NOVEL NEXT Chapter 52 Healing
It wasn't yet time to leave the County Magistrate's Office, but Li Nuo had already walked out.
The cases each day were steadily decreasing, and today he had sentenced all there was; his lifespan had only risen by two days, which was nothing compared to the pocket change of those officials' second generations.
It was easy to transition from frugality to luxury, but very difficult the other way around. After just one day, Li Nuo had already begun to miss them.
Housekeeper Wu was sitting in the carriage, and once Li Nuo got in, he asked, "Young Master, are we heading home?"
Li Nuo shook his head and said, "No, let's go to the Song Family."
Going back would mean being alone, which was too boring. It was better at the Song Family—not only was it closer to the County Magistrate's Office, but Mumu was also there to keep him company. Of course, what was most important was that he could sleep with his wife at the Song Family at night.
The first day he arrived here, he had almost been assassinated in his sleep by a personal maid, which made Li Nuo wary of anyone at home apart from his wife and Housekeeper Wu.
With his wife by his side, he could sleep peacefully.
When Li Nuo returned to the Song Family's residence, he saw Song Mu'er practicing martial arts under Song Jiaren's guidance, her little fists stirring a fierce wind. Each punch was accompanied by a muffled sound in the air, and Li Nuo didn't doubt she could break his bones with a single hit.
Housekeeper Wu had said that Song Mu'er and Song Ning'er, the two sisters, both had excellent martial talent, but it seemed that only Song Mu'er had taken the path of the Martial Path.
The Martial Path had no shortcuts; talent and hard work were essential. Cultivation was much more arduous than the Philosophy of a Hundred Schools and required immense willpower and persistent dedication to achieve success.
Most children born to nobility and brought up in comfort were unwilling to endure such hardship.
In Chang'an, there were plenty with great martial talent who chose not to cultivate it.
They didn't need to endure the arduous task of Cultivation themselves; there were countless strong martial artists willing to approach them with servile fawning.
Although Li Nuo himself was one of these nobles, his innate conditions were lacking; unlike those who squandered their talents, Li Nuo could only envy them.
What some naturally possess yet take for granted might be what others yearn for in their dreams.
After watching Song Mu'er practice for a while with envy, Li Nuo went to his room to pick up a book and started reading it in the pavilion inside the courtyard.
Not long after, Song Mu'er came bouncing over, excitedly asking, "Brother Li Nuo, will you be living with us from now on?"
Song Jiaren's gaze also drifted over, with intent or otherwise.
Li Nuo looked at her and explained, "This place is closer to the County Magistrate's Office, and you and Mumu won't have to travel back and forth every day. If it's inconvenient, then forget it..."
Song Jiaren didn't say much. She knew he had to go to the County Magistrate's Office daily and didn't think much of it. It was indeed a bit troublesome for her to escort Mumu to and from the Song Family and Li Family each day. For him to stay at the Song Family would be convenient for everyone.
After dinner at the Song Family's residence, Song Mu'er brought over a Mathematics problem for Li Nuo.
Li Nuo glanced at the problem and, unlike before, didn't immediately start explaining.
The problem was still related to warfare, about a troop of Daxia cavalry that needed to rush to assist a certain city as quickly as possible in the face of a sudden invasion by an enemy country.
The quickest path would normally be in a straight line, but there was a desert between the military camp and the city. Traveling in a straight line would greatly reduce the speed of the cavalry. If they took a detour along the post road, they could move faster, but the journey would be longer.
Now, they needed to find the optimal path to ensure the shortest arrival time for the cavalry to reach the city.
This problem was similar to the "General Drinking Horse" issue, as both involved finding the optimum value, but the solutions were entirely different, and the difficulty had stepped up a notch.
If it were just slightly more difficult, it wouldn't be a big problem, but the challenging part was that solving this "Hu Bugui model" required the use of trigonometric functions, which in future generations was content taught in ninth grade.
And the mathematics of Daxia were still at a fundamental stage, having not developed trigonometric functions.
Li Nuo vaguely remembered that the study of trigonometry also wasn't introduced into China until the Ming Dynasty in another world.
"Calculus" did have a chapter named "Pythagorean," but the content it examined was very limited, dealing only with the most basic problems in trigonometry.
This problem seemed simple, but in fact, it was well beyond the scope of what Daxia's current mathematical techniques could solve; there was no way to reach an answer.
Having taught Mumu for so long, Li Nuo was very clear about her current level of mathematical skill and her capacity for understanding; this was not knowledge she could grasp at her current stage.
Song Mu'er, seeing him silent for a long time, asked in surprise, "Brother Li Nuo, you don't know how to solve this problem either?"
In her heart, Brother Li Nuo was the smartest person in the world.
Li Nuo shook his head and said, "It's not that I don't know how. Let's try this; I'll attempt to explain it to you and see if you can understand..."
A moment later, looking at the blank faces of Song Mu'er and Song Jiaren, Li Nuo waved his hand and said, "If you don't understand, let it be; this problem is indeed a bit difficult for you..."
He knew the levels of his wife and Mumu quite well, and the outcome was just as he expected.
Li Nuo didn't understand why her mathematics tutor had given her this problem, considering Mumu wasn't going to take the Imperial Examination. Moreover, had this problem been presented during the examination, no one would have been able to answer it.
It wasn't that the "Hu Bugui" problem was particularly hard; it was more like asking a skilled cook to make a meal without rice—they simply lacked the relevant knowledge. Even concepts involving only elementary mathematics of later generations were unsolvable mysteries to them.
After playing Go with Mumu for a while longer, the sky gradually grew dark.
Li Nuo returned to his room and sat at the desk to continue studying the works of Legalism, and to his surprise, his wife was also sitting beside the bed reading a book. Li Nuo took a few extra glances and discovered she was reading "Shuo Wen"...
It seemed that the few words Song Yu said about her had stayed on her mind.
This gave Li Nuo a measure of dissatisfaction with Song Yu; what was there to be proud of in recognizing a few extra characters? Why did he speak ill of his wife? If there were to be another fight and it ended up in his hands again, he would have to ensure that those government officials lashed Song Yu a few more times...
While thinking this, Li Nuo continued reading.
After days of in-depth research, Li Nuo found that the way of Legalism was not easy to Cultivate. Although its strength was far ahead of the other Hundred Schools, the endings of strong Legalism practitioners were too tragic; the vast majority met with untimely and violent ends: dismemberment, lingering death, being cut in two, flaying...
Every imaginable form of severe torture was employed, and beheading was considered light in comparison. Hardly any were left with an intact body.
In the process of their Cultivation, they offended too many nobles, and often, just before death, they faced exceedingly vicious retaliations.
The more Li Nuo read, the colder he felt, as even on a hot summer night, the temperature seemed not so warm anymore. His heart, struck by a ten-thousand-point blow, he closed the book, not desiring to read further about these horrifying matters, and planned to glance at his beautiful wife for some solace...
When he turned his head, he found Song Jiaren leaning on the bed, holding a book, but her eyes were already closed.
Li Nuo shook his head helplessly; it seemed she really wasn't meant for reading.
He walked over quietly, sat by the bed, and looked at her closely.
He had to admit, although his wife was uneducated and not particularly outstanding in figure, her face alone compensated for all her shortcomings.
Just silently observing her, Li Nuo's heart, which had just taken a beating, felt ten thousand points healed...
Li Nuo was entranced, until the long lashes on the stunning face before him trembled, and a pair of beautiful eyes slowly opened.
As their gazes met and lingered for a long time, Li Nuo turned his eyes away towards the window and said with a smile, "My wife, look, the moon is so beautiful tonight..."
Song Jiaren's eyes followed his, only to see a pitch-black night sky outside the window, devoid of stars or moon.