To this day, Xie Kun still didn’t know what exactly Guo Pu had told the Prince of Langya and Wang Dun separately, such that two people who had once been quite harmonious grew increasingly suspicious of each other after his departure, to the point where even Wang Dao couldn’t dissuade them.
Oh, right—as one of the Prince of Langya’s trusted military advisors, Xie Kun also knew that a key turning point in the Prince of Langya and Wang Dun’s growing suspicion was Guo Pu’s disappearance.
They had clearly agreed to send Guo Pu to the northern lands as part of a divide-and-conquer strategy, yet Guo Pu had disappeared midway.
The Prince of Langya couldn’t help but grow suspicious, because the people escorting Guo Pu were all arranged by Wang Dun. The Prince of Langya was very interested in what Guo Pu had privately divined for Wang Dun.
And now, this indicated that the missing Guo Pu was serving as Junior Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices under Zhao Hanzhang. Did the Prince of Langya know?
Had Guo Pu truly escaped to pledge himself to Zhao Hanzhang, or was he still carrying out their mission to sow discord?
Also, since Zhao Hanzhang now relied heavily on Guo Pu, did that mean she also greatly trusted Guo Pu’s divinations?
Xie Kun lowered his eyes. In his heart, suspicion grew instead. He disliked Guo Pu and never believed in these mystical arts.
If Guo Pu weren’t from a prestigious family, he would have already struck him down with his sword. It was his elder brother who believed him greatly. If Zhao Hanzhang also trusted diviners like the Prince of Langya did, would the northern lands still be worth the Xie family’s return?
His heart was still torn with indecision when someone suddenly called out loudly, “The rain has stopped! The rain has stopped!”
Yang Yi and the others quickly urged everyone, “Hurry, hurry, let’s go.”
The dark clouds in the sky hadn’t completely dispersed and still half-covered the sun, but couldn’t completely block it. Sunlight shuttled through the cloud layers, spilling from gaps and edges—especially the cloud edges, which seemed gilded with gold. Golden sunlight poured down, as if coating the mortal world in a layer of light.
Moisture still hung in the air, yet sunshine flooded down—this was sun shower. Not only children loved it, even adults couldn’t help but look up at the sky.
Someone cried out, pointing toward the horizon. “It’s a rainbow!”
Xie Kun looked up to see a seven-colored rainbow appearing in the sky above Luoyang, with red, orange, and blue shining brilliantly bright and clear.
Having lived twenty-nine years, this was the first time Xie Kun had seen such a vivid rainbow. He stood frozen for a moment.
If even the well-traveled Xie Kun was like this, let alone Yang Yi and the other young people. They all stood with mouths agape looking at the sky. After a long while, someone said, “This is an auspicious omen, predicting that our meeting with General Zhao tomorrow will go smoothly.”
Even the normally unsuperstitious Xie Kun fell silent at these words.
But Guo Pu truly wasn’t superstitious. He stood on the roofless tower looking at the sky, calculating with his fingers again and again, calmly stroking his beard. “Tomorrow there will still be heavy rain. I just didn’t calculate that today would also have rain, so this doesn’t count as my miscalculation.”
Fu Tinghan was adjusting equipment nearby and didn’t respond.
Guo Pu continued, “But I truly didn’t calculate the rainbow. Tinghan, did you calculate it?”
“No. Come look—I’ve finished the adjustments.” Fu Tinghan installed the telescope, confirmed it could move freely, then stepped aside to give him space. “The armillary sphere is also ready. The tower space isn’t large, so I had people place it below. You can draw the observed star charts onto it yourself.”
Guo Pu approached the armillary instrument to look. “It’s daytime now—nothing to see. Let’s wait until evening.”
He straightened up to look at Fu Tinghan and asked, “Can I go to the Glass Workshop to look around? I’m very interested in your thousand-mile eye. I’m not surprised you can make lenses for the thousand-mile eye, but that you can make lenses like this for viewing celestial bodies—that does surprise me.”
“You can. I’ll write you a letter of authorization, and you can enter with it.”
Guo Pu was surprised. “You’re not coming with me?”
Fu Tinghan said, “I need to travel on business. I might be away for some time before returning.”
Guo Pu asked, “Where to?”
“To look at the Yellow River.”
“Why go there?”
“Didn’t you say the Yellow River middle reaches would have heavy rain this year, and downstream might flood?” Fu Tinghan said, “I need to go look and also search along the Yellow River for reclusive experts in water management.”
Guo Pu quietly watched him for a while. After confirming he was serious, he burst out laughing and asked, “Water management? Do you need to ask others about this? Isn’t your grandfather the most skilled?”
“In all of Great Jin, who could surpass him in water management?”
Fu Tinghan’s face showed some worry. “My grandfather is gravely ill. My father and mother have already gone to Chang’an with imperial physicians and medicine. Of the officials and staff who once followed him in water management, the vast majority are no longer living. The remainder are scattered in various places. We’re currently sending people to search and summon them back, but whether we can find them, no one knows.”
Guo Pu paused, then fell silent.
Twenty years of chaos in Great Jin had killed too many people, especially the last ten years—there were wars almost every year. Each political upheaval first killed court officials and Luoyang gentry.
No wonder there was a talent gap.
“Then you… haven’t learned your grandfather’s skills?”
Fu Tinghan shook his head. “I only studied with Grandfather when I was young.”
For water management, he knew a general policy approach, but in practical application, there were many problems.
Better to channel than to block, right? But how to channel in ways that save both manpower and materials?
Which land to choose for channeling could minimize harm while diverting more floodwater?
There were many considerations—you couldn’t just announce a general policy and be done.
The study of water management, in Fu Zhi’s words, could be researched for a lifetime. Good water managers not only knew how to control water, but also how to use it.
For example, the Dujiangyan irrigation system that could benefit people for a thousand years.
When Fu Tinghan wrote to ask Fu Zhi about this, perhaps fearing Fu Tinghan might recklessly attempt water management, he warned him that if one didn’t understand the principles, one shouldn’t attempt to manage water carelessly.
Water management was like treating illness—if you couldn’t identify the disease and didn’t know medicinal principles, prescribing randomly could harm people more than not prescribing at all.
He warned Fu Tinghan not to do things lightly without understanding, to avoid harming others and himself.
Guo Pu asked, “What about your father? Didn’t he inherit your grandfather’s legacy either?”
Fu Tinghan shook his head.
His father liked reading all kinds of books, but just didn’t love water management.
However…
“I have an uncle. Grandfather said he was quite skilled at water management, but he disappeared years ago with no news. You…” Fu Tinghan looked Guo Pu up and down, hesitated, but couldn’t resist asking, “Could you help me divine this?”
Guo Pu was both shocked and delighted. He couldn’t help placing his hands on his hips and laughing heartily. “So you do believe in me after all! Ha ha ha ha…”
He and Fu Tinghan had hit it off at first sight and could be considered matched opponents in mathematical studies.
Guo Pu had always been proud, believing that in all the world today, no one could surpass him in mathematics. Yet here he encountered Fu Tinghan.
Meeting such an opponent, Guo Pu naturally couldn’t resist competing with him. Besides mathematics, he also wanted to compare knowledge of the Book of Changes and divination. The result… he held an attitude of disbelief toward divination.