Chapter 82: World Map Yinzhen won’t be using it during the New Year holidays…
Taking advantage of the fact that Yinzhen didn't have to go to the yamen during the New Year holidays, Qi Buchen acted like a good student. Since she had a basic foundation, she tried to act smarter and could learn some simple words as soon as she was taught.
Such performance surprised Yinzhen, who was just teaching her normally at the beginning. He sighed that she had an outstanding talent in languages, and thus taught her more seriously.
Unfortunately, this time was short-lived, and Yinzhen soon returned to his busy work. Qi Buchen could only study on his own with Yinzhen's previous study notes. But this was nothing, as self-study was more comfortable than pretending to be a novice student.
During another of his days off, Yinzhen checked on her self-study progress and was stunned, speechless. "You..." Then he clasped his hands together and sighed, "Self-study like this is only delaying your progress. Just wait and see!"
He hurried out the door and returned half a day later, excitedly heading to the main courtyard to find Qi Buchen. "I've found a teacher for you, a Portuguese missionary named Fei Jiade. He's currently working as a painter at the Ruyi Pavilion, but he only paints Western paintings, so the Emperor doesn't use him often. From now on, he'll come to the palace every two days to give you half-day lessons. I've had Su Peisheng set up a study room for you in the front yard."
Qi Buchen was overjoyed: "Really?"
Her surprise was so obvious that Yinzhen couldn't help but feel even happier: "Of course it's true. He will come over tomorrow afternoon."
"That's great! Yinzhen, you are so nice!" Qi Buchen was so happy that he couldn't sit still. He stood up and walked around the room, muttering to himself.
Yinzhen just sat aside and looked at her with a smile. It was really rare to see his wife so relaxed and lively.
Qi Buchen was spinning around when she suddenly remembered something, and her joy faded away. She looked at Yinzhen and said uneasily, "But... as a woman, it's not good for me to always be in contact with men outside of my family, right? Mother... I used to go to temples and Taoist temples all the time, and Mother... didn't like it..."
Of course, she would not miss such an opportunity to contact the outside world, but the social opinions and royal rules at this time, as well as the attitude of Concubine De, were all factors that could not be ignored. Instead of letting others dig it up and take advantage of it to cause trouble, it would be better to put the difficulties in front of Yinzhen from the beginning and see how he planned to deal with it.
After all, no matter what, her greatest reliance in this world is still Yinzhen.
Yinzhen frowned upon hearing this. He didn't care about the outsider thing, otherwise he wouldn't have gone straight to find a teacher for Qi Buchen. But the mother... was indeed a problem...
Although he was worried, he didn't want to let his wife know about it, so he quickly put on a relaxed expression and said, "You don't need to worry about these things. I'm here for you. Just study hard. The sooner you learn, the more you can help me organize those foreign language books."
With Yinzhen's statement, Qi Buchen really relaxed and promised confidently: "Don't worry, I will definitely study hard and help you when the time comes!"
After expressing his opinion, Qi Buchen thought of something else and asked tentatively, "You just said, what is this teacher...what grape?"
"Portugal." Yinzhen looked at Fu Jin's eyes which were wide open in confusion, just like a round grape, so he couldn't help laughing.
"What a strange name." Qi Buchen muttered, and then asked, "So, this Portugal is the capital of England, just like the capital?"
"No, Portugal is also a country." Yinzhen denied it. He shifted his gaze slightly and thought for a moment, then stood up and said, "Well, it's okay to show you this. Come with me."
Taking Qi Buchen back to the study in the front yard and driving all the servants out, Yinzhen took out a box from a secret place, took out a scroll from it, and spread it on the desk.
Qi Buchen watched as a world map slowly unfolded before her eyes, and she was completely stunned.
This map is clearly hand-drawn, with many details missing and place names incomplete. However, the general outline is correct! Every continent is included, including Antarctica!
Oh my god! Could it be that there was actually a time traveler before her?
Yinzhen carefully smoothed the map, breathed a sigh of relief, and said, "This is a world map. Look, this part is the Qing Dynasty, and the part above the Qing Dynasty is Russia. England is this small island over here, and the Portugal I just told you about is probably in this part."
When asked about Portugal's location, Yinzhen wasn't entirely sure. He explained, "I drew this from memory after reading the Kunyu Quantu. Some details are not entirely accurate."
After he finished speaking, he turned his head to look at Qi Buchen, and found that the young wife had her mouth slightly open and looked frightened and dazed.
Yinzhen couldn't help but laugh, and reached out to touch Fu Jin's head: "What's wrong, are you scared?"
How can this not be scary!
Although she was shocked just now, she still heard what Yinzhen said, and now she asked anxiously, "What is the Kunyu Quantu?"
Was it left behind by a time traveler?
Yinzhen's hand moved from her head to her back, patting her soothingly. "Don't worry, I'll tell you whatever you want to know." He then answered her question, "The Kunyu Quantu is a folding screen world map created by the missionary Nan Huairen in the 13th year of the Kangxi Emperor's reign, modeled after Matteo Ricci's Kunyu Wanguo Quantu from the Ming Dynasty. This screen is now on display in the imperial study, and I've only seen it a few times."
She still remembered the name Nan Huairen, who was a relatively famous missionary in history.
Qi Buchen felt a little disappointed and a little relieved that he was not a time traveler. Then he cheered up and asked more questions, vowing to find out to what extent the top class of the Qing Dynasty understood the world at that time.
Of course, Yinzhen told her everything he knew, and besides, this was not a state secret. They talked until the sun set, and Qi Buchen finally understood many things.
Missionaries had already presented globes to the Qing Dynasty. Many missionaries served in the imperial court, most notably the Ruyi Pavilion, the Imperial Observatory, and the Imperial Palace. A few also served in the Hanlin Academy. They were responsible for translating foreign works, including but not limited to literature, mathematics, and astronomy, into Chinese. The Imperial Study Room also had dedicated missionary instructors who taught not only languages but also mathematics, geography, music, and Western painting. Of course, these were not considered serious teachings, but were simply provided to broaden the horizons of the imperial princes.
"Some things in the West do have their merits." Yinzhen put one hand around her back and rested it on the armrest, resting his other elbow on the desk to support his chin. He looked at Qi Buchen and admonished, "But these missionaries are always fanatical believers in a god called 'Jesus'. Even in some European countries, I heard that the power of the Pope is superior to that of the royal family. This is simply perverse. So although the Emperor uses them, he has restrictions on their missionary work. When you study with Feijiade in the future, if he says anything about missionary work to you, don't pay attention to it."
Qi Buchen suddenly realized that Yinzhen's action seemed to half-hugged her in his arms, and she was completely enveloped in the young man's warm and rich breath.
She was so excited about what she was saying just now. Because her legs were a little sore after standing for a long time, Yinzhen pulled her to sit on the armchair. She didn't notice it during the heated discussion, but when she came to her senses, she realized that although they had no physical contact, she seemed to be drunk and looked at Yinzhen who was slightly drunk and distracted.
Therefore, he was unable to respond to Yinzhen's instructions.
"What are you thinking about?"
A hand rubbed the top of his head, then poked his forehead. The boy's clear voice, which hadn't yet entered the voice change period, had a pleasant arc: "Hmm? Did you hear what I just said?"
It was dark outside, but inside the house, two candle towers that Yinzhen had just lit were lit, so the light was not dim. Therefore, Yinzhen could clearly see that Fu Jin's eyes were dazed, and her baby fat cheeks were glowing in the candlelight, looking chubby and easy to pinch.
Before Yinzhen's hand fell from his forehead to his cheeks, Qi Buchen suddenly stood up and quickly said, "It's late, I'm going back to rest first." Then he hurried out of the study without waiting for a response.
Yinzhen withdrew his hand in the air with some regret, but when he thought of Fu Jin's fleeing figure, he couldn't help but smile, and a slight sweetness arose in his heart.
Was Fu Jin staring at him in a daze just now?
Qi Buchen's slightly rapid heartbeat didn't calm down until he walked back to the main courtyard. It was okay. He was just distracted because he was shocked that ancient people knew so much. It had nothing to do with Yinzhen. What was there to look good about a fifteen-year-old kid like him? He had no height and no height.
Well, that's it.
Qi Buchen forced himself to fall asleep while memorizing words.
On the afternoon of the second day, Fei Jiade arrived as expected. He had a typical Western appearance, with high eyebrows and deep eyes. The color of his hair and eyes was similar to that of Chinese people, but he looked a little out of place in the clothes of a Qing Dynasty official.
"Lord Fei." Qi Buchen nodded and greeted him.
Fei Jiade bowed politely and said, "I greet the Fourth Lady."
The accent was a bit strange, but Qi Buchen could still understand it: "Master Fei, please take a seat."
Fei Jiade did not refuse and sat down formally, looking at Qi Buchen with some curiosity: "Excuse me, Fourth Lady, are you ten years old?"
Qi Buchen twitched his lips. This man was quite good at speaking polite words, but the way he looked at him still revealed that he was incompatible with the rules of the Qing Dynasty. Didn't he see that Xie Hanshan had glared at him several times because of his undisguised look just now?
"Mr. Fei, you are too polite. I am already fourteen years old." In fact, I am only thirteen, but everyone is used to saying the age in lunar years, and saying an older age will also help to deepen the content of the conversation later.
"Lord Fei, let's get started." After their first meeting, Qi Buchen did not intend to have any in-depth communication with the Portuguese. Even if he wanted to understand the situation in the outside world, he had to first see what kind of person Fei Jiade was.
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The author has something to say: Yinzhen: The wife was stunned by me, I am indeed good-looking!
Qi Buchen: Don’t be too narcissistic
Note: The Kunyu Complete Map is a folding-screen world map (made up of eight long panels) drawn by Nan Huairen, a missionary to China during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, imitating Matteo Ricci's Kunyu World Map in the late Ming Dynasty. The first and last panels contain a total of 14 textual annotations, and the six panels in the middle depict the Eastern and Western Hemispheres respectively. The Eastern Hemisphere shows "Asia", "Europa" and "Levitic Asia" (i.e. Asia, Europe and Africa), while the Western Hemisphere shows "South and North America" (North and South America). In addition, "Melañana" and "New Aland Asia" (Antarctica and Australia) are also drawn in. This is the only existing map of the Eastern and Western Hemispheres in the history of Chinese geography.
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