Wang Qi's Understanding Language had not been learned by himself, but had come as a gift from the Beauty God. He could only be said to know what it was, but not why it was... Or perhaps the reverse: to know why it was, but not what it was.
He had come to understand certain core concepts of language—because those things could themselves be connected to mathematics.
It was a clear thread. To Wang Qi, it was like a branch supporting the growth of an entire field of knowledge, plainly visible to the eye.
But he lacked the material needed to fill in that "skeleton."
His understanding of "language" itself was still insufficient.
So, in certain respects, he needed the help of the Yu Clan.
But this did not mean studying the Yu Clan's philology.
For the Yu Clan's philology still mainly revolved around exegesis.
So-called "instruction" meant using plain language to explain the meaning of a character, while "interpretation" meant using contemporary words to explain ancient language.
To modern people accustomed to vernacular writing, the parallel prose of the Tang and Song dynasties already seemed obscure and difficult. Yet to Tang and Song people, the ancient prose of the pre-Qin era was likewise twisted and tongue-tangling. Language was always changing, so ancient texts always needed to be reinterpreted by later generations.
But...
This still amounted to analyzing writing from a historical perspective.
That was not what Wang Qi wanted.
In truth, his aim was to hand his half-finished linguistics to a member of the Yu Clan, then learn from each other with that Yu Clan member in order to perfect this field of linguistics.
Among the literary-minded races he could find, the Yu Clan were the most mild-tempered, the most eager to learn, and the easiest to control.
He