Volume 5: Fellow Traveler Chapter 819: Calm and Strong
Liang Jiucheng, who was invited back from the Ancient and Modern Collection by Zhu Ying, seemed to be carefully examining his first student who had not been castrated and was from overseas, but in fact he was distracted by the conversation outside. After all, he had been practicing both civil and military since he was young. Even if he was not as good as those imperial attendants who specialized in martial arts, he was naturally sharp-eyed and sharp-eared.
When he heard Zhu Ying solemnly introducing him to Zhang Shou outside, and Zhang Shou directly praised him as a rare talent, Liang Jiucheng couldn't help but smile, even though he was usually serious and spent almost the entire day in the Gujin Tongjiku.
This time, in addition to teaching the other party the Ming language, he also had another plan, which was to learn the other party's language and writing from him, and then pass it on in the palace. As for whether this writing and language are useful...Emperor Taizu said it well, whether it is useful or not, learn it first, maybe the territory of the Ming Dynasty will really expand to that place in the future?
Therefore, when Liang Jiucheng collected his thoughts and looked at the blond boy in front of him, he said slowly: "Starting tomorrow, you don't have to go to Jiuzhang Hall. First, study Chinese characters with me carefully."
Seeing the young man's face change drastically, he obviously understood what he said, and immediately wanted to say something, he interrupted directly: "If you want to translate the mathematical classics, you must first learn the mathematical classics well, but how much of what Zhang Xueshi said in Jiuzhang Hall can you understand? How much do you dare to say that you understand? In mathematical classics, he is unique."
After being stabbed so sharply, Wu Dawei was speechless. He had been attending classes during the day and comparing notes he had taken when reading a Latin version of a book at night, trying to understand and catch up with Zhang Shou's teaching progress, but the result was completely different from what he had imagined. He found that he was not gradually understanding, but the more he listened, the less he understood!
Mr. Zhang talked about a lot of things, and they were very diverse... Some of them definitely did not belong to the category of geometry, but involved a lot of formulas.
Seeing the blond boy looking around uneasily, Liang Jiucheng said earnestly: "There are all kinds of mathematical classics in our dynasty, and you can't understand them without learning characters. Master Zhang's Jiuzhang Hall has two grades, but because the seniors in the upper grades have been interning in Xuanfu Datong and various departments before, their progress is similar to that of the younger ones, and now they often take classes together."
"But we will recruit students every year in the future. Don't you think it would be better for you to learn Chinese characters well now instead of just sitting there and auditing the class like an idiot? Of course, if you think that you can't learn Chinese characters and that you will be sent to a mine to dig for the rest of your life, then just ignore what I said."
"I'm not afraid!"
Wu Dawei could only understand a little bit of the first part, but he miraculously understood the last part about the mine. And because he understood it, the boy was immediately enraged.
Although he had been very careful and attentive after the ordeal he had suffered on the ship, trying to leave an impression of being obedient and useful, deep down he was still the arrogant boy who looked down on others despite being an illegitimate child.
Although he didn't know how to provoke someone, he had seen businessmen use a few words to force people into a corner, and he had also seen those bad tricks of setting traps in words to lure people into taking the bait. He used to laugh at those who were fooled as fools, but at this time, impulse completely occupied his mind, so that he blurted out: "Okay, I'll learn from you!"
It would be easy for Liang Jiucheng to deal with such a young man who was not very worldly-wise - if not, his life would have been in vain.
The corners of his mouth slightly raised, and then he said nonchalantly: "Well, let's get started now. I have taught a few illiterate foreign teenagers before, so I have some experience. The first lesson will start with writing names."
"Now, tell me your name, the names of your father and grandfather, and your mother. Don't panic. I know that the names of foreigners are very strange and cannot be expressed in the characters of our dynasty. So you just need to roughly pronounce a pronunciation, and then I will write down the corresponding Chinese characters. Of course, if you are capable, you can also make up a name for these relatives of yours."
There was another series of words that were so strenuous to listen to that the blond boy had to ask a few more questions. After finally understanding them, he was immediately in trouble.
You know, his name, Wu Dawei, was derived from the pronunciation of the name of Augustus in the Roman Empire, and fortunately, this Eastern country happened to have a corresponding surname. For this reason, he spent a long time learning how to write these three difficult words, and then remembered them firmly in his mind.
Now, if he doesn't want to reveal the names of his parents and grandfather, he must come up with his own.
Although he thought carefully, it would be fine to leak the information. After all, the captain must have asked people to find out the name of his father who was angry and greedy at the time and had a huge conflict with the ship. Maybe everyone here knew it, but he just didn't want to say it. Anyway, in this oriental country, they didn't care about this.
So, after thinking carefully, he said word by word: "My father's name is Gaius, my mother's name is Decia, and my grandfather's name is Marcus." These are very common names in ancient Rome. Can you really go all the way to confront them?
Liang Jiucheng was such a person that he knew that the blond boy in front of him was just making it up. However, he didn't care whether it was a fake name or not, and said calmly, "Since you named yourself Wu Dawei, then your surname is Wu. It would be inappropriate to claim that your grandfather and father had such foreign names."
"Your father's name is Gaius, so he is called Wu Gai. Your grandfather's name is Marcus, so he is called Wu Si. As for your mother Dechia, in my dynasty, after a woman gets married, she can use her husband's surname instead. Even if your mother is a woman from another family, she can still be called Wu Dai. In China, surnames are the foundation of a person's life, so you have to remember them!"
At this moment, not to mention that Wu Dawei shuddered unconsciously at the sound of Liang Jiucheng's feminine voice, even Zhang Shou who was outside the door felt that this kind of behavior of casually giving people's ancestors a new name of Ming Dynasty was really very eunuch party... Well, these days, there were too few eunuchs in the palace, and they had no connection with external officials, so it seemed that there was not much, so the word eunuch party was not popular at all.
Liang Jiucheng seemed to be unaware of how strong his tone was. He smiled and said, "However, I have to tell Master Zhang and his wife that you need a study. After all, Master Zhang needs to use the study, so he can't give it to you."
Even at home, Wu Dawei didn't have his own study room. Although he felt that the other party was too tough at this time, when he saw that he really went out to discuss the study room issue with Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying, he couldn't help but find that this teacher seemed not bad.
There are quite a few guests staying in Zhang Garden now, one more or one less won't make much either. In addition, after the wedding banquet, the rooms on the west side that were previously used for banquets were also vacated. So when Zhang Shou heard Liang Jiucheng propose to give Wu Dawei a study, he asked Zhu Ying and immediately called Ah Liu to ask if there were any empty rooms in the house.
But when he asked this, Liang Jiucheng smiled and said, "If there is an empty room, you might as well leave one for me. I can't afford to go back and forth between the palace and here every day, even if the distance is not far."
Zhang Shou was shocked. This disabled but strong-willed man, Eunuch Liang, actually planned to stay in his house and become a real tutor... no, teacher?
If these were his children, it would be normal for them to be so dedicated and responsible, but Wu Dawei is a young man from Florence, Italy. It is impossible that this eunuch Liang hit it off at first sight and decided to adopt him as his godson, right?
Zhang Shou thought so in his heart, but he didn't show it on his face. He simply asked Ah Liu: "Do you have a separate courtyard at home?"
Seeing Ah Liu blinking his eyes, as if he was seriously considering whether there was a suitable empty house, Zhu Ying could not help but burst out laughing, and then said with a smile: "Ah Liu, Eunuch Liang is very knowledgeable. If someone like him stays, the children from Rongshui Village in his family may be able to attend his classes. This is really worthwhile!"
"If you dare to say that you don't have a house, then you are neglecting your honored guest. I will punish you by making you serve as a stake for me to practice swordplay with you for three days!"
Even though Liang Jiucheng had never seen Ah Liu before, he knew who this was when he saw Miss Zhu speaking to someone in such an intimate tone. He immediately said politely, "Is this Master Xiao Liu? Haha, Madam, you are flattering me. I don't have any other skills. I just spend my time reading old books. How can I be considered as a scholar?"
"The guy in the house is not a big shot, and I am even less so. I don't need a small courtyard. If there is no empty house, I can look for a place like a woodshed where sundries are stored. I can take him there to clean up. It won't be too much trouble."
Ah Liu didn't care about having more people at home, but he cared whether the newcomer was someone the young master and the eldest lady really wanted to keep. Since Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying both said that Liang Jiucheng was useful, and the blond boy in the study was obviously someone the young master needed, he was of course thinking seriously about which empty house was suitable for the other party to live in.
And now the new eunuch Liang was just like the servants in Duke Zhao's mansion. He was polite to him and did not take advantage of his palace origin to be free from discipline. He felt respected, so he made the decision quickly.
"In the northwest corner of the outer courtyard, next to the courtyards of Young Master Song and Young Master Fang, there is an empty small courtyard. Although it is not big, it has been tidied up before, and the utensils inside are also complete. Eunuch Liang can move there with that Wu Dawei. But..."
At this point, he suddenly paused and said, "But, this Wu Dawei was originally allowed by the emperor to do odd jobs in the public school to compensate for the cost of food, accommodation, study, etc. But he couldn't stay in the public school, and others didn't like him because he was clumsy, so the young master brought him back to be a book boy. If he wants to live and eat for free in Zhang Garden, that won't work."
Zhu Ying didn't expect Ah Liu to be so obsessed with this point. Even Zhang Shou didn't care about this. She was a little amused. After all, she invited such a truly knowledgeable person among the eunuchs, but she didn't even mention Shu Xiu!
However, she has always liked Ah Liu's introverted character, so when she saw Zhang Shou smiling without saying anything, she simply did not say anything, but just smiled and watched Liang Jiucheng's reaction.
Sure enough, this eunuch Liang, who had spent thirty years in the Ancient and Modern Collection Library and seemed to be ignorant of the ways of the world, was not angered by Ah Liu at all. Instead, he smiled and said, "Although this kid has a lot to learn, it is said that one should combine work with rest. In his spare time besides studying, he should certainly work in Mr. Zhang's study to make up for it."
He hesitated for a moment, then added: "Even if I am an idle person living here, I can help Master Zhang organize the books in his study. After all, this is my specialty."
At this time, Zhang Shou finally couldn't continue to watch the fun. He quickly laughed and said, "Eunuch Liang, Ah Liu is always very serious, you should not bother with him. With your knowledge, how can I be worthy of helping me organize my study? But I have brought back all those overseas classics that Eunuch Chen sent me before. You are proficient in many languages, maybe you can learn something from reading them."
Liang Jiucheng smiled bitterly, "Master Zhang thinks too highly of me. I am said to be proficient in many languages, but I have spent decades and still cannot understand the Taizu manuscripts in the Gujin Tongjiku. Emperor Taizu was a real scholar. Although the characters in his manuscripts are very similar to those from the West, no eunuchs who are proficient in many languages in the past hundred years can understand them."
"But it's not like the books brought back by the ship this time... At least some people can recognize it. It's the language used by Western monks and nobles. But even if there is an interpreter on board, there are only a few people who can speak a few words, so they can't understand the language. Alas, there are almost no people in the palace who understand those Western languages. It's really not as good as when the country was founded."
Zhang Shou heard Liang Jiucheng sighing that Emperor Taizu was a genius, and that even language geniuses couldn't understand him. He managed to keep his face straight without revealing any flaws. That was Chinese English, which was a step further than Pinyin. If one could understand it, he was simply a god!
He didn't want to continue this topic, so he followed the tone that Zhu Ying had used when she introduced Liang Jiucheng to Ah Liu, and half-jokingly and half-seriously suggested that when Liang Jiucheng was teaching Wu Dawei, he would also let the children at home who had almost no basic knowledge of the subject attend the class.
In those days, teachers, even if they had no official titles themselves, often regarded themselves as arrogant and were only willing to teach the sons of their master's family. Liang Jiucheng's knowledge was far superior to that of the average teacher. Faced with Zhang Shou's request, which would be considered humiliating by most scholars, Liang Jiucheng agreed without hesitation.
"Since we all start from being illiterate, one more or one less doesn't make any difference. However, I have been in the Ancient and Modern Collection Library for many years, but I only have two real students. It's not because I am picky, but because I am strict. Let alone the little guys in your family, Master Zhang, even the one in the room, I can't say how long he can last under my guidance."
Zhang Shou immediately thought of the students who were tortured to death by the Jiuzhangtang's sea of questions, but who gritted their teeth and persevered. He felt that he had a lot in common with this eunuch Liang. Therefore, he smiled and said without thinking: "A strict teacher produces excellent students. Eunuch Liang, just teach according to your pace. If anyone is lazy and slack..." As he said that, he pointed at Ah Liu and said: "Ah Liu will teach them a lesson!"
