How can I bow my head and serve the powerful officials?

"Didn't you know that the capital city saw its first snow and moonlight last night?" Xie Chengze asked in surprise, "As far as I know, this kind of strange phenomenon is likely to bring about a heavy snowstorm, right?"

Guo Tianheng nodded, then shook his head, "I observed the weather last night, but I didn't see any snow falling in the capital!"

Xie Chengze: ...

Oh, it looks like there will be some local snowfall.

No problem, no big problem!

Xie Chengze added patiently, "I did see snow falling in the Moon Watching Tower last night. If you don't believe me, you can send someone to investigate near the Moon Watching Tower."

Seeing that Xie Chengze didn't seem to be lying, Guo Tianheng pondered for a moment, and his tone sank, his face worried, "If this is true, there may be a disaster in the north this winter..."

Xie Chengze nodded like a chick pecking at rice, "Yes, yes."

Seeing Xie Chengze's enthusiastic agreement, Guo Tianheng finally came to his senses and looked at him suspiciously, "But how did the Second Prince know that the first snow and moon dew were actually a bad omen? Could it be..."

Could it be that after the Second Prince left, he has been secretly studying astronomy?

This shouldn't be the case. All the astronomical books are in the Astronomical Bureau. If there is no one to teach him, how could the Second Prince know all of them?

"I went south to Yizhou and met a good friend who knows a lot about astronomy and geography. He told me." Xie Chengze casually brought up Zhang Yuheng and said, "He will take up his post at the Jiantian Division in the next spring exam."

"I see..." Guo Tianheng's eyes lit up, "The Tianjian Division is very short of people. If there are any talented people, we must recruit them!"

"Okay." Xie Chengze's initial goal had been achieved, so he stopped talking about it and pointed to the book behind him and said, "I'll help you solve this problem."

"Your Highness is also proficient in arithmetic?" Guo Tianheng asked in surprise.

"Just so-so, third in Jian'an." Xie Chengze humbly picked up the brush beside him and drew two auxiliary lines on the geometry problem, one solid and one virtual. "These are auxiliary lines, which can help you simplify the difficulty of geometry problems. Here, the visible ones are solid lines, and the invisible ones are virtual lines."

Then he wrote down the specific algorithm steps on the calculation paper next to him.

Guo Tianheng watched from the side, his eyes widening as he watched, "It's really possible, it's really possible! Just two auxiliary lines can transform irregular shapes into regular shapes, and complex shapes into simple basic shapes. It's amazing! It's really amazing!"

With this method, many problems can be easily solved!

"Your Highness must be the god of arithmetic!" Guo Tianheng couldn't help but sigh, and then he secretly asked with expectation, "I wonder if Your Highness knows other ways to solve problems?"

"That is..." Xie Chengze changed his tone, "Of course it depends on whether you are willing to help me with a small favor."

A little favor?

Guo Tianheng looked at Xie Chengze's smiling face, then at the arithmetic problem. In the end, he couldn't resist the temptation of improvement, and gritted his teeth and said, "As long as it doesn't involve court disputes, I am willing to help."

"Absolutely not involved!" Xie Chengze was delighted and immediately whispered something in his ear.

Hearing this, Guo Tianheng glanced at Xie Chengze in surprise, "That's all?"

"That's all." Xie Chengze said with a smile.

"Okay!" Guo Tianheng nodded. "This matter is simple. When the time is right, I will definitely lend a helping hand to Your Highness."

……

After leaving the Tianjiansi, Xie Chengze went straight into the imperial study.

Guo Tianheng was a white chess piece that he had picked up unexpectedly. In this chess game full of lives, this meant that he could make one more move than the black player. Although it was considered cheating, the rules of the game did not seem to prohibit cheating.

It was still early and Emperor Jian had not yet left the court, so Xie Chengze sat in the chariot to take a nap. He had not slept all night, and now that he had a little more confidence, he naturally relaxed and fell into a doze.

When Emperor Jian returned to the imperial study after court, he saw the familiar slender figure curled up on the sedan chair like a kitten. When the sedan bearer next to him saw that Emperor Jian was about to salute, he raised his hand slightly to signal them to be quiet, and then bent down beside the sedan chair.

The little boy was sleeping soundly, his breathing rising and falling from his nose, with a thin blanket covering his body. He was obviously a pampered domestic cat, but he chose to curl up here and sleep like a wild cat.

In fact, Emperor Jian could see that since he said he wanted to adjourn the court that day, Xie Chengze had been trying very hard to prove to him that he was not interested in the throne at all.

Now, in order to avoid suspicion, he would rather endure the cold wind and sleep in the carriage outside than go into the imperial study to keep warm...

How could Emperor Jian not feel distressed?

Even though this is not his own flesh and blood, he still treats him as his own son, just because he is Ning'er's son, the person Hua Ning loves the most, and the last living trace of Hua Ning left in the world.

He only wishes him a long life.

Thinking of this, Emperor Jian raised his hand slightly and lovingly tapped Xie Chengze on the forehead...

Xie Chengze suddenly woke up, and met Emperor Jian's smiling and mean eyes. Xie Chengze touched his burning forehead: ...

Dog Emperor! Bullying him again!

Reluctantly calling out "Father", Xie Chengze wrapped in a small blanket jumped off the sedan chair, yawned and said, "Let's go in and talk."

Emperor Jian nodded happily, "Okay, I'll listen to Ze'er."

After entering the imperial study, Xie Chengze couldn't wait to take out a stack of papers from behind his butt and slapped them on the dragon table.

Emperor Jian was not pleased now, "Why put it in your butt?!"

"Father!" Xie Chengze glared at him and said in a dissatisfied tone, "Don't slander me! I clearly took it out from behind my waist!"

Emperor Jian: Bullshit!

I'm not blind! You clearly took it out from behind!

With a look of slight disdain, he used a paperweight to unfold the crumpled paper. After looking at it for a while, Emperor Jian did not understand what the weird symbols on it were. "What is this?"

Xie Chengze sat down on the cushion beside the desk, watching Eunuch Zhao pour him a cup of warm tea, and said casually, "The big kang in the Northeast."

Northeastern big kang?

What is that?

"It's a bed, but unlike a wooden bunk bed, a kang is made of stone bricks. The bed surface is heated by burning firewood, which is very suitable for keeping warm in winter."

Xie Chengze pointed to several circles on the drawing and explained, "You see, you can burn firewood here to cook, and the hot smoke produced by burning firewood will flow along these channels of the kang to heat up the kang surface, and will eventually flow out of the chimney as the smoke pours in from behind. As long as the kang is made big and wide, a whole family can lie on it in winter, and it will be spacious enough."

Emperor Jian's eyes suddenly lit up, "Is this method really feasible?"

"Let's give it a try." Xie Chengze shrugged. "Those officials in the Ministry of Industry are idle all day anyway. It's time to let them experience the sense of crisis of the Yangtze River where the back waves rush over the front waves and the back waves can beat the front waves to death on the shore."

Emperor Jian laughed heartily at the analogy, "Ze'er, what's wrong with your little head? You can come up with such fantastic ideas."

Gunpowder is one, the Tianfu Project is one, and this Northeastern big kang is even more so.

"It's probably because I was too lonely in the past, so I could only study these little things to pass the time." Xie Chengze sighed quietly, and faintly wanted to speak wildly: "Father, I am lonely! I am also very uncomfortable. The son of the minister I mentioned last time..."

"Cough, cough, cough!" Emperor Jian immediately coughed heavily, lowered his head to look at the blueprint, and tried to change the subject, "Let your father take a closer look at this Northeastern big kang. Um, as for you..."

Emperor Jian was afraid that if Xie Chengze left, no one would explain the heated kang to him. He glanced around at the desk and suddenly an idea came to him. "You review the memorials for your father first!"

Xie Chengze: ???

I've sacrificed my life for you, and you want me to die???

Seeing Xie Chengze's face full of resistance, Emperor Jian couldn't help but say, "Reviewing memorials is the cornerstone of an emperor's administration. Since you are already half a year behind the crown prince, why are you still resisting and unwilling?"

The implication of this statement is obviously a test: With such talent, don't you want to be an emperor?

Xie Chengze frowned immediately, "Father, why don't you tell me the truth!"

Emperor Jian's eyes flickered, "Oh? What's the truth?"

Xie Chengze covered his chest, and said with disgust and pain, "Did you fall in love with a girl, and that girl wanted to become the most beautiful woman in the world, so you came up with this evil plan, letting your son review memorials until he becomes bald and ugly, so that he can give the title of the most beautiful woman in the world to that girl?"

Emperor Jian: ...

What the hell are you talking about? ! !