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Little Jing Kong couldn't find something again. He had turned his little treasure chest upside down, making a mess on the floor with his toys scattered everywhere.
"What are you looking for?" Xiao Heng asked.
Little Jing Kong stamped his feet with hands on hips, "Little Gold! My little abacus is missing again! It's being naughty!"
Xiao Heng bent down and found the golden abacus under the bed. Then he pulled Little Jing Kong to help tidy up the things scattered on the floor.
An Junwang didn't intend to eavesdrop, it was just that he was facing the direction of the west room, so it was hard not to overhear.
He didn't expect a dignified official of the court like Xiao Heng would do the chores usually done by servants.
Didn’t they have a servant girl?
"It's getting late, you should take a bath." Xiao Heng said to Little Jing Kong.
"I don't want to bathe!"
Sure enough, without Gu Jiao around, he wasn't a well-behaved baby who loved to bathe.
Xiao Heng didn't indulge him.
As Xiao Heng went to fetch water, he gestured towards the study to An Junwang, saying, "I'll bathe Jing Kong first. If you want, you can sit in the study; it's warm there."
"Uh... Okay..."
Well, since it was difficult to decline such kindness, he decided to stay a while longer. After Xiao Liulang finished his tasks, he would formally bid farewell to him.
With that in mind, An Junwang entered Xiao Heng's study.
Before An Junwang arrived, Xiao Heng had been in the study all day, so he had lit a brazier, which was burning brightly now.
Xiao Heng went to the kitchen to heat water, going back and forth several times, and even chopped some firewood to throw into the stove.
An Junwang found it incomprehensible.
He had been working in two yamen during the day, and still he had to do chores when he got home. Couldn't he just hire more servants?
Wasn't he good at making money? When he was at the Imperial Academy, he used to charge a high price for composing poetry and essays.
Soon, An Junwang discovered that Xiao Heng's tasks were far more than that.
There were several homework books on the desk, most of them belonged to Little Jing Kong, and the rest belonged to Gu Yan and Gu Xiaoshun.
So Xiao Liulang also had to tutor his three younger brothers-in-law with their homeworks?
Next to this pile of homework was a stack of thick papers. The top few pages were still wet with ink, obviously written tonight.
An Junwang casually glanced at them and was surprised to find that he didn't recognize the characters on them.
He wasn't fluent in the languages of the six kingdoms, but he had some basic knowledge. He recognized that these characters were neither from the three lower states nor the three upper states.
"Could it be Sanskrit?" An Junwang didn't understand Sanskrit, but he had seen Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures, and they didn't look like this.
Amidst a cacophony of ghostly cries that seemed to be all thunder but no rain, Xiao Heng forcefully bathed a certain little bean, dressed him, and tossed him into bed.
Xiao Heng took the bathwater out, tidied up, and returned to the study.
An Junwang looked at the paper in his hand awkwardly and said, "I just took a casual look."
"It's fine, you can take a look." Xiao Heng said as he entered the study.
An Junwang gestured towards the next room, "Is he... like this every day?"
Xiao Heng grunted, "Only when JiaoJiao isn't around." Bathing him is like going to war.
An Junwang thought of how he had been driven almost mad by the noise next door and found it hard to imagine how Xiao Liulang coped with this every day.
With that thought, An Junwang realized that Xiao Liulang had it quite tough.
"By the way, what are these?" An Junwang asked, pointing to the stack of papers on the table.
"Calculations." Xiao Heng said.
"Calculations?" An Junwang furrowed his brow oddly.
Xiao Heng glanced at the paper in An Junwang's hand, "The one you're looking at is about calculating ancestral rates."
An Junwang's expression became even stranger, "Isn't that done by the method of circle cutting?"
He knew about circle cutting, and this obviously wasn't it.
Xiao Heng explained, "This is a different method."
An Junwang was still puzzled, "With these strange patterns?"
Xiao Heng thought carefully for a moment before saying, "Strictly speaking, they should be considered another form of writing."
"Another form? From beyond the six states? Turkic?" An Junwang asked.
"No, the Turkic language uses the characters of the State of Jin, with some differences, but they are generally similar."
The origin of this went back to the ancestors of the Turkic and State of Jin. At that time, it still wasn't the State of Jin, but the dynasty before it. It was rumored to have originally been part of the Turkic, but later the tribes became independent.
But there were also claims that the Turkic were part of the dynasty before the State of Jin, which was recorded in history, but historical facts belong to the victors, so who could say whether the ancestors of the State of Jin didn't have the historians modify the records?
An Junwang suddenly became interested and humbled himself to ask Xiao Heng for guidance.
In the past, he would have been too proud to do this.
Tonight... God knew what happened to him tonight.
Xiao Heng was always open, and whenever someone earnestly sought advice, he shared his knowledge generously.
He started with simple numbers, gradually moving on to basic formulas.
An Junwang, who didn't even know modern arithmetic, found it so intriguing. It was like he had opened the door to a new world and fell into it.
He seemed to understand now why students from the Imperial Academy and scholars from the Hanlin Academy were willing to seek Xiao Liulang's guidance. Xiao Liulang never flaunted his literary talent when teaching. He imparted knowledge that people could actually understand.
It wasn't until now that he finally realized Xiao Liulang hadn't reached where he was today by relying on connections. Everything he had was earned through his own abilities.
"What are you laughing at?" Xiao Heng asked.
An Junwang chuckled, "Even when you became the top scholar, I was never truly convinced of you."
Xiao Heng looked at him, "Are you convinced of me now?"
An Junwang hesitated for a moment, then nodded, "You could say that."
Xiao Heng put down the paper. He saw through the surface, hitting the nail on the head, "Staying overnight is fine, just one or two silver for a night."
An Junwang choked, "Ugh, talking about money ruins the mood."
Xiao Heng said casually, "On credit, with three percent interest."
There was interest as well?
Wait, how did he know he was going to put it on credit?
An Junwang coughed lightly, "Wh— which room am I staying in?"
Xiao Heng pointed, "Next door."
An Junwang's face darkened.
He couldn't afford to lose face in front of Xiao Liulang.
"Let's make it clear, I'm not homeless. It's your insistence, so I'll reluctantly stay for one night."
With that, he strutted away like a proud peacock towards Old Chief's place.
All the big rooms were occupied, leaving only a small one.
Even as he stepped over the threshold, he maintained the arrogance and nobility befitting a Junwang.
Once Xiao Heng left and casually closed the door behind him, An Junwang subconsciously looked at himself in the bronze mirror.
In the dead of night, a series of pig-slaughtering screams erupted——
Ah ah ah!
This beggar with a haystack on his head, a face covered in blood, clothes torn open, sleeves ripped into three, wasn't him at all!!!
Raz P.'s Thoughts
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