Chapter 295: Chapter One Hundred Ninety-Nine Section 2
"Fourth Brother, this is not right," Zhao Yao said, his small face showing a very serious expression, "Since these are unique copies, it means they have already been lost. What should be done now is not to hide them and prevent outsiders from knowing, but to spread them, letting more people know, so the books won’t be lost again."
"If everyone hides books like this, not letting others know, then if something happens in the future, they could again be lost, or even disappear entirely. Is that good?"
"I believe books should be passed down from generation to generation, not hidden away."
"Fourth Brother, what your maternal family is doing is not right," Zhao Yao said earnestly, "Minister Li, as a teacher of the Imperial College, has a duty to educate and spread more knowledge, but the Li Family hides the world’s most precious knowledge, which is not right."
The Fourth Prince found Zhao Yao’s words quite reasonable, but many families had their own treasured books they only wanted to pass on to their family members.
"Tenth Brother, this cannot be changed."
Zhao Yao thought to himself that when he went to his fief in the future, he would build a library of his dream world Zhao Yao, allowing everyone to come and read.
"Fourth Brother, these are unique copies written in the Li Family’s script, but where are the original unique copies?"
"They are treasured in the underground book pavilion," the Fourth Prince said, and upon seeing Zhao Yao’s bright eyes looking at him, he gave him an apologetic smile, "Tenth Brother, the unique copies in the underground book pavilion cannot be shown to you."
"Why not?"
"They are well preserved and cannot be easily opened; otherwise, they could be damaged," the Fourth Prince explained, "I haven’t even seen them."
"I see," Zhao Yao said, feeling disappointed, "I don’t know the Li Family script, so I can’t understand these bamboo slips."
"Want to see the unique copies?"
Zhao Yao nodded repeatedly, "I want to see."
"If you want to see, I can teach you the Li Family script."
"Huh?" Zhao Yao asked in surprise, "Fourth Brother, isn’t the Li Family script only for the Li Family to learn? Can an outsider like me learn it?" Despite the Li Family script being peculiar, he was willing to learn it if it meant he could read the Li Family’s collection.
"To me, you’re not an outsider, so I can teach you."
"Of course, I’m Fourth Brother’s cutest and prettiest brother!" Zhao Yao said, his little face breaking into a proud smile.
The Fourth Prince’s eyes filled with a smile. He reached out to rub Zhao Yao’s small head, his tone gentle, "That’s right, you’re my cutest brother."
Zhao Yao hurriedly raised his hand to swear to the Fourth Prince, "Fourth Brother, rest assured, once I learn it I won’t teach anyone else."
"Good."
"Fourth Brother, is this a secret between us?" Zhao Yao asked, grinning, "In the future, if I have a secret I can’t let others know, I will write to you in the Li Family script."
"That’s a good idea."
"Fourth Brother, I will study hard." No sooner had he spoken than Zhao Yao suddenly remembered something. The writing in his dream world Zhao was called simplified script, which was different from the script of Great Zhou.
The characters in his dream world Zhao seemed to have evolved into the so-called simplified script over generations.
He thought the simplified script in his dream world Zhao was quite beautiful and simpler than the script of Great Zhou. Most importantly, it was easier to write than the script of Great Zhou.
Since the Li Family had their own script, should he bring out the simplified script from his dream world Zhao?
"What are you thinking about?" the Fourth Prince gently tapped Zhao Yao’s small head with a bamboo slip.
"Fourth Brother, I’m wondering if the Li Family script is hard to learn?"
"It’s not hard to learn, you can learn it," the Fourth Prince assured him, "In the future, every night, come to my room, and I will teach you the Li Family script for two hours."
"Okay."
Seeing it was getting late, the Fourth Prince took Zhao Yao away from Ningqi Pavilion to his courtyard. He had a courtyard of his own in the Li Family, and Zhao Yao would stay with him tonight.
They returned just in time to meet Li Houci delivering sweet soup.
Li Houci first saluted the Fourth Prince and Zhao Yao, then said, "This is the sweet soup Grandmother instructed to make for Your Highnesses."
Seeing Li Houci, Zhao Yao sweetly called out, "Sister Houci," then said eagerly, "I love sweet soup the most."
The Fourth Prince took the food box from Li Houci, "Thank you."
"Your Highness is too kind," Li Houci replied with a gentle smile, "I won’t disturb Your Highnesses any longer."
"Sister Houci, won’t you stay for a while?"
"No, it’s getting late, I won’t disturb Your Highnesses’ rest," Li Houci said, bowing slightly before turning to leave.
"Let’s go inside."
Zhao Yao winked at the Fourth Prince, "Fourth Brother, why didn’t you ask Sister Houci to stay and have sweet soup with us?"
"It’s late, it wouldn’t be appropriate for her to stay here."
"Fourth Brother, do you like Sister Houci? Will Sister Houci become my Fourth Sister-in-law in the future..." Before he could finish, the Fourth Prince gave Zhao Yao’s head a gentle knock.
"Don’t talk nonsense."
Zhao Yao chuckled mischievously, "Fourth Brother is shy, I won’t say anymore."
"Do you still want sweet soup?"
"I do," Zhao Yao said obediently, "I won’t say anymore."
After bringing the sweet soup herself, Li Houci returned to her courtyard.
Li Houen and Li Houshan were waiting for her in her courtyard. Seeing her return, they quickly asked, "Your Highness, they have returned?"
"Just returned."
"Why did His Highness take the Tenth Prince to our library?" Li Houen said discontentedly, "Never mind Ningshui Pavilion, but Ningyong Pavilion and Ningqi Pavilion are not allowed for outsiders."
"To His Highness, the Tenth Prince is not an outsider," Li Houci said with some helplessness, looking at the displeased face of Li Houen, "Houen, why do you disapprove of His Highness’ kindness to the Tenth Prince?"
"The Tenth Prince doesn’t deserve His Highness’s kindness."
"Whether he deserves it or not is not for you to decide. The Tenth Prince is His Highness’s brother and a guest of our family. Put away your grievances," Li Houci warned with a stern face.
Frightened by Li Houci’s severe look, Li Houen meekly nodded, "I understand."
At that moment, a figure in black suddenly appeared in He Lianfang’s room.
He Lianfang handed him a letter. He took the letter and disappeared silently.
The hidden guards watching from the shadows did not notice the presence of the man in black.