Bringing the Railway to Daming

"The Legend of Yue Fei..." Zhu Yuanzhang pondered as he looked at the poster, then said, "Liu Kuan, would you be interested in watching this animated film?"

Liu Kuan smiled helplessly, "I don't have time. But Your Majesty, if you wish to stay in the capital for the Mid-Autumn Festival, you can go and see me."

"Since this animated series has reached its fourth season, its quality must be quite good."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, "Alright, we'll go and see how this animated film portrays Yue Fei's victory at Yancheng."

Liu Kuan didn't say anything more, but stared into thought as he looked at the illustrated book of "The Legend of Yue Fei" in his hand.

As far as he knew, although Yue Fei was revered by the court and the people during the Ming Dynasty, he was not favored by the Qing Dynasty rulers because the Qing rulers and the former Jin Dynasty both originated from the Jurchen people, and Yue Fei was famous for fighting the Jurchens.

Therefore, during the Qing Dynasty, not only were many temples dedicated to Yue Fei demolished, but the Qing rulers also went so far as to promote Guan Yu to replace Yue Fei in the historical military generals.

Of course, Guan Yu's veneration did not begin in the Qing Dynasty, but rather showed signs as early as the Sui and Tang Dynasties. During the Song, Yuan, and Ming Dynasties, Guan Yu's social status continued to rise.

During the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty, he was further bestowed the titles of "Emperor of Loyalty and Righteousness Who Assists Heaven and Protects the Nation" and "Great Emperor Who Subdues Demons in the Three Realms," with the latter title being the most famous. Thus, Guan Yu gradually became known among the people as "Lord Guan the Holy Emperor"...
Before long, the carriage arrived at Taiping Street.

Since Zhu Yuanzhang was returning to the palace and did not intend to have lunch at Liu's residence, Liu Kuan got off the carriage and went back to his residence directly.

When Zhu Huilan saw Liu Kuan return, she subconsciously asked, "Husband, did you encounter the strange fog today?"

Liu Kuan shook his head. "No."

"Is Father Emperor disappointed?" she asked again.

Liu Kuandao said, "He was naturally a little disappointed, but it didn't really affect his mood."

"That's good." After saying that, Zhu Huilan brought up something that surprised Liu Kuan: "Did you know that Ping An has a girlfriend?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Kuan was taken aback, then asked in surprise, "When did this happen? And when did Madam discover it?"

Zhu Huilan smiled and said, "The other day, Ping An went home for dinner. He left behind a piece of clothing. I had nothing to do, so I took it to his school myself. I happened to see him walking with a woman on campus. They were behaving quite intimately."

"After delivering the clothes, I asked him a few questions, and he told me everything—the woman was also a graduate student at the Academy of Natural Sciences, but one year below him. In your modern terms, she would be considered his junior."

"The two have been dating for over a year."

Liu Kuan then asked, "Do you know how old the woman is, and what her family situation is?"

Zhu Huilan said, "That woman's surname is Tu, and her name is Tu Susu. She comes from the Tu family of Yushan, Changshu, Suzhou. Her family owns over a thousand acres of fertile land, as well as a workshop and three shops. They are quite wealthy."

Liu Kuan asked again, "Have you had any contact with that girl? What kind of person is she?"

Zhu Huilan rolled her eyes at Liu Kuan, "Husband, don't you think before you ask such a question? I only learned about this woman from Ping An yesterday, how could I have had time to contact her?"

"Even if I wanted to, what if going there so rashly ruined my son's plans?"

Liu Kuan laughed and said, "What? You haven't even gotten to know the girl yet, and you're already acting like you think this is a good thing?"

Zhu Huilan: "Husband, think about it. Since Tu Susu was able to get into the Academy of Natural Sciences as a graduate student, she must be just like Ping An, with excellent academic performance and a love for studying natural sciences."

“A girl like this, even if she has a bad temper, how bad can it be? Besides, Ping An is already twenty-three, we should start thinking about her marriage.”

"I thought that if he and this woman really got along well, we should let them get married after he graduated safely. That way, we could have our grandson sooner."

After hearing these words, Liu Kuan couldn't help but take a closer look at Zhu Huilan.

He has been in the Ming Dynasty for twenty-four or twenty-five years now. Zhu Huilan married him in the fourteenth year of the Hongwu reign, when she was only seventeen years old (by the traditional Chinese age reckoning).

Over the years, he had grown to be over fifty, while Zhu Huilan was only in her early forties. Because she took good care of herself and hadn't worried or overworked herself, Zhu Huilan now looked like she was in her early thirties. If this were in later generations, with the help of modern makeup and beauty cameras, she could easily pass for a young woman in her early twenties.

So when he heard Zhu Huilan say that she wanted to have a grandson, he was momentarily stunned.

"What's wrong, my husband? Why are you looking at me like that?" Zhu Huilan noticed Liu Kuan's unusual behavior and asked.

Liu Kuan smiled and shook his head, "It's nothing—even if you're eager for Ping An to get married so he can have children for our family, marriage is a lifelong matter for him, and it can't be taken lightly."

"You can talk to him later and see if the girl can come to our house for a meal during the Mid-Autumn Festival. If it's inconvenient during the Mid-Autumn Festival, any day before that will be fine."

Zhu Huilan nodded, "That's how it should be."

···
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A few days later.

Liu Ping'an came out of a chemistry lab, went back to his dormitory to change his clothes, and then waited patiently downstairs in another building.

A short while later, a beautiful woman in her early twenties came out.

The two smiled at each other upon meeting, and then the woman asked, "How long have you been here?"

"Not long, less than fifteen minutes."

The woman said, "My schedule is very fixed. You can come a little later next time."

Liu Pingan said, "Coming early is fine, just to relax. If we had a phone or cell phone, we could contact each other in advance, arrange a time, and then we wouldn't have to wait for each other."

"Telephone, cell phone?" the woman asked curiously.

This woman was none other than Tu Susu, Liu Pingan's girlfriend from his junior year of college.

She studied meteorology at the College of Natural Sciences, so she knew nothing about telephones or mobile phones.

Liu Ping'an smiled and said, "You should know about telegrams, right?"

Tu Susu said, "Of course I know about telegrams—I heard that telegram machines have now been distributed to the prefecture level, and the imperial court even plans to allocate a batch of telegram machines for commercial use, so that ordinary people can also contact distant relatives and friends by telegram through the relevant government offices."

"If this can be accomplished, then people will no longer have to wait a long time to contact their relatives and friends far away."

Liu Pingan said, "The telephone can be seen as an alternative and more convenient telegraph machine—that is, two people can talk as if they were face to face through the telephone, even if they are thousands of miles apart."

Tu Susu's eyes lit up upon hearing this. "So amazing? Has this phone been officially approved for research, or is it just a concept?"

Liu Pingan said, "The research project has been approved, but it's hard to say when it will be developed."

"Talking face-to-face is unimaginable," Tu Susu said. "By the way, what is a cell phone?"

Liu Pingan said, "Telephones need to be installed in a fixed location and rely on telephone lines to make calls. Mobile phones, on the other hand, are like wireless telegraph machines; they do not require telephone lines and can make calls as if we were face to face."

Of course, mobile phones can do more than just make calls; they can also be used for video calls, taking photos, writing diaries, browsing the internet, watching videos, playing games, and more.

However, Liu Pingan felt it was pointless to talk to Tu Susu about these things, as it would only waste his breath explaining, so he didn't say anything.

However, even knowing only one function of a mobile phone, Tu Susu still showed a look of longing and murmured, "I wonder if we will be able to use the mobile phone you mentioned in our lifetime."

Liu Ping'an was taken aback—he really couldn't say for sure.

Just then, the two arrived at the cafeteria, and he changed the subject, "Come on, let's go in and have lunch. I have something else important to tell you." (End of Chapter)