Wei Yu talked and talked, until his mouth was practically dry—but his dad still didn’t say a single word!
That look in the old man’s eyes? It had a definite “I’m just watching your performance in silence” vibe.
So Wei Yu stopped putting on a show.
He shut his mouth, even mimed zipping it shut, then offered up both hands fawningly, signaling for His Majesty to speak.
Emperor Wei gave a muffled snort, glancing at him sideways. “Go on then—why’d you stop?”
Wei Yu gave a sheepish grin.
[What’s there to say, Dad~]
He didn’t say anything aloud, but he couldn’t stop his brain from chattering.
What was supposed to be a serious “interrogation” had, thanks to Wei Yu’s antics, completely lost all its intensity. The Emperor couldn’t even stay mad now.
After all, he was the youngest son. Out of nine Princes, the Emperor had never experienced this kind of warm, spoiled affection from a child before.
He thought for a moment and didn’t immediately ask about the boy’s suspicious anomalies. Instead, in a deep voice, he asked, “Earlier in the audience hall, you said that if you had a kiln, you wouldn’t just be able to make… glass? You also mentioned something else—some kind of iron?”
Under the old man’s intense gaze, Wei Yu quickly dropped his grin and corrected him. “Steel—uh, which is also iron, technically. But it’s way more efficient and durable than the iron we’re currently using in Great Wei.”
Wei Yu’s honesty pleased the Emperor, but he still had questions.
“What is steel? And how is it different from the iron weapons used in the military?”
Since his dad was now asking in earnest, Wei Yu wasn’t about to hold back!
Honesty earns leniency, resistance brings severity.
Such a profound and meaningful phrase.
Listen to the police uncles—can’t go wrong!
So Wei Yu earnestly gave his dad a full crash course on the history of iron. ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ novel✦fire.net
“Dad, hear me out—so back in the day, before Great Wei, there were the Jin, Qi, and Zhou kingdoms, right? Iron already existed around that time. It’s said that in the Zhou kingdom, a meteorite fell from the sky, and they forged a meteorite blade from it. That meteorite was a natural iron alloy—it contained iron, nickel, cobalt, and other metals with a high iron content…”
The Emperor’s brows began to slowly furrow.
“The material of iron tools is a combination of iron, certain impurities, and carbon. The iron-to-carbon ratio affects the final product. Smelting iron uses carbon’s reducing ability to transform iron oxide into metallic iron. The Qi kingdom used cast iron, which had very low carbon content…”
The Emperor’s brows furrowed even tighter.
“Then in the Jin kingdom, a new technique emerged—they added graphite to increase the carbon content. When cast iron is repeatedly smelted and forged, it becomes wrought iron—‘tempered steel’…”
Wei Yu’s lecture was finally cut off by his dad.
The Emperor had just been bombarded with iron, carbon, steel, and a whole bunch of words he didn’t understand—his head was pounding!
He took a moment to gather his thoughts and asked, “So you’re saying the Jin kingdom already had steel, which is also iron. So Great Wei should already be using this steel too.”
He looked at Wei Yu. “Just tell me directly—what’s different about the steel you’re making compared to what we have now?”
Wei Yu shot him an approving look.
[Thought he wouldn’t get it—looks like the old man still has brains and an online IQ.]
Wei Yu chuckled awkwardly, rubbed his nose, and muttered, “Force of habit.”
The Emperor looked at him expressionlessly. “Continue.”
Since he wasn’t getting scolded, he might as well keep going.
Wei Yu straightened up and said seriously, “It’s really just a new forging method. This method shortens smelting time, increases productivity, and is simple and easy to learn. The steel produced with it is way more durable than the stuff we’re using now!”
That explanation was a lot more straightforward.
The Emperor understood.
Feeling pleased, he asked Wei Yu how he knew about this kind of technique.
Wei Yu hesitated. Kneeling on the floor, he snuck a glance at his dad, then another glance—totally unsure how to answer.
But since this brat had just been honest and gifted Great Wei such a valuable forging technique, the Emperor looked at him a little more gently and snorted, “It’s from that thing of yours, right? The one you call a flat board?”
He looked up and flashed the Emperor a “6” hand sign.
“What does that mean?”
Wei Yu grinned. “Means I’m praising your wisdom.”
The Emperor gave him a suspicious look, not fully convinced—but luckily, he didn’t hear any sarcastic undertones in Wei Yu’s thoughts.
Since his dad already knew about the tablet, Wei Yu figured—why bother hiding it now? Might as well just let it all go.
After all, he couldn’t lie about it anyway.
“Yeah, it’s the tablet,” Wei Yu sighed, shifting his knees on the floor to find a more comfortable position.
“Dad, you might not believe this when you hear it, but your son is actually a heaven-sent prodigy. Maybe even the heavenly purple star sent down just for Great Wei…”
What nonsense was he spouting now??
Wei Yu’s eyes drooped. His face was expressionless, but somehow his whole demeanor radiated a kind of defeated-yet-delusionally-confident aura.
It made the Emperor’s brows shoot up.
“Me, your son—I was born knowing things. It’s like I had a past life, and I haven’t forgotten any of it. In that life, I lived in a wondrous era, in a beautiful country called Huaxia…”
The Emperor had looked rather skeptical at first, but as Wei Yu slowly went on, his expression shifted—shock, suspicion, hesitation, confusion, disbelief—all flashing across his face.
Could what Wei Yu was describing really be the world of the future?!
“I learned a lot in Huaxia. I’ve forgotten most of it, but there are twenty-four words I’ve always remembered.”
Not really knowing where he was going with this, Wei Yu spoke whatever came to mind. He didn’t even know how much he’d already said. After a long breath, he looked up at his father, eyes full of hope and sincerity.
“Dad, do you want to know what those twenty-four words are?”
The Emperor, whose soul had been rattled by Wei Yu’s visions of the future, finally came back to his senses.
He looked at Wei Yu, silent for a long moment, then nodded with a hoarse voice.
Wei Yu’s legs were completely numb, but he grit his teeth and sat up straight, kneeling properly before the Emperor, gaze unwavering.
One word at a time, he spoke clearly and firmly:
“Prosperity, democracy, civility, harmony; freedom, equality, justice, rule of law; patriotism, dedication, integrity, kindness.”
“These twenty-four words are the core values of Huaxia society—and they’re everything your son has held onto all these years!”
[I know I won’t see everything I want to in this era, but I still want to hold fast to what I believe in.]
I have seen the light—how could I ever endure the darkness again?