Chronicles of the Qin Dynasty

Chapter 15: Under the Vast Sky
Qin Shi was eating breakfast slowly.

The maids carefully observed her preferences and saw that she only tasted the pickled shallots and boiled beans, but finished the rice porridge, eggs, sunflower soup and mixed vegetables.

Eat very clean.

Everyone was a little surprised, but they all remained silent.

After the meal, two plates of fresh peaches and green dates were served.

Qin Shi was a little surprised: "There are fruits?"

This breakfast was not very delicious - the vinegar used to mix the beans had a slightly strange taste, the salt sprinkled in the sunflower soup tasted a little bitter, and the rice porridge was just rice porridge.

It's edible.

She is actually quite surprised to see fresh fruit after meals nowadays.

Chi Nu waited and wiped the fresh peaches again, then handed them over: "These are late peaches that were just delivered from Shanglin Garden this morning. They are not as delicious as those in May or June. Qin Jun, just use them to relieve your greasy feeling."

Qin Shi took a bite and said nothing.

The native peach species has not been improved, domesticated, or grafted. If eaten in May or June, it should be sweet and sour, with a small red core exposed, and very delicious.

But now it’s the end of July, and it’s just as Chi Nu said, let’s get rid of the boredom.

Green dates are in season now. Although they are small, they are still quite good.

Rejecting the maids' moves to remove the date pit, she asked, "What are your commands today, my king?"

There is only one king in the entire Xianyang, and everyone else living in this city must and can only obey his orders.

And now that he had slept until noon without being woken up, it must have been the king's intention. Therefore, when Qin Shi asked this question, he was particularly calm.

Wu Zi replied, "No instructions, everything is done according to Qin Jun's preferences."

"After breakfast, if Lord Qin is free, Zhou Fuling will come back and take Lord Qin to the king's private treasury. You can take anything you like."

Qin Shi paused chewing, and silently added two more strokes to the portrait of the King of Qin in his mind:

Generous and heavy.

And I want to emphasize again and again: be broad-minded!
For those who follow the emperor, ambition and hegemony are not as important as breadth of mind!
He has no broad mind and gets angry when he disagrees with others.

If you don't have a broad mind and are only concerned about saving your life every day, how can you talk about serving the country?
Now, just by looking at the actions of these servants, we can see that the King of Qin is extremely majestic and that he probably has the final say over the entire world. And yet, he still has a broad mind under such power. How rare!

She then became genuinely happy: "Really? Your Majesty is so kind! Then let's go after we finish packing."

But this "cleaning up" is not over yet.

Having finished her fruit, Fu Cai, who had been gloomy and silent, stepped forward again: "Lord Qin's clothes are made of natural materials, and I am terrified. But if I only wear these two sets of clothes every day when traveling, I am afraid it will be inconvenient..."

Qin Shi actually needed it very much, because clothes are light and easy to dry in summer, and she had bought clothes in her hometown village, so she only brought one set of clothes.

Now that Fu Cai had spoken, there was no need to respond:

"Then let's get measured."

As she stood there waiting to be measured, Yi Ming also asked, "Ming will make tea for Mr. Qin."

Chi Nu hurriedly instructed: "Mr. Qin doesn't like onions and ginger, so just make a simple tea soup."

On the fast march, with the carriage speeding, Qin Shi hadn't imagined that tea could taste like this nowadays. But when the army stopped to rest, he was shocked to see onions, ginger, and garlic being added to the tea.
However, Chi Nu advised earnestly, "There's a fire outside the carriage, and ice inside. The conflict between hot and cold is harmful to your body. You need to drink plenty of onion and ginger water to balance it out, to prevent discomfort."

"Besides, the diet consists mostly of roasted meat, which inevitably leads to difficulty in going to the toilet. Adding tea can also prevent heat sores in the mouth..."

What this means is that being hot outside and cold inside is not in line with the principles of health preservation. It is easy to catch a cold or accumulate dampness. It is beneficial to drink more hot onion, ginger and garlic water.

Eating barbecue every day can make going to the toilet difficult. Drinking tea not only helps with bowel movements, but also replenishes trace vitamins, preventing mouth ulcers, swollen gums, etc.

In short, Qin Shi understood the situation himself and finally gritted his teeth and drank with them.

It's not particularly unpalatable, but it's weird, quite weird.

But now that she was back in Xianyang Palace, her diet was supplemented with fruits and fresh vegetables, so Chi Nu arranged it according to her wishes:
"Just tea."

Yi Ming nodded, then took a small, round tea cake and crushed it in the mortar. When he was about to grind it into tea powder with a small stone awl, he was stopped by Chi Nu:
"Just pound it roughly once, then boil it directly. Mr. Qin only likes to drink pure tea soup, not tea powder."

"When the tea is ready, pour it into the cup and separate the broken tea leaves."

Yi Ming took note of it silently.

Although the health-preserving effect is not as good as before, since Qin Jun likes it, she will remember it.

Meanwhile, Qin Shi, having taken his measurements, accepted the bronze toothbrush from Wu Zi and waved, "I'll brush it myself." The bronze tube was a bit heavy, one end thickly wrapped in burlap. While the surface was rough, the interior was soft. He carefully applied the powder to his teeth, feeling fine.

She can adapt.

……

Meanwhile, in Zhangtai Palace, the King of Qin was reading the bamboo slips while listening to the servants report Qin Shi's words and deeds:
"Lord Qin always likes to wash and change clothes himself and is not used to being served by servants. He speaks gently and often expresses gratitude."

"The King of Qin ate breakfast in a slow, undisciplined manner, and seemed to eat with reluctance."

"Mr. Qin didn't show any affection for the fresh peaches, but he tried one of the green dates and showed a look of pleasure."

"Drinking tea..."

After the attendants left, the King of Qin put down the bamboo slips in his hand and asked, "Does the Prime Minister have any questions?"

The Prime Minister has many doubts!

At this moment, the old man Wang Fu no longer looked as embarrassed as when they first met. Instead, he looked reserved and calm.

At this moment, he frowned slightly: "Judging from Qin Qing's words and actions, he doesn't seem to be in awe of the king. But he is simple and natural, and he respects the king deeply in his heart... This..."

so weird.

He is the Great King! How can respect and awe be separated?
"Since he doesn't have much awe, I think Qin Qing must be from a noble family. Yet, he has such a gentle temperament..."

She said "Excuse me" to Zan Niao who was helping her carry the box.

To the palace maids who served her, she said "thank you."

Including the palace maids who accompanied her all the way, when they went to sleep at night, she naturally told them: "You have worked hard, go to bed early."

"And the diet..."

At the end of July, there were actually quite a few autumn peaches, but the best ones were definitely supplied to the palace. He was also rewarded with peaches by the king, they were refreshing, crisp and fragrant, so why did Qin Qing seem so bored when he ate them, even with breakfast?

It seems like, it seems like I am still on the western tour. Although it is really not tasty, there is no choice but to eat it!
What kind of person is he to be so picky about eating such fresh fruits for breakfast?

In Wang Fu's opinion, Qin Qing was a person full of doubts.

But in Ji Heng's opinion——

"Qin Qing's identity is unclear, and there are many doubts. But his heart is devoted to serving the emperor, and I will never hide it."

"I see that she is still young, kind-hearted, grateful, and loyal, and she is generous with her belongings..."

Although there are still some strange black squares that have not been explained, but:
All under heaven belongs to the king.

On the shore of the land, could it be the king's ministers?

How could such a great Qin not have immortal envoys guarding it?

***
***
***
Tea existed in the Qin Dynasty. Tea was crushed, pressed, dried, or baked into blocks or cakes.

There are onions, ginger and garlic.

Onions are always available.

Ginger was introduced from Southeast Asia during the Shang Dynasty.

Garlic is small garlic, wild garlic. Sometimes called leek, leek white.

The garlic was carefully selected by Zhang Qian.

At that time, tea was drunk together with tea powder. Drinking tea is not only for trace elements and smooth bowel movements, but also has important functions such as antibacterial and anti-inflammatory, and protects teeth.

Therefore, tea and salt were important supplies that were indispensable for fighting against enemies on the grasslands and on the sea routes.

But it was not until the Tang Dynasty that people realized the importance of tea.

Salt and iron were not state-run in some dynasties (such as the early Han Dynasty).

The phrase "under the heavens" comes from the Book of Songs, emphasizing the Zhou emperor's rule over the world.

The Qin Dynasty's unification ended the rule of the Zhou emperor.

There is also a small tip:

[Are kings, princes, generals, and ministers of different species?] Pretty impressive, right? But Qin Shi Huang's ancestors only raised horses for the Zhou emperor.

(If one must trace back, there are indeed some notable ancestors. That ancestor assisted Dayu in controlling floods and was given the surname Ying by Emperor Shun. Or, in a more fanciful way, a female cultivator who was a descendant of Zhuanxu was born from swallowing a black bird egg.)
It feels like I have been writing for several months and have looked up a lot of information, so why is there only such a short number of words!
(End of this chapter)