Three or Two Things about Rebirth

"This old Liang is so funny! He sits there without saying a word for the whole afternoon. People who don't know him would think he is some kind of hermit!" Aunt Ma laughed, "My girl, don't believe him. The life of men is different from that of women!

Women live harder and more tiring lives than men! You must find someone who loves you in this life! It's that simple!"

"YoYo!"

Qiu Luming had already seen the third brother following the young man. She stood up and said with a smile, "Auntie Ma, this is my brother. He came to find me and take me home. I'll talk to you next time!"

Aunt Ma obviously had a lot more to say. She looked regretful and said, "Well, I'm the only one left alone again!"

Qiu Luming went to pay the bill and said to Aunt Ma as he left, "Nice to meet you, Aunt Ma!"

"Hey, my girl, everything is fine!" Aunt Ma raised the empty green bottle to her.

After going out, Qiu Moshi looked at his sister who was a little unsteady on her feet and couldn't bear to blame her.

Qiu Luming chuckled, "I only started drinking after I called you, and I've only drunk a little over half a bottle so far, less than two taels!"

"That can't be helped by the high alcohol content! Yo yo, you can't drink outside from now on, remember?"

"Remember, remember."

He was in a bad mood and drank too much. Qiu Luming walked back to Qiu Moshi's house, without washing his face, and fell asleep.

The next day, just as Qiu Moshi went to work, Zhang Weijing came and said that he wanted to take Qiu Luming to visit Ditan Park and see the ginkgo trees.

Qiu Luming then remembered that Zhang Weijing lived in the same unit as her third brother. She declined, saying, "I've seen Ginkgo four years ago. I won't go."

"Then let's go to the Forbidden City."

“I’ve also been to the Forbidden City.”

"You can go a second time if you've been there before. Who says you can only go once to a place? It's such a big place, how can you explore it thoroughly in one go? Let's go! Your third brother is busy today, I'll accompany you!" Without further ado, Zhang Weijing pulled Qiu Luming out.

Zhang Weijing drove Qiu Luming around the newly repaired Third Ring Road, then drove to Qianmen, found a place to park the car, and the two of them strolled to the square. Qiu Luming had been on the city wall before, so the two of them crossed the Jinshui Bridge, passed through the archway, and entered the Forbidden City directly from the Meridian Gate.

There are not many tourists, just a few scattered around.

The two walked very slowly, without any purpose, and stopped to look around wherever they went. Zhang Weijing gave random explanations.

The two men stepped over the high thresholds of the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Central Harmony, and the Hall of Preserving Harmony and entered the halls for a tour.

Stepping on the gold bricks on the ground, Qiu Luming stood in front of the fence and looked closely at the golden throne, while Zhang Weijing took pictures everywhere with his camera.

After leaving the three main halls, Zhang Weijing couldn't help but have an old problem again, "Yo yo, I think I know why Emperor Tianqi Zhu Youxiao is called the Carpenter Emperor."

"why."

"Tianqi was born in the 1605rd year of Emperor Wanli's reign, which was 1597 AD. He was the grandson of Emperor Wanli. According to historical records, the three main halls were burned down in a fire in 1615. Reconstruction began in , and the entire southern half of the Forbidden City became a large construction site. It was natural for the ten-year-old Zhu Youxiao to fall in love with carpentry work when he was wandering around the construction site all day. It's normal for boys to like playing with building blocks, isn't it?"

"You make sense." Qiu Luming really believed it. "It's normal for an emperor to have hobbies. Those who can be carpenters are all smart people."

After visiting the three main halls, Qiu Luming was already tired and thirsty, as she had walked all the way from the front gate. When she reached a bench for tourists to rest, she could not walk any more and sat on it, refusing to move. Zhang Weijing asked her to wait while he ran to buy some water.

Qiu Luming yawned and looked up at the sky. Today's weather was better than yesterday, at least there was no sandstorm. She wiped the chair with a handkerchief, curled up her legs, and lay on the bench with her arms as a pillow. The autumn breeze blew gently, and she slowly closed her eyes.

I didn't sleep well, I could still hear the tourists talking and the wind. I had one dream after another, but when I woke up, I found that I couldn't remember any of the dreams, I just felt a faint heartache.

When she moved, she found that she was covered with Zhang Weijing's windbreaker, and he was sitting at her feet, looking at her.

Qiu Luming said and sat up, "You're back!"

"You're back early!" Zhang Weijing unscrewed a plastic bottle of mineral water and handed it to her. "Auntie, you're really amazing. You came to the emperor's house to take a nap and slept for more than an hour!"

Qiu Luming gulped down a few mouthfuls, "Ah? I slept for such a long time! Why didn't you wake me up earlier!"

"Forget it, you're tired too. You need to get enough sleep before you can continue. I don't want to carry you out! Here, eat some more bread to fill your stomach. I'll treat you to roast duck when we get out. Eat quickly. We'll be off work soon."

The two of them finished their bread with mineral water and continued shopping.

Although the sleep quality was not good, it relieved Qiu Luming's fatigue and his energy returned. The two continued to chat while walking.

Zhang Weijing asked, "Yoyo, you know that the Forbidden City was the imperial palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties, then do you know how much the palace costs a year?"

Qiu Luming shook his head, "I don't know. However, even the history books are not objective enough, so how can these financial records be accurate? Take the Ming History compiled by the Qing Dynasty, for example. Can you trust it completely? Can the portrait of Zhu Yuanzhang be trusted?"

"Hey, it's so nice to chat with you!" Zhang Weijing gave a thumbs up, "We really have something in common!"

"hehe."

"The Qing Dynasty has always been known for its extravagance. In fact, the Qing Dynasty was the real extravagance. The Imperial Household Department managed countless royal estates and customs offices inside and outside the Great Wall. There were royal hunting grounds and breeding farms everywhere. Longan from Fujian, Longjing tea from Zhejiang, and flying dragon and sturgeon from Heilongjiang were all special luxury goods. Even mushrooms were luxury goods at that time! The Jiangning Weaving Factory alone was extremely wealthy. Just imagine how much money the Imperial Household Department handled in a year!"

"Yes, and there are several gardens, which also cost a lot of money."

"Well, the treasures that were later stolen supported many museums in Japan."

"Yes, when Puyi was driven out of the Forbidden City, he also took away countless treasures."

"Yes, the treasures accumulated for thousands of years are really a disaster."

The two chatted with equal enthusiasm, as if they had entered the Forbidden City just to find material for conversation. Before they knew it, they had walked out of the Shenwu Gate and entered Jingshan Park.