Volume 2: Residence in the Capital Chapter 248 New Year
Ge Yong has been alone during the past two years. Even if some students are willing to come and accompany him, he will ruthlessly drive them back. At his age, his students have already started their own families and have a lot of younger people under them. If they still come to accompany him, wouldn't it be a disregard for their families?
But now he had a young disciple, and this year he took the initiative to invite Zhang Shou - just in advance of the Duke Zhao's mansion. In previous years, he didn't often stay up until midnight, and usually went to bed early, and then was awakened by the sound of firecrackers from officials and civilians outside, so he often felt annoyed during the New Year, but today was different, the old man actually stayed up until midnight with great interest.
When he saw the little guys Zhang Shou brought with him setting off New Year's firecrackers, he finally couldn't help yawning. When he invited Zhang Shou, he had already invited Mrs. Wu, and he also expected that there would be a lot of people coming, so when he found out that Zhang Shou brought everyone in his family, he not only didn't feel annoyed, but was very happy. However, no matter how happy he was, his spirit was limited.
Therefore, Mr. Ge did not notice that Zhang Shou had been distracted after talking to Ah Liu. When Zhang Shou personally sent him back to his room to rest, he seemed to have not heard all this mess of news and directed Zhang Shou around. Although he prepared guest rooms for others, he insisted on keeping Zhang Shou and sleeping in the same room with him.
Of course, the rosewood bed against the wall belonged to him, and the couch belonged to Zhang Shou. After sitting on the bed, Ge Yong smiled and looked at Zhang Shou who was bending over to open the quilt for him.
"A Shou, now that your eldest brother-in-law has returned, your marriage will be soon. When Zhu Jing comes back, I will be your matchmaker and discuss your marriage with him. As for you, when you have time, take people to clean up the villa of Prince Lu's mansion... By the way, the people you have around you are not enough, so hurry up and recruit some people. If not, I will find a way for you to find two reliable brokerage firms to hire some people!"
Zhang Shou didn't expect that Teacher Ge would care about his lifelong affairs in such an all-round way. After a slight pause, he smiled bitterly and said, "What the teacher said about recruiting people is what I wanted to do. However, there is a little guy around me who is too active. He did something I didn't expect at all..."
Zhang Shou told him everything he had talked about with Ah Liu. Seeing Ge Yong pulling his beard unconsciously, he added in a low voice, "Ah Liu said that he was looking for local tyrants. Think about it, teacher. These guys hang out with all kinds of people all day long. They say one thing to one person and another to another. They are the most cunning. It's okay to ask for information from such people, but how can we ask them to do their job properly?"
Ge Yong almost pulled his beard off, then he chuckled. He leaned back comfortably on the pillow, pointed at Zhang Shou and said, "You still don't see through Ah Liu! Do you think he's stupid? Do you expect those who get information to clean up for you in the future? Oh, as long as you go back and recruit one of the people who found out the clues, no one will dare to plant a nail in your house next time."
Zhang Shou immediately understood what Ge Yong meant. He couldn't help but take a breath and said in disbelief, "Teacher means that he is paying a huge price for a horse... No, this word is not appropriate... He recruited such a person to show others that he has the ability to find out the background of all the servants? Ah Liu actually knows how to use military tactics? Is he trying to kill two birds with one stone by making a show of shocking the tiger?"
"Who knows? A guy who doesn't say a word may not be unintelligent." Ge Yong yawned again, and then said lazily, "As for the Zhaoguo Mansion, their response to these things on New Year's Eve may be unexpected... In short, since Zhu Jing and his son are safe, it's no big deal. We can just watch the fun! It's late, let's go to bed!"
Seeing Ge Yong crawl into bed right after he finished speaking, and then he squinted his eyes comfortably, and evenly breathed in a moment, Zhang Shou looked at the old man with some gratitude, not caring whether he was really asleep or pretending to sleep, and whispered: "Teacher, I have always wanted to say thank you to you."
"Back in the village, if you hadn't suddenly come to support me, even though I had revealed my true identity to many students in Cuiyun Room, I would still be accused of deceiving the world and stealing the reputation. And when I arrived in the capital, if I hadn't had the title of Grand Master Ge's last disciple to support me, even if I had the merit of capturing the traitor, I would never have become a doctor of the Imperial College."
"Without you behind me, Zhang Chen and the others would not have been able to obey me so easily. Not to mention those self-righteous young masters in Banshan Hall, none of them are easy to deal with. Jiuzhang Hall would not have been able to reopen for enrollment so smoothly. So, you said before that I had no ambition and insisted on registering so many books under your name. In fact, I know you know."
I know you know, or you can guess, that there are problems behind those textbooks - no matter how talented or precocious a 16-year-old boy is, he has his limits and cannot easily write those books. Even if didn't notice it when you were so excited to accept me as your last disciple in public, you would have guessed it later.
So, after Zhang Shou finished his last extremely difficult sentence, he sighed and said, "I think that the progress of most academies nowadays is problematic. The effect of a seven or eight-year-old child learning the Analects is completely different from that of a teenager. Teachers and parents all use the standard of genius to measure students and juniors, which is actually wrong."
"It's the same with the Mathematical Classics. Expecting beginners to start by reading the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art will only scare them away. Therefore, the extremely fast teaching progress of the Nine Chapters Hall is a special case, only suitable for those students in the Nine Chapters Hall who have good mathematical comprehension, and cannot be popularized."
"I hope that Ge's mathematics can be popularized and more people can start from the basics and learn step by step. Maybe most people only need to learn how to calculate addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, and there is no need to know so much in depth. However, just like the physics book I am writing, I actually hope that more people can learn to think."
At this point, Zhang Shou gently blew out the bedside lamp, then quietly returned to his own soft couch, undressed and lay down. The reason why he changed the first volume of the Nature book he was writing to Physics was because after thinking about it, he still felt that the word Physics was more appropriate - not just because of the study of things to seek principles, in fact, he still liked his own understanding more, Physics is the principle of all things.
After his student days were over, he felt that science was really useless. It was neither as good as Chinese in terms of training one's language expression ability, nor as good as English in terms of being able to apply what one has learned when going abroad for exchanges. It was simply thrown into the trash can as soon as one left school. But later, he gradually realized that, for ordinary people, science cultivates logical thinking and a way of looking at the world.
When he closed his eyes and gradually fell asleep, Mr. Ge, who was breathing evenly, opened his eyes again, clearly awake. Looking at the tent above his head, the elderly man was very satisfied with his vision.
He had seen many officials who were good at caring for the people, many honest officials who were good at solving cases, many generals who were good at fighting, and many principals who opened academies... However, compared with those great Confucian scholars who used propriety, righteousness, integrity and shame to educate the people, what Zhang Shou wanted to do was completely different. The little guy actually wanted to educate differently. Maybe, people wanted to enlighten the people!
If it were someone else, they would definitely think this was incredible, or even sinister. The people would all think about it, instead of letting the emperor and officials manipulate them and tell them to do whatever they wanted. How could that work? But he thought that was the way to go. You know, the Ge family had passed down a quote from Emperor Taizu from their ancestor who followed him.
If the people are not enlightened, the country will not be wise.
On the morning of the first day of the first lunar month, Zhang Shou was awakened again by the crackling sound of firecrackers. He rubbed his eyes sleepily, and it took him a long time to realize that he was staying at Ge's house. But when he recovered and supported himself to sit up, he found that there was no one on the big bed against the wall, and even the quilt had been neatly folded.
He pounded his forehead in annoyance, wondering why he slept so soundly. But when he just opened the quilt, put on his shoes and was about to get out of bed and get dressed, he heard Ge Yong's voice outside. At first he thought it was singing, but as he listened carefully, he found that it was reading something, and as he listened again, he realized that something was wrong.
This seems, probably, possible, perhaps... No, it must be the lines from Peach Blossom Fan written by Twelve Yu in Tingyu Xiaozhu!
Zhang Shou didn't know whether Ge Yong was just reading it on impulse or deliberately reading it to him, so he quickly dressed and put on his shoes, and then quickly fixed his hair. This was a necessary skill after living in the Imperial College for a long time, so in just a moment, he cleaned himself up and went to the outer room to open the door.
Although he shivered due to the cold wind, he wrapped his cloak tightly and walked quickly towards Ge Yong.
"Teacher, you're up so early? Why didn't you call me?"
"You are sleeping like a dead pig. Even if I pinch you, you may not wake up. Why are you screaming?" Ge Yong glanced at Zhang Shou with contempt, and then said without question, "Fortunately, Emperor Taizu changed the time of the New Year's Day court, otherwise I would not let you sleep so late! Eat breakfast quickly, then go to court quickly, and then come back and go out with me to pay New Year's greetings."
Zhang Shou was surprised. You know, in the capital, because there are too many officials, New Year's greetings are often just a formality. On the first day of the New Year, people would send a New Year's greeting card to express their wishes. Even if they are close relatives, they would only send a younger generation to pay New Year's greetings. Otherwise, they would never be able to visit all the relatives and friends. But if it were Ge Yong, this custom would not hold true.
Given Teacher Ge's age, prestige, status, and position, shouldn't he just sit at home and wait for people to come and wish him a happy new year?
Ge Yong was annoyed by Zhang Shou's surprised look, and said angrily: "Why, do you think I'm one of those old men who have nothing to do at home and wait for people to kowtow to me? On the first day of the new year, I often go to Old Qi and Old Chu for a stroll. When I come back, my students should come to pay New Year's greetings. You can also meet your brothers."
After a pause, he said casually, "Of course, if you meet someone on the road, I can also take you to introduce them. If there are many people at home, you can send a note to ask Twelve Rains of Tingyu Xiaozhu to come over, dance with them, or even put on a play, wouldn't it be lively?"
The previous
After finishing breakfast, Zhang Shou rushed to the Zhengdan Court to handle some errands, then came back to eat something to fill his stomach, and went out with Ge Yong. He found that the old man always opened the curtains and looked out of the car in the cold weather, and would stop the car whenever he saw an acquaintance, and then pull him to chat with them. Zhang Shou couldn't help feeling helpless.
Ge Yong was a maniac who showed off his disciple, especially when he only walked three streets in half an hour and stopped seven times. Every time he praised my student, he smiled so hard that his cheeks hurt.
The visit to Qi Yunshan's home went smoothly. Old Lady Qi was always smiling and kind. Zhang Shou not only received a lot of praise, but also received a red envelope from Qi Yunshan, as all the gifts he brought were personally arranged by Ge Yong! Ge Yong not only did not help him refuse, but even added fuel to the fire with an expression that he would not give up if he did not take it.
After a proper lunch at Qi's house, the trip to Chu's house was not so easy. Zhang Shou once again witnessed the two old children arguing with each other. The most speechless thing was that the two almost had a fight on the spot - this time the thing they calculated was something grand, it was actually a solar eclipse! In desperation, he could only find ways to make jokes with Chu Ying's eldest son, and finally dragged Ge Yong away.
When he finished running around and helped Ge Yong get on the car to go home, he finally couldn't help but wipe the sweat off his forehead. But just as he sat down, he heard the driver outside say in a deep voice: "Master, I just heard that the families of several imperial censors involved in those cases yesterday are shouting loudly outside that the people who sued them were all instigated by the Duke of Zhao's mansion."
"Oh, look, it really is here?"
Ge Yong tapped the carriage board with his fingers with a smile, told them to go home, then looked at Zhang Shou and said earnestly: "One side is filing a complaint, the other side is crying out for injustice, anyone can see that those censors have made a huge fuss this time, but what about the Duke of Zhao's mansion? Everyone is quiet, not even a sound. The people may think that someone has framed them, but the court..."
As he said this he chuckled. "Retribution comes quickly in this life. Those families didn't expect that their own family members were so stupid, did they?
Zhang Shou savored the sudden incident and had already heard the hidden meaning in his teacher's words. Logically, his family had been in the position of a victim of false accusations, and the imperial censors only needed to wait for them to be "cleared of their grievances." But on the first day of the new year, his family was crying out for injustice, which not only damaged the image of the victim, but also gave the impression that they were trying to cover up their wrongdoings.
Thinking that this bucket of dirty water might have been thrown by the Duke of Zhao's mansion, he couldn't help but laugh, thinking that the officialdom really did everything they could. Sure enough, as the carriage slowly moved forward on the street, among the various noisy voices outside, he could occasionally hear discussions about the series of farces on New Year's Eve and the first day of the first lunar month. He knew that this matter was indeed a big deal.
The car stopped at the gate of Ge's house, and the doorman hurried over immediately. Seeing Zhang Shou, who got off the car first, helping Ge Yong down, the doorman smiled and made hand gestures. Of course, Zhang Shou didn't understand at all.
"So many New Year's greetings? You've been waiting until now and won't leave until you see me?" Ge Yong took the initiative to translate it for Zhang Shou, then raised his eyebrows with suspicion, "Didn't I tell you not to let in irrelevant people?"
Seeing that the doorman started to make gestures again, his brows gradually relaxed, but he turned his head to look at Zhang Shou, and then smiled: "I thought, I only have a few students in the capital, most of them just send a letter, not many people will come in person, how can there be so many people to wish me a happy new year. It turns out that all your students have come to me!"
