Chapter 127 Turbulence
After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the temperature gradually dropped. It rained a few times in the past few days, and then it became sunny. The refreshing wind seemed to have brought some relief to this city that had been closed for nearly a month. A little vitality, the sky is clear and clear during the day, and the stars are clear and clear at night, and cotton clouds float in the sky, one by one.
For more than a month, the situation of the hungry people inside and outside the city has been pushed to the limit. Of course, it is said that there have been more embarrassing situations in previous years than this year. The strings have been tightened, but it is still difficult to say where the limit is. The government occasionally releases grain, and some large households also help with porridge and rice, and care is provided both inside and outside the city. Whenever this kind of relief work comes, officers and soldiers also help maintain order, and there is no big trouble.
However, some gangs have also formed among the victims, and fights over food grabbing often occur. Such troubles often occur after the government and large households have distributed food and given out porridge, and it is difficult to control them. Some people died after the city was closed, a small number of whom died of starvation, and the majority who died due to fighting, robbing, or who later had no money for medical treatment and were gradually dragged to death. But overall, it is said that there is still a decrease compared with previous years.
Living in this era, I have heard countless times about what it was like in the past. Most people have sympathy, but the situation is now good, and we still have to live our lives. The business continued and the entertainment continued, but the atmosphere in the entire city became a little quieter. The autumn rain had fallen heavily in the past few days, and the feeling of silence and stagnation became even more serious.
The Mid-Autumn Poetry Festival was held as usual, and it was still as lively as ever. However, the content of the poems was a little different from previous years. It changed from describing various grand scenes with flowers and nostalgia for the wind and moon, to lamenting those things that are not reunited on reunion night, and describing the current city. The scene of the victims outside the city is dominated by new works by Li Pin, Cao Guan, Liu Qingdi and others, and some poets and lyricists who were famous before have made breakthroughs this time. Of course, the author of the song "Shui Tiao Ge Tou" that made a lot of noise last year was not involved. He was deeply involved in the family business and had no time to care about it. Some people talked about his clumsiness in business or laughed at him. Or sigh, but it also reduces the mystery behind the name "Ning Liheng" a lot.
After the Mid-Autumn Festival, life has returned to its original trajectory. People are waiting for the impact of the flood to pass day by day. Many merchants and shops in the city are also operating as usual in this atmosphere. The refreshing morning breeze blew by this morning. It was about eight or nine o'clock in the morning. In a small room next to Su's Clothing Store in Jiangning City, several people were busy with something. This warehouse room is also connected to the shop next to it, but in the current situation, business is not very good. A maid named Juaner occasionally runs in to take a look.
The busy ones in the room are Ning Yi, Zhou Pei, and Zhou Junwu. These two siblings are dressed like men in green clothes and hats, but their skin is fair and tender. At a glance, they can tell that they are children with some background. They had also been following Ning Yi inexplicably for a month. Some of the Su family had adapted to their existence. They thought they were the children of the master family or Ning Yi's disciples, so they took them around. Sometimes Ning Yi asked them to bring tea and water, and sometimes he even asked them to help move some goods - of course not heavy.
For this pair of siblings, this kind of life is quite novel. The day before yesterday, Ning Yi even paid them the first month's salary, one or two taels of silver per person, and the child labor this month standards, and then compared the prices outside. It was probably not much use for the two siblings to have one or two taels of silver, but it was still quite novel the next time.
Of course, using them as child labor was only boring occasionally. Most of the time, Ning Yi still fulfilled the responsibility of a teacher. When he was free, he gave lectures to the two of them, and also taught Zhou Pei modern arithmetic courses. , in a relatively casual way, the lessons of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are demonstrated one by one with the calculation method of the matter. At first, Zhou Pei didn't take the Arabic numeral code seriously, but now he often asked questions in this regard.
The reason why the three of them were busy with what happened today was because they were followed by the two of them when they went to the laboratory a few days ago, so they were given a tour and a general introduction to the concepts of physics. Ning Yi mainly found a few pieces of glass that could be used as convex lenses, and was going to get a telescope to play with. At that time, he was excited to show the principles of focusing and magnification to the two of them. Zhou Pei was more disapproving, saying that it was very interesting. Simple, everyone knows it. Since the telescope is still under construction, Ning Yi is going to do something very simple but not everyone knows about it.
Just now, I asked someone to help me get a wooden box. At this time, I took some black cloth and made a light-shielding tent to surround it. The three of them hid in it and lit a candle. Then Ning Yi put This side of the candle was covered. Since the box was only half covered and the light was still exposed, Ning Yi took a piece of thick rice paper with holes dug out and pasted with a bamboo frame and put it down, making a simple small hole image. experiment.
Juan'er stood at the door and looked at the black cloth tent here, a little confused. After a while, I heard someone say: "Look, the light here is upside down."
"Uh..."
"Ah, teacher, how could this happen!"< br>
"It must be a magic trick."
"The trick also makes sense."
There was chattering inside, and when Juan'er leaned over, Ning Yi had already walked out of the black cloth and smiled at her She smiled: "Go in and have a look. It's not very interesting, but I probably haven't seen it before..."
Juan'er went in doubtfully, and then saw the inverted candle flame appearing on the side of the wooden box. .
In the past month, Ning Yi has been like a worker, holding a morning meeting every morning, walking around the fixed route, and then freeing himself up. He seems to be diligent but doesn't do much. Most of the time, it was Chan'er who followed him, and sometimes Juan'er. Several maids already knew Zhou Pei and Zhou Junwu, the siblings. Junwu, who was polite, often called them Sister Chan'er and Sister Juaner. Zhou Pei is more reserved, but she already has an acquaintance attitude toward them and Ning Yi.
"Some people would say it's a strange trick, so for the time being, don't take it too seriously, but some things will be very interesting. For example, these two lenses, they are placed so far apart, so they can Let the things be enlarged... Well, I have asked Carpenter Chen to help him cut a good circle tubes, and then find a way to fix them..."
Ning Yi always likes to teach in a chatting way. This morning, the long bamboo tubes were placed on the table next to the window sill. Xiaopei and Junwu And Juan'er who came in took turns looking inside, and then were stunned. The lens cannot be fixed for the time being. Ning Yi just found the approximate focal length, surrounded the lens with circles of rice paper and put it in a bamboo tube for a temporary look. The lens was not fixed and could easily fall down, so there was nothing that could be done about this small telescope. The movement, at least in terms of effect, is actually pretty amazing.
“The reflection of light through a small hole actually shows that light travels in a straight line. But in some cases, such as putting a chopstick into water, it bends. Here, the light will Turn. If you want to say that you can do something after seeing a reflection, it is difficult, because this telescope is the product of a combination of many different things and principles. Once people can study it to this extent and understand everything, then No If you slowly try your luck like me, you will know directly what kind of lenses you need to use to make a telescope, and what the concave and convex surfaces should look like... When you know more principles, you will also know how to be precise. How to make those concave and convex surfaces with precise control? "
"However, you don't need to think about how to make these. What I want you to know is...a way of thinking about things, because, so, Don't know it However, I don’t know why. Many craftsmen have used the old methods for many years, but they don’t know why the old methods have such effects. If you know the principle, you can create more transparent lenses and see further. A clearer telescope. The efficiency will increase tenfold or a hundredfold. No matter what you do, it is the same..."
"The same is true for Zhou Pei's plan. It is clearer. Equal to two, two plus two equals four, it can be extended continuously. We are a human world, which is a world of numbers. In fact, to calculate how light is refracted, how to amplify it, and how much it is amplified, we need the help of numbers. Simply because of this, a clear logical relationship... I don't want you to become craftsmen in the future, but I hope you can figure out this logical relationship. "
"Of course, there are some more extreme examples in the planning, which are very interesting to think about, such as..."
After finishing the experiment, he probably extended it to talk about some messy things. Jun Wu watched intently. The small hole imaging device over there, occasionally playing with the telescope, Zhou Pei was also surprised by the experiment just now, but this time But she listened to the words more seriously. Juaner listened for a while and went out to see the situation in the store. She sighed in a deserted place: "My uncle is so amazing..."
After a while, Xi Junyu After passing here, they came in and chatted with Ning Yi for a while. Jun Wu and Xiao Pei went over to pour tea and move seats. This was also a tacit understanding between the two children and Ning Yi. In fact, apart from attending classes, they have also been wondering why Ning Yi has done nothing during the past month.
Xi Junyu passed by here today, because the cloth gathering will be held in three days, and then each household's chips will be officially laid out, so let's take a look at Ning Yi's situation at this time . In fact, all the shopkeepers are busy running around now. Xi Junyu just met with the owner of a shop this morning and is now preparing to go to another social event.
"Although this month has passed, it seems that my Su family has the highest voice now, but the shopping mall is full of intrigues and all kinds of things have to be guarded against. Now, although Mr. Han supports us, Mr. Dong also likes my Su family. But it’s hard to say whether there will be any changes. The Xue family and the Su family also have deep connections in the officialdom, so it’s hard to say whether there will be any reversal, which needs to be arranged as soon as possible.”
Xi Junyu belongs to the young group of the Su family, he is enterprising, but he is also sober. After hearing what he said, Ning Yi nodded: "The old lady has done her best on matters in the officialdom. Shopkeeper Xi, I'm not very good at it." Know the way, Has anything like this happened in the past? "
"In the past few years, Bu Xing has never been too fierce in the past. Of course, no one can tell what is hidden behind the scenes... Ha. , maybe I’m worrying too much, Su and Xue The three families of Wu and Wu are all well-established. Since it has reached this level this time, there probably won’t be too many changes. If they can make a comeback at this time and cover the sky with one hand, then in the past, they would have been swallowed up long ago. It’s our Su family.”
“It’s probably impossible.” Ning Yi laughed, “We have opened the door for business for so many years. When the time comes, we will put things out, even if they do something privately. , and it’s impossible to tell lies with your eyes open. Our stuff is not good, it would be fine if we were small merchants... Oh, actually this time we were forced to have no choice, one assassinated, the other framed, and then they took away the imperial merchant, and we still don’t know who it was, if not In this case, there is probably no need to be so high-profile this month. In short, if you get through it, there will be a future. If you can't get through it, there will be nothing to talk about. The 150,000 taels that were dug out little by little before are now being used for improvement at once. The loom is waiting for the royal merchant , there is really no way out..."
Xi Junyu nodded, sighed, then raised his head and smiled: "It's only three days, there shouldn't be any problems, don't worry, besides , Please tell me, no matter what, we have done our best this time."
"Do your best and obey fate." Ning Yi nodded, "Shopkeeper Xi has been working hard recently. Good job.”
"It's a matter of duty." After a few words of greeting, Xi Junyu invited him to go to the reception there to meet an official from the Weaving Bureau. Ning Yi then shook his head and turned it down. It didn't make much sense for him to go. After Xi Junyu left, Zhou Pei and Zhou Junwu frowned and talked.
"Why don't you go."
"Maybe I can convince that person..."
Ning Yi packed up his things and said with a smile: "I have so many things to do. , Why do you have to worry about it?"
"But you are fine at all." Zhou Pei curled his lips.
"Who said I'm fine? I'm going to have a meal later and go shopping in the afternoon. I'll go to Carpenter Chen's to pick up the telescope shell and study how to fix it better. Uh, I also plan to paint the outside with a layer of paint. I stopped by Dongshi to see what new stories are out there. Talk about selling. Nothing is more important than socializing..."
"If you don't socialize well, there will be problems in the teacher's family."
"But aren't they just socializing? It's okay if I go. Yes, the preparations for getting Huang Shang have been made, you two Everyone knows it. We don’t need to do any small tricks. We just run around and let everyone speak with conscience. We don’t need the adults in the Weaving Bureau to show favoritism to us. We also gave money and gave away things like this. Don't make it difficult for them, as long as they If we don't speak out of conscience, we will be sure to get it."
"Wouldn't it be better if they speak out of conscience for the Su family?"
"Of course. , that’s not bad...”
"Anyway, I think you didn't try your best, teacher..."
Jun Wu was a little unhappy, but Ning Yi smiled: "Don't worry, don't worry, I've done everything I need to do. It's a small thing in the first place, no. I know why you are in such a hurry. It’s getting late. Let’s go and take you to lunch...”
He was about to leave, Zhou Peidou Ran came over and stopped in front of him, and said with a smile: "Uh, wait, there are only three days left, can you also let us see the cloth?"
Ning Yi thought for a while, then tilted his head : "Oh, okay." He took out a key and opened the cabinet next to him, then took out a brocade box to open it and showed it to the two children. Xiaopei and Junwu touched it a few times.
“Wow, it’s really more beautiful than what I saw at home...”
"I haven't seen cloth of this color before."
"The secret recipe." Ning Yi smiled, and then made three chapters, "But there is one thing we must agree on first. You two guys are not allowed to go home and mess around. He said, you are not allowed to help find people, you are not allowed to think of ways to hint to the adults in the Weaving Bureau... Of course you don't have that influence now, but I want to be fair."
"Smei, we won't help. ." Zhou Pei smiled and rolled his eyes.
Xiao Junwu nodded beside him: "If you can't get the imperial merchant, it must be that Dong Decheng who collected the money, and collected a lot of money."
"Haha, let's go, let's go eat ...Juan'er, let's go together!"
At noon, a group of four people walked out of the cloth shop, and then the palace guards, who were also dressed as cloth shop clerks or passers-by, followed from all around. The sun shone down and the sound of chatter spread.
"Does this mean that a good fighter has no great achievements... But teacher, you really didn't do anything... Sister Juan'er, right?"
"Uh... I did. There are many things..."
"Of course you can speak for your uncle, But my sister and I didn’t see anything... But that’s right, we didn’t have to do much in the first place. We thought it was a big crisis, but step by step it got to this point. This is called conspiracy, sister.”
“I don’t know…”
"Why?"
"Those people just did one thing, and then there was no more conspiracy. Isn't it strange?"
"Yes, yes, teacher, sister said It makes sense, don’t you think it’s strange?”
“You are not afraid of conspiracy.”
“Yes, yes, sister...ah...”
< br>
"...It's so noisy."
There are still three days before the meeting of the Weaving Bureau. After the calm noon, it was a calm afternoon. Ning Yi went to the street to pick up the shell of the telescope, and then bought some small Tools are prepared to better frame the lenses. After dusk and nightfall, late at night, crowds of people dispersed at the entrances of brothels and restaurants. Xi Junyu said goodbye to several shopkeepers at the street entrance, and also declined the invitation to ride home in one of the shopkeepers' carriages. , the weather was nice today, he decided to take a walk alone.
Walking along the Qinhuai River, he arrived at a relatively secluded river bend. He looked around, and then walked to the small dock next to it. After a while, the sound of the boat was heard, and the boatman was holding the boat. The boat rowed towards the depths of the water. Xi Junyu stood on the boat, looking at a hazy circle of light in the distance with quiet eyes.
It was a small painting boat that did not seem to be lively. When the two boats approached, Xi Junyu stepped up. It seemed that a banquet had dispersed in the central hall of the boat. The lights were dim and a group of people appeared. There is also a feeling of leftovers on every table. Directly in front, a man was sitting at the host's table, holding a bowl of white rice, lowering his head to fill his stomach. Hearing the sound of footsteps, he ate a meatball, still lowering his head, while using chopsticks to pick vegetables into the vegetable bowl. Talking.
"I was just thinking whether I sent him away too early. Maybe if he left a beauty to accompany him, the meal would taste more delicious. Fortunately, Brother Xi came early, which is true. Same.”
Xi Junyu walked aside and picked up a bowl, "I'm not a beauty."
"Haha, but...Brother Xi always brings me good news."
The man smiled and raised his head. In the light, the man in front of him was clearly the eldest young master of the Wu family, Wu Qilong. ************
Recommend a book: ISBN: 2080918
Introduction to "Sword Ancestor": The swordsman is sharp! The sword immortal can reach as high as Qingming and as low as Jiuyou. He can wield a sword for thousands of miles and break the sky with his sword!
(End of this chapter)