Tang Dynasty Little Godfather

Chapter 124 A family should work together

Asking his son to teach him to read was a shameful thing, so Wang Shouyi had to maintain his fatherly authority. He used no reason or logic, just physical intimidation.

Little did they know, all of this was meticulously prepared by Wang Xi.

Even if he doesn't threaten him, Wang Xi will still teach him.

Wang Xi naturally knew why the emperor had suddenly summoned Wang Shouyi, so he returned home early to await news and was eavesdropping behind the window.

When Princess Xue mentioned the matter of learning to read again, she thought of telling Wang Shouyi the pinyin.

Following Wang Shouyi's intimidation, Wang Xi began to explain the pinyin to him.

Wang Shouyi was initially puzzled, but as he listened, his expression became extremely excited.

"So beautiful it would make fish sink and geese fall from the sky!"

Wang Shouyi pointed to the words on the white cloth and, using the pinyin he had just learned, spelled them out one by one, becoming extremely excited. "So this is what 'the beauty that makes fish sink and geese fall from the sky' means."

Wang Xi nodded and said, "Yes! This is what is meant by 'beauty that could make fish sink and geese fall from the sky'."

"Ha ha.!"

Wang Shouyi, holding the white cloth, burst into laughter, "So recognizing characters is this simple! Wahahaha!"

He laughed wildly, as if he had obtained a priceless treasure.

It's clear that learning to read had put him through a lot of trouble, so how could he not be overjoyed now that he had found the trick?

Wang Xi was worried that Old Wang was getting too agitated, so he quickly asked, "Father, are you alright?"

Wang Shouyi snapped out of his daze, slammed his hand on the table, and said, "Tell me again."

"what?"

“It’s only been explained once, how could you possibly understand it?” Wang Shouyi said matter-of-factly.

"I don't understand, why is Father laughing so happily again?"

"Are you going to talk or not?"

"Tell me, tell me, tell me."

Wang Xi wrote the pinyin while explaining it to Wang Shouyi.

Wang Shouyi, on the other hand, was learning and trying to read the words on the white cloth.

"Wonderful! Wonderful!"

Wang Shouyi said, "This method is truly ingenious. In just a short while, I've learned far more characters than I did in the previous month."

Wang Xi was taken aback and said, "Father, this story is only about a hundred words long."

Wang Shouyi frowned and said unconvinced, "Don't be so arrogant, kid. You met a famous teacher, while I met your uncle. If the roles were reversed, would you be as good as me?"

After saying that, he added, "Go to the study later and mark all the characters with pinyin."

Wang Xi looked at Wang Shouyi in horror.

Do you think I'm a printer?!

Wang Shouyi said, "What? You can't even do this little thing for your father? You value filial piety very much, so don't force your father to complain about you!"

Damn it! I completely forgot about that! This could kill me! No way, I won't do that. Wang Xi's eyes lit up, and suddenly an idea came to him. He chuckled and said, "Father, there are three of us in the family, it doesn't make sense for just the father and son to work together!"

Wang Shouyi blinked, then suddenly gasped and asked, "What do you mean?"

Wang Xi said nervously, "What I mean is, Mother doesn't usually have much to do at home." He thought to himself, "Old Wang, you're not going to tell on me, are you?"

Wang Shouyi immediately frowned. Wang Xi, seeing that the situation was not good, was about to retract his previous words when he heard Wang Shouyi say, "Hmm, that makes sense."

night.

"Madam is truly a beauty that could rival the most beautiful women in history," Wang Shouyi chuckled.

Princess Xue was taken aback, taking it as some kind of hint, and blushed. "Husband, the Anye Bureau needs to expand its authority right now. You should rest well and not think about anything else."

Wang Shouyi exclaimed in surprise, "Oh, how did you know I could read these characters, Madam?"

"???"

Princess Xue looked at Wang Shouyi with utter confusion.

what are you saying?
Is this some kind of bedroom game?

I don't quite understand!

Wang Shouyi then said, "If you don't believe me, come, come, write down a few words and see if I can choose these four words from them."

Princess Xue then realized that she might have misunderstood, and her face immediately turned red.

Although Wang Shouyi was an experienced driver, he was focused on recognizing characters at the moment and didn't think too much about it. He asked curiously, "Why is Madam blushing so much?"

"It's okay."

Princess Xue shook her head, but seeing his keen interest, she smiled and nodded, saying, "Didn't my husband just say he wanted to learn to read? Alright! Then I'll write a poem and see if you can find these characters in it."

“Please write, Madam,” Wang Shouyi said.

Princess Xue pondered for a moment, then casually wrote down a hidden-character poem.

This was the Tang Dynasty, after all; hidden-character poems were written with ease, and there was no need to copy others.

After examining each character, Wang Shouyi not only found the four characters but also recognized three more.

Princess Xue exclaimed in surprise, "My husband, you have made remarkable progress recently!"

Wang Shouyi laughed smugly, "My lady, you may not know this, but I recently discovered a wonderful method that makes recognizing characters a piece of cake."

Princess Xue hurriedly asked, "What wonderful method is this?"

"Please wait a moment, Madam."

Wang Shouyi took out two pieces of white cloth from his pocket and spread them out on the table. "These are what I just took from Que'er. They are the character recognition method that Mr. Wuming just created, called the Pinyin Method."

"The Pinyin Method?"

Princess Xue was slightly taken aback.

Wang Shouyi said, "Madam, please don't worry, I will explain it to you now."

After saying that, he immediately began explaining the pinyin to Princess Xue.

Princess Xue was incredibly intelligent, and she immediately understood the mystery. She was shocked, but as she listened, she became puzzled and suddenly pointed to the two characters above. "These two characters are obviously different in pinyin, but why do my husband pronounce them the same?"

"Really?"

Wang Shouyi, having only recently begun learning, became so excited that he forgot most of his earlier knowledge and awkwardly asked, "How do I spell this again?"

Princess Xue smiled and said, "Why not let Que'er teach her?"

"What you say makes sense."

Wang Shouyi nodded and immediately ordered someone to summon Wang Xi.

As soon as Wang Xi entered the room, he gave Wang Shouyi a meaningful look. Wang Shouyi coughed awkwardly and said, "Que'er, your mother is very interested in this pinyin, but I've only been learning it for a short time and there are some parts I can't explain clearly. Why don't you explain it to your mother?"

Wang Xi rolled her eyes inwardly. "You can't even pretend to be cool properly. You're such a waste."

It turned out that the father and son had planned to have Wang Shouyi deceive Princess Xue, but Wang Shouyi was only half-baked and had to ask Wang Xilai to clean up the mess.

"Mother, are you also interested in this pinyin?" Wang Xi asked.

Princess Xue smiled and nodded, "Tell your mother about it quickly."

"Hey!"

Wang Xi immediately told Princess Xue the pinyin.

Princess Xue quickly learned it, and holding the alphabet, she shook her head and said, "Sir's talent is truly rare throughout history."

Wang Xi suddenly yawned. "Mother, if there's nothing else, I'll go back to my room and continue helping Father with the phonetic notation."

Princess Xue asked, "Phonetic transcription?"

"Yes—ah!"

Wang Xi yawned again, "Father asked me to annotate all the books in his study with phonetic symbols so he can look at them anytime, ah--!"

Princess Xue saw him yawning repeatedly and looking very sleepy, and asked with concern, "You yourself still have to study, how can you have the energy to help your father with phonetic notation?"

Wang Xi waved his hand and said, "This is what I should do."

Princess Xue pondered for a moment, "How about this, since I have nothing to do at home anyway, I'll learn the pinyin and then help your father with the pinyin. You just need to focus on your studies, and you don't need to worry about this matter."

Wang Shouyi hurriedly said, "This is not good, please don't trouble yourself, Madam."

Princess Xue said, "This isn't a very tiring thing. Sparrow, you should go back to your room and rest early."

"Yes, kid, please leave."

The father and son exchanged a glance, and Wang Xi then left.

Stepping outside, Wang Xi let out a long sigh of relief. "Damn, I'm exhausted!"

In any case, this fulfilled one of his wishes. His expectation for Wang Shouyi was simply to learn to count and read; there was absolutely no need for him to practice poetry or prose.

Although Li Longji was skilled in the art of ruling, he never imagined that all of this was being manipulated by four children behind the scenes.

Whenever they helped their father achieve a breakthrough, they would gather together to celebrate.

“Brother Que, I really feel like we’re omnipotent now. We not only helped our father get a real job, but we also set up a new government office. We’re really amazing.”

Li Jieman was extremely excited.

"This is just the beginning; we are still far from our goal."

Wang Xi smiled and said, "But it can also be considered as helping them get back on track. With this job, they won't be idle all day long, and they will get good experience. We won't have to worry about them every day."

"But can your father do this job well?"

Wang Shuang suddenly said.

Wang Xi asked curiously, "How so?"

In his recollection, Wang Shuang rarely commented on this matter.

“Yesterday I overheard my dad talking to Uncle Ge. They were both worried that your dad and his team wouldn’t be able to handle this job well.”

Wang Shuang said with great concern.

Wang Xi asked, "Did your father say what aspect it was about?"

Wang Shuang said, "They were being very cryptic, and I didn't quite understand what they were saying. The gist of it was that this matter involves too many interests, and someone will definitely try to sabotage it. It can be controlled in Guanzhong, but if it's expanded to the whole country, it won't be so easy to manage."

“I think I understand what your father is worried about,” Huangfu Sengnian said. “It’s probably about personnel arrangements.”

Wang Xi looked at him with a puzzled expression.

Huangfu Sengnian said: "Throughout history, many reforms and changes have failed not because the laws were good or bad, nor because the ministers were loyal or treacherous, but because of the people who implemented them."

Especially since this matter involves land, they will definitely try to sabotage it. Leaving aside the local officials, who can guarantee that the lower-ranking officials are on the same side as our father?

Wang Xi said, "Can't we send one of our own people?"

Huangfu Sengnian countered, "Does our father have any connections in officialdom?"

Wang Xi countered, "No?"

Huangfu Sengnian said, "Those who handle things are all minor officials and clerks. My father has been retired for so many years, where would he get these connections?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Xi couldn't help but frown.

This is indeed a big problem.

To put it bluntly, land reform is about opposing the ruling class.

Those in officialdom belong to the ruling class, while those minor officials and clerks are an extension of the ruling class.

If these people are secretly plotting, it's easy for it to fail.

"That definitely won't work."

Wang Xi shook his head and said, "This matter must be handled entirely by our own people, otherwise, problems are bound to arise."

Huangfu Sengnian sighed, "It's a pity that our academy's capabilities are limited. Otherwise, we could petition the court to follow suit and continue doing it ourselves."

Wang Xi's eyes lit up, and he said thoughtfully, "Although the Nameless Academy has limited capabilities, our family is not short of manpower."

Huangfu Sengnian asked in confusion, "What do you mean by that?"

Wang Xi said, "The key to this success lies in the Nameless Academy. Why not continue? If we change our approach, can we guarantee success?"

Moreover, we will have plays to perform in the future, and the reason we can perform on stage is because of doing good deeds. Otherwise, how can we perform on stage? This must be done continuously.

However, we are an academy after all, and our students can't stay in the suburbs doing good deeds every day. They still need to study. So how do we manage these things? We can establish a charity in the name of the academy and spend money to hire people from outside to handle these charitable activities.

In this way, we can continue to cooperate with the imperial court, and at the same time, Father can use the name of the charity to have his servants manage the affairs of the Anye Bureau, thus avoiding the entire complex network of relationships.”

"A charity?"

Huangfu Sengnian nodded slightly, then added, "But the money we earn is just a drop in the ocean compared to the total number of unemployed people in the country. We simply can't afford it."

Li Jie nodded and said, "Let alone the whole country, we can't afford it even in the Guanzhong region alone!"

Wang Xi said, "Of course we can't afford that much. We can only let the imperial court pay for it. The imperial court will donate money to the charity institute, and then the charity institute will assist the Anye Bureau in its name."

Huangfu Sengnian said, "The imperial court is eager to expand the number of households, and its purpose is to increase revenue. Will the imperial court be willing to spend this money?"

The imperial court did this to make money. Before it even made any money, it was asking the imperial court to pay for it. Would the imperial court be willing to do that?

Wang Xi said, "We still need to think about this, but one thing is certain: we must use our own people. Otherwise, this matter is destined to fail, and it would be better not to take this job at all."

He paused for a moment, then added, “However, we can start preparing for this now. We can gradually replace the people and make everyone realize that we are still students. This way, we will have a reason to hire people to help us, and we can lay the foundation for the charity.”

(End of this chapter)