5

Mom, Brother Tianle, Sister-in-law Leshui, Cao'er niece:

Hello. Those four important findings have been elaborated in the work report written by Zizhou, and I would like to add just a little background information. In the five years since the ship set sail, our 'meditative thinking' has yielded fruitful results, and it is clear that it is far more efficient than conventional thinking on Earth. Although Noah has become indifferent to the right to invent, I still want to brag a little in front of my relatives: one of the four discoveries is my contribution, and Zizhou also has one.

After making four discoveries, we immediately turned back to Earth in order to let our fellow Earthns know as soon as possible - after all, a Mach 1.8 spacecraft can travel faster than radio waves. The return trip lasted two years. Now we are less than four light-years away from Earth, but we dare not go any further. Today is the fifty-seventh year of the universe's contraction, and it has been ten years since the peak, and we have to seize the opportunity when the space is still a dense vacuum to enter the wormhole state, so as to preserve a high-quality seed for the earth's civilization. As for the Earth Society, we estimate that if you proceed as soon as you receive the message, you will be able to launch the spacecraft before the end of the vacuum. That way, you will at least maintain the level of intelligence you had before the cataclysm. If it is too late, then you must prepare for the worst possible in order to do your best to avoid the destruction of civilization when the human intellect collapses.

Dear relatives, I am worried about you. But I think that there are a large number of geniuses on the earth, such as Brother Tianle, Luo Ge, and Ji Jichang, and they will definitely come up with a way. I have a bold guess: perhaps you made the same discovery before the message reached Earth. Dear relatives, I bless you!

Is Mom's body okay? In the past two days, I have a strong feeling that my mother has left us. I seemed to see the light of the fire on the crematorium. If this conjecture does not conform to the facts, I hope my mother laughs it off. I know that Mom has never been afraid to listen to unlucky words. If I am unlucky, then pay tribute to my parents' spirits and say goodbye to the second elder on my behalf. I also want to say goodbye to you. Noah is about to enter a wormhole state, which will last for one hundred and thirty-one years, during which time no information will be exchanged with the outside world. By the time Noah is out of the wormhole, I'm sure I'll be old, and even my little angel (if he's alive) will be one hundred and thirty-five years old.

Fellow relatives, farewell. I love you, I miss you, and I bless you!

Willow Leaf was in the spacecraft for five years

6

After half a year of discussion, the world's scientific community basically approved the next catastrophe predicted by Chu Tianle and Pauli. Although there is no observational evidence to confirm it, it is a very natural corollary that "the space explosion will bring about a sharp drop in intelligence", given that humanity is experiencing a surge in intelligence caused by the collapse of space. Thousands of scientists jointly wrote a letter to the UN Security Council, urging them to pay attention to the prophecy of Chu Yi Pauli. The letter said that science (especially cosmology) has reached a watershed moment after it has reached the stage of cosmology, because it is no longer possible to test a theory by experiments like classical physics, and human beings can only believe in the power of logic and reason. Of course, verification still needs to be done, but it must be carried out by the universe itself, and it can only be a one-time, post-facto verification.

After a year-long discussion, the UN Security Council finally adopted the "New Disaster Response Plan" drafted by "Friends of Joy". This is largely due to the SCAC's strong push. After all, "mental decline" is only a soft threat to the people, not a hard disaster, not to mention that the people have endured too many sharp accelerations, sharp turns and sharp braking in the past 30 years, and have developed a general sense of boredom. They prefer to throw away all their worries, forget all their fears, travel to space in a faster-than-light spacecraft, and enjoy the affluent life of the hydrogen era. However, after all, this is an era of brilliant wisdom, and the people finally use reason to overcome sensibility.

The new plan consists of four main points:

First, we must do our best to ensure the safety of the planet. The United Nations will establish an authoritative intelligence monitoring room to observe the average human intelligence at all times. When intelligence drops to a critical point, all high-tech equipment will be resolutely shut down, so that mankind will return to the era of slash-and-burn cultivation to avoid secondary disasters caused by high-tech equipment. The preparation for the catastrophe was extremely arduous, including a large amount of food reserves and planning how to distribute food during the period of mental decline. But there is a fundamental contradiction in this plan - whether it is possible to make a judgment that "human intelligence has fallen to a critical point" for human beings whose intelligence has fallen to a critical point. This can be said to be a philosophical paradox that arises from self-referentiality, and cannot be resolved. There was an offer to let the computer be the judge (the vacuum would not affect the computer's intelligence), but this was ultimately rejected. It is impossible for human beings to hand over the power of life and death to computers. There are also some transactional contradictions in this plan that are also difficult to solve, such as: once humans return to the age of animals, the earth will definitely not be able to support seven billion people, and perhaps only one in a thousand people will survive. So who to live and who to die? No one can make this decision, only leave it to fate.

But in any case, the preparations that need to be made still need to be made. This is done by the Council at the urging of States.

The other three points have been agreed upon by the Friends of Joy:

2. "Smart Fresh-keeping Room" plan. Construct nine Mach 100 million landable spacecraft that will be in the sky and in continuous flight within ten years at the latest, until the end of the vacuum (one hundred and eighty-six years from now), and then out of the wormhole.

These spacecraft have improved the "auxiliary fuel tank method" proposed by Ji Jichang at the Rendan Island meeting. The nine spacecraft are divided into three fleets, namely "heaven", "earth" and "people", each team has three ships, one is the main ship and two are the auxiliary ships, which are connected to each other by soft pipes. Each ship could accommodate 6,000 people, but in reality it was manned only 2,000 people. The auxiliary vessel is mainly loaded with fuel, but it is also equipped with all the equipment and can fly alone. This is for safety reasons, and if the main vessel's power system fails, the auxiliary ship can take over – and most importantly: continuous flight during the takeover! The Friends of Joy Academy has found a way: once this happens, quickly transfer the crew and useful items of the main ship to the auxiliary ship, and then when the main ship is not stopped, the auxiliary ship begins to excite and continue straight through the main ship, turning the main ship into a hole wall behind it. In this way, even if only one auxiliary ship remained in the end, it could barely accommodate the six thousand crew members of the fleet.

Three flotillas will fly in different directions. Because it is unreliable to rely on the spacecraft's own instruments to correct the direction during the 186-year-long flight, the three fleets should be spread out as much as possible to avoid collisions in blind flight.

3. One of the three fleets will follow the route of the circumnavigation. It will continue to fly towards outer space until it returns to Earth from the other direction – or disappears into the depths of space. But its early flight will also have a 186-year continuous flight to ensure that the crew can survive the period of intellectual collapse safely.

The other two teams of spacecraft will fly along a circular course, and after one hundred and eighty-six years, they will theoretically return to the vicinity of Earth. At that time, they will lead the remnants of humanity on Earth, which may have become beastly, to rebuild civilization.

Fourth, the goose whistle plan. Build a spaceship according to Chu Tianle's envisioned method and carry a thousand crew members. Ascend to the sky and enter continuous flight after twelve years at the latest. It will fly around the Earth and monitor anomalies on Earth at all times.

It can be seen that the latter two plans take into account the content of "smart preservation". The "Aerospace Association" that has already been established will still be retained, but the operational direction will be changed from "offensive" to "defensive." It will assist the "Friends of Le" Association and the People's Republic of China in carrying out the above-mentioned plan.

The building of the headquarters of "Friends of Joy" has been completely demolished and rebuilt, which is the return of Kangping. He said that it was the "Friends of Joy" who taught him the skills, and of course he had to repay the "Friends of Joy" first. The new buildings are all in the current "ball style", which is composed of transparent balls as the basic unit. There are three towering main buildings in the hospital, which are the "Friends of Music" one meeting and two hospitals, among them, the Academy of Sciences building is spiral-shaped, like a spiraling ladder, which is connected by spheres; The engineering institute building is pyramid-shaped, but it is thinner than the Egyptian pyramids. The Foundation is more conservative and cylindrical. Other minor buildings are even more colorful, especially a residential building in the shape of a tall bean [note 3]. After the architects were convinced of the excellent strength of neutron-like matter, the two ends of a single sphere were flattened and joined together to form a thin column, with only two elevators installed in the columns, which rose until a few tens of meters before expanding into a residential area. This kind of building looks crumbling and gives a thrilling feeling, and it is indeed crumbling, and the wind can make the upper part appear a swing of several tens of centimeters. However, young people like this "swing with the wind" because it is a "pure high-rise building" and there are no unpopular low-rise units.

A nearby cement bridge was also rebuilt, a deformation of the "ball style". Kangping has been able to produce rectangular bridge units with cambers, shaped like curved sausages, which can be spliced together to form arches by flattening the ends. The bridge is fully enclosed, the deck is inside, insulated from wind and rain, and thanks to the high transparency, walking in the corridor does not feel cramped. The production process of this "curved sausage-shaped" building material has matured, and it will be used in general buildings in the future, so that the architectural styles will be more diverse.

The office is on the highest floor of the Foundation Building. Today, she asked Ji Renrui to meet. After Ji entered the house, Yu Leshui explained to his secretary Xiao Li:

"I'm going to talk to Dean Ji about an important business, and I won't see any other guests in two hours."

Xiao Li made the tea, adjusted the walls to translucent, closed the door, and exited lightly. Yu Leshui first asked about the situation of Brother Ji's grandson Xiao Doudou, and the little guy was already one year old. Ji Renrui said with a smile: "That little thing is hierarchical to the family, grandma Miao is the closest, mother is second, father is third, and my grandfather can only be ranked last." After gossiping for a while, Yu Leshui said:

"Brother Ji, I asked you to come today, I want to talk about a big thing. You know that Tianle has decided to do head surgery in vitro, and it is obviously not suitable to lead the Friends of Joy Academy anymore. I plan to spend more time with him, and I would like to quit my job at the Friends of Joy Foundation. ”

Ji Renrui looked at her and sighed, "Actually, it is me who should abdicate the most, I am sixty-six years old this year, and I should have retired a long time ago." But...... I can't help but think of Zhuge Liang's words, Sima Yi predicted that he would die soon, Zhuge Liang's subordinates advised him to take care of his body and not to bow down to everything, Zhuge Liang sighed and said, "I don't know how it should be, but I'm worried that others are not as dedicated as me." ’”

"Brother Ji, I understand you. Over the years, you have been the dean of the Academy of Engineering, but you are actually the chief housekeeper of the 'Friends of Music'. ”

"Leshui, today with you, I might as well have the most frank self-analysis. The reason why I am in love with stacks is that in addition to the sense of responsibility mentioned above, I also have an obsession with power. When I think that it is precisely under my spur that the car of human civilization has suddenly accelerated, unmatched at any time in history, this kind of spiritual satisfaction is wonderful. Here, responsibility and the desire for power are intertwined and inextricably linked. ”

Yu Leshui smiled and nodded, "I understand." I understand very well. ”

"Of course, you know the common saying among the people that the 'Friends of Joy' plus half of the SCAC is the de facto leader of the world, and it is called 'scientific governance.'"

"I've heard of it. This is an exaggerated rhetoric, and the 'Friends of Music' is just a think tank of the United Nations. ”

"You're overly modest. Realistically speaking, over the years, the direction of human civilization has indeed been determined by the 'friends of music'. We are, in fact, the Politburo of the United Nations. I have even seriously considered that it would be more efficient to simply let the 'Friends of Joy' take over the leadership of the world and lead humanity to deal with the catastrophe in the form of a world army. But you dissuaded me at the time, and then, when I pushed for the creation of the Aerospace Society, I wanted it to be the political center of the space age—a short-lived era. ”

"Yes, I know. However, Tianle and I both believe that we should not tie a heavy chariot behind us, it will prevent us from charging into battle. 'Friends of Joy' is more suitable to play the role of a pioneer who travels lightly. ”

"I'm afraid that's not the whole reason. You are also worried that such a military will turn into a personal dictatorship, for example, my dictatorship. ”

Yu Leshui smiled, "Where are the words?" Renrui, you are serious. After a pause, she added, "Of course, I also know that from the heart of you are a believer in Machiavelli, and believe that history should be guided by heroes." You are never indifferent to power, believing that power should be in the hands of heroes. You have never been afraid to manipulate power and use not-so-glare means to achieve noble ends. But your worldview is based on goodness, and there is a very clear moral bottom line in your heart. Tianle and I have complete trust in you. Brother Ji, Tianle and I are too 'clean' to get rid of nerds, so, seriously speaking, you are the real driving force of 'Friends of Music'. ”

"You're right about me. However, if a person of my character goes down a certain path unchecked, it is true that he will develop into a personal dictatorship. I can feel the temptation of the Banshees of Power all the time. The reason why I am still awake in the midst of her temptation is because of the balancing effect of you and Tianle. So – thank you. ”

Now that Ji Renrui has said this, Yu Leshui is no longer lying. Ji's self-analysis is correct, his sense of responsibility or desire for power may indeed develop in another direction, but fate did not give him that environment, which can also be said to be fate's love for him. In fact, even Chu Tianle's character contains some kind of danger, Tianle is more extreme, and he can do anything for the survival of human beings: his calmness about human alienation, his calmness about "wormhole spacecraft will cause destruction all the way", his calmness about the separation of the head from the body, and so on. To be fair, without the almost ruthless determination of Ji Renrui and Chu Tianle, 'Friends of Joy' would not have been able to make such a big achievement. But in her heart, in the deepest and softest place of a woman's heart, there are always vague hidden worries. This is also one of the reasons why Yu Leshui wants all three of them to abdicate. She said:

"Brother Ji, I admire your frankness and sobriety. Is there any perfect man in the world? The world is made up of imperfections. So, you're ready to step down? ”

"No, you give me another year, before the three of us step down, we should improve the organizational structure of the 'Friends of Joy' as much as possible, and establish a check on power on the premise of ensuring efficiency. I have said that humanity cannot enjoy the luxury of 'power constraints' during cataclysm, and I still think that is true. But now, the situation is basically stable, and it may be stable for a long time, and it is time to impose a minimum check on power – of course, the premise of restraint is that sufficient efficiency is still ensured. Leave this job to me, and let a power-obsessed person make the terms that bind power, which is a good way to fight theft by stealing. ”

Yu Leshui laughed and said, "Brother Ji, your self-judgment is too harsh. If you are a 'thief', then there will be no gentleman in the world. However, even if this matter is decided, the three of us will retire after a year, and before that, we must improve the organizational structure of 'Friends of Music'. ”

"Okay. If Miao Ji heard the news, he would definitely be crazy. She used to be a powerful accelerant for my obsession with power, but now her 'aura' has been corrupted by Xiaodoudou. ”

The two talked about some details. Ji Renrui said that Changchang has already said that when the construction of the nine spacecraft is basically completed, he will resign from his job as secretary general of the Aerospace Association and prepare to serve as the captain of the "Tianzi No. 1" to carry out the long-awaited circumnavigation expedition. Yu Leshui is more regretful, she thinks that Changchang's child is more comprehensive, suitable for the son to inherit his father's business, and be the chief housekeeper of the 'Friends of Joy' organization, but she still respects the children's choice, and the captain of the Huanyu Expedition also has a great responsibility. Ji Renrui suddenly thought of one thing:

"Speaking of the captain, I remember, yesterday a man suddenly came to me and said that he had decided to go to heaven too. Can you guess who it is? A young billionaire once said, 'If you kill me, you won't go to heaven'. ”

“…… Kangping? ”

"Yes, it's really unexpected, it seems that the restless gene of the old man Kang Buming has also been passed on to him."

Ji Renrui was about to say goodbye, Yu Leshui looked at him with a smile for a while, and said abruptly: "Brother Renrui, sometimes I really want to apologize to you for Tianle, it was he who ruined your beautiful vision." ”

This is, of course, a joke. The new catastrophe discovered by Chu was an objective existence, not summoned by Chu with a spell, but Ji Renrui still couldn't help but sigh. He was the first to see the bright future of the space age, far more brilliant than any other era in history. If it comes true, then as the three major heroes of the new era, the names of Chu, Ji, and Yu will be written in gold in the annals of human history, and even become gods admired by future generations. It would be nonsense to say that anyone is not moved by this prospect, not to mention that Ji Renrui has never thought that he is a person who is indifferent to fame, fortune and power. Even now, the conditions for the development of that prosperous era still exist, but the new catastrophe discovered by Tianle is blocked, and that paradise is out of reach. Ji Renrui smiled and said:

"Yes, he should apologize to me, this guy is so sober, why does he see so far."

Yu Leshui sent him out and returned, and Xiao Li greeted him and said, "President, Professor Elaina wants to see you, and she has been waiting for an hour." ”

Yu Leshui hurriedly came to the reception room, stretched out his hand to Elaine with a smile and said, "Professor, you have been waiting for a long time, please come to my office." ”

Today, the beautiful Professor Elaine is obviously preoccupied, she returned to the headquarters of the "Friends of Music" a month ago, and has been discussing the operation with Tianle. This time, Yu Leshui has not asked, and when she gets along with her husband, she will tacitly avoid this topic. Yule Shui invited Elaine to sit down and went straight to the point:

"What's the matter with the Professor? Please feel free to speak. ”

The professor smiled bitterly: "President Yu, I already said when I came here last time that Chu Tianle is a scientific god I admire very much, and I am willing to do anything for him." ”

Yu Leshui smiled and shook his hand, "It's over, it's over." Yes, Tianle is a great man, but he is by no means a god. ”

"No, he's a god in my mind. I also understand very well the fear of a genius like him about losing his intelligence. I think that as long as he can maintain his extraordinary wisdom, even if the head is out of the body, it is worth it. ”

"Yes, you said that last time."

"But the situation has changed! Now with the Wisdom Freshroom, he was able to continue to maintain his intelligence in good condition. In this case, I feel that I can no longer perform ex vivo surgery on him, and I feel that is a crime. ”

Yu Leshui was a little surprised. The last time we talked, she thought that Professor Elaine was a typical strong scientist, willing to use scientific knives and saws to improve the human body at will, without any ethical or emotional taboos, but she did not expect that she would have such an attitude. Yu Leshui asked softly:

"Oh, I see. What does my husband say? ”

"For the past month, I've tried to persuade him to give up, but he hasn't been moved. Yesterday I gave an ultimatum that if he insisted on having surgery, I would quit and ask him to ask him to ask for another master. He hesitated for a moment and said, 'Then you might as well go to my wife, and she will make the final decision, and I will respect her opinion.' So I came. ”

Elaine looked at her expectantly. Yu Leshui was silent for a moment and sighed, "Professor, you can fulfill his wish." ”

"You agree?" Elaine asked in shock, "The last time you talked to me, although you didn't explicitly disagree, I have the impression that you don't approve of it. ”

"I didn't have time to understand his full thoughts. Yes, you can keep your intelligence alive with a smart crisper, but those ships will be completely cut off from Earth for one hundred and eighty-six years. According to Tianle's method, his head will always be at the junction of the two dimensions, and he can maintain observation and contact with the earth. In other words, if the human intelligence sleeps, he can still maintain a sober goose whistle in outer space, and if danger comes, he can at least shout at the sleeping geese. Of course, it is likely that his shouting will not have much effect, because by then human intelligence is no longer enough to react rationally. But...... He at least did his part. ”

Elaine was silent.

After a while, Yu Leshui said bitterly: "Actually, I should accompany him to go with me." In order to maintain the balance of impedance, the Goose Whistle spacecraft will set up two protrusions that extend into the out-of-phase space, and the extra one is simply specially prepared for me. But my mind was too conservative, and the fear of losing my mind was not enough for me to overcome my fear of the situation—a lone human head, connected by several pipes, through a long, hollow arm, and connected to a hard-boiled offering machine. Tianle said that this is 'the living of consciousness', and said that the separation of thinking from the body is the highest state of the development of human civilization. But I can't accept it, I just want to 'live in the flesh'. But I also figured it out, I won't drag my husband back, he is willing to do that, let's fulfill his hard work. By the way, Dean Ji Renrui also has this opinion. ”

Elaina was silent for a long time, apparently determined—it wasn't until twelve years later that she knew what she had decided—and said, "Well, I respect your opinion. ”

"I have only one request: to postpone the ex vivo surgery as much as possible and wait until the goose whistle spacecraft is in the sky. During this time, you will do your best to prepare for the research, and you must be foolproof. ”

"Of course. Please rest assured. ”

"During this time, I want him to spend as much time as possible with his family, and accompany us with a complete, carnal Chu Tianle."

"Okay, I believe this is also Mr. Chu's wish."

"Dad, Mom, I had a dream last night, I dreamed of Aunt Liu Ye and Uncle Yangyang."

Fourteen-year-old Cao'er said with interest. Today is Sunday, and the couple gave Sister-in-law Xu a holiday, and the two of them played with Cao'er. The more this IVF grows more and more like his mother, and his grandparents came not long ago and exclaimed that Cao'er "is simply a copy of Shui'er back then". Tianle also said that when he saw the grass, he thought of the ten-year-old Yu Leshui he met on the road. Leshui himself doesn't have a deep memory of his childhood, but after hearing his parents and husband say this repeatedly, he believes it. During the holidays, when this over-energetic little girl was jumping around in the courtyard of the house without stopping, she always admired it silently, recalling her lost childhood, and her heart was full of a slightly bitter sweetness.

"Really? What are they doing in their dreams? Tianle asked.

"That dream is messy. In the dream, grandma didn't die, and grandma chased to the spaceship and said to Aunt Liuye, it's terrible, you miscalculated an important number, not forty-six and a half years, it should be sixty-two years. If this number is wrong, you will never come back. Aunt Liu Ye smiled and said, "Mom, don't worry, we don't know now, Sister-in-law Leshui will catch up with us in a few years, and we will know at that time." Cao'er giggled, "She already knows about this, why should her mother tell her in a few years?" Typical logical confusion. ”

"Although the logic is confusing, the general context is still correct. We're really trying to figure out how to pry open the wormhole coffin and notify them of the error. Moreover, this method is generally eyebrow-raising. Tianle said.

"I also dreamed that my father went back in time on a lightspeed spaceship and rescued Grandpa Chu, as well as Grandpa Kang and Uncle Pauli, who were embedded in the moon rocks. I know this is cranky, and it is impossible to go back in time even on a billion-fold speed spaceship. ”

"Yes, you can't go back to the past, the two martyrs on the moon can't be saved, but Grandpa Chu, who hibernates in space, can be saved." Chu Tianle said, "Cao'er, what do you want to do when you grow up?" ”

"Flying a spaceship, of course. I'm going to be the captain of that goose whistle ship. I knew my dad was going to get on that ship, and I could take care of my dad by the way as a captain. No, it's taking care of Daddy's head, or taking care of Daddy who only has one head left. Mom, Dad, which statement do you say is the most accurate? ”

Leshui reluctantly smiled and said, "It should be the last statement that is more accurate." There's only one head left, and it's your complete dad too. ”

Cao'er's last two sentences made Yu Leshui feel gloomy, but he was relieved to think about it. The course of human civilization is such that certain boundaries that are difficult to cross in the minds of the previous generation will be taken for granted by the next generation, and thus will be free from the corresponding spiritual tribulations. She looked at her husband silently, but Tianle diverted the topic and asked:

"Elaina talked to you?"

"Yes."

"You must not fight the idea of 'accompanying your husband on the spaceship'. If you have a healthy body, stay on earth and live a normal life, which is given to you by God. As for me, I was unfortunate enough to have such an inferior body on the table, and I was already tired of it, and that operation was actually a relief for me. We had a weightless flight on the Chu's once, and that was always my dream. ”

Yu Leshui looked at her husband steadily. No, that's not liberation, it's just taking responsibility on your shoulders. He didn't want to worry about the mentally broken humans, and wanted to keep a pair of clear eyes, so he did not hesitate to let his head out of his body, imprisoned in a thick box of neutron-like matter, and roamed in the "vacuum wind" that came in his face. He also knew that he would lose the joy of life in this way, and without his wife's body gently touching him, his hair tickling him, and his breath blowing softly on him. But...... Maybe Cao'er will really become the crew of the goose whistle spaceship in ten years, so let his daughter take care of him on his behalf. She smiled and said:

"I didn't have the courage to let my head out of my body, so I had to stay on the ground. However, I want to spend the next ten years with you before the spaceship goes into space. Both of us, as well as Brother Ji, resigned from the position of 'Friend of Music'. Then let's pick up my parents and live a good life in the world of five. ”

"Okay." Friends of Joy is all in the hands of the younger generation, and we enjoy our family life. ”

They pulled the grass over, and they put their arms around her. The ghost spirit grass sensed something abnormal, and asked suspiciously, "Dad, Mom, what's wrong with you?" I think your eyes are shining brightly at this point. ”

The two did not answer, laughing and kissing their daughter's forehead.

[Note 1] Flying car is a proper noun on a diesel engine, once its speed control device fails, if the diesel supply is not cut off, it will spin faster and faster until the machine falls apart.

[Note 2] Fermi's paradox refers to the fact that if there were other civilizations in the universe that were similar to Earth's development process, they should have come to Earth, because life could have been born on other planets billions of years ago.

【Note 3】Beans are a kind of wine vessel in ancient China.