Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 262 Life Must Be Slowed Down and Appreciated

The mundane details of family life have now become a source of happiness for Yun Ce.

When Yun Ce married two women at once and got them pregnant almost simultaneously, he knew his good days were numbered.

But how could a young man living in his ancestral homeland resist the temptation of legally marrying two wives? It's not like he can't afford to support them.

When reading ancient books, you often see stories of women who, when they grow old and lose their beauty, take the initiative to arrange for their husbands to take concubines. The men are clearly overjoyed, but they frown and say that they don't have time and that their wives should handle it...

It was clearly bullying women, yet it was portrayed as virtuous and gentle. Yun Ce had criticized this immoral behavior before, but after closing the book, scenes of women embracing each other would occasionally appear in his mind.

After arriving in the Han Dynasty, far from Yunlinchuan, far from the people he knew, and far from the laws of his ancestral land, Yun Ce felt absolutely no moral remorse for marrying two wives.

Just like Gouzi said, Yun Ce's moral bottom line is actually quite low.

The most difficult time to take care of a woman is when she is pregnant. While many young men in the ancestral land are still busy making their only pregnant wives inhale tractor exhaust in the middle of the night, Yun Ce feels that being trapped between two big-bellied women in the middle of the bed, unable to move, speak, have his heart stop beating, or breathe, is nothing.

At least there's still a bed to sleep in, right?
When he fully engages in his personal life, grand narratives become distant to him.

The turmoil in Chang'an, the storms in Luoyang, or even the Iron Enclosure Incident—all of these suddenly seemed far removed from memory. Even the fact that Cao Kun's father was preparing to convene a conference of the eastern lords in Qiuhe City hardly made Yun Ce nervous.

History is a strange thing. Perhaps because we are of the same ethnicity, many things that have already happened in our ancestral lands seem to be happening again on the Han side.

After the decline of the Zhou dynasty, the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period emerged, and the Cao family is now playing the role of the first hegemon among the Five Hegemons—Duke Huan of Qi.

If it were merely similar, that would be one thing. But when Cao Kun's father raised the familiar slogan "Respect the King and Expel the Barbarians" to the eastern lords attending the meeting in Qiuhe City, Yun Ce was certain that Cao Kun's father was the famous Duke Huan of Qi, because Duke Huan of Qi had said the same thing when he convened the eastern lords for a meeting.

The so-called "honoring the king" means respecting the Han imperial family and upholding the authority of the Zhou emperor.

The so-called "expelling the barbarians" means resisting and rejecting the incursions of the Guifang people into the eastern states.

Yun Ce had naturally studied this history. "Respecting the King" was a noble cause that upheld orthodoxy and civilization. It was a rhetoric that could be put on the table and used to portray oneself as a righteous person.

In reality, he wanted to use the name of "respecting the king" to tell all the feudal lords that he respected the royal family. Therefore, when he began to conquer the disobedient, he was acting on behalf of the Han emperor and was acting justly.

It means that it's righteous for me to hit you, but wrong for you to hit me.

The "Expel the Barbarians" is even more interesting. The scourge of the Guifang is closely related to all the feudal lords in the east. If everyone can unite and fight against the Guifang together, it will benefit every feudal lord.

Use this title to unite the eastern lords and establish your image as a leader.

Yun Ce felt this was a good thing. After all, according to historical records, Duke Huan of Qi did some things that a leader should do at this time, such as leading a coalition army to "attack the Shanrong in the north and attack the Chu state in the south," and steadfastly protecting small states such as Xing and Wei. He was quite like a leader.

Therefore, Liang Kun and Feng An actively suggested to Yun Ce that while their Eastern lord was at his most agreeable, they should sell off their mountain of grain and goods, and incidentally, bring more merchants to Xiangcheng.

Yun Ce thought it made perfect sense, so he specially approved one hundred taels of gold for Liang Kun to purchase gifts to present to the Cao family in Qiuhe City.

In the morning, when Yun Ce was feeding the chickens with a basket, he realized that Cao Kun hadn't been to the Yun family for a long time. Could it be that he didn't miss the Yun family's braised noodles or oil-splashed noodles at all?
On second thought, Cao Kun must be very busy at this time. After all, his third and ninth brothers have been making great strides recently. Hetian in Lingzhou has become the first target chosen by the Cao clan after their alliance. His third and ninth brothers are currently conquering cities and territories in Lingzhou. I heard that in less than half a month, they have captured six cities in Lingzhou. Now, they have completely surrounded Lingzhou and are about to establish an unparalleled feat.

What's most remarkable is that he's incredibly thoughtful. He even considered the pregnancy of Yun Ce's wife, an unknown nobody, and sent people from afar to deliver good medicine for the pregnancy.

It's unclear whether Cao Kun used radioactive materials on his father and several of his powerful brothers. If news of his father or brothers dying suddenly breaks out recently, it's likely that they were used.

With this in mind, Yun Ce threw all the pregnancy-preserving medicines that Cao Kun's brothers had sent into the Qingshui River. If the pregnant woman were in the ancestral land, Yun Ce would even unplug the neighbors' internet cables, let alone these medicinal materials that might have been exposed to radiation.

Yun Ce feeds the chickens, and his only goal is to steal eggs. He scatters half a basket of chicken feed, and the chickens, who are about his height, run to peck at it. Yun Ce takes the opportunity to get three huge eggs.

The eggs were very fresh, probably laid last night or early this morning. One of them was still warm to the touch, so it must have been laid just now. Unfortunately, the other two were a bit cold.

That won't do, of course. If Yun Ce dared to make a fried egg with one lukewarm egg and one ice-cold egg, then who would eat the fried egg made with the lukewarm egg and who would eat the fried egg made with the ice-cold egg would be a huge problem. Eggs get hot in oil, and Yun Ce's worry is like taking off his pants to fart—but Yun Ce insists on taking his pants off before farting, otherwise the trouble will be even greater.

At this point, it's natural to invite the head of the folk performance to try and get the two eggs to the same temperature. As for the other one, which Yun Ce is going to eat, it doesn't matter if it's a rotten egg.

One egg weighs four or five pounds, and the beaten egg liquid weighs one or two pounds. Yun Ce first threw a heart-shaped frame into the pan, then put in the oil and heated it up. Finally, he poured the egg liquid into the new frame. After one side was formed, he removed the frame, flipped it over, and fried the other side.

Yun Ce confirmed that the two fried eggs were exactly the same. One of them had been fried a little too long, so he specially put the other fried egg back in the pan.

When the two fried eggs were placed in front of the two pregnant women, Yun Ce looked at the same amount of scallions on the fried eggs and felt very satisfied, when he suddenly heard Zhang Min say something.

"Why should you fry an egg just because she says she wants one? I clearly said I wanted a boiled egg."

Looking at Zhang Min's angry eyes, Yun Ce really wanted to grab this bitch by the neck, throw her to the ground, and smash her hard. Good heavens, when did she ever say she wanted boiled eggs? He only asked her this morning and she said fried eggs.

Fortunately, Yun Ce was prepared. He took out the boiled egg that he had prepared for himself and presented it to Zhang Min like a treasure, saying, "This fried egg is mine, and you are naturally the boiled egg."

After saying that, he used his inner energy to make the boiled egg spin on his finger, and then used his finger, which was imbued with inner energy, to forcefully crack the hard eggshell. Once the eggshell was clean, he placed it in front of Zhang Min.

Yun Ce had already made up his mind: if this brat dared to say she wanted to eat eggs with shells again, he would…

Zhang Min cut open the boiled egg with a knife, scooped out a little yolk with a spoon, fed it into Yun Ce's mouth, and said with a grin, "That's right, I said I wanted to eat boiled eggs."

Last night I saw Zhang Min's frighteningly large belly; the veins on it were clearly visible. The baby inside kept kicking, causing bulges to form on her belly. Yun Ce was very worried that the baby might kick her belly open at any moment.

A woman who was quite good at martial arts needed to go to the toilet soon. Her two originally fair and delicate feet were now swollen and left a pit when pressed.

Eji was in no better shape. Last night she dreamed that her son was inside her womb, playing with his dragon claws and cutting her belly open. She cried for half the night because of this.

If Zhang Min feeds him, Eji will definitely feed him too. Yun Ce had just finished eating the egg yolk when he took a big bite of fried egg. Before he could even swallow the fried egg, he had another bite of egg white in his mouth.

Therefore, Yun Ce's breakfast consisted of a boiled egg and a fried egg. As for Zhang Min and E Ji, they eventually reconciled and shared a fried egg.

After breakfast, Yun Ce went to inspect the camp again. At this time, the camp appeared much more orderly, and the people living there looked much cleaner.

Lei Ming rode through the camp with his thirty-five younger siblings on horseback. When he saw Yun Ce coming, he stopped his horse and said, "My lord, ten more of our younger siblings have shown signs of inner energy movement."

Yun Ce smiled and nodded, saying, "I understand. I'll guide their Qi into their bodies tomorrow night. By the way, you've all grown up now, so you can go back and visit your parents."

Lei Ming laughed and said, "I looked at it and gave them some money."

Yun Ce then asked the other children, "Have you gone home yet?"

A little girl in a pink jacket said, "They want money, not people, so just give them money."

Lei Ming continued, "I wish I could grow up overnight and share the burden of my lord. I don't want to think about anything else. My lord, I will keep an eye on the younger brothers and sisters in the children's academy. If there are any more people with signs of life, I will tell you immediately. It would be good if we could build up our army as soon as possible."

Yun Ce laughed and said, "Follow Qin Shu and the others to practice martial arts. You can't use my martial arts, and I can't teach them either."

Lei Ming said, "We've been practicing very hard, but we don't have anyone to kill, so we can't cultivate the killing intent that General Qin Shu mentioned."

"Take your time, it will happen. What are you doing here?"

The girl in the pink jacket said, "Let's take a look at this group of useless people. We must remember their useless appearance and swear that we will never let ourselves fall to such a state."

(End of this chapter)