In less than a week, the sweet potato sprouts grew, and the paper pulp was ready. Zhao Xuwan earned a total of one hundred points.
The emergence of sweet potato sprouts counted as altering the course of history—after all, there were no sweet potato sprouts in the Qin dynasty. The production of paper pulp also counted as altering the course of history.
"If you fully grow them or complete the production, you could earn even more," 001 said animatedly, trying hard to brainwash Zhao Xuwan and motivate her.
"Oh," Zhao Xuwan replied, lowering her head as her hands kept moving.
The paper pulp was ready. Zhao Xuwan took a cooling mat made of bamboo, spread it out on the ground, and carefully laid the paper pulp on it, waiting for it to dry.
"The weather has been good lately," she muttered, thinking it would probably dry in an afternoon.
She wasn’t sure how well it would turn out or whether it could be written on. Zhao Xuwan felt a bit anxious. Did they even have brushes at this time?
Her knowledge of history was fuzzy, so she could only hope to adapt as needed.
Once the sweet potato sprouts were cultivated, the next step was to plant them in the soil. Yun and Yu helped Zhao Xuwan, so she didn’t need to rely on other servants, as they all had their own tasks.
"Madam, what is this?" Yun asked curiously. The two of them had arrived late and missed the roasted sweet potatoes. The mute servant and the Prince already knew that sweet taste.
"It’s delicious food," Zhao Xuwan said. People in this era were always interested in edible food.
"That’s wonderful! I haven’t tasted it yet," Yun said happily, her slightly round face faintly showing two small dimples.
Yu was also happy, though her personality wasn’t as expressive.
Both of them were very interested in the edible food Madam mentioned. They had never seen this food before, but Madam was knowledgeable, so if she said it was edible, it must be.
As Zhao Xuwan expected, it only took an afternoon for the paper pulp to dry into paper—real paper. Even if it was dark yellow, even if it was extremely rough, even if it would tear at the slightest pull, it was paper. Paper she hadn’t seen in over a decade, paper that had a slight connection to modern life.
Her hands trembling, she picked up the paper, eager to test whether it could be written on.
"A brush? Right, a brush—I need to make a brush," Zhao Xuwan thought incoherently. She rummaged around the house and found the rabbit the Shangren had sent last time, still alive and uneaten.
She cut some rabbit fur, found a bamboo tube, stuffed the fur inside, and then went to the Prince’s study to retrieve his graphite.
Generally, Zhao Xuwan wouldn’t enter Yiren’s study on her own, but this time the situation was urgent, and she couldn’t worry about that.
Once she had the ink, she carefully dipped the makeshift brush into it and slowly wrote her name on the paper.
The crooked characters, with handwriting like a primary school student’s, made Zhao Xuwan’s eyes instantly redden.
"Ding-dong, one hundred and fifty points have been earned," 001 announced again. "You’ve also made a brush, altering another historical process."
"Who originally invented it?" Zhao Xuwan asked, her voice slightly hoarse.
"Meng Tian," 001 replied cheerfully.
"Meng Tian?" Zhao Xuwan was stunned. It was almost the end of the Warring States period now, so wasn’t that just a few decades earlier? Had she, as a time traveler, taken advantage of the opportunity and stolen someone else’s credit?
"Don't worry, after all, Meng Tian doesn't need to rely on this to receive rewards—he is already highly regarded by the First Emperor of Qin." 001 seemed to notice Zhao Xuwan's troubled expression and quickly comforted her.
Zhao Xuwan nodded, accepting this explanation. His main profession was that of a general, and warfare was his forte. He likely didn't depend on such things for rewards either.
When Yiren returned home in the evening, he found Zhao Xuwan looking at him with sparkling eyes, while the two Binu standing beside her also appeared delighted.
"What's going on?" Yiren asked, somewhat puzzled, as Zhao Xuwan pulled out a strangely colored object with black ink on it.
"Look, I made paper today—paper you can write on with a brush. From now on, my husband won’t have to copy books on bamboo slips anymore. Paper is much more convenient. I even tested it today. Although it’s a bit dark and yellow, it doesn’t affect writing at all. And if I improve the raw materials, it might even turn white. I’m also thinking about whether I can make toilet paper, which would make daily life even more convenient."
Zhao Xuwan finished speaking quickly and looked up at Yiren.
After digesting her words, Yiren’s face flushed instantly, losing all traces of his earlier calm. "This is… paper?"
His hands trembling, he took the paper Zhao Xuwan handed him, examining and crumpling it carefully.
"Huh?" Zhao Xuwan was startled when Yiren lifted her up, surprised that despite his frail appearance, he was actually quite strong.
"Wonderful!" Yiren soon set her down and embraced her tightly. "Wan, how are you so amazing? How did you even think of this?"
Zhao Xuwan felt a bit awkward and flustered, but fortunately, the two Binu had already left the room, leaving only the two of them in the hall.
"I was just tinkering around, not expecting it to actually work," Zhao Xuwan mumbled into his shoulder.
She hadn’t expected Yiren to be able to lift her, nor had she anticipated his excitement to be like this. And she certainly hadn’t imagined his health to be this poor…
"Cough, cough, cough!" The intense excitement, combined with the effort of lifting Zhao Xuwan, caused Yiren to collapse, coughing uncontrollably. He didn’t even eat dinner and was sent to bed by Zhao Xuwan.
"Just lie down for now. I’ll bring you a bowl later," Zhao Xuwan sighed inwardly. Married to such a sickly man, she had no energy left to complain.
Although she knew that as a Shuren, she could only marry another Shuren, and marrying a Prince like Yiren was like hitting the jackpot—a stroke of luck so rare it could burn out all the incense at her ancestors’ graves—sometimes she really wanted to ask how, as a Prince who lacked neither food nor clothing, his health could be so poor.
Sick people shouldn’t eat overly greasy food, so Zhao Xuwan made him sweet egg soup, using three eggs and adding plenty of sugar.
The Prince had a sweet tooth; otherwise, he wouldn’t have suffered from indigestion from eating too many sweet potatoes.
However, the sugar in this era was coarse and of poor quality. Zhao Xuwan sighed. Having something to eat was already a blessing. She could guarantee that her parents had never tasted sugar in their entire lives.
Thinking of this, she felt a pang of sadness. She hoped the sweet potatoes would grow quickly so everyone could taste delicious food.
"Eat a bit more," Zhao Xuwan insisted firmly when she saw Yiren about to put down his bowl after eating only two eggs.
She believed that poor health in this era was largely due to inadequate nutrition, much like her own experience of growing up hungry and suffering from severe malnutrition.
Yiren was somewhat surprised by Zhao Xuwan's sudden domineering behavior, but he didn't say anything, obediently following her instructions to finish all the eggs and sugar water.
Only after watching him finish did she take the bowl away. She had already eaten earlier herself. The child in her belly had always been well-behaved, and her appetite hadn't been poor, but she didn't dare to eat too much either.
Giving birth in ancient times was like stepping one foot into the gates of the underworld—whether you lived or died depended on fate. When her Mother gave birth to her younger brother, Zhao Xuwan was old enough to have some memory of it. Hearing the woman's screams coming from the dilapidated house, the two-year-old Zhao Xuwan trembled in fear, her teeth chattering uncontrollably.
Mother had given birth to five children in total, but only three survived. Zhao Xuwan had witnessed her four childbirths. Although she adapted better each time, she also grew more fearful with each one. She was afraid of dying during childbirth and worried about what would happen to her child if she died.
In modern times, there were always people who looked down on those who had children carelessly. Zhao Xuwan also disapproved, but when it came to herself, she had become the kind of person she despised—someone who had no choice in the matter.
All she could do was take extra care of her body and nourish herself properly. To this end, she exercised daily and didn't dare to indulge in food, fearing that a larger baby would make delivery difficult.
Now, with the arrival of a system, she looked at the medicines in the shop. There were hardly any drugs suitable for pregnancy or childbirth, and the few available were exorbitantly expensive. At the very least, Zhao Xuwan couldn't imagine when she would ever earn enough points for them.
"Host, don't worry," 001 comforted her. "You are the chosen one of fate; nothing will happen to you."
The chosen one of fate? Zhao Xuwan smiled bitterly. Being brought to the Warring States period, an era akin to prehistory, and enduring a life of hardship until the age of sixteen—that certainly felt like fate. Few people in the world could claim such an experience.
Groping her way onto the bed, she hadn't even caught her breath before an arm pulled her backward.
Zhao Xuwan's heart skipped a beat. Knowing who it was, she slapped his hand in annoyance. "You scared me to death! What are you doing?"
"Don't say such unlucky things," Yiren held her close, resting his head on her shoulder and speaking in a muffled tone.
It seemed that ever since she became pregnant, the two of them had evolved from unfamiliarity and restraint into the mode of an old married couple, skipping ahead more than a decade in an instant—truly the speed of the Warring States period.
Yiren also found it strange. It seemed Zhao Xuwan was no longer as afraid of him, speaking more boldly and even daring to joke around casually. Several times, the things she found or made had pleasantly surprised him.
The couple lay in bed together, each lost in their own thoughts. It wasn't quite "sharing a bed but dreaming different dreams"; instead, there was a certain harmony between them.
The maturation period for sweet potatoes was relatively long, taking about three to four months. During this time, Zhao Xuwan naturally couldn't remain idle. While she still had points on hand, she decided to buy some seeds to cultivate and plant, using points to generate more points—perfect!
Zhao Xuwan currently had a total of 260 points: 250 were for altering the course of history, and the rest were from her own farming efforts.
"This means I should focus more on cutting corners, since the points earned from doing things myself are so low," Zhao Xuwan complained while browsing the shop. This time, she planned to buy potatoes, as they had the shortest planting cycle, maturing in about two months.
After spending 100 points on potato seeds and another point on a potato planting manual, Zhao Xuwan shouldered a basket and prepared to head up the mountain.
Yun Heyu naturally followed her.
Their household was quite different from others—there was no rule that the mistress of the house must do nothing. Zhao Xuwan enjoyed doing things herself, and no one dared to say otherwise. Moreover, Yiren had long instructed everyone to follow the mistress's lead in all matters. If the mistress wanted to go up the mountain, naturally no one would stop her, though they would send people to follow behind.
Although Zhao Xuwan now lived within the city of Handan, the cities of this era were entirely different from modern ones. Whether they were developed or not was beside the point—small hills were everywhere.
In fact, many nobles lived outside the city rather than within it. They had their own territories, their own retainers, and their own armies, and they had no interest in living within the city under the King of Zhao's control.
Zhao Xuwan took two maidservants up the mountain—though it was more of a small hill, with little slope.
"Madam, be careful," Yun and Yu tried to support Zhao Xuwan, but she waved them off politely. "I can still walk. Watch."
Zhao Xuwan often went up the mountain, and her familiarity with the paths was far beyond what the two maidservants could match. In the end, Yun and Yu had to rely on Zhao Xuwan to find their way.
"You take that area, and you take this one," Zhao Xuwan assigned them their tasks, then slung a basket over her shoulder and headed to another spot.
The excuse for coming up the mountain today was to dig for wild vegetables, but Zhao Xuwan knew she was just finding a way to bring potatoes back. After all, producing things out of thin air in this dynasty would only get her labeled a demon and burned at the stake. Zhao Xuwan valued her life and had no intention of courting death.
Yun and Yu had wanted to follow Zhao Xuwan, but she explained that when she brought the household servants to the mountain before, they had also split up like this. There were no wild beasts on the mountain, so nothing would happen.
Zhao Xuwan went to one side of the hillside and quietly took out some potatoes, filling about twenty before stopping. She placed the potatoes in her basket and was about to leave when she heard a pained cry from not far away.
Author's Note:
Edict of King Zhuangxiang of Qin: Sometimes her flaws are glaring, yet one cannot bear to expose her.