Volume 5: Fellow Traveler Chapter 801 Sympathy and Dictionary
The Third Prince left the palace in a hurry, originally with a lot of indignation, but when he saw a blond boy with completely different hair color, skin color and appearance from his own people actually working on math problems with great interest, he threw his original purpose out of the window. When Zhang Shou dragged him away from the blackboard without explanation, he stepped forward and took a closer look at the hastily drawn deduction.
After reading it, he turned to Zhang Shou and asked, "Teacher, he doesn't seem to have mastered all the theorems of triangles?"
"Euclid's Στοιχεiα is a subject of study for scholars in his country, and he is too young. Moreover, the popular book there is in Latin. Although it has some similarities with the language he can speak and write, he should not have learned it at his age. The two points he used before are already good."
Seeing Lu Sanlang immediately looking at the blond boy with a rather amusing look, and the blond boy looking guilty, Zhang Shou smiled and said, "A long time ago, Latin was actually just a dialect commonly used in a small area of the Italian peninsula where he lived. But later, the Roman Empire, which spoke this language, became powerful and dominated the area, and it became the common language in the West for a time."
"Later, although the Roman Empire was divided into two branches, the East and the West, it was still a huge empire, and Latin gradually split into two different forms, written and spoken. Let's put it this way, just like in the Ming Dynasty, the words spoken by ordinary people are completely different from the words used in articles and books."
After he explained this, the Third Prince, Lu Sanlang, and others all nodded to show that they understood. At this time, Zhang Shou glanced at the blond boy and his smile deepened.
"In today 's West, learned princes and nobles and their religious figures will learn Latin, because this is a language that must be mastered when communicating with small countries, and this mostly depends on a teacher who is proficient in Latin. However, ordinary small nobles, or wealthy people with a good family background, may not be willing to spend a lot of money to hire such a teacher for their concubines."
In order to make it easier to understand, Zhang Shou changed the name of the family teacher to a teacher. As a result, a large number of people nodded their heads in understanding as soon as he said this. There were truly wealthy young men like Lu Sanlang who didn't like studying since childhood but had many teachers, as well as the mostly poor students of Jiuzhang Hall, and even children like Ji Jiu and Zhang Dakuaitou who were once marginalized at home.
Therefore, there were some who did not have their own teachers. Some went to study with other brothers in their own family or even other people's families. Some even studied with the favored brothers in the family. Some even hired teachers when their family was prominent but could not afford it after their family fell into poverty... There were many people, and there were many different situations. But at this time, most people no longer looked at the blond boy with the same critical eyes as at the beginning.
There were even people who were not afraid to expose their family's dirty laundry and sighed, "Hiring a teacher to teach just one person is a privilege only afforded to the most favored son in the family. Of course, concubines can forget about it. A relative of mine once had two concubines outside, and he spoiled them like crazy. It was said that they even had two sons, but his fierce wife persuaded the elders to cut off his money!"
"Now, he has nothing to lose. His two concubines saw that he had no money, so they packed up their belongings and ran away. The child was sent back to him, but he ended up raising him together with the sons of servants. Forget about studying. He is just like a servant."
If there was a first one, there would be a second one. Because after hearing what Zhang Shou had just said to the blond boy that he would not send anyone to mine, and with the Crown Prince also coming, those who tried to understand Zhang Shou's intentions couldn't help but speak for him. Those who truly sympathized with this foreign boy also spoke up. As for those who were just there to watch the fun, they were telling tragic stories about some of Zhang Shou's concubines' sons.
Because of these guys who were observing people's words and actions and stirring up trouble, Lu Sanlang remembered that he had also been scolded by his two brothers as a stupid fat pig, and was not even as good as a servant at home. He couldn't help but glance at the blond boy with some sympathy, wondering if this boy was also rejected by the eldest wife and legitimate brothers in the family, so he took the risk to get on that boat.
Even the Third Prince thought of the time when he was bullied by the First and Second Princes. But if it wasn't for that, he and his Fourth Brother wouldn't have the honor of being taken to the Palace of Heavenly Purity by their father and kept under his watch all the time. He was relieved. He nodded and said, "From what the teacher said, Latin is just like elegant language and correct pronunciation. It's not his fault that he doesn't know Latin."
However, under the gazes of so many people, some with sympathy, some with pity, some with contempt, and some with contempt, the blond boy, who was the son of a concubine, had a hundred, a thousand question marks in his mind.
What are these people talking about? What is the eldest wife? Is it referring to his nominal mother, his father's formal wife? Is the son of the concubine referring to him? The eldest wife oppressed the son of the concubine and treated him as a servant. Does it mean that his mother treated him as a servant?
But his mother treated him very well, but the mother who gave birth to him was very rude. He still remembered that when he lived with her as a child, he would be beaten for no reason. However, this kind of thing they said was also very common in Florence. Many illegitimate children were not recognized by their families and could only live with their mothers of low status, or even be abandoned and live on the streets.
Of course, the illegitimate children of the great nobles don’t have to worry about it. Their mothers will receive a large sum of alimony and even a magnificent house, and then raise their sons carefully so that they will still have someone to rely on in the future when they age.
Thinking of this, the blond boy narrowed his eyes slightly, and did not speak casually, but tried to capture more information from the words of these people - compared with the captain and sailors he had been with on the ship, the status of these people was much higher. Whether it was Zhang Xueshi who knew Latin and Στοιχεiα, or the prince, they were all big shots.
Zhang Shou did not stop everyone from imagining things, but let everyone's chattering come to an end. He then continued, "However, whether he has learned Latin or not is not important. I just flipped through those books and found that not all of them are mathematical classics. Some of them may be very old dictionaries."
The blond boy didn't understand what a dictionary meant, but the others were also confused. The third prince, who had already completely forgotten his real purpose, was the first to ask, "Teacher, is the so-called dictionary a book like "Shuowen Jiezi"?"
Zhang Shou couldn't help wanting to slap his head. Although it had been so long, he still couldn't forget some of the idioms he used in the past. He shook his head and said in a deep voice: "I'm not talking about a book like "Shuowen Jiezi" that explains the meaning of words, but a dictionary between two languages."
Without Zhang Shou's analogy, Lu Sanlang, who was very quick to react, clapped his hands immediately: "Doesn't that mean that we can translate those mathematical classics based on dictionaries... Wait, that's not right, if there were Chinese characters in those books, the captain would have discovered it long ago! What are the two languages for comparison?"
"I don't know." Zhang Shou shrugged. Seeing a lot of people staring in astonishment, he spread his hands and said, "Even if it's a comparative dictionary of two languages, that's just my guess. Because of the neat arrangement of the two columns on the left and right, I couldn't help but guess in this direction."
At this point, Zhang Shou instructed Lu Sanlang, "Go to my school, on the third shelf of the second bookcase on the left when you enter the door, on the first stack of books on your left, take any book down. By the way, remember to take a pair of gloves from the drawer when you take the book. Those books are quite old, and they have been drifting on the sea again, so they can't stand the rigors of it."
Seeing the fat boy immediately turn around and run away with an agility that was not supposed to be possible for his fat body, Zhang Shou just left a bunch of people staring at each other, turned around and walked to the blackboard, casually erased the blond boy's previous solution process, and then picked up the pen to start solving the problem.
As lines of words were left on the blackboard, the students of Jiuzhang Hall below stared at it intently. The Third Prince watched it even more attentively, verifying the problem-solving process in his mind.
As for the blond boy who was thinking about Zhang Shou's comparison and dictionary, he suddenly forgot that his mine crisis had just been resolved a little, and was only focused on watching the problem-solving process.
Moreover, he not only looked, but also thought while looking. When he found that one of Zhang Shou's equations seemed to be self-evident, he even subconsciously wanted to ask, but Zhang Shou suddenly stopped writing and then nodded on this equation.
"There is also a corresponding theorem in Euclid's Στοιχεiα. You will know it after you study it."
Hearing no doubts or objections from behind, he continued to write down. After finishing the solution to one problem, he also wrote the full solution to another problem. When he finished solving the two problems, he heard Lu Sanlang's impetuous voice: "I got them all!"
Zhang Shou immediately had a bad feeling when he heard the words "bring them all". Sure enough, when he turned around, he saw the fat Lu Sanlang holding a large pile of books, at least seven or eight. He asked someone to pick one at random, but he just brought all the books he mentioned!
Faced with this situation, Zhang Shou, who was at a loss whether to laugh or cry, did not bother to say anything more. He stepped forward and took the top book. After flipping through it, he walked up to the blond boy and waved the book in front of the boy with his eyes fixed on him.
"Well, stop. Look at this one first, and then tell me if it is a dictionary. If it is, is one of the languages Latin, and what is the other? And if it is not a dictionary, what is it?"
This series of questions immediately brought the blond boy back to his senses.
He hurriedly reached out to take Zhang Shou's book, flipped through it and confirmed that it was indeed completely different from the "Στοιχεiα" he had read before, and it seemed to be a dictionary. Even if he had not really learned Latin, he had at least come into contact with Latin books, at least glanced at them a few times, and could recognize them. Therefore, after he turned a few pages attentively, he looked up with joy on his face.
"Yes, this is a dictionary, a Tuscan-Latin dictionary! I can speak and write Tuscan, so I can understand this dictionary!"
The pronunciation of the word "Tuscany" was not unfamiliar to Zhang Shou, who knew a little about the geographical and political structure of Italy. Of course, the first time he knew this word was because of the book "The Count of Monte Cristo" he read in middle school. Because the famous Monte Cristo Island once belonged to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in Italy.
However, for other people, the word "Tuscany" is completely confusing from pronunciation to meaning - of course, it's not just Tuscany, but even Italy, Spain, Portugal... These countries and place names that were once marked directly on the globe and maps by Emperor Taizu, ordinary people, even the children of officials, don't know them, let alone have any concept of them.
Only Lu Sanlang and others who were tutors at Ciqing Palace had the honor of seeing the huge globe and the incredibly detailed map, but their understanding of the West was no better than that of the others present. As for Lu Sanlang, who was good at math, he was a mess at geography. At this moment, he racked his brains while holding a pile of books, but couldn't remember where Tuscany was.
In the midst of an unspeakable silence, the Third Prince spoke up, "Since this is a dictionary and he recognizes it, then, teacher, please let him sit in on the class at the Jiuzhang Hall. I will tell my father when I get back. After all, if he wants to translate those arithmetic classics from foreign countries, his current ability is not enough and he still needs to learn."
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is truly a great man!
Although he only understood half of the Third Prince's words, he at least understood the core meaning. The blond boy was so happy that he almost jumped up and waved his fist to express his excitement. But then he heard a dissenting voice: "Your Highness, this person's identity is unknown..."
Before the opposing tutor could finish his words, the Third Prince said disapprovingly, "We are not asking him to be a tutor in Ciqing Palace. We are just asking him to improve his basic mathematics in the public school to see if he is really gifted. What does this have to do with his status? Can he possibly find out any secrets in this public school?"
"Besides, he comes from a small country in the west thousands of miles away. Can he really fight a war with the Ming Dynasty?"
Zhang Shou saw that the Third Prince had silenced the tutor with just a few words. Although he only showed a little bit of edge, he still found it quite interesting. He nodded with a smile and said, "Since Your Highness the Crown Prince said so, let him listen in Jiuzhang Hall for a while. Of course, I won't deliberately slow down his progress for him."
As soon as these words came out, Ji Jiu immediately led the group in laughter. He was the undisputed class monitor among the freshmen—not because of his outstanding grades, but because he was smooth and measured in dealing with people, and he was considerate of everything. Everyone felt comfortable with him. So when he laughed, the others who had been holding back couldn't help but laugh along.
After the matter was finalized, the Third Prince finally remembered the purpose of his visit. He immediately respectfully invited Zhang Shou back to the school hall in the name of asking for advice. When he got there, he did not mention what happened last night. Instead, he said very sincerely: "Teacher, my father suddenly gave you such a difficult matter, and I can't help you. If you have anything for me to do, just ask."
Zhang Shou was slightly stunned and then burst into laughter: "If Your Highness really wants to help me, you can tell the Emperor when you go back to select a group of talents to learn these foreign languages and translate more books. Although these small countries are thousands of miles away, you have seen the boat I demonstrated at the Imperial Lecture before. If it can really sail automatically, it can reach tens of thousands of miles away in an instant, then it is not far away!"
