Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 590: False Alarm and Supporting Role...
It exploded again? What does this mean?
Zhang Shou, who finally stood firmly on the ground, was a little dazed. The next thing he thought of was the earthquake, the Wanggongchang explosion, and Nobel's yellow explosive... Well, his underground workshop had never produced such dangerous things, and as far as he could remember, it seemed that it had never housed people who liked to do dangerous chemical experiments.
Therefore, he couldn't help but take a deep breath to calm himself down, then he looked at Ah Liu with a bad expression and asked: "You mean, it exploded before today?" What a joke, did he put a time bomb under his own house?
Ah Liu hesitated for a moment, and finally said frankly: "It's that Yang Zhan, the seventh son of Yang."
Zhang Shou couldn't believe it when he heard that it was the hungry guy who caused the trouble. The prodigal who used the crystal to grind glass lenses? But there seemed to be no connection between grinding lenses and explosions, right? As soon as he thought of this, the nonsense about Archimedes asking women to burn sailboats with mirrors suddenly appeared in his mind, and his heart skipped a beat.
Glass lenses don't seem to be completely safe. Not to mention the high temperature of burning glass, if a concave lens is really ground out , and it focuses light and ignites something, then it's hard to say...
The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he felt. However, the more uneasy he felt, the more he felt that he had overlooked something. Finally, he suddenly shuddered, stared at Ah Liu and asked in panic, "You only brought me out? Where are the guests I just brought out?"
Facing Zhang Shou's questioning, Ah Liu was slightly stunned, and immediately said confidently: "They are just frightened at most!"
You kid, it's easy for you to say! Zhang Shou felt that his head was about to burst. Ah Liu's attitude of getting him out first when something happened would normally be no problem at all, but today... he brought four guys who could be considered enemies back home, but when he encountered an emergency like the one just now, he abandoned them and ran away. How could that be?
Zhang Shou was about to speak when he saw Ah Liu turn around and run away. Judging from the direction he was heading, he was clearly heading to the workshop where they had come out of before. He knew that the boy had turned around to "save people" - although it was still doubtful whether they needed to be rescued, because he didn't see anyone else coming out - as for whether this kind of remedy after the loss would be useful, he could only hope that the explosion was just a minor accident.
After waiting for a while, he saw Ah Liu coming back alone. He was still holding on to some luck and couldn't help but feel bad. Could it be that something serious had really happened? However, when Ah Liu got closer, he found that although the boy's face looked a little strange, it was still a long way from a serious incident.
So he immediately asked directly: "What's going on?"
Ah Liu looked away somewhat unnaturally, and then patiently explained in a low voice: "Sure enough, it was Song Hunzi and Yang Hunger who used that polished glass mirror to start a fire and caused trouble. Now, Ye Mengqiu and the other four have been dragged to the observatory, and Yang Hunger is proudly showing off the crystal lens he had polished before."
There is indeed an Observatory in Zhang Garden, which is the tallest building in the entire garden. It is four stories high and has a rooftop. Whether it is a day with a bright moon and sparse stars, it is a great opportunity to invite your loved one to enjoy the moon together, or to invite your beloved to lie down and watch the Altair and the Vega stars together on a starry night. The problem is that Zhang Shou has not enjoyed this pleasure at all, and the Observatory was used for other purposes.
Well, the real fact is, Zhang Shou was so busy that he had not had time to realize how many courtyards and buildings there were in his own Zhang Garden. The original name of the Observatory was not so intuitive - it was given a meaningful name, Tianji Tower, by the former King Lu. Therefore, Zhang Shou had never been there and it had been empty before.
At this moment, he followed Ah Liu and hurried to the tallest building in Zhang Garden. Hearing Yang Zhan's endless introduction from the top, he simply didn't rush up, but asked Ah Liu with a fierce face: "How did these two people get together?"
Ah Liu knew who these two people were referring to, and couldn't help but say as a matter of course: "Maybe they didn't know each other until they fought?"
This is simply ridiculous. Did Mr. Song and Yang Zhan fight? You were the one who held Mr. Song hostage to trick someone into opening the gate! Zhang Shou felt both amused and annoyed, but Ah Liu couldn't explain why, so he didn't ask any more questions. He just stood in the yard downstairs and looked up.
However, he could vaguely see a lot of patterns on the railings on the fourth floor, and he could hear Yang Zhan's voice clearly, but he couldn't see anyone by the railings. Although he could call for help, he suppressed his doubts and motioned for Ah Liu to take him upstairs.
When he hurriedly went up the stairs to the rooftop through a secret door, he couldn't help but feel that he, the owner of Zhang Garden, was a bit of a failure. Without a guide, he couldn't find the stairs at all since he had never been to this small building before! At this moment, he heard Ah Liu's irrelevant consolation.
"In fact, my wife often gets lost at home."
Thinking that Wu was also from a small family, even though she had been granted an imperial title, her habits would not change so quickly. She probably would not spend her free time wandering around the huge Zhang Garden to get familiar with her new home. She would probably focus more on maintaining household expenses. While sighing, Zhang Shou could not help but ask unhappily, "What about you?"
"Of course I won't get lost." Seeing Zhang Shou actually turned around to look at him on this narrow staircase, Ah Liu blinked and said very calmly, "Didn't the young master say that I'm the housekeeper?"
Yes, as a housekeeper, it is unreasonable for him to get lost in his own home... It's strange. You know, those tunnels and secret rooms in Zhang Garden, which are now the spaces used as workshops, seem to have been explored by this kid one by one! If such a vigilant Ah Liu can get lost in such a huge Zhang Garden, then the sun is rising from the west!
Thinking this in his heart, Zhang Shou had to turn around again and asked in confusion: "Did you tell them about this observatory?"
Otherwise, why would Yang Zhan, who was unfamiliar with Zhang Yuan, come to a place he had never been to?
"No, the hungry guy thought this was his home, and found it while wandering around. After I begged my wife, she told me to open the door." When Ah Liu said this, he thought of the scene when Yang Zhan came to see him with Mr. Song and asked to borrow the Observatory, but he ordered him to go to Wu. Seeing that Zhang Shou was angry after hearing what he said, he coughed seriously.
"If the young master thinks they are taking over your place, I will chase them away in a moment !"
"You are getting better and better at using idioms!" Zhang Shou glanced at Ah Liu with amusement, but in the end he didn't ask any more questions and walked up the rare circular staircase quickly. As for the two guys who treated Zhang Garden as their own home, he planned to go back and deal with them. Anyway, they were already in his hands, so why should he be afraid of them running away?
When Ah Liu saw that Zhang Shou no longer pursued the matter, he couldn't help but pinch his chin lightly.
Hua Qi told him that if Zhang Shou was replaced by someone else, since he had taken great pains to recruit a talent, he would have found ways to find their weaknesses, or their preferences and habits, and easily made them bow down and become his disciples. But although the young master invited or brought back people from left to right, he was always very lenient with these people.
Of course he understood the implication of Hua Qi's words, so he allowed Song Hunzi to take Yang Zhan to visit a place like Tianji Tower (Stargazing Tower), which sounded high-end but actually had no practical significance in today's Zhang Garden. But who would have thought that Wu would just brush the matter off before he could even figure out what to do after Wu refused.
That day, Wu told him with a smile that Yang Zhan thought Tianji Tower was very suitable for stargazing, so he asked her to let him go in to take a look. She agreed and asked him to take the key to open the door. At that time, he felt that his wife was as easy to talk to as always, and she didn't even use the trick of first making things difficult and then agreeing. And now, after Zhang Shou learned about this, he didn't get angry.
This might be what Hua Qi said to him, your young master likes to be scheming in some places, but in other places he is careless and confused? For example, the young master never cares about his self-willed behavior.
If Zhang Shou knew what Ah Liu was thinking at this moment, he would definitely complain, "Young man, you think too much." It's not that he doesn't care, but he's just putting it aside before figuring out what's going on! If it turns out that the hungry guy and Song Hunzi are just letting themselves go, he certainly won't forgive them, but if there is any result...
First see what results are produced, and then he will think about how to deal with those two guys!
When he hurriedly climbed up to the rooftop on the fourth floor, Zhang Shou heard Ye Mengqiu's very obvious hoarse voice: "I can actually see things far away clearly... Mr. Yang Qi, I was wrong to question your nonsense and boasting before. I apologize to you! But is the principle of your lens really related to mathematics? This is a confidential matter. If it really doesn't work..."
"It is indeed a confidential matter, but it is not my secret. It was taught to me by Dr. Zhang. Without his consent, I certainly cannot teach it to others rashly. I heard that you are proficient in astronomy and numerology? Then shouldn't you also know the principles of reflection and refraction of light like Dr. Zhang? Oh, and there is also pinhole imaging..."
Zhang Shou, who was about to speak, closed his mouth thoughtfully, and even retracted his leg that had already stepped out. As for Ah Liu who followed him up, he stood there quietly, also without saying a word.
The master and servant watched with great interest as Yang Zhan, with his back to them, talked in a grandiose manner about principles that Ye Mengqiu and the other four had never heard of. They saw the four people's stiff backs, motionless, and saw that after Song Hunzi turned around and saw the two of them, he first shrank his head uneasily, and then began to talk incessantly about the endless creations in Tiangong Workshop. The two could not help but smile.
It was unknown how long this popular science lecture lasted before Zhang Shou heard Ye Mengqiu exclaim: "Is Dr. Zhang so amazing? Astronomy and mathematics are inseparable. I thought Dr. Zhang was not good at astronomy, but I didn't expect that he is well-versed in ancient and modern times and is unrivaled in the world..."
Ignorant young man, although I am very thick-skinned now, I will still feel embarrassed if you praise me so exaggeratedly! As for astronomy, you think too highly of me. If I were really proficient in it, would I avoid even the calendar? Modern people may be able to talk about a bunch of constellations eloquently, but when it comes to the specific orbits of stars, to be honest, few graduate students can calculate them...
Zhang Shou, who had been planning to watch the fun for a while, finally gave up his bad taste of listening to people praising him behind his back - he was certainly not shameless, but if others praised him too much, it would be troublesome if it didn't end well in the end.
Therefore, he coughed heavily, then walked forward when everyone turned their eyes to him, and said sincerely: "Originally, I invited you to Zhang Garden to see the current practical applications of mathematics, but I didn't expect such a sudden change just now. To be honest, I didn't expect that Mr. Yang Qi's research would make any progress again." And it has progressed to the point of blowing things up!
Yang Zhan, who was spitting just now, suddenly became mute. In fact, he first used Zhang Shou's wonderful formula to calculate the approximate data to grind the lens, then used the sunlight coming in from the air holes in the underground secret room to focus the light with the lens, and finally successfully ignited the firecrackers. He still felt a little scared when he thought of that scene, so he felt particularly guilty when facing Zhang Shou, his master.
What's more, that firecracker was no ordinary firecracker. It was brought by Mr. Song and was the latest generation of products from the only official firecracker workshop in the capital... Fortunately, the stone chamber assigned to him was a separate one, because there was only one firecracker, so it didn't blow the place down. He ran out in a hurry and met these four people in front of him, otherwise he felt that Zhang Shou, who seemed to be smiling at the moment, would probably strangle him to death!
Mr. Song, who had just been helping out, felt even more guilty. How could he dare to say that he had secretly brought in the firecrackers after hearing about Mr. Yang Qi's experimental progress and requirements, and had persuaded others to use them for experiments? He immediately changed the subject and said, "Dr. Zhang, Xiao Yang and these four hit it off right away. I heard that they just arrived in the capital. Can they stay here?"
Zhang Shou originally had this in mind when he brought the people back home - regardless of whether the four people were provoking him out of self-perception or because of someone else's instigation, it was always the best idea to keep them in his territory and "monitor" them nearby. As for how to educate them later, that was another question.
Therefore, although he knew that Mr. Song was trying to change the subject, he pretended not to notice. Before the four people who were looking at each other in bewilderment could respond, he nodded happily and said, "That's good. I heard you say that mathematical classics are hard to come by. It just so happens that I have a large collection of books at home. You can borrow them at will..."
As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly saw Ah Liu quietly approach the railing, and then he stretched out his hand without warning and jumped out. If he didn't know that this was a four-story building, he would have thought that he was just climbing over a low wall! Even though he knew that the boy would definitely not be in any danger, he still couldn't help but pause.
Song Juren and Yang Zhan, who also saw this scene, also shuddered subconsciously. Not long after this sudden stagnation, Ah Liu's calm and natural voice came from below: "Master, Mr. Lu San sent someone to send books to Mr. Ye Xiao and the other two. He said it was the Ten Mathematical Classics, "The Mirror of the Sea for Measuring Circles", "The Four Elements Jade Mirror", etc., a total of 23 mathematical classics."
