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Text Chapter 12 (41) Nanyang and Tianxiu

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    When Nanyang returned to her princess's residence, the bell tower had already beaten the second watch of Haishi.

    The Princess Mansion was given to her by her father when she came of age at the age of 12. It covers an area of ??nearly thirty acres and was decorated with splendor back then.  She has two hobbies. One is good calligraphy. In order to hone her calligraphy skills, she searches for calligraphy and painting works by famous artists everywhere. No matter how much money they cost, as long as they are famous scrolls and stickers, she must buy them when she sees them;  Making friends and often staying up all night singing, dancing and drinking at home are both things that cost money.  It was okay when the consort was there, because there was someone who could restrain her from spending money lavishly. With her princess's salary and the consort's salary, she was living a good life.  However, after the death of the consort, there were few people around to supervise her. She did not know how to run a household and did not understand how to run a business. The family only had income but no income. With nothing to gain, the family gradually showed signs of ruin.  Moreover, her behavior in the years after the death of the consort was very absurd. Her brothers and sisters felt that she had ruined the reputation of the Tian family, and no one was willing to associate with her; this also meant that she could not even find a place to ask for emergency help.  She still had a good face and didn't want to lose her status as a princess in front of others, so she could only secretly sell the belongings in the house to maintain herself.  After going back and forth, she almost sold out all the valuable belongings in this princess' mansion.  Today, only the east and west spans of the vestibule still barely retain their original appearance.  After all, she needed a place to stay in the city.  Besides, if one or two relatives and friends like Tian Xiu came to visit occasionally, she would also need a ready-made place to express her friendship as a landlord.

    Of course, Tian Xiu is not just her friend.  In a sense, Tian Xiu can be said to be her relative.  During the most painful period of her life, Tian Xiu was with her; at that time, Tian Xiu also prevented her from doing stupid things and seeking death This made her very grateful!  Although Tian Xiu had to alienate her later because of her ridiculous behavior, this time Tian Xiu returned to Beijing and they reconciled as before. From before Beijing until now, Tian Xiu has been living in  Here she is.

    When she walked into the east cross courtyard, the light was still on in the study.

    She did not bother Tian Xiu, but first asked the maid to get two more lamps and some snacks to send to the study.  Having known Tian Xiu for so many years, she knew Tian Xiu¡¯s habits very well.  Since being kicked out of the house by his father, Tian Xiu has been living on his salary for more than ten years.  But even if a woman becomes an official, she can only hold a frivolous position such as a professor at Dacheng Palace. Not only her salary is meager, but there is also no money and food subsidies for rice, charcoal, carriages and horses. Tian Xiu also keeps a clean life and never accepts gifts from others, so her life is  She has been living a very poor life; this has also allowed her to develop the habit of living within her means.

    Nanyang went back to the bedroom, changed his clothes and took off his makeup, washed his hands and face with warm water with the help of the maid, then put on a half-arm shirt and came to the study.

    The study is much brighter than before.  Tian Xiu, who was also wearing a half-arm shirt, had half a piece of mung bean cake in her mouth, and was drawing with two things in her hands. She had pen and ink and a few pages of paper on her hand, with a few lines of scrawled words and a line of paper daubed on the paper.  A crude painting.  When she noticed Nan Yang coming in, she didn't raise her head. She chewed some snacks and said vaguely: "Didn't you leave a message saying you won't be back tonight?" She put down the things in her hands, stretched her neck to swallow the mung bean cake, and held the tea cup.  After drinking two sips of water, he picked up another piece of snack and said, "What, you were kicked out by the empress?"

    "I miss you, can you?" Nanyang sat down at the table, picked up the teapot and poured himself a cup of tea.

    "No." Tian Xiu nodded and said with a bulging mouth.  She picked up the things she had just put down and concentrated on her own affairs.

    Nanyang drank water and looked at his friend.  Tian Xiu is the same age as her, but is taller and more slender and well-proportioned.  In the past few years, she had been working as a watcher in the south of the Yangtze River and often traveled around. Therefore, her skin had been tanned by the sun and turned into a wheat-like golden yellow, shining with a healthy luster under the light of the lantern.  She had probably just washed her hair, so her hair was not pulled into a scholar's bun as usual, but was gathered on top of her head and tied with a random ribbon. Her long black hair flowed down her shoulders, adding to her face.  It adds a bit of heroic spirit

    Tian Xiu noticed that Nanyang was looking at him carefully, so he turned back and gave her a strange look.

    Nanyang asked: "What are you doing?"

    "Make an astronomical telescope."

    "Oh." Nanyang nodded.  Glass just came out some time ago, and it was immediately enthusiastically sought after by scholars because it is pure and crystal clear, which is the best portrayal of "a gentleman is like water".  Almost overnight, glass has become the most sought-after rare item on the market. Even glass beads the size of chestnuts cost more than ten pieces. As for complete glassware, such as glass cups, glass bowls, glass bottles, etc.  Glass plates, etc., each one sells for hundreds or even thousands.  It is a pity that although the Ministry of Industry has fired glass, it has not yet completely mastered the process, so untilNowadays, the output of glass is very low. It takes ten and a half days to burn a kiln, which is very good. The supply is insufficient, so how much can be put on the market?  This has further contributed to the phenomenon of "glass is easy to get but hard to find" on the market.  The Ministry of Industry saw this gratifying scene of "glass is expensive in Beijing" and was delighted. On the one hand, it added more money and asked the workshop to thoroughly understand the glass firing process as soon as possible. On the other hand, it started building a bigger and better one in Xuzhou.  Glass furnace, and also put the astronomical telescope on the agenda.  Chang Xiu was still in charge of the affairs of the astronomical telescope; just like when making glass, Tian Xiu still provided technical guidance.

    Nanyang looked carefully at the dozen glass pieces and several copper tubes of different lengths on the table, and asked with some confusion: "Are these glass and copper tubes? Use them as an astronomical telescope?"

    "Yes." Tian Xiu said.  She installed two pieces of glass with different shapes at both ends of a copper pipe, and placed two copper rings at the beginning and end of the copper pipe. After tightening them, she raised the copper pipe, squinted her left eye, and looked at the copper pipe with her right eye.  He glanced at it twice, then pursed his lips, shook his head in disappointment, and wrote down on the paper: "T-shaped copper pipe, one ugly and two glass, don't fit."

    The paper is already filled with almost the same text.  It seems that she has not achieved even a single success.

    She removed the two pieces of glass from the copper tube and replaced it with another copper tube, but it still failed; she replaced it with another copper tube, but she was still disappointed; she did not replace the copper tube with the glass piece, but it also failed

    Nanyang watched her repeat this kind of thing over and over again, and couldn't help shaking her head and sighing.  Of course she firmly believed that Shang Cheng would not deceive the Ministry of Industry with nonsense; but she had seen several sky-observation instruments in the Taishi Bureau, all of which were crude objects weighing thousands of kilograms.  How much weight can be used to make a celestial instrument?

    When Tian Xiu saw her sighing and shaking her head, she said, "It's nothing. When I was making glass, I failed more often. I'm used to it. Failure is the mother of success." At this point, she suddenly smiled.  She got up, stopped what she was doing, looked back at Nanyang, and teased her, saying, "Your husband said this." She knew that Shang Cheng was Mr. Youque, who people thought had traveled to heaven.

    "What about this gentleman and that gentleman!" Nanyang was a little unhappy.  She doesn't like others mentioning Shang Cheng in such a disrespectful tone, even if that person is Tian Xiu!  Although now she and Tian Xiu are the only people who know that Shang Cheng is Mr. You Que; but this is not the reason why Tian Xiu can disrespect Mr. You Que!  She said angrily, "Sir is a high-ranking official who lives in seclusion in the court. You can't say that about him!"

    In the past, whenever Nanyang praised Shangcheng, Tian Xiu would always argue with her in a joking tone.  But today was a bit unusual. Hearing Nanyang once again praise Shang Cheng without hesitation and get angry at himself, Tian Xiu did not refute.  She held the copper tube with the glass on it and was silent for a long time. Then she lowered her gaze and nodded, saying, "You're right! I was wrong."

    A happy smile immediately appeared on Nanyang¡¯s face.  She asked Tian Xiu: "After this thing is made, can it really observe the sky and watch the movement of the sun, moon and stars?"

    Tian Xiu thought for a while and said, "If I had to say it, it would definitely not work." But she added, "But judging from the matter of coke and glass, what Uncle Ying said is probably true." She picked up a  He handed the hollow copper ring, which was not much larger than the coinage, to Nanyang, then picked up a copper pipe placed on the table, pointed at it and said to Nanyang: "Look at this, do you see these concave and convex grooves?"  It's the thread connection method taught by Ying Bo. In order to engrave these threads on the copper pipes and copper rings, the coppersmiths in Xiaoluoyi almost drove crazy. They thought of countless methods before finally making these copper pipes.  Pipe copper ring. However, this threaded connection has a wide range of uses, and the yamen is already discussing whether it is necessary to buy this patent."

    Nanyang could not see the benefits of threads, but this did not prevent her from being happy that Shangcheng had a new income.  She asked: "How much do you estimate the Ministry of Industry will spend to buy the patent for this?"

    Tian Xiu frowned and said thoughtfully: "I don't know. How much money to spend is a matter for the Ministry of Industry. In the end, several ministers and ministers have to nod. I can't say." She suddenly remembered that time she asked Shang.  When Cheng brought up the matter of purchasing patents for coke and glass, he reminded Nanyang, "You'd better say hello to Uncle Ying first. I think this hermit seems not to care about money and food. He doesn't care about money and food."  Just like last time, I sold things at a low price again.¡±

    "I probably can't say anything to him now." Nanyang said with a somewhat sad expression, "Last time, Mr. Dingyi and Mr. Wenshi asked me to help those people say good things to them. Although Mr. Dingyi didn't say anything bad in person.  , but he must feel very uncomfortable"

    Tian Xiu¡¯s expression suddenly became gloomy.  Nanyang is talking about what happened on that day in Zhongqiu.  I haven¡¯t heard anything bad about her since she became an official.??, but usually others talk about it behind her back and then reach her ears; it was the first time she was humiliated in front of someone, she was really sad and angry!  After returning from Huangdengguan in Zhongqiu, she was immediately sent to Xuzhou for business. When she returned to the capital a few days ago, she unexpectedly heard that those few people had been let go again, and the person who persuaded Shang Cheng to let go was not someone she respected.  Her teacher was a close friend, and she was so angry that she couldn't eat anything for two or three days Now, when she heard Nanyang mention this matter again, she suddenly felt a little dazed.  She seemed to have returned to the yellow light view in Zhongqiu, and saw those ugly faces again, and heard words that humiliated her

    Nanyang noticed that her face was ugly, and then he realized that he had accidentally brought back Tian Xiu's painful memories.  She quickly stopped talking, blaming herself in her mind, while raising another topic, trying to distract Tian Xiu's attention: "You know Jiang Tuan, right?"

    "We know each other." Tian Xiu said.

    "How is this person?"

    This question is difficult to answer.  Tian Xiu thought for a moment and said, "It's pretty good. He's a bit talented and capable. Ji Shi's knowledge is very profound. However, he doesn't seem to have been studying with the teacher for a long time, and he seems to only have a partial understanding of some truths." She laughed.  He smiled and added, "Of course, maybe his teacher himself is not proficient in this area of ??knowledge, so the students he teaches are a bit specious."

    Nanyang immediately defended Shang Cheng and said, "This is because Jiang Tuan is stupid and dull. It's not that the teacher didn't teach him well!" She glanced at Tian Xiu dissatisfied and said, "How can the teacher be so talented as an ordinary person?"  Isn¡¯t it comparable to me?¡±

    "What the princess said is absolutely true!" Tian Xiu echoed her with a smile and said, "How dare the light of fireflies like us compete with the mighty moon like sir?"

    Nanyang was so angry that he was speechless.

    "Okay, don't be angry. It's just a joke. By the way, why did you suddenly mention Jiang Zhenyun?"

    "My father has told me something." Nanyang couldn't argue with Tian Xiu, so he told Tian Xiu exactly what Emperor Dong Yuan had ordered.

    "Then I will look for Jiang Zhenyun when I arrive at the Yamen tomorrow. I don't know Uncle Ying's guest, so I have to ask Jiang Zhenyun to invite him. When a time is set here, you can inform Mr. Lu for me." Tian Xiu said, "Yes.  Come, will you come then?"

    "I don't have to go."

    "Okay. I'll ask Jiang Zhenyun first later"

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