Chapter 4

Two days later, the Gong family got up early in the morning to go to the Li's house.

Little uncle Li Zichen, mother said he was the most knowledgeable person in the family.

At the Li's house.

Mr. and Mrs. Gong carefully described Madam Gong's amnesia to the Li family again.

When Gong Xiaohua was injured, she didn't report to the Li family. Today, she couldn't hide it anymore so she came to inform them. Her grandma was so angry that she chased Madam Gong all over the yard to beat her up.

Her little uncle gave her a copy of "Introductory Knowledge", which was also the first book she saw here.

Why would he give her such a book? Because she doesn't recognize the writing of this world!

She, Gong Xiaohua, was a top student who graduated from the top institution in her previous life. Now she has become an illiterate who doesn't recognize big characters.

Previously, she wanted to find a book to read at the Gong's house and turned the whole Gong house upside down, but didn't even see the shadow of a book.

When she asked her mother, her mother rolled her big white eyes at her.

According to her mother, the two siblings only went to school for half a year, barely recognized some words and then refused to go again.

The two siblings even burned the books for recognizing words as firewood. Madam Gong was so angry that she chased them for miles with a fire stick until the two siblings sneaked back home in the dark.

At that time, she guessed that since she could understand the language here, she should be able to understand the writing here more or less.

As a result, on the way to grandma's house, she found that all the signboards with words on the sides of the streets were unrecognizable to her.

Gong Xiaohua freaked out inside. She couldn't accept that she was an illiterate.

So she had no choice but to seek help from her little uncle hardheadedly.

"Little uncle, I can't even recognize characters. Can you teach me?" Gong Xiaohua said carefully to her little uncle.

Gong Xiaonan, who was on the side, heard that his sister wanted to recognize words again. He said to her:

"Sister, if you want to recognize words, you can ask me. Uncle works for Minister Qin. It's not convenient for him to teach you. It would be more convenient if I teach you".

Li Zichen hit his nephew on the head with a book and said,

"With those three or five words you recognize, how dare you say you'll teach your sister."

Gong Xiaonan shrugged his shoulders and didn't dare to speak any more.

What’s more, his mother would chase him all over the room with a stick.

Li Zichen turned around and looked at his niece. He said to her,

"Do you really want to learn?"

"I want to learn." Gong Xiaohua nodded busy.

"You can learn, but you have to promise not to quit halfway." "I promise. I will study hard."

"Come with me."

Li Zichen took Gong Xiaohua to the study in the house, a small storage room full of books.

He flipped through a few on the bookshelf and took out a book. He turned around and said to Gong Xiaohua,

"Here, this copy of "Introductory Knowledge" is an introductory book for beginners to recognize words. After finishing it, you will basically be able to recognize words."

Gong Xiaohua took the book from the other party, "Thank you, little uncle."

"Little uncle, can you tell me about the situation of this country first?"

Li Zichen was really shocked by his niece. It turned out that after losing memory, one’s personality could change so much.

In the past, she would get a headache as soon as she saw books. Forcing her to read would make her run out all day and not come back home.

However, before teaching Gong Xiaohua to recognize words, he briefly introduced the human geography of this country.

Gong Xiaohua also learned that the continent she is in now did not be replaced by the Han Dynasty after the fall of the Qin Dynasty, but was divided into more than a dozen countries.

Among them, the five most powerful countries are the Da Wei Dynasty, the Da Liang Dynasty, the Da Ye Dynasty, the Da Qing Dynasty, and the Da Yan Dynasty.

The country she is in now is the Da Ye Dynasty, a country that is culturally strong but militarily weak.

The five countries have been at peace for decades now. Despite seeming peaceful on the surface, the undercurrents have been surging years ago.

Especially the Da Wei country, relying on its strong military power, it has harassed the other countries for many times.

Gong Xiaohua only hopes that there will be no war so that she can live out her life peacefully here.

The words here are more complicated than traditional Chinese characters. Gong Xiaohua barely recognized twenty or thirty words that afternoon, which fell far short of what the special agent Gong Xiaohua required of herself. But her uncle said her word recognition speed was already very fast.

The day passed quickly. When leaving, Li Zichen gave her the copy of "Introductory Knowledge", plus a set of writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstone as a reward for her eagerness to learn.

He also made an appointment that after getting off work at the Ministry of Justice every day, he would go to the back door of the Qin’s residence and teach her ten big words every day before going home.

The second day after returning from grandma’s house, Madam Gong took Gong Xiaohua to get familiar with the routes in the capital.

The Chongren District in the east is mainly a residential area for prestigious families.

The roads there are paved with bluestone, and towering tall buildings line both sides of the roads. Golden glazed tiles, tall eaves, and red carved railings and jade pillars would all be national treasures in modern times.

People born here are also the most powerful in the Da Ye Dynasty. They can decide our ordinary people's life and death at any time.

The Qin’s residence where Li Zichen works is in this area.

The staff in the residence usually don't have the qualification to go out from the front gate. They go out from the streets behind.

And the Ministry of Justice where she works just happens to be on this street behind the Qin residence.

This street is also the No.1 street in the capital, called Chongren Street. It goes straight from the east to the west edge of the capital.

If there is no handling of cases, it is usually very quiet here. It is very convenient for Gong Xiaohua to find Li Zichen.

The central part of Chongren Street is the most bustling place in the capital.

The streets on both sides are full of teahouses, bars, pawnshops, workshops, inns, brothels, foot shops all the way to the west.

There are also many small vendors hawking on the open space on both sides of the street. It is dazzling with all kinds of goods and very lively.

Arriving at the west is the largest trade market in the capital. It accommodates all kinds of transactions, such as human trafficking, foreign horse trading, etc.

It is also called West Market by the people, and it is also the place where death row prisoners are beheaded as public warnings.

Next to the West Market are large residential areas in the capital.

The dense houses are mostly inhabited by civilians, hawkers walking through streets, and some low-ranking officials working in government.

The area of each house is not large. Some can even hear the voices of neighbors while standing in their own yard.

It is also known as the civilian area.

And Gong Xiaohua's home is in Wuyi Alley in this area, mostly surrounded by low-ranking officials working in government.

Her cheap younger brother who works in the Prefecture of Jingzhao is also in this area. He is always the latest to go out and the earliest to come back home every day.

Her maternal grandfather's family lives in the south.

Generally, middle- and high-ranking officials, some out-of-town students, as well as many wealthy businessmen live there.

There are many academies set up.

Some are established by rich merchants who spend huge amount of money to hire knowledgeable people as teachers.

Those with qualifications will be supported and provided with free conditions to read in the future so that they can protect the merchants after rising high.

Those without qualifications will have to bear the tuition fees. The abacus of businessmen always makes a crackling sound.

Some other academies are set up by the court.

The teachers are famous scholars. Outstanding talents are selected from the folks to receive training. Ordinary people can hardly get selected.

To put it in modern people’s term, they are top students among top students, child prodigies. And how many such people are there in reality?

The last kind of academy is some private school opened by people who have read some books but have no great achievements, in order to enlighten ordinary children from commoner families and make a living.

Those from prestigious families have their own family schools.

Knowledge is regarded as private property of the families in this era. It is generally not easily imparted to outsiders.

So people from prestigious families all study in their own family schools. The books they collect are what many outsiders desperately want but cannot obtain.

This is also why prestigious families can pass down from generation to generation.

There are also a lot of people who come here to study every day.

Although official positions are granted based on recommendations in this dynasty, the primary prerequisite to be recommended is that you have to have true skills and profound knowledge.

Therefore, children of suitable age or clever ones from families that can afford it will be brought here to recognize some words and try their luck.

In the north of the capital is the most noble place in the entire Da Ye Dynasty, the Imperial Palace of Da Ye.

The entire palace is surrounded by a very wide moat.

Two extremely long white jade bridges lie across the moat, which are also the only two roads leading to the rear palace.

On this side of the moat, besides allowing the construction of the Dynasty Court of Justice, no other buildings were permitted to be built in this area.

The purpose was to ensure adequate protection of the imperial palace's safety and privacy.

After spending a whole day out and about, the mother and daughter were also exhausted to the point of collapse.

Nevertheless, their gains were plentiful, having basically understood the general layout of Kyoto and where people lived.

Tomorrow when they start their new roles, they will also be able to go alone.