Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 682: The Sea of Questions is Endless, a Hornet's Nest
This day was the day when Zhang Shou taught in the East Palace. Other lectures were held every five days, but for him, it became every other day. However, this thing that others would be excited about became a burden for him. Although he was closer to Ciqing Palace in the morning from Zhang Garden, the problem was that this meant that Jiuzhang Hall would have to be free for a day every other day!
The worst thing is that he has already recruited dozens of people from two grades. It would not be enough for him to be there all day long, not to mention that he would be assigned to Ciqing Palace for half a day?
But there was a shortage of manpower. Even if Lu Sanlang was gifted, he could apply mathematics to other subjects, but he was completely incapable of physics. After all, if you expect people these days to accept classical mechanics, you have to learn it step by step. Besides, Zhang Shou himself hadn't had time to teach physics to people many times, so how could he expect Lu Sanlang to be a good substitute teacher?
Besides, Lu Sanlang now shares the duties of Donggong tutor, or substitute teacher, with Qi Liang. It is really too much to handle everything. In the words of Fatty Lu himself, he now wishes he could split himself into two, and he also has to take care of his cultural industry which is constantly merging other bookstores!
Therefore, when Zhang Shou arrived at the gate of Ciqing Palace today, he was thinking about whether he could persuade the third and fourth princes to change the class from every other day to every three days. He tried to cover three days' content in one day, and then assign a lot of homework. Anyway, students these days are not as tired of studying as those in later generations, so even if the sea of questions tactics are rejected, at most they will only be complained about.
But he had just stood at the door for a moment when someone ran out of the Ciqing Palace. It was the naughty Fourth Prince. He grabbed his sleeve without caring about anything, looked around for a moment, and immediately whispered, "Teacher, teacher, great news!"
After a very serious prefix, the Fourth Prince lowered his voice and said, "The Second Prince may be dead!"
What the hell? Zhang Shou's first reaction was confusion. Although the Second Prince had been away from Beijing for only a month, he had almost forgotten about the unlucky guy who had poisoned Kunning Palace because the Third Prince had been canonized as the Crown Prince. When he came to his senses, he looked at the Fourth Prince with a look of severe reproach.
The Fourth Prince understood this and quickly explained, "Of course I asked the Emperor for permission before I dared to tell you, Teacher! And the Emperor also said that the Second Prince's death will be announced at the morning court today!"
He did not call him "Second Brother" or "Royal Brother", because usually, unless he saw the Second Prince in person, the naughty kids would call him that. When he saw Zhang Shou was indeed a little dazed, he spoke very fast and explained the series of events that happened last night. While he was talking, he was glad that he had obtained his father's consent early, otherwise he would be scolded by the teacher for leaking the forbidden language.
Zhang Shou listened quietly. He did not find it strange that Madam Tai, Jiu Niang, and even Zhu Ying participated in the whole process. He also guessed that Song Huishou probably ran to the Duke of Zhao's mansion to report as soon as he returned to the capital. There is no doubt that this was a very wise choice, because if he ran to tell him, all he could do was send the person to the Zhu family!
"Okay, I got it."
Zhang Shou smiled as he looked at the small hair crown of the Fourth Prince. He was probably afraid that the Third Prince's crowning ceremony would attract criticism too early, so he crowned the Fourth Prince after the Crown Prince's ceremony. Otherwise, it would be a bit awkward for the two brothers to study together. Then he said solemnly, "In order to fully learn the lesson from the Second Prince's ignorance and willfulness, I have decided to double the homework I will assign you today."
The fourth prince was stunned on the spot. Soon, several East Palace tutors and attendants came out to greet him, while Zhang Shou walked in After meeting the third prince, he saw that the crown prince was hesitant to speak, so he smiled and said, "Your Highness, it is useless to think about the past. Looking forward to the future is the most important thing."
He saw that the tutors and attendants had already prepared textbooks and study tools, and the blackboards were also ready. The fourth prince came in with his head down, so he smiled and knocked on the blackboard and said, "Okay, no more gossip in class. Let's continue to talk about geometry today."
Several newly appointed East Palace attendants immediately turned pale. They were the least experienced in Ciqing Palace, and they knew that the Crown Prince did not seem to have a good impression of the Imperial College, and that the Jiuzhang Hall and Banshan Hall, which were separated from the Imperial College, must have an even worse impression of them. However, after three days of cautiously staying in Ciqing Palace, they found that everything was completely different from what they had imagined.
Although the Crown Prince was young, he was polite, diligent and studious. Although the East Palace tutors, including Lu Sanlang, were independent, and the two people from Banshan Hall were self-contained, they could not be said to have excluded them. However, the biggest problem was that they were the tallest among the short ones, and the most familiar with the mathematical classics among the six halls of the supervisors, but they could not understand the content of Zhang Shou's lectures at all!
Therefore, they had already experienced a difficult time last time, so when Zhang Shou's lecture started again, they just felt like sitting on pins and needles, and their scalps were tingling. In comparison, the content of other teachers' lectures was simply a drop in the bucket. Even the lectures of Yue Shanzhang on agronomy, they felt much easier.
Fortunately, Zhang Shou would only talk for 25 minutes each time before stopping, so they could finally take a breath. At this time, several students who had little friendship on weekdays would gather together. As for showing their courtesy to the crown prince... even the attendants of Jiuzhang Hall would not have the chance, and none of them would take the risk for the sake of being in the spotlight.
Because during this kind of break, most of the time it was the Fourth Prince chattering around the Third Prince, and occasionally the Third Prince would ask Zhang Shou or Lu Sanlang and Qi Liang for advice alone... But today, the situation was obviously different.
Zhang Shou suddenly walked up to the Third Prince and said solemnly, "Your Highness, I plan to report to the Emperor and ask him to adjust the time of teaching in the East Palace from every other day to every three days."
Before the Third Prince could react, the Fourth Prince immediately shouted, "Teacher, why is this happening?"
Although the Fourth Prince had the same trouble as those former Imperial Palace attendants, that is, it was difficult for him to keep up with Zhang Shou's lectures, even with the Third Prince and the Emperor taking turns to give him extra lessons, he still stumbled. However, this did not prevent him from liking Zhang Shou's classes, because Zhang Shou's schedule of teaching for two quarters of an hour and resting for a quarter of an hour was very much to his liking.
Moreover, Zhang Shou did not lecture all the time, but would set aside a class to talk about some relaxing things, perhaps some truths that we see in daily life but often ignore, perhaps some historical allusions and celebrity anecdotes, perhaps some interesting mathematics or even physics. At least in his opinion, this was much more interesting than other teachers' lectures.
Especially those scholars in the Hanlin Academy, who were too strict and inflexible. Every time they gave a lecture, it would take more than half an hour, and his butt was sore from sitting there!
Therefore, seeing that Zhang Shou seemed to be considering how to answer, he immediately dragged the Third Prince over with him, intending to use his tried-and-true method to induce Zhang Shou to give in. However, the Third Prince hesitated for a moment before calling him "teacher", and Zhang Shou spoke up: "Your Highness, the lectures in the East Palace are indeed what everyone wants, but you should know that there are still two grades and dozens of people in the Nine Chapters Hall."
"If Lu Gaoyuan and Xiao Qi were there every day, I could rest easy, but they still have to take turns to visit Ciqing Palace. Even if I go back, I can only teach them half a day every two days. As for the remaining half day, I have to organize the course progress, and this is the result of someone helping to check the homework. In this way, I almost have no time to rest."
Seeing the Third Prince speechless, the Fourth Prince dumbfounded, and the others with different expressions, Zhang Shou continued, "Of course, I'm still young and can endure not having a day off. After all, Your Highness the Crown Prince is so young but has to learn so many things every day, which is very hard. But there is a saying that one never grows old without learning, and I'm not old yet. Although I'm a lecturer in the East Palace, I also have things to learn. You have to leave me some time to study, right? Besides, my wedding is approaching."
This time, even the attendants of the Eastern Palace were stunned. Zhang Shoudu was already the prince's teacher, but he still admitted that he still needed to study? He even threw away the best opportunity to show up in front of the prince the most for the sake of the wedding date?
Seeing that the Third Prince's expression gradually relaxed, while the Fourth Prince looked unhappy, Zhang Shou smiled and said, "Of course, even though you are not here, I still have a lot of homework to do. There is no limit to learning, and there is even more limit to the sea of exercises. You should have realized this before. You may not understand just by listening to the lectures, but it will be much easier to master the exercises if you do more exercises."
The people of Jiuzhang Hall were well aware of the endless sea of questions, but the attendants of the Eastern Palace had no idea, because Zhang Shou didn't assign too many homeworks after his last lecture, and even gave an additional instruction that those who didn't understand didn't have to do them. Even Zhang the big guy, who had studied Ge's New Mathematics by himself before, could only do two of the six questions assigned by Zhang Shou.
At this time, they just saw Zhang Shou taking out a paper roll with a smile.
"I wrote questions on the blackboard and asked you to copy them. This was a stopgap measure in the Jiuzhang Hall in the past. But now there are only 20 of you in total, and the expenses of Ciqing Palace's studies are all borne by the emperor. So I discussed with Lu Gaoyuan before, and we will print "Ge's Lesson One Exercise" to match "Ge's Mathematics New Edition". When the time comes, everyone will have a copy, and it will be much easier to do the questions."
Zhang Shou smiled with his teeth showing. However, except for the Third Prince who suddenly realized something and then looked thoughtful, everyone else, including the Fourth Prince, took a deep breath. Even Lu Sanlang, who had discussed this move with Zhang Shou earlier, felt that Zhang Shou's smile was like showing sharp fangs - he had personally seen that lesson and exercise, and the number of questions was terrifying!
"Teacher, I need to discuss this with my father." The third prince did not agree immediately, but added, "However, if Senior Brother Lu's book is printed, I am willing to buy it in my name and give a copy to each student in Jiuzhang Hall. Because the reason why the teacher is too busy to take care of them is because of me."
At the court meeting that day, the emperor did not announce the earth-shattering news that the second prince had died in a shipwreck until the court was dismissed. Many people were stunned, and after returning to the government office, there were naturally many different opinions. Although the second prince was just a prince who was expelled for a crime, his biological mother was already a deposed queen, and she never had a good reputation, but as the saying goes, the dead are always justified.
As a result, the voices of the Second Prince and even the First Prince in the various government offices gradually began to gain momentum. However, those voices were very small. With the East Palace already having a master, it was rare for a Jinshi who had studied for decades to pass the imperial examination to defend the brothers and get himself into trouble.
But being rare does not mean that there are none. In any era, there is no shortage of people striving for fame.
Zhu Ying, who had witnessed the incident last night, did not stay idle at home this afternoon. Instead, she invited Princess Yongping and Mrs. Hong to check out a private house in Jinggongfang, North City. There was no doubt that the land was "owned" by Zhang Kang, the land hoarder. Even Princess Yongping, who was in a complicated mood, had to admit that the private house was impeccable.
After personally inspecting the house, Hong couldn't help but admire it and said, "Although this house is a bit old, it is well maintained. As long as we buy a new batch of tables and chairs, we can start classes right away. In addition, there is the Shuntian government office and the Beicheng military headquarters in the north city. In addition, the Imperial College and the Confucian Temple are also here. It is originally a place for literature and there is no need to worry about safety issues."
"What kind of safety issue is this? I'll be in charge of the class myself. If anyone dares to cause trouble, I'll make sure they come in vertically and leave horizontally!" Zhu Ying raised her eyebrows and smiled murderously. "Besides, we have Miss Ye who cut off Lecher's ear herself to teach martial arts. If anyone has bad intentions, hehe, they'll be in trouble!"
Although Princess Yongping was upset, she learned the news that the second prince might have died in a shipwreck when she went out today, so she didn't want to conflict with Zhu Ying again. After Song Juren and Hailing County Princess quickly decided on their marriage, she felt that her suspicions were ridiculous and stupid to the extreme. Although she still had resentment in her heart, she was not willing to show it.
Even though Zhu Ying had been running around and invited all the female tutors she needed, they were all carefully selected by the Imperial Household Department when they were selecting concubines for the first and second princes. Although their family backgrounds were average, their conduct and knowledge were outstanding. Most importantly, they were all willing to buy Zhu Ying's face and come out to be tutors for the future female students. What else could she say ?
Therefore, she simply reminded them lightly: "Girls' school is girls' school, it's better to keep a low profile, otherwise you will send evil people to the government office all day long, and it will not be good if it gets out!"
Zhu Ying laughed and didn't respond. Hong, who was always good at being a peacemaker, changed the subject and talked about the Third Prince's painting. When she mentioned that the Third Prince was strict with himself even in learning painting, she didn't just praise him, but said implicitly: "There is a limit to human power, but there is no limit to learning. The Third Prince doesn't need to strive for perfection in everything. Appreciation is more important than painting skills."
Although Princess Yongping did not like Madam Hong, she agreed with this statement. At this moment, she heard a voice from outside: "Princess, someone outside is looking for Madam Hong urgently! I originally asked him to wait outside, but he said that it was extremely urgent and he could not afford to delay, and also said... He also said that Mayor Hong might write a letter to appeal for the Second Prince!"
Hong, who had just learned about the second prince's affairs, felt a sudden pang in her heart. Moreover, when she saw the expressions of Zhu Ying and Princess Yongping, she suddenly realized that if she did not stop it, her father would probably stir up a hornet's nest!
