Mutual Envy

The reason Li Nuo gave was so thorough.

Song Jiaren didn't know what to say anymore.

He was like a child, pure-hearted and straightforward.

Looking at Li Nuo, Song Jiaren suddenly realized something and asked, "Did you remember something from before?"

Li Nuo was slightly taken aback, then said, "Just this one thing."

Song Jiaren didn't speak again.

He was sometimes excessively clever, and sometimes so childish. No wonder Mu'er liked him so much; two children would naturally get along.

At this moment, Song Mu'er looked up at Li Nuo and said, "Brother Li Nuo, shall we go play shuttlecock...?"

Li Nuo patted her head and said, "You go play with Sister Jiaren. Brother needs to go read..."

Song Mu'er didn't pester Li Nuo. She put away the shuttlecock and said obediently, "Then I won't play. I haven't finished my math homework yet. Brother Li Nuo, you read, and I'll do my homework beside you, okay?"

Li Nuo smiled and said, "Of course."

Looking at the well-behaved Mu'er, he couldn't help but sigh inwardly. They were born to the same parents, looked exactly alike, and grew up in the same place since childhood. How could Song Mu'er and Song Ninger have such different personalities...

One was obedient and sensible, always smiling, while the other was spoiled and willful, only knowing how to cry. Compared to each other, he naturally preferred Mu'er.

Besides, wasn't his wife herself always with Mu'er...

Did he have to follow his wife's lead?

The room was a bit dim at this time. Li Nuo was reading in the pavilion in the courtyard. Song Mu'er took out a small booklet from her bag, biting her pen cap for a moment, then her finger for another, her delicate brows furrowing gradually...

Li Nuo was reading the Great Xia Codex. When he was mediating a case today, he realized that the laws of Great Xia were very different from modern times. Many legal provisions carried a strong feudal flavor.

Sometimes, judging by modern legal standards would violate the laws of Great Xia.

A large part of the reason was due to propriety and law. Taking marriage as an example, in later generations, marriage was free, but here, the marriage of men and women required the consent of parents and the words of a matchmaker to conform to propriety, gain public recognition, and receive legal protection. Otherwise, it was elopement, which was not protected by law. If eloping men and women were caught, the families of both parties had a certain degree of discretionary power to deal with them.

Another part of the reason was due to hierarchy.

In later generations, the law was equal for all... at least, it was equal on the surface.

But here, people were divided into ranks. The power of the sovereign was greater than that of the minister, the power of officials was greater than that of the common people, and the power of the master was greater than that of the servant. Specifically, if a master beat or killed a slave or subordinate, they would only be fined some copper or silver. However, if a slave or subordinate offended their superior, they would generally be sentenced to death by hanging. The powerful could be exempted from punishment to a certain extent when oppressing commoners, while commoners who offended the powerful would be punished more severely.

However, according to the classics of the Legalist school, Li Nuo also discovered that the Legalist strongmen seemed to adhere not to the laws of a specific dynasty or era.

Each dynasty had its own laws, and the laws of the same dynasty would also change constantly with time and circumstances. Not all laws were correct and just, and frequent changes in decrees occurred.

What the Legalist school adhered to was not the Written Law, but the Heart's Law.

Everyone had a scale in their heart. The Legalist school enforced the law based on the Heart's Law, not being bound by the laws of any particular dynasty. Sometimes, they would even act against the law. Different disciples of the Legalist school had different interpretations of the character "law."

"Heart's Law..."

Li Nuo gazed ahead, murmuring these three words, pondering their deeper meaning.

Cultivating "law" was actually cultivating "heart." Didn't this mean that as long as he felt something was right, he didn't need to refer to the law at all? And Li Nuo found too many things in the Great Xia laws that he couldn't stand. In such a situation, his cultivation of law would be illegal.

Strictly speaking, Li Nuo was breaking the law every day.

After all, he did not hold an official position, and adjudicating cases was inherently against the Great Xia laws.

However, for disciples of the Legalist school, the "Heart's Law" was greater than the "Written Law."

As long as he completely followed his true heart and practiced the justice in his heart, he would eventually enter the door of the Legalist school.

At this moment, Song Jiaren, who was wiping her longsword in the courtyard, suddenly turned her head to look at Li Nuo.

For a moment just now, she had felt a strange aura from Li Nuo.

But when she looked over, the feeling had vanished.

A moment later, Li Nuo gradually regained his senses.

The book said that every disciple of the Legalist school had their own path. Being overly attached to the Written Law made it difficult to achieve great things. Li Nuo seemed to have some insight into this. Law should be used to maintain fairness and justice, but most of the time, it was merely a tool to maintain the interests of the rulers. In the end, the cultivation of the Legalist school would inevitably lead to conflict with the ruling class. Therefore, the strongmen of the Legalist school had never had good endings.

"Brother Li Nuo, how do you solve this problem?"

Song Mu'er's sweet voice interrupted Li Nuo's thoughts. Li Nuo casually said, "Brother is thinking about something. Go ask your Sister Jiaren— Huh? Where did your Sister Jiaren go?"

Li Nuo turned his head to look. Where had his wife, who was standing there just a moment ago, disappeared to?

He couldn't count on his wife, so Li Nuo had to take Song Mu'er's booklet. This page had many problems, all simple mixed operations within three digits. Song Mu'er had finished the other problems, leaving only the last one.

"There are twenty-seven heads and seventy-two feet in a cage of pheasants and rabbits. How many chickens and rabbits are there?"

This was a very simple chicken and rabbit in a cage problem that could be solved with a system of two linear equations.

Li Nuo picked up a pen and said as he wrote, "Let's assume there are 'A' chickens and 'B' rabbits. According to the problem, 'A' plus 'B' equals twenty-seven. Two times 'A' plus four times 'B' equals seventy-two. Multiply the first equation by two on both sides to get two times 'A' plus two times 'B' equals fifty-four. Then, subtract the third equation from the second equation to get two times 'B' equals eighteen. So, B equals nine, and A equals eighteen. That means eighteen chickens and nine rabbits..."

After writing it down, Li Nuo looked at Song Mu'er and asked, "Do you understand?"

Song Mu'er's eyes were clear, and she shook her head decisively, "No."

Li Nuo scratched his head. He had been thinking about his own matters just now and forgot that Mu'er was only six years old. Equations were something she couldn't understand yet. He thought for a moment and said again, "We're going to eat spicy rabbit legs and braised chicken legs tonight. Now we need to use one leg from all the rabbits and chickens. How many legs are left in the cage?"

Song Mu'er answered without hesitation, "Seventy-two minus twenty-seven equals forty-five legs left."

Li Nuo continued, "Our family is large, and one leg is not enough. We need to use another leg from them. How many legs are left in the cage now?"

Song Mu'er replied, "Forty-five minus twenty-seven leaves eighteen legs."

Li Nuo continued to guide her, saying, "Rabbits have four legs, chickens only have two. All the chicken legs were made into braised chicken legs. Two rabbit legs are left. So, how many rabbits are there?"

Song Mu'er suddenly realized and said happily, "I know! Half of eighteen is nine. There are nine rabbits in total. Twenty-seven minus nine equals eighteen. The answer is eighteen chickens and nine rabbits!"

On the roof of the small courtyard, Song Jiaren counted on her fingers, surprised, "So that's how you calculate it..."

When she was Mu'er's age, her family had also hired a math tutor for her. She vaguely remembered there was a problem about keeping chickens and rabbits in the same cage. She didn't like math back then and always secretly went to practice martial arts. Only now did she realize that the problem she found so difficult back then was actually so simple...

If the math tutor had taught her like this back then, she wouldn't have gotten so angry and driven him away.

Math was much harder for her than martial arts.

That's why when Li Nuo mentioned her, she immediately jumped onto the roof.

Song Jiaren looked down at the figure in the pavilion.

Solving cases, writing poetry, mathematics.

These were all things she couldn't do.

Looking at the figure teaching Mu'er, she secretly envied, "So amazing..."

After Li Nuo finished explaining the problem to Mu'er, he looked around and finally spotted his wife on the roof. Song Jiaren glanced at him and leaped down from the roof, landing lightly on the ground.

Li Nuo watched her jump down from the two-zhang-high roof, her movements fluid, elegant, and graceful, landing without a sound. He secretly envied, "So amazing!"

If it were him jumping from that height, he'd be dead or have broken legs