However, during this period of turmoil in Nanyi Province, the capital was actually not calm.
The Qixi Festival also exists in the Xia Kingdom. There are similar but not completely consistent stories similar to the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, but the positioning of the festival is slightly different. In July of this year, Yin Lian got up and went out to visit the celebration with Li Lici and others.
Although the Chinese Valentine's Day here is also a big festival celebrated by the whole city, the celebrations in the inner city and the outer city are actually separate. Even in a politically corrupt court, the order management in the capital is still very strict. The poor do not go to the noble areas, and the rich do not go to the slums. Different classes have their own regional concepts, which also avoids more class conflicts. It can That's quite realistic.
There is no such thing as celebrating with the people. It is said that the emperor opened a lantern market in the palace, and the extravagant consumption outside may not be as good as the palace.
The more worlds he travels to, the more Yin Lian becomes aware of the difference between the real world and literary creation. In ancient times or other worlds in literary creation, people are dressed in gorgeous clothes and surrounded by slaves, and they don't look any less inconvenient than modern times. But if you really go into history, you will find that in reality, whether they are nobles or poor people, their lives are tightened by the productivity of the times as if they were tightened by reins. The impact of productivity and the means of production on the times, and even Greater than war and peace, harvest and famine.
It is said that in years of disaster, life is difficult and people sell their sons and daughters, but how can people outside the TV imagine that in years of good fortune, a little bit of bad luck can also lead to such results, so the ancients gathered together to form a family. Because of the lack of support from everyone, many families have no ability to resist accidents and misfortunes. Every little bit of slack created by increased productivity can, in many cases, save thousands of people. If people can keep an extra copper coin in their pockets every day, thousands or hundreds of fewer people will die every year.
Let's just talk about the lantern market opened by the emperor in the palace. According to Li Lici, it was extremely extravagant and wasteful. I'm afraid it cost tens of thousands of taels of silver - tens of thousands of taels doesn't sound like a lot, right? A grand view garden in the Red Mansion cost millions of taels of silver to build, but Xia Guo, a dignified emperor, was beaten into a coward because of countless tens of thousands of taels that appeared every year during festivals - this is not unfair at all.
Take lychees as an example. During the season, fresh lychees shipped to the north only cost tens of yuan per catty. But if Yang Guifei wanted to eat, the knight had to drive a fast horse for more than a thousand miles, and he had to replace several horses during the day and night. The manpower and material resources consumed in the middle, and even the good horses that might be killed were difficult to price. A good horse can be worth a dozen cows, and a cow can be worth the manpower of several young adults. In times of famine, it can be worth dozens of human lives. How can these lychees not be expensive?
But did they enjoy it?
This is still the industrial age. The tens of thousands of taels of silver in the emperor's palace are just a lantern market with hundreds or thousands of lanterns. The style and scale are not as good as those of later generations. However, the same activities will only be carried out in the future Xia Kingdom. Just lie down in the game warehouse, and players can create gorgeous scenes that have been played thousands of times without even consuming a few kilowatt hours of electricity. On Earth, Yin Lian made some estimates. If the soft costs of design were excluded, Yin Lian felt that with his own planning ability, he could reduce the cost of such a lantern festival to less than 50,000 yuan, and it would be guaranteed to be better than this time. The lantern festival in the palace was even more gorgeous and enjoyable.
Under such circumstances, Yin Lian's level of surprise for even the lantern market in the wealthy inner city area was relatively limited. She was somewhat interested in a few expensive lanterns with exquisite craftsmanship. Unfortunately, this level of craftsmanship was rare. Most lanterns were still crudely made mass products, which may not be as pleasing to the eye as the machine-made handicrafts of later generations.
This night's lantern market was not too amazing for Yin Lian.
What really shook her was the great changes after the Lantern Festival.
During the second half of the Lantern Festival, she saw officers from the Secret Service walking in groups on the street. However, this scene was quite common in the capital. After all, the "powers and responsibilities" of the Secret Service officers covered almost all fields.
But when the lantern market was over and Yin Lian started to get on the horse-drawn carriage to go home, something unusual happened.
When the carriage passed an official's house, Yin Lian seemed to smell a faint smell of blood. She had a bad premonition at that time, and the official family members of this family happened to be people she knew and had contacts with.
But in this silent night, just the carriage passing by quickly attracted the attention of the nearby officers. Because the street itself was not blocked, the other party did not take action directly. He just asked: "Who is it? The Secret Service is doing business. Don't get close and take a detour."
Yin Lian asked the guard to answer: "Sorry, we just finished visiting the lantern market, and this is our way home. We will change the road soon."
It didn't take Yin Lian a few seconds to make this decision - although they were acquaintances, they were all family members of officials in the DPRK and China. She didn't have a deep understanding of their identities, positions, or things they had done. At most, she knew about them. positions and other people's evaluations... As for this family, Yin Lian cannot judge whether he is a good person or a bad person based on the evaluations he has heard and even his understanding of history. The political struggle of this era itself is full of blood, and court officials It was more or less contaminated with human lives, and Yin Lian had no intention of standing up for it.
However, the voice of her escort seemed to be recognized, and soon someone asked: "Is it Miss Zeng Erya's carriage?"
Yin Lian was stunned for a moment, but she didn't find it strange - due to some commercial considerations, the artificial intelligence and robots she purchased had many voice options, but almost all the voices sounded good - the pronunciation standard has obvious features, and today She didn't adjust the settings specially in the evening, so it wouldn't be a surprise if someone recognized her.
So she instructed the guard to admit her identity and replied: "Yes."
So a person walked out of the house soon, and it turned out to be Li Laixi himself. He approached the car window where Yin Lian was without any hesitation. When he approached, Yin Lian keenly smelled the smell of blood on him, but after observing through the dim light falling from the car, Yin Lian did not find any blood on him.
... Was it covered or changed clothes?
Yin Lian had doubts in his heart. But no matter which answer, it actually only explains one thing. I'm afraid a lot of people from the Secret Service will die tonight.
But this was not something she could get involved with.
Li Laixi glanced at the harvest on her hand, laughed, and asked, "Are you going to see the lanterns?"
Yin Lian responded.
Li Laixi then said: "Be careful when you go out recently. There may not be peace in Beijing, and I'm afraid there may be rogue gangs acting secretly."
Yin Lian hesitated for a moment and asked, "Master Jing is also a rebel?"
Yin Lian thought that the other party would not answer, but Li Laixi didn't care and said, "The evidence is conclusive that Jing Lai secretly collected firearms for others. If he dares to do such a thing, he will naturally not end up well... But at the moment in Beijing There is more than one Jing Lai who secretly colludes to rebel against the party."
Then he said to Yin Lian, half persuading and half warning: "Zeng Erya, you are a smart person, don't hang out with people you shouldn't hang out with."
Yin Lian: "...Don't worry, Master Li. I'm a coward and I don't dare to get involved in something as big as treason."
Li Laixi took a deep look at him and then ordered her men to lead her carriage away by another route.
As he was leaving, Yin Lian heard some kind of commotion behind him. It seemed that some people were shouting and begging for mercy, while others were cursing. However, the officers guarding the door soon rushed in and suppressed the commotion.
Yin Lian frowned, but didn't even look back.
After riding all the way to the intersection, the officer went back, and Yin Lian asked the guard to continue driving forward. As a result, before he had taken a few steps, a figure suddenly appeared from the shadows in front of him. He seemed to be holding something in his hand and fell directly in front of the rickshaw. It was like a collision.
As a robot, the guard showed no panic when faced with this scene. He steadily stopped the carriage in front of the porcelain maker, and then waited for Yin Lian's instructions.
Yin Lian sat in the car without moving for several seconds, but found that the figure in front of him moved, and then let out a low cry, which seemed to be calling Yin Lian's name.
At this time, the "thing" in the man's hand also moved, so Yin Lian finally realized that it might not be a "thing" at all, but a living child.
She already had a guess in her mind about the identity of the person who touched the porcelain.
Although Yin Lian has killed many people, those kind of people are all evil people. But facing the relatively innocent-looking women and children, she still couldn't do anything to save them.
So she asked the guard to get out of the car and asked about the situation.
After the escort got out of the car, Yin Lian also saw clearly the appearance of the person lying on the ground through the personal projection. It turned out to be Old Mrs. Jing and her grandson, Jing Lai's youngest son. Although she didn't know how they escaped through the blockade of the Secret Service, Yin Lian could tell at a glance that something was very wrong with the old lady.
Although the old man was still holding the child, his cheeks were red, his speech was slurred, and his arms were even stiff and difficult to bend. He was mumbling something and repeating something. Yin Lian thought he was calling her, but in fact it was difficult to distinguish the content. It sounds like it, but it doesn't look like it.
The guard would have no idea. Even if the old man stared at her, she would not have any emotional reaction. Yin Lian hesitated for a moment, looked at the old man through the projection, and finally issued the command.
The guard then reached out and hugged the child, whose cheeks were red and could only whimper lowly.
When the old man saw it, he finally let go of his hand and fell to the ground motionless.
Yin Lian looked at her and knew that if she brought the old man to the future now, the old man might still be saved. But she looked at the turbulent undercurrent in the Jing family's house, and finally became cruel. She held the child in her arms and asked the guards to drive the carriage past the old man, leaving her lying in the dust, and swallowed it at some point later. Last breath.
She is not from this era and cannot resolve cases for people from this era. She didn't even know whether Jing Lai was a good person or a villain, a hero or a sinner. She could try her best to save Yue Ke and help the prince, but she could not interfere in the changes in the capital because she did not have the qualifications of a judge - that is, the understanding of the cause and effect and the truth of the matter.
She thought, human life does have a price. Just like when something happened to Chang Ning, she wanted to save him even at the risk of being exposed, because he was her closest brother. And if Yue Ke faced danger at this time, she would probably try her best to save him, because Yue Ke's life was of great value in the eyes of her and the people of the Xia Kingdom in the future.
It is said that human life is not high or low, but the rich and powerful regard the poor as nothing, history has shown that the incompetent are like dust, and even ordinary people regard people as close or distant. After all, the equality of all living beings is just a false illusion and a beautiful illusion.
Yin Lian felt a little guilty about not saving her, but she didn't look back.
A total of six official residences in Beijing were confiscated by the Secret Service, and many people were even killed on the spot. This news caused a great sensation in the capital the next day. However, in this era without mobile phones and circles of friends, Yin Lian was unaware of the commotion and panic this incident caused in the city before the officer from the Secret Service knocked on the door.
Just early in the morning, someone knocked on the door of her mansion. As soon as the concierge opened the door, he was so frightened by the search warrant that the officer took out that he almost squatted on the ground.
