Gaining Great Merit Again, Keep Wealth Hidden

Leaving the Martial Arts School, Liang Qu didn't even have time to put down his medicine bag before rushing to the academy.

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve's Eve, and today is the last day of classes at the academy. After that, there will be a seven-day Spring Festival holiday. Naturally, he should come here, show his face, and explain.

Otherwise, if we don't see each other for half a month, people might misunderstand that I'm being lazy and averse to learning because of my status Personal Disciple, leaving a bad impression.

Sunlight streamed down, clinging to the clouds, casting shadows on the walnut table and the window, bathing the entire room in a soft, rosy hue.

The children, dressed in matching outfits, sat upright with focused expressions.

While teaching, Si Hengyi caught a glimpse of Liang Qu through the window. Without even saying a word, he quickly walked out and bumped into Liang Qu.

"Mr. Si?"

"You've finally arrived! Come with me to see the headmaster!"

"See the headmaster?"

The headmaster, or academy administrator, was responsible for the organization and management of the academy, and also bore the responsibility of teaching and educating students. Therefore, he was also called "master of teaching" or "lecturer," similar to the later principal.

Liang Qu was puzzled as to why Si Hengyi wanted to take him to see the headmaster.

"The ' Pinyin Method ' you showed me last time was a brilliant idea. I gave it to the headmaster the next day. The headmaster praised your idea highly. He, the Hall Master, and the lecturer studied it for several days and improved your method. We started trying it out yesterday."

We've just started, so we can't see the results yet, but I believe that in a few days, it will be much faster than the current method of teaching using the Fanqie Method! The number of characters we can learn each day will definitely increase several times over!

Liang Qu was startled, not expecting Si Hengyi to act so quickly, but it suited his needs perfectly.

He took this out hoping to get a reward for his invention.

I don't even dare to dream of a lower-ranking noble title; earning some money or getting a tax-free privilege would be much better.

Naturally, the sooner the better, and it would be even better to get it done before May, which would save on Summer Tax.

Led by Si Hengyi, Liang Qu met the headmaster, an elderly man with white hair dressed in a blue robe, sitting in a small pavilion, named Zhao Ji.

"Student Liang Qu greets Headmaster."

"No need for such formalities."

Zhao Ji raised his hand in a gesture of support, and without further ado, placed several stacks of papers on the table. "Take a look. This is what I and the other lecturers have worked on together to improve it. How does it differ from your original idea? Do you have any better suggestions?"

Liang Qu reached out and took the papers, reading them page by page.

The number on this version is less than the seventy-six pronunciations he summarized; there are only sixty-three, including twenty-three initials, twenty-four finals, and sixteen whole-syllable recognitions.

The selected characters are also simpler, some of which are even unrecognizable as having evolved radicals, making them more distinct from the original character system. They can be drawn in one stroke, and the differences between them are greater, so they are less likely to be confused.

Some of the pronunciations were changed so much that even Liang Qu himself didn't recognize them, but he could recognize them after reading them a few times by looking at the characters with pinyin annotations.

The headmaster is truly remarkable; this is practically a version iteration.

Major overhaul and revision; the framework remains the same, but the content has undergone numerous changes!

"I'm impressed! It's so much better than the student's version!"

Zhao Ji shook his head. "I should admire you. If it weren't for your ingenious ideas, I probably would never have thought of using symbols to annotate the pronunciation in my entire life. I would have been trapped in the vicious cycle of using characters to annotate characters. Separating the pronunciation not only makes it less prone to distortion, but also greatly simplifies the cumbersome fanqie system."

The cumbersome nature of the Fanqie Method is obvious to all.

There are over four hundred characters with the initial consonants alone, and over a thousand characters with the final vowels. Just learning this whole system is enough to give those kids a headache.

It turns out that the world was not much different. It wasn't until the Song Dynasty that a monk had a sudden inspiration and created the Shou Wen Thirty-Six Letters alphabet, which greatly simplified the system.

It wasn't until the Yuan Dynasty that they conceived of creating phonetic symbols using an independent Tibetan script system.

Liang Qu's emergence was akin to a god descending to earth, accomplishing both the summarization of rules and the establishment of an independent system in one fell swoop. He can be considered a master of children's enlightenment!

If not him, who should receive the invention award?

"Truly, new talents emerge in every generation." Zhao Ji sighed. "Perhaps only a beginner like you, who is not bound by the words themselves, could come up with such a whimsical and ingenious idea."

In my opinion, the most ingenious part is using a different set of symbols to replace the phonetic transcription of characters. Yang Dongxiong has truly taken on a fine disciple. You have high comprehension and great creativity. Even if you spend your whole life studying, you will become a Grandmaster in the future.

"They dare to address Master Yang by his given name. It seems the headmaster's identity is not simple," Liang Qu thought to himself, while on the surface he quickly offered a few humble words.

"Take another look and see if there's anything that can be improved."

Liang Qu shook his head. "I am dull-witted. The previous method was the best I could think of. This version is better than many others, and I think it is quite suitable."

"Alright, in that case, I will report your achievements. Whether you will be granted a title is still unknown, but you will definitely be exempt from taxes in the future. I can guarantee that to you."

"Thank you very much, Headmaster."

Liang Qu bowed and followed Si Hengyi out. He studied at the academy for another hour before showing his face and going to the dock to row a boat towards Yi Xing City.

He went to see the three beasts.

As the water surged, the three-headed Water Beast was overjoyed to see the god again. It swam back and forth on the water, creating whirlpools, and the Black Awning Boat began to rock uncontrollably.

The three beasts have grown significantly in size. Two of them, needless to say, are now comparable in length to the Black Awning Boat beneath him.

Its "Fist" has grown to over a foot tall, and when it raises its pincers, they reach up to Liang Qu's knees. Ordinary fish simply cannot escape its pincers.

Heavenly Water Centipede Awei sensed the dense moisture and slowly detached itself from Liang Qu's wrist, crawling into the water and floating quietly on the surface, looking quite content.

It really is a "Water Centipede".

Clatter, clatter, clatter.

A pair of dark red horns were clamped by a "Fist". It jumped to the bow of the boat, moved its six legs quickly, and held its two pincers out horizontally, placing them in Liang Qu's hand.

Liang Qu took the red horn, which was the horn of the Bullhorn Pomfret. It was vermilion and had a glossy sheen, looking almost like jade at first glance.

He held them in his hands and stroked them, surprised to find that they were a huge pair, each two inches long. The fish must weigh at least ten pounds! He had previously eaten Bullhorn Pomfret that weighed a little over a pound and obtained 1.8 Marsh Essence.

The actual meat yield of Bullhorn Pomfret is not high. There is no exaggerated proportion of more than 50% for specially consumed fish. It is only about 40%. That is to say, when he ate only 5 ounces of meat, he got nearly 2 points of Marsh Essence, which is very high.

It is currently the highest-quality variety among the three types of Treasure Fish.

A ten-pound Bullhorn Pomfret can provide nearly forty points of Marsh Essence.

The Fist only got a small piece; the rest of the big bite went to the Fat Catfish and the Zhu Po Long.

Yesterday, Liang Qu went to kill the Mountain Ghost, and the two beasts found another Red Blood Perch. He was thinking that the two beasts were about to evolve, and he was busy, so he didn't come over.

The Red Blood Perch, once inside the bellies of the two beasts, would also take about five or six minutes.

[Can consume 6.2 points of Marsh Essence to evolve Taihua Crocodile into Jiaomu Crocodile]

[Can consume 8.4 points of Marsh Essence to evolve the Six-Whiskered Catfish into the Tiger-Head Catfish]

It's just a fraction short.

Liang Qu felt uncomfortable. He was fourteen points short. If he was lucky, he would only need one Treasure Fish. If he was unlucky, he would need two or three.

I don't know where the catalyst for evolution lies.

Liang Qu encouraged them, saying, "Explore the area more. If you see Red Blood Perch or Tiger Head Grouper, eat them yourself. Whether you can evolve and when you evolve is entirely up to you. I'll come back later and search with you."

The Fat Catfish wiggled its whiskers, Zhu Po Long flicked its tail, both indicating that they would work even harder.

Liang Qu nodded and beckoned Awei to come back.

Once Awei reached his wrist and transformed into a blue bracelet, he rowed his boat to Shangrao.

The second courtyard is probably about to have its roof beam raised, so we need to slip a copper coin into the door for good luck.

Once we're done, we'll come back and explore the waters with the three beasts to make up for the last bit of money as soon as possible.

"One, two, three, heave-ho!"

"One, two, three, heave-ho!"

"Give it your all! You just ate a dry meal this afternoon, why don't you have any energy?"

It was getting late, but the workers showed no sign of stopping, carrying the large pillars by the dim moonlight.

Carpenter Liu Quanfu stood on the roof and roared at the men carrying the piles below.

Several burly men carried a large pillar and walked in step, panting heavily. The feeling of sweating profusely in the winter was unbearable.

Suddenly, everyone felt a weight lifted off their shoulders.

A large pillar that required three or four people to lift was carried by a young man with remarkable ease.

Several burly men turned around and exclaimed, "Master Liang! Master Liang is back! How could we let you come? Put it down quickly, we'll take care of it!"

Liang Qu, carrying the pillar, took a step back to avoid the crowd's hands and feet. "Why call me Master Liang? We're all from the same village, no need to be so formal. Just call me A Shui."

Liu Quanfu opened his mouth, but seeing Liang Qu looking over, he forced himself to say something else, "A Shui, they ate the rice and took the money, so they should work. There's no need to help them!"

"It's alright, I'm strong and quick." Liang Qu carried the large pillar into the yard by himself, then turned back and called out, "Uncle Fu, where do I put it?"

"Just put it here, just put it here!"

Liu Quanfu quickly ran down from the scaffold and helped Liang Qu put the pillar down.

"A Shui is here to check on the progress, right? Don't worry, no one is slacking off. The main beam will be installed soon. After that, I'll hurry up and lay the roof boards. The side rooms can wait. The main house will definitely be finished before spring, so you can definitely move in."

"It's alright, Uncle. Take your time. I'm not in a hurry. I just happened to be passing by." Liang Qu looked around. "Uncle Liu, which beam is in the main hall? Since we're going to raise the beam, I'll put a copper coin in first."

"Look at my memory, I almost forgot about this." Liu Quanfu pointed to the longest and thickest pillar among the many piled-up pillars and said, "It's this one."

Liu Quanfu took out a small chisel and quickly dug a small pit.

Seeing this, Liang Qu took out a copper coin and put it in.

Liu Quanfu found some clay and used it to fill the gaps around the coin, pressing it flat and firmly as he filled it.

This is called "keeping wealth outwardly," and it has a certain effect on attracting wealth.

In addition, there are other methods such as hanging money with a red string and pressing money down, so there's no need to do them again.