"Greetings, Sage!"

Fang's father and Fang Zhongyong kowtowed three times.

Looking at Li Ming again, the strange scene from before had long since disappeared, but the boy's slender figure had become incredibly tall.

They had all already decided that the boy was a saint, which was completely different from the shock level when Li Ming said he was a saint.

Li Ming finally breathed a sigh of relief. It seems that the effect of consuming so much spiritual power and special effects is quite significant. In fact, all he needs to do is make Fang's father believe that he is a saint.

Once his problem is solved, all other problems will be solved.

He slowly turned around, helped them up, and said, "There's no need to be so polite. Now you finally know why you came here. It's not by chance; it's because we are destined to meet."

"Please, Your Majesty, do not hold my rudeness against you. I am just a boorish person. Here is your pearl, I'm returning it to you." Father Fang returned the pearl to him; he dared not take what belonged to the Sage.

Li ordered the pearls to be taken back.

“Sage, from now on, Zhongyong will be taught by you. You can decide when he is ready to graduate.”

“You don’t have much time left here.” Li Ming glanced at the dragon-patterned wooden plaque at his waist, which displayed the number “22”. “You have 11 hours left. After 11 hours, you will return to your original place.”

"Time is of the essence, Zhongyong, why don't you hurry up and find a master to learn the craft?" said Father Fang.

“Yes, Father.” Fang Zhongyong was about to kneel down and acknowledge Li Ming as his master, but Li Ming stopped him and said, “I don’t accept disciples. I’m just here to give you some pointers.”

"Please speak, Your Majesty, and I will certainly comply." This time, Father Fang was particularly solemn, no longer with the expression he had before. This was a sage before him; how could he not show him respect?

"When you get back, first of all, don't take Zhongyong around visiting people to make money. Let him study hard," Li Ming continued. "Second, I know your family is poor."

You may not have much money, but I can't give you money; you have to earn it yourselves. I'll tell you how to make a living.

There are two methods.

First, you can only visit one household per month to compose a poem based on an object, and you cannot visit more than two households.

Secondly, Zhongyong is good at calligraphy and painting, right? You can take two days off each month to take Zhongyong to the streets to compose poems and sell paintings. That way you can earn some money.

You can use these two methods interchangeably, but you can only use these three days a month at most to make money.

At other times, you can't take him around visiting people to make money.

Li Ming had already considered this point. He couldn't expect Fang's father to sell everything he owned to support his studies. He could earn some income by spending two or three days a month on the education.

Two or three days a month, though not enough to make them rich, would be more than enough for Li Ming, given Fang Zhongyong's name and talent. As for being well-fed, he felt it wouldn't be a problem.

This is good too; it's like a holiday, allowing you to connect with the outside world, balancing work and rest, and preventing you from just studying all the time.

Father Fang cupped his hands and said, "Understood. I will certainly follow the sage's instructions. I will strictly follow this requirement in the future and will definitely cultivate him into an outstanding talent."

This was the sage's personal instruction, and Father Fang took it very seriously and would absolutely obey it.

"Yes, that's good to remember."

Li Ming looked at Fang's father. The title of saint was indeed useful, able to completely suppress him. It seemed that he should pretend to be a master more often in the future, which would be more effective.

“We don’t have much time left, Zhongyong. If you have any questions, ask the sage. I believe the sage will give you the answers.” Father Fang patted Fang Zhongyong on the shoulder.

“Yes, you can ask me anything,” Li Ming said.

"Then I won't bother you." Mr. Fang walked away silently, and having nothing else to do, he started to tease the black dog.

Seeing his father go to play with the dog, Fang Zhongyong stopped paying attention and looked up at Li Ming, saying, "I want to ask, how did you do all that just now?"

Li Mingdao said, "I am a sage."

Fang Zhongyong asked, "Can even sages do this?"

Li Ming nodded and said, "Only a very, very powerful sage can make his words become law. If you want to be like me, first you must study hard. If one day your talent satisfies me, I will personally come down and teach you."

He planned to tell a white lie.

"Okay, okay, okay." Fang Zhongyong nodded vigorously, smiling happily.

"Alright, is there anything you want to ask me now? As long as I know it, I can teach you everything," Li Ming said.

Fang Zhongyong glanced at the dragon-patterned wooden plaque at Li Ming's waist and said, "The words on the plaque have changed again. What are these words? I want to know."

"These are called Arabic numerals."

"?" Fang Zhongyong was full of question marks. "Was this something created by an old man named Arabia?"

"Hahaha, come inside, what exactly are these things I'm going to teach you?" Li Ming couldn't help but laugh when he heard his words. He pulled him into the house, took out a piece of white paper and a pen, and wrote Arabic numerals on it.

0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.

Li Ming taught him to recognize these numbers: "These are just like abacuses, used for arithmetic. They are very useful because they simplify everything. Statistics are expressed using addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division."

"What are addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division?" Fang Zhongyong asked again.

"I will now give you the law."

Li Ming wrote down all the rules of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division in one go, and then explained them to him carefully, just in case he didn't understand.

Fang Zhongyong was receiving such astonishing knowledge for the first time, and it was indeed difficult for him to understand. Fortunately, he was not an ordinary person; he was a child prodigy and not particularly difficult to teach.

But time still passed faster and faster, and the number displayed on the dragon-patterned wooden plaque gradually changed to "12".

Fang Zhongyong asked in confusion, "I understand now. The number on the wooden sign is 12, but why is the number getting smaller and smaller? I've never seen this kind of timekeeping method before."

"Have you memorized addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division?" Li Ming asked, looking at him.

"Not yet, but I want to know this first, and then memorize these later."

"Actually, it's not urgent whether you memorize it or not. You can memorize it when you get back. You can take all these draft papers with you."

"May I?"

"Of course, I can. Now I'll tell you what the numbers on the wooden sign represent. This is another area. I'll ask you how many hours are in a day?"

"Twelve," Fang Zhongyong replied.

"How are the twelve two-hour periods divided?" Li Ming asked again.

"Through carving, a stick of incense, a cup of tea..."

"This is just an overview. Let me tell you about another method of timekeeping, which can be accurate to the hour, minute, and second." Li Ming drew a clock directly on the white paper, with an hour hand, a minute hand, and a second hand.

Li Ming has not yet provided an explanation.

But as Fang Zhongyong gazed at the lifelike things painted by the sage, he felt as if the sage had opened up a new world for him, his heart pounding with excitement.

He could no longer contain his excitement and asked:

"What's this?"