Joy of Life: The Mei Family's Son Grows Up

Chapter 28 Schematic Diagram

"Of course not. With our relationship, can I betray you?"

Wang Qinian breathed a sigh of relief and led him to the low table, asked him to find a low chair with a backrest behind the table, picked up the teapot, poured a cup of tea for Mei Chengan and put it in his hand.

"Mr. Xiaomei, please!"

Mei Chengan took a sip of the tea. It was probably inferior tea with a bitter taste.

“Why is this tea so bitter?”

“Because it’s cheap.”

Mei Cheng'an regretted asking such a stupid question.

"What happened? How did it happen?"

"Earlier, Shadow suddenly came to my house. When he entered my yard, my maid tried to stop him, and then he was discovered. Didn't I say, Old Wang, if you want to steal a technique, can't you just steal something ordinary? Why do you have to steal someone else's six unique techniques?"

"You said it was something powerful. The most powerful thing in the Overwatch Council is the Sixth Division's mental method. Then what?"

"Then I followed him. I was caught by someone. Otherwise, I tell you, I would never give him this face."

"What happens next?"

"Then I had a chat with Dean Chen. When he felt better, he said he would not pursue the matter and asked me not to spread it!"

"I didn't ask you how you got your skills?"

"Shadow asked, and I evaded him. Dean Chen didn't ask."

"Then I'm relieved. The dean is a man of his word. Since he said he won't pursue the matter, then it's fine. By the way, after the dean asked you questions, didn't he arrange for someone to send you out?"

"It was arranged. I know you and I have a good relationship, so I specifically asked you to escort me to the palace and showed me the way. I came to find you now."

"Let me take you there. That's perfect. Shall we go now?"

"Walk."

The two men left the room, and Wang Qinian took him around. Mei Cheng'an saw many places that appeared in the drama, especially the dungeon door where Si Lili was tried at night.

After walking out of the gate of the Supervisory Yuan, after seeing so many dark buildings, I looked at the wide street in front of me and it felt much brighter.

Wang Qinian went down a few steps and found that the person next to him was gone. Looking back, he saw Mei Chengan still looking to the left at something.

Wang Qinian looked over and guessed that he should be looking at a stone tablet, so he introduced it: "It is said that the stone tablet was erected by the person who founded the Supervisory Council many years ago."

"Oh!"

"Mr. Xiaomei, wait a moment. I will go and drive the carriage."

"Uh-huh."

Inside the Supervisory Council, Chen Pingping watched Mei Chengan disappear around the corner. After a long silence, he suddenly asked, "How good is his skills?"

"We didn't fight, but he is very good at Qinggong. He should be better than me. No matter how fast I speed up, he can always keep up. He can also distract himself and ask me questions. It's obvious that he is at ease."

Chen Pingping smiled and said, "After all, he was taught by Wang Qinian." After a pause, he continued to ask, "Where are his maids?"

"He should be less than the eighth rank. His strength should be higher, around the eighth rank."

"Eighth rank... He is only eleven years old. Fan Xian is one year younger than him. I wonder if he will be able to reach the eighth rank when he is eleven years old. Do you think it is normal for him to have such strength at such a young age?"

Shadow rolled his eyes.

"What's wrong with that? Don't you know there are people in this world called geniuses? He is obviously a genius like me."

Shadow's words reminded Chen Pingping of something.

"Yes, he might really be a genius. Remember last year, he participated in the boy's test and wrote a poem, which was rated as the best seven-character poem in the world. His Majesty also appointed him as a seventh-rank official. Is it true that geniuses are gifted in everything they do?"

Shadow didn't say anything. He was trying hard to recall what else he was good at besides killing. He thought for a long time but couldn't remember. For the first time, he began to doubt whether he was a genius or not.

After a while, Chen Pingping's voice sounded again.

"What do you think? Should such a young genius be admitted to the Overwatch Council?"

"Have you seen him?"

"At such a young age, his martial arts skills have improved so quickly, and he has created such a large industry as the Mei Family Canteen. His Majesty has personally appointed him as a seventh-rank official. When he talks to me, he is well-informed and mature in his conversation. It would be abnormal for me to look down on him."

"That kid is quite a troublemaker. If I hadn't discovered today that his maid's internal energy technique is my Sixth Place Internal Energy Technique, he might not have been so obedient and might even have wanted to fight me."

"Young people are full of vigor but they know how to judge the situation. This is what a smart person does."

"You think highly of him."

Chen Pingping nodded, which was rare.

"I really admire him. Do you think he would be willing to come to the Overwatch Council?"

"I don't know. You can ask him in person if you have a chance."

"Yes, we need to find a suitable time. This can't be rushed." Chen Pingping thought thoughtfully.

"Do you want to investigate the person who stole the skills in the courtyard?"

"Wang Qinian stole it."

"How do you know it was him?" "It must be him. He is the only one in the courtyard who is so lawless. He is very familiar with the child."

"He's like this now and you don't care?"

"How to care?"

"Find the evidence and kick him out of the Supervisory Commission."

"The evidence is the child's maid, but I promised him not to pursue the matter, so there is no evidence."

"Why not just fabricate some charges?"

"As the president of the Supervisory Council, do I need to resort to such means?"

"Well... at least give them a warning. We can't just let it go like this."

"You can have this. Go ahead."

The shadow was also very decisive and disappeared in a flash.

After a while, the man came back.

"Warned?"

"I went to send that kid off and he hasn't come back yet."

"He can't come back. He's probably running errands for his wife's rouge shop and delivering rouge."

"you know?"

"I know."

Shadow was puzzled.

"He has some skills, but he is unwilling to contribute to the hospital and is only willing to be a clerk. Why do you keep such an unruly person?"

"He... I am useful! In addition, although Wang Qinian's behavior is a bit out of line and a bit greedy, he is still a very good person. Everyone in the hospital who has come into contact with him has a good relationship with him. This is also a kind of ability, which you may not be able to do."

"I don't need it! Just keep pampering him. Sooner or later, he'll develop a lot of bad habits. If he continues to be so lawless, sooner or later he'll poke a big hole in the sky for you."

Chen Pingping's eyes lit up.

"Do you think so highly of him?"

"........."

"Just kidding. Wang Qinian has been a little outrageous recently. Next time you see him, you must warn him for me."

"No, I don't care. Anyway, the Overwatch Council is yours, not mine. What does it have to do with me?"

"Look at you." Chen Pingping clicked his tongue.

.........

Wang Qinian drove a carriage to take Mei Cheng'an to the side gate of the palace, dropped him off and drove away.

Mei Cheng'an strolled to the Qilin Hall by himself.

"Good morning, Xiao Ming."

"Good morning, my Lord."

Mei Cheng'an was indeed late compared to usual, but Xiao Ming had no intention of asking any questions. Eunuch Hou only asked him to help the child prodigy, but did not ask him to record his attendance. Moreover, after nearly a year of getting along with each other, Miss Xiao Mei had a very good personality. She never bossed him around and was always polite when asking him for help. She would ask for help beforehand and thank him afterwards and would often greet him.

This was extremely rare in his short career as an eunuch, and made him cherish it even more.

At present, the classification of books in the Qilin Hall has been completed. Mei Cheng'an's general plan before the New Year was to number each area and bookshelf, compile a detailed catalog, and mark the specific location of each book to facilitate people to find it.

But later he thought that there was not much point in doing so. After all, this was not a real library because it was not open to the public at all. Even the royal family rarely came here to look for books to read. At least since he entered the Qilin Palace, he had not seen anyone looking for books.

As a place whose main purpose is to collect, there is no need for a detailed catalog. A detailed classification is enough. He only needs to draw a large enough diagram to clearly mark the four major categories and the corresponding bookshelves of the subcategories.

There is another advantage to drawing a schematic diagram. If Emperor Qing comes to inspect, a beautiful and clear schematic diagram of the Qilin Hall will be more eye-catching and can better reflect his contributions and efforts.

Besides, drawing is easy and convenient. If he finishes it sooner, he can go read earlier.

Mei Cheng'an got down to work right away. He asked Xiao Ming to go to the Ministry of Industry to ask for a copper ruler. The copper ruler was an essential tool when they often drew various drawings.

You can't use a brush to draw diagrams, you have to use a goose feather pen. Goose feather pens are extremely complicated to make and easily damaged, so they are extremely expensive. Fortunately, Eunuch Hou prepared three for him, and if he used them carefully, three pens would be more than enough.

As for Xuan paper, the minimum size is three feet, which is one meter long and fifty-five centimeters wide, and the maximum size is eight feet, which is two hundred and forty-eight centimeters long and one hundred and twenty-nine centimeters wide.

Of course, there are larger ones, but they need to be specially customized.

After careful consideration, Mei Cheng'an finally decided on the size of the rice paper at five feet, which is 153 centimeters long and 84 centimeters wide. If it was too small, the pattern would not show up, and if it was too large, it would appear too empty. After all, the schematic diagram was not particularly complicated.

After completing all the preparations, Mei Cheng'an walked around the store a few times. After confirming the number of bookshelves in each row and column, he drew a simple design on a piece of draft paper. After confirming that there was no problem, Mei Cheng'an officially started writing.

When Xiao Ming came in to deliver lunch, he saw Lady Xiaomei holding a precious quill pen and drawing some large and small squares on a large piece of paper. He was not curious and did not ask much. He put down the lunch and left.

Since lunch was here, Mei Chengan stopped decisively. Of all the things in the world, eating was the most important. How could he skip eating for work? Impossible.

He enjoyed a delicious lunch, took a break, drank some tea, ate some fruit, and then meditated for a quarter of an hour. Only after he was completely refreshed did Mei Cheng'an continue to paint.

An hour later, Mei Cheng'an nodded with satisfaction as he looked at the completed diagram of the Qilin Hall. The entire diagram was symmetrically divided into two areas with the corridor from the gate to his desk as the central axis. The squares representing the bookshelves clearly indicated the attributes of the bookshelves. For example, a bookshelf storing medical books would be marked with [Zi·Yi], a bookshelf storing the history of the Qing Kingdom would be marked with [Shi·Qing], and so on. The entire diagram looked extremely pleasing to the eye.

(End of this chapter)