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"What if... I've seen it?"

"...Huh?"

Some merchants returning home passed by them. Perhaps not expecting such an answer, Xigua turned to look at Ning Yi, slightly puzzled.

Ning Yi continued walking slowly, looking at her hand in his: "Twenty years ago, on the day I married Tan'er, someone hit me on the head with a rock, and I passed out. When I woke up, I didn't remember anything. I told you this a long time ago, right?"

"Yes," Xigua said. "I remember it was someone named Xue Jin. When I first heard about it, I thought I would take you to seek revenge in the future."

"Forget it. Ning Liheng before the beating was a foolish scholar. It was only after the beating that I finally opened my mind. Let's just remember him fondly."

Xigua looked at him and smiled: "Tan'er also said privately that it's really strange. She visited you twice before she married you, and you only knew a little bit about classical literature. Only after the marriage did she find out that you had so many tricks up your sleeve, all bottled up inside. That's called a 'silent pervert'..." Seeing Ning Yi glare at her, she continued, "Okay, tell me about the important stuff. Where did you see it?"

Ning Yi rolled his eyes back and smiled: "You might not believe it if I tell you. During those few days when I was knocked unconscious, my mind traveled to another world, seeing... scenes from over a hundred years of history. It was all hazy and indistinct... Don't pinch me. I know you might not believe it, but listen to me first, okay? I was a stupid scholar who suddenly opened his mind. Don't you think that's strange? Throughout history, there have been so many stories of minds traveling to other realms, Zhuang Zhou dreaming of a butterfly. Is it so strange that I saw another possibility for this world?"

Xigua's expression was already a little helpless, and she smiled with annoyance: "Then tell me, what happened in that world?"

"Well, it seems that even a thousand years from now, we still haven't developed a systematic study of natural sciences..."

"So, everyone's dead for a thousand years?"

"It can't be said that way. After our dynasty, the Confucian metaphysics system reached a position of absolute dominance. They developed the spirit of 'the people may be' even further, establishing a complete set of rules for everyone in the world. When there were no external enemies, they were self-consistent within their system. When there were external enemies, they assimilated them. So, in the next thousand years, dynasties changed, united and divided, and the study of natural sciences didn't need to appear. Everyone could still live adequately. And then... over in Europa, the part you've heard about, which is very miserable now, necessity is the mother of invention. They were the first to develop the study of natural sciences..."

"... Sounds like the beginning of a Zhuji storyteller," Xigua pouted. "Why can't we develop the study of natural sciences even after another thousand years?"

"Uh..." Ning Yi thought for a moment. "Let's just assume that we live too well here. Although the common people also suffer, half the time, they can still support a large group of pampered carnivores. After there is no pressure to survive, these carnivores prefer to study metaphysics, study philosophy, care more about right and wrong, and are more particular about being human. But the situation in Europe is worse than ours. People die at the drop of a hat, so they are relatively more pragmatic, and they have to take advantage of even the slightest regularity they find. So, we care more about the overall fantasy, while they can focus relatively more on the details... I'm not necessarily right, let's just think that way for now."

"Get to the point."

Ning Yi spread his hands. "Anyway, no matter what, they invented the study of natural sciences. A thousand years from now, the power in this land is in the hands of a foreign regime, the Manchus, who boast that they are descendants of the Jin people today... Don't laugh, it's just a coincidence..."

"Okay, a thousand years later, the Jin people finally got the world," Xigua suppressed her accusation of his uncreative behavior. "Keep talking."

"The Manchus closed the country to international trade. Although they didn't have the study of natural sciences, the Confucian art of governance was thriving. They thought they were the Celestial Empire and lived very well. But the Europeans came, sailing strong ships and carrying firearms, wanting to loot things, wanting to do business, forcing the Qing Dynasty to open ports to protect their interests. At first, everyone was curious about each other, and there was no talk of fighting, but gradually, as business was done, friction arose..."

"This story can't be written. If you write it, they'll know what you're going to do next... Who writes themselves as the villain..."

Ning Yi glared at her, deciding not to bother with her interruptions: "The Europeans had powerful firearms, and the Qing Dynasty also thought it was the Celestial Empire. The ruler of the Qing Dynasty at that time was an Empress Dowager named Cixi—who has nothing to do with Zhou Pei—and she declared war as soon as she said she would. Our Manchu Qing declared war on the entire world. Then, after this fight, everyone finally realized that the Celestial Empire was already fish on the chopping block. Tens of thousands of troops, hundreds of thousands of troops, couldn't even defeat a few thousand of their troops."

"In international society, backwardness will be beaten. Once you can't win, the good things in the country will be divided by the enemy under various pretexts. From that time on, the entire China fell into... a situation of being invaded and divided by many countries, including Europe, one after another. Gold and silver were plundered, people were massacred, cultural relics were stolen, and houses were burned down, which lasted... dozens or hundreds of years..."

Ning Yi's words became slow at this point. At first, Xigua thought her husband was joking, but she couldn't help but get involved when she heard this, and frowned: "Nonsense... The Wu Dynasty was also beaten like this by the Jin Kingdom, but it's been more than ten years, and it's over. Even in the past, there weren't many situations where we were beaten for hundreds of years, right? There are differences between people. Can't we learn? Even if you built gunpowder cannons from scratch, Liheng, you only spent more than ten years!"

Ning Yi smiled slightly: "The backwardness of the Manchu Qing, of course, was primarily due to the backwardness of the study of natural sciences, but this is just the appearance. The more profound problem was the backwardness of the people and the culture at that time. Confucianism has developed for another thousand years since now. It has formed a more solid network within, suppressing people's thinking. It holds people back in all aspects of life, work, and social interaction. To defeat the Europeans, you just need to develop the study of natural sciences better than them, but your way of thinking is not suitable for doing that. If you do what they do, you will never catch up with your enemy... Agua, the reason I sell things to everyone today is the same. Without changing their way of thinking, they will always be one step behind me..."

He took a breath: "Back to the Manchu Qing, after being beaten, unable to catch up, the Manchu Qing also knew that they had to change, but how much should they change? Agua, a universal trend in human society is that any established system will try to maintain its original appearance as much as possible. Although they have to adjust after being beaten, people will always tend to change only as much as is necessary. So, in the beginning, the emperor divided a department in the cabinet, okay, we will learn from the West, learn the study of natural sciences, learn to build firearms and cannons, and use this department to protect ourselves. This act is called the 'Westernization Movement'."

Xigua pinched his palm: "You even gave it such a disgusting name..."

"'Westernization Movement' is not disgusting at all... Forget it, the Westernization Movement was the court dividing a department to carry out changes, either learning to build firearms and cannons, or spending money to buy firearms and cannons from people, also holding firearms and cannons, and training so-called new soldiers. But then they found out that it didn't work either. There were also problems with the soldiers, there were also problems with the officials, and the country continued to be beaten, ceding territory and paying reparations to seventeen or eighteen small European countries, kneeling on the ground for decades. Everyone found out that, hey, the Westernization Movement didn't work either, so we need to change more, the entire court has to change..."

"The Manchu Qing at that time was already a country of nearly three hundred years, and the system was bloated and corruption was rampant. Reforming one department was not enough, so a top-down reform had to be carried out. Everyone felt that the Confucian system used to constantly castrate people's spirit for the past three hundred years was not good either, the people had to be awakened, the poor and miserable people below had to be given more benefits and status, officials had to be made more friendly, and the system had to be made clearer, so the next step was the Reform Movement."

"But no matter how badly they were beaten, a three-hundred-year-old feudal country was difficult to change. People who had previously benefited were unwilling to give way, internal contradictions intensified, and the people who called for and presided over the reform were ultimately defeated. Since they failed, they couldn't solve the problem. They were still kneeling and being beaten outside, so if reform was not working, they had to take a more drastic path... Everyone began to say that there had to be equality, there could be no Manchu Qing, there could be no court, there could be no emperor..."

"In this way, civil unrest began, rebels began to appear, warlords began to appear, everyone wanted to overthrow the emperor, wanted to call for equality, wanted to open up the people's minds, wanted to give civil rights, wanted to pay attention to people's livelihood... In this way, step by step, it became more and more intense. Decades after the first beating, they overthrew the emperor, hoping that things would get better."

Xigua took a breath: "You killed the emperor in this book, so things will get better soon, right..."

Ning Yi smiled: "Yes, it seems... It was a groundbreaking feat, and the situation in society improved to a certain extent. Then the warlords who had power wanted to be emperors again. After these warlords were overthrown, the next people gave up this idea. The old warlords became new warlords. The calls for equality in society have been going on, and people have begun to realize that the problem of people is the fundamental problem, and the problem of culture is the fundamental problem. So, in that situation, many people proposed to completely abandon the old Confucian way of thinking and establish a new way of thinking that could be matched with the study of natural sciences..."

"Throughout the process, they were still constantly being beaten. The new warlords couldn't solve the problem, and the abandonment of past cultures was not thorough enough. A new pattern was constantly brewing, and thoughtful leaders slowly formed advanced parties. In order to resist foreign enemies, a large number of elite classes formed governments and armies, trying to abandon their past grievances and fight together. At this time, the Eastern Japanese across the sea had become stronger in the continuous wars and divisions, and even wanted to rule the entire China..."

"Tch, dwarf Japanese, your story..."

Xigua made a sound, and then Ning Yi reached out and knocked her on the head.

"...The government formed by the elite class still couldn't change the accumulation of thousands of years in China, because a large part of their thoughts was old. After becoming officials and gaining power, they were accustomed to thinking for themselves. When the country became weaker and weaker, and this cake became smaller and smaller, everyone inevitably wanted to get a little bit for themselves. The big officials took more, and the small officials took less. At first, they may have just wanted to live better than the starving people, but gradually, they found that everyone around them was doing this, and when other companions thought that this kind of thing was forgivable, everyone scrambled to start taking..."

"...Military pay was divided up, and the draftees sent to the army were about to starve to death on the road by half. The enemy invaded from the outside, and the bureaucrats hollowed out the inside. Materials were scarce and people were living in dire straits... At this time, the entire China had been kneeling in front of the world for a hundred years. Strengthening again and again was not enough. Innovating again and again was not enough... Then perhaps a more decisive and more thorough innovation was needed!"

"...The Westernization Movement was progress for the deeply entrenched and difficult-to-change Manchu Qing. The Reform Movement was a further step than the Westernization Movement. The old warlords replaced the emperor, taking it a step further. The new warlords replaced the old warlords, taking another step forward. When the elite class, who had ideals and ambitions but inevitably had some selfishness, replaced the new warlords, it was another step forward. But what is the next step? Agua, you have ideals and ambitions, and Chen Shanjun has ideals and ambitions, but how many people like this can you find among your subordinates? A little bit of selfishness is worth forgiving, and we can use strict military regulations to restrain them... What is the next step?"

"At that time, perhaps the era said that this couldn't go on like this anymore. Therefore, a system that truly shouted for equality for all and everything for the people finally appeared. People who joined that system would truly give up a part of their selfishness and would truly believe in selfless devotion—not the kind of belief that high officials were doing things for the people, but they would really believe that they were equal to everyone in the world, and that they were officials just because of the different division of labor, just like someone had to clean the latrines and someone had to be an official..."

"Will there really be such a thing?" Xigua said.

"Of course, it won't be 100% like this, but the degree of equality in it is unbelievable. Because after a hundred years of humiliation and failure, seeing the entire country completely without dignity, most of them finally realized... that there was no way out without doing this. Many of these people were actually elites, and they could have originally entered the political system formed by the elite. If they thought more for themselves, everyone would have been able to understand it. But they all saw that just that level of effort could not save this world."

"They constantly urged and reformed themselves, and the entire unit, the entire government, would believe wholeheartedly in serving the people. At that time, the most honest force in China for thousands of years, or even in the history of human society, was born there... It can also be said that they were forced out."

Ning Yi's words were full of longing and admiration, and Xigua looked at him. Naturally, she didn't have a deep sense of involvement in the whole story, but she could see that the man next to her was not telling these things in a storytelling mood. This made her slightly puzzled, and she couldn't help but think more about it.

"Then... what's next?"

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