Chapter 134
The capital.
Elder Gu hadn’t expected to receive a letter from the Second Prince.
Spreading out the paper, he stroked his beard and looked down. The wild scrawls covering the page made the old man jolt in alarm, and he sprang nimbly backward!
What was this?!
Could it be some talisman for cursing people?
Elder Gu cautiously narrowed his eyes and examined it. Only then did he realize these were written characters, just somewhat ugly ones.
All right, not somewhat. Hideously ugly.
Relieved, he picked up the letter and began reading.
[Elder Gu… How I suffer! How I resent it! My heart is bleeding, my flesh is rotting, my soul is withering, my convictions are collapsing…]
“What the hell is this?”
The crazed handwriting and contents made Elder Gu knit his gray-white brows. He leaned closer and continued reading.
[Ah! When will the nation grow rich? Wine in hand, I ask the blue sky! Does Heaven know what year that day will fall in? I seek wealth through ice sculptures, but gifted craftsmen heap scorn upon me. Weeping like a rainstorm, I wish to die here on earth!
My heart grows cold, tears flow, the night brings no sleep. There should be no resentment, but the people’s pockets are empty! The sculptures are delayed again and again; the north grows poorer and poorer. How hard it is to set things right. I only wish Elder Gu would come and stand behind me!
P.S. I’m craving Qinghe’s pastries. Please bring some, Elder Gu, or when I return, I’ll hang myself outside the Ministry of Works. 🙂
Come quickly, come quickly, come quickly!!!!!!]
Elder Gu: …
Lunatic!
If he wanted him to go to Liaozhou and help, he could just say so. Why write all this nonsense?
Elder Gu could already picture the young fellow in red sprawled on the ground, clutching his leg with tears and snot streaming as he complained of the discrimination and injustice he’d suffered in Liaozhou.
He hastily shook his head, driving that horrifying image from his mind.
Not a shred of princely dignity!
But what were ice sculptures?
Objects carved from blocks of ice?
He was curious how they could bring wealth, and what exactly the Second Prince intended to do. Yet the letter offered no further explanation, making him want to visit Liaozhou and see.
Heated brick beds were now widespread in the capital. He wasn’t needed to oversee things for the moment. A trip to Liaozhou to discover what use ice sculptures served might not be a bad idea.
Elder Gu decided quickly and immediately prepared to pack for Liaozhou. But just before leaving, he suddenly remembered that His Highness had asked him to bring something else.
What was it again?
He thought back. Oh, right. It seemed he was supposed to bring Su Qinghe.
…
The day Su Qinghe arrived at the Imperial Observatory was perfectly ordinary.
The officials thought he was merely a new administrative assistant and paid him little attention. Still, experience told them that newcomers inevitably had many questions, so they needed to be ready to answer patiently.
Unexpectedly, several days passed without the newcomer saying a word. Often, they couldn’t even find him, let alone hear any questions.
Only on the sixth day did this mysterious newcomer begin moving about the outer halls, seeking the books he needed. Then he sat at the wooden table on that floor, lowering his head to read and calculate.
Quiet and absorbed in his own world, he resembled a piece of uncarved jade, tempting people to take a few looks.
At last, someone couldn’t contain their curiosity. Pretending to pass by, they deliberately stole a glance. The young man in white had covered his calculation sheet with dense symbols, none of which they could understand.
Had the Director brought back an idiot? Even if the Observatory was short-staffed, he couldn’t take just anyone!
The Imperial Observatory was in danger!
Soon, the rumor that Su Qinghe was an idiot spread throughout the Observatory. Someone couldn’t resist raising it with Guo Tianheng. But he merely waved a hand and said, “Leave him alone.”
At such blatant favoritism, complaints filled the entire Observatory.
Su Qinghe naturally sensed the Observatory staff’s dissatisfaction. Their looks were like those of the people at the Su Residence: contemptuous, displeased, unwelcoming. Fortunately, he was already accustomed to such gazes. He stopped letting outside matters distract him and continued immersing himself in mathematics.
He couldn’t disgrace the Second Prince.
He had to gain Director Guo’s approval, and Elder Gu’s too. When His Highness came to find him, he had to be able to help.
He had to work harder.
Meanwhile, the officials’ dissatisfaction with Su Qinghe continued building. He was far too strange and exceptional here. He didn’t socialize or participate in stargazing. During the day, he was nowhere to be seen. Even the rotations for clearing snow in front of the tower never included him.
Just as their frustration was about to erupt, one incident suddenly changed Su Qinghe’s standing in the Observatory.
An official had been trying to complete a sophisticated water clock designed by a great expert of the previous dynasty. All the parts were finished, but dozens of attempts to assemble them had failed.
While searching for a book, Su Qinghe happened to see this official sitting before the table, secretly wiping away angry tears with a raised sleeve. He stood silently behind them, looking at the plans and parts. A spatial model had already formed in his mind.
He studied mathematics diligently at the Observatory every day, but had never neglected his work at the Ministry of Works either. After carrying water, he always followed Elder Gu to observe and learn. Elder Gu was generous with his teaching, so he had learned a great deal about assembling parts too.
He could see that the plans were incomplete.
Recalling the formulas for circles and the arithmetic problems in the teaching booklet Xie Chengze had given Director Guo before leaving, he calculated the replacement parts and additional pieces needed that very day.
He went to the Ministry of Works and asked Elder Gu to make the parts. Then he found the official and assembled the water clock.
With that, he astonished everyone.
At that moment, the officials finally realized Director Guo wasn’t blind. A genius had come to the Imperial Observatory!
Gradually, people began bringing Su Qinghe mathematical questions. He always said he needed to think. Two days would pass, and just when everyone had given up hope, he would slowly approach with his calculation sheets, dark circles beneath his eyes, and begin explaining the problems.
His solutions were remarkably novel, as though using another system of mathematics, and the officials benefited greatly. Their gazes gradually changed, filling with growing appreciation and respect.
At the Ministry of Works, Su Qinghe also earned recognition. His almost suffocating compulsiveness and unparalleled dexterity made him so exacting in crafting objects that even veterans couldn’t match him. Backed by his mathematical ability, he drew endless praise from the ministry’s officials as well.
He was no longer surrounded by contempt, disdain, and condescension, but by ever more appreciation, admiration, and respect.
Everyone called him a genius.
Before, only someone like his eldest brother had been called a genius.
Could someone like him be called one too?
But if he was a genius…
Why did the Second Prince never come to see him?
Was he still not working hard enough, not good enough, not meeting His Highness’s expectations?
Whenever the night grew quiet, he gently stroked Xie Chengze’s mathematical manuscripts with his fingertips and lowered his eyes despondently, missing that person’s bright eyes and expectant gaze.
News rarely reached the Observatory. He hadn’t heard anything about His Highness for a long time. Nor did he dare ask Elder Gu or Director Guo, afraid they would tell him the Second Prince was dissatisfied with him.
Su Qinghe worked harder and harder, almost forgetting food and sleep as he studied those difficult books. From mathematics to astronomy, from geomancy to yin-yang arts, he absorbed their contents day and night. The dark circles beneath his eyes deepened, and his eyes grew increasingly bloodshot, until that day…
Two streams of hot blood ran from his nose, and he finally fainted.
When he woke again, he was already in a carriage bound for Liaozhou.