The next morning.
In the space farm, sunlight fell evenly across every inch of newly turned soil.
Eighteen officials sat around a long table, each with dark eye circles, staring blankly at the breakfast in front of them.
Porridge, pancakes, and marinated eggs.
Feng Zexuan, her brother, and the Liu siblings shared a table.
She bit into a pancake, her gaze sweeping across everyone’s faces.
Lin Zhengyan was holding his chopsticks, muttering to himself:
“Sea horse… divine beast…”
Chu Heng was head-down, mechanically stirring his porridge, eyes hollow.
Only Cheng Ying was full of energy—he had already finished his third pancake and was reaching for a fourth with unabashed enthusiasm.
Feng Zexuan took in this group of “ripe leeks ready for harvesting.”
【System, just forcing them to work isn’t enough. Their thinking has to keep up too! We need to arrange a curriculum for them.】
【Two months. We must completely transform these old ministers!】
The system immediately responded:
【Host, how do you plan to arrange it?】
Feng Zexuan counted on her fingers:
【Half an hour of morning labor to stretch their bodies, then breakfast.】
【After eating, two hours of land reclamation work to strengthen their physique.】
【Sleep for two hours. The remaining eighteen hours—all for classes!】
【Nine-year compulsory education—no subject left behind!】
The system got excited:
【What subjects will you teach?】
Feng Zexuan thought for a moment:
【First, biology must be included!】
【They need to understand that the sex of a child is determined by the man’s ‘Y chromosome,’ not something to keep blaming women for every day!】
Lin Zhengyan, who had been gulping porridge, suddenly twitched an eyelid.
Though he had no idea what a “chromosome” was, his instinct told him the status of Great Xia men in families was about to undergo a dramatic shift.
Feng Zekai nodded slightly. His sister’s approach truly struck at the root of the problem.
Feng Zexuan continued:
【We also need geography.】
【They must understand that the ground beneath their feet is a sphere, not a flat pancake of “round heaven and square earth.”】
【There is always a higher sky above the sky, and the universe is infinite. They shouldn’t just focus on petty court struggles.】
【They must learn awe—respect for nature, life, and all things!】
【Only then can their perspective truly open up.】
Chu Heng nearly spilled his porridge onto his face.
A sphere?
We are standing on a ball?
Then why haven’t we fallen off?
He suddenly looked up at the sky, as if searching for an answer within the vast blue.
A Hanlin compiler nearby couldn’t help whispering:
“If it’s a ball… wouldn’t people on the other side of Great Xia be walking upside down?”
“Would they fall off?” another added nervously.
The officials exchanged glances, all seeing disbelief and confusion in each other’s eyes.
If the world were truly a sphere, wouldn’t the Great Xia realm be in constant danger of overturning?
Feng Zexuan grew more excited:
【Hehe, and there’s math, physics, chemistry…】
【Oh right, we also need physical education!】
【One hour every afternoon—broadcast gymnastics using videos!】
The system suddenly reminded:
【Host, what about Chinese language? They’re all well-read scholars already, do they still need it?】
Feng Zexuan waved her hand:
【Of course they do! Modern Chinese is different!】
【And they must learn simplified characters!】
【Think about it—writing memorials with traditional characters takes forever, like drawing talismans. Efficiency is terrible!】
【In urgent military situations, by the time you finish writing a complicated character, it’s already too late!】
【Simplified characters will greatly improve writing efficiency!】
【And they can help with mass literacy campaigns. These ministers will become top-down promoters!】
【When literacy rises, the nation becomes stronger!】
The system suddenly realized:
【Simplified characters really are good!】
【Host, this is like ‘using the barbarians to control the barbarians’… no, ‘forcing learning upon the unwilling’!】
The officials below listened in confusion.
“Simplified characters”… what kind of divine script was that?
Lin Zhengyan, as the leader of civil officials, felt a natural curiosity toward writing.
What exactly were simplified characters?
Could they really be something even the Northern Duke praised so highly?
【That’s settled then!】
【Language, math, foreign language, physics, chemistry, biology, history, geography, politics—nine main subjects!】
【Plus PE, music, and art!】
【Twelve subjects—full-spectrum transformation!】
The system hesitated:
【Host… isn’t this workload a bit too much?】
Feng Zexuan chuckled:
【What’s there to fear? We have energy pills and deep-sleep pills!】
【They only need two hours of sleep a day. The rest is all study time!】
【After two months, they’ll all be fully developed in morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics, and labor skills!】
【By then, Great Xia’s court will be overflowing with talent, crushing neighboring countries!】
The system excitedly said:
【Then I’ll prepare textbooks, desks, and stationery right away!】
【Oh, and we need to print the timetable!】
Feng Zexuan nodded:
【Go ahead!】
【Make the timetable pretty—color printing if possible!】
【Let them know at first glance that we’re serious!】
Lin Zhengyan stared blankly at his porridge bowl.
The more he thought, the more he felt the Northern Duke was unfathomable.
To be able to produce such miraculous things—this must all be to make them wiser and more capable ministers.
Thinking of this, gratitude rose in his heart.
So young, yet possessing such vision and ambition.
Truly a blessing for Great Xia.
Chu Heng was also deep in thought.
His essay from last night had been written with great care.
Though many terms were still unclear, he tried his best to interpret them.
Now recalling it, those images and knowledge were indeed shocking.
Thinking of the submitted reflection paper, he suddenly felt nervous—what would the Northern Duke think?
Feng Zekai quietly drank his porridge, a faint smile on his lips.
Listening to his sister’s thoughts, he felt genuine admiration.
This move… was truly brilliant.
Not only strengthening their bodies, but also expanding their knowledge and worldview.
If successful, the entire Great Xia court would be reborn.
At that moment—
“Whoosh—”
A strange sound echoed in the sky.
Everyone looked up.
Eighteen brand-new desks and chairs suddenly appeared in mid-air, arranged neatly in three rows.
Each desk had a thick stack of books, a black pen, and several notebooks.
On the covers were colorful titles:
“Chinese,” “Mathematics,” “Chemistry,” “Physics”…
Even more outrageous—each cover had cartoon illustrations.
A bespectacled owl on “Chinese.”
A panda holding an abacus on “Mathematics.”
A white rabbit in a lab coat on “Chemistry.”
A monkey riding a rocket on “Physics.”
…
The officials’ eyes widened.
“What… what are these things?”
“Books? But this paper… why is it so smooth and white?”
“And this pen… it’s not a brush?”
“These drawings… what kind of divine beasts are these?”
Lin Zhengyan tremblingly picked up a Chinese textbook.
The pages were thin as cicada wings yet incredibly strong.
Neat printed text filled every page, as if written by the same person.
He opened to the first page:
“Pinyin…”
“a, o, e…”
His brows furrowed.
He had never seen these symbols before.
But they… seemed to be used for pronunciation?
He flipped further, then froze.
“Learn,” “joy,” “book.”
The strokes were few—he frowned in confusion. What characters were these?
After deducing from context, his eyes suddenly widened.
They were indeed “learn,” “joy,” and “book”!
He held the book tightly, fingers tracing the simplified characters repeatedly, eyes filled with shock.
“Th-this… how can characters be simplified to this extent?”
Then he recognized more and more “missing-limbed” characters.
His worldview was being violently shaken.
So this… was the “simplified characters” the Northern Duke spoke of.
Discussion
Comments
0 comments so far.
Sign in to join the conversation and keep your activity tied to this account.
No comments yet. Start the conversation.