Chapter 18

If we talk about the aesthetic standards of the Han Dynasty, they are actually quite similar to those of the 21st century. The requirements for a beautiful woman mainly consist of three points: slimness, fair skin, and health. The young lady before him perfectly met these three criteria. She had a slender figure, and although her winter clothes concealed her skin, it was evident that she had no excess flesh. Her features were well-proportioned, her face and neck were fair, and her cheeks had a light blush, not the sickly pale color.

If this girl were in the 21st century, she would score eighty out of a hundred. If she were to... no, if she were to put on a swimsuit and reveal her well-proportioned limbs, she could score ten more points. Although Xun's taste in beauty was quite picky due to the natural and enhanced beauties he saw in various media in his previous life, he had indeed not seen a more beautiful woman in this life.

Actually, he hadn't seen many young girls in this life, so his standards for beauty had plummeted. In the poor village, the old woman in this body's family was a typical village girl, three levels below the standard. Later, when he entered the Shi family's courtyard, he couldn't see the concubines of Shi Yi, and since Shi Xun was not yet married, the only women he saw were some rural maids. On the streets of towns like Korea, Nanpu, and Huangxian, there were even fewer young girls, and he rarely had the chance to observe them closely. After entering the Shi family, Yue'er was considered to be in relatively good condition, but she was too young, only thirteen, and had not fully grown. As for the other women, including the other maid assigned to him by Shi Yi, even if he were to be extremely lenient, he could only give them a passing score.

Moreover, these servant girls generally only met one of the three beauty criteria, which was health. Their skin could not be fair, and their figures could not be slim—being thin is not the same as being slim. The right places should be curvy, accentuating the right places to be more slender.

Shi Yi had one wife and two concubines, and Shi Zhuo had one wife. The other brothers were not yet married, and even if they were, Shi Xun would rarely see them unless it was for New Year's greetings or sacrifices. Although the separation between men and women in the Han Dynasty was not as strict as in later times, in such a Confucian family, women mainly stayed inside and did not want to appear before unfamiliar men, even younger male relatives or uncles and cousins.

So, it was only after nearly half a month of being in the Shi family that Shi Xun had the opportunity to meet the second daughter of the Shi family. He couldn't help but think, even if she were as beautiful as a celestial being, he would have no chance. He wondered if he would ever be able to marry a wife who was almost as beautiful.

While he was still daydreaming, Shi Zhuo counted on his fingers and asked, "Hongfu, you were born in the third month of spring in the second year of Xiping, so you must be almost nineteen, right?" Shi Xun nodded—actually, this body was only seventeen.

"Um, my sister is half a year younger than you, so you should treat her with the respect due to a younger sister."

Oh, so the second daughter is already eighteen. In the 21st century, she would be a freshman at most, but in the Han Dynasty, she would be of marriageable age, especially since the age for girls to come of age and boys to undergo the capping ceremony was getting younger (theoretically, boys should undergo the capping ceremony at twenty, but Shi Xun had his ceremony at eighteen). At eighteen, she would be considered an old maid if she hadn't married yet—why hasn't she married?

Shi Xun looked at Shi Zhuo with doubt. Shi Zhuo understood what he was thinking and sighed lightly, "She was originally betrothed to someone, a young man in Luoyang. Last autumn, there was great turmoil in the capital, and he unfortunately met his end. How tragic..."

Last autumn? That was probably when Dong Zhuo entered the capital. Before that, the Ten Attendants plotted to kill He Jin, and the Yuan brothers burned down the Green Lock Gate, killing all the eunuchs. It was said that many young officials without beards were also killed. Could the second daughter's fiancé have been killed by the chaotic soldiers then? Shi Xun couldn't help but touch his chin—how terrifying the chaotic times were, and he should grow a beard as soon as possible.

Since the formalities were over, the young lady turned and walked out of the room, passing by Shi Xun. Shi Xun noticed that she was holding a bamboo scroll. Shi Zhuo followed his gaze and explained, "My sister loves reading... sigh, women should focus on needlework. What use is there in reading so much?"

Ah, she's an intellectual girl, I like that—but Shi Xun immediately wanted to slap himself. What good is liking her? They cannot marry within the same clan, let alone as cousins. Even if they had a romantic encounter, it would be impossible for them to be together... unless she wasn't her father's biological daughter... Duan Yu from Dali is truly fortunate!

Regaining his composure, he stepped forward, untied the bamboo scroll he had brought, and began to ask Shi Zhuo for guidance. However, since he couldn't speak, he had to write, and he didn't want to write too many words, making it difficult to ask his questions. Worse still, the answers were even more problematic. Shi Zhuo loved reading, but he was not very intelligent and had a poor understanding of the classics. Shi Xun felt disheartened, realizing he was seeking guidance from a blind man... who else could he ask? Shi Yu? It would be best to keep a respectful distance from that cunning person. Shi Yi? He probably didn't have the time to guide him.

Soon it was New Year's Eve, and Shi Yi and Shi Jun returned from the capital. Except for Shi Kuan, who was still studying abroad, the family had a happy reunion and welcomed the spring of the second year of Chuping.

Actually, saying they were happy was not entirely accurate. Although the Shi family and the Beihai region were still relatively stable, most of the empire was in turmoil, and the situation was getting worse day by day. Last year, the states and commanderies of Guandong united to attack Dong Zhuo, but the main force hesitated at Suanzao and eventually dispersed due to lack of supplies. Only the rear general Yuan Shu remained in Nanyang, unwilling to leave, and there were rumors that he had contacted Sun Jian, the governor of Changsha, who was moving north, planning to support Sun Jian and attack Luoyang again.

Whether it was Luoyang or Nanyang, they were a thousand miles away, but in Qingzhou, the poor harvest last autumn had led to the remnants of the Yellow Turbans gathering the people and causing trouble again. They first broke into Jinan, then moved south to Yanzhou and Taishan, and east to Xuzhou and Langya. There were rumors that they might move north to Qi. Jinan and Qi were right next to Beihai, which made the scholars and officials very anxious. It was said that hundreds of thousands of people from Qing and Xu provinces had fled to Liaodong to avoid the turmoil.

According to Shi Yi, he had recently been ordered by the governor of Beihai, Kong Rong, to recruit soldiers in the capital to prepare for the Yellow Turban invasion.

Shi Xun hung his head and thought hard—Beihai was indeed surrounded by the Yellow Turbans once, and fortunately, Taishi Ci went to Pingyuan to invite Liu Bei, the Imperial Uncle, to save the city. But which city was surrounded, and in which year did it happen? He couldn't remember. Then he thought, since Shi Yi survived this turmoil and later became a high official in Eastern Wu, he should be safe as long as he followed Shi Yi.

Should he also go to the capital with Shi Yi? It seemed difficult to find a good excuse, and it wasn't the right time...

Because of the busy recruitment, Shi Yi sent Shi Jun back home soon after the New Year. This caused chaos at home, as Shi Jun either teased the maids, went out to bully people, or gathered with his friends to drink and gamble—just like Xue Pan, the "worldly devil"! He was often scolded and even punished by his two older brothers, and sometimes locked in his room.

Of course, this didn't affect Shi Xun. On the contrary, the more chaotic the household, the more gossip there was, and he enjoyed eavesdropping. He had developed good habits: in the morning, he would go to the courtyard to jog, do squats, and push-ups, and occasionally run a few laps, then return to his room to read until breakfast. In the afternoon, he would continue reading, take a short nap on the table—daring not to have a proper nap, as it was considered the worst and laziest habit in this era. In the afternoon, he often used the excuse of seeking guidance from Shi Zhuo or practicing archery in the courtyard to wander around the house, looking for gossip, and then return to his room to read until dinner. Finally, he would read until bedtime, sometimes asking Yue'er to sneak some snacks from the kitchen for a late-night snack—two meals a day were not enough for the growing Shi Xun.

Winter gradually passed, and spring arrived with warm weather. One afternoon, Shi Xun was practicing archery in the courtyard—Taishi Ci's guidance had been very helpful, and his archery skills had improved significantly—when a figure appeared at the gate. It wasn't Shi Zhuo, but Shi Jun.

Shi Jun and Shi Xun didn't meet often, but he seemed to have a decent attitude toward his cousin, as this brother never scolded or hit him. As for Shi Xun, he always smiled at everyone, even most of the servants, as he didn't speak, and no one could hear his inner curses or sarcasm. So when he saw Shi Jun come in, he put down his bow, smiled, and nodded.

Shi Jun gave him a casual bow, looked around, and saw that Shi Xun was about thirty paces from the target, with four or five arrows already in the target and two on the ground—usually, Shi Xun only shot two arrows seriously out of ten, the rest were just for show, as he didn't want to draw too much attention.

"Seems like Seventh Brother's archery is pretty good," Shi Jun complimented casually, then had a sudden idea, "I'm planning to go on a spring outing with some friends in a few days, and we'll do some hunting. Seventh Brother, are you interested?"

Shi Xun thought, hunting is best in autumn and winter, why hunt in spring? If you want to go on a spring outing, why add hunting? But this was too complicated to express with gestures, and he didn't have a pen, and even if he did, he was too lazy to write.

So he just smiled and nodded. But to his surprise, Shi Jun took it seriously and came back a few days later, saying, "We're going on a spring outing and hunting tomorrow. I've prepared a good horse for Seventh Brother. Come and see it."

He dragged the brain-aching Shi Xun to the stable in the east courtyard, "Here, this one is gentle. Seventh Brother, get familiar with the horse. Don't fall off the horse tomorrow, hahaha~"

Shi Xun didn't look at the horse but glanced at Shi Jun. The boy's expression didn't seem malicious, nor did it seem like he was mocking or trying to embarrass him. He was just being a bit of a troublemaker. Then he looked at the horse, which was just ordinary.

Horses in this era were generally shorter than the draft horses he occasionally saw outside the sixth ring in his previous life. Although Emperor Wu of the Western Han had introduced many tall horses from the Western Regions, the so-called "blood-sweating horses," most of the good horses were used in the military, and the quality of horses used by civilians was not very good.

He walked up to the horse, touched its neck, and pressed its back, trying to look knowledgeable. But in his heart, he was thinking—don't fall off the horse tomorrow... this was indeed a life-threatening problem!