Chronicles of the Qin Dynasty

Chapter 8 8. Red Lady Black Seed
Ji Heng was not surprised by this conclusion. His high fever had subsided and he had just taken a short nap. Now was the moment when his mind was clear.

He held a box of medicine that Qin Shi had just introduced. "Qin Qing said this medicine has incisions on it. Take a portion every two or three hours. If you take all of it, it will be enough for fifteen days."

He recalled the other party's careful and complex description of the medicine and asked, "The last time we received a message from Xianyang, how much longer can the general live?"

Zhou Ju bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, the General is in extreme pain. His mind and spirit are completely damaged during the attack. The royal physician said that his spirit is weakened and his strength is exhausted. His life span may not exceed the end of the month."

Now, it is the twenty-second day of the Si month.

Ji Heng immediately ordered in a deep voice: "Pass the order down, in three days, I want to see the Xianyang Palace!"

A highway was built from Longxi to Xianyang. The King of Qin did not go to the city for inspection. The army marched day and night, with fine horses taking turns, and could travel 400 miles a day*!

Zhou Ju bowed: "Yes!"

……

The sky was ablaze with rosy clouds, and the wind was thick with steam. The army had just settled in to rest and recuperate before tomorrow. Two maids, dressed in brown straight-hem robes, were assigned to help Qin Shi wash up with a copper basin and a cloth, very respectfully.

"Your Majesty is on tour, and I haven't prepared any clothes for the nobles. I hope that Lord Qin will be magnanimous and allow me to fetch some silk and have it made tonight."

"It's okay." Qin Shi understood very well and smiled, waving his hand. "Put down the basin and towel. I'll clean up myself. You don't need to prepare clothes. We'll talk about it when we get back to Xianyang. Can you send me a few more basins of water? I'll do the laundry."

The two maids were horrified and immediately knelt on the ground: "How dare you let Lord Qin do such a thing? If the king knew, we will die!"

They were both able to accompany the guards on their tours, and their figures were actually quite standard, though their skin was a little rough, their cheeks were slightly large, and their knuckles were also thick. Their bodies were slender, and they probably didn't eat enough to eat often.

This was caused by years of hard labor and a diet of coarse grains and hard foods. Now she knelt there with her brows lowered, her grass-green corset embracing her slightly sturdy waist, her posture subdued.

Qin Shi sighed.

"All right, then. Get up. I'll wash myself, and you wash the clothes—by the way, how do you wash the clothes?"

The two maids carefully glanced at Qin Shi's clothes, then lowered their heads again: "Lord Qin's clothes are made of extraordinary material, and the color is also extraordinary. We will soak them in water with plant ash, use pieces of silk to separate them, and then gently beat them with a pestle..."

Qin Shi: ...

It’s not that you can’t use wood ash without soap nuts, but when washing her clothes, you have to cover them with another layer of cloth, and you don’t even dare to rub them with your hands for fear of damaging them, right?

She didn't know what to say, so she could only say, "Well, thank you for your help."

The maids stood up and said, "It's our duty."

Qin Shi adjusted his mentality and took a sip of the honey water given by the other party. It was rare to get honey nowadays. In addition, there was a small jar of ice cubes in the corner of the carriage, which showed that the treatment was indeed very good.

When she looked up again, she was much calmer: "What are your names? How old are you? Have you always been serving the king?"

The maid with willow-like eyebrows whispered, "My Lord Qin, my maid's name is Chi Nu. I am fifteen years old."

Those with slightly larger cheeks also followed: "The maid's name is Wuzi. She is fifteen years old."

"We entered the Xianyang Palace when we were young, and before that, we served the king in the Fang Palace."

Qin Shi took note of it silently, looked at the two minors, sighed, and could only accept it.

She said, "You guys should step back first."

"promise."

...

It would be irrational to want to take a shower during the march, so although Qin Shi wanted to take a closer look at his now healthy body, he still just simply washed himself twice.

The cloth they sent was silk, and its absorbency and softness were quite average, but considering the current productivity, they couldn't send coarse linen, right? Qin Shi also silently adapted.

After wiping off the sweat and dust from her body and putting on the clean clothes in the suitcase, she raised her voice and said, "Someone come." "Your servant is here."

"Please wash the clothes. Also, I need to go to the bathroom, I want to..."

"Mr. Qin, please move—"

Chi Nu pushed open the carved wall panel inside the carriage, revealing a wooden barrel that was stuck alone in the narrow space at the back and fixed to the carriage board. There was a faint scent of osmanthus in the air.

Qin Shi was a little curious: "What's in this bucket?"

"Cut down trees and burn the mugwort into ashes, then sprinkle in dried osmanthus. Doesn't your Majesty like osmanthus? I'll get you orchids instead."

Qin Shi shook his head: "No need, Osmanthus fragrans is fine - you can leave."

"promise."

When she finished using the restroom and was washing her hands in the basin, she heard Wu Zi's urgent voice outside the door: "Mr. Qin, the army is leaving. The road is bumpy. Please get up as soon as possible."

Going to the toilet on a shaky train was already inconvenient, let alone the fact that the horses were galloping and the army was on the march, and they had to march all night long. Qin Shi responded, "Go in."

Two maids came forward quickly, one of them held a cloth to wipe her hands, and the other quickly took out a jar of incense ash and went in to cover the toilet to prevent the carriage from shaking and making a mess.

Seeing this, Qin Shi, sitting in the shaking car, couldn't help but sigh: What luck!

Isn't it just good luck?
In this era of low productivity and clear class divisions, if she had not met the King of Qin as soon as she traveled through time, not to mention whether she would be alive, she would have no one to take care of her, and food, clothing, housing, transportation, and even going to the toilet would have been a huge problem.

There will be paper available at the beginning, but when it runs out, won’t you really have to use toilet paper to wipe your butt?
Qin Shi felt that he had to stay with King Qin.

But, hadn't the King of Qin's fever subsided? Why did he continue his journey at such a rapid pace?

She frowned. "The army is traveling at night. How can the infantry keep up?"

The carriages were pulled by fine horses, which the captains and others could ride, and the baggage was carried in ox carts.

But, there are more ordinary infantrymen who walk on two feet.

Chi Nu lowered her head and said, "The king has ordered us to enter Xianyang in three days."

"If someone is unable to continue due to injury or illness and misses the deadline, the punishment may be waived within five days."

"Five days later, you will be fined a shield."

"Five days later, I'll be fined a set of armor."

However, now that the king is in his presence and on his way back, if the soldiers don't want to be demoted to guard the imperial mausoleum in Mount Li, where they will never make any progress in their lives and their military rank will be difficult to increase...even if their legs and feet are broken, they will still be able to crawl to their destination.

Qin Shi naturally guessed it.

Feudal emperors naturally paid no attention to the ants beneath their thrones, and the people of the world naturally deserved to sacrifice for them. Rules were rules, and the King of Qin was the King of Qin.

But since the maid can say it clearly, I think most people base it on this, which is much better than what I thought.

She opened the car window, and the loess road was again filled with dark dust. Weeds grew on both sides of the road, and long and continuous bird calls came from the dark mountains in the distance.

She looked at the gradually darkening sky with a distant look.

Spanning time and space, thousands of years of history, destiny...it's truly amazing.

Here we go! One li in the Qin Dynasty was approximately 415 meters.

Squatting toilets and toilets similar to modern ones have existed in ancient times. You can refer to materials such as Han tombs for details.

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(End of this chapter)