After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

Ning Nan rolled her eyes and said, "Killing him wouldn't do any good."

The pedantic scholar looked up at the sky, seemingly with disdain and a hint of lament, and said, "I never imagined that you, at such a young age, would already be such a submissive subject? It seems the Liang dynasty is truly very secure! Ha... I wonder how the noble families of Nanjing can live up to the illustrious reputation of our founding emperor?!"

At the time, I thought it was just a scholar complaining.

Looking back now, was this guy... conducting fieldwork? The Northern Dynasty's rebellion failed? Was he planning to rebel against the Great Liang first?

Then the old man egged him on, saying things like, "If the founding emperor were here," expressing his righteous indignation.

He was inspired by his great-grandfather.

It expresses the idea that: "You have to rebel too. Rebellion will make you emperor, and you'll live a life of luxury, have a harem, and be famous for all time."

Ning Nan couldn't remember how he answered, only that he gave a cold laugh and said to the other person:

"Do you think I've never heard of storytelling? The founding emperor was bullied terribly in his early years, but he obediently became a monk and a beggar... He wasn't stupid; he never rebelled in his early years..."

Han Qing was speechless.

When the founding emperor was a child, almost his entire family starved to death. But even so, they did not rebel and instead sought refuge in a temple.

The two then exchanged some more words.

Basically, this guy tried to persuade him in this way or that, but Ning Nan refuted him every time.

For example, the other person might say something like, "After Emperor Taizu (Taizu) was a first-rate hero who drove out the Manchus, and perhaps in his early years..."

Ning Nan said, "It depends on the timing. Without Sesame Li and Liu Futong rebelling first, and without the Red Turban Army, it would have been very difficult for Emperor Taizu to gain momentum..."

Perhaps it was because Ning was somewhat stubborn and yet knew quite a lot.

Han Qing shook his head and sighed, then smiled and said:

"Being a compliant citizen isn't necessarily a bad thing."

With a single step, he prepared to leave.

Before leaving, he asked the nine-year-old boy, who seemed to have no ambition whatsoever, out of curiosity:

"Given your virtuous and obedient nature, if Old Master Li from your village were to seize your family's land... who would you turn to for help?"

His tone was slightly mocking:

"Report to the authorities? Seek out a just and upright official?"

Ning Nan shook her head, her little face serious as she said:

"It's very difficult for Master Li to seize someone's land. Those whose land he takes are basically those who owe him money. For example, if their cow breaks down, they need to borrow money to buy or rent a cow; if someone in the family is sick, they need to borrow money; or if there's a flood or an insect infestation, and the crops fail and they can't survive, they have to borrow money from Master Li. If they can't repay it later, they have no choice but to sell their land to Master Li."

"These things weren't done intentionally by Master Li. Master Li didn't have to do anything; he just had to wait patiently, and the land would come to him on its own."

"This is called the Matthew effect... the Matthew effect... even if there's no Mr. Li, there will be Mr. Zhang, Mr. Wang. There's no way around it..."

"It's like giving all of Grandpa Li's land to our village now. In a few decades, maybe just a decade or so, another Grandpa Li will pop up."

Han Qing suddenly stopped in his tracks, his expression turning somewhat surprised.

He originally wanted to remind the child that there are no upright officials in the world, and that if he ever had nowhere else to turn, he could burn incense and join a religion in Hangezhuang.

He was somewhat surprised that the child would say such a thing.

He asked curiously:

"And what about your village head? Don't you complain that he's trying to eat your family's bloodline?"

His expression changed, and he seemed to become quite interested.

Under the cover of night, Ning Nan's eyes widened in surprise, and his fist, resting on the stone table, trembled slightly.

He only remembered it then.

There seems to be such a passage.

It seemed like I wasn't alone at the time; Sanzhuang appeared to be with me.

He and Sanzhuang walked towards the back mountain, cursing Li Baoxin as they went. He said, "Li Baoxin won't get my household registration done, he wants to kill off our family line! I'll kill him sooner or later!"

Han Qing, who was passing by, overheard this.

Ning Nan chuckled, a slight smile playing on his lips. He recalled that when he was nine years old, he was worried that this outsider would tell Li Baoxin, who would then beat him with a bamboo stick again. So he struck first, saying, "You came to our village to steal that auntie?"

Sunlight streamed down from the sky.

Little Li Sanzhuang looked at his little older brother with envy.

To outsiders, he looks like a scholar, but the eldest brother can hold his own in conversations and has an even stronger presence than the village head.

The village headman even bows to scholars!

Ning Nan frowned slightly, thinking seriously for a moment: "We'll see. I'm still young now, so I'll give Li Baoxin a few more years. But if we wait until Li Yanting is eighteen, that old geezer still won't get his household registration... Hmph..."

Han Qing exclaimed in surprise, then asked in confusion, "Why wait until Li Yanting turns eighteen?"

Ning Nan said, "Li Yanting is eighteen years old, which means I am eighteen years old."

Han Qing remained silent, looking at him. The implication was, "And then?"

Ning Nan rolled her eyes: "Why would I tell you?"

Han Qing smiled, unconcerned, and continued, "What if one day, a natural disaster or man-made calamity strikes, or a family member falls ill, and your family... or..."

He pointed at the three strong men, "Or perhaps this young man's family mortgaged their land to Master Li, but can't repay it? Are they just going to obediently hand over the land to Master Li?"

Ning Nan shrugged and said, "Otherwise what? Are we supposed to storm into the old master's house?"

Han Qing smiled: "In that case, your previous remarks were completely useless. Putting aside man-made disasters, natural disasters and the cycle of birth, aging, sickness, and death are unavoidable for humankind..."

talking.

Han Qing froze, as if struck by lightning, his pupils contracting violently. After standing there stunned for two breaths, a bone-chilling coldness shot from his tailbone to the top of his head!

I just heard what the child said and thought it made some sense.

But at this moment, I will repeat it myself.

Only then did he realize what chilling words the child had just spoken had said.

"Natural disasters and the cycle of birth, aging, sickness, and death are unavoidable for humankind... therefore..." Han Qing's lips, drained of color, trembled, "will inevitably converge on Master Li's hands..."

In that instant, even bathed in sunlight, he felt a chill run down his spine.

Ning Nan snorted and said, "How is it meaningless?"

Li Sanzhuang exclaimed, "How can it be meaningless?!"

Han Qing snapped out of his daze and heard the child say:

"Natural disasters are nothing more than rain, snow, typhoons, floods, locusts... We can deal with them one by one! As long as we develop water conservancy projects, build reservoirs and dams, store water during floods and release it during droughts, isn't that enough? If one dam isn't enough, it's prone to breaching, so we build another one. And, most importantly, we need to invent new things, like cement... mud that isn't made of water... Sigh, you wouldn't understand even if I explained. Locusts are the same; when there's flooding, locusts inevitably breed. We need to identify the patterns and eliminate the eggs..."

"Illnesses are the same. It's nothing more than a cold, we just need to... well... anyway, drink plenty of water, prevent parasites, research, invent, and summarize..."

Han Qing's expression froze for a moment, then he said, "Investigate things?"

Ning Nan scoffed, "What a load of crap."

Han Qing seemed to think that the child in front of him did not understand the meaning of "investigating things," so he changed his words and said:

"You should really say those words to your emperor; perhaps..."

Before he could finish saying, "Maybe I can give you an official position,"

Then they heard the child in front of them, who had always been a compliant citizen but seemed to be in a good mood today, scoff and say:

"What good is an emperor..."

"The Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors... Fuxi was a fortune teller and also invented nets for catching birds and fish. Shennong was a doctor who tasted hundreds of herbs and also invented agricultural tools. Suiren was a cook who invented fire-making by drilling wood, and there was also Youchao, who was an architect... Tch... What use are the current emperors..."

He shrugged: "Scholars, farmers, artisans, merchants... no wonder we've been poor and miserable for thousands of years... I don't know where this whole thing started going wrong."

He added:

Sooner or later, things will be set right.

…………

On the roof of the glazed tile roof.

Han Qingchao and Mu Ziying laughed, "He was already the number one rebel in the world when he was nine years old, much more rebellious than us."