Volume 2: Residence in the Capital Chapter 101 I Know You Don't Understand
Zhu Ying confidently entrusted the heavy responsibility of dealing with Lu Wan to Zhang Shou, and simply focused her attention on the two brothers of the Lu family. Seeing that they were shocked after hearing Zhang Shou's words, and then stared at the piece of paper subtly, clearly not knowing what Zhang Shou was talking about, she couldn't help but feel moved and actually laughed.
"Everyone knows that you, Minister Lu, have always looked down on your youngest son. I didn't expect you to do the opposite this time. How rare!"
Without even looking at the two men on his left and right, Lu Wan said calmly, "Da Lang, Er Lang, go to San Lang and bring him and Zhu Er, the drunk and troublemaker, over here."
Whether their father deliberately didn't want them to hear the following conversation, or just told them to bring the fat pig and Zhu Er, the two most useful bargaining chips, Lu Dalang and Lu Erlang couldn't resist, let alone refuse. So, the two could only agree, and then left the house one after the other. Before leaving, the two did not forget to glance at Zhang Shou.
What kind of riddle is this!
After they all left , Lu Wan finally put away her slightly solemn expression and revealed a bit of relief: "How can Dr. Zhang be sure that the letter I showed my youngest son is the original? If it is really an important document, my Ministry of War has many talents who can decipher it. If it is not important, I may just excerpt a few paragraphs to test my son."
"However, it is just as what Zhu Gongquan said. The servant next to Dr. Zhang is very powerful. He can even enter and exit my Shangshu Mansion as if no one is there."
Zhang Shou was not frustrated . He just said in a declarative tone, "Maybe the letter that Minister Lu wrote to Lu Sanlang was not the original one, but I think the horizontal lines separating the words must have been copied by Minister Lu and moved from the original letter to their original positions."
After exposing this, seeing that Lu Wan's face really darkened, he smiled and said, "Of course, in order to make these horizontal lines and the number of Chinese characters match perfectly, the person who racked his brains to write another letter had a hard time."
Just as Lu Wan was about to retort, the next four words Zhang Shou said cut him off from speaking.
"Master Kong."
After saying these four words, Zhang Shou saw that Lu Wan was still as nonchalant as if she didn't care about what he said at all, so he remained calm.
"Although Lu Sanlang's mathematical talent is already top-notch, his horizons are not broad enough. After all, he was forced to read the Four Books and Five Classics since he was a child, and some things constrained his thinking. If studies for another two years, he will definitely be able to easily understand the mystery of this secret letter, but he can't do that now."
"So Dr. Zhang means that you can?"
"Maybe."
Zhang Shou sneered and said lightly, "The premise is that Minister Lu thinks that the four words I just said have something in common with the secret letter you want to decipher. Of course, if Minister Lu thinks that I have deciphered it wrong, then I will go back. But as long as all the horizontal lines on the fake letter you made are arranged in the original position, then I can also decipher something when I go back."
"It's not the words that are important, but the lines that separate them, like a child's scribbles."
Zhu Ying was immediately overjoyed and quickly agreed, "Ah Shou, since Minister Lu keeps saying that the Ministry of War has many talented people who can decipher this letter, let's go back. Lu Sanlang stayed in the Imperial College as the head of the Jiuzhang Hall, but his father insisted on keeping him at home, preferring to let him continue to be ridiculed as an unlearned waste. This is the first time I've seen a father who wants his son to succeed!"
"Yingying, don't say that." Seeing that Lu Wan's expression remained unchanged, as if she didn't take the sarcasm to heart at all, Zhang Shou stopped Zhu Ying and said in a deep voice, "Compared with Minister Lu's great cause, the future of Lu Sanlang's son is naturally nothing. But there is one thing I must remind Minister Lu. Today at the Imperial College, the emperor really appreciated your son."
Seeing Zhang Shou finish his words and bow, he was actually about to leave. Zhu Ying walked even faster, and the two of them actually reached the door one after the other. Lu Wan finally couldn't hold back and asked, "Does Dr. Zhang really think Sanlang has a talent for mathematics?"
"I was with my teacher this afternoon, and he complained to me that he had accepted countless disciples in his life, but only a few were truly gifted in mathematics, and many of them were also keen on fame and fortune. So he thought I was lucky to have easily found three talented students. Maybe in the eyes of others, Lu Sanlang is a rotten wood that cannot be carved, but in my opinion..."
Zhang Shou paused, then raised his voice a little: "He is a pearl among the fish eyes. Until now, no one, including Minister Lu, has discovered his brilliance!"
At that moment, he happened to meet his two brothers on the way to his father's study. Lu Sanlang, who had just arrived at the door, felt his eyes a little wet and hot. Even though he always thought that it was the most unbelievable thing for a man to shed tears, he still sniffed hard and a strange idea came to his mind for the first time.
No wonder people say that a man will die for his friend! Damn, this feeling is so good!
Zhu Er's face was filled with rage. This world is really crazy, a pig-head can actually become a genius!
As for Mrs. Lu Zhen, who always favored her youngest son, she couldn't help but wipe her tears with a handkerchief. Her affection for Zhang Shou was simply beyond measure. Over the years, her youngest son had driven away so many gentlemen, but now someone was praising him as a shining pearl... Just for this reason, she must protect this gentleman!
What's more, she was afraid that the master would really marry Zhu Ying as his daughter-in-law. Now even this hidden worry has been solved!
Lu Wan, the Minister of War in the room, did not think whether Zhang Shou had said this to the outsiders on purpose. He just remained silent, as if trying to accept the fact that his youngest son, whom he had always looked down upon, might really be a genius.
After a long while, he said coldly, "Doctor Zhang wants to use the mystery of this horizontal line that you have already cracked in part in exchange for me letting Sanlang go and let him study at the Jiuzhang Hall of the Imperial Academy? Since Sanlang has been appreciated by the emperor and Grand Tutor Ge, I can't keep him at home forever. Don't you think you are at a disadvantage in such a deal?"
Zhang Shou saw Zhu Ying standing at the door, neither going in nor out, and only turned around after hearing these words, with a startling look on his face, clearly hoping that he could get the question out of her mind. However, facing her expectant gaze, he shook his head and then turned around.
"It's worth it. It's worth it to exchange a secret letter whose contents are unknown and whose authenticity is even uncertain for a student who is praised and appreciated by the teacher and who may bring honor to Jiuzhang Hall in the future. In fact, I have solved the four words before, but I am too lazy to continue. I can tell Minister Lu what the horizontal line hidden in the words means."
"Consider the dash as one, the dash between words as zero, and each punctuation mark as the end of a number. Then, convert this series of numbers from binary to decimal... Minister Lu, you ask what binary is? It's very simple . The decimal system is what we use in daily life. Every ten is incremented by one, and binary, of course, is incremented by one every two..."
Zhu Ying frowned at first, but when she heard Zhang Shou actually start to explain to Lu Wan how to decipher the code, she became even more angry. But as she listened, her expression became very subtle. Because she didn't understand at all!
However, when she saw that Lu Shangshu of the Ministry of War, who was well-regarded in the court for his literary knowledge, had a face that changed from gloomy to deathly solemn, and then from deathly solemn to deadly... she suddenly laughed, and felt extremely happy!
It is obvious that Lu Sanlang has a talent for mathematics, but Lu Wan has none at all!
Zhang Shou did it on purpose. He knew that even if he explained it clearly, the Minister of War would not understand!
Not to mention Zhu Ying was gloating over someone else's misfortune, while Lu Sanlang was beaming with joy outside the door, he also felt extremely happy when he saw his two self-important brothers looking confused but pretending to be fine. He glanced at Zhu Er, whose face was dark, and said with a wicked smile: "Zhu Er, do you want me to explain to you what "every two advances one" means?"
