Zhao Cheng thought the same way. Moreover, he felt Yuan Li looked more pleasing with the scars on his face. He wasn’t an imperial physician, so he spoke bluntly—thinking it meant saying it.

Because Zhao Cheng bore the Zhao surname, Yuan Li found him particularly agreeable, so he explained gently, “This subordinate doesn’t find facial scars unsightly. It’s just that Attendant Zhao said broken features bring broken wealth, so I want to repair them.”

Yuan Li was currently forming the Postal Commissioner Bureau, just getting started, and money was needed everywhere. Not only was the bureau short of funds, but he personally lacked money too.

New Year was approaching, and with the fighting finished, his comrades and colleagues had recently been enthusiastic about getting married.

At the busiest times, he attended three wedding banquets in one day. Especially these past couple of days, with the court’s records sealed, everyone scheduled their wedding banquets during this period. The wedding invitations he’d received had already been scheduled through the sixteenth of the first month.

Just thinking about it was terrifying. For each banquet, he had to give at least two thousand coins as a gift.

If it weren’t for having war spoils to exchange for cash, relying solely on his court salary, just the gift money alone would make him destitute.

He didn’t think this was a matter of timing but firmly believed it was due to his broken features.

Zhao Shen still had some real skill.

So he desperately wanted to heal the scars on his face.

Hearing this, Guo Pu looked up at his face again. Originally planning to remain silent, seeing Yuan Li’s attitude of treating Zhao Shen’s words as gospel truth, he couldn’t help saying, “His learning isn’t complete.”

This comment came out of nowhere. The three people present fell silent for a moment. Zhao Hanzhang was the first to react, calling to Yuan Li, “Why don’t you quickly bow in thanks to Master Guo for his guidance?”

Yuan Li immediately rose and turned to bow deeply to Guo Pu.

Guo Pu sat and accepted it. Only after he finished bowing did he say, “These scars on your face do indeed bring broken wealth, but they can make you live long and achieve honor.”

“All your brutality is concentrated between your brows. Before your features were broken, chaotic lines crossed your life palace—you could see that in the future you would die from punishment and injury,” Guo Pu paused before continuing, “This actually suits your identity. Your methods are brutal; you rose through cruel punishment, so naturally you might also perish through cruel punishment. This is called karmic retribution.”

“But the scars on your face—seemingly one wound—are actually two injuries. One blade injured your wealth and children’s fate; the other blade broke your predicament,” Guo Pu said, “If I were you, I definitely wouldn’t repair it. Though money is good, it’s not as important as life.”

“Moreover, keeping these scars, you can still enjoy honor. Apart from having less money, there’s really no regret.”

Zhao Hanzhang was curious. “Broken features can also have benefits?”

Guo Pu replied, “Everything in this world has both advantages and disadvantages. Nothing exists that is perfectly flawless with only benefits and no drawbacks, nor is there anything with only drawbacks and no benefits.”

“Like him—one look shows his inherent fate is bad. If he doesn’t meet a wise master, he’ll be enslaved and debased his whole life, ending his line with a fate of hardship. But once he meets a wise master, he can gain power and position. However, rising high means falling hard, so he’d enjoy brief wealth and honor before being beheaded. But fortunately, he was slashed twice across the face, breaking his own fate and actually achieving some balance.”

“Though he won’t have sudden great wealth and honor, he can enjoy long life and honor throughout his life. Isn’t that better than great rises and falls?”

Everyone present was no fool, and they immediately thought of the origin of the scars on his face.

Bearing these scars, when Zhao Hanzhang had wanted to execute him, wouldn’t she have softened by two points first?

The court ministers probably had to be more tolerant of him as well.

These weren’t scars at all—this was basically a merit medal stuck to his face.

Yuan Li’s mind raced with thoughts, and he immediately made a decision. He wouldn’t treat them!

He thought these scars were quite handsome. Why should a real man treat them?

Wasn’t it just lacking money? Since it was said he would enjoy honor throughout his life, he couldn’t be that poor—at most he just wouldn’t be as wealthy as his comrades.

Yuan Li thought of many things in an instant, though his expression revealed nothing. Instead, he said, “It’s just that bearing this scar will make it difficult to find a wife. I request that My Lady act as matchmaker and select a virtuous woman to be my wife.”

Even if he would lose wealth, he had to recoup some of it. Marriage was a good way to recover some costs.

Zhao Hanzhang was stunned. Where was she supposed to find him a wife? This wasn’t her area of expertise!

“Do you have someone you admire?”

Yuan Li lowered his eyes and thought for a moment. “Miss Ting He by My Lady’s side is excellent. I wonder if I might have the honor…”

Zhao Hanzhang interrupted, “Don’t get your hopes up too high. Ting He’s aesthetic taste follows mine. Marriage should be mutually agreeable.”

Yuan Li replied, “Yes. If Miss Ting He doesn’t like me, anyone else by My Lady’s side would do. This subordinate thinks that those by My Lady’s side have more insight than others. Even if they’ve learned just a fraction of My Lady’s ways, they would be extremely virtuous people.”

Zhao Hanzhang listened with immense pride, yet said modestly, “I’m not that great, but the people around me are indeed virtuous.”

Zhao Cheng directly turned his head away, too lazy to watch the two of them. With this turn, he spotted a diagram with most of it covered in calculations he couldn’t quite understand.

Though he didn’t understand the calculations, the diagram showed four sets of figures—one set had a square shape with a semicircle above it, and three circular spheres arranged in a row, with one sphere containing another circle inside. He recognized it because those two sets—the square-topped-with-circle and the large-circle-containing-small-circle figures—were too obvious. Weren’t these the long-debated concepts of “round heaven, square earth” and the “celestial sphere theory”?

Seeing it casually discarded among a pile of papers, Zhao Cheng assumed it wasn’t important, so he picked it up at random and asked Guo Pu, “Master Guo, what are you calculating here?”

Guo Pu saw what he had pulled out and was startled, hurriedly snatching it back to put away. “This hasn’t been calculated yet—you can’t take it.”

Zhao Hanzhang glanced at it, her eyes sweeping over those familiar calculations, and frowned slightly. “There will be a solar eclipse?”

Guo Pu was stunned, his eyes brightening. “Can the General also calculate this?”

Zhao Hanzhang reached out to take it and looked it over. “I’ve watched Tinghan calculate it before and learned a bit from him. What I learned before in my studies… I’ve forgotten most of it.”

When she was a music teacher, she mostly read books on music and literature and history. When she became a librarian, she read even more literature, history, and philosophy, occasionally some economics. This kind of astronomy involving extensive geometric calculations, she had almost no exposure to.

Though she’d forgotten most of it, with the diagrams laid out here and the familiar calculations beside them, Zhao Hanzhang could roughly understand. She frowned slightly. “A solar eclipse?”

She quickly recalled in her mind the books from the Wei-Jin period she had “read” before. Though history had changed greatly from the historical records, human culture could change, but astronomical phenomena and natural climate should change little.

She only knew that there would be heavy rain in March next year with major impact. If the Former Emperor were still alive, next year would be the sixth year of Yongjia…

Yongjia sixth year, Yongjia sixth year…

“Can you calculate when the solar eclipse will occur?”

Guo Pu replied, “It’s just speculation, not confirmed yet. These calculations were done by Minister Fu before he left, but we disagreed, so we had a falling out. Now I’m calculating on my own, not using his method.”

Zhao Hanzhang was curious. “Why did you have a falling out?”

Guo Pu said, “He insists the Earth star is a single sphere. We disagree philosophically, so we can’t work together.”

Zhao Hanzhang humbly asked for instruction. “So what does the Master believe?”

Guo Pu sighed. “I naturally hold the same view as my teacher Zhang Pingzi. Otherwise, why would I have made this armillary sphere with Fu Tinghan? But the round-heaven-square-earth theory has never died out—it’s still mainstream even now.”

“Our earth-is-round theory was already surviving in the cracks, but he insists that outer round layer is a layer of air, not a solid shell, so we had our falling out.”

—