Shen Wuzheng suddenly looked up at her and said, "Emperor Shi, what is his surna and given na?"
"Huh?"
Shang Ruyi was taken aback. She didn’t know why, when they were clearly talking about Yu Mingyue, he suddenly asked this. However, she instinctively replied, "Surna Ying, given na Zheng."
"What are his achievents?"
"Conquered the six kingdoms and unified the seas."
"Which six kingdoms?"
"Han, Zhao, Wei, Chu, Yan, Qi."
"When Zhao was conquered, how was the battle?"
ntioning this, even though it was an instinctive reply, Shang Ruyi’s face turned slightly pale, and her voice involuntarily trembled as she said, "Wu An Jun achieved victory at Changping, slaughtering 400,000 surrendered Zhao soldiers."
Shen Wuzheng nodded.
He knew that although his younger sister wasn’t extrely knowledgeable, her insights and understanding extended beyond the confines of the inner chambers, and her thoughts were not just about romance. So this wasn’t much of a test for her. However, seeing Shang Ruyi looking a bit pale, he felt a mix of admiration and pity, so he turned and called toward the door, "Miss Wo Xue."
Wo Xue, who was already standing nearby, imdiately approached when she heard him call, "Mr. Shen, what are your instructions?"
Shen Wuzheng said, "The Princess and I won’t drink wine tonight, bring so hot tea instead."
"Understood."
Wo Xue acknowledged the command, quickly brewed so hot tea, and brought it to their side before retreating again. Shen Wuzheng handed the teacup to Shang Ruyi, saying, "Have a few sips first to warm up before eating."
Shang Ruyi quietly took the teacup, her palms and fingertips imdiately ward by the heat from the cup. After drinking a few sips, a warmth spread through her body, relaxing her considerably.
She looked up, "Brother, why did you ask those things just now?"
Shen Wuzheng’s eyes flickered as he said, "What I asked just now, for you, is it considered—knowing instinctively?"
Shang Ruyi was stunned.
Instinctively knowing... Indeed, the na of Emperor Shi, his achievents, including so battles during the conquest of the six kingdoms, were not particularly daunting pieces of knowledge for Shang Ruyi. Just one question, and the answers ca readily to mind.
It was like after that serious illness when she seed to have been possessed, whenever Yu Wenquan was ntioned, the identity of "Grand Ancestor" surfaced in her mind.
It was barely—an instinctive knowledge.
She looked up at Shen Wuzheng, about to speak, when he continued, "If soone like you went to the ti before Wu An Jun’s campaign at Changping, then your knowledge, would it not be ’foreknowledge’?"
"...!"
Shang Ruyi’s eyes widened instantly.
She would go to the ti before the Battle of Changping was fought?
How would she go?
What does it an?
Could it be that she... would go back hundreds of years?!
This idea was hardly more believable than when she first saw Yu Wenquan and instinctively knew he would establish a new Dasheng Dynasty, ascend the throne, and beco Emperor Gao. Shang Ruyi gritted her teeth, using much effort to align her thoughts with that idea.
Going back hundreds of years to before the Battle of Changping?
Then what she knows now would be entirely unknown to the people of that ti—they wouldn’t know Wu An Jun would win, nor that after the victory he would slaughter 400,000 Zhao soldiers. Nor did they know that within less than a decade, Ying Zheng would conquer the remaining four kingdoms, unify the world, and claim to be as virtuous as the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, calling himself—Emperor Shi!
All of this would indeed be—
Foreknowledge?!
Shang Ruyi gasped sharply, looking up at Shen Wuzheng, her voice trembling, "Brother, do you an that Yu Mingyue, she might be—"
"..."
Shen Wuzheng did not answer her imdiately.
Although he had started the topic himself, at this mont, even he found it sowhat unbelievable. Yet he managed to calm himself down, taking one sip of tea after another, until the warmth dispelled the unknown fear and confusion. Only then did he steady himself and say, "If a person can foresee the future, there must be sothing extraordinary about them. But from my interactions with her, I didn’t have that sense."
"..."
"Moreover, as I told you before, when she composes poetry, she isn’t thinking but recalling. I suspect the poems she crafted before were beyond her capability; she was rely rembering them."
"..."
"Therefore, all these things could be re common knowledge to her, much like knowing the na and deeds of Emperor Shi is to us—it’s rely academic familiarity, not wisdom."
"..."
"Such knowledge is just literacy, can be learned, and by reading historical records one would know."
He took another deep breath and continued, "When I was studying under my teacher, he also spoke of so extraordinary people and events. Over the centuries, there have always been people said to possess the skill of ’knowing five hundred years into the past, and five hundred years into the future.’ If my speculation is correct, knowing five hundred years prior is through reading history, and knowing five hundred years hence—perhaps, it traces back to an origin similar to that Miss Yu’s."
"It’s, it’s—"
Shang Ruyi mumbled, struggling to find a word that could describe such an origin.
Yu Mingyue, perhaps, is from hundreds of years in the future!
Therefore, she could know that Yu Wenquan would ascend to the throne and beco Emperor Gao of the Dasheng Dynasty, and she also vaguely knew that the Crown Prince of this Grand Ancestor Emperor would be killed in a coup, with all his household implicated and executed, because to her, these were rely ordinary knowledge.
Is this really the case?
Thinking this way, the sudden surge of unprecedented heavy thoughts nearly overwheld Shang Ruyi; she felt as if her brain was about to collapse. It took a long while before she looked at Shen Wuzheng, softly saying, "This is too unbelievable!"
Shen Wuzheng said, "In this world, there are all kinds of wonders."
"..."
"What we can think of is limited to what we see and know, but human perspectives are too restricted, it’s rely the past centuries and the kiloters one can tread. Perhaps above us, beyond the heavens, are vistas beyond our imagination, possibly entirely different from the mythical palatial towers and Heavenly Palace. Hundreds of years later, in a ti we cannot live to see, there will be entirely different vistas."
"..."
Shang Ruyi took a deep breath.
Just one sentence from Shen Wuzheng seed to open a whole new world in front of her. She wanted to imagine but couldn’t quite picture what it might be like hundreds of years later...
Just, rembering earlier in the garden, the assertive way Yu Mingyue faced Lu Xiao, how spiteful she was as a woman towards one who had no control over her fate, it was as if she wanted to grind her into the ground. Clearly, there was no conflict of interest, so what was the cause of this animosity?
She hoped the people in her "hotown" would not treat won so harshly.
However, if Shen Wuzheng’s speculation is correct, then this would be a matter of hundreds of years later, and what they should concern themselves with is the present. Shang Ruyi muttered, "I wonder how much more ’foreknowledge’ she has."
Shen Wuzheng said, "There is one thing that we can be certain of."
Shang Ruyi looked up at him, "What is it?"
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