Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 554: First Meeting
The news that the East Palace would soon have a master spread from the palace to the government office, from the government office to the houses, and from the houses to the people. In just one or two days, it became the hottest news in the entire capital. For the four heads of the Yashe who had been summoned and lectured by the emperor once, this sudden news was like a thunderbolt heralding the coming of spring.
Everyone guessed that the third prince was the popular candidate to enter the Eastern Palace, but no one expected that the emperor would not drag his feet on establishing the Eastern Palace like he had done in previous years, but would suddenly make a thundering decision.
Therefore, the three principals who occasionally got together a few days ago - the eccentric principal Hong was excluded from the circle by the other three early on - have no time to drink tea and chat together in the past two days. Some people stay in their rooms and don't go out, as if they are thinking about countermeasures; some go out every day and meet guests every day; and some have to receive several visiting students every day.
Seeing others busy every day, Hong, who had met Chu Kuan once, was relatively calm. However, when she saw her father, Hong Shanchang, becoming more and more irritated, she knew that her father was probably regretting his straightforward request to return home in front of the emperor.
Perhaps my father really doesn't care that much about fame, wealth and power, but if I can become the prince's teacher, if the future emperor can grow up under my guidance, and if he ascends the throne in the future, he can implement certain policies that I have advised, then for my father, it will be an irresistible temptation!
But others didn't know, but she heard clearly from Chu Kuan that the emperor was fed up with her self-righteous father, Hong Shanzhang, and there was no way he would keep her. When Chu Kuan offered her that great bait, the Third Prince was still the Third Prince, but now the Third Prince was about to become the Crown Prince, and even she herself felt that there was little hope of fulfilling Chu Kuan's promise.
At this moment, Mrs. Hong was sorting out the boxes and crates as ordered by her father, when she heard a bang. When she turned around, she saw that Mr. Hong had already dropped the book in his hand. If it were normal, she would have gone up to persuade him, but now she was too lazy to move because she had persuaded him too much and was exhausted. But the next moment, she heard a knock on the door.
"Madam Hong, Princess Yongping sent you an invitation to Yuehua Tower."
Hong's heart skipped a beat and she instinctively turned her head to look at Hong Shanchang. The last time she went out, she received a note saying that they would meet at Yuehua Tower, but her name was unknown. At that time, her father, who knew about this, criticized Princess Yongping for being a hen that crowed at dawn, and he hated the Yuehua Tower literary gathering even more. She knew that it was not Princess Yongping who invited them, but she couldn't expose it.
However, the post sent this time was directly signed by Princess Yongping, so it couldn't be Chu Kuan's trick again.
She thought her father would object and complain, but what she saw was a face that instantly froze and had no expression. So she quickly walked to the door and opened it. Seeing the waiter presenting the note with a big smile on his face, she nodded in thanks, but carefully avoided her father's sight and took out a handful of money as a reward.
When everyone left satisfied, Mrs. Hong was surprised to see that the post was dated today. She quickly turned around and went to her father to explain the matter in a low voice. As a result, she thought she would have to spend a lot of time to convince him, but Mr. Hong agreed easily, but his tone was still a little stiff.
"Go ahead. After all, you are the princess' tutor appointed by the Queen Mother. Remember to persuade her! After all, you are a royal daughter. Don't always do things that are in the spotlight!"
Seeing that this time, Director Hong finally stopped talking about the rooster crowing at dawn, Mrs. Hong breathed a sigh of relief, then knelt down to say yes, and then immediately went back to her room to prepare. When she was leaving with her mother, she learned that a carriage had been prepared outside, and she couldn't help but feel that today's invitation might not be simple.
She had also inquired about the date of the Yuehua Tower literary gathering before, and clearly remembered that it was not today. Sure enough, when the carriage finally stopped at the foot of Yuehua Tower, she bent down from the door and got out of the carriage without opening the curtains all the way. Before she could stand still, she heard a crisp call: "Madam Hong."
When Hong looked up, she saw a gorgeous face - a red shirt and skirt, black hair with a golden hairpin, glittering with pearls and jade, a lively look, and a cheerful smile. Could it be Zhu Ying?
Although she herself was plain-looking and had suffered a lot of ridicule from those pretty young ladies when she was young, she should have kept her distance from such people. However, although she had only met Zhu Ying once, she felt that in front of this Miss Zhu, her nerves, which had been tense since she arrived in Beijing, could be relaxed.
Because as long as you sincerely compliment her on her beauty and good taste, Zhu Ying will immediately be very happy and treat you as her own. As for whether Zhu Ying can tell if it is not sincere, Hong does not want to try at all.
She smiled and called Miss Zhu, and then she saw someone came forward and held her hand. She remembered that last time in the capital, Zhu Ying came in a rage, but after a few words with her, she turned from annoyance to joy, and also held her hand to go to Qingning Palace to see the Queen Mother. She just thought that such a straightforward girl was really cute, and she didn't struggle at the moment, but just followed the person forward.
"Could it be that it was you, Miss, who invited me today instead of Princess Yongping?"
"you guess?"
Zhu Ying turned around and smiled and raised her eyebrows at Hong. Seeing that she was a little confused, she smiled and said, "Of course I won't use Yongping's name to invite you. She is here, but there are others. You have to prepare well. Today may be a big test."
Hearing the word "big test", Hong's heart skipped a beat. She calmed herself down and said with a smile, "I am just an ordinary girl, accompanying the princess to read poems and essays. What else do I need to take a test for? Could it be that the eldest lady's ideal husband is here to test me personally? I am not as gifted as him, and I don't know anything about those arithmetic classics."
She seemed unaware of anything and just kept chatting and laughing with Zhu Ying until she went up the stairs to the third floor. She immediately saw Zhang Shou standing by the railing, holding a young boy's hand, pointing at the people downstairs.
Although Zhang Shou was only wearing a very ordinary dark blue robe today, with no gold or jade on his body, and a pair of ordinary cloth shoes on his feet, she unconsciously looked at him a few more times, and her eyes soon fell on the young girl who was like a secluded orchid in the valley. Without a doubt, that was Princess Yongping.
When she found out that the emperor had not come, Hong, who had been pretending to be calm, suddenly felt relieved. Although she had been appointed by the empress dowager as the tutor of Princess Yongping a few days ago, the girls' school had not yet started. Although she had expressed her gratitude and requested to meet the princess, she had not received a response. Therefore, this was her first time meeting Princess Yongping.
Seeing Zhu Ying personally come forward to introduce her to Princess Yongping, she had to kneel down and salute. However, unlike those daughters she had met before who clearly hated her but still pretended to be friendly and attentive, Princess Yongping's attitude towards her was not warm. She just nodded slightly and said, "I have heard of Madam Hong for a long time."
After Princess Yongping simply greeted him, she turned her head to look at Zhang Shou who was leading the Third Prince over and said, "Doctor Zhang of the Imperial College, you should have met him. This is my younger brother, the Third Prince Zheng Rong. You should also know that he will be the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace soon."
"Third sister..."
The third prince cried out in embarrassment, and wanted to explain himself, but suddenly he felt that he had no way to explain. At this moment, Zhang Shou happened to pat him on the back from behind, and he tried his best to show the most generous attitude.
"Mrs. Hong, I heard that you are not only filial but also talented. You are the most famous filial daughter and talented woman in Jiangxi. But I listened to the lecture of Dean Hong in the Imperial College the other day and I just felt that it was a bit old-fashioned. Am I too superficial?"
Hong was immediately inwardly awed. Was this a suggestion from Zhang Shou and Princess Yongping to the Third Prince, or did the Third Prince come up with this question himself? If the Third Prince came up with this question himself, then this young prince was not as obscure and gentle as the rumors said, and he was even a little timid. He actually had his own ideas!
Therefore, she thought for a moment and answered frankly: "If the Third Prince wants me to evaluate the quality of my father's teachings, then I am afraid I will disappoint you. My father teaches the way of sages, and the way of sages is close to the unchanging principles between heaven and earth. The lifelong efforts of many great scholars are just to make everyone closer to the principles."
She paused, then changed the subject and said, "I know I am dull, so although I have read a lot of classics, history, and literature, I only dabbled in them, not to mention reason. What I am most interested in are those minor subjects that are despised by scholars. Fortunately, the emperor lifted the ban on astronomy, so I was able to work hard to rescue a student from Yuzhang Academy who was grinding crystals for stargazing from prison."
"Trying to stargaze?" The third prince's eyes widened immediately, and he asked with curiosity and excitement, "Not using your eyes, but grinding crystal to stargaze? What kind of crystal? Is it the kind of lens that the teacher mentioned, flat at both ends and thick in the middle? The teacher seemed to have said that it is called a convex lens..."
Zhang Shou couldn't help but laugh when he saw the Third Prince looking at him while he was talking.
He looked at the surprised Hong and said calmly, "There used to be a class in Banshan Hall, which can be called nature or physics. I recently wrote the corresponding textbook, but it has not been printed yet. I just gave the manuscript to the teacher and Mr. Chu and Mr. Qi to read. There is an entry about convex lenses in it."
Zhang Shou deliberately mentioned the principle of light propagation in a concise manner, and then he saw, not surprisingly, that Zhu Ying and Princess Yongping both frowned - the eldest daughter had always had a headache with mathematics, science and liberal arts, and was probably only good at all sports subjects including martial arts, and Princess Yongping was obviously a liberal arts master but a science loser, so he naturally quickly skipped over this part.
When he saw that Hong also showed an expression that looked a bit troubled, instead of understanding what he meant immediately, he finally breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that he was right. Although Hong had some characteristics that were different from ordinary women, it was obvious that she was not a time-traveling woman with countless golden fingers.
With Zhang Shou's explanation, the Third Prince no longer asked Mrs. Hong what she thought of Principal Hong's lectures, but instead curiously asked about the stargazing by the student of Yuzhang Academy.
Zhang Shou heard from the side that Hong got a notebook from somewhere and gave it to a student of Yuzhang Academy who was interested in miscellaneous subjects. This rich boy actually tinkered with a simple machine for grinding lenses, and then ground out a simple convex lens, which even started a fire!
Then, this rich kid, who would surely be ridiculed by people at the time as "too idle", followed the instructions in the notes and used a telescope with a wooden tube to observe the stars! This time, he happened to observe a certain astronomical phenomenon and shouted about it everywhere. As a result, he was reported by his enemies and went to jail. He had to sigh that it was not that the ancient Chinese lacked hands-on ability, but that knowledge was monopolized.
Because astronomy and mathematics were all banned by the imperial court, what else could scholars read if not the books of sages? A student with strong curiosity and even stronger hands-on ability was actually thrown into prison for stargazing. What could he say?
Zhang Shou immediately asked, "Where is this student from Yuzhang Academy now? Previously, Principal Yue suggested that the emperor recruit talents who are proficient in mathematics and astronomy. Although he was a little rash, he is still a talent."
The third prince immediately nodded in agreement and said, "Teacher is right, this man is indeed an interesting talent!" He is a good match for the fourth brother!
When Hong saw that the Third Prince naturally held Zhang Shou's hand, and the two seemed very close, and the Third Prince's agreement was also so natural, she immediately understood what Chu Kuan said to her in a sincere manner - the Third Prince really admired Zhang Shou too much, almost like a father and son, and in the long run it would be detrimental to the country.
Although she had no intention of helping Chu Kuan solve his problems, she had just realized Princess Yongping's cold attitude towards her, so she naturally had a measure in her heart. She smiled without thinking and said, "If the Third Prince and Dr. Zhang want to see this man, then I will send someone to deliver a letter. He is extremely disappointed with the Jiangxi government, and his family blames him for causing trouble. He has already gone to Beijing to find a way out."
"He left after our convoy and is now staying at the Hu Family Inn in the north city. He seemed to have brought a lot of money with him when he left, so he booked an entire side courtyard of the inn."
"His surname is Yang, and his given name is Zhan. He is the seventh child in the family. His older brothers are either officials, businessmen, or business owners. The family business he inherited is enough for him to live a life of ease, so he has always done what he wants. This time, he just left without a second thought."
Hearing that this was another middle school boy who ran away from home, Zhang Shou was immediately angry and amused. He let go of the hand that had just been holding the Third Prince, walked straight to the stairs, and called out to Ah Liu. Seeing that the young man appeared in his sight almost as soon as he was called, he smiled and said, "Ah Liu, there is work to do. Go to the Hu Family Inn and invite Yang Qilang and Yang Zhan over. Remember, please!"
