Bringing the Railway to Daming

"Plans?" Liu Ruoxue seemed surprised by Liu Kuan's question, and replied without hesitation, "Now that I've graduated, I'll naturally find a job."

"I've already thought it through. I'll gather a few classmates to form an expedition team, continue our research in natural history, and then contribute our findings to some magazines."

Liu Kuan nodded subconsciously—he actually thought Liu Ruoxue's idea was good.

Then he remembered that this was the Ming Dynasty and the woman in front of him was his daughter, and he immediately stopped thinking Liu Ruoxue's idea was good.

He paused for a moment and said, "Your idea is good, but you can't just think about work. You also have to take care of your family and important life events."

"Home?" Liu Ruoxue frowned in confusion. "The family doesn't need me. You, your mother, and your mother are all healthy and not sick. What would I be doing staying at home?"

"As for marriage, Father, why are you in such a hurry? When you meet the right person, your daughter will naturally get married."

Liu Kuan smiled wryly. He had figured it out. Liu Ruoxue's thinking was already very similar to that of women from later generations, probably because she had been exposed to too much knowledge from later generations and watched too many videos and films from later generations.

So he stopped beating around the bush and said directly, "You are, after all, a girl, so your mother and I hope that after you graduate you can find a stable job in the capital, and then get married and have children."

"As for natural history, you don't necessarily need to lead a team on an expedition. Photography technology has developed quite well these days, and I estimate that color photographs will be available in a few years."

“You could fund an expedition team and have other more suitable people lead it, bringing back the photos, specimens, and even artifacts you need for your research.”

Liu Ruoxue frowned and said, "But the reason my daughter chose natural history was so that she could travel all over the country and broaden her horizons."

Seeing Liu Ruoxue's stubbornness, Liu Kuan had no choice but to resort to his "ultimate move".

He straightened his face and said, "Traveling all over the country to broaden your horizons? Is it about risking your life to broaden your horizons? Don't think I don't know that you almost lost your life when you led a team to the Malinghe Grand Canyon in Guizhou!"

"You might have escaped death this time thanks to a bit of luck, but if you keep taking these risks, you'll eventually lose your life. Do you really want us, the elderly, to bury our children?!"

Liu Ruoxue's expression changed slightly.

She hadn't expected that even though she had tried her best to keep it a secret, Liu Kuan would still find out. This meant that besides the two guards, there must have been someone else in her expedition team who had tipped off Liu Kuan.

Seeing Liu Kuan's resolute attitude, she couldn't help but say, "Father, you come from the future, how can your thinking be so stubborn? What's wrong with women? Can't women travel around?"

Liu Kuan sighed and said earnestly, "It's not that I don't want you to venture out, but I don't want you to take risks, or even lose your life."

“In that case, as your father has instructed, find a stable job in the capital related to natural history. Then, the family will fund the formation of an expedition team for you.”

"If you want to go on an adventure, you can send this expedition team ahead to scout out the area and understand the situation. Only after ensuring sufficient safety should you go."

"Furthermore, your marriage can't be delayed any longer—your family will give you at most two years. If you can't find a suitable person, then you'll have to listen to our arrangements."

Liu Ruoxue frowned and considered for a while before saying, "Alright, we'll do as you say, Father. As for the marriage, I can't find a suitable one anyway, so I'll just follow your arrangements."

She was thinking that she would go out after she got married and had children, and that her family would probably not control her so much then.

Liu Kuan smiled when he saw that Liu Ruoxue had agreed.

He was thinking that once his child got married and had children, he could focus on his family and children, and wouldn't have to take risks running around like before. After this conversation, Liu Kuan had resolved a difficult problem for his family.

After June, Liu Ruoxue successfully graduated with her master's degree. Liu Kuan then arranged for her to become an editor at the journal "Natural Science" and, as agreed, funded the formation of an expedition team for her to lead.

Thus, Liu Ruoxue stayed in the capital to work temporarily, but continued her natural history research through the expedition team, while also contributing articles to several related journals, including Natural Science.

On the other hand, Zhu Huilan and Su Caiwei were actively looking for a suitable husband for their daughter. Since Liu Ruoxue had agreed to let her family arrange the marriage, the two naturally hoped to find her a good enough husband.

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In early August, the weather was still hot.

That day, Liu Kuan returned home after work and made a point of having his carriage pass through a street with the most bookstores. He had his attendants buy several newspapers and magazines, which he then read in the carriage.

"The combined forces of the Su and Liao vassals once again defeated the attack of the Kingdom of Bohemia and took the opportunity to expand their territory by several counties!"

"The allied forces of the Jin, Dai, and Ning vassal states are fully prepared to cross the sea and conquer England!"

"Is the Church of the Cichlid deeply rooted in the West? With Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism all joining forces, the Cichlid Church was utterly defeated!"

Seeing the titles of several articles in the Western News in his hand, Liu Kuan couldn't help but smile knowingly, feeling as if he were seeing "news" from later generations.

As the name suggests, this is a newspaper that specializes in reporting Western news. It was jointly founded a few years ago by the people of the four vassal states, including Ning and Dai, in the capital. It is likely that these four vassal kings also realized the importance of word of mouth and propaganda, so they had this newspaper founded in order to get more attention in the Ming Dynasty and make it easier for them to recruit talents.

After Liu Kuan finished reading the "Western News," the carriage stopped, and they had already returned to the mansion.

As soon as Liu Kuan got out of the carriage, a servant came to report, "Master, the Emperor Emeritus has arrived."

"understood."

Liu Kuan wasn't entirely surprised by Zhu Yuanzhang's arrival—although Zhu Yuanzhang showed signs of Alzheimer's, it wasn't severe. Furthermore, Zhu Xiong Ying had previously taken his advice, sending several clever children to keep him company, and having retired generals like Xu Da frequently visit Zhu to play chess; now, Zhu's condition had improved somewhat.

When Liu Kuan arrived at the central courtyard and entered the side hall, he indeed saw Zhu Huilan drinking tea with Zhu Yuanzhang.

Although it was a private meeting, Liu Kuan did not forget etiquette and immediately bowed, saying, "Your subject greets Your Majesty the Emperor."

"I'm here as your father-in-law, son-in-law, no need for such formalities," Zhu Yuanzhang said, waving his hand.

Liu Kuan then looked up and carefully examined Old Zhu.

He noticed that Zhu Yuanzhang had aged considerably in the past six months—his hair used to be gray, but now it was completely white, and even his eyebrows had very few black hairs left.

At the same time, he has lost a lot of weight, and his face looks like a chrysanthemum when he smiles, with many age spots on it.

Although Old Zhu looked to be in pretty good spirits, Liu Kuan still had a strange premonition—Old Zhu probably wouldn't live for many more years.

Without further ado, Liu Kuan sat down opposite Zhu Yuanzhang and asked, "I wonder what brings Your Majesty here today?"

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "What could it be? I naturally want to go with you to the cross-river bridge the day after tomorrow to wait for the strange fog. Of course, we'll also take the opportunity to see Chang'an and Ruoxue." (End of Chapter)