Chapter 390: Invention
Editor: Atlas Studios
Mu Yangling looked at him in surprise. Her previous words were more to prevent this youth from being ostracized in the nursery. She had seen too much resentment caused by isolation and disdain. She did not want the children who walked out of the nursery to resent the nursery and the kids who had once shared weal and woe with them.
Mu Yangling did not expect this youth to give her such a surprise. Though impressed, she nodded calmly and said, “You summarized it very well. That’s what I meant.”
Mu Yangling glanced at Magistrate Fang before looking at the children below. “So, children, I hope you’re tolerant and wise. Everyone, work together and make the nursery better. This is not only the Mu family’s nursery, but also Hanzhong Prefecture’s. It’s also yours.”
When the children below heard this, their blood boiled. They no longer looked at the youth with disdain and hostility.
Mu Yangling nodded slightly before dismissing everyone and sending Magistrate Fang off.
Before getting into the carriage, Magistrate Fang said, “Miss Mu, the nursery doesn’t completely match your interests. In spite of that, you encourage them to give suggestions and develop a good system. From this, I can see how magnanimous you are. Comparing myself to you, I’m ashamed. Don’t worry, if you encounter any trouble, you can always look for me.”
Mu Yangling was overjoyed to receive Magistrate Fang’s promise. “Thank you, Magistrate Fang.”
As the carriage started moving, Advisor Huang asked in confusion, “Sir, doesn’t Miss Mu fear that the children in the nursery will have too much power and turn the tables on her?”
Magistrate Fang closed his eyes slightly and said, “You’re thinking too much. Even in another 180 years, the children in the nursery might not be able to surpass the Mu family. She already said that the suggestions have to be legal, reasonable, and certified by the Mu family and the government office before they can be incorporated in the system. If those children go overboard, they can just refuse to adopt those suggestions.”
“However, it’s already very remarkable for her to give in to this extent. How many people in the world would teach a large group of people to go against oneself?” Magistrate Fang sighed. “If these children turn out promising and still have a conscience, they will all become the Mu family’s connections. There are more than 1,000 of them…”
At this thought, Magistrate Fang did not know if he had done the right thing by supporting the nursery.
However, Advisor Huang smiled and said, “Sir, how promising can they be? I’ve also seen their classes. They do dabble in the Four Books, but the Five Classics are rarely mentioned. Their teaching focus is on ‘The Analects’, history books, arithmetic, agriculture, and various crafts classes. It’s impossible for them to take the Imperial Examination based on that. At most, they can grow up to be accountants, carpenters, and so on.”
In this world, achievements were still determined by politics. Only by becoming an official could one be considered to have great achievements.
Feeling that he was overthinking, Magistrate Fang merely nodded slightly and let the matter go.
At this moment, Mu Yangling was talking to Teacher Liu about the education of the children in the nursery. “Let the teachers guide them and allow the students to think of a way to verify their thoughts first instead of simply shouting out any new ideas that come to mind.”
Teacher Liu was also afraid that his threshold would be broken by the students, so he nodded in agreement.
“Let the children not infringe on others’ interests when they verify their thoughts. Also, they should pay attention to their own safety.” Considering the children’s world was colorful, who knew what thoughts they would have after hearing her words?
Mu Yangling’s concerns came true.
After class, the children spread Mu Yangling’s words. No one targeted or treated the youth with hostility anymore. Instead, they faintly admired him. Because Mu Yangling had said that they could bring it up if they had any ideas, everyone began to pay attention and indeed raised many questions. For example, since more than 1,000 of them had to go to the valley to get drinking water, they often had conflicts with the children in the nearby villages. Thus, the children asked the nursery to build a few wells nearby so that it would be convenient for them…
Because of the guidance of the teachers, they didn’t report to Bowen and the others the trivial stuff such as washing of clothes the moment they thought of it. Instead, they first considered whether the benefits outweighed the disadvantages and only wrote it down after studying the feasibility. Only then did they report it to Bowen and the others.
These things extended to their learning life. A student who chose to learn printing felt that it was very troublesome to carve a copy every time he printed a book. This was because he realized that many words were used repeatedly. It so happened that a good pal had chosen woodworking. Once, when he was carving the homework assigned by a teacher, he saw that pal helping his younger siblings carve things with scrap wood. He was struck with the idea of dismantling the carvings of the words one by one. When he wanted to print a book, he would just find the typesetting printing from a pile of type matrices.
Because Mu Yangling had told them to only suggest it after verifying that it was feasible, he suppressed his thoughts and secretly brought his woodworking friends to verify it.
By the time Mu Yangling heard about this from Bowen and Xiuhong’s argument, the autumn harvest had already ended. She was fretting about the gift for Qi Xiuyuan’s wedding that was to take place in three days.
“I think this is a completely impossible idea. Didn’t he destroy all the type matrices he made previously when he was casting them? Even his teacher said that he was delusional,” Xiuhong said with a pout.
However, Bowen’s eyes lit up as he said excitedly, “That’s because he still can’t control the casting temperature. It’s also possible that wood isn’t suitable for making type matrices. Let’s change the material or test the casting temperature further. It might work.”
“But how much time and money will that take?”
“No matter how much it costs, this possibility is worth exploring.” Bowen’s eyes were bright as he said firmly, “Cousin Xiuhong, do you know the impact of a new printing technique on a country or even the world?”
When Mu Yangling heard this, she curiously interrupted and asked with a smile, “What printing technique are you talking about?”
Bowen excitedly recounted the matter and said, “Lin Ke has tried many times. The type matrices carved from wood can’t withstand the casting temperature and can’t be printed at all. However, he feels that this method is feasible. It’s just a matter of the materials, so he came to me in private, hoping that I can provide him with a relatively heat-resistant and hard wood. Sister, what do you think of his idea?”
Mu Yangling was shocked when she heard that. She asked in surprise, “Is the printing technique still the engraved printing technique?”
“Yes.” Bowen looked at his sister strangely. “Other than copying manually, it’s always been engraved printing.”
How was this possible?
As a transmigrator, why hadn’t Emperor Shizong developed movable type printing?
Mu Yangling widened her eyes and asked, “Are you sure it’s always been engraved type printing? Even after Emperor Shizong’s era?”
Thinking that his sister was joking with him, Bowen said helplessly, “Sister, there’s only one type of printing technique. Since you’ve read more history books than me, how can you not know?”
This was the first time Mu Yangling had consulted him about history.
“When has history books ever talked about printing techniques?” Mu Yangling muttered. She stopped eating and stood up. “Come, bring me to see that Lin Ke. His name is interesting. Who gave him that name?”
“He chose it himself. Initially, he wanted to call himself ‘Lin Diaoke1’, but his teacher called him by that name for two days before asking him to change it.” At this point, Bowen laughed out loud. “It’s said that every time Teacher shouted ‘Diaoke’ in the classroom, the students below would look blankly at him, wondering what it was he was asking them to engrave. Haha…”