ushernet Chapter 39: The world has changed, but people remain unchanged
Chapter 39: The world has changed, but people remain unchanged
Chapter 39: The world has changed, but people remain unchanged
Xu Qing admired Jiang He for one particular quality: whenever she encountered something unfamiliar or unheard of, her reaction was, "Oh, so that’s a thing." She would then either believe it outright or remain skeptical enough to verify or ponder it on her own.
She wasn’t the type to scream, “Fake! Never heard of it in my life!” at the sight of the unknown.@@@@
Ignorance wasn’t scary; being smart enough to recognize one’s limits was key. Jiang He wasn’t foolish enough to think her small world was the entire universe. That saved Xu Qing 80% of his potential headaches.
“Is it normal here to... do such... indecent things in public?” Jiang He whispered to Xu Qing as they passed a park and noticed a couple kissing on a bench.
“No, that is indeed indecent.” Xu “Single Dog” Qing replied with righteous indignation.
“Oh, I thought...” Jiang He trailed off, shifting her gaze away. Watching others kiss wasn’t of any interest to her.
Full bellies lead to indulgence, she thought. In every sense, this was truly a prosperous age.
“Isn’t your time supposed to be really open-minded?” Xu Qing asked, puzzled.
He had taken time to learn about Jiang He’s era during his downtime and had heard that it was incredibly indulgent, with a thriving culture of hedonism, wine, and romance.
“Open-minded?” Jiang He raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah, you know, like Li Shimin... Are you uncomfortable talking about them?”
Seeing her shake her head, Xu Qing continued, “Li Shimin married his sister-in-law, Wu Zhao served both father and son as empress, and then there’s that princess and the monk Bian Ji... There’s a lot of romantic poetry too. I even heard some stories about exchanging concubines.”
As he spoke animatedly, gesturing to emphasize his points, Xu Qing grew increasingly curious about the differences between reality and history. If Jiang He’s version diverged completely, that would mean the historical records were wildly inaccurate, which would be quite the revelation for his historian father.
“I’ve heard of those things too,” Jiang He said.
“And then?”
“And then what?”
“...”
Xu Qing felt something was off. “So, with such an open-minded society, how is it that you’re unfamiliar with what we just saw?”
He gestured toward the direction of the kissing couple.
“What do the affairs of emperors and officials have to do with me?” Jiang He asked, confused. “The emperor doesn’t invite me to observe his intimacy, nor would anyone engage in such acts with the empress on the streets.”
“... Got it.”
Xu Qing realized the issue.
Historical records often documented the escapades of prominent officials, emperors, and literary scholars. Even the so-called “openness” was exemplified by accounts of 20-odd princesses remarrying.
For the upper class, such behavior represented societal norms. But assuming this applied to the entire society was like claiming modern decadence was universal, based solely on urban nightlife.
Most of the artifacts unearthed—like the so-called "intimate" clothing—came from tombs of wealthy individuals who intended to take their indulgent lifestyle into the afterlife. As for someone like Jiang He...
“Uh... Are you done?” Xu Qing quickly retreated, embarrassed by how it might have looked.
“Yes.”
“That was fast... Alright, blow out the candles.”
Xu Qing casually stood by the doorway. As soon as Jiang He extinguished the candles, he turned the lights back on, filling the room with brightness once more.
“This is a strange ritual,” Jiang He remarked, staring at the now-smoking candles.
“It’s a foreign tradition. You’ll get used to it. We’re even supposed to sing a song.”
Xu Qing hesitated, then skipped that step. “Singing is too awkward. Let’s move on to cutting the cake. Here, take this.”
He handed her a plastic knife. Jiang He glanced at the cake, hesitating slightly before asking, “Can you... use the phone?”
“Phone?” Xu Qing paused, then realized what she meant. “You want a picture? Give me your phone.”
After snapping a photo of the cake, Jiang He carefully sliced into it, cutting out a piece with a delicate frosting flower and handing it to Xu Qing.
“This is for you.”
“Alright, just this piece for me. The rest is yours—go ahead and dig in.”
Xu Qing accepted the slice but didn’t eat it immediately. He wasn’t a fan of the sweetness of cream. Jiang He, on the other hand, methodically cut a piece for herself. As the aroma of the cream wafted up, she hesitated, almost reluctant to eat it.
“Why aren’t you eating?” Xu Qing asked, retrieving two cans of cola from the fridge and passing one to her. “Happy birthday.”
“Thank you.” Jiang He took a cautious bite of the cake, savoring it. It was as delicious as yesterday’s.
“Too sweet?”
“No, it’s perfect.” She smiled contentedly.
Her expression reminded Xu Qing of his first taste of cream as a child. Back then, he had also found it heavenly.
At some point, he had grown tired of it. Maybe he had eaten too much, or maybe other delicacies had overshadowed it.
But those moments of happiness remained, tucked away in a corner of his heart—pure, unadulterated joy.
“Here’s to serendipity,” Xu Qing said, raising his cola as if it were wine.
Jiang He nodded, taking a sip of her drink and letting the bubbles tingle her tongue.
“To serendipity.”
In the bright light of the living room, Xu Qing and Jiang He sat across from each other, with the cake between them.
Here’s to this encounter across millennia.
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