A Man of Science and Engineering in Troubled Times Wandering in the Late Qing Dynasty

Chapter 5 The Sweeping Monk in the Scientific Circle of the Qing Dynasty
"Don't disturb Brother Fan's thinking!" Zhu Xianwen dissatisfied.

Fan Xiren's forehead tightened even more. He flipped through the book, and the answer was indeed six.

"You can understand this book?" Fan Xiren obviously didn't believe it.

Li Yu replied casually, "Of course."

"How did you get the solution to be six?" Fan Xiren obviously still didn't believe it.

"It's not easy. First find out the original function of 2x-1, which is xx, then substitute 3 and 0 and subtract."

Fan Xiren was silent for a while, and said after a long time: "This brother's name?"

"I'm next to Li Yu."

Zhu Xianwen next to him was unclear, so he said, "Did he get the answer right?"

Fan Xiren said: "Not only is it correct, but his solution is quite concise."

Li Yu was a little embarrassed by what he said, because it didn't even count as a grade-giving question for him in the first year of high school.

Fan Xiren continued: "My servant, Fan Xiren, this is Zhu Xianwen. Both of us are late students who want to learn Western learning."

Li Yu hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "You are welcome, sir!"

Fan Xiren looked at Li Yu: "You are here..."

Well, people still couldn't understand his status as a "librarian".Li Yu shrugged and said, "In troubled times, there is no way, you know."

That's all I can say, I can't tell others that I'm actually a sweeping monk in the scientific world of the Qing Dynasty!

However, Fan Xiren seemed to be used to this kind of situation, "So that's the case, it's just...it's just that I still have a few things that I didn't understand, I wonder if you can ask your Excellency to teach you a little more?"

"Of course." Li Yu thought to himself, the content of this book is only at the introductory stage of advanced mathematics for him, as long as you don't ask Goldbach's conjecture, everything is easy to talk about!
As Li Yu thought, Fan Xiren's questions basically revolved around some elementary calculus problems, and many of them were conceptual explanations.

As the most milestone creation of modern mathematics, calculus has been taken for granted by modern people, but the ideas and concepts it uses are actually extremely advanced and profound, which will inevitably make these people who only read the Four Books and Five Classics Confused.

For Fan Xiren's questions, Li Yu's answers are very straightforward, but it is really troublesome to express calculus operations in words.

Zhu Xianwen only read it for a while, but he was in a fog and couldn't get in a word.

Almost an hour later, Fan Xiren stood up and was ready to leave, he said to Li Yu: "Mr. Talent, my teachers in Ziqiang Academy are not as high as yours. If Teacher Hua Hengfang can see you, he must be very happy." Hope to have a long talk with you all night. Too bad I'm out of my head now, sorry."

Fan Xiren deserves to be the descendant of Fan Zhongyan, he is polite and motivated.

Li Yu said: "Brother Fan is too famous."

Fan Xiren took out a pocket watch, looked at it, and said: "I still have something to do at the next house. I don't know where the master lives. I will definitely visit tomorrow."

Li Yu pointed to the backyard in embarrassment: "I... live here."

Fan Xiren made a long salute: "I am really wronged, Mr.! When I see my mentor later, I will definitely recommend him! Let me say goodbye first, and I will definitely come here again tomorrow to ask for advice!"

"Farewell!"

It would be a good thing if he could really introduce Zhang Zhidong. Among the four famous ZTE ministers in the late Qing Dynasty, Zhang Xiangshuai was the one with the most advanced thinking.Moreover, he is an extremely human minister, and he has served as a feudal official for a long time, so there is much less resistance to doing some innovative work.

It was getting late when we bid farewell to Fan Xiren and Zhu Xianwen. Although there were lights in the Tongwen Hall, the backyard where Li Yu lived was not powered on.

He couldn't do anything, and it might be because he had just traveled through time. The jet lag hadn't reversed yet, and his head hurt, so Li Yu went to bed early.This time I slept soundly, but the hard bed board was really uncomfortable.

The next day, just after dawn, the sound of other handymen working outside could be heard. Li Yu didn't like to sleep in, so he got up and went to the library to continue "working" for a while.

It was around nine o'clock, and the kitchen in the backyard was open for dinner. I went over and saw: a bowl of porridge and two cakes, the food is really light!
Fortunately, He Fangxu, the head of the Ministry of Rites yesterday, kept his promise and sent someone to bring the salary during the meal.

Looking at the dirty fifty copper coins in his hand, Li Yu never thought that his first salary in his life would be the Imperial Grain of the Qing Dynasty!It's so memorable!
After spending half a day in the library in the morning, Li Yu finally sorted out all the books in various categories. He was hungry by noon. After asking, he found out that the kitchen only had two meals a day, and the fire didn't start until four o'clock for dinner!
Li Yu is 1.8 meters tall and loves sports. He couldn't bear it, so he had to go around the street.

To the north of Dongtiaozi Hutong is Jinyu Hutong. This hutong is relatively wide and the streets are clean. There are many wealthy households and many princes and ministers. The house where Li Hongzhang lived in his later years was in Jinyu Hutong.

There are many stalls in the alley. Of course, those princes and ministers will definitely not squat in front of the small stalls to suck noodles. The main customers of these small stalls are maids and servants of the deep house compound.

But don't underestimate them, the spending power of these people is very strong!Although their wages are also very low, many expenses can be reimbursed by the master.

What's more, the masters don't have time to go out to buy things. If they need something, they directly give the servants and maids money to buy, and the extra money will be rewarded directly.Of course, there are also some servants who spend one tael when they buy things, and report back for two taels. The masters are used to being extravagant and don’t feel anything at all.

Not long after walking around, Li Yu was attracted by a scent, and there was a stall in front of it crowded with many people.

"It's out of the pot, Ding Zi, hurry up and bring me a bowl of mutton mixed noodles!"

"And my soba noodles, I've been waiting for a long time!"

The owner of the stall, Ding Zi, is a young man with very quick hands and feet. He yelled while serving noodles:
"A bowl of mixed noodles with mutton costs 8 Wen!"

"A bowl of buckwheat noodles costs 4 Wen!"

Li Yu weighed the huge sum of money in his hand, and felt that this was the most suitable for him!
A domestic servant also came to the booth and said, "Are there any pancakes left? Four of us, let's get 8 pancakes!"

Ding Zi waved his hand immediately: "Master Lin, today's pancakes are gone, why don't I bring you four bowls of noodles?"

"Who said there are no more, you have quite a lot in this basket!" Master Lin pointed to a basket of cakes next to him, dissatisfied.

Ding Zi said: "Master Lin, these things have already been ordered out, it's really not that I don't give them to you."

The servant was not too happy: "Why don't you just say first come, first served? It's okay to order in advance. I'm going to order this pancake!"

Ding Zi didn't know how to respond, when a sharp voice came from behind: "What's wrong! The pancakes were ordered early in the morning at our house, who said I don't pay attention to first come, first served?"

The servant looked back, and immediately softened his tone: "It's Eunuch Wei! I didn't know it was you!"

Eunuch Wei didn't want to talk to him either, so he picked up the basket, put down a dozen or so copper coins, and then said to Ding Zi, "Deshan, our family gave Eunuch De a taste yesterday, and he liked it very much."

Li Yu was surprised when he heard this. Ding Deshan, it turns out that the owner of this noodle stall is the founder of the famous Beijing Donglaishun Restaurant!

(End of this chapter)