Ministers Begging Me to Ascend the Throne-Chapter 112 - One Hundred and Seven: Arithmetic

The Fourth Prince saw Zhao Yao staring at a page of a book without turning it for a long time and asked, "What’s wrong?"

"It seems like something is missing." Zhao Yao flipped through a few pages of the book, and it was the same. He picked up another book and opened it, and it was the same. Now that he thought about it, all the books he had read were like this, without punctuation, making him learn to break sentences himself. "This isn’t right."

The Fourth Prince asked in confusion, "What’s not right?"

Zhao Yao pointed to the content in the "Diary" and said, "There’s no punctuation." In his dream, the books Zhao Yao read had punctuation. They used punctuation marks to break sentences; that would make reading very convenient. Oh, and there was also pinyin.

"Naturally, there isn’t any punctuation," the Fourth Prince said warmly, "because you just began learning to read this year, so the books given to you by the teacher are already punctuated. Normal books have no punctuation; it’s up to the reader to punctuate."

"Books without punctuation are so inconvenient to read." Every time he read, he found it strange, always feeling something was missing. Now he finally remembered it was missing punctuation marks. "Besides, not everyone can punctuate correctly, and not every punctuation is correct."

The Fourth Prince didn’t think much about Zhao Yao’s words and said, "When the teacher teaches, he will instruct on how to punctuate."

Zhao Yao muttered, "There are many books that the teacher doesn’t teach. How do you punctuate when reading those?"

"When you’ve read enough books, you’ll naturally be able to punctuate," the Fourth Prince said. "If in the future you can’t punctuate while reading, you can come ask me."

"Okay." Zhao Yao still felt it would be more convenient to punctuate with punctuation marks. "Fourth brother, can I take this ’Diary’ back to read?" He had read several pages of Emperor Xia Ling’s diary and found it too bizarre and amusing.

"Not now, we need to organize and collect these books. After someone copies them, you can take them to read."

"Then when will that be?"

The Fourth Prince thought for a moment and said, "How about this: come to Lanyuan Pavilion to read every day." This way, it would allow the Tenth Brother to have more contact with the ministers, and the ministers could also get to know the Tenth Brother.

"Alright, then I’ll come every day." Zhao Yao put down the "Diary" in his hand and squatted down to organize the pile of books in front of him.

This pile of books was quite mixed, with historical books, poetry collections, letters, local chronicles, and more. In them, Zhao Yao found a book with only the word "Arithmetic" on the cover. Curiously, he opened it and saw that it was all about calculating farmland and grains of millet.

He started reading seriously. While reading, he also did some calculations in his mind.

"Quite simple."

"What’s simple?"

"Fourth brother, I was saying the content here is simple." Zhao Yao pointed to the content on the book and said, "If there is fifty bu of land, from sixteen bu, how much land is there?" — from "The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art."

"What do you think it is?"

"One mu."

The Fourth Prince was somewhat surprised, "How did you figure it out?" The Tenth Brother had only been studying for three months, and the teachers had not yet taught him arithmetic. Was it taught by the concubine?

"I just calculated it like that."

"How did you calculate it like that?"

"After reading it, the answer just appeared in my mind."

The Fourth Prince was shocked.

Seeing the Fourth Prince’s disbelief, Zhao Yao pouted unhappily, "Fourth brother, I’m telling the truth."

"Then let me test you again." The Fourth Prince took the "Arithmetic" from Zhao Yao’s hand and randomly selected a problem, "Now there is someone buying an item together, each contributing eight qian, and there is a surplus of three qian. One person contributes seven qian, and it is short of four qian. How many people are there? What is each item worth?" — again from "The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art."

Zhao Yao answered without thinking, "Seven people, price fifty-three qian."

The Fourth Prince was amazed and continued testing Zhao Yao.

Zhao Yao still answered without any hesitation, giving the correct answers.

After testing Zhao Yao with five problems, Zhao Yao got all of them right, which made the Fourth Prince both surprised and delighted.

"Tenth Brother, I didn’t expect you to be so smart with arithmetic."

Zhao Yao blinked and said, "Is it difficult?"

The Fourth Prince reached out and patted Zhao Yao’s little head, happily saying, "I knew the Tenth Brother was smart."

"Other than not being smart at studying books, I’m very clever in other areas."

The Fourth Prince returned the "Arithmetic" to Zhao Yao and advised, "You should take a good look at this book. If you don’t understand something, you can come ask me."

"Can I take this book back home?"

"Yes."

"What if I finish it and don’t have any questions?"

"If you like it after finishing it, I’ll get you more arithmetic books to read," the Fourth Prince thought Zhao Yao had a talent for arithmetic that shouldn’t be wasted.

"Fourth brother, I do like it," Zhao Yao said with a smile, "I find this book much more interesting than the ’Analects.’"

"If you like reading it, just read more." Most people regard arithmetic as a "deviant path," but the Fourth Prince didn’t think so. Seeing Zhao Yao enjoy it now, he naturally supported it.

He remembered that his maternal family’s library had some books on arithmetic, and the Imperial College also had many books in this field. He could borrow them for the Tenth Brother when the time came.

"Fourth brother, let me help you organize the books first." Zhao Yao placed the arithmetic book aside and squatted again in front of the pile of books, organizing them. He found that there were indeed few books related to arithmetic, while there were books of every other kind. "Fourth brother, now that you’re involved in compiling history, won’t you go to Wende Hall to study anymore?"

"No, I won’t."

"Huh?" Zhao Yao was surprised. He put the book in his hand down and hurriedly asked with a worried face, "Fourth brother, are you really not going to Wende Hall to study?"

"You can’t bear to part with the Fourth Brother?"

Zhao Yao nodded repeatedly, "I can’t bear it. If you leave, I’ll be the only one left to study in Wende Hall. That would be too pitiful." It was better to kill him than to have him read with the Third and Ninth Brothers every day. "I’ll also tell Father that I’ll come to Lanyuan Pavilion to help, tidying books or serving tea."

The Fourth Prince was amused by Zhao Yao’s words, "You should just obediently study at Wende Hall."

Zhao Yao let out a heavy sigh, "Sigh, with the Eighth Brother gone too, I’m just a little pitiful."

The Fourth Prince reached out and ruffled Zhao Yao’s small head, "You can come to Lanyuan Pavilion to find me at noon, and visit Xingde Palace in the evening."

He added another sentence, "You can come to Lanyuan Pavilion and ask me if you don’t understand something, or ask the adults. The adults compiling history at Lanyuan Pavilion are all very learned."

Zhao Yao’s mouth stiffened, "No need." In Wende Hall, he already had many teachers, plus the Fourth and Eighth Brothers, both resembling Mr. Xiao. If he ran to Lanyuan Pavilion to find a teacher, he wouldn’t be able to live.

The Fourth Prince helplessly and indulgently shook his head, "You ah..."

As long as it was not reading, Zhao Yao was willing to do anything. He helped the Fourth Prince organize books for two hours without complaining of fatigue.

By noon, the Fourth Prince asked Zhao Yao whether he would return to Kunde Hall for lunch or stay at Lanyuan Pavilion to have lunch with them.

Zhao Yao had never had lunch at Lanyuan Pavilion before and naturally wanted to stay for lunch.

Lanyuan Pavilion had a dining hall. Every noon, the eunuchs from the Imperial Kitchen would deliver lunch on time. Since these days they couldn’t eat meat, the dishes delivered were all vegetarian. However, the cooking from the Imperial Kitchen was excellent; even vegetarian dishes were delicious.

The Fourth Prince took Zhao Yao to have lunch with the ministers in the dining hall. The Fourth Prince’s two cousins sat at the same table with them, while the other ministers sat at tables on the side.

Having met the Fourth Prince’s two cousins at the celebration banquet before, Zhao Yao did not feel unfamiliar talking to them.

The Minister of the Ministry of Rites and the Junior Minister knew Zhao Yao liked good food, so they chatted with him about the local delicacies, as they did last time.

Once the topic of good food came up, Zhao Yao wouldn’t stop talking. Although he hadn’t been to other places, he’d read about lots of delicacies in the local chronicles.

After chatting for a while, Zhao Yao realized Prime Minister He and Grandmaster Liu weren’t there, and asked curiously, "Prime Minister He and Grandmaster Liu aren’t joining for lunch?"

The Minister of the Ministry of Rites said, "Prime Minister He and Grandmaster Liu don’t have lunch in the dining hall; they eat directly at their desks."

The Junior Minister added, "Prime Minister He and Grandmaster Liu are very busy, so their lunches are always rushed."

When Zhao Yao heard how busy Prime Minister He was, his eyes turned craftily. He commented, "I didn’t realize Prime Minister He and Grandmaster Liu were so busy." That way, he should easily steal an orchid later.

Seeing Zhao Yao’s expression, the Fourth Prince knew exactly what mischief he was planning.

After lunch, the Fourth Prince told Zhao Yao to return to Kunde Hall to take his medicine and rest.

Zhao Yao had initially planned to stay at Lanyuan Pavilion to avoid taking his medicine, but the Fourth Prince saw through him.

Seeing Zhao Yao not willing to go back, the Fourth Prince could only say, "I’ll walk you back to Kunde Hall."

"Fourth brother, no need, I can go back by myself." Zhao Yao deftly stood up, "Fourth brother, cousins, I’m heading back." With those words, he ran out.

He had earlier arranged for Tong Xi to keep watch. He went downstairs to the orchid garden, and seeing that Prime Minister He wasn’t watching, he grabbed a pot of orchids that hadn’t yet bloomed and ran off.

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