In the end, Tai Pu Fengze summoned Zixu Yi.
"Yo, Brother Zixu." Wang Qi nodded. "Meeting again. So now, among the Yu Clan, you're the one most skilled in the study of writing?"
"I merely cherished characters from childhood and came to understand them a little, enough to write poetry and prose." Zixu Yi smiled modestly. "They are all trivial side paths."
Zixu Yi could be considered one of the most diligent among these Yu Clan survivors. He studied human knowledge and mathematics with great effort, and his command of human language was exceptionally remarkable.
When Wang Qi had previously compiled a history of mathematics, he had also worked with him. Wang Qi would occasionally come to the Yu Clan to press-gang able-bodied labor, having Zixu Yi ghostwrite scattered bits and pieces.
He had not expected that Zixu Yi was also the Yu Clan's sole remaining master of letters.
Zixu Yi led Wang Qi into a basement. It was filled with books, all literary artifacts. Zixu Yi said, "During the great evacuation, His Majesty instructed us to bring along this imperial dictionary, passed down through generations of the Literary King's line. This is the most complete dictionary of the Yu Clan. If you truly intend to study, sir, there could be no better place."
Wang Qi nodded in satisfaction. "Good, very good..."
Zixu Yi said, "What does sir wish to study? Exegesis? Philology? Or..."
"Why do all of you start from this same set of things?" Wang Qi waved a hand. "No, I definitely need to study them, but before that, I have a question for you."
Zixu Yi froze. "Please speak, sir."
"Do you know a language's 'signified' and 'signifier'?"
This question was the first lesson every university student majoring in linguistics on Earth learned after entering university.
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