sure whether they really traveled through time or just looked alike?

After asking the gatekeeper eunuch Pei Yanchen to go in and report, Zhao Ya was thinking about how to verify whether Zhang Chun's five daughters were time travelers, while asking Liang Shicheng he brought with him to distribute Guanghanfang's osmanthus cakes and Li Ji's candied fruits to these palace maids and eunuchs.

These two things are not expensive, but it is not easy for people in the palace to buy them, especially for the low-level palace maids and eunuchs.

While Pei Yanchen was reporting, Zhao Ya started chatting with the palace maids and eunuchs about their daily lives, such as their surnames and positions, where they were from, how many people were in their families, how it was like to live alone in the palace, etc.

After hearing the answers of the palace maids and eunuchs, Zhao Ya said, "It's pitiful that you children have entered the palace to serve the Queen Mother at the age of ten. You should do your best. If there is a chance in the future, I will definitely speak well of you to the Queen Mother."

No matter whether what Zhao Ya said was true or false, a high and mighty prince could bring snacks to these palace maids and eunuchs that they had not eaten for a long time, and could also say these words to them. Who among them would not appreciate Zhao Ya?

The key is, there is no harm without comparison.

Several other princes would also come to pay their respects to Empress Dowager Xiang, but they would not even look at the palace maids and eunuchs. Even if they did, they would be like Zhao Ji and would only glance at particularly beautiful palace maids like Li Lin. At most, they would go up to them and flirt with the palace maids they liked. As for bringing them snacks and chatting with them, that was simply impossible.

Therefore, many eunuchs surrounded Zhao Yada and expressed their gratitude and thanks. Some older palace maids even looked at Zhao Yada with shyness on their faces and charming eyes.

It was naturally impossible for Zhang Chun to fall into infatuation so easily, but she knew very well that politics was about people's hearts. If those in power were good at acting and winning people's hearts, they would gain support and secure their positions.

From this perspective, Zhao Ya was undoubtedly very suitable to be emperor.

Zhang Chun thought to himself, "Using money to win over people generally creates a good reputation. And he's so patient in his acting, so why doesn't he compete with Zhao Ji for the throne? Is it because he lacks political support? Or does Empress Dowager Xiang prefer emperors like Zhao Ji, who are all show and no substance? Or maybe he doesn't want to be emperor anymore?"

Although it's unclear why there's no record of Zhao Ya and Zhao Ji competing for the throne in historical records, based on what Zhang Chun has seen and heard so far, Zhao Ya is undoubtedly a very suitable person to be emperor. Zhang Chun really wants to have an in-depth conversation with Zhao Ya to further determine whether Zhao Ya is suitable to replace Zhao Ji.

But Zhang Chun was embarrassed to start a conversation with Zhao Ya, and there were many palace maids and eunuchs around Zhao Ya, which made Zhang Chun even more at a loss as to how to talk to Zhao Ya.

At the same time, Zhang Chun was well aware that this was the Imperial Palace, and the five of them were the lowest-ranking maids. Meeting Zhao Ya was incredibly difficult. Even this time, meeting Zhao Ya was largely due to luck; it was an opportunity never to be missed. So, no matter how difficult it was, she had to speak to Zhao Ya. Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to explain herself to Li Lin and the other three girls when she returned.

In fact, the reason why Zhao Ya patiently chatted with these palace maids and eunuchs was partly because he wanted to indirectly criticize Zhang Chun in this way.

However, Zhang Chun kept wandering around the periphery and did not dare to move forward, and Zhao Ya did not want to alert the enemy, which wasted the opportunity Zhao Ya deliberately created.

Before coming, Zhao Ya had already made up his mind. Even if he knew that Zhang Chun and the other five were also time travelers, he had to keep the fact that he was a time traveler a secret from them. After all, this was his biggest secret. The more people knew about it, the more risk he would face. If some ambitious person knew that he could "predict the future", they might arrest him and torture him, forcing him to tell them what they wanted to know.

"Forget it. As long as I can become emperor, the five of them will become my concubines. Then, it will be easy for me to find out whether they are time travelers or not."

Soon, Pei Yanchen came back.

Zhao Ya smiled at the palace maids and eunuchs, then walked towards Pei Yanchen.

Seeing Zhao Ya about to leave, Zhang Chun had no time to think, and no time to care about her reserve and composure. She took two steps at a time and came to Zhao Ya's side, lowering her voice and saying, "The people of Wu have embraced the imperial glory, and the government has changed from now on. In a few months, we will usher in the great throne, and a new chapter will begin in the country's destiny."

After saying that, Zhang Chun stuffed the soap manufacturing method into Zhao Ya's hands.

The moment Zhang Chun's small hand touched Zhao Ya's big hand, Zhang Chun's face turned red.

This made Zhang Chun feel like she was sending a love letter to a boy.

While feeling shy, Zhang Chun's heart was in his throat!
Although she only uttered a vague prophecy, it also indicated that "Zhao Ya" would soon become emperor. For people of that era, this was already an extremely heinous act.

Let me put it this way, if you investigate her words carefully and send her to the judicial department, you can definitely charge her with the crime of treason and have her entire family executed. At the very least, all the men in her family will be exiled three thousand miles away, and all the women will be sent to the Music Bureau.

To be honest, although he had no choice due to the situation, Zhang Chun still felt a little annoyed.

"Maybe I should wait a little longer, or come up with a safer explanation?"

"But time waits for no one, and opportunities are fleeting. I can only take risks to avoid missing this opportunity, right?"

"After all, I'm only at the stage of theoretical discussion. I'm still very immature both politically and practically. Alas!"

Just as Zhang Chun was sweating profusely and regretting deeply, Zhao Ya calmly put the "letter" from Zhang Chun into his sleeve and continued to walk towards Pei Yanchen.

Pei Yanchen came over and said, "The Queen Mother asks the King to wait in the front hall for a moment."

Zhao Ya smiled and said, "Okay." Then he followed Pei Yanchen into Cide Palace, as if Zhang Chun and he had never had any contact before.

Seeing this, Zhang Chunru was pardoned.

After a pause, Zhang Chun looked at Zhao Ya's back, his lips curled up slightly: "Now I can be sure of two things: First, you are very calm and a man who can accomplish great things; second, you actually have the ambition to become emperor..."

……

(End of this chapter)