Chapter 90: Sir, May You Be Remembered Forever
The mall was truly pushed out to the common people in a way that was unimaginable, yet deeply welcomed.
Even by night, there were still groups of commoners who were so shaken by everything they had seen that day that they refused to leave.
Because of the streetlights, the night here naturally had a completely different atmosphere.
Looking at Number One City Under Heaven, still as bright as day in the darkness, and looking at the commoners still playing chess by the roadside seats under the interplay of light and shadow, who knew how many people had sunk so deeply into this leisurely beauty that they could not pull themselves away.
At this moment, it seemed like the most incredible scene of this era.
Especially those disciples of the sages. They stared until they could not move their eyes away. They followed the teachings of the sages, seeking a path to peace for all under heaven, yet the fog ahead often left them unable to see the true road.
But at this moment, everything before their eyes seemed to tear open the fog of the past and let them see what peace looked like.
That feeling was very subtle. But if one thought about it carefully, it was indeed so. If… if all the states under heaven looked like this Number One City Under Heaven, would that not be peace under heaven?
For some reason, the message that had spread from the Upper Way of Guigu suddenly appeared in their minds.
Cloudtop Academy could conquer the chaotic age, pacify the world, and bring prosperity for ten thousand generations.
Although it was still far from that, it had let them see the first signs of such a possibility.
Meanwhile, Chen Bai and Qi Zheng were now watching over a group of accountants as they calculated the day’s turnover.
The small receipts were pasted neatly one by one onto sheets of paper, making it easier to calculate. But even so, the accountants were still worked dizzy, because there were simply too many accounts.
Chen Bai was already drooling. “How much money must this be? Tsk, tsk.”
Qi Zheng glanced at Chen Bai. And he still said Qi Zheng’s eyes had fallen into a money hole. Who looked like the miser now?
“Now you know how wonderful money is?”
Chen Bai nodded like a pecking chick. “I think it won’t be long before I can pave my bed with gold.”
The evil capitalist—he was one now too.
Qi Zheng: “…”
Actually, he felt the same way. The business was far too good. When the time came, both Chen Zixiu’s bed and his own would be paved with gold.
Their interests were rather similar.
However, when Mo Qianji arrived with a group of students, this idea of theirs was completely smashed into the mud.
Because Mo Qianji brought one sentence: “The initial allocation has been used up.”
If construction was to continue, the second round of funding should be put on the schedule.
Qi Zheng trembled. The first batch of money was gone just like that?
He suddenly discovered that building these structures was like feeding a treasury to a beast.
He had originally thought he had already earned quite a lot of money. But where had the money gone?
Not only had his purse failed to swell at all, it had shrunk instead.
Chen Bai smiled awkwardly. “Everything is difficult at the beginning. At the start, we definitely have to spend some money. Don’t worry. Our big golden beds will come sooner or later.”
Qi Zheng: “…”
What could he do? Having seen how wonderful the current mall was, it was impossible to stop.
He thought to himself that he could only rent out all the shops first, and sell more rabbits and fruit. Otherwise, Chen Zixiu really was going to empty out all his savings.
They earned a lot, but spent even more. It was pain and happiness at the same time.
In fact, the benefits were great. Only active circulation of currency could truly make a market prosper, unlike before, when everything was like a pool of stagnant water.
The students were also so tired today that they kept rubbing their calves. Still, today’s experience had been full of joy for them too.
“Brother Bai, are we eating midnight snacks? We really need to nourish ourselves tonight.”
Chen Bai smiled. So that was why they had come looking for him—to get him to make midnight snacks.
But these students had indeed worked hard today, and their performance had been quite good. “For tonight’s midnight snack, I’ll make hot pot for you.”
Hot pot was convenient, delicious, and especially suitable when there were many people. It was the least troublesome thing to prepare.
“What is hot pot?”
The group of tired students instantly perked up. Even Qi Zheng smacked his lips without changing expression.
The things Chen Zixiu made were truly delicious beyond compare.
As for Mo Qianji, who had never entered the forbidden territory of the kitchen, he looked puzzled.
Chen Bai said, “Go call Lord Meng. Let’s eat hot pot.”
Perfect. He would also buy some hot pot pots. These pots could be used for catering in the future, so it would not count as a waste.
Tonight, Cloudtop Academy was brightly lit too. First, it was for celebration. Second, in this cold and indifferent era, they had to warm their own hearts.
After Chen Bai prepared the hot pot, the students entered one by one.
Even these students had never seen hot pot before, and they quickly gathered around.
“It smells a little like our self-heating pots.”
“But self-heating pots don’t seem this rich.”
Chen Bai smiled. How could that little bit of food in a self-heating pot compare with hot pot? That was a simplified meal to the extreme. Whether in taste or ingredients, it was not on the same level at all.
Moreover, hot pot was the most suitable for many people to eat together, and the atmosphere it created was wonderful.
Everyone gathered around an assorted double-flavor pot.
Chen Bai was teaching the students how to blanch the food before eating it.
They placed the freshly cooked vegetables into the dipping sauce, dipped them, then put them into their mouths. The rich flavor conquered them at once.
“I think none of the dishes we ate before were as good as today’s hot pot. Can we eat hot pot every day from now on?”
“Yesterday, didn’t you say stir-fried pork was the most delicious?”
“…”
Mo Qianji, who had still been modest at first, was even worse. His eyes shone like lanterns, and he no longer cared about humility. He wished he could grow eight hands and blanch eight portions of food at the same time.
On Qi Zheng’s side, Chen Bai was also asking, “How is it? It tastes good, right?”
Qi Zheng said, “…It should sell for a good price. We need to build a restaurant.”
Chen Bai: “…”
Who had just said they were short of money?
A restaurant definitely had to be built, but who knew when it would be its turn in the schedule.
That night, they truly ate happily and noisily.
Mo Qianji was somewhat dazed. He had been to quite a few states, but where had he ever seen a reigning crown prince and his ministers eat together so noisily?
Generally speaking, at banquets, were ministers not all trembling in fear, uneasy and full of flattery?
These students and Crown Prince Zheng made him a little unable to understand. Yet it also felt especially natural, as if things ought to be this way.
As he ate, he muttered, “Universal love, non-aggression, great unity under heaven…”
It was as though he had received some kind of inspiration.
The next day, besides their own duties, the students also had to train the workers who had been recruited to replace them, getting a taste of being masters.
After all, they were students. They could not stop attending classes forever to serve Number One City Under Heaven.
Chen Bai also went to the Crown Prince’s estate to request funds. He felt especially fulfilled.
However, when the funds were requested, the steward looked at the amount as if his flesh were being cut off. Chen Bai even specifically went to tease Qi Zheng. “The Crown Prince’s estate truly inherits the same spirit from top to bottom. So stingy.”
Qi Zheng snorted. If that money had not been his own, let him see who would so easily agree to such a huge amount.
Chen Bai still had to continue learning swordsmanship. But Qi Zheng’s words made Chen Bai pause for a moment. “Be more serious when you learn swordsmanship from now on. With your limp, wishy-washy, womanish swordplay, when will you ever reach third-rate level and be able to protect yourself?”
Chen Bai frowned slightly. He felt that there was something more in Qi Zheng’s words today. Hadn’t everything been fine yesterday?
He could not help asking, “I stay in Shangjing every day and never travel far. Why are you in such a hurry for my swordsmanship to improve?”
Qi Zheng hesitated for a moment. Only after a long while did he say, “This world is about to fall into chaos. Even Shangjing may not be safe.”
What? Chen Bai’s heart tightened.
Qi Zheng continued, “News came from the front line yesterday. Ba broke through thirteen cities of Wu in one move, heading straight for Wu’s capital.”
Chen Bai opened his mouth. Great Qian’s peace had actually numbed him too, making him forget that outside Great Qian, the conflicts among the states had never stopped.
Perhaps today there was singing and dancing in peace, and tomorrow one would become a conquered slave.
That was not an exaggeration at all. Just like the Wu state Qi Zheng had mentioned.
For a moment, Chen Bai did not know what to say. Ba had first attacked Lu, but because of various reasons, they had no choice but to retreat in defeat. Unexpectedly, they had regrouped so quickly and marched straight on Wu. Before anyone could react, they had already taken thirteen cities of Wu in one strike.
Not all states were without aggression. That was what Chen Bai felt at this moment.
Qi Zheng looked at Chen Bai and said, “Go to the fief today. Mo Qianji may be affected by this and delay the construction progress.”
“Why?” Chen Bai was a little confused. What did Ba invading Wu have to do with Mo Qianji?
Qi Zheng sighed. “When Ba launched the war, the current Mohist giant could not bear to see lives plunged into misery and the common people suffer. He went alone to persuade them to make peace, and was shot dead by Ba’s arrows before the two armies. To show their resolve, Ba hung the Mohist giant’s remains on the city gate and declared that anyone else who dared to persuade them to make peace would end up the same…”
Chen Bai sucked in a breath of cold air.
That was the Mohist giant. This was even worse than Great Qian’s destruction of a sage’s Way back then.
In the end, disciples of the sages represented only a kind of thought. It was the consensus of the states that had acknowledged their noble status. They themselves did not truly possess great power. Once a state abandoned that consensus, the status of a sage’s disciple could not protect them. For example, Great Qian’s destruction of a sage’s Way back then, and now the Mohist giant’s death before the two armies.
At this moment, in front of Cloudtop Academy, the disciples of the sages were indeed in an uproar.
The death of the Mohist giant had opened the first crack for the states to stop taking the status of sage disciples seriously.
In the end, all their anger and grief turned into endless sighs. They wholeheartedly wanted to find a path of peace for the world, but human hearts were hard to fathom. The states ruled by power and desire might not patiently wait for them to open up a correct road.
“Sir died defending the Way. How magnificent!”
“Sir, may you be remembered forever. You are undying in this world, a model for our sage’s Way.”
“…”
When Chen Bai arrived at Cloudtop Academy, everywhere along the way he saw disciples of the sage’s Way carrying wine jars and offering libations to the dead.
There was grief and helplessness, but no regret.
For now, the news had only spread among these sage disciples, and had not yet affected the common people of Great Qian.
When Chen Bai found Mo Qianji, it was at the construction site. Mo Qianji’s face still showed lingering grief, but he was supervising the construction of the new building.
As if he knew what Chen Bai had come for, Mo Qianji said, “Grand Secretary Zhaoxue need not be like this. Since the Mohists promised to build this Number One City Under Heaven, we will not delay for even a moment. My master once said that the Mohists uphold universal love, non-aggression, honoring the worthy, and honoring unity. It may seem noble, but in truth, it is walking on a hanging thread. At any time, one may die on the path of proving the Way. There is nothing strange about that. I believe that even at the moment of his death, my master never regretted it.”
“Since he had no regret, then he died where he belonged. What my master most wished to see should be us continuing down the road he had not finished walking. How could we slack off?”
Chen Bai opened his mouth. “…”
This seemingly strong person was actually about the same age as himself, right?
Chen Bai could not say any words of comfort. It felt as if doing so would profane the sacrifice of the Mohist sage who had died for the Way.
Perhaps… what Mo Qianji needed now was not another person’s comfort, but to lick his wounds alone, then continue moving forward while carrying those wounds, without regret even in death.
Chen Bai was not someone good at comforting others. In the end, though his mouth opened, he could not say a single word.
After hesitating for a long while, Chen Bai finally said, “In my view, neither Mohist thought nor Mohist mechanisms are wrong. Keep walking forward.”
It was just that this road was destined to be difficult.
Mo Qianji’s eyes reddened slightly. Perhaps at this moment, what he needed was only this sentence—to prove that his master’s death had meaning, rather than being what others saw on the surface: a generation’s giant dying so easily before he had accomplished anything, then being forgotten.
Chen Bai left, letting Mo Qianji continue focusing his energy on construction, lest he think too much and lose himself.
Chen Bai returned to Cloudtop Academy. In his heart, he was rather emotional. He had only seen the success of building Number One City Under Heaven, providing work for the common people and bringing convenience to them. But he had not thought that these were only things before his eyes. Very likely, one day, these things would be like an evening blossom, destroyed until they vanished completely.
This chaotic world was filled with far too many unstable factors.
Emotion was emotion, but the construction of Number One City Under Heaven still had to continue. Only now, he often asked Qi Zheng about the various states and the front line.
He did not want his own life to become so complicated, but he also knew that deceiving himself and being satisfied with himself would ultimately make him suffer a great loss. He did not want to live so muddleheadedly. Yet the more he heard, the more fear grew in his heart. It also made him understand more clearly what true chaos among the states and flames of war across the land really meant. It also made him admire even more Empress Dowager Zhaosheng’s great feat of allowing Great Qian to enjoy so many years of peace.
Mo Qianji put all his energy into construction, while the common people of Great Qian were not greatly affected. When the news of the Mohist giant’s death spread, they were only shocked for a while and said a few things about Ba being vicious and brutal. Perhaps to them, the matters of the disciples of the sage’s Way were still too distant.
Qi Zheng’s fief also welcomed rapid population growth because of the fame of Number One City Under Heaven.
The mountains that had originally been deserted and unmanaged were also arranged by Qi Zheng and Chen Bai to raise rabbits and plant all kinds of fruit. The small-scale greenhouse vegetables from before also began to expand production because of the population increase.
Population was the foundation that generated value. Providing enough work for them was the foundation of a city’s prosperity.
In just one month, the common people of Shangjing and its surroundings seemed to have adapted to life in Number One City Under Heaven. One had to admit, people’s adaptability was truly very strong.
Neatly arranged carriages traveled on the correct road. Groups of people on both sides walked on the right, holding their trash in their hands, only throwing it away when they reached a trash bin.
This kind of life had become their daily routine at an unimaginable speed. Number One City Under Heaven was also bustling with carts and horses every day. Where was there any trace of its former desolation?
The new building, the cinema Chen Bai had designed, was also officially completed at the end of this month.
However, along with the completion of the cinema, a piece of news that shocked the world spread throughout the land.
In the thirty-sixth year of Great Qian, Ba destroyed Wu.
