Chapter 216: 214 The Young Mathematician

Fei Rulan took her son, Xiyue, and the wet nurse to her mother Madam Lou's place for a visit.

The official seal carved by the Ministry of Rites was handed over to the secretary for safekeeping.

As for the set of official robes, he had a guard carry it back to the inner residence. The guard only dared enter the main hall, so it was placed in a rattan chest and set squarely on the table.

Zhao Zhenfang and Fei Rumei returned together, chattering nonstop the whole way. Although the female teachers at the school always taught that girls should be demure and dignified, eight out of ten students at the girls' school were growing livelier by the day.

"Sister, Sister!"

Fei Rumei called out as she ran into the courtyard, but no one answered.

A maidservant came out of the kitchen. "Miss Rumei, the lady has gone back to her parents' home. She said she'd return before evening and told me to start cooking."

"Oh, go on with your work." Fei Rumei walked into the main hall, tossed her book bag aside, and muttered, "I finally came over, and my sister's gone to my house instead."

Zhao Zhenfang went to her room to put away her book bag, poured two cups of water, and handed one to Fei Rumei. "Winter break starts tomorrow. Miaotong invited us to her house to play — are you going?"

"Sure, there's nothing to do at home anyway," Fei Rumei said with a laugh.

Spotting a rattan chest on the table, Fei Rumei set down her cup, opened it, and exclaimed in surprise, "Oh, is this an official's cap? The wings are so long."

Official robes were only worn when officials were on duty; ordinary people had never seen them, and Fei Yinghuan never brought his out to show off at home.

Zhao Zhenfang tried to stop her. "Those are Second Brother's things — don't go messing with them."

Fei Rumei said, "These are Great Ming official robes. Brother-in-law is a rebel leader — he'd never wear something like this."

"True enough," Zhao Zhenfang nodded.

Fei Rumei lifted the official cap and set it on her own head. "Do I look like an official lord?"

Zhao Zhenfang couldn't help laughing. "Your head's too small."

Fei Rumei then took out the robes and threw them on haphazardly. Holding the unsteady cap with one hand, she put on the air of a lecherous corrupt official and lifted Zhao Zhenfang's chin with her finger. "This young lady is quite a beauty. How about coming back with this official to enjoy a life of comfort?"

"Hahahaha!"

Zhao Zhenfang doubled over laughing, then suddenly snatched the cap and put it on her own head. "Insolent commoner, strip off this official's robes at once!"

The official robes hung on Fei Rumei with sleeves and hem far too long — perfect as stage costume. She mimicked an opera performer shaking out the sleeves, then began showing off her figure, twisting and swaying as she stepped forward.

"Ah!"

Fei Rumei's toe caught the hem, and she pitched forward in a spectacular face-plant.

Just then, the light at the doorway dimmed. Fei Rumei looked up and scrambled to her feet. "Brother-in-law, you're back."

Zhao Zhenfang pulled off the official cap and quickly placed it back in the chest, while Fei Rumei hurriedly stripped off the robes.

Zhao Han smiled. "If you like them, wear them and play — just don't go outside in them."

Fei Rumei explained, "We just thought they were curious."

"Let me put it on Second Brother." Afraid Zhao Han might be angry, Zhao Zhenfang brought the official cap over and set it squarely on Zhao Han's head.

Fei Rumei chimed in, "I'll help Brother-in-law with the robes."

Zhao Han didn't refuse. He stood in place with a slight smile, letting the two girls fuss over him.

Before the official robes were fully on, Fei Rulan had returned from her visit. Seeing Zhao Han's appearance, her eyes lit up. "Husband, you look so spirited in that attire."

Zhao Han set the official cap on the table but left the robes on. "Find someone to tailor a set of military officer's everyday robes — proper Second Rank."

Fei Rulan didn't ask why and immediately agreed. "Very well, I'll find a tailor tomorrow."

After all, they had accepted amnesty, and dealings with officials were inevitable from now on. Everyday robes were an official's daily attire, usually privately commissioned. Zhao Han's chest ought to be embroidered with a lion.

As the couple spoke, the two girls had already slipped away to play with Chong'er, who was about to turn one.

They set the child on a rug and tried to lure him with toys made of bamboo and wood.

Chong'er just sat there dumbly, staring blankly at them, showing no inclination to crawl over and grab the toys.

He didn't seem very lively, and he usually ate a lot — so fat he looked like a little meatball. Sometimes Zhao Han wondered: could it be that his eldest son would grow up to be a deadbeat shut-in?

The wet nurse kept insisting, "Children need to eat plenty — a big appetite means they're easy to raise. He looks fat now, but once he shoots up in height around one or two, he'll slim down."

"Chong'er, Chong'er, come here!" Zhao Zhenfang shook a rattle-drum.

Drawn by the drumming, Chong'er stared blankly for a moment, then crawled forward. But after just two crawls, he suddenly lay down and rolled — and being so fat, he tired out after a single roll and stopped moving.

Fei Rumei pouted. "Chong'er is no fun at all."

No sooner had she spoken than Chong'er suddenly crawled off the rug, wrapped his arms around a stool leg, and pushed with all his might, actually shoving the stool along as he crawled forward.

It seemed the rattle-drum was too small to interest him — that stool was his real toy.

Zhao Han and Fei Rulan sat nearby, saying nothing, just watching their son play with smiles.

The next day, winter break began.

Zhao Zhenfang and Fei Rumei, escorted by two servants, set off to play at a classmate's house.

This classmate's surname was Liu, with the childhood name Miaotong. It was said she had opened her eyes the moment she was born, and her eyes were very beautiful.

The Liu Miaotong family residence was quite large. As long as one was willing to surrender farmland, Zhao Han would not confiscate a gentry family's other properties. The servants, however, had grown fewer — not like before, when household slaves came in droves. Without the income from thousands or tens of thousands of mu of land, even great households dared not hire too many servants.

The garden was practically a landscaped park, complete with a man-made lake.

"I'll take you to the swing," Liu Miaotong said with a smile.

Fei Rumei said, "My family used to have a swing too."

Zhao Zhenfang ran along with them, glancing now and then at the garden scenery, when she suddenly noticed a youth writing something by the lake.

Zhao Zhenfang asked, "Who's that?"

"My maternal cousin, a total bookworm," Liu Miaotong said. "My uncle told him to go observe governance so he could serve Mr. Zhao as an official someday, but he insists on studying those Western numbers. Squiggly worm-like numbers — they annoy me just looking at them, but he acts like he's found a treasure."

The three girls went off to the swing, while the youth remained utterly absorbed in his mathematics.

This youth was named Xiao Shixuan, from Fenghuanggang Village in Taihe County. A rebel named Sai Lübu had slaughtered a third of his entire clan; his family had fled quickly, and had even managed to escape with several hundred taels of silver.

All their property was gone; they could only lodge with relatives.

Xiao Shixuan's father, Xiao Weigong, had already pledged allegiance to Zhao Han over a year ago and currently served as head of the Criminal Office in Anfu County.

As for Xiao Shixuan himself, he was only seventeen and had little interest in the civil examinations. Ever since he encountered mathematics, he had been living at his uncle's house, cross-referencing ancient Chinese mathematics with Western mathematics.

He found the heavenly-stem counting symbols like jia, yi, and bing too troublesome to write when working problems, so he used cursive script as a base and invented a set of symbols for himself.

After that, he simply couldn't stop — he used those symbols to set up equations at random, and in half a year he had worked out a great many things.

This fellow discovered Vieta's formulas. Though a century later than in the West, he genuinely arrived at them on his own. Building on those formulas, he then derived a whole series of related principles.

Xiao Shixuan had fallen in completely. His father told him to go observe governance at the yamen, but he absolutely refused to go — Zhao Han had set a rule: any scholar willing to serve as an official could intern in certain departments. They brought their own rations, drew no salary, helped with the work, and the internship lasted at least half a year. If they performed well, the department's one chief officer and two deputies could jointly sign off, and they would become probationary clerks. As soon as a vacancy opened, one of these probationary clerks would be selected to fill it.

In Xiao Shixuan's view, how could being an official or clerk possibly compare to the fascination of studying mathematics?

The three girls first played on the swing, then kicked the shuttlecock for a while, before strolling slowly toward the lakeside.

"Cousin," Liu Miaotong called.

"Mm," Xiao Shixuan answered with a single sound, too lazy even to lift his head.

Liu Miaotong simply sat down and asked with a smile, "What formula have you worked out today?"

Xiao Shixuan found his cousin terribly annoying. He raised his head and noticed two unfamiliar young women; though both were quite pretty, his heart did not stir in the slightest.

Women would only distract him from studying mathematics!

He should have married the year before, but his betrothed had been dishonored and taken her own life, and he had not thought of marriage again since.

Zhao Zhenfang swept a glance over the draft paper on the stone table and asked curiously, "What are these symbols?"

Xiao Shixuan wanted to send these women on their way as quickly as possible and explained offhandedly, "Jia, yi, bing, ding — algebraic symbols. I set them arbitrarily myself; each can be written in a single stroke."

"That is convenient," Zhao Zhenfang said. "Why do your equations have so few numbers? Who set these math problems?"

"I scribbled them down myself," Xiao Shixuan said, somewhat surprised. "You understand equations too?"

Zhao Zhenfang said with a smile, "My brother taught me."

The two began discussing mathematics, and Xiao Shixuan was deeply disappointed, because Zhao Zhenfang's level was far too low — it was like a king facing bronze or silver; they simply could not talk on the same level.

No longer wishing to continue the conversation, Xiao Shixuan asked directly, "What is your esteemed brother's attainment in mathematics like?"

"My brother's math is formidable," Zhao Zhenfang said.

Xiao Shixuan urgently wanted to find a kindred spirit and pressed at once, "Where does your esteemed brother live? I must pay him a visit one of these days."

Zhao Zhenfang said, "Let's go today — my brother will certainly be delighted. Oh, and bring those drafts of yours along."

"Very well, let's go at once," Xiao Shixuan said, rising immediately. "I still have more drafts in my room. Wait for me while I go fetch them."

With that, he ignored the three young women and vanished in a brief sprint.

Fei Rumei pointed at her own head and asked, "Miaotong, is your cousin a little... off here?"

Liu Miaotong laughed. "He's been terribly dull since he was small, always studying all sorts of random nonsense. While everyone else was striving to pass the xiucai exam, once he passed the child student exam, he just kept reading those idle books."

Fei Rumei said to Zhao Zhenfang, "This man isn't going to say something tactless and offend your brother-in-law, is he?"

"No, my brother will certainly think highly of him," Zhao Zhenfang said with certainty.

Before long, Xiao Shixuan came running back, his arms full of mathematics drafts, utterly at ease. "Let's go quickly — does your esteemed brother live far?"

wWW ☢тt kān ☢￠ ○

"Not far," Zhao Zhenfang said with a smile.

The group made their way to the prefectural seat. Only when they stood outside the Regional Commander's residence did Xiao Shixuan begin to sense something amiss.

"Your family... we haven't come to the wrong place, have we?" Xiao Shixuan said, bewildered.

"After you, Young Master Xiao," Zhao Zhenfang said, thoroughly pleased with herself, convinced she had netted a talented man for her brother.

(End of chapter)