Girl, let me check it out.

Garbage of the prosperous age?

Fang Weihan felt somewhat sad and ridiculous.

I knew that this group of people only report good news and never bad news.

"Yun Shu, can you tell me what the current situation of the Great Zhou is?"

Fang Weihan asked in a low voice in his sea of ​​consciousness.

"You probably already have some guesses, but you just don't want to believe it, right?"

"If the Great Zhou is rich and powerful, and the people are united, how can the foreign races swallow up half of the country?"

Yun Shu stopped joking.

"I thought this was the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, but I didn't expect it to be more like the end of the Western Jin Dynasty!"

Fang Weihan scratched his hair irritably and dejectedly.

"This is not your original world. It deviated from your world in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. There is no Northern Song Dynasty or Western Jin Dynasty here. It is just the Great Zhou Dynasty."

Yun Shu wrote indifferently.

"I'll tell you another little secret."

"I don't think anyone knows this secret except me, so there is almost no karmic punishment. You can rest assured."

Fang Weihan held his breath and looked carefully, only to see these two lines of words slowly flashing on the empty panel in front of him:

"The history of this world before the Eastern Han Dynasty is almost the same as your world. Before the current dynasty, there was already a dynasty called "Zhou". The Eastern and Western Zhou dynasties lasted for a total of 800 years."

"Then do you know why the current country is still called "Zhou" when there is already a "Zhou"? "

Fang Weihan asked:

"why?"

The pale small words slowly emerged from the void, like ashes scattered on coke.

"Because this country is flawed from the beginning. It has not won the support of the people. It can't even gather the dragon as a symbol of national destiny. It is basically a half-finished product!"

"It is not recognized by the people, nor by the will of heaven and earth, and it is not worthy of a new name, so it can only steal the name of the previous dynasty, borrowing the unfinished luck of the previous dynasty, and establish the country as "Zhou"!"

Yun Shu wrote coldly.

As soon as these words were spoken, Fang Weihan's heart was instantly filled with stormy waves.

Our country is Zhou, Zhou is round, and our surname is square. It is incompatible to govern Zhou with a square. Therefore, the governance of this vast land and hundreds of millions of people depends on the efforts of you! - Fang Qianyi, "Oath at the Temple of Heaven"

Chapter 60: Corner of the World

"What... congenital deficiency, unpopularity? How can a country be unpopular after its founding?"

Fang Weihan asked in a deep voice in his sea of ​​consciousness.

"Then how did it establish itself?"

"I feel dizzy."

Yun Shu slowly threw out three words.

Fang Weihan: "..."

He shut up silently and continued to follow Ji Gang hurriedly, and came to the gate of a dilapidated courtyard.

The rotten door bolt, the narrow courtyard that is barely big enough to stand, the crumbling and leaking roof, the bedding that smells damp and moldy...

And the old woman who was dying and coughing on the bed.

Fang Weihan watched all this in silence.

"Mother! How are you, mother?"

When Ji Gang saw the old woman was about to get up, he rushed over, held her hand and supported her.

The eight-foot-tall, sturdy man now looked like a panicked child, afraid of losing the most precious thing.

"Baby, cough, cough, cough..."

The old woman had just said a few words when she began to cough violently, like a broken bellows that could not be pumped.

"I dreamed of your father. He was smiling at me."

The old woman did not look at her son, but stared at the leaking roof with lifeless eyes.

"That day, I asked him what golden shrimp was."

"He said that's what the nobles in Changming City eat, and we can't afford it."

The old woman's dry and wrinkled face slowly relaxed into a reminiscent smile.

"He said he would let me live a good life... and let me eat this golden shrimp every meal."

"Later... later he joined the army. He was said to have gone to Liaodong, a very far place..."

"So many years have passed in the blink of an eye, and I don't know if he is still alive?"

"If he were alive, he probably wouldn't recognize me, cough cough cough..."

She coughed violently, as if she wanted to vomit out all the grievances of her life along with the remnants of her internal organs.

Ji Gang was very anxious, with tears in his eyes and his voice choked with sobs.

"Mom, stop talking and lie down. You lie down first."

Water drops from the roof dripped down, making a small dent on the ground.

People always say that dripping water can wear away a stone.

But in order to penetrate the stone, how many drops of water must be shattered, evaporated, and finally die in pain?

"Yun Shu, can she be saved?"

"Is it too late for me to go find Xiao Jin now?"

Fang Weihan leaned against the door, quietly watching the scene inside the house, his eyes a little dry.

"She should be the female worker in charge of processing ore."

"This is tuberculosis caused by inhaling too much ochre powder. Her lungs have been eroded to the point where they are almost empty shells."

"To cure this disease, you need the seventh level of Heavenly Craftsmanship's ability to create. Forget about Xiao Jin. Even if you ask Tianque Baipao to come, he can't save her."

"She won't survive the night."

Yun Shu stated calmly.

Ochre, with its bright red color, symbolizes joy and happiness. Because of its high price, ochre has become a must-have for dignitaries to show off their wealth.

They like to use it as red paint for good luck.

Fang Weihan couldn't bear to watch it any longer, so he turned around and left the small, dark room.

"Master, do you think Aunt Ji can be saved?"

At the base of the wall outside the yard, several younger brothers were squatting in the corner dejectedly. One of them, the one called Liu Lin, stood up and asked nervously.

Facing their expectant gazes, Fang Weihan shook his head.

The light in the eyes of several people dimmed at once. Liu Lin, who had spoken, squatted down dejectedly, scratching his scalp.

"Aunt Ji is always so kind to us. She has never looked down on us and often helps us with our meals..."

Liu Lin's voice was choked with sobs.

"Usually I just saw her coughing a little, and Aunt Ji said it was nothing. But why did she suddenly..."

"She's only forty..."

It was like a bolt of thunder from the blue exploding in Fang Weihan's heart.

"You said...she's only forty? How come..."

How come you look that old?

Fang Weihan didn't say this out loud after all.

"Do you think processing ochre ore is easy? Floating, grinding, soaking, drifting, sifting, which one is not a tiring job?"

"With low wages and hard work, it's not surprising that he looks like this at the age of 40."

"After all, if you don't do it, there are plenty of people who will. She probably has no choice."

Yun Shu's words once again hurt Fang Weihan's nerves.

Listening to the intermittent coughing sounds in the room, Fang Weihan fell silent.

"Do you know where to buy golden shrimps around here?"

he asked suddenly.

……

Ji Gang sat dejectedly on the edge of the bed, his eyes bloodshot.

He grasped his mother's hand, which was bulging with blue veins, feeling the thick calluses on it, and regret swept over him like a wave.

Why did I join the army? Why didn’t I go back to my mother earlier?

If I had come back earlier, would things have been different?

The man's eyes dimmed as he thought in despair.

"Squeak."

Suddenly, someone pushed open the old and rotten wooden door.

Then, Ji Gang felt his shoulder being patted gently.

He twisted his gray eyes to look, only to find that Fang Weihan handed him a wooden box that exuded a fragrance.

"Golden shrimp."

Fang Weihan mouthed words to him.

Ji Gang was silent for a moment, then took the box from Fang Weihan with trembling hands.

"Thank you, sir."

Ji Ganghu said solemnly with tears in his eyes.

Fang Weihan nodded slightly and left the room silently.

"Mom, these golden shrimps, have some..."

Ji Gang gently shook his mother, opened the box, picked up a piece of shrimp and put it to the woman's mouth.

The old woman opened her eyes weakly and subconsciously put the shrimp that Ji Gang picked up into her mouth.

She had very few teeth left and could only rub her gums against her upper and lower jaws.

“It’s delicious. It’s really delicious.”

The old woman swallowed the shrimp with difficulty and sighed with contentment.

"So this is what golden prawns taste like..."

"Haha, he really didn't lie to me."

The old woman slowly turned her head and looked at her son.

"Baby, I know you've been... cough cough cough!"

Before the old woman could say a few words, she started coughing again.

"Mom, lie down first, lie down first!"

Ji Gang seemed to realize something and spoke anxiously.

The old woman still held his hand stubbornly

"I know you've always hated your father, but you're still his son after all."

The old woman's dim eyes stared at Ji Gang closely.

"After I die, you can change your surname back to Zhang..."