The Red Mansion Big Liar

At this point, she paused and changed the topic, "There was Jin Chuan in front and Qing Wen behind, how could he be responsible? Now that I am old, those rumors are spreading more and more. If I don't avoid it, who knows what the result will be?"

She originally wanted to tell him about what happened when Jia Baoyu abandoned her and ran away when they were watching The West Chamber, but in the end she found it difficult to say it.

"Miss!" Zijuan felt extremely regretful after hearing this. She kowtowed and said, "I lost my mind for a moment. I am sorry, Miss!"

If you don't get hit by the stick, you won't feel the pain.

Before, she only thought that Jin Chuan had bad intentions and was deliberately adding fuel to the fire, but now, she regretted not listening to her advice.

"Forget it!" Lin Daiyu waved her hands and said, "If I didn't want to keep you by my side, I wouldn't have disobeyed my father's order. But, after all, you belong to my grandmother. I can only do my best and leave the rest to fate. I tell you all this today because we are master and servant. Even if things don't go as we wish..."

"My lady, what you said makes me feel ashamed!" Zijuan kowtowed three times and said solemnly, "Even if I can't follow you in the future, that's my fate!"

"Get up!" Lin Daiyu got up from the edge of the bed and helped Zijuan up from the ground.

He also reminded her, "Now that I have made it clear to you today, you should know what is going on in the future. Although you have no choice today, you should still avoid suspicion. If he gives you anything in the future, don't forget to give him a reward in return, and don't let others gossip about you."

"Yes! I understand." Zijuan agreed.

But after thinking about it, he hesitated and said, "Is it a reward according to what Master Yi sent?"

Although there was a reason for teaching Xiangling poetry, Zhang Yun逸 treated her equally. He only gave her an extra portion of fruit because she was suffering from an old illness.

But every time someone sent something over, Lin Daiyu did not accept it openly. She usually gave some three to five hundred coins as a reward to Jin Chuan and others.

Even though it is still incomparable to the value of that wild ginseng and the feelings of Zhen Shiyin in diagnosing illnesses, it is still acceptable in terms of etiquette.

Originally, she could still support herself with her monthly allowance, but now with the addition of Jia Baoyu, she was afraid that it might not be enough.

"Well! Just give it as a reward! If the monthly allowance is not enough, go and tell the outsiders to ask Steward Lin to pay some money in."

……

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 312: Too Clean and Disliked

In the early morning, the light breaks.

The poolside of the hot spring villa was shrouded in mist, and the morning light shining through the thick mist made it seem like a dream.

By the pool, Zhang Yunyi, who had just finished a set of boxing, tore off his long gown.

With a "splash", he jumped into the pool.

"Ah! Uncle, you are so bad!"

The rippling water startled Qin Keqing, who was lying on her back on a wooden board in the pool, and let out a scream.

With joyful murmurs, she tried to bend her snake-like waist. When she finally kept her balance, she sank her long black hair into the water. She looked up and watched her upside-down face sink into the pool, leaving only her head exposed.

She rolled up her bright red tongue tip, licked the water droplets splashing from the corners of her mouth, lowered her eyelids to cover her shy expression, and said slowly: "If Uncle wanted to overthrow Keqing, why would he go through so much trouble?"

As she spoke, she twisted her slender waist and carefully turned over on the wooden board, changing from lying on her stomach to lying on her stomach. She raised her snow-white neck and her wet black hair slapped on her back, splashing water that penetrated the thick mist and rushed towards Zhang Yunyi.

Then, she opened her hands, and her slender arms, as white as jade, slid into the water along the edge of the wooden board, raised her well-proportioned calves, kicked her lotus feet, slapped the water surface, and followed the water splashes like a shadow.

Zhang Yun逸 could hardly control himself in such an enchanting scene. He couldn't help licking his teeth as he watched Qin Keqing slowly approaching.

When Qin Keqing rowed in front of him, he stood up suddenly, and the waves he created lifted the wooden board slightly.

He raised his arm, slightly tilted it, and then stepped forward.

……

The morning light shines through the heavy mist, onto the floating wooden boards, creating a golden halo, as if casting a layer of holy halo on the brave men riding the wind and waves.

A moist scent permeates the air, making people unable to help but breathe deeply.

The board sometimes rushed to the top of the wave, and sometimes sank into the trough. Every ups and downs were accompanied by a slight "pa pa" sound, which was a unique symphony when the board came into close contact with the pool water.

Accompanied by the melodious tune, graceful figures came to the houses by the pool following the sound.

They jumped into the pool like dumplings, like naughty dolphins, surrounding the floating boat and playing with the boatman.

The splashing water made the mist even thicker.

Only vaguely could one see a figure standing in front of the house, pursing his lips and staring into the pool in a daze with a hesitant look on his face.

"Qingwen! Come here quickly!" Ruizhu in the pool waved her hand and made an invitation.

Qingwen suddenly woke up and found that everyone was looking at her.

She took a half step back unconsciously and said timidly: "I... I still..."

Before he finished speaking, Zhang Yunyi's somewhat dull voice sounded: "You must know that if you are too tall, people will envy you. If you are too clean, people will dislike you. It is not a good thing to be unsociable. There are no outsiders here, so don't be shy!"

After saying this, Zhang Yunyi couldn't help but shrug his nose.

In the original novel, this statement was used to describe Miaoyu, but it is not inappropriate to apply it to Qingwen at this time.

It has been more than ten days since he came to the hot spring villa. This is not the first time he has played with everyone, but Qingwen is still a little restrained.

Originally, he wanted to give her a period of adjustment.

However, now that Ruizhu had already spoken, asking her to go back would only make it more difficult for her to fit in, so she spoke up to remind her.

Although Qingwen had not read much, she still knew clearly what the three words "unsociable" meant.

She bit her lower lip unconsciously and hesitated for a moment, but finally walked towards the poolside in a daze.

She was in a state of confusion and did not notice that Zhang Yunyi in the pool patted Qin Keqing in front of her, nor did she notice that the wooden board was empty.

When I reached the edge of the pool, I suddenly felt my ankle tighten and I slipped into the pool.

She suddenly lost her balance and was about to wave her arms, but she felt her wet body tighten and she was already held in someone's arms.

Before she could react, she was placed face up on the swaying wooden board.

She was afraid of slipping off the board, so she held on to both sides of the board tightly with her hands.

"Hmm!~" Just as she stabilized her body, before she could breathe a sigh of relief, she let out a gentle groan. She hurriedly let go of the wooden board she was holding tightly, closed her eyes, and raised her hands to cover her face.

However, if you do this, you will inevitably end up focusing on one thing and not the other, and you won't be able to find a balance.

; This was repeated two or three times, and by the time I finally got used to the shaking of the board, I was already deeply trapped in it.

She had no choice but to give up, covering her eyes with her hands, ignoring the eyes around her and acting like an ostrich.

……

"Oh! Isn't this your future father-in-law? I heard that your garden has been completed. I wonder if the wedding date has been set? When will the wedding be held?"

Inside the Ministry of Works, Zhou Chengru, who had just gotten off the sedan chair, smiled at Jia Zheng who was coming to the yamen.

Upon hearing this, Jia Zheng could no longer hide his embarrassment.

But before he could open his mouth to respond, the officials around him all gathered around and started talking to him.

"Hey! Your Excellency, the Duke of Zhou is upright and honest, and the Emperor likes simplicity. This wedding must be a grand ceremony, and it will take more time to prepare."

"That's right! That's right! Then let's wait and drink at the wedding!"

"We are colleagues, so please don't look down on us because of our low status and forget to invite us!"

"Cun Zhou is a man of integrity and honesty. How could he be such a dog-eyed person who looks down on others?"

"Hahaha! That's right! I spoke out of turn!"

Earlier, seeing the emperor's intention, Prince Ning intended to break off the engagement. But now that he has established a connection with Zhang Yun逸, there is no need for him to attempt to get married with the Rongguo Mansion.

The officials in the Ministry of Industry were disgusted by his pretense of being noble and showing off his corruption cases from time to time.

It was just because of Prince Ning's status as his cheap father-in-law that he had to swallow his anger.

Realizing the attitude of Zhou Chengru, who was Ning Wang's confidant, he no longer had any worries and began to mock Jia Zheng.

Faced with the ridicule from his colleagues, Jia Zheng was already blushing with embarrassment, but he couldn't find any words to respond and wished he could find a hole in the ground to crawl into.

However, he had already endured the humiliation and swallowed his anger, but there were still people who refused to give in and said, "We have said so much, why doesn't Cun Zhou express his opinion? Is it possible that he really despises us and doesn't deserve to attend your wedding?"

"Sir!" Jia Zheng took a deep breath, lowered his head, and said to Zhou Chengru, "I am not feeling well, so I am here to ask for leave!"

"Hahaha!" Zhou Chengru laughed heartily, "Of course you can sue for leave, but you still have to take care of yourself and don't get sick!"

As soon as these words were spoken, there was a burst of laughter in front of the Ministry of Works' stables.

The laughter was like slaps in the face of Jia Zheng. He felt a burning sensation on his face and a buzzing in his head. He hunched over and rolled onto the carriage.

After the carriage left the Ministry of Industry, he took a deep breath and shouted sternly to the outside: "If you dare to talk nonsense when you go back, you will have to consider how many lives you have!"

"Master! I didn't hear anything!" The coachman outside begged for mercy.

Jia Zheng then slowly exhaled a breath, trembling all over. He closed his eyes and collapsed weakly on the seat like a dead pig.

……

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 313 Broadening Your Mindset

"It is common knowledge that gold and silver of the same size have different weights. But how much should a bar of gold or silver weigh?"

In the lecture hall, Zhang Yunyi looked around.

The teachers in the audience looked at each other in confusion, wondering why he asked such a common sense question.

Someone boldly said, "Your Excellency! Most government silver is fifty taels per ingot!"

Zhang Yunyi slammed the table and said, "Well said! But why did you add the official silver?"

"Official silver is of high purity, while private silver contains many impurities..." The man seemed to be hesitant to speak.

"That's right!" Zhang Yunyi asked knowingly, "What's your name?"

Under the envious gazes of the crowd, the man straightened his robe and bowed: "Your Excellency! I am Wu Qi..."

This was not the first time that Zhang Yun逸 had taught a class. Now, everyone in the Taoist school considered themselves his students.

As the founder, he accepted it calmly.

“Purity!” Zhang Yunyi stretched out his right index finger, pointed to the sky, and said, “As long as it is pure silver, then if the size is the same, the weight must be the same. As long as we understand the relationship, the reverse is also true. If the weight doesn’t match, it means there are impurities!”

Zhang Yunyi looked at Wu Qi and said with a smile: "I see that you have something to say just now. I guess you have thought of the possibility of lead being cast in silver. But lead is lead after all. In addition to distinguishing it by color, this method can also be used to distinguish it! I call this density!"

As he spoke, he held up several silver cubes of different sizes and said, "We have previously calculated the weight of one cubic meter of water. Assuming the density of water is 1, by measuring the ratio between different sizes of pure silver and water, we can calculate the density of silver, or even any metal..."

Zhang Yun逸 had no experience in education, but he was planning to make a name for himself by building an ironclad ship.

So, I originally planned to start with buoyancy, but halfway through I found that it involved many problems, so I simply started talking about the concept of density.

The surfboard-like wooden boards at the hot spring villa were made by craftsmen as teaching props for entertainment purposes.

The more basic something is, the more precious it is. These things were common sense known to everyone in the previous life, but they were invaluable data in ancient times.

Although, he could still remember some of the densities of commonly used metals.

It is better to teach people how to fish than to give them fish. If everyone expects him to give the final answer, it will go against his original intention of running the Taoism school.

If this could enlighten people, his journey through time would be worthwhile.

And with glassware, many things become simpler.

He even went so far as to build several large experimental sites around the Xianxue.

After all, when it comes to combining theory with practice, people of this era do not have the insight of people in previous generations.

Moreover, if the first group of people who are exposed to the relevant knowledge cannot understand the principles behind it, how can they teach good students?

He spoke a lot of words, then took a sip of the tea on the table and continued, "The uses of density are not limited to this. Last time I took you to visit a glass factory, you should have seen the tin pool of flat glass. That also uses this principle. The density of tin is greater than that of glass, just like oil floating on the water..."

He paused and added: "Of course, we can't generalize. Some things are soluble in each other, like sugar and salt are soluble in water, and some are just like oil and water. We still need to slowly explore these in the future..."

Since most of the students of Taoism are children of craftsmen, learning literacy and calculation is essential.

At present, the teaching of Xianxue is divided into two aspects.

On the one hand, he helped the children of craftsmen to lay the foundation, and on the other hand, he gave special training to the instructors.

Of course, since some aristocratic families sent their illegitimate sons to study, they were not prevented from attending as auditors.

Wu Qi, whom Zhang Yunyi had just pointed out, was the illegitimate son of Wu Tianyou. Wu Tianyou was nothing special, as he was also from a noble family. However, he did not get along with the four kings and eight dukes, and they were even somewhat at odds with each other.

However, his daughter was the concubine of the King of Qin.