This Nation is clearly not newly founded. Judging by its people's Military Bearing, they live prosperous lives; Common people who have only just endured warfare and founded a Nation would not behave this way.
They must have founded their Nation several decades ago. That pushes his dynasty's downfall back by several decades. Add the decades spent pacifying the unrest and driving out the enemy, and the estimate is off by a few decades, perhaps only a few years.
By that calculation, his dynasty will perish in just over two hundred years!
Upon realizing this, Kangxi collapsed into his chair.
Although every dynasty inevitably declines and falls, knowing the exact time limit was another matter entirely.
The emperors who came after the Qing Dynasty could calculate it for themselves. The later the emperor, the more panicked he would become. The last Emperor was the exception: he had already experienced the War of Japanese Aggression Against China.
Yet he was shocked to learn that the people within this Heavenly Screen lived only a little over a century after his own time.
He had never expected that, in such a short period, they could develop to this extent.
Yongzheng stared at the memorial for a long while. At last, he set down his brush, rubbed his forehead, and sighed. He hoped the Eight-Nation Alliance was not targeting the Qing Dynasty.
When Qianlong learned this, he shouted that it was impossible. He knew that Western technology was advancing rapidly and remained wary of the West, but he could not believe they would dare unite and attack the Great Qing.
The Eunuch following Qianlong knew nothing of the situation in The West. He said, “Our Great Qing has mighty military forces. Those Barbarians would not dare offend us. But the dynasty that followed was different. They used underhanded means to establish a new dynasty, so the Eight-Nation Alliance must have considered them weak and united to attack the dynasty shown on the Heavenly Screen.”
After hearing this, Qianlong found it very reasonable and laughed, convinced that this must be the case. Then he let out a cold snort. “This is their retribution!”
Qianlong naturally felt no goodwill toward the dynasty that had overthrown his own. Instead, he thought the attack was deserved. In any case, they were not his Common people, so he felt no heartache.
Even if they had been his own Common people, he might not have felt heartache. More likely, he would have worried that the Imperial Authority was under threat and that he had lost face.
The people on the Heavenly Screen all had Han Chinese names, so the people who overthrew the Qing Dynasty must have been Han Chinese. He said, “These Han Chinese still have not abandoned their desire to destroy the Nation!” He decided to guard against Han Chinese more carefully in the future.
Swiping to the next one, she saw the caption: “Older Generation: Enduring Hardship for No Reason; Younger Generation: Enjoying Blessings for No Reason.”
【Grandmother posted a Video saying she was cooking for her Grandson. She said she was dying from the heat but had not turned on the Air Conditioner, then asked her Grandson, “Do you know why?”
She wanted to express how hard she had worked and her selfless love for the child, but her grandson was not moved to tears of gratitude, as she had imagined. Instead, he said impatiently, “Because there’s something wrong with your head!”
“You won’t turn it on even when you’re dying from the heat. Who could you move? You can only move yourself! You couldn’t move me in the slightest!”
A straightforward refusal to let himself be emotionally manipulated.
What the grandson said was hurtful, but let’s be honest: there’s no need to endure hardship for no reason.
“The older generation specializes in refusing to enjoy blessings and enduring hardship for no reason. If they’re healthy, they look for illnesses; if they’re sick, they stubbornly endure them. They save a few dollars, then spend several hundred more.”
“Enduring hardship is meant to prevent hardship in the future, not to spend an entire lifetime suffering.”
“You already bought the air conditioner, so why worry about that little bit of electricity?”
“The older generation all seems to be like this. They endure unnecessary hardship and save until, in the end, they spend even more money.”
“Who says otherwise? If you suffer heatstroke, you’ll have to go to the hospital. If you refuse treatment for a minor illness, you’ll spend even more when it becomes serious.”
“My parents are like that too. They cook two new dishes but barely eat them, choosing the leftovers instead. At the next meal, they eat those leftovers, and keep eating leftovers meal after meal…”
“My mother bought a barrel of cooking oil but thought taking the bus was too expensive, so she walked home. She walked more than ten miles, went hungry for an entire day, and fainted as soon as she got home. She spent more than ten thousand at the hospital. How expensive could the bus have been? Even charging by distance, it would have been at most ten or twenty yuan.”
“It’s not as if the family couldn’t afford it. If they were truly poor and had no other choice, and refused even to turn on a fan to save money, the child would certainly be moved. But if the family has plenty of money and still puts on this act, the child will only think there’s something wrong with them.”
“Self-induced emotional gratification isn’t frightening. What’s frightening is demanding repayment from the other person afterward and calling them ungrateful when they don’t provide it.”
“If you don’t say it in a hurtful way, the other person won’t listen. Being tactful doesn’t work.”
“Next, they’ll make a huge scene and call you ungrateful.”
“I bought my grandmother apples. When I went home for the New Year, more than half of them had gone bad. Isn’t that even more wasteful? Where did all that saving get you?”
】
People of the Ancient Era did not know what an Air Conditioner was, but the context made it clear that it was something used to keep people cool.
Earlier, many people had felt moved when they saw Grandmother working so hard for her child. They did not expect the Grandson to react that way.
“That grandson is going too far. How can he speak to an elder like that?”
“Exactly. Wasn’t it all for his own good? Not only is he ungrateful, but he even curses his elder. What an ungrateful wretch.”
However, after reading what everyone said in the comments, some people felt that they had a point.
Although the grandson’s words sounded unpleasant, his meaning was correct. “It’s not as if they have no money. They already bought that whatever-it’s-called air conditioner, so why not use it?”
“Exactly. If you couldn’t afford it, fine. But you can afford it, and you’re already this old—if you don’t enjoy life now, are you saving it for your next life?”
“If I had money, I’d eat meat at every meal.”
“If you’re truly worried about money, don’t buy that whatever-it’s-called air conditioner. Isn’t buying it and leaving it unused even more wasteful?”
“It’s not as if you need to save because you have no money. You’re well-off, so why be so hard on yourself?”
“Good grief. They tried to save those ten or twenty yuan, only to spend more than ten thousand in the end and suffer for it. Honestly…”
Some people had sons who became successful and wanted to show filial respect to their parents. However, their parents were so accustomed to frugality that they refused to part with anything and even scolded their sons for wasting money whenever they bought something. When these people saw the post, their eyes lit up. They used the examples above to persuade their parents, and some genuinely managed to convince them.
However, some people still felt that no matter what, the grandson should not have cursed his elder.
In the Ancient Era, every dynasty put filial piety first. For the sake of filial devotion, even a cold-blooded, disgusting story about attempting to kill one’s child and burying him to provide for one’s mother could become a classical allusion praised by everyone, let alone this minor incident in the Video.
“What a lack of upbringing!”
“No matter what, you must not curse an elder. Without your elders, where would you have gotten your life?”
“Why keep such an unfilial person around? Drive him out of the family home as soon as possible!”
An Ran thought about her own parents and grandparents. They did not seem to be like that. Although they would leave the best things for their children, they did so only when there were too few to go around; they did not insist on enduring hardship. Thus, she was grateful to her Parent without feeling much guilt.
She swiped downward. Perhaps it was the marvel of Big Data, but the next post also concerned parents: it discussed the Family of Origin and parental education.
【Parents love belittling and controlling their children.
They especially love educating their children through hardship.
Children from ordinary families do not need their parents to create hardship for them. Their lives are already an ordeal.
A netizen shared that she had traveled with her child and bought the child a standing-room-only ticket on a Green-Skin Train on purpose.
When another netizen questioned her, she explained that any hardship she had endured, her child had to endure once as well.
Her mother even proudly said, “When there’s a difficulty, face it. When there isn’t one, create one and face it anyway. Do the same next time.”
It was a case of having been caught in the rain and insisting that one’s child get drenched too.
Some parents forced their children to study even when they were sick and receiving intravenous fluids at the Hospital. Others frequently belittled their children in front of outsiders.
Most parents thought this way: “I gave birth to you, so you owe me. You have no right to be mediocre or to die. You have no right to rest or enjoy yourself because you haven’t made me rich and successful yet. I belittle you for your own good, so you’ll develop resilience in society someday. And yet you refuse to appreciate it? What an ungrateful wretch.”
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