Chapter 41: Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation
In the hall, Qi Zheng said in a low voice, “The crown prince is so eager to stop this, but what if the potatoes I spoke of, with a yield of a thousand jin per mu, truly exist and can be promoted throughout Great Qian?”
Agriculture concerned the people’s livelihood. Even the slightest possibility had to be taken seriously.
The voices in the hall suddenly grew quieter.
No one dared joke about a matter like this.
Crown Prince Jiao frowned. He truly did not believe Qi Zheng’s luck was this good, that he could quietly discover such a treasure of the state.
Qi Zheng did not beat around the bush either. “I have planted several mu of potatoes at my residence, and it is precisely the time of harvest. If you still do not believe it, everyone may come with me to take a look.”
“…”
The king said nothing, but he still personally led people to Qi Zheng’s residence, which showed just how much importance he attached to it.
Chen Bai did not go, because he already knew what the result would be. Going would merely be joining the bustle.
After Chen Bai left the hall, he departed, because he had promised Chen Xiaobu that he would take him to play polo today.
The four most entertaining pastimes in Shangjing were listening to storybooks, playing polo, cricket fighting, and pitch-pot.
When Chen Bai returned to the Court of Judicial Review residence, Chen Xiaobu had not come back yet. He was still studying at Shangjing Academy.
Chen Bai first changed into a tighter outfit, then leaned against a chair and played ranked matches.
After playing several rounds, a Dalmatian ran in. Behind it came Chen Xiaobu’s excited voice. “Brother, polo, polo! Today Shang Jujiu, Shang Zhizhou, Gan Xin, and the others are all going. It’s already autumn, and we barely played polo this year.”
After he finished speaking, because he had walked too quickly, the book box in his hands fell to the ground, spilling out a pile of messy odds and ends.
The corner of Chen Bai’s mouth twitched. Without realizing it, he had bought Chen Xiaobu so many little gadgets. In the end, this kid had actually packed them all into his book box, carrying them around like treasures every day. Who knew what the teachers at Shangjing Academy would think if they saw it? They would probably scold him for losing his will to study through playthings.
Chen Bai felt that people should do what suited their age. If children this young were forced to study too much, they would definitely develop rebellious feelings in the future.
He rubbed the Dalmatian’s head, then held the dog’s leash and said, “Go change your clothes.”
Chen Xiaobu was wearing his skateboarding gear. He definitely could not play polo dressed like that.
By the time Chen Bai brought Chen Xiaobu to the horse field, the field was already bustling with excitement. Every match even had a wager. Of course, to the young masters and young ladies of meritorious families, such wagers were not really anything much. They were mainly for gaining face through victory.
As soon as Chen Bai and the others arrived, Shang Jujiu, Shang Zhizhou, Gan Xin, and Prince Ning ran over with their dogs.
“Brother Bai, you finally came. We probably won’t be able to play polo for much longer. Once winter comes, no one will be here. We should take advantage of the nice weather now and play.”
“Come on, come on, let’s go choose horses. We were all waiting for Brother Bai.”
Chen Bai smiled and led them toward the place where horses were selected.
Chen Xiaobu and the others could only ride ponies, but the little children sitting on horseback still looked quite proper.
This was the largest horse field in Shangjing. Polo was divided into the main field, which was the liveliest field, with many viewing seats arranged around it.
Chen Bai and the others were going to a small field. Since today was mainly about bringing Chen Xiaobu out to play, it was all children amusing themselves.
Chen Bai sat on horseback and started the ball. The group of little fellows had already begun shouting as they chased after it.
It was actually quite a nice game on horseback.
But they had not been playing for long when a servant hurriedly ran over, face pale. He was from Duke Gan’s residence.
“Bad news. Someone fell off a horse at the main field. I heard he has stopped breathing.”
Chen Bai froze. Even if something had truly happened, the servant should not have come running to interrupt them at this moment. No matter what, he should have waited until their match ended.
The servant seemed hesitant to speak. Then he gritted his teeth and said, “Just now, we were leading Gan Thirteen Young Master’s strange beast around the main field. We were only watching for fun and did not even go near the crowd. But for some reason, Wei Donglai of the great general’s residence insisted on coming over to tease the strange beast. Gan Thirteen Young Master usually never lets people approach his strange beast. We advised him against it, but Wei Donglai not only refused to listen, he even raised the polo stick in his hand as if he wanted to hit it…”
“In the end, the strange beast barked twice. The horse was frightened, and Wei Donglai fell from the horse. With that fall, he… he stopped breathing.” His face was covered in cold sweat.
Chen Bai frowned. Wei Donglai of the great general’s residence? Wasn’t that the gate commander who had spoken rudely to Princess Lexun at the city gate that day?
Gan Xin’s Old English Sheepdog, after being raised for so long, had grown into a very large creature. In addition, it had the bloodline of a sheepdog. If it barked twice at a horse, it was possible for the other horse to be startled.
Now this was troublesome. Wei Donglai was the legitimate son of General Wei.
Chen Bai led the group toward the main field.
Quite a few people were gathered there. A physician was examining him, then shook his head. “He’s dead.”
“Who would have thought he’d die just from such a fall?”
Chen Bai stepped forward and checked his breathing. Sure enough, there was no breath.
The servants of Duke Gan’s residence were already frightened bloodless. They had been the ones leading the dog over to watch the polo match. Although it had been Wei Donglai who insisted on provoking them, refused to listen to advice, and even tried to hit someone with his polo stick, the other party was the legitimate son of the great general.
Gan Xin had Duke Gan’s protection, so perhaps nothing would happen to him, but they were definitely dead.
Chen Bai also sighed a little. Gan Xin really had the constitution of someone plagued by bad luck. Why did accidents happen wherever he went?
The guards from the great general’s residence who had accompanied Wei Donglai were also so frightened that they did not react for a while.
By the time they reacted, they had already drawn their swords. Someone had to be held responsible. These servants were definitely not going to survive, but their status was not enough.
They glanced at Gan Xin. They did not dare accuse him. Then their gazes actually fell on Gan Xin’s dog.
“Today, you must give our great general’s residence justice.”
“It was this strange beast that startled our young master’s horse. It must…”
Before the words were finished, Chen Bai froze, because the finger of the “corpse” on the ground suddenly moved.
Chen Bai quickly reached out to check his breathing again. There was still no breath.
This was…
Perhaps things had not yet reached an irreparable stage.
Chen Bai overlapped his palms and pressed them against Wei Donglai’s chest on the ground, one press after another.
The guards of the great general’s residence were stunned.
“Grand Scholar Zhaoxue, you… what are you…”
The surrounding people were also dumbfounded. Chen Zixiu was actually humiliating a corpse. The man was already dead, yet he still…
How was this any different from whipping a corpse? This would probably offend the great general’s residence completely.
Those guards hurried forward. Something had happened to Wei Donglai, and they already could hardly escape blame. Now, how could they allow Wei Donglai’s corpse to be humiliated?
But Chen Bai said, “Stop them.”
He had also brought quite a few guards from the Court of Judicial Review residence when he came out.
The surrounding people: “…”
They could not help sucking in a breath. Everyone said the young masters of Shangjing were frivolous, but could they compare to Chen Zixiu “whipping a corpse”?
Chen Bai frowned and said, “Explain it to them.”
Chen Xiaobu and the other children: “…”
“Ahhh, we know this! This is called cardiopulmonary resuscitation. We lay down and pressed each other before. That fool Shang Zhizhou was especially good at pressing and almost made someone vomit.”
“This can save people. There’s a kind of false death symptom. How did the lesson explain it again?”
But how could others understand?
“He’s already dead. How can he be saved? No matter how capable Chen Zixiu is, can he bring the dead back to life?”
In any case, what they saw was Chen Bai pressing hard on a corpse.
This was probably going to become the most absurd thing in Shangjing.
But suddenly, the “corpse” on the ground sat up abruptly.
“Bastards! I was teasing your dog to give you face…”
Dead silence. The corpse had spoken.
Chen Bai wiped away sweat. It really had been a state of false death. If they had not performed emergency rescue, he truly would have died.
Wei Donglai opened his eyes and was also stunned. He only remembered raising his polo stick to teach these servants a lesson. Why was he sitting on the ground? And his chest felt tight, with a feeling of being unable to breathe.
The people of the great general’s residence hurried up and helped him stand, explaining in a few quick words.
Chen Bai shrugged and said to the people around him, “It’s fine now. Go do whatever you were doing.”
As long as no one died, to them, it was not a big matter.
The surrounding crowd had, at some point, become so dense that water could not pass through.
Chen Bai brought Chen Xiaobu and the others out with great difficulty.
Wei Donglai was still standing there in a daze. Why did it sound like he had died once just now?
Although his body did feel somewhat uncomfortable now, was that not just because he had fallen from a horse? How could he have died?
Dazed.
The little fellows all had their noses tilted toward the sky and swung their little legs straight as they walked.
“Brother Bai, their eyes all went dumb just now.”
“Right, right. When we left just now, their eyes were still staring at us.”
Chen Bai said, “Now you know how important first aid is?”
He took them to play for a while longer and only returned when evening came.
Chen Bai used his phone to send Qi Zheng a voice message. “Are you done over there?”
In the end, it took a long time before Qi Zheng replied. This was the first time Qi Zheng had not replied instantly.
“Not yet. I estimate we’ll be digging all night with the lamps lit.”
Chen Bai thought, in that case, the king must truly be taking it seriously. That made sense. Even the stupidest person could see what potatoes meant to Great Qian.
Chen Bai originally wanted to ask what the king’s attitude was, but after thinking about it, he let it go. Qi Zheng had his own plans.
So he changed the question. “What was Crown Prince Jiao’s expression at the time?”
Qi Zheng directly sent back an emoji: eating flies.gif.
Chen Bai: “…”
Qi Zheng had probably memorized all the emojis on the phone.
It was a bit of a pity that he had not seen Crown Prince Jiao suffer a loss. The situation must have been very entertaining.
After a while, Qi Zheng sent a voice message.
“Considering both the last time I resolved the siege of Shanggu City by Ba, and this time with the potatoes, no matter what the king thinks, he will give me a reward that satisfies everyone.”
“And before the reward is announced, I need to find out the exact contents in order to respond accordingly. There is only one opportunity. It must be something I want.”
Chen Bai froze. Was Qi Zheng planning to bribe the Grand Scholar of the Brush?
Because only the Grand Scholar of the Brush could possibly know the contents of the edict in advance.
Chen Bai laughed, because Qi Zheng had begun explaining his bribery plan. This…
If Qi Zheng knew what he was doing right now, his face would probably turn the color of pig liver.
