The world of film and television begins with Hikaru no Go

"By the way, sir, what exactly is the title of 'Chancellor of the Phoenix Pavilion and Luan Terrace'?"

"Fengge is the Secretariat, and Luantai is the Chancellery. Pingzhangshi means to participate in the deliberation of government affairs."

"So, you're involved in the decision-making processes of the Secretariat and the Chancellery?"

"You certainly know how to get to the heart of the matter." Di Renjie twirled the withered branch in his hand. "First, set up the framework of the Three Departments and Six Ministries, and filling it in will be quick. However, besides the Three Departments, there is also the Ministry of Personnel, which oversees the Six Ministries, and the Six Ministries are in charge of practical matters. I'll explain to you in detail how these three operate when we have time."

After resting for fifteen minutes, we continued on our way.

The carriage swayed and rolled along the official road. Di Renjie did not take out any more books. Leaning against the carriage wall, he casually asked a few questions about arithmetic.

There are pheasants and rabbits in the same cage. There are 35 heads and 94 feet. How many pheasants and rabbits are there?

"Twenty-three pheasants, twelve rabbits."

Judge Di raised his eyebrows slightly and posed another question, which was more roundabout than the previous one.

Zhang Rui thought for a moment and answered correctly.

The third question was phrased differently, with a larger number and an additional layer of calculation. This time, I paused for a moment before giving the answer.

"He was bad at classical studies, but very good at arithmetic."

"When I was reading the Thousand Character Classic, many of the characters looked unfamiliar, and I stumbled over them. But with these arithmetic problems, I didn't even have to think about them; the answers just popped into my head."

Di Renjie did not pose any more questions, but simply leaned against the carriage wall and watched him.

A breeze blew in through the window, causing the edges of the map to flutter slightly.

The carriage continued on its way, and around noon, it stopped to rest at a roadside inn.

Di Chun went inside to prepare the food, while Li Yuanfang and Di Jinghui each sat in a corner of the courtyard, neither of them speaking.

Di Renjie requested a private room and asked the innkeeper to prepare porridge and steamed buns for two people, as well as an extra dish of pickled radish.

The shopkeeper glanced at Di Renjie, then at the two sets of bowls and chopsticks on the table, asked no further questions, and closed the door behind him as he left.

"Eat up," Di Gong said, picking up his chopsticks.

Zhang Rui picked up the bowl of porridge. The millet porridge was neither too thick nor too thin, and the pickled radish was cut into varying thicknesses with just the right amount of salt.

Since they started eating together, Di Gong's appetite has become excellent. After finishing one bowl, he would have another half bowl, slowly chewing on the pickled radish.

The two sat facing each other, and for a moment the only sound was the light clinking of bowls and chopsticks.

Setting down his bowl, Judge Di leaned back in his chair and casually changed the subject: "With such a good foundation in arithmetic, you should also have some knowledge of astronomy and calendrical calculations. The moon takes a little over 29 days to complete one cycle, and the sun takes a little over 365 days to complete one cycle. These two numbers don't add up. The ancients devised a way to make the days match. Do you know what it was?"

Zhang Rui put down his chopsticks, thought for a moment, and honestly shook his head.

"I don't know. I only know that there are 365 days in a year, and one day is extra every four years. I've seen methods to make up for that extra day. I haven't learned how the moon and the sun align."

"Eleven days less in a year, thirty-three days in three years, which is just over a month," Di Gong said slowly, holding his teacup. "So the ancients set a rule: add a leap month every three years, another every five years, and seven in nineteen years. In this way, the sun and moon are aligned."

After listening, Zhang Rui silently calculated in his mind: "A leap year every three years, and another leap year every five years—the days accumulated over three years are just enough for one month, and the remaining days are accumulated over another five years. These two cycles combined make seven leap years in nineteen years."

Di Renjie paused, holding his teacup. This child did indeed have some talent in divination. He probably hadn't heard of "Sui Shi" or "Shuo Ce" before, but he came up with them on his own.

He put down his teacup, having roughly figured things out.

Once the missing parts are filled in, the overall flow becomes clear.

After resting for a while in the afternoon, we continued on our way.

Di Renjie stopped testing Zhang Rui on arithmetic and leaned against the carriage wall, casually pointing to the place names they passed by outside the window, asking Zhang Rui if he recognized them.

Post signs and stone tablets along the official road, village name signs along the way, plaques on the lintels of temples and monasteries, cloth banners faded by the sun along the ridges of fields... Ask about whatever you encounter.

Zhang Rui could recognize about 60-70% of them, but most of them were guesswork.

Some characters have many strokes in their traditional form and cannot be broken down. Just honestly say "I don't know" and there's nothing to be embarrassed about.

By evening, Judge Di had a general idea of ​​the situation. He recognized about 70% of the commonly used characters, but not the slightly less common ones. The most difficult characters were the variant forms with many strokes.

"That's enough."

"I can't even recognize 70% of the characters, how can that be enough?"

Zhang Rui looked outside through the carriage curtain. The sunlight of the sunset shone through the gaps in the curtain, passing through his figure and falling on the cushion.

"Knowing how many characters and reading how many books are two different things. If you know 70% of the characters, you can learn the remaining 30% while reading. The important thing is that you can understand what you hear."

Zhang Rui didn't reply. The carriage swayed and rolled over a rut, and the carriage was quiet for a moment.

Di Renjie's words were neither a compliment nor a consolation; they were simply a statement of fact.

But when Di Renjie says it, it carries a different weight.

As evening fell, the carriage entered the territory of Zhending County.

As darkness fell, the stubble fields along the roadside turned a grayish hue, and a few lights flickered in the twilight at the far end of the field ridges.

The carriage stopped in front of a simple post station. Di Chun jumped off the carriage and went inside to make arrangements, while Li Yuanfang dismounted and casually hung the reins on the hitching post.

Di Renjie lifted the carriage curtain, glanced at the last rays of sunset on the horizon, and then suddenly turned his head away.

"I'll teach you on the way tomorrow."

"What should we teach?"

"Teach you to recognize characters."

That evening, after settling into the inn, Di Renjie instructed Di Chun to prepare a shallow wooden tray, spread with fine sand, and place it on the table.

When it was time for dinner, Di Chun carried a tray into the room.

A bowl of stewed mutton, a plate of steamed buns, two plates of seasonal vegetables, plus a pot of warm yellow wine.

We stopped at the post station at noon to rest during our journey and had a makeshift meal. Now that we've settled in, we can finally have a decent meal.

"Master," Di Chun said, setting out the food and glancing at the two sets of bowls and chopsticks on the table. He couldn't help but say, "Your appetite has increased recently."

Di Renjie glanced at him but didn't say anything.

Di Chun carried the empty tray out and quietly closed the door.

After passing through the door, he was still muttering to himself, "When I was in Pengze a few years ago, I could only eat half a bowl of rice per meal, but these past few months my appetite has actually improved—"

Zhang Rui couldn't help but laugh.

Di Renjie shook his head, picked up his chopsticks, and took a piece of mutton.

"Stop laughing, eat."

After dinner, Judge Di read the official gazette sent from the post station for a while under the lamp.

The candlelight burned steadily inside the gauze cover, occasionally crackling softly.

Zhang Rui floated beside him, looking at the dense regular script characters on the official gazette, and couldn't help but feel a headache when he thought about the process of learning to read during the day.

But learning more things doesn't seem like a bad thing, does it?

When the candle had burned halfway, Judge Di put down the official gazette, got up, walked to the window, and pushed it open about a hand's width.

The night breeze blew in, carrying the dry scent of earth and withered grass.

There were insects chirping outside, sparsely, one long chirp followed by another short one.