CH 121

Lin Yuan forgot where he saw it. He remembered that a professor said that the prosperity of the Qing Dynasty’s three reigns (TN: Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong) was achieved by confining oneself. Such prosperity could not last, because people’s thinking had not progressed, and their thinking was restricted. Economic development was just an illusion.

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e ir on tr ee bl oo ms. c o m )

Therefore, Lin Yuan did not control the people’s thinking in Gaoyou. He didn’t know whether the final result of letting it develop was good or bad, but it was only in Gaoyou. Gaoyou’s economy was the most developed. Economic development would promote the development of people’s thinking. Whereas there was no similar soil for the growth of ideas in other places.

Even if Gaoyou really had a problem, it would be easy for him to change it back to the right path.

At this time, Lin Yuan had already settled in Hanyang City. It had been half a month since they started the war with Hanyang.

Ni Wenjun had consumed a lot of Hanyang’s forces. It was now indeed much more convenient for Chen Baisong and Zhu Yuanzhang to fight against them.

As for Ni Wenjun, Lin Yuan had already sent Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Congrong to pursue and surround him, the goal being to kill Ni Wenjun and let none of his soldiers escape.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Congrong were indeed quite covetuous of Ni Wenjun’s soldiers.

After they chased out in pursuit, only Chen Baisong and Lin Yuan were left in Hanyang. Lin Yuan locked Xu Shouhui and his important officials together. As for the small and minor officials, they were all smart people and knew what choice was left to them. Lin Yuan now controlled all of Hanyang’s main roads, and those who patrolled the city walls were also his people.

Unless these people didn’t want their heads anymore, they wouldn’t bet on their lives.

“Xu Shouhui said he wants to see me?” Lin Yuan finally finished cleaning up. He had recently been on the march with his army the whole time and had no chance to take a bath. He felt like he was close to spoiling so the first thing he did after handling all the affairs that needed to be handled was to have people boil water and run a bath for him.

But as soon as he came out, while still drying his hair, he heard a soldier reporting the news to Chen Baisong.

Lin Yuan only wore a single robe and dried his long hair with a coarse cloth.

Both his chest and arms were exposed, and as Lin Yuan basically worked indoors and didn’t go out very often, his skin was whiter than that of ordinary people.

Chen Baisong’s gaze was fixed on Lin Yuan, but he suddenly realized something and turned his head to say to the soldier, “Retreat.”

The soldier hurriedly retreated.

Chen Baisong’s Adam’s apple moved: “Why did you come out wearing this?”

Lin Yuan said strangely: “What am I wearing? It’s quite normal. It’s not like there are women here, so it’s fine.”

There were only men, and it didn’t matter even if he was naked.

Chen Baisong was speechless. If he said too much then he would come across as the strange one. He could only keep his mouth shut, and planned in the future to wait outside and serve Lin Yuan in dressing when Lin Yuan took a bath.

So as to avoid letting outsiders see.

Lin Yuan didn’t notice Chen Baisong’s abnormality either. He sat on the kang (heatable brick bed) on the side which had a cushion on it. He found a comfortable position, with his legs propped up, completely uncaring of his image: “What else can Xu Shouhui say to me now? Negotiating terms?”

Chen Baisong poured tea for Lin Yuan: “The cunning rabbit digs three holes, he should still have something worthy of discussion since he had at least been an emperor.”

For Xu Shouhui, being the emperor was practically not even better off than not being one. He not only had no freedom, but also no real power nor dignity.

People called him Your Majesty, but only he could know how he felt about his situation.

Lin Yuan: “Then I will go see him. Call someone in to help me tie my hair.”

Chen Baisong stood behind Lin Yuan with a comb in his hand. Lin Yuan smiled and said, “When did you learn this?”

Lin Yuan really wanted to cut his long hair into short lengths, but while the ancient people could cut their hair, they couldn’t cut too much, and only trimmed it a bit when needed. If it was really cut too much, some people would jump out and lecture about how the body, including hair and skin, was received from one’s parents and should be respected.

Chen Baisong’s hands were large, with rough palms that had thick calluses on them, but they were not clumsy at all. He held Lin Yuan’s long hair under the flickering candlelight in the room. Chen Baisong’s eyelashes were lowered, and ran the comb over the long hair to get the knots out.

Lin Yuan’s eyes were closed as he sat there, eventually slipping down to lay in Chen Baisong’s lap. Lin Yuan closed his eyes and said, “If you don’t fight battles in the future, have you ever thought about what you will do? Guarding the frontier, maybe?”

Chen Baisong: “I will stay by Young Master’s side, and I will do whatever Young Master wants me to do.”

Staying by his side? Lin Yuan didn’t open his eyes. He didn’t know if it was Chen Baisong’s own intention or someone had taught him.

Once a general stayed by the emperor’s side, either he had overwhelming power, or he had handed over his power and was kept a watch on by the emperor.

Lin Yuan said: “It depends on the situation then, it’s not that you can be wherever I want you to be.”

Lin Yuan took a deep breath: “Help me massage my head. I have a headache during this period, don’t use too much strength.”

Chen Baisong had become a little massager. He was not a professional, the strength he put in the massage going back and forth between being too weak or too strong. In the end, Lin Yuan could only teach him personally: “You lie down, I’ll massage it for you, so make sure you learn sincerely.”

So Chen Baisong lay down, feeling overwhelmed with favor and also nervousness, with his head resting on Lin Yuan’s legs. He could only hear a loud and strong heartbeat in his ears, and he could see Lin Yuan’s brows and eyes when he looked up.

It seemed as if this was the first time he knew Lin Yuan.

Chen Baisong quickly closed his eyes. He felt that if he looked at Lin Yuan again, he would definitely expose something.

Even now he himself did not know what this thing that might be exposed was.

Chen Baisong didn’t feel how Lin Yuan massaged him at all. He only heard Lin Yuan ask him in a soft voice, “Have you memorized it? It’s this level of strength, just massage here.”

Then Chen Baisong didn’t remember anything at all. When he opened his eyes, he could only see Lin Yuan’s opening and closing lips. Lin Yuan’s lips were very thin and the lip color was very light. Chen Baisong could only feel his mouth continuously salivating.

Lin Yuan looked down at Chen Baisong: “Why is the look in your eyes like this? Like I am a piece of braised pork.”

Chen Baisong quickly closed his eyes.

Lin Yuan was amused by Chen Baisong’s appearance of deceiving himself: “It’s not like I said anything.”

He also discovered that Chen Baisong’s ears were red, so he shifted his hand and squeezed it: “Your ears are red, and they are a little hot. You have gotten tan recently, and the blush can only be seen on your ears.”

Chen Baisong couldn’t control his mouth at all now. He didn’t know what he was going to say or what he was saying. His mind was blank, and he couldn’t say a word after opening his mouth several times.

Lin Yuan: “I know, the two of us haven’t been close for a long time…..”

Chen Baisong heard the word “close” and now his eyes were a little red as well.

Lin Yuan said in a nostalgic tone: “When we were young, we always slept on the same bed, and even competed on who peed the farthest.”

Too much time had passed after Lin Yuan transmigrated over, and it had been a long time since his own memory merged with the memory of the original body. Sometimes he would become confused, wondering which was something he did and which was not.

Chen Baisong’s eyes dimmed, and it was obvious that what Lin Yuan said was not the same as what he had hoped.

Lin Yuan: “Forget it.”

Chen Baisong was startled, not knowing what Lin Yuan was talking about.

Lin Yuan: “I won’t go to see Xu Shouhui tonight. Anyway, he has been waiting for this long already, and a day or two more won’t make a difference.”

Chen Baisong calmed down. Lin Yuan didn’t give him a massage anymore and lay down on his side instead. He smiled: “Fortunately, my hair has yet to be tied up.”

“There are now 60,000 prisoners, which is a real number.” Chen Baisong saw that Lin Yuan was not ready to speak any more, and racked his brains to come up with an official business that could be talked about.

Lin Yuan nodded: “More than I thought.”

Chen Baisong said: “Ni Wenjun still has a hundred thousand people with him. If narrowed down to true numbers, there are still fifty to sixty thousand.”

In addition to the number of false reports, there were also people who were seriously injured, who were sick, and who were unable to go on the battlefield and had no fighting capacity.

These people had no impact on the battlefield except to make the numbers appear impressive on the battlefield.

Everyone knew this, but they still used this anyway.

In the battle between the two armies, sometimes the important thing was the momentum and intimidation. It had a similar reason to animals roaring before fighting.

Whoever had a louder voice was more powerful.

When the weaker side saw that the situation was wrong, they lost before even fighting. Compared with fighting, they would first want to retreat.

Lin Yuan’s army was not like that. He knew that once the old, weak, sick and disabled went on the battlefield, there was basically no chance of surviving.

What was more, if they did not win on the momentum then when the fight really started it would be a complete defeat, and the military’s confidence would be dissipated at that time.

Lin Yuan glanced at Chen Baisong, inexplicably thinking that Chen Baisong’s silly and dazed look was a little cute. He stretched out his hand and squeezed Chen Baisong’s face, saying with a sigh, “You sleep out in the wilds under the sun and in the wind, yet why is your skin better than mine?”

Chen Baisong: “?”

Although Lin Yuan was not an exquisite boy before transmigrating over, he still used facial cleanser. When the weather was dry, he would also buy a moisturizer. After transmigrating over, his skin would also be dry. When the season changed, his face would even peel as well as itch. So Lin Yuan envied Chen Baisong’s skin.

Chen Baisong didn’t feel it at all.

Lin Yuan asked him: “Why don’t you marry a wife? Big brother has already married, and second brother feels that the world is not peaceful enough for marriage, and third brother has long ago had a wife and children.”

Chen Baisong: “…..I never thought about it.”

Lin Yuan: “If you fall in love with a girl in the future, I will help you propose the marriage, and I will help you prepare the betrothal gifts for your marriage.”

Chen Baisong stood up suddenly, with no expression on his face: “I’m going to fetch you water, and the tea also need to be changed.”

Looking at Chen Baisong’s back, Lin Yuan clearly felt the change in Chen Baisong’s mood.

But he did not understand why Chen Baisong was unhappy.

Because he mentioned the matter of marriage? But getting married was a good thing, and it was reasonable for him to help his nanny brother on this.

Lin Yuan sat on the kang and thought for a while.

Could it be…..that Chen Baisong had some kind of hidden illness? That was why he didn’t want to talk about getting married?

When Chen Baisong returned to the room, he saw Lin Yuan looking at him unblinkingly, with indescribable understanding and sympathy in his eyes.

Chen Baisong put the basin down in front of Lin Yuan, and rolled up his sleeves to help Lin Yuan wash his feet.

Lin Yuan sat cross-legged.

Chen Baisong: “Put your feet down.”

Lin Yuan patted Chen Baisong on the shoulder: “It’s not like I have no hands. I can wash my feet by myself. In the future, I won’t talk about marriage with you. Don’t worry, on this matter, only heaven knows and earth knows, you know and I know.”

Chen Baisong: “???”

AN: Chen Baisong: “I’ve been wronged.”