Diqin Designer

Chapter 440 Discussing Future Generations with Fusu
But where is that "somewhere"?

There was another Great Qin, another father, and another Fusu!
Is there really such a magical place in the world?

Fusu didn't think of Li Nian as someone from the future, someone who had traveled from another world. He had no awareness of this possibility and naturally wouldn't have considered it.

The First Emperor said, "Li Nian is not a person of Qin, but rather, he is not a person of Qin at this time!"

This sentence immediately baffled Fusu. He could understand "not a person of Qin", but what did "not a person of Qin at this time" mean?
He looked at Li Nian with surprise. This brother-in-law's background was even more amazing than he had imagined. When he saw him looking at him, Li Nian smiled and nodded to Fusu.

Seeing Fusu's confusion, the First Emperor explained: "'Not a person of the Qin Dynasty at this time' means that Li Nian is not a person of the Qin Dynasty at this time."

Feeling that his explanation was inadequate, the First Emperor further explained: "Li Nian came to Qin from a time more than two thousand years later. Therefore, for Li Nian, what has happened, is happening, or has not happened to us is merely history as he knows it. He knows our Qin as we know the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties!"

Upon hearing this explanation, Fusu immediately understood, and some of his questions were answered: Li Nian was able to tell his father about those future events not because Li Nian could foresee the future, but because Li Nian came from the future. Their deeds were history in Li Nian's eyes, just as they knew the history of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties when they returned to them.

However, the era that Li Nian came from was too far removed from the Qin Dynasty, two thousand years later!
Surprised, Fusu was also filled with curiosity. What would the world be like two thousand years from now? Which dynasty would be in power then? How would future generations evaluate him and the Qin Dynasty?
According to that secret scroll, Fusu already knew the fate of the Qin Dynasty, so he certainly didn't think about whether the Qin Dynasty still existed or whether it would last for thousands of years.

At this moment, he also understood why his father had kept Li Nian's background a top secret, why he had allowed him to live in the palace, why he had given him the status of a prince, and why he had married Shunying to him...

This is a person from later generations who knows history, and his value is immense. Putting aside everything else, just knowing the history that followed can save the Qin Dynasty from many detours. Moreover, Li Nian himself is also very talented.

At the same time, this is also to protect Li Nian. If too many people know about Li Nian's origins as a person for future generations, some people will definitely have ulterior motives. Some people will want to kidnap him for their own use, and some people will want to take his life.

If people like Zhao Gao and Li Si knew that it was Li Nian who exposed their faults to the emperor, thus causing the emperor to distance himself from them, wouldn't they want to get rid of Li Nian as soon as possible?
As for whether Li Nian's origin from the future was false, Fusu believed that his father must have thought of it long ago and had certainly tried to verify it.

After pondering for a moment, Fusu said to Li Nian, "I never imagined my brother-in-law had such a background! But if that's the case, then can we be considered my brother-in-law's... ancestors?"

Actually, this is not the case. Li Nian felt that the Qin Dynasty he transmigrated to was a parallel world's Qin Dynasty, not the Qin Dynasty in his original world. So, in reality, the people in this world could not be considered ancestors or forefathers.

But Li Nian wouldn't bring that up; instead, she would reinforce the idea that he came from this world and the future for the First Emperor, Fusu, and others.

Because if he claimed to be from another world and had no connection to the Qin Dynasty in this world, he might not be considered one of their own by the First Emperor and others. Conversely, if the First Emperor and others considered him to be a descendant of the Qin Dynasty in this world, he would be regarded as a descendant and one of their own.

The difference between those who are not our own and those who are our own is enormous!

Li Nian replied, "It is because of the people of Qin, Qi, Chu, and Zhao that there are the people of Huaxia in later generations. Your Majesty and the Crown Prince are ancestors of Huaxia."

Upon hearing Li Nian's reply, Fu Su had a strange thought: Since you are the junior and we are the senior, if you and I are brothers, wouldn't it mess up the generational order if Father Emperor married Shun Ying to you?
But Fusu thought about it and realized that in terms of seniority, they were indeed elders and juniors. Marrying Shunying to him would be an elder marrying a junior. However, more than two thousand years had passed, and even if they were originally from the same clan, they could still marry each other. Besides, they should not be from the same clan as Li Nian.

Fusu then asked curiously, "Since my brother-in-law comes from the future, what is the future like? Which dynasty ruled? And between Liu Ji and Xiang Yu, who ultimately won the world?"

Li Nian replied, "The later generations are very different from the present Qin Dynasty. For example, in terms of clothing, food, housing and transportation, most people in China no longer lack clothes and do not need to wait for festivals to buy new clothes. They can buy them frequently. When clothes are worn out, some people are even too lazy to mend them and will just throw them away and buy new ones."

These words gave Fusu a preliminary understanding of the future: the country of the future will surely surpass the present Qin Dynasty, and the Qin Dynasty could not provide clothing for most people.

Furthermore, people in later generations did not mend their clothes when they were worn out; they simply discarded them and bought new ones. Unlike the people of the Qin Dynasty he saw, who were lucky to buy new clothes once a year, and some families might only get new clothes once every few years. Moreover, a piece of clothing was passed down from father to son and then to grandson.

It is very common for clothes to be passed down through three generations, and even after a person dies, the clothes are still there. People are reluctant to throw away clothes when they are worn out, and they will continue to wear them by mending and patching them. Even if they are tattered, they will try to find a way to continue to use them.

Li Nian continued, "Take food for example. Not everyone can afford to eat lavish meals, but it's not difficult to get enough to eat three meals a day..."

Wait a minute, Fusu noticed something in Li Nian's words and asked, "Brother-in-law, do people in later generations eat three meals a day?"

The Qin Dynasty could not provide its people with three meals a day; even two meals a day would be considered very good. But judging from Li Nian's words, for future generations, three meals a day would be a common occurrence.

Li Nian nodded and said, "Most of the people of China can manage this. Although we usually have three meals a day—breakfast, lunch, and dinner—some people also have afternoon tea and late-night snacks. Afternoon tea is after lunch, when we drink some beverages and eat some snacks in the afternoon. As for late-night snacks, they are after dinner, when we eat some barbecue and snacks at night."

It turns out that people in later generations ate more than three meals a day. So, when you calculate it, the Qin Dynasty was no match for later generations.

Fusu asked, "Why is it that the people of China are generally able to do this?"

Li Nian said, "Some countries in the world are plagued by war and famine. Their domestic conditions are not as good as those of China. The people of China can eat their fill and have three meals a day, but those countries may not be."

Fusu said, "It seems that the country of later generations will also be a powerful nation!"

Li Nian said, "Indeed, it is a powerful country, one of the five strongest countries in the world!"

This piqued Fusu's interest. He had initially believed that the later-era China was the strongest nation, but unexpectedly, there were four other countries that could be compared to it. Fusu asked, "The later-era China wasn't the strongest? There are four other countries that can rival it?"

Li Nian said, "Although China is strong in later generations, it is not the strongest country. Above it is the Eagle Country. The other four countries are the Eagle Country, the Ox Country, the Bear Country, and the Chicken Country. Among these four countries, the Eagle Country is the strongest. Even China is still somewhat inferior to it. As for the other three countries, although they are not weak, they are not as good as China."

I understand now. In later generations, China became the world's second largest economy, only weaker than the United States, but stronger than other countries. This still made Fusu curious: what kind of country was the United States that was stronger than China in later generations?

After hearing Fusu's question, Li Nian replied: "The Eagle Kingdom is located in Xuanzhou (North America), and it shares the same origin as the Ox Kingdom. It was originally a place where the Ox Kingdom colonized and exiled criminals. Later, due to certain reasons, the Ox people who immigrated to Xuanzhou had the idea of ​​independence and were no longer willing to be governed by their homeland. So they rebelled and became independent, establishing the later Eagle Kingdom."

Fusu had seen the world map drawn by Li Nian and knew where Xuanzhou was. He never expected that in the future, there would be the world's strongest country there. The relationship between the Eagle Kingdom and the future China must not be good, and there is probably even conflict and contradiction.

No wonder Li Nian wanted to send people to occupy overseas territories first; he wanted to seize the initiative from the United Kingdom and solve this problem from two thousand years ago.

His statement that "if the Qin Dynasty does not occupy the overseas territories, they will be occupied by other countries, and these overseas countries will use this opportunity to develop, which will be detrimental to the Qin Dynasty" is not alarmist, but actually happened in history that Li Nian knew.

Li Nian has always kept this in mind, presumably because the Chinese people in later generations had suffered humiliation at the hands of these foreign and overseas countries, and were humiliated terribly. He was worried that such a thing would be repeated in the Qin Dynasty in this life.

One question has finally been answered, but new questions keep emerging: Why did China suffer humiliation in later generations? How badly was it humiliated? And how did it transform from a humiliated nation into the world's second-largest power?

Seeing that Fusu did not ask any more questions, Li Nian continued to talk about the "clothing, food, housing and transportation" of later generations: "The people of China in later generations not only had enough to eat, but also had a wide variety of food, including seasonal fruits and vegetables, fish, shrimp, beef and mutton, as well as various kinds of fruits. For most people in later generations, it was not difficult to eat meat at every meal!"

"But eating meat at every meal is considered unhealthy by later generations. A balanced diet of meat and vegetables is necessary, with less fatty meat and more lean meat, and a more refined diet is required."

Fusu didn't know what to say. These people of later generations actually thought that eating meat at every meal was an unhealthy diet, while the ordinary people of Qin wished they could eat meat at every meal. They could count the number of times they could eat meat throughout the year on their fingers. It was truly a case of some being too poor to eat meat and others being too rich to eat meat!
This also shows that the later Chinese civilization was prosperous, with everyone having new clothes to wear and meat to eat every meal. Compared to the Qin Dynasty... well, it was simply incomparable!
"Our China is also a well-known culinary nation in later generations, with eight major cuisines: Shandong cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, Cantonese cuisine, Jiangsu cuisine, Fujian cuisine, Zhejiang cuisine, Hunan cuisine, and Anhui cuisine. Each major cuisine has its own characteristics, such as the main flavor being spicy and numbing, while Cantonese cuisine is mainly characterized by its fresh and fragrant flavors..."

"Each cuisine has a vast number of dishes, numbering at least several thousand. In later generations, it would not be difficult for one person to eat dishes from all eight major cuisines."

Just by listening to it, you can tell that people in later generations were particular about food and drink. No wonder this brother-in-law cooked for himself in the palace. It turns out he couldn't get used to the food of the Qin Dynasty, so he made some improvements himself.

"As for housing, it is not difficult for later generations to have a simple place to live, but to move to the city and live in an apartment building, it requires a lot of money. It often drains a family's savings and leaves them in debt."

Fusu was somewhat puzzled and asked, "Since these buildings are so expensive, why not just not buy them and live there? Why do you insist on buying them?"

Li Nian explained: "Firstly, for the sake of livelihood, things are different in later generations compared to the present Qin Dynasty. People in later generations mainly earn a living by working for others, and there are more jobs to be found in the city; secondly, marriage in later generations often requires the groom's family to own a house, and if he doesn't have a house in the city, few women will be willing to marry him; thirdly, the traditional Chinese mindset has led most people to want to own their own house, and renting is nowhere near as convenient as owning a house; fourthly..."

Although he was also curious about the following points, Fusu was more concerned about the first point that Li Nian mentioned. He asked, "If people in later generations make a living by being hired to do manual labor, will they no longer farm?"

Fusu asked this question because he really wanted to know that since most people in your generation have moved to the city to work for others and there aren’t enough people to farm, how can you produce enough food to feed so many people?

Li Nian said, "In later generations, with the help of machinery, little manpower is needed. With the help of fertilizers and pesticides, crops have also been improved, resulting in high yields. One person using machinery can be equivalent to a hundred or a thousand people in the Qin Dynasty."

"Furthermore, the profits from farming in later generations are not as high as those from working in the city, so naturally many people will give up farming in the countryside and go to the city to work for others. Moreover, in later generations, everyone can read and write, and after receiving higher education, many people will no longer want to stay in the countryside."

Fusu nodded and said, "I see. A small number of people can cultivate the land to provide enough food, and the rest of the population will naturally go elsewhere."

Li Nian continued, "In later generations, people generally lived in multi-story buildings, which were houses with two or more floors. These buildings were not constructed of wood or stone, but of reinforced concrete. A single building often had dozens of floors, with each floor containing multiple apartments..."

Fusu raised an eyebrow and said, "In later generations, people who buy apartments don't buy the entire building, but rather one unit on a specific floor?"

If this happened in the Qin Dynasty, he would definitely sentence the person who sold the building. The house was divided into floors, then into units, and then sold to others one by one. Isn't that the work of a profiteer?

He heard Li Nian say that buying an apartment would require emptying the family's savings and incurring debt. He assumed that the apartment was a whole building, but he didn't expect it to be like this. It seems that this world is not all good.

Li Nian said, "That's exactly right! How could those real estate developers be so conscientious? It's already a miracle if they don't abandon the project. In later generations, some homebuyers not only didn't get the house, but also had to continue paying the mortgage debts they incurred to buy it."

After hearing what Li Nian said, Fu Su looked incredulous and asked in surprise, "We haven't even gotten the house yet, why do we still have to pay off debts?"

This is a principle that any normal person should understand. Why should you continue to pay money if you haven't even received the goods? Wouldn't that make you a complete victim of injustice?
Moreover, if the building is not completed, the problem should be with the builders, not the homebuyers. Why are they being forced to continue paying off debts? Does this mean that the descendants who bought the building are hindering its completion?

Fusu couldn't quite understand it.

Li Nian sighed and said, "The reasons for this are difficult to explain in a short time, but it is indeed a phenomenon that existed in later generations."

(End of this chapter)