You are already twenty-six. Have you taken a wife?

Li Nian was about to continue speaking when the First Emperor raised a hand and said, "Let us dine first!"

It was only then that Li Nian noticed the light within the grand hall had dimmed; clearly, the sun outside was setting, and it might well have been past the usual afternoon dining hour. He immediately responded, "As Your Majesty commands!"

This was his first time sharing a meal with the First Emperor, and he was quite curious about what the ruler ate. Although it was likely similar to the fare served to him at the Six Heroes Palace, he had never witnessed it with his own eyes.

Attendants and court ladies carefully entered bearing trays, placing the food upon the tables before the First Emperor and Li Nian.

Strictly speaking, etiquette dictated sitting on one's heels before a low table to eat, but the First Emperor clearly found sitting on a chair much more comfortable.

Normal people naturally favored greater comfort and convenience, whether they were ancients or moderns. Those freaks over on the island nation were a different story altogether, perpetually obsessed with bizarre and ghastly antics.

Li Nian wore a peculiar expression for a moment, but he said nothing and turned his gaze to the food before him.

A plate of roasted venison, a piece of boiled mutton, a bowl of fish soup, a bowl of wild rice, and two dishes of boiled vegetables—it was much the same as what he ate on ordinary days.

Compared to a certain old dowager who demanded over a hundred dishes for a single meal, this was infinitely more thrifty; she thoroughly deserved to have her grave dug up.

Thinking of that old dowager, Li Nian could not help recalling a news report he had seen before his transdimensional journey.

It was said that at a certain music show, a Chinese singer was outperformed by a foreign counterpart, leaving only one Chinese singer remaining on the chart. Certain shameless media outlets hailed this as "the destiny of the Yehe Nara clan," "an inescapable, untieable knot of fate," and "a fifty-year-old dowager guarding the gates of the realm"...

They had audaciously cast that singer as a Chinese hero, a warrior in her fifties still fending off outsiders for the sake of the Chinese music scene.

When Li Nian had come across such claims while scrolling through short videos, he had nearly laughed his head off. The Yehe Nara clan guarding the gates of the realm—were they serious?

Yet, after the laughter faded, Li Nian had felt a wave of anger and sorrow. How much time had passed, yet some people had already forgotten history, forgotten those past humiliations.

Anyone with even the slightest understanding of the Yehe Nara clan would never utter such words. To say nothing of else, that late Qing dynasty empress dowager who had brought disaster upon China hailed precisely from the Yehe Nara clan.

Seeing Li Nian staring fixedly at the food without eating, the First Emperor asked, "Is it not to your liking?"

Li Nian replied, "Your臣 was merely recalling matters of later generations! Great King, the harm inflicted by the nomadic tribes goes far beyond the plundering and slaughtering of our Chinese people. If they were to ever conquer the Central Plains, the peril would be even greater."

"For they will never view themselves as part of China, but will instead regard the Chinese people as household slaves and the Central Plains as merely a conquered territory."

"Therefore, they will not cherish this land, nor will they care whether the common people live or die, nor whether China is surpassed by others. As long as they can secure their power and wealth, they would not feel a twinge of pain even if they carved up and ceded Chinese territory to outsiders."

Seeing Li Nian filled with indignation, Ying Zheng knew that such events must have occurred in future history, leaving behind deeply painful lessons.

Ying Zheng stated, "I dare not speak of what the distant future holds, but while I draw breath, the nomads shall never set foot upon the Central Plains as rulers. Rest assured,卿!"

"Thank you, Great King!"

Having expressed his gratitude to the First Emperor, Li Nian took the initiative to plead guilty: "This minister is at fault; I should not have spoken of such things and ruined Your Majesty's mood."

Ying Zheng replied indifferently, "Your heart is bound to China, and you sought to awaken me. This demonstrates your absolute loyalty to the realm—what crime is there in that? Eat!"

As they sat and ate, before Li Nian had consumed much, the First Emperor's voice sounded once more: "How do the people of later generations dine, and what do they eat?"

Li Nian answered, "The ingredients of later generations are immensely diverse: winged creatures of the sky, beasts of the field, swimming fish of the sea, along with all manner of vegetables and fruits. Moreover, the varying methods of culinary preparation make the resulting dishes exceedingly numerous. To borrow a phrase from a later comedic art form: steamed lamb, steamed bear's paw, steamed deer tail..."

He reeled off a vast array of delicacies, causing the First Emperor to sigh at the sheer abundance of food in times to come.

The First Emperor then asked, "Could such things be prepared in Great Qin?"

He, too, wished to taste the culinary wonders of posterity.

Li Nian replied, "Some can be prepared, while others would be difficult. Certain vegetables and fruits are not native to China but originate from foreign lands, such as maize, tomatoes, and watermelons. Furthermore, this minister was no culinary expert in later times; even knowing of certain delicacies, it is hard to reproduce them here in Qin. Yet whatever this minister is capable of making, I shall certainly not hesitate to offer to Your Majesty."

The First Emperor continued, "I have heard that people of later generations do not dine in separate portions, but rather that family and friends gather together around a single table?"

Li Nian nodded. "Indeed so. When dining, family members gather at one table, discussing the major affairs of the world or speaking of the day's hardships. In later times, due to the demands of livelihood, even close friends and relatives cannot often gather together; only after daily toil is completed or during periods of rest do they find the opportunity."

Thinking of the times when family and friends gathered, he remembered how it was undoubtedly the Spring Festival of his childhood. Back then, what he looked forward to most was the New Year, when he could eat delicious food and play to his heart's content.

As he grew older, however, he felt the Spring Festival lost its former joy; the New Year lost its festive spirit, and whenever the holiday approached, he would only let out a sigh: Ah, another year is passing us by!

It was a pity he did not know if he would ever have the chance to sit down and brag and drink with his modern family and friends again. In this era of Great Qin, he was, in truth, an outsider.

The First Emperor, too, was touched by this thought and remarked, "You once said you are already twenty-six years old. Have you taken a wife?"

What is this? Are you trying to marry your daughter to me, making you literally my father?

So it finally comes to this!

I wonder what the princesses of Great Qin are like?

At any rate, they surely must be better than the princesses of the Tang dynasty!

Hearing the First Emperor's words, Li Nian's mind began to race. He was a worldly man with normal physiological desires; if he could find a fine woman to be his wife in this era, that would hardly be unacceptable.

Not to mention whether a princess of Great Qin would be an absolute peerless beauty, a princess who had eaten well and lived in luxury would certainly be healthier and better developed than most women in this era.

The notion that one could casually bump into a maid in ancient times and find a ravishing beauty was the stuff of science fiction!

Given the living standards of antiquity, beautiful women certainly existed, but they were hardly ubiquitous.

Li Nian harbored no fastidious notions of "if she's a princess, I absolutely won't marry her." Besides, if the First Emperor had truly decided to marry his daughter to him, it was not something he could refuse.

Furthermore, from a pragmatic standpoint, marrying a princess would cement the First Emperor's trust in him, securing his life in Great Qin all the more.

The "Emperor Dad" he had once only muttered to himself in jest was suddenly on the verge of becoming his actual father.

Well, what of it? Is a father-in-law not a father, too?

The prerequisite, however, was that that scoundrel Huhai must never be allowed to ascend the throne. When Huhai came to slaughter the princesses later on, Li Nian doubted the wretch would graciously spare his life.

History only recorded that Huhai executed ten princesses by dismemberment, without detailing the fate of their families, but one could easily guess they fared no better. Otherwise, why would Prince Gao have chosen to commit suicide out of fear that his family would be implicated?

In a flash, Li Nian weighed the pros and cons of marrying a princess. Aside from standing completely in opposition to Huhai, there seemed to be no other downsides. But wasn't he already standing in opposition to Huhai anyway?

Given the things he had said before the First Emperor, if Huhai ever ascended the throne and found out, the man would likely invent the torture of death by a thousand cuts just for him.