Merchant and doctor

Chapter 2079 Grandmaster of Daoist Medicine

Li Chunfeng was a descendant of a once-prominent but now impoverished family in Yong County, Qizhou, during the early Tang Dynasty. He was renowned as a child prodigy from a young age, possessing expertise in astronomy, calendrical calculations, yin-yang theory, the I Ching, and mathematics. He was a truly exceptional scholar with extraordinary intelligence and talent, spanning multiple disciplines. Looking at the entirety of ancient history, there are very few who could rival him.

The annotated edition of the Mathematical Classics, which he edited, was the first officially organized compilation of mathematical classics in Chinese history. A group of renowned scholars, led by Li Chunfeng, systematically organized and annotated ten important mathematical books from the Han and Wei dynasties, including the Zhoubi Suanjing and the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art. From then on, professional terms and algorithms were established in the form of official texts, and many long-standing problems were solved.

With this matter accomplished, Li Chunfeng deserves great credit!
During his university years, Bian Mu casually browsed some related popular science books. He only came into contact with a small part of the highly professional "Ten Commentaries on the Mathematical Classic," and he had never even seen a copy of it.

So-called copies are copies carefully transcribed by officials or scholars. Unlike the original, the transcribers are usually highly learned experts. When they encounter difficulties during the transcription process, they often make annotations in the margins. If they think that certain characters or chapters are wrong, they will often add their own understanding on the side page as professionals. The original text is not added, deleted or changed.

Therefore, the value of manuscript-like copies appears to be even greater.

Since the Tang Dynasty, learned scholars throughout history have been engaged in this very meaningful work of cultural transmission.

Since Lao Hou said the pages look quite new, they must be no more than a hundred years old, maybe even seventy or eighty. You have to look at the paper, ink, font, cover and other parameters to see for yourself. It's a very professional book!

Over the phone, Bian Mu asked casually.

"How old does that girl look?"

"He looks about twenty-five or twenty-six. He's playing chess with some kids right now!" Old Hou replied over the phone.

"Front page three, remember to wear gloves... Is it a thread-bound book?" Bian Mu asked over the phone.

"Yes, it's a thread-bound book, with beaded thread, something from the old days. I recognize this stuff; it's mixed with a lot of silk and linen, good thread! It'll last a hundred years!"

"Look at the middle of the third page, isn't there a line of annotation? Normally you should only be able to see half of it!"

"That's right! Exactly half, does that mean the other half is sealed on the other side?" Old Hou asked over the phone.

Yes, you can recognize traditional Chinese characters, right?

"Not bad, let me try to guess... Tang Dynasty... a court official..."

"No! It's the 'husband' in 'doctor'!" Bian Mu corrected over the phone.

"Right! Grand Master of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, that's an official title! I know a little about it! I can't guess the last character, 'Shi... Ling...' so that means Grand Historian?!"

"That's it. The Tang Dynasty official, Grand Master of the Palace, Acting Grand Historian, and Commandant of the Light Cavalry, etc., were ordered to annotate. It should be these few words. How come I remember it so clearly?! A few days ago, I saw a set of fakes at the 'Flower Field Ghost Market,' priced starting at 10. Out of curiosity, I squatted there and looked through it for a while, and I have some impression of it in my mind."

"No wonder you studied medicine! Your memory is amazing! Now that you've pointed it out, those are indeed the words. Does this mean that it's a direct copy so as not to lose the original appearance of the official version?"

"Yes! Vermilion ink, red characters, right?"

"Indeed, it looks like it's written in cinnabar ink, not vermilion ink!"

"You don't have any test strips, so here's what you do: tilt your phone to the side facing the sunlight, about ten degrees or so. If you see phosphorescence, it's basically cinnabar ink."

"Let me try it... Hey! It really is! Does that mean it's genuine?"

"It's hard to say. Isn't it a total of seven volumes? I have some recollection of volume three. Pick it out, open the table of contents, and I'll tell you how you misread it..." Bian Mu gave a few pointers over the phone. "I've opened it. How do I read it?" Old Hou asked curiously on the other end of the line.

"Li Chunfeng was one of the great masters of Daoist medicine. In the third volume, there is a question about the dosage of Chinese medicine. In order to correct the mistakes of mathematicians in the previous dynasty, he specially added that example question, which is equivalent to a system of linear equations in one variable today. Look for the word '启' in the table of contents, which means enlightenment. There are only a few. Look through them one by one. As long as it looks like an example question about Chinese medicine, take a picture and send it to me."

"Okay! Just a moment!" Old Hou hung up the landline.

……

After a while, Lao Hou sent over screenshots of the old books.

"No problem! The font and style are correct! Look at the fifth line in the middle with a magnifying glass, slightly to the bottom. Back then, for some special reason, Li Chunfeng would occasionally hide his monogram in certain sections. It's Tang seal script, and even bird seal script, the kind of ancient seal script. It's the inscription on the Imperial Seal of the State, right? That's bird seal script, two slightly off-center characters, 'Guan Chun,' see?"

"Good heavens! What kind of pen was used to write this? It's so small! But the strokes are so clear, I'm truly impressed! I believe Li Chunfeng was amazing, but the way his descendants copied it so perfectly is incredible! Our ancestors have produced extraordinary people generation after generation!" Old Hou exclaimed over the phone.

"Of course! Guan means Huang Guanzi, the Taoist name of Li Chunfeng's father; Chun means to inherit the name of one's father. His father was a famous Taoist doctor at the end of the Sui Dynasty. He was influenced by his father and was so smart that he learned Taoist medicine on his own. His medical skills were extremely high. He was definitely a master of national medicine in the early Tang Dynasty!"

"No wonder that girl kept talking about how medicine and martial arts have always been inseparable. It seems she has some background too!"

"Of course! I was just doing this for someone!" Bian Mu replied with a smile over the phone.

"Should we still accept this book?"

"Of course we'll politely decline! The cost is at most seventy years, not much value! She's just testing the waters between us, nothing more. You'll say this later... The 'Linde Calendar' and 'Yisi Divination' are a calendar book, quite professional, and a climatology monograph, even more professional and very obscure. Our idea is to bring those two sets of manuscript-like copies together, one price! Whatever she says, we'll buy them all! No bargaining! But if she only brings the 'Ten Commentaries on the Mathematical Classic,' we can't accept it!"

"Understood! I'll report back after she leaves!" With that, Old Hou hung up the phone.

Bian Mu got a little sleepy from chatting, so he got up, stretched his back a few times, and went to the small sofa for a short nap.

The phone rang; it was Lao Hou calling.

"It's pretty much what you said. As soon as she heard about the almanac, her face fell. She left after only a few words, but before she left, she even asked me for the latest issue of 'Go World.' Hehe... she didn't come for nothing!"

"It's alright! Similar things will only happen more often in the future. We will never touch anything we're not sure about. What do you think of her chess skills?"

"Not bad! Around amateur level four or five dan."

"That's already quite good. Next time she comes, be more polite to her. She likes to take advantage of others, doesn't she? Let her take a few trinkets with her."

"Okay! Let's play the long game...right?"

"That's true, and that's not true either! Your place is quite popular, so take care of yourself and don't overwork yourself! We brothers are in the business of a century-old enterprise, we don't need to follow their pace blindly!"

"Okay! You should take a break now, you still have a lot of patients to see this afternoon!"

"Let's stop here for now. I'll call Grandpa Yang and find a random set of fakes to browse through. The art of Taoist medicine is quite profound, and I can take the opportunity to read the classic works of this grandmaster of Taoist medicine!"

"Okay! We'll talk later!" With that, Old Hou hung up the landline.