Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Chapter 122: Large Pearls, Small Pearls Falling on a Jade Plate

“Since that’s the case, please follow me.”

Cai Zhaoji's voice remained without much inflection, only her departing footsteps seemed to quicken slightly.

Seeing this, Li Ji hurriedly followed.

Cai Zhaoji led Li Ji away from the side courtyard and eventually arrived at a pavilion, which was filled with bamboo slips, carving knives, brushes, and ink.

Li Ji made a brief assessment and guessed that this was probably where Cai Zhaoji usually stayed to compile books.

Bamboo slips were different from paper; even if they were damaged, only the damaged strips needed to be replaced.

“Please sit.”

Cai Zhaoji gestured for Li Ji to sit down, and then personally tidied up the slightly messy items in the pavilion.

After Cai Yong went into seclusion in Wu territory, he often relied on the Yang family of Mount Tai for financial support to maintain his daily expenses. Therefore, even though Cai Yong was now settled in this residence by Liu Bei, there was only one old servant in the entire household.

Therefore, Cai Zhaoji took care of many things herself and did not have any maids constantly attending to her.

Just as Li Ji thought that after Cai Zhaoji finished tidying up, she would start dictating the relevant hydraulic engineering books as he needed, Cai Zhaoji slightly raised her clear, cold eyes and glanced at Li Ji, saying:

“Mr. Zikun, do you often stare at people like this?”

Li Ji suddenly realized his mistake, quickly averted his gaze, sat sideways, and apologized, “I’m sorry, Miss Zhaoji, I rarely interact with women and forgot myself for a moment.”

“Very well, then turn your back to me.”

Cai Zhaoji said, watching Li Ji turn around in a proper and upright manner. Her cold expression slightly eased.

Cai Zhaoji had heard of Li Ji's name before.

She knew that he had made great contributions in quelling the Yellow Turban Rebellion and was praised by Duke Lu as: 'There is probably no one in this era who can match him,' and from then on, he became completely famous throughout the world.

Even the bandit troubles that swept through Wu Commandery were rumored to have been completely pacified by Li Ji with ease.

Furthermore, Cai Zhaoji had inadvertently overheard Cai Yong's conversation with Liu Xuande, knowing that Li Ji was planning water conservancy projects in Wu Commandery and therefore needed a large number of hydraulic engineering books for reference.

The batch of hydraulic engineering books that Cai Yong had previously lent to Liu Xuande to pass on to Li Ji was personally selected by Cai Zhaoji.

Now, although Cai Zhaoji was somewhat puzzled as to why Li Ji still needed more content related to hydraulic engineering, she had no intention of getting to the bottom of it.

Moreover, she knew that Li Ji was doing this for the country and its people, and the two of them had already agreed to a marriage…

Thinking of this, Cai Zhaoji suppressed the thoughts in her heart and instead asked in a calm tone, “Mr. Zikun, regarding the content of the hydraulic engineering books, which period and which river's records and changes do you need?”

“The more the better.”

Li Ji replied, and just as he thought that Cai Zhaoji would use her hands to help him, he suddenly realized that he seemed to have guessed wrong.

Cai Zhaoji was using her mouth.

“The Mianshui River merges with the Yangtze River, and then flows east past Pengli Lake… It flows east past the south of Qingxi City, bends southwest, flows southwest through the foot of the mountain, and flows into the Zhashui River, called the Qingxi Estuary…”

Unlike her usual high and cold, elegant tone, when reciting hydraulic engineering books, Cai Zhaoji's voice had a cadence and was even more gentle and sweet, which made Li Ji subconsciously think of a phrase—"Large pearls, small pearls falling on a jade plate."

Even though he was facing away from Cai Zhaoji, Li Ji seemed to subconsciously imagine Cai Zhaoji shaking her head and reciting in a cute manner with a cadence.

Suddenly, the gentle and sweet voice changed, seeming to become as cold as a snow mountain again, and asked:

“Mr. Zikun, are you listening?”

“I’m listening.”

Li Ji replied.

“Thank you, Miss Zhaoji.”

Li Ji responded, listening to the recitation behind him starting again, and unconsciously closed his eyes and listened in a relaxed manner.

Li Ji loved to read, and he thought that reading might be his greatest hobby and enjoyment in this life.

Not only could reading absorb a lot of knowledge and allow him to communicate with the sages across time and space, but more importantly, due to the existence of the 'Strategy Simulator,' Li Ji could almost generate a kind of self-upgrading pleasure in the process of reading.

However, at this moment, Li Ji suddenly discovered that the pleasure of listening to books seemed to be far above reading books.

Especially the books recited by Cai Zhaoji, the cadence changes adding a different kind of color to the originally slightly dry text.

Each word and sentence constantly floated into Li Ji's mind.

Li Ji's thinking also followed the guidance of Cai Zhaoji's voice, constantly constructing a new three-dimensional model of the river, simulating the various changes within it.

When he didn't know when, the voice that was like heavenly music to Li Ji stopped, Li Ji slowly opened his eyes, and only then did he realize that it was already near dusk.

He had been sitting in the pavilion for an afternoon without realizing the passage of time.

“You should go back.”

Cai Zhaoji issued an eviction order, seemingly without the slightest emotion.

However, Li Ji knew very well that he had only been listening quietly, but Cai Zhaoji had recited hydraulic engineering books for a whole afternoon, and not to mention the amount of mental effort required, even her throat must be extremely tired.

Li Ji thought for a moment and quickly got up and bowed to Cai Zhaoji.

“Thank you, Miss Zhaoji.”

“It’s nothing.”

Cai Zhaoji responded in a slightly low voice.

It wasn't that Cai Zhaoji didn't want to speak loudly or pretended to be shy, but her throat was really uncomfortable. If her voice was a little louder, it would definitely sound hoarse, which Cai Zhaoji didn't want to reveal in front of Li Ji.

Immediately, Cai Zhaoji asked again, “Was it helpful?”

Li Ji used the "Strategy Simulator" to calculate and found that the planned solution had been improved to "56% maximum limit."

This improvement efficiency was much faster than Li Ji collecting a large number of hydraulic engineering books in advance and reading them for a whole day.

Not to mention if he had to wait for Cai Zhaoji to first dictate these hydraulic engineering books and then hand them over to Li Ji to read, it would probably be more than ten times faster.

“If we follow today’s progress, perhaps it will only take five to seven days, and I will use this as a reference to completely complete the final hydraulic engineering plan for Wu Commandery.”

Li Ji said somewhat excitedly, and the look in his eyes towards Cai Zhaoji also became much hotter.

Sure enough, there was a better way to open Cai Zhaoji.

"Listening to books" was indeed a different enjoyment from simply "reading books."

It should be noted that in the previous simulation, even if Li Ji tied Cai Zhaoji to a small dark room and abused and forced her to dictate hydraulic engineering books, it still took a full three months.

How could the current efficiency not be improved tenfold?

Binding the author back to the small dark room and whipping them to write was indeed not good.

It was still more comfortable and enjoyable to win over the other party and then directly have them whisper each word and sentence in your ear.

“It’s good that it’s helpful to Mr. Zikun. Mr. Zikun can come here again tomorrow.”

Cai Zhaoji nodded slightly and said, and then directly saluted and left.

This pavilion was not far from the side courtyard, so it was neither a secret place nor in the backyard, but it was relatively quiet.

Li Ji found his own way and then went to the main hall to say goodbye to Cai Yong before leaving.

For the next five days, Li Ji visited the Cai residence on time.

Every day, while discussing the academy issue with Cai Yong, he listened quietly to Cai Zhaoji reciting hydraulic engineering books.

Although Cai Yong still hadn't completely agreed, he had almost completely negotiated all the details about the academy with Li Ji.

The only problem was that Cai Yong was worried that he might not be able to support the academy with his own strength alone, so he needed to wait for the replies from the widely invited great Confucians and famous scholars to confirm the faculty before daring to agree.

At this point, it was basically just a matter of time.

Li Ji even took a day off to go out of the city with Liu Bei and Cai Yong, and selected a place with mountains and rivers in the suburbs to start building the academy first.

At first, Liu Bei suggested building the academy in Wu County, so it would be convenient to protect the students, and it would also be convenient for the students to buy ordinary items in the city.

However, with the continuous recruitment of refugees centered on Wu County, coupled with the fact that the entire Wu Commandery's aristocratic families had moved to Wu County, this led to a large influx of population into Wu County unknowingly, so that Wu County gradually became crowded.

Therefore, the academy could only be located in the suburbs.

As for the safety issue, not to mention that the bandits in Wu Commandery were almost wiped out, more importantly, the scholars of this era were not weak scholars, nor were they Confucian scholars who only knew how to read.

It was normal for scholars to wear swords and be proficient in riding and shooting.

Moreover, even if this era was "exclusive Confucianism," before the emergence of the imperial examination system completely based on Confucianism, the scholars were definitely not proficient in just one Confucian art.

Contemporary great Confucians, in addition to Confucianism, almost all had many other specializations.

Similar to Lu Zhi, he was not only a great Confucian, but also a military strategist and a famous minister of governance;

Even Cai Yong, who was not proficient in military affairs, was not only a great Confucian, but also a calligrapher and musician, and had his own insights into the other schools of thought.

Therefore, if the academy was really established and recruited a large number of scholars, even if there were really three or five hundred petty thieves, they would probably not be a match for the academy at all.

Although Cai Yong had not really agreed in words, Li Ji's father-in-law had almost rejuvenated during this period, putting all his energy into various matters related to the academy.

As for Li Ji meeting with Cai Zhaoji in the pavilion in the mansion every day, Cai Yong secretly observed for a few days and confirmed that they both treated each other with courtesy, so he turned a blind eye.

On this day, Li Ji visited the Cai residence again and found that Cai Yong was personally drawing the architectural drawings of the academy.

Li Ji couldn't help but admire his father-in-law's versatility once again, befitting the man with the largest collection of books in the Han Dynasty.

Afterwards, after expressing some of his own opinions under Cai Yong's questioning, Li Ji was dismissed by Cai Yong.

Li Ji then walked along the familiar paths within the mansion, detoured slightly, and soon saw Cai Zhaoji sitting peacefully in the pavilion, editing books.

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PS: Happy New Year, everyone! There will be two more chapters today, plus an extra chapter, but it will be a little later.