Standing beneath the eaves, he looked out upon a secluded spot that seemed to have gone untrodden for a long time. Moss lay dull on three ancient walls, and a stone path grew out of the earth. Winter had left no grass, yet the round pond in the middle, its surface clear and still, had not frozen.
It was a perfectly ordinary back courtyard, but it was not neglected. Signs of attentive care were visible everywhere.
"I finished constructing the Two Heavens Theory the month before last. The essay and treatise are both written. Now I simply look each day for any new questions." Zhu Wen set the book on the table, then took the brush he had just used and washed its ink out in a basin beneath the eaves. "This change is very ingenious. It resolves all the theoretical contradictions and accords exceedingly well with the Daoist view. There is no subtle strangeness in it. It is a principle that can be spread throughout the world."
"But Academy Head Xu said... there were still some things you hadn't finished here."
"Yes, because I have yet to verify it," Zhu Wen said. His tone was always plain and serious, as though he never chatted idly or joked.
"Verify what?"
"The Two Heavens Theory," Zhu Wen said. "I heard this theory ten years ago and began deducing and testing it. The framework of the principles of the two heavens is now complete, but even after ten years, the 'testing' has yielded no result. It will probably take another twenty days or a month."
Pei Ye remembered Xu Chuo saying that establishing a theory required, first, a coherent explanation, and second, empirical proof. This philosopher was presumably held up on the second requirement.
"How are you verifying it, Mister Zhu?" he