Lady, escort the emperor! 39

Chapter 39: A Setback, Then Another Setback

Li Nuo had lunch at the county magistrate’s office. For the past two days, he’d been having lunch at Magistrate Pei’s home. Yesterday, however, Magistrate Pei’s wife had gone back to her parents’ home, so he had only managed a few hastily eaten buns.

Today, it was dumplings again. Magistrate Pei’s wife was an exceptional dumpling maker; her dumplings had a unique flavor that surpassed even that of a professional chef.

The Li family chef was a seasoned gourmand. His dishes were visually appealing, aromatic, and delicious—flawless. But they lacked a certain homely touch, a touch that sometimes mattered most.

Li Nuo looked at Pei Zhe across the table and asked doubtfully, “Magistrate Pei, weren’t you supposed to be out on official business today?”

Pei Zhe picked up a dumpling and said, “Oh, County Registrar Zhang came by just now, volunteering to handle the relief efforts for the widows and orphans. I couldn’t refuse him, so I let him go…”

Earlier, Registrar Zhang had knelt on the ground, clutching Pei Zhe’s leg, weeping profusely. He refused to get up until Pei Zhe agreed, leaving Pei Zhe with no choice but to comply.

Ordinarily, such obedience from a subordinate should have pleased him.

But Pei Zhe couldn’t feel happy at all.

After Li Nuo publicly dealt with Wang Yue yesterday, Pei Zhe had a nagging feeling something was amiss. It wasn’t until Registrar Zhang’s unusual behavior—kneeling and begging for mercy—that Pei Zhe belatedly realized… something was wrong!

He’d become Li Xuanying’s lackey!

Even if he wasn’t, others perceived him as one.

In recent days, Li Nuo had been presiding over cases at the county magistrate’s office, with Pei Zhe constantly at his beck and call. Even their meals were together. Yesterday, a Chief Secretary of the Board of War even sent his own son to the county magistrate’s office to confess, resigned overnight, donated his wealth, and left Chang’an with his family. Besides Li Xuanying, who else possessed such influence? From an outsider’s perspective, even Pei Zhe himself felt he had sided with the Minister of Justice.

The current court was a complex web of factions, and the position of Chang’an County Magistrate was extremely sensitive, making it impossible to remain aloof and unbiased. He would inevitably have to choose a side eventually.

He had already accepted this.

But he hadn’t made his choice yet, and others had made it for him.

“Sigh…”

Thinking of Li Xuanying’s reputation, Pei Zhe let out a long sigh. This time, he was in a situation where even jumping into the Yellow River wouldn’t wash away the stain…

“Sigh…”

Meanwhile, at the Song residence, after listening to Song Mu Er and Song Ning Er explain a five-variable equation problem, the elderly tutor, his hair now graying, also sighed, deeply doubtful.

He had taught mathematics his entire life. Could he really be inferior to a fool?

This problem was one of the most difficult in the “Equations” chapter of *The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art*. Even academy students who had studied mathematics for several years couldn’t fully grasp it. Yet these two six-year-old girls not only calculated the correct answer but also explained it clearly.

They genuinely understood.

He couldn’t have taught them to this level.

Comparison often reveals shortcomings. As soon as he went even slightly deeper into the subject, the two girls became sleepy, just like their older sister ten years ago.

This filled him with a profound sense of frustration.

From a distance, Song Jia Ren’s gaze made him even more uneasy.

He understood the meaning behind her look.

Ten years ago, when he taught her mathematics, he’d deemed her “untalented in mathematics.” In his eyes, the mathematical aptitude of the Song twins was about the same as Song Jia Ren’s back then.

Now, it seemed it wasn’t that they couldn’t learn, but that he couldn’t teach. He had truly failed them.

Thinking this, he didn’t teach anything new that day. He only had them review past lessons, rewarded each of them with a flower ornament, left a few problems, and hastily departed…

Although Song Ning Er received a reward from the tutor this time, Song Mu Er did too, so there was nothing to be happy about.

She looked at the new problems in the booklet, her dark eyes darting about, seemingly thinking.

Song Mu Er saw through her thoughts and coldly snorted, “Don’t even think about tricking Brother Li Nuo into explaining the problems to you again. I’ve already made a secret code with him; you can’t fool him!”

Song Ning Er was startled. “What code?”

“One, two, three, four, five…”

Song Mu Er said, then winked at her. “I’m six years old, not three. You still try to trick me for the code? I won’t tell you, nyah nyah!”

She playfully stuck her tongue out at Song Ning Er and quickly ran off.

Song Ning Er crossed her arms in disdain. “What a useless code. Who cares? I’ll ask Brother Yu…”

Moments later, in a courtyard of the Song residence.

Song Yu, his throat dry, picked up his teapot and drained it, asking Song Ning Er with a sense of accomplishment, “Do you understand?”

Song Ning Er shook her head. “No.”

Song Yu rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on.

That’s how the tutor explained the problem to him; it took him a long time to understand. And he was over ten years old then; Ning Er was only six. Why was she learning such difficult mathematics at six?

When he was six, he was still memorizing multiplication tables.

He had no choice but to explain it again.

“Do you understand?”

“No.”

“This time you should understand, right?”

“Why does it have to be like this?”

“There aren’t so many ‘whys’ in mathematics. That’s how the tutor taught it, and that’s how you do it…”

Song Yu had already finished three pots of tea and still felt parched. He also realized something: even the simplest “field surveying” problems were too difficult for Ning Er now; she couldn’t understand them at all.

Song Ning Er understood something too. Her Brother Yu was different from Song Mu Er’s Brother Li Nuo.

When Li Nuo taught her mathematics problems, he wouldn’t say things like Brother Yu did. He would not only tell her how to do it but also why. His explanations were easy to understand, unlike Brother Yu’s, which were worse than the tutor’s…

She should have let him play with her woven ball that day. Then he might have liked her as much as he liked Mu Er.

In Song Ning Er’s opinion, it was normal for someone to dislike her if she didn’t let them play with her toys. If she were treated that way, she wouldn’t want to play with them either.

“Sigh…”

Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but feel regret, and sighed like an adult.

…

At the Chang’an County Magistrate’s office.

Li Nuo returned home early today; he didn’t stay until dark. He himself didn’t mind, but he felt bad about keeping so many people at the county magistrate’s office working overtime with him.

The cases would still be there; he could judge them tomorrow. Today’s work had already been fruitful enough. Even without serious cases, in just one day, he had accumulated seven days’ worth of life expectancy, bringing his total to forty-eight days.

Before the office closed today, many people were still lining up. It was foreseeable that he would have plenty to do in the coming days.

Upon returning home, Li Nuo found Song Mu Er waiting for him.

Or, maybe it was Song Ning Er.

The sisters looked alike, and even wore the same clothes, jewelry, and carried the same sachets. Li Nuo couldn’t tell them apart.

He was about to check the code when the girl spoke first, “One, two, three, four, five!”

“…”

Li Nuo was speechless. This silly child, the code was meant to test Song Ning Er, not him. He didn’t have a twin brother, so why would she say the code herself?

Considering she was only six, Li Nuo didn’t say anything.

Li Nuo casually asked, “Where’s your sister Jia Ren?”

Song Mu Er said, “She was here just now, but I don’t know where she went now. Brother Li Nuo, could you explain this problem to me?”

Li Nuo took the booklet she handed him. Today’s problem wasn’t a system of multivariable linear equations; it was calculating the area of an irregular shape, classified as a “field surveying” problem in *The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art*.

“Field surveying,” referring to rectangular fields, meant the government needed precise land measurements to determine taxes. There was an urgent need to calculate the area of various irregular fields, giving rise to the “field surveying” category in mathematics.

In this chapter of *The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art*, students needed to master the area calculations of squares, rectangles, triangles, trapezoids, circles, and sectors.

The problem Song Mu Er asked him about was an irregular shape composed of a rectangle, a triangle, and a trapezoid. All he needed to do was divide it into sections, calculate the area of each, and add them together. It was simple for Li Nuo, but Song Mu Er didn’t even know the area formulas, so Li Nuo had to start from the basics.

Teaching students with a foundation was fine, but Song Mu Er hadn’t been exposed to these concepts. Even the formula for the area of a rectangle (length times width) required explanation. Li Nuo had to start from the most basic concepts, explaining repeatedly before she grasped the idea of area.

When he explained that the area of a triangle was half of base times height, she asked why again. Li Nuo had to draw auxiliary lines, completing two rectangles, letting her deduce it herself. Fortunately, she already understood the area of rectangles, and after Li Nuo completed the diagram, she easily deduced the formula.

Then came the trapezoid…

After much effort, Song Mu Er finally calculated the problem herself, and Li Nuo breathed a sigh of relief.

The problem itself wasn’t difficult, but explaining it to a six-year-old was challenging.

Just as a small sense of accomplishment arose in Li Nuo’s heart, a small figure ran into the courtyard, looking at the figure sitting next to Li Nuo, angrily exclaiming, “Song Ning Er, what are you doing!”

Li Nuo looked at the angry girl at the entrance and was dumbfounded.

Moments later, Song Mu Er put her hands on her hips, glaring at Li Nuo with a disappointed look. “What am I supposed to say about you? ‘Hunting the Tiger in the Mountain’ was for Song Ning Er to solve, not you! How could you be so stupid? She tricked you again!”

(Chapter end)

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