"What do you think of science?" Li Chunfang was stunned by the question and asked, "Why do you say that, young minister?"

“Wasn’t Lord Xinghua present at the lecture at Lingji Palace last month? He should still remember that arrogant boy clearly, right?” Li Chunfang was from Xinghua County, Yangzhou Prefecture.

Xu Fan placed his hands on the table, supporting his chin. This posture made his eye sockets look even deeper. He looked like a conspirator who manipulated people's fate at will.

"Oh, I have an impression." Li Chunfang nodded in agreement and said, "At such a young age, you want to use my psychology to get promoted. It's quite annoying."

"That's right, we can't let this trend continue." Then I heard the young elder say in a deep voice: "Otherwise, people with bad intentions will follow suit, not only to gain popularity in the field of my Psychology Society, but also to make people misunderstand that science has been tacitly approved by my father, and thus go astray."

"The latter one shouldn't be necessary." Li Chunfang said softly, "I heard that in the past month, the boy hasn't recruited many disciples. He just organized some kind of popular science exhibition and promoted it to the scholars in a low-key manner..."

"That's because he wants to avoid the limelight." Xu Fan sneered:

"Because his father has several disciples who are going to take the imperial examination. This guy's wishful thinking is definitely to wait until they pass the exam, and then use the opportunity to promote the benefits of science for the imperial examination... That will be a great opportunity for him to harvest disciples!"

If Zhao Hao were present, he would definitely give a thumbs up to Xu Fan, this clever little guy - yes, that's what I planned.

"Oh, is that so?" Li Chunfang took a breath, as if he was shocked by the step-by-step plan of the boy named Zhao.

"Whether it's true or not, we have to kill him as a warning to the rest!" Xu Fan slammed the table and whispered to Li Chunfang, "So please, examiner, have all his students and his father, who is trying to win people's hearts, fail the exam."

When Li Chunfang heard this, he thought to himself how much prejudice the young cabinet minister had against the Zhao family.

But then again, isn't it a slap in the face of him, the young cabinet minister, that Zhao Shouzheng followed the eldest princess to provide relief to the disaster victims?

~~

After returning to her duty room, Li Chunfang, who had always looked as kind as an old lady, gradually became gloomy.

After all, he was the Second Prime Minister, so naturally he felt unhappy that the young cabinet minister was manipulating him like this.

But he couldn't guess whether this was what Lord Xu meant, so he had to respond vaguely and said that he knew it.

But he didn't want to do that.

Because Li Chunfang's younger brother, a salt merchant in Yangzhou, came to Beijing to spend the New Year with him and brought a message from an elder, asking him to take care of his unfilial son who was going to Beijing to take the imperial examination, and several students of his beloved grandson.

Li Chunfang learned from his younger brother that the former Nanjing Ministry of Revenue assistant minister was very particular about his work, and although he was no longer in the position, the salt merchants were still willing to respect him as an arbitrator.

Over the past year, the veteran salt merchants have been helping to resolve conflicts and settle disputes, and their prestige in Yangzhou has been growing.

The Li family was a newly-established salt merchant, and no one dared to bully them because they had Li Chunfang, the second-in-command.

But with just a little effort, I can do a favor for the senior, which is a good deal...

So Li Chunfang didn't take the matter of Lingji Palace to heart at all. He was just preparing to act according to the circumstances when the time came, but Xu Fan gave him this trick.

This made the Deputy Prime Minister hesitate. If he gave in, he would be unwilling; if he refused, he would not have the courage...

As he was hesitating, he suddenly heard his long-time attendant report that Mr. Zhang had arrived.

"Please come in." Li Chunfang immediately stood up to greet him.

Although his qualifications and official rank were higher than those of the child prodigy of the same age, Li Chunfang always had awe for Zhang Juzheng, believing that he must be a true prime minister with great power over the world, and was by no means comparable to a fake prime minister like himself.

Although he hasn't appeared in public for a month, Mr. Zhang is still as cool and handsome as ever.

After the two of them sat down as host and guest, they briefly handed over their official business, and Zhang Juzheng went straight to the point: "Brother Nian, what do you think of science?"

"Uh..." Li Chunfang's beard trembled slightly, and he thought it happened again.

"Taiyue, tell me what you think first?" However, when facing Zhang Juzheng, he would not be so restrained.

"It's a very amazing subject." Zhang Juzheng said calmly, "After Lingji Palace, Bu Gu got two booklets from them. One is called "Nature Knowledge", which introduces common sense of all things. Although it is simple, it is by no means simple. The other book "Geometry Glimpse" is even more amazing."

After a pause, he seemed to be talking about someone else: "Although it took me nearly a month to understand it, I still benefited a lot from it. I recommend that you read it carefully."

"I'm old, I can't understand, and my head hurts." Li Chunfang waved her hand and declined.

"Bugu believes that everyone in the world should learn Geometry. As the old saying goes, 'I embroidered mandarin ducks for you to see, but I won't give my golden needle to others', but this book is exactly the opposite, which can be said to be 'I embroidered mandarin ducks for you to use, but I won't give my golden needle to others'. It is indeed a sharp tool for refining meticulousness, removing impetuousness, and making people think carefully. One day, Bugu will teach all officials in the world to read this book."

"Taiyue actually thinks so highly of science?" Li Chunfang looked at Zhang Juzheng in surprise. He had never heard Zhang Juzheng, who was always silent, speak such flattering words.

"That's right. So if I become the chief examiner in the future, I will definitely promote many scientific students and use their practical and rigorous approach to wash away the empty talk in the court."

Zhang Juzheng finished raising the flag, then smiled apologetically and said, "I have strayed off topic. Brother Nian's time is precious, so I won't bother you any more."

"It's okay. You and I are brothers of the same age. We shouldn't be estranged from each other." Li Chunfang stood up with a smile and sent Zhang Juzheng out of the duty room.

After Zhang Juzheng returned to his duty room in the west corner of the hall, Li Chunfang was still standing at the door, laughing in silence.

He naturally knew that Zhang Juzheng was hinting at him that Zhao Hao's disciples were all outstanding young talents, and that they could suppress them for one year, but not for their entire lives. If Brother Nian was unwilling to accept him, then he would wait until the next year and leave him as a student.

Regardless of whether Zhang Juzheng used the method of provoking the enemy or not, this method was effective immediately.

Li Chunfang could acquiesce to the young cabinet minister in doing something that would not harm him.

But as Zhang Juzheng reminded, the scientists are still very young, and their number will surely increase in the future. Can he, as a young cabinet minister, still suppress them and prevent them from coming to the fore?

Why should I be the villain for you, Xu Fan? And be the public enemy of science?

Wouldn’t it be nice to be their host?

However, they cannot all be ranked too high, otherwise it would be a slap in the face of the young minister, and naturally also a slap in the face of Minister Xu.

Well, we’ll take them all when the time comes, but we’ll lower their rankings a bit, so that all aspects will be accounted for.

Having made up his mind, Li Chunfang felt relieved, so he asked his attendant to lock the door and left Wenyuan Pavilion with ease...

~~

In the duty room at the west corner of the hall.

Zhang Juzheng sat behind a tidy desk, watching Li Chunfang's figure disappear at the door of the cabinet, a barely perceptible smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

Thanks to the irresponsible Duke Chengguo and the petty-minded young cabinet minister, he was two steps closer to his goal of inviting Gao Xinzheng back.

Immediately, Zhang Juzheng stopped smiling, lowered his head and frowned, pondering the book in front of him - "An Initial Glimpse of Geometry".

"Based on a polygon, you can build a square with the same area as it..."

Mr. Zhang muttered to himself, then took the plumb line and ruler and began to draw on the paper in a slightly clumsy way.

Given Mr. Zhang's desire to master everything, he would not invite Zhao Hao to his home unless he understood all the questions...

ps. The second update is here, please give me monthly tickets and recommendation tickets~~~