Bai Xiaoshi had just recovered from a serious illness, and after Jiang Yuqing chatted with everyone for a while, she felt a little weak. Seeing her condition, everyone hurried out of the room to let her rest well.
After everyone had left, Bai Xiaoshi pounced on her crying loudly, "Qingbao, you scared me to death. I thought you would never wake up again.
I was even thinking that if you didn't wake up after another year, I would find another owner. A very nice owner."
Jiang Yuqing hugged its beautiful head and rubbed her forehead against it, "How could that be? I said that I am the dear daughter of the Jade Emperor, he would not let me die so easily."
Bai Xiaoshi said angrily, "A dear daughter who still had to endure such a severe backlash, you almost died! They are clearly bad guys! They should have died!"
Jiang Yuqing stroked its beautiful antlers and said, "They really deserved to die. Admittedly, as you said, I am a cultivator.
If I had killed fellow cultivators that day, I would have had hallucinations when advancing, or more severe heavenly tribulations at most because of the heavy karma.
But cultivators have absolute power over mortals.
If the rules of the Heavenly Dao did not restrict us, then as long as there were a few more cultivators like me.
Or if just one of those two or three people was psychologically perverted, then the mortals of this world would suffer an unimaginable disaster.
Mortals are the foundation of this world and the masters. We cultivators are anomalous existences.
Perhaps this world would allow the existence of a few anomalies, but it would never allow anomalies to affect the basic harmony of the order of this world. This is the Dao!"
Bai Xiaoshi thought about it for a long time before gently rubbing her with its head, "Qingbao, maybe you're right, I was too one-sided. You just woke up and your body is still very weak. Go back to sleep!"
Bai Xiaojiu also came over to snuggle her. Ever since Jiang Yuqing fell unconscious, Bai Xiaojiu had never gone out again. Every day except for eating, using the toilet, and the rest of the time, it had been guarding her yard.
It was also an affectionate and righteous tiger.
Jiang Yuqing closed her eyes to sleep again.
But her mind was thinking that when she was in a coma, her soul was locked in a dark and empty space. An awe-inspiring voice questioned her, "Do you regret it?"
Jiang Yuqing shook her head and said firmly, "No regrets!"
The voice asked, "Why?"
Jiang Yuqing said, "Because I am first a "person", and secondly a cultivator.
I also have family and friends. I also have human emotions of love, hatred, evil and desire. I have things that I want to protect.
They destroyed what I wanted to protect in such a cruel way, my beliefs, so they deserved to die!
If I had to choose again, I would still do the same even if it meant my death and destruction of my dao attainments.."
The voice sighed deeply for a long time before disappearing.
After that, she was kept in that empty space with no wind, no water, no sunlight, and no sound, only endless nothingness and darkness.
She thought she would be locked up until she died. Later, she gradually began to hear many familiar voices.
Her father and mother, elder brother, master, senior martial brothers, servants, and even Jing Yan.
They kept talking to her and telling her that they missed her very much.
Her father said that the war was over. The Tartars were chased back to the grasslands far, far away, so far that they wouldn't dare come again for a very, very long time in the future.
And because of her outstanding achievements, His Majesty conferred on her the title of Princess and gave her one third of Su Prefecture as her fief.
Her mother said that spring had come, and the rose flowers she brought and planted from her hometown had all bloomed. They covered the whole wall and were pinkish white, beautiful and wonderful. She had also planted many vegetables that she liked to eat in the garden.
Her elder brother would read to her and tell her what interesting things were happening in the academy. His cuju skills had also improved a lot.
Her master threatened her that if she didn't wake up soon, he would expel her from the sect. He would find a cuter and more talented little girl to be his last disciple. Hmph, as if he could find one!
Her third senior martial brother said that as long as she woke up, when the Old Man passed away in the future, he would definitely not compete with her for the position of Valley Master. Then came the usual sounds of the master beating up his third disciple.
This guy was still forgetting the lessons after being beaten. His mouth was so sarcastic that she didn't know how Gongsun Zishu could stand him.
She desperately wanted to wake up every moment, but no matter how hard she struggled, it was futile.
Later, Jing Yan came. He ran all the way from Capital City just to see her once, and she was really touched.
The little boy was so good to her. He kept talking to her and carrying her for walks even when she couldn't respond with a single word.
Until one day, he sadly told her that he had to go back to Capital City. Before leaving, he wanted to talk to her one last time and call her "little elder brother".
This friend was so precious that she subconsciously didn't want him to leave with regrets.
She suddenly mustered unknown strength to struggle desperately, and unexpectedly succeeded this time. She finally saw this colorful, beautiful world again and saw this young boy again.
The news that Jiang Yuqing had awakened spread throughout Su Prefecture City very quickly. Everyone spread the word happily and excitedly.
When the people of Su Prefecture saw Madam Jiang’s white tiger squatting in front of the meat stall again after half a year, they knew everything was going to be okay.
Jiang Yuqing had been lying in bed for too long, and her whole body was stiff. In the first two days after waking up, even walking was difficult. After getting used to it for two days, she slowly recovered.
Because of the backlash from Heavenly Dao, her previous cultivation level of nine layers in the qi condensing stage directly fell back to zero. Her dantian was empty without a trace of spiritual energy, no different from ordinary people.
Even Little Jing had fallen into slumber. Fortunately, she could still enter and exit her spiritual space freely.
Bai Xiaoshi felt sad for her, but she was very open about it. It was already the mercy of Heaven that she still had a life left.
As long as her spiritual space still existed, everything could be restarted from the beginning, so what was there to be sad about?
After training in the yard for another two days, Jiang Yuqing was finally able to walk normally. Just in time, the spring plowing was over and Jiang Wenyuan was not so busy after entering summer.
It was now late June. The few thousand acres of black goji berries planted in Sha Qing County were ripe.
Jiang Wenyuan decided to take a few days off to go take a look, and bring the whole family on an outing while he was at it.
In addition to black goji berries, Sha Qing County also had grasslands that were not small in area. After picking the goji berries, they could also go to the grasslands to ride horses and enjoy the scenery.
The whole family unanimously agreed with this decision. When Doctor Qiu and Lu Yi heard about it, they also joined in. How could they go out to play without bringing them along? It would be too awkward.
So on June 22nd, Jiang Wenyuan took his family of four, Doctor Qiu and his apprentice Lu Yi, a group of guards and servants, and set off magnificently towards Sha Qing County to the northeast.
Yes, that guy Jing Yan stayed behind again. As for the letter from his father urging him to return, he just pretended not to see it. He even directly replied, "I’m away on duty and cannot comply with your order!"
Jiang Yuqing always felt that this sentence was not supposed to be used like that.
It used to take more than two days to travel from Su Prefecture City to Sha Qing County, and now it only took one day.
This was because last year after Jiang Wenyuan completed the official road from Su Prefecture to Capital City, and seeing that there was still a lot of money left in the accounts, he simply commissioned the Mohists to repair the official roads from Su Prefecture to all the counties under its jurisdiction.
Because the roads were good to travel on, the travel time between Su Prefecture and each county was directly reduced by half.
It was also because of this that during the great battle to resist the Tartars last year, materials and supplies from all over the country could be transported to the Su Prefecture battlefield so quickly and smoothly.
Jiang Wenyuan truly had outstanding contributions to the victory in the great war.
At night, the Jiang family booked the largest inn in Sha Qing County to stay at.
This was also the first time since the opening of this inn that they had encountered such a generous customer. The shopkeeper smiled so widely that his mouth almost couldn’t close.
If it was just their family, they could have managed with simple accommodations, but there was also an eminent monk along, so there was no way things could be simple.
The next day, the Sha Qing County Magistrate arrived early at the inn to await their presence. After getting up and having breakfast, everyone set off for the cultivation base of the black goji berries.
Black goji berries were known as "soft gold" in later generations, but they did not look like orderly, neat rows and columns of crops as some people imagined.
On the contrary, at first glance, this was just a low shrub and weed ground.
This was because all the wild lycium grew in very barren soil, such as saline-alkali land. Their roots were developed, and they could grow for decades or even nearly a hundred years. The fruiting period lasted twenty to thirty years every year. The harvesting season was from late June to October.
They basically belonged to the kind that you plant once and eat for a lifetime. They did not require much care as long as they were not waterlogged. When they were first planted as seedlings, weeding them once was enough, and no further care was needed afterwards.
This was because the weeds would absorb the saline-alkali content in the soil. When they rotted, they would form humic acid around the lycium roots, which greatly increased the organic content of the soil. As a result, more and larger fruits would form on the shrubs.
Moreover, because Jiang Yuqing had specifically flown over in the middle of the night to oversee this piece of land, the first crop of fruit grew exceptionally large, each the size of her little finger.
At this time, many commoners were already busy working in the lycium field. Among them was someone who had been to the prefectural city and An Hospital for medical treatment before, and recognized Doctor Qiu and Jiang Yuqing.
"This person looks so familiar!" The woman slapped her thigh, "Oh my! Isn't this Doctor Qiu and the young noble lady!"
Hearing the woman's yell, the people working were shocked to find out that Prefect Jiang had brought his family to pick lycium.
They rushed over to greet them.
Jiang Wenyuan was amiable, smilingly put on a straw hat crookedly, picked up a small basket, and walked into the field.
He bent over to pick lycium as he used to, chatting with the commoners while working.
Jing Yan followed beside him, silently observing everything and contemplating deeply.
At noon when everyone stopped to eat, the commoners enthusiastically shared the fresh vegetable buns they had brought with Jiang Wenyuan's family.
Jiang Wenyuan did not despise them either, but after receiving the buns, he also shared half of the large white steamed buns he had brought.
Jing Yan, who had not spoken all along, asked Jiang Wenyuan, who was sitting on the ground in coarse clothes and nibbling on a vegetable bun, "Has Your Excellency always been like this?"
Jiang Wenyuan swallowed the bun in his mouth and laughed, "I was born in an impoverished family and came from the commoners. Even after I came to Su Prefecture, they are still my elders and fellow villagers. Going among them, listening to their hearts, caring about what they care about, and thinking what they think, this is the foundation of being an official.
It is the same for being a monarch.
I once read the following passage in a book by an ancient wise man from time immemorial. He said:
(The monarch relies on the state, and the state relies on the people. Carving the people to serve the monarch is like cutting meat to satisfy hunger. When the stomach is full, the body perishes; when the monarch is rich, the state perishes. The troubles of the monarch do not come from external sources, but often arise from his person.
When one desires prosperity yet spends extravagantly, extravagant spending leads to heavy taxes and levies. Heavy taxes and levies distress the people, the people's distress endangers the state, and the endangered state causes the monarch to fall.)
My late father also said something extremely outrageous.
He said that we bare-legged folks do not care who becomes the Emperor. We only care which Emperor can make us with full stomachs and peaceful days.
Young master is going to vie for power in the future. Staying in official circles for too long easily leads to blindness.
Whenever you have time, go among the common people more to understand their afflictions and hardships. Only then can Da Xia's foundation last for thousands of years!"
Upon hearing this, Jing Yan stood up and made a deep bow with clasped fists, "Jing Yan thanks Your Excellency for your teaching!"
Jiang Wenyuan also stood up and reciprocated, "I dare not. As long as the young master does not blame me for overstepping, that is good enough!"
That night, Jing Yan wrote a letter to his father and urged for it to be quickly delivered to the capital by fast horse. The gist was: Father, you can forget about that nonsense dog-fart summer resort.
