"Smash!"
The teacup in Li Yin's hand shattered on the ground, making a crisp sound.
The academy finally fell silent. Everyone held their breaths, afraid of angering His Highness the King of Shu. Don't be deceived by his smiling face when he's with his two younger sisters, making him seem easy to talk to and get along with. In fact, he's not a soft - touch.
"Disperse."
"Yes."
Everyone held their rice bowls and left in unison, all going to the backyard, leaving only Wang Ji and Su Gui.
Su Gui lowered his voice and asked tentatively, "Your Highness, do you plan to enter the school?"
Logically, children at the age of five or six should go to Hongwen Hall to study. But Li Jingyun had just taken on the task of building a new library. How could she spare the energy to study?
"Probably not."
Li Jingyun thought for a moment.
Su Gui's eyes immediately lit up. "Your Highness, do you need an assistant? I can do anything!"
He didn't want to shake his head and recite those boring ancient texts every day. If he recited poorly, his pageboy would even be beaten on the palm.
It would be great to follow Princess Chengyang to build the library. If it was really built, his merits would surely be recorded in the history books.
Li Mingda guessed from Su Gui's changing expression and asked, "You don't want to enter the school either?"
"Going to school is so boring..." Su Gui's mouth ran ahead of his mind. Only after he said it did he notice the old gentleman Wang Ji beside him. He racked his brains, trying to figure out how to cover up his words.
Wang Ji coughed and looked a bit annoyed.
He had just praised this young man for his intelligence and quick learning.
Su Gui said, "Mr. Wang's explanations are so thorough and easy to understand that I can memorize the ancient poems and texts after listening to them a few times. That's why I've lost the pleasure of studying hard and pondering deeply."
After he finished speaking, he wiped the sweat off his forehead.
He finally managed to talk his way out of this embarrassing situation. Thanks to his eloquence and thick skin.
"Besides, Your Highness, you live in the palace and it's inconvenient for you to come and go. I live outside the palace and can do anything. My parents are busy preparing for my elder sister's wedding and don't care about me at all. I have plenty of free time." Su Gui's tone at this moment was similar to that of a modern - day salesman.
After listening to this long speech, Li Jingyun suddenly realized.
It turned out that not everyone liked going to school. There were many people as lazy as she was.
Being able to move freely outside the palace? It did sound good.
Moreover, he was Su Rui's younger brother, a close relative of her own.
"That would be great."
Li Jingyun thought she had comprehensively considered many factors, but actually, the fact that he didn't like going to school and that he was Su Rui's younger brother were the two things that touched her the most.
Li Yin had listened to the whole conversation and understood. It was just two kids who didn't want to study hitting it off and planning to do something.
He couldn't accompany Li Jingyun all the time. With an extra relative beside this little girl besides the guards, he could feel more at ease.
"Thank you, Your Highness!"
Su Gui was so happy that he could almost fly. In this way, he could wander around openly. The matters of studying and doing scholarly work could also be postponed, and his parents wouldn't blame him.
After getting Li Jingyun's permission, Su Gui felt like he had received a life - saving amulet.
Su Gui bowed again and asked, "May I ask what your commands are, Your Highness?"
"Go to class first. I'll send someone to inform you when there's something to do." Li Jingyun said with a smile.
What could there be to do now? The cement hadn't been made yet, and the location of the library hadn't been determined either. They still had to wait for her father and elder brother to discuss it.
Su Gui wilted like an eggplant beaten by frost. He still had to go to school. How painful!
At this time, Master Tian led a man dressed like an official over. "Your Highnesses! Yan Lide, the Supervisor of Works, is here!"
"Greetings to Your Highnesses. I'm here by the order of His Majesty to send several craftsmen to Your Highness. The craftsmen are waiting outside the door now."
Yan Lide was the elder brother of the famous Tang Dynasty calligrapher and painter Yan Liben. He was a well - known architect. This year, he was promoted to the Supervisor of Works because of his meritorious service in building Xianling Mausoleum. He was in charge of the whole Supervisorate of Works, responsible for various engineering constructions, and also designed the imperial ceremonial clothes and jewelry.
The Yan Lide in front of them was in his thirties, looking serious and acting in a strictly official manner.
Just like the rumors in the streets, he didn't believe that a five - year - old child like Li Jingyun could really build a library. But as the Supervisor of Works, it was his duty. His Majesty had specifically summoned him and entrusted him with the task of building the library, and also specifically instructed him to listen to Li Jingyun's opinions.
So he had to select several craftsmen who were skilled in papermaking and could engrave printing templates and send them here immediately without delay.
This place was remote and difficult to reach. Even ordinary farmers were reluctant to set foot here. He didn't expect the little princess to choose this place. She really planned to isolate herself from the world and study her new papermaking technique.
"Take them directly to the villa. You go first. We'll arrive soon." Li Jingyun sighed. She had just come out to play for a while. Why did Yan Lide come so soon?
Soon they returned to the villa. Master Zeng and the others were groping their way forward, being extremely careful. They had even washed the broken porcelain pieces clean and put them on the window sill to dry. They had built a new and very large stove and put a huge pot on it.
It was really not easy for them to do such a good job based on Li Jingyun's rather unclear words.
Behind Yan Lide, there were more than a dozen craftsmen. They bowed together and said, "Greetings to Your Highnesses."
"Get up. Why did you come with more than a dozen people?" Li Jingyun counted and found that there were twice as many as the seven people she had been told last night.
Yan Lide said, "Your Highness, seven of them are papermaking craftsmen, and the other seven are printing craftsmen."
"I see. Fourteen people. There should be enough rooms. You go and settle down first, tidy up your rooms and so on." Li Jingyun waved her hand, and everyone carried their luggage into the rooms.
Most of their luggage consisted of bedding and clothes. There was not even any money.
Master Tian and the others were working in the front yard, so there was no space there. They could only be arranged in the backyard. Since there was no pond, they had to dig one on the spot.
At the third quarter of Shen hour in the afternoon, which was 3:45 p.m. in modern time, Li Jingyun, Yan Lide and a group of craftsmen went to the backyard. Li Yin and Li Mingda led a group of guards to wander around outside. After hearing from Master Tian that there were wild boars and pheasants here, they had their hearts set on hunting a couple and taking them back.
Li Jingyun said, "There's no pond here. You have to dig one yourself and divert water here. Currently, we use tree bark. Let's use bamboo instead! Look!"
In front of where she pointed, the bamboo shadows were swaying. The bright afternoon sun seemed much softer.
There was an entire bamboo mountain at the back, and it was an ownerless barren mountain.
"Your Highness means that except for replacing tree bark with bamboo, the other procedures remain the same?"
"Yes, that's right!"
Li Jingyun answered cheerfully.
Yan Lide listened attentively. Bamboo was easier to obtain and process than tree bark. Maybe they could really make paper out of it.
They had just hit the right time by chance. The bamboo in early May had just shed its leaves, which was the perfect material for making bamboo paper.
The other half of the craftsmen were assigned to printing. The current woodblock printing technique used wooden boards for carving. Since the special clay was hard to find, they might as well continue using wooden blocks.
Li Jingyun organized her words and said, "Cut the wood into small pieces. Arrange the characters you need together and stick them. Separate them after printing, and then you can print many different books with a set of characters. Let's call it movable - type printing."
These words didn't come from her own mouth. It was the system that told her. She had recited them for a long time before going to bed last night to remember just a little.
Before going to bed, because of this matter, she disliked going to school even more.
Even now, when she said it fluently, she had added a lot of her own words.