The leisurely life of the Qin people

Chapter 37 The Child Who Is Not Afraid of the Dark
Shusun Tong was in Jingye County, and he needed to coordinate the planning. Although he was a doctor from Qi and Lu who came to Qin, it should be more than enough for him to take care of a county, not to mention Zhang Han was in charge.

If something really went wrong, Zhang Han would really kill people, and he had killed people before.

Fusu didn't even have to doubt that if this situation happened again next time, Zhang Han would definitely kill a few more people.

Shusun Tong was able to manage Jingye County in an orderly manner. Perhaps some people outside had already said that he had made great contributions to Prince Fusu.

Fusu put down the document in his hand, took a sip of tea, and left.

Tian An followed beside him, giving instructions to the eunuchs behind him as he walked.

After leaving Gaoquan Palace, Fusu went all the way to Xianyang City, opposite the residence of Prime Minister Li Si.

Just opposite the residence of Prime Minister Li Si, there is a huge mansion. This mansion seems to have no owner, and there is no plaque or gate to show the owner's status.

Occasionally, three or two people would come here and walk around, but usually no one would enter this house.

Today, people saw a team of guards hurriedly arriving here, then pushed the door open and entered, guarding the surroundings, as if some important person was coming.

Later, people saw a young man entering the mansion under the escort of guards.

The person who walked into this mansion was Fusu.

Lu Buwei's former residence was like a huge treasure house to Fusu, and there was also a very large library here.

Today, Fusu originally wanted to take some books away, but he found half a roll of burnt bamboo slips outside the main hall of a house.

Fusu stood there suspiciously, looking at the ashes left on the ground after the burn.

Tian An looked at the people behind him, and someone hurried forward to report: "The Prime Minister was here last night, and he burned all these."

Hearing this, Fusu walked forward and picked up the unburned bamboo slips on the ground. On the bamboo slips that were not completely burned, Fusu saw a name, which was Sikong Ma.

Fusu picked up the half-burned bamboo slips and asked, "Does the Prime Minister come here often?"

"My lord, the Prime Minister doesn't come here often. I don't know why he suddenly came here last night."

Fusu looked at the half-burned bamboo slips and walked towards the library, looking at the name Sikong Ma and some fragments of words.

Arriving in front of the library, Fusu pushed the door open and walked in.

Tian An asked someone to clean this place, and it looks much cleaner.

Fusu added, "Find someone to renovate the windows here, making them bigger and more spacious, so that it will be brighter."

Tian An also felt... that this library had a gloomy feeling.

"Let someone knock down the window now."

After receiving the order, several guards left, and then more than ten craftsmen came and began to renovate the windows of the library.

The sound of craftsmen chiseling the wall could be heard in his ears, but Prince Fusu was able to read so attentively. Such concentration is truly rare.

Fusu found the name Sikong Ma and the books he wrote among the rows of bookshelves.

He was able to see some things about the past. Sima Ma was originally one of Lu Buwei's retainers and gave Lu Buwei advice.

When Lu Buwei fell from power, Sikong Ma did not suffer the same fate as Li Si, because his "The Memorial on Expelling Aliens" remained in the Qin State.

As a retainer of Lu Buwei, Sikong Ma was expelled from the State of Qin.

At that time, Sikong Ma, like Li Si, was probably at the age of being full of passion.

But after Lu Buwei's downfall, the fate of these two people became very different.

Li Si was once highly valued in the State of Qin, but Sikong Ma went to the State of Zhao, when the latter was at war with the latter.

Fusu thought that the bamboo slips burned by Li Si were actually a scroll of letters, a scroll of letters informing his deceased friend Sikong Ma. Li Si had been looking for this person, perhaps because of the friendship they had when they worked together under Lu Buwei.

I saw again what Li Si said in the letter. It was a pity that the king of Zhao at that time did not listen to Sikong Ma's advice.

Fusu took a few more books here and planned to take them back to read.

Before leaving, Fusu came to the place where the documents had been burned before, lit a fire and burned the unburned document.

Most people in late autumn have smiles on their faces. During the harvest season, people will bring their agricultural products to Xianyang City in exchange for necessary supplies for the winter. Most people will bring food to Xianyang City in exchange for winter clothes or more refined food.

During the slack season, many people came to Xianyang City, exchanging their labor for some supplies for the winter.

This is an era that is so simple and natural.

When Tian An saw the young master stop, he also stopped behind him, and the guards and eunuchs behind him also stopped.

After returning to the palace, Fusu made another pot of noodles by himself and brought it to Zhangtai Palace.

Tian An watched the young master walk into the main hall of Zhangtai Palace, and then he stood outside the hall.

It was getting dark, and Tian An suddenly thought that the young master had not been to Jingye County for a long time, and the young master had also presided over the construction of Xianyang Bridge.

Tian An continued thinking in his heart, he heard that there are many merchants and farmers traveling on Xianyang Bridge now, and the bridge is very busy every day.

Once the Xianyang Bridge was completed, people on the west bank of the Wei River could walk much shorter distances to Xianyang.

If you go to see the grand and bustling scene on the Xianyang Bridge, the vendors on both sides of the bridge, the pedestrians walking on the bridge, and see the smiles on people's faces, you should like this kind of scenery the most.

Just like Gongzi Xi watching the busy people in Xianyang City and seeing the smiles on people's faces, he must also like the people on the Xianyang Bridge.

Just as Tian An was thinking, someone tugged at the hem of his clothes. He looked down and saw a small figure.

Looking down, he saw that it was Gongzi Gao. Tian An lowered his body with a smile on his face.

"Are my royal brother and father in the main hall?"

Tian An said, "The young master has just entered the palace."

Prince Gao looked into the hall and then said, "I cannot disturb my father and my brother from governing the country, so I will go back and rest."

Just as he was about to turn and leave, Gongzi Gao turned back and asked, "Are you going to wait here for my brother?"

Tian An nodded slowly.

Gongzi Gao thought for a moment and then left.

Tian An felt that this young master was becoming more sensible.

In the main hall of Zhangtai Palace, Fusu and his father finished a small pot of noodles.

Seeing his son sitting beside him clearing the dishes, Ying Zheng asked, "Do you often read documents in the Censorate?"

"Replying to Father, read it often."

Ying Zheng stopped writing, still holding the brush in his hand, and whispered, "Li Si said you wanted to review the documents. You can take a look at the documents here and review a few sentences."

"Thank you, Father."

Fusu cleaned up the dishes, put them in a basin beside him, handed them to the eunuch beside him and instructed: "Give them to Tian An outside." The eunuch nodded.

Afterwards, Fusu took out a few scrolls from a box of bamboo slips in front of his father and looked at them carefully.

The night gradually deepened. Ying Zheng didn't know how long he had been watching. He felt a little tired. He looked up and saw that the Zhangtai Palace in the night was cold and dark. The light from the candlesticks and candles could not illuminate the entire Zhangtai Palace. There were still many dark corners in this hall.

This made Ying Zheng think of the huge empire today, and he felt quite worried.

Looking at Fusu again, the child was concentrating on reading the documents.

Ying Zheng suddenly remembered that this child rarely cried when he was young, and this child was naturally not afraid of the dark.

Feeling fatigue coming, Ying Zheng held his temple with one hand, closed his eyes and planned to take a short rest before dealing with the documents in front of him.

Occasionally, the night wind blew into the hall, and Ying Zheng woke up from a trance, finding a heater beside him and a cloak draped over his body.

It was dark outside, but the hall in front of me was still as quiet as ever.

Ying Zheng slowly turned his head and saw that the seat beside him was empty. Fusu was supposed to be here, but now he was gone.

"When did Fusu leave?"

"The young master said he had finished reviewing these documents and has been gone for an hour."

A eunuch came quickly, brought a bowl of hot water, and said, "The young master said that Your Majesty should drink a sip of hot water when he wakes up to ward off the cold."

The tea in the bowl was still steaming. Ying Zheng took the bowl and looked at the darkness outside the hall.

The hall was still silent, and the only sounds that could be heard were His Majesty's occasional heavy breathing and the sound of swallowing hot water.

Suddenly remembering the document in front of him, Ying Zheng put down the bowl and wanted to continue dealing with the document, but he found that the inkstone was no longer in front of him, but was placed on another table.

Only then did Ying Zheng realize that he had just heard the eunuch beside him say that Fusu had reviewed all the documents.

"Your Majesty, the young master also said that Your Majesty should rest early."

Ying Zheng held his forehead, feeling a little dazed after a short nap. He sat for a while before saying in a deep voice, "Bring the document reviewed by Fusu."

After looking at these documents carefully, I couldn't find any place that needed to be revised. It turned out that my son had done a good job of marking them.

Ying Zheng flipped through several volumes, picked up the hot water beside him and took another sip. He immediately became energetic and continued reading.

The next day, Fusu arrived at Zhangtai Palace early as usual, but today he saw Prince Gao. He was eating a cake and sitting on the steps in front of the hall, with two ignorant sisters behind him.

"Brother!" Gongzi Gao saluted politely.

Fusu said: "You can come to Gaoquan Palace for breakfast in the future."

"My brothers all cook by themselves, Gao must learn too."

Seeing that more and more people were coming to the court, Gao led his two sisters to leave. As he walked away, he said, "Brother! I'm going to study with Master Shusun Tong."

Fusu stood there and watched the three brothers and sisters walk down from the Zhangtai Palace, making many old ministers laugh along the way.

Seeing his teacher Zhang Cang approaching, Fusu turned around and walked into the hall with Zhang Cang.

Everyone took off their shoes and walked into the hall.

After walking three or five steps in the hall, Zhang Cang whispered, "Sir, I heard that Zhang Han and his men have planted a lot of beans."

Fusu said, "The wheat harvest was early this year, and we planted a lot of beans this summer. Now that winter is almost here, we have indeed harvested some beans, but beans harvested in winter are not as good as those harvested in summer."

At this point, Fusu added: "It's better than nothing."

Zhang Cang's face was filled with worry as he added, "If you continue digging the canal, you'll end up digging into other villages and counties."

Fusu said: "When we first envisioned it, we would dig a canal from the bottom of the Shangyan Mountain range, connecting it all the way to the lower reaches of the Luo River, and merging it at the junction of the Luo River and the Wei River."

According to the young master's narration, Zhang Cang thought about passing through a county along the way. That county was called Linjin County, which was also a county of the old Qin people. It had been more than two hundred years since the Qin Dynasty built this county.

Fusu said, "I'll let Shusun Tong take care of these matters."

Zhang Cang nodded slightly and said, "It's not easy to lobby a county."

With a loud shout from the eunuch, today's court meeting began. Fusu hurried back to his seat and saluted with the ministers.

While the court meeting was going on, everyone reported on today's political affairs, especially Prime Minister Li Si, who was talking endlessly about the situation in the north.

During this period, Chunyu Yue asked again when the doctors who went to the north could be brought back.

Li Si said, "People like Zhou Qingchen are living well in the north."

"Are you living well next to the Xiongnu?" Chunyu Yue lowered his voice and asked almost in a rhetorical tone, especially when he saw Li Si's smiling face, he wanted to go up and tear his smiling face off.

Chunyu Yue was thinking this in his heart, but he found that the smile on Li Si's face became even wider.

Li Si asked again, "Do you also want to go to the north?"

The Prime Minister's words were suggestive. The doctors of Qi and Lu all stood up straight, then looked at their noses and their hearts. No one answered, and they were extremely honest.

Chunyu Yue looked back in surprise, and found that none of the Qilu doctors who were on the same front with him stood up.

The dispute in the court continued, and Fusu was still thinking about what his teacher Zhang Cang had said. His teacher's face was always calm, with a hint of sadness in it. He wanted to say something, but didn't know how to say it. It seemed that he already had something in mind, but just didn't want to say it.

After the court meeting ended, Fusu was about to leave.

"Sir, please stay."

Hearing the words, Fusu looked at the eunuch who called him.

The eunuch said again, "Prime Minister, please stay."

Li Si stopped, lifted his collar, and said with a smile, "Is it the Emperor's summons?"

The eunuch was as old as Tian An, but much shorter. He said with a smile, "His Majesty has summoned you, young master. The Prime Minister, please come this way."

Li Si followed the eunuch, took out a tangerine from his sleeve, and handed it to him, saying, "Sir, this was brought from Shu by Li You."

Fusu took the small, golden tangerine and asked, "Is Li You doing well in Shu?"

Li Si ate the tangerines and put the peels into his wide sleeves as he replied, "This guy is organizing his army in Shuzhong. He's close to the Baiyue people there. I heard there are lychees to eat in spring and summer, and there are endless fruits to eat. Winter is almost here, and there are still endless tangerines to pick. We don't have to worry about military rations..."

Fusu was holding a tangerine in his hand with a smile on his face.

"Also, there are rhinos there, herds and flocks of rhinos..."

As he walked, he listened to Prime Minister Li Si's story. The Prime Minister's words really sounded like he was trying to make a child happy, and Fusu could only smile in response.

When I walked to a palace, I heard my father's voice.

"Fusu has never been afraid of the dark since he was young."

(End of this chapter)