Yes, Madam Prime Minister

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The ruling class not only used them to wage wars abroad, but also used these super soldiers, composed of ignorant minorities, to suppress the original majority of the lower classes within the country.

In this process, some people stood out and became nobles. Of course, most of these people were originally "the elite among the natives". For example, the Orion family, to which Liz belonged, was a noble family among the red-haired natives.

Liz's hometown is in the southwest of Wieland Island, while Ronan and his group landed in the southeast, treating the journey as a sightseeing trip.

Halfway there, the group entered a continuous mountain range.

"I'm really fed up. This crappy island of yours, you have to cross a mountain range to get from the east to the west." Louise couldn't help but complain.

Liz rolled her eyes at her. "You were the one who said we had to cross the mountain."

Even if Ronan were there, they could fly directly.

"Is hiking over mountains a form of tourism?" Ronan asked.

Although Wieland is very different from the rest of the UK, Leeds is still very similar to Ireland.

The main settlement of Liz and her red-haired group was a plain surrounded by mountains and hills, with many swamps and woodlands around it.

For this reason, for a long time, this area was only under union control, rather than being directly incorporated into the government.

After crossing mountains and forests, we finally arrived at a plain, where almost everything was green.

“We’re here,” Liz said.

Louise looked at a manor villa a few hundred meters away and said, "Your house is very big, much bigger than mine."

Your home is in the heart of the French capital, where land is incredibly expensive, while this is a vast farm dominated by ranches. What's the comparison? However, Liz was too lazy to argue with Louise at this point and simply said, "It's not my home, it's just where I live."

Although her father accepted her and she herself was a superhuman, it did not change the fact that she was an illegitimate child.

"Where do you live?" Louise asked.

“Yes, that’s where I live,” Liz replied. “My father is usually not here, but in the city, or even often not here at all, in London or with the King. As for the rest of the family, most of them live on a larger estate on the other side of the river, and they probably know how to contact him.”

Louise yawned. "Then rest at your place for a while before you leave."

Just then, a man suddenly approached them quickly from a distance. Louise and Lavana became wary, but Liz said, "It's my father." Liz was also very surprised, because her father was rarely around.

Soon, Liz's father, Rector, appeared before them.

He also had ginger-red hair, wasn't tall, maybe 175 cm at most, with low eyebrows that pressed down on his eyes, emerald green eyes, and a few crow's feet at the corners of his eyes. His face was slightly long, and his red sideburns were short and neatly trimmed. He certainly wasn't a standard handsome man, but combined with his overall demeanor, he had the air of a mature, handsome man. If he were as young as Ronan and clean-shaven, he wouldn't have this kind of charm. Rector bowed to Ronan in respect before straightening up and saying, "It is truly an honor to meet Lord Artes."

He immediately identified Ronan upon meeting her, which was no longer a hint but a clear statement: "Just call me Ronan." Ronan replied, "Speaking of which, I should be thanking you for raising such an outstanding daughter."

Ronan's words also had a hidden meaning.

Rector suddenly switched to Chinese, "Before we get to the point, could you allow me to extend a little hospitality?"

"certainly.

Chapter 1264 Farmhouse Dishes, Past Events, Is Art Dead?

First, they treated me to lunch.

The local cook prepares farm-style dishes. Each person has their own plate, and you just use the communal large spoon to get a spoonful of food. There's nothing fancy about it, and there are no maids specifically responsible for serving the food.

The first thing served was a big pot of stew, mainly lamb stewed until tender, with onions, potatoes, and carrots.

Ronan recalls someone once asking what kind of dish is found all over the world, and one answer was to stew plant tubers with chunks of meat.

The stew is thickened with sauce and is specifically served with bread.

Next comes a plate of potato pancakes. The main ingredient is potatoes, which are mashed, mixed with flour and cheese, seasoned, and then fried. Minced beef is sprinkled on top halfway through. Done.

Finally, there was an apple pie, which was also served on a very large plate.

And that was it, that was it.

For nobles, this was commonplace, even somewhat lacking in ceremony, but for the lower-class commoners, this was a meal reserved for festivals. They usually ate oatmeal porridge or potato porridge with black bread and vegetable soup that looked like water. It was fortunate that agriculture was so advanced now, otherwise the lower classes wouldn't even have enough potato porridge.

After lunch, Rector led his group away from there and arrived at a locked room on the second floor.

Standing in front of the door, Rector turned to his daughter and asked, "Liz, have you been to this room before?"

“No,” Liz replied.

As a superhuman, she could easily pull down ordinary door locks, but she had never entered this room where she had lived for several years. She wasn't curious about such trivial things.

Rector booked a room.

There was no overwhelming dust or musty smell; the room was surprisingly clean, clearly indicating that it was regularly cleaned.

“This used to be your mother’s room,” Rector said, looking lost in memories. “Back then, I was going through a period of uncertainty, considering whether to give up my inheritance and stay in France.”

"I came here intending to rest for a few months before making a decision. Then I met your mother, who was still a child. Although she was just the daughter of someone who trained sheepdogs for my family, she was not illiterate and was surprisingly smart and cute. So I started teaching her some things here. Although she didn't use most of them, she enjoyed the joy of acquiring knowledge, and I also enjoyed teaching her."

"You were probably one of the few times in my life when I was simply happy, and then you came into my life."

Just then, Liz suddenly interjected, "Then why did you abandon her?"

Liz used to think that her mother was just a novelty toy that the other party found on a whim, and it was perfectly normal for them to play with her for a few days and then throw her away. But now it seems that this is not the case.

"Because I encountered some trouble at the time, and your mother was just a pregnant mortal, sending her to the countryside was a good thing. Afterwards, I planned to bring you back, but then I got involved in a very important project. I admit that it was more important to me than your mother and you."

"Considering that bringing you here would only result in you being bullied by my self-righteous wife, I decided to let you stay in the countryside." "More than ten years have passed in the blink of an eye. And if I may add something, do you really think that your mother alone has enough knowledge to teach you, a superhuman?"

Rector said a lot.

"Then why not turn her into a superhuman?" Liz asked again. If her mother had become a superhuman, how could she have died of illness?

Rector calmly gave the answer, "She was already terminally ill shortly after giving birth to you. Forcing her to become an artificial superhuman would have made her die even faster."

Liz was speechless for a moment.

In front of Ronan and Louise, she didn't want to lose her temper, lest she appear too emotional. She could only pretend to be a balloon, puffed up with anger but unable to deflate. However, her father Rector's words were like a needle pricking her, causing her to deflate and feel pain.

But this only made her feel worse.

Everyone has their reasons, and no one is wrong, so she doesn't even have the right to complain.

Finally, Liz could only offer a lukewarm response, "You brought us here just to say this?"

“Of course not, I was just saying that to you casually.” Rector remained calm. “I came here to show Mr. Ronan these paintings.”

Ronan had already seen the paintings on display and hanging in the room as soon as he entered. "These paintings are quite nice," he said, which was purely a polite remark.

He had been working with artists like Ambrina in the French royal family, and had seen many first-rate paintings. To call the paintings here "too craftsman-like" was an understatement; they were simply plagiarism and patchwork.

Of course, if you really want to say something, it's not bad. At least it looks decent and fits the general public's aesthetic standards.

Rector chuckled. "What if I told you that all these paintings were done by peasants who had never really studied painting and couldn't even read?" Louise, Lavana, and even Liz were all shocked. No matter what, these couldn't possibly have been painted by peasants who knew nothing, could they?

Ronan frowned slightly, lost in thought.

From the moment they revealed their identities and purposes to each other, it was clear that Rector, who had a deep connection with G&A Company and even the mysterious man, had brought him and the other three here for no simple reason other than to say something truly important.

As he himself said, his conversation with Liz, his daughter, about old times was merely incidental. He may have loved Liz's mother, and he loved Liz herself, but there was no doubt he loved something more, and that was precisely what he wanted to tell Ronan. These paintings were a starting point to bring up the topic; so, what exactly did he want to say?

“Drawing has existed since the very beginning of human civilization. It started with lines and blocks of color, and it still is now and will continue to be so in the future. It is indeed art, but if you put it in terms of mathematics, it is actually a very, very rudimentary thing.”

"Classic composition, classic color scheme, and by arranging and combining them in some ways, a group of farmers who know nothing and have just been transformed into superhumans can collaborate to create a decent painting. Perhaps for Lord Ronan and Miss Louise, such a painting is nothing special."

"

"But I can say this: if you put these paintings together with the paintings of some emerging painters today, and ask a large enough number of people to evaluate them, then most people will think that the paintings here are more beautiful."

"In the end, classical painting has basically come to an end. The works created by the painters who led the art of painting forward are, in the eyes of most people, ugly, strange, and even inferior to inferior works that are simply imitations and stitches together classical paintings."

"

"Art is like that, and so are many things."

"

After saying this, Rector paused for a moment.

At this point, Ronan had a vague idea of ​​what Rector wanted to say.

Rector stood in front of the painting and said, “I once thought that if there were the right machine, maybe someone who had never even touched painting could produce a decent painting.”

"

"So, is art dead?"

Chapter 1265 The People's View of History? Wrong, the Heroic View of History is also wrong.

Rector walked to the largest window in the middle, pulled the curtains open with both hands, and sunlight suddenly flooded in, brightening the entire room. He answered his own question, "The art of painting is dead, but not completely dead." After saying that, he looked at his daughter Liz with an expectant expression.

Liz, who wasn't really keen on speaking, finally opened her mouth, though she sounded a little impatient. "Just say what you want to say. There's no need to act like a pretentious nobleman."

At this moment, Louise suddenly chimed in, "Mr. Orion, you're not going to express some boring 'people's history' theory again, are you?" "That's just the ravings of a few people who don't even have a college degree in mathematics or physics and whose abilities are mediocre. It's been picked up by a bunch of clowns and treated as a treasure, and they're starting to preach like those mentally ill priests from the Dark Ages. It can only be described as stupid and wicked."

"Mr. Orion reminisced about his past with his lover, which was beautiful, but it shows that only heroes can break injustice."

“As for these oil paintings, doesn’t this prove that even if the masses master high-end tools, the limit is still only to depict the world in a vulgar way?” Louise’s words were reasonable and well-founded, at least that’s what she thought.

It has to be said that if Louise were judged by a certain standard, she would definitely be at the level of being extremely rebellious. If she were in Ronan's original timeline, she would definitely be doxxed, cyberbullied, and reported on the internet. However, in the end, Miss Louise may be completely fine, which made some netizens lower their guard.

“I disagree with Louise. History is ultimately created by the people. Heroes determining history is just a facade,” Lavana said. She rarely refuted others, except when it came to such trivial topics. “The masses are ignorant, indecisive, and lack creativity? But the facts are just as Mr. Orion demonstrated. After gaining knowledge, Liz’s mother was fully capable of teaching Liz, who was a superhuman, as an ordinary person. She was not remotely controlled by Mr. Orion and had decisiveness that was no less than that of the elites.”

"People who were originally just farmers, without studying painting theory, used Mr. Orion's unique method as a tool, and through collaboration, were able to create works that resembled classics, enough to win the favor of most people. In terms of popularity among the masses, they may even surpass some of today's painters."

"This is enough to show that even elites only have the ability to make decisions because they have more resources and information, and they have the creativity to surpass others because they have better tools."

"Admittedly, resources are limited and tools are scarce, and ultimately only a few people can grasp them. But this does not mean that monarchs, bureaucrats, and capitalists have any legitimacy. They are corrupt at any time and should be overthrown at any time."

Lavana interprets the same thing in a completely different way than Louise.

If she hadn't met Ronan, she might have joined the revolutionary wave against the emperor sooner or later.

Although, without meeting Ronan, she would most likely have only been a spark to ignite the flames of revolution, and while some would cheer for her, she would soon be forgotten.

At this moment, Rector, who was looking out the window, turned to Ronan and asked, "Mr. Astor, would you have the honor of hearing your opinion?"

“I don’t agree with either the trendy modern view of history based on the people, or the traditional view of history based on heroes,” Ronan said. “The current view of history based on the people says that history is created by the people, which is not wrong. However, civilization is always driven by a very small number of people, and civilization and history are not the same thing. The view of history based on heroes is also boring. Attributing credit to monarchs and bureaucrats is ridiculous. Some people say that it is more reliable to say that credit belongs to the working people.”

"The progress of civilization originates from heroes, but heroes can be within the system, but they will not be people who have been institutionalized. Many heroes come from the people, but do not belong to the people."

"Actually, it's quite simple. There have been enough tragic epics of heroes throughout history. So-called heroes basically have one characteristic: most people cannot agree with them in terms of values ​​and cannot accept them emotionally."

"For heroes, there is only one problem from beginning to end: how to face the limitations of the existing system and the lack of understanding from the majority of people."

"So, Mr. Orion, what is your attitude, or rather, what is your attitude? To arrogantly become a god high above, ignoring all and doing only yourself, or to be content to be a lifeless, lonely lighthouse, illuminating the darkness that tomorrow has already arrived as usual?"

"The sun rises as usual, but those who are too high will be scorched; darkness comes as usual, but the lighthouse will still guide the way."

Ronan's words were not only an explanation, but also a question.

Lecter leaned against the window and sighed, “Mr. Artes has asked the wrong person. I have given up on choosing. I’m getting old too fast, unlike you and him who are still young, and unlike Liz and these two who are still young.”

Ronan pulled out a chair and sat down. "Really? I thought you were going to give me some advice."

“I’m not that arrogant,” Rector said. “Maybe it’s because I’m nostalgic and selfish, but I still can’t accept a world that’s too vulgar, where the masses make decisions based on their own preferences, and then drown out outstanding people? Where explorations at the forefront of the times have to respect public opinion? If that’s the new era, I’d rather die in the old era.”

Louise wholeheartedly agreed with this idea. "Mr. Orion, you're absolutely right."

“So, I won’t say anything,” Rector added immediately.

"Huh? That's not right of you." Louise's expression changed instantly.

She wholeheartedly supports heroes who lead the way, but if that hero isn't Ronan, she won't support him.

Ronan remained silent; he did not pressure Rector to reveal any secret plans.

Liz, already wearing a cold expression, simply turned to leave. "It seems we don't need to linger here any longer." She didn't want to discuss these lofty and impractical topics with her father, who was causing her so much distress. Rector's expression shifted from one of sighing and lamenting to his amiable demeanor. "It's alright, Liz. I'm leaving for London soon to take care of some business and probably won't be back for a long time. You can certainly spend a few days here and take them to see the place where you lived as a child."

Ronan stood up. "Well then, goodbye. See you next year or the year after." He said goodbye, but extended his hand to shake hands.

Rector laughed. The two hadn't greeted each other or shaken hands when they met, but they shook hands when they parted, which was quite comical.

After shaking hands, Rector left.

Having already met Rector, the original plan was to rest here for a day before going to River Bend Estate to ask the others how to contact Rector. Naturally, Liz didn't intend to stay here any longer and took Ronan and the others directly to the countryside further west, to the place where she lived as a child.

The so-called countryside is actually not far from this large farm. We didn't fly there, but walked a little faster and arrived in a few hours.

The countryside doesn't have such vast plains and grasslands; the terrain is uneven, with woodlands and swamps, making agricultural conditions significantly worse.

Chapter 1266 Homecoming, Changes, It's Been a Month Since I've Done This

The terrain was uneven, and the road went uphill all the way, but fortunately there was a road all the way. It was a man-made road, not wide but very stable and flat with stone slabs.

If there weren't such a road, even if we weren't in a hurry, we would definitely fly. After all, it was already getting dark, and we might accidentally step into a mud pit and sink one foot in. Safety wasn't the problem, but the mud and water getting into our shoes would be terrible.

This stone-paved road looks quite old, but it's not an ancient site. It's made with cement grout, so it's clearly a product of the last few decades.

Ronan's judgment was absolutely correct; it is indeed a product of the last decade.