Qin Dynasty: Who offended my frail and sickly minister?

Five days?!

Li Si suddenly stood up straight, his face, which had just looked utterly lifeless, instantly filled with shock, as if someone had poured a bucket of ice water over his head.

"So fast? I...I...I..."

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Zhou Wenqing glanced at him sideways and slowly swung his leg.

"I heard that you finally prepared the offerings from the Court of Justice to His Majesty yesterday?"

"If that's the case, what's there to worry about?"

If you were to ask Li Si why he felt time flew by and was never enough, besides his daily battles of wits with the group of physicians, there was an even more important reason—

He devoted almost all his attention to this "great gift".

A "grand gift" destined to be recorded in history.

The story begins more than a month ago.

In those days, things were gradually progressing in the Bureau of Hundreds of Items, the Bureau of Crafts, and the Academy. Even the identities of the envoys from the six countries were verified one by one. Li Si took a break from his busy schedule and sat in Zhou Wenqing's study drinking tea. Suddenly, he sighed.

"Brother Zicheng, you said that at the birthday banquet, all directions will offer their tributes. What should our Court of Justice offer?"

Zhou Wenqing glanced at him in surprise: "What's wrong? Not enough alcohol and candles?"

"Those are all your things, Brother Zicheng," Li Si waved his hand.

"Although I am not talented, I do not wish to rely entirely on the glory of others. At His Majesty's birthday banquet, various prefectures and departments will present gifts. The Court of Justice cannot go up empty-handed and say, 'Our Office of Rites and Grain Administration has already presented them,' can it?"

Zhou Wenqing hadn't thought about this at all.

However... given Li Si's personality, it's understandable that he wouldn't want to rely entirely on the achievements of others.

But if we were to say what the most suitable gift Li Si could offer to the King, or even the Qin Dynasty, at this moment would be—

He actually only knew one.

However... whether it will be in time or not depends on Brother Gu'an himself.

Zhou Wenqing slowly poured himself a cup of tea, then looked up, his gaze falling on Li Si's face:

"Brother Gu'an, I have an idea."

"What idea?"

"Word."

Li Si was taken aback.

Zhou Wenqing put down the teapot and tapped his finger lightly on the table:

"Today, the writing systems of the world vary from country to country. The same character is written differently, and the same meaning is expressed in different forms. If the Great Qin wants to unify the world, it must first unify the writing system. But the current writing system is chaotic and extremely complicated. As the Minister of Justice, you are in charge of all criminal matters in the world. If you can come up with a standardized and simplified writing system, you can lay a solid foundation for the future..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but just looked at Li Si meaningfully.

Li Si's heart skipped a beat.

Unified writing system...

He had actually thought about this.

He had thought about it many times in private, not just "thought about it".

He wasn't the only one; which scholar in the world hadn't been troubled by the different scripts of the six states? Those intricate strokes, those varied writing styles—every time he perused documents from different countries, he couldn't help but think: if only they could be simplified, if only they could be unified…

He even tried it himself secretly.

In the stillness of the night, he would spread out bamboo slips on his desk, disassemble the common characters one by one, ponder which strokes could be omitted and which structures could be modified. He would write and underline, underline and write again. The accumulated bamboo slips, along with the subsequent draft paper, were as tall as half a person.

I've never mentioned it to anyone.

At that moment, Zhou Wenqing's words brought out all the thoughts that had been hidden in his heart.

"Brother Zicheng means..." His voice was somewhat unsteady.

"What I mean is..." Zhou Wenqing picked up his teacup, took a sip, and said, "Brother Gu'an, you already have the foundation, why go to such lengths? Compiling that set of things would be the best birthday gift."

Li Si remained silent.

Brother Zicheng… it’s like an echo from the depths of his heart. How did he know?!

No matter what, if it can really be realized, it will definitely be the most meaningful gift—it can even surpass Brother Zicheng's ingenious items!

When written language is established, classic texts are transmitted; when classic texts are transmitted, the Way of Kings flourishes.

If he could truly establish a standard for all writing systems in the world...

The name "Li Si" will be forever etched in history.

then……

And that was the end of it.

Having gone to such lengths, Li Si was determined to simplify and unify the written language, even if it cost him his life!

In the days that followed, he went into a frenzy, digging out all the materials he had accumulated over the years, re-examining, organizing, and perfecting them.

In a sense, the brilliant yet vicious treatment plans of the Xia family physicians, although they tormented Li Si to the point of near death, were indeed effective, proving that their medical ethics were still intact.

The medicinal smoke that made Li Si unable to open his eyes, the herbal medicine that made him nauseous, and the silver needles that made him grimace, seemed to have added an extra layer of insurance to his wildly running machine.

Otherwise, given Li Si's physical exhaustion over the past month, he would probably be bedridden by now.

"So..." Zhou Wenqing pulled up a chair and sat down, then asked, "You should have finished organizing that set of things last night, right?"

Li Si slightly raised his chin, his eyebrows and eyes revealing a hint of barely suppressed pride.

He didn't speak, but simply reached out, picked up a neatly bound book from the table, and gently pushed it in front of Zhou Wenqing.

On the cover, three neat Qin seal characters are prominently displayed – "Cangjie Pian" (The Cangjie Chronicle).

Zhou Wenqing took the book and flipped through a few pages.

The strokes are concise and the structure is square, which is indeed much more concise than the literacy book he compiled before. What is even more remarkable is that the standard way of writing each character is marked, making it easy to understand at a glance.

In just one month, a pile of scattered drafts was transformed into a complete plan, complete with a literacy textbook.

Zhou Wenqing raised an eyebrow. Well…

It was both unexpected and not unexpected.

Surprisingly, they were able to produce something so complete in such a short time; unsurprisingly—

He raised his head, looked at Li Si, and smiled:

"This efficiency is truly impressive, Brother Gu'an!"

No one else needed to participate; this was a brilliance unique to Li Si, and he knew he could do it.

Li Si did not refute at all, but narrowed his eyes slightly and accepted the praise calmly.

"Time is limited, so this already covers most commonly used characters," he explained, tapping lightly on the page with his finger. "Compared to Brother Zicheng's literacy book, it covers fewer characters, but..."

He paused, a glint of light flashing in his eyes:

"Give me some more time to simplify the text and unify the variant characters. Then, Brother Zicheng's literacy book can be replaced and updated."

"When the time comes, the two will be combined. With my simplified new characters and Brother Zicheng's catchy articles, they will complement each other. This simplified Qin script will surely gradually penetrate the people and become the preferred script for scholars all over the world."

As Li Si spoke with great enthusiasm, his eyes lit up, as if he could already see the grand occasion of that day.

Zhou Wenqing couldn't help but laugh when she saw his expression, which seemed to indicate that he had already started planning the next step.

Well, this guy is about to start rolling again.

But it came at just the right time.

The reason he's been holding back all this time, preventing Jiming and Jiqing from formally starting their literacy education, is precisely because of this.

Those old-style texts are complicated and difficult to learn. If children start with those, they will have to revise them later, which is a waste of effort. It is better to wait for Li Si's system to be finalized and get to it directly in one step.

Just ...

Zhou Wenqing suddenly remembered Azhu's earnest little face as he wrote, and sighed silently in his heart.

I feel a little bad for Ah Zhu.

I have to start learning from scratch again.

He was silently apologizing in his heart, and his expression became more serious, as if he could already see Ah Zhu holding the old character book and looking blankly at the new character list.

Li Si, speaking passionately and spittle flying from his lips, was about to say, "At that time, all scholars in the world will take the text established by the two of us as their standard," when he caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye—

Good heavens, this guy's eyes are wandering, unfocused, and there's a strange smile on his lips; he's clearly lost in thought.

Li Si's voice abruptly stopped.

He stared at Zhou Wenqing speechlessly, his jaw clenched tightly.

Was what he said really that boring? He's spacing out again! I'm so angry, I'm going to teach him a lesson this time... No, Zicheng is really fragile.

Never mind, we'll talk about it later.

"Zicheng, snap out of it!"

"Huh?!" Zhou Wenqing snapped back to reality. "What did you just say?"

Li Si took a deep breath, deciding to temporarily set aside the matter of his distraction, and instead asked the question that had been nagging at her for a long time: "I mean, what I really wanted to ask was, how did you know I was prepared yesterday?"

"Good question."

Zhou Wenqing's gaze fell on Li Si's face with a hint of resentment and accusation.

"I think if someone suddenly bursts into laughter in the middle of the night, and we rule out the possibility that he's insane, then the reason is quite obvious."

God knows he was sleeping soundly last night when he was suddenly awakened by a burst of maniacal laughter. He huddled in bed, trembling, clutching his blanket, frantically struggling between materialism and idealism, and almost gave in to idealism.

The more they listened to the laughter, the more familiar it sounded; it was clearly Li Si.

Zhou Wenqing gritted his teeth and said, "Do you know how much effort it took for me to control myself from beating you up?"

Li Si: "..."

So... he was so excited last night that he couldn't help but burst into laughter?

------

Outside Xianyang City, there are ten miles of inns and post stations.

Inside the simple earthen-walled courtyard, a few half-dead, crooked trees cast desolate shadows in the twilight.

Yan Yuan stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the eaves of Xianyang Palace in the distance.

That dazzling golden light stung his eyes in the afterglow of the setting sun.

His brother, his dearest brother, died there.

He died by Qin arrows, and he died with the tacit approval of Ying Zheng.

What about stealing pictures and fleeing, what about resisting arrest and being killed? He could fool the whole world, but he couldn't fool Yan Dan's own brother!

But what could he do?

This trip with the Yan envoy to Xianyang was merely to give an explanation to others; they would eventually return to Jicheng with the official letter and report to their father, the King, that "everything went smoothly."

As for myself, I will stay here.

To become a new proton.

He will take his brother's place and continue to eke out a living in this city of tigers and wolves.

A flash of resentment crossed Yan Yuan's eyes, quickly replaced by a blank expression.

He turned around and walked into the house, stepping on the withered grass.