Zhu Su's hard efforts began to make a result. Right now the botanical garden had been fully occupied. Young shoots had already been flourishing. The trees stood big and tall, some of them had already flowered and even born fruit. And some had withered and fallen, then, they were replaced by new shoots again.
Zhu Su's notes had been full since a long time ago. This time he owned dozens of notes containing messy writings. Zhu Su's record was very complete, because he tried to be as detailed as possible. He did not want to miss even the slightest thing. He also asked his assistants to check and edit it to prevent him from making mistakes. His assistants were just as perfectionists as he was. They gave lots of input for bits and piece.
"Your Highness, the commoners won't recognize this character, it is hard to read! I don't even know how to read it, how can they know?" Payloth expressed his opinion.
"You're a Lan Xang person, your Chinese must be less than Ming people," Qing argued.
"Then do you know how to read it?" Feeling annoyed, Payloth asked Qing back.
Qing shook her head. "I don't know..."
"Well!" Payloth snapped his fingers. "So why I can't read this character is not because I'm not a Ming, even you the Ming person can't read it because it is a hard-level character, only highly educated people know this character!"
Zhu Su nodded. "Well then, I have to keep in mind that the target of this book is the lower-class people, hence we should use easy characters in order to let they can read it. How about this, I will give an explanation to read this character by including another character that has the same sound as it has."
"But, will lower-class people want to read books? Most of them are accustomed to live in illiteracy, how can you open their mind and make them be willing to read?" Lin was confused.
Qing patted Lin's shoulder. "Hey! Don't think too much, just do it. About the result, just let it to Heaven!"
"Well... I just pity with His Highness since he has exerted his every effort to compile this book, but if the people are lazy to read it, then it is very disappointing."
"It is precisely your pessimism that will make His Highness' work will not be completed. Don't think too much, or you will be lazy to work because of fear of this and that."
"Your Highness, you had better write down the other names of each plant. So that the people will not fail to recognize the plants," Li Heng uttered.
Zhu Su clapped his hands. "Ah yes, you remind me of Farmer Yue. He mispronounced the plant's name and made me ended up in Luoyang!" And then have trouble with Yi!...
"The A plant has various kinds of names, different region, different name. Like Kuandonghua (common coltsfoot flower), it has many other names, such as Tuoshi, Kedong, Huxu, and something else. So if Shuntian people chat with Kaifeng people, Kaifeng people can realize that the plants Shuntian people tell are the same, even though their names are different."
"Besides, it will also allow your book to be distributed to other areas, even to the entire Ming," Rui added. "When I went to other regions, I found that Kaifeng isn't the only region suffering from famine. Shandong is also the same, their condition is even worse than us. Most of Shandong's area is deserted because the destruction is so severe."
"Of course it'll be great if this book can help as many needy people as possible. I appreciate your advice, Physician Li." And Zhu Su immediately added the other names of the plants he had researched.
"Your Highness, please don't forget to keep correcting the wrong records of the ancient books," Liu Ku warned.
"Yeah, I never thought that so many mistakes the ancient books have made. Or perhaps they didn't make a mistake in recording it, it's just no longer relevant to our current condition. So we have to get rid of that irrelevant part and replace it with the latest update."
"Yes, like Jinyinhua (honeysuckle flower), it can actually be used to heal abscesses in back," Shao Rong added."
"Well, thanks for reminding me! Before I remembered to write down that part, but I forget it now!" Zhu Su quickly looked for the notepad discussing Jinyinhua and added the information. "I will forget it easily if someone doesn't remind me! Geez, I have to be careful! Or the compilation of this book will drain my Shen (mental activity) energy and makes me stupid!"
"You don't forget easily, Your Highness. It is just that our records are so numerous," Qu You smiled slightly.
On the other hand, it turned out that they got lots of new plants to include in the records. They could not find about the plants in any ancient book. The debate began when it came to the names of the plants to be recorded.
"Your Highness! This name sounds…" Guo Songmi paused for a while, could not directly express his opinion. He wanted to express his mind, but was afraid to offend Zhu Su, so he must think hard first to find the right words, "... sounds miraculous! How can you write it down in your book with such a name?"
"What do you mean by miraculous?" Zhu Su's forehead creased in confusion. "It is the name that the locals call. I can't understand your opinion."
Guo Songmi thought hard and paused again. "Ahem... Please allow me to tell the truth, Your Highness. The names you give to the plants make me feel like I am not reading a book of medicine, but instead the legends of the gods and supernatural beings..."
"Hah?!"
"Like Buddha's Finger Leaf (Fozhijia), Grandma's Finger Leaf (Popozhijiacai), Leaf Patience with Surprise (Naijingcai), Little Rain Leaf (Yudian'ercai), Purple Cloud Leaf (Ziyuncai)... why do I feel like I've been stranded into an imaginary world?..."
Hu Nayin could not help laughing, she thus giggled with amusement. "But isn't that great, Physician Guo? To educate people, sometimes we require some imagination techniques to make them get interested in that topic. I myself, rather than reading a boring medical book, would prefer to read a book like this!"
"Yes... you're right, Wang Fei..." Guo Songmi grinned. "Perhaps because I come from academic society, I am used to be serious, especially when we do serious activities such as teaching."
"Solemnity is indeed important, but if we are too serious and rigid, this world will become boring and dreary like the lifeless world." Now it was Zhu Su who spoke up. "And the most difficult thing is, to explain something complicated for everyone coming from any kind of academic level to understand. You have to translate difficult language into simple language. It's really not an easy job... but that's what we have to do now."
Botanical science is indeed a difficult field, even for us who live in the 21st century. But although it is difficult, we need to master it. Zhu Su hoped that the whole Ming people in general and Kaifeng people in particular to master this science. But educating people was not an easy job. He kept thinking hard about how to make the results of his research benefit as many people as possible. He gave the explanation in super simple language, he was sure that the intellectuals would laugh at it because the script's complexity was so low - it even seemed that it was written by kids due to its simplicity.
But he felt that it was still not enough. The book would only be filled by texts, according to him, it was inadequate.
He should add pictures to it. As for that, he recruited expert painters from all over Kaifeng to participate in his project.
Because the person who conducted the recruitment was the Sovereign of Kaifeng, hundreds of painters immediately flocked to apply. They struggled to demonstrate their respective abilities.
"I am well known throughout the district for my paintings, Your Highness!" A painter named Wei lifted his painting high which was indeed very enchanting - portraying a beautiful woman was playing guzheng * .
Zhu Su asked, "Have you ever painted plants?"
"Oh... do you mean, paint the landscape? Of course I have!"
"I'm not talking about San Shui Hua * . But painting the real plants. I want the selected painters to draw plants to be included in an agricultural book. Without using imagination, you have to draw it as realistic as possible. A beautiful picture is important, but it is more important to draw it exactly the same as the original."
Wei's eyebrows stiffened. "Ah... well then..."
The painters mostly often tended to include their subjective feeling when painting, and it made the results of paintings somehow become far from real. Yet Zhu Su wanted their paintings to be the same as the original as if we are photographing these objects (of course, portraits did not exist in the Ming Dynasty. Hence, the painting method to depict something was still widely used). But finally, many famous and talented painters complied with Zhu Su's request. They tried their best effort to paint the plants as real as the original. And because they were talented painters, they could also produce paintings that were not only very lifelike, but also gorgeous.
Zhu Su's notes, which used to contain messy writings, began to be neatened. Zhu Su started to write it in beautiful handwriting that appealed everyone to read it. It was coupled with the paintings which were as beautiful as portraits. Chapters by chapters began to be finalized, and the research of the Ming Prince was approaching the final stage of completion.
When something unexpected totally ruined everything.
...
* guzheng = Chinese plucked zither. (Wikipedia)
* San Shui Hua = refers to a style of traditional Chinese painting that involves or depicts scenery or natural landscapes, using a brush and ink rather than more conventional paints. Mountains, rivers, and often waterfalls are prominent in this art form. (Wikipedia)