After returning home, An Ran washed the grapes and cut the Hami melon into pieces. She put the fruit on a plate, curled up on the sofa in the living room, and planned to eat while scrolling through her phone.
She had wanted to watch a movie, but she could not think of anything suitable. She did not want to rewatch anything she had already seen, yet she had no idea whether any unseen movies were good. If she searched, her indecisiveness would probably make choosing take ages.
She was eager to eat her fruit, so she decided to forget the movie for now. She would scroll through some videos first and watch a movie at night! She could watch a horror movie in the evening; it would have more atmosphere.
She tapped into Douyin.
【Everyone, stop dreaming about traveling through time. If you traveled to the ancient era, you might not even survive three days.
First, bathing. In the ancient era, people only bathed once every several days. How could that compare with modern times, when you can bathe whenever you want? There were not many seasonings, and stir-frying only began spreading widely during the Song Dynasty. Even if you traveled into the Imperial Family, the food might not be as good as modern food.
Most importantly, there was no toilet paper in the ancient era! People could only scrape themselves with Bamboo Slips when using the toilet, and they reused them. Who knew who had used the Bamboo Slips you ended up using?
Traveling was inconvenient. A distance that takes only an hour to cover nowadays would have taken at least four or five days in the ancient era. Thinking about it that way, you should stay happily in the modern era!
“Ahhh, I can’t accept that part about using the toilet. It’s too filthy!”
“As someone with hemorrhoids, that would kill me.”
“It’s not that bad. You could make paper! The method is fairly simple, and the materials are cheap too, such as tree bark, hemp fibers, rags, old fishing nets, and so on. Even if you traveled to a poor family, you could make it. If you don’t know how, go watch more Papermaking videos now. You’ll make a fortune after traveling to the ancient era.”
“The most important thing is that there’s no internet! A severe internet addict can’t live without their phone.”
“How desperate would you have to be? Even Ancient emperors didn’t live as comfortably as I do.”
“If you’re traveling through time, shouldn’t you at least get a system?”
“I only want to travel to a fantasy world of immortal cultivation. I could never go to the ancient era. Whether you ended up in a poor family, a landlord’s household, or the Imperial Family, life would be miserable.”
“The people who want to travel to the ancient era are probably young children who have read too many novels! They envy the female protagonists in those novels for having power, influence, and sweet romances. Go look up the circumstances of most historical Princesses! Most were sent into Political Marriages. Even if they were not, they lived in an era when Three wives and four concubines were legal, so they still had to share one man with other women. It’s disgusting.”
“There are also people who want to become a famous courtesan in an ancient era brothel. What a joke. They imagine famous courtesans being pursued by princes and Young masters and choosing handsome men as clients. In reality, they served wealthy clients when they were young and poor clients when they grew old. If they could not attract any clients, they could only wait to die. I suggest watching 《Sisters, Rise Up》 to see how miserable the Prostitutes’ lives were.”
“And then there are those who want to win over an Emperor. That’s practically asking to die! Setting aside the achievements of Ancient emperors, which one of them wasn’t a Scumbag Man? Once you married one, you could not even obtain a Marital Separation.”
“As someone who gets carsick, I’m horrified whenever I see that traveling in the Ancient Era took ten days or even a month.”
“Haha, same here. In that much time, I could have traveled around China.”
“If you’re going to travel through time, travel to the Future Era instead. Maybe in a few hundred years, we’ll have entered the interstellar age and be able to visit other planets.”
…………
】
Seeing how much the people of Later Generations despised them, the People of Ancient Times still felt uncomfortable. They thought, Even if you are better off than us, how much better can you be? Could everyone be wearing silk? Surely not everyone can be like the people displayed on the Heavenly Screen, right?
Some emperors noticed in the video that the people of Later Generations seemed to have little reverence for Emperors. What was going on with the Imperial Family of Later Generations? Could they not even keep these Common People under control?
How could such a weak Imperial Family make the Nation powerful? What they had seen earlier on the Heavenly Screen must have been an exception.
Qin Dynasty.
After Qin Shi Huang saw the mention of Papermaking, he realized that it seemed extremely valuable. Although he did not know what it was or what it was used for, his instincts told him it was important. He ordered his subordinates to record it and study it, then find out what the finished product looked like and what it could be used for.
What concerned him more was the final point: travel speed.
Although he had seen that morning how fast the box moved, he had not expected it to move this fast. A journey that took several days could be completed in an hour. It was inconceivable.
Although he did not know exactly how long an hour was, it seemed roughly equivalent to one shichen.
If he knew it was half a shichen, he would probably be even more shocked.
Han Dynasty.
The concept of paper already existed in the early Western Han, but its high cost, poor quality, and limited availability kept it from becoming widespread. When the people saw the Papermaking method displayed on the Heavenly Screen, their eyes lit up.
These Raw Materials were worthless scraps. If they could produce paper from them, the impact would be enormous.
The scholars throughout the realm were excited as well. Low production costs would mean lower prices, allowing them to save a great deal of money.
Liu Che stood up, overcome with excitement. “These things can actually be used to make paper? If it works, that would be wonderful.”
He then summoned some people and ordered them to use these materials to see whether they could make paper.
The wealthy people and noble descendants of the other dynasties were not surprised by papermaking. They already knew about it.
But the common people were extremely interested. They had never expected the raw materials for such expensive paper to be so cheap! Could they make paper themselves? If so, they would make a fortune.
Unfortunately, they knew only the raw materials, not the procedure. Most of them also lacked the time to experiment step by step, so they could only beat their breasts and lament.
Some craftsmen, however, were eager to try. They planned to find some materials and experiment. If they succeeded, they would profit; if they failed, it would not be a great loss—only a little time wasted.
The women discussed the Comment about Three wives and four concubines being legal in the Ancient Era.
“Three wives and four concubines were legal in the ancient era? Does that mean it was illegal in their era?”
“That seems unlikely, right? Since ancient times, men have always had three wives and four concubines.”
“It’s possible. Have you forgotten about that woman who wanted a marital separation yesterday?”
“That’s right. If it was illegal, that woman’s reaction yesterday would have been perfectly normal.”
Yesterday, they had thought that woman’s reaction was excessive. She was only a woman, after all; beating her to vent his anger and warn her should have been enough. Seeking a Marital Separation had seemed irrational.
If that era had not allowed Three wives and four concubines but instead had Monogamy, then it would make sense.
“If it’s true, the Future Era is wonderful!”
An Ran saw the mention of 《Sisters, Rise Up》 in the comments. She had heard of it before, but she had never watched it because it was a black-and-white film from the last century and sounded tragic.
Now that someone had brought it up, she wanted to watch it. She had started searching for it when someone called her.
It was an unfamiliar local number. She answered. “Hello?”
“Hello. May I ask if you are An Bo’s parent? I’m his homeroom teacher.”
“Hello, teacher. I’m An Bo’s Older Sister. What happened to An Bo?” An Ran could guess what had happened. Her younger brother had an explosive temper and was easily provoked. He had probably gotten into another conflict with someone.
Sure enough, the Homeroom Teacher said, “An Bo got into a fight with a student from another class, so please come to the school. Do you have time?”
“I do. I’ll be there right away.” An Ran stood up, put on her shoes, and left.
The school was not far from where An Ran lived. She arrived in a little over half an hour. After parking her car, she walked onto the campus. It was break time, and students filled the area outside the teaching building. Looking at their youthful faces, she could not help sighing that she had grown old.
Another thing was that students nowadays ate well. Every one of them was incredibly tall. Not just the boys—even the girls as a whole were considerably taller than she had been at that age.
An Ran saw a familiar face. She raised her hand and called out, “An Ning!”
The girl ahead turned around. Seeing An Ran, she ran over happily. “Older Sister, why are you here?”
“Your older brother got into a fight, and they called me in as his parent.”
“He got into another fight!” An Ning said with disdain.
After chatting briefly, An Ran left. She still had something to do. Before she left, she told An Ning that she had quit her job and that An Ning could visit her place on the weekend if she had time off.
An Ning did not ask why she had quit. She believed her Older Sister was capable and could easily find another good job, so she happily agreed.
Meanwhile, the people of Ancient Times were curious about what the Future Era’s school would look like after hearing that An Ran was going to one.
When they saw the school’s name—XX No. 1 Middle School—they were confused. Middle School? Middle… Did that mean there were also Universities and Elementary Schools?
Before they could think it through, their gaze followed An Ran into the school, where they saw the students.
Everyone’s first reaction was that there were so many people. At a glance, there seemed to be several hundred. Looking closer, they realized that some of them were women.
Seeing so many female students, the people of Ancient Times were shocked. Women in the Future Era could attend school alongside men!
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