Chapter 4: The Prodigy

Qin Xiaole said: "Master, I am speaking sincerely."

Qin Xiao and Tao Ganma Rong Ren couldn't help but chuckle. Qin Xiao said, "The foreign language of my esteemed teacher is indeed learned remarkably well"

Time flies like a shuttle. In the blink of an eye, three years have passed. It is now the first year of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Wan Sui (AD 696)

Di Renjie chuckled lightly for a moment, then took out a scroll from his bosom and handed it to Qin Xiao: "Xiao'er, all gatherings in the world must eventually come to an end. As master and disciple, I am already very satisfied with the bond we have formed. This is a notebook I have recently completed, which records the extraordinary tales and experiences I have encountered over the decades, as well as the details of some cases I have solved. Today, I present it to you; you must study it diligently. In the future, when you have the opportunity to achieve success, you should use the knowledge I have imparted to you, along with the martial skills you have honed, to benefit the people of the world and to make a significant contribution to society." This is a notebook I have recently completed, which records the extraordinary tales and experiences I have encountered over the decades, as well as the details of some cases I have solved. Today, I present it to you; you must study it diligently. In the future, when you have the opportunity to achieve success, you should use the knowledge I have imparted to you, along with the martial skills you have honed, to benefit the people of the world and to make a significant contribution to society.

Even a simple pig is said to be unlike one, it is simply more pig-like than a pig itself

Hmm, is Lord Di's birthday approaching? This is indeed a significant matter. However, do not busy yourself aimlessly only to end up with nothing; it would not be good to return empty-handed. How about this: I have recently saved up some extra money, so you can go to the county town and buy some pork gift packages to send over.

Zhou looked at Qin Xiao with a smile, saying, "This child is just so stubborn..."

Qin Xiao held the item in his hand, speaking confidently.

As everyone entered the room, the Zhou family promptly welcomed them and served tea.

Qin Xiao smiled sheepishly for a moment and said: "It's nothing, Mother. The teacher's birthday is approaching, and I want to make a bamboo crossbow to go up the mountain and catch some game to present to him as a gift."

Isn't it so? Those two fools, Tao Gan and Ma Rong, have been following Qin Xiao for quite a while. Don't even mention "Sidan Da" at https://www.hetushu.com.com (standup)

Qin Xiaodai was taken aback and hurriedly said, "How could the court... suddenly decide to transfer my esteemed teacher?"

On a certain summer afternoon, after finishing lunch, Qin Xiao ran to the bamboo forest with a hatchet and began to chop down a bamboo with a clatter. Zhou approached the edge of the bamboo forest, watching Qin Xiao busy with great enthusiasm, and said, "You child, what are you planning to mess with today? A few days ago, you mentioned wanting to play with 'cement', and you brought a lot of stones and mud, hammering and making a racket for quite a while, yet you still managed to turn the whole yard into a mess without success."

After toiling for about an hour in the bamboo forest, Qin Xiao finally crafted a homemade crossbow. This crossbow took a considerable amount of effort! Although the "repeating crossbow" was invented by Zhuge Liang during the Three Kingdoms period, Qin Xiao still bestowed the term "invention" upon this contraption he had tinkered with, and he was reluctant to part with it. He used a hatchet to carve several bamboo arrows, loaded them onto the crossbow, pulled the string taut, and shot all three arrows simultaneously, achieving surprisingly excellent accuracy! Qin Xiao was simply overjoyed!

Qin Xiao has grown much taller and his body has become significantly stronger and sturdier. For the past three years, Qin Xiao has been practicing martial arts in his dreams with that mysterious old man. Whenever he has free time during the day, he practices on his own and occasionally engages in sparring with Tao Gan and Ma Rong. Initially, he found it difficult to understand some of the dry and tedious techniques taught by the old man. Fortunately, he had the great scholar Di Renjie to help him solve some of the challenging problems, and he gradually began to master them. Additionally, since Qin Xiao had previously trained in hard qigong and sanda, as well as other special forces skills, after overcoming an initial period of difficulty in understanding, his martial arts proficiency improved rapidly. Gradually, even Tao Gan and Ma Rong, both of whom are not weak in skill, found themselves unable to match this twelve or thirteen-year-old boy.

Ah?

How could Di Renjie have imagined that this seemingly childlike Qin Xiao was already a twenty-year-old adult in the 21st century? His intelligence, insight, and knowledge are beyond the reach of not only today's children but even ordinary adults. Qin Xiao truly embodies the serious phenomenon of youthful appearance with a cunning mind, playing the role of a pig to eat the tiger without revealing his true intentions

After arriving in the Tang Dynasty, apart from his mother, the Zhou family, Di Renjie was the closest to him. Qin Xiao had long regarded Di Renjie as a family member from the bottom of his heart. This separation might mean they would never meet again. Jiangnan and Jiangzhou, Hebei and Weizhou, the distance between them exceeds a thousand miles. ... Now, without airplanes or cars, several thousand miles could easily exhaust several horses ... Moreover, according to historical records, Di Renjie could only live for about four more years at most ... Now, without airplanes or cars, several thousand miles could easily exhaust several horses ... Moreover, according to historical records, Di Renjie could only live for about four more years at most ...

As he was preparing to take the new product up the mountain for efficacy verification, Di Renjie arrived with Tao Gan and Ma Rong. Qin Xiao quickly stepped forward and knelt down before Di Renjie, saying: "Student pays respects to the esteemed teacher... What brings you and the two elder brothers here today?"

Qin Xiaoyou looked at Di Renjie's back with some confusion, thinking to himself: My teacher is busy with official duties and rarely comes to my home; could it be that there is something important today?

Apart from practicing martial arts, Qin Xiao's greatest interest is to engage Di Renjie, asking him to recount various cases he solved in the past. Each time, he listens with great enthusiasm, occasionally bursting into applause. Meanwhile, under Di Renjie's personal and meticulous guidance, Qin Xiao's literary knowledge and talents have gradually enriched. Those perplexing issues that had long troubled him, the difficult-to-recognize traditional characters, and the awkward and convoluted dialogues have now all been resolved.

Qin Xiao took the hand-crafted crossbow, gently stroking the scroll that exuded a faint scent of ink, feeling a tumult of emotions within, unable to calm himself for a moment. In a surge of excitement, he unconsciously knelt down, presenting the pair of crossbow arrows he had just made with both hands to Di Renjie: "Master, I have nothing to offer you. This is a pair of crossbow arrows I just crafted myself, and I present them to you as a token of remembrance!"

Di Renjie took a sip of tea and said to Qin Xiao, "Xiao'er, it is like this. Today, I received the imperial decree; His Majesty the Emperor has appointed me as the Governor of Weizhou. The decree urges me to leave promptly, so I must set out today and depart from Pengze."

Di Renjie furrowed his brows slightly, and his expression became somewhat serious: "The Khitan have invaded without courtesy, capturing Jizhou, causing turmoil in Hebei. The Great Zhou army has engaged in several battles with them, all of which have been unfavorable. I have some reputation in Hebei, and I hold a degree of prestige within the army. Minister Zhang Jianzhong and others in the court, who share a close relationship with me, have taken this opportunity to petition His Majesty Emperor Wu on my behalf, allowing me to serve as the governor of Weizhou, which borders Jizhou, to resist the Khitan invasion. This can be considered an opportunity for this old man in his sixties to return to the court and serve the country."

For these matters, Qin Xiao felt quite frustrated. He originally thought that with the scientific knowledge of a "21st-century talent," he could successfully carry out an invention in the Tang Dynasty, but he encountered obstacles everywhere. To create a water-lifting machine, without rubber for the piston, the gaps around the wooden piston were too large, making it impossible to utilize vacuum pressure to draw water up; as for the biogas pit? Forget it, it would be better not to attempt anything before producing cement. Who knows when air might leak, causing the mixed gas to reach an explosive ratio, and with a careless mistake, an explosion could occur. At that time, excrement would be flying everywhere, showering the entire village, which is no trivial matter. As for the cement, it was what frustrated Qin Xiao the most. He vaguely remembered that it was made by crushing limestone, clay, and gypsum and mixing them together, but no matter how he mixed, he just couldn't produce cement. Later, he recalled that two of these raw materials needed to be placed in a kiln and subjected to a period of calcination to become "clinker," and the calcination time had to be carefully controlled; there were also several trace chemical additives required...

Upon hearing this from Di Renjie, Qin Xiao became somewhat enlightened. Historically, Di Renjie was exiled to Pengze for exactly three years. After that, he arrived in Weizhou, where he repelled the Khitan, thus sparing Weizhou from a disaster. The local populace even erected a shrine in his honor to express their gratitude for his contributions. Not long after this, Di Renjie was promoted to the Governor of Youzhou and the Grand Commander of the Hebei Military, and he returned to court to serve as Prime Minister. Reflecting on this, Qin Xiao felt a sense of joy for Di Renjie, yet the lingering feelings of reluctance in his heart made it difficult for him to let go. Not long after this, Di Renjie was promoted to the Governor of Youzhou and the Grand Commander of the Hebei Military, and he returned to court to serve as Prime Minister. Reflecting on this, Qin Xiao felt a sense of joy for Di Renjie, yet the lingering feelings of reluctance in his heart made it difficult for him to let go.

Looking back at the room, it is filled with various peculiar items crafted by Qin Xiao. For instance, there are wooden pieces moved by the water flow from the back of the house, connected to the interior by a leather strap, which drives several wooden boards to fan out a breeze, even stronger than that produced by a large fan. The household well has also been fitted with a valve called a "piston," connected below to a hollow bamboo pole, which he claims can draw out water with a strong squeeze. However, despite Qin Xiao exerting all his strength, he could barely extract a few drops, leaving it as mere decoration while he continues to draw water with a bucket daily. Behind the toilet, a large pit has been dug, covered with wooden planks and soil, connected to the toilet by a tunnel, which surprisingly does not emit any foul odor. Moreover, Qin Xiao mentioned wanting to create "biogas" to achieve "modernization" soon, but it seems to have failed spectacularly. The airflow from that tunnel is so pungent that it cannot be ignited at all, and on one occasion, it nearly caused a fire, leading to a hasty conclusion of the project.

Qin Xia slowly stood up, feeling a slight sting in his eyes, as if tears were about to overflow. The notebook, with a deep blue cover, bore the familiar handwriting of Di Renjie— "Letters from Huaiying"

Upon thinking of this, Qin Xiaomao inexplicably felt a sense of melancholy, standing there in silence, unsure of what to say.

In the end, Qin Xiao concluded with a statement: It is impossible to succeed without the inventions of the current social productive forces! Those who write time-travel historical novels and casually invent airplanes and cannons to swat mosquitoes are nothing but irresponsible deceivers, truly relentless in their destruction!

Di Renjie slowly took the crossbow arrow and said: "Get up, child. I am truly pleased, very pleased, with your intentions."

Originally possessing exceptional intelligence, Qin Xiao gradually became a somewhat renowned "prodigy" in the vicinity. Di Renjie observed this with delight in his heart. Over the past three years, Qin Xiao's display of "youthful maturity" along with his quirky ideas, creativity, and brilliance truly convinced him that this child is undoubtedly a rare talent that comes once in a millennium. If properly nurtured, he would be an invaluable asset.

Regarding the gesture of kneeling, Qin Xiao, who is a special forces soldier with a strong sense of pride, originally felt a deep aversion to it. However, when he knelt before Di Renjie and the Zhou family, he found his mindset to be calm, believing there was nothing inappropriate about it

No need, Mother. I am sure I can do it, so don't worry.

Di Renjie cheerfully patted Qin Xiao's shoulder: "Is it said like this, haha? Come, let's go inside, I have something to say to you."

Di Renjie also chuckled cheerfully: "You young fellows actually dare to make fun of an old man like me, how unkind of you!"