Li Nuo provided such a convincing reason.
Song Jiaren didn't know what to say.
He was like a child, simple-minded and straightforward.
Looking at Li Nuo, Song Jiaren suddenly realized something and asked, "Do you remember something from the past?"
Li Nuo slightly startled, then said, "Just this one thing."
Song Jiaren did not speak again.
Sometimes he was clever to a fault, and sometimes he was so childish, no wonder Mumu liked him so much, two children, of course, could play together.
At this moment, Song Mu'er looked up at Li Nuo and said, "Brother Li Nuo, shall we go play shuttlecock?"
Li Nuo touched her head and replied, "You go play with sister Jiaren, brother is going to read now..."
Song Mu'er didn't cling to Li Nuo, she packed up the shuttlecock and obediently said, "Then I won't play. I haven't finished my math homework yet. Brother Li Nuo, you read, and I'll do my homework beside you, okay?"
Li Nuo smiled and said, "Of course, you can."
Looking at such a well-behaved Mumu, he couldn't help but feel emotional in his heart. Born of the same parents, even looking identical, and growing up in the same place, Song Mu'er and Song Ning'er, why was their temperament so different...
One was always well-mannered and smiling, the other petulant and crying. Compared to each other, of course, he preferred Mumu more.
Moreover, his wife was the same, spending all day with Mumu...
He couldn't help but follow his wife's lead?
At this time, the room was dim, Li Nuo was reading in the pavilion of the courtyard, Song Mu'er took out a small booklet from her bag, occasionally biting her pen, sometimes biting her finger, her delicate brows gradually knitting together...
Li Nuo was reading "Daxia Law", as he had found during today's case mediation that Daxia's law, compared to modern law, still had significant differences. Many clauses bore heavy feudal overtones.
According to modern legal judgments, sometimes they would violate Daxia Law.
A significant reason was due to ritual and propriety, taking marriage as an example, later generations allowed for freedom of marriage, but here, a man and woman's marriage must have the command of the parents and the word of the matchmaker to conform to ritual and be accepted by the public and protected by the law. Otherwise, it was elopement, which was not protected by the law. If the eloping couple was captured, their families had a certain degree of discretionary power to deal with them.
Another reason was due to social hierarchy.
In later generations, all people are equal before the law..., at least ostensibly.
But here, people are ranked into first, second, and third class. The monarch's power is greater than that of vassals, official power over commoner power, master power over servant power. Specifically, if a master beats or kills a servant, as long as they pay some copper coins or silver taels. But if a servant commits a crime against a superior, it usually starts with hanging. Nobles oppress the common people and might be exempt from punishment to some extent, while commoners who offend nobles are punished one class more severely.
However, according to the texts of Legalism, Li Nuo also found that what Legalists abide by seems not to be the law of any one dynasty or generation.
Each dynasty has its own law, and even within the same dynasty, laws constantly change over time and circumstances; not all laws are right and just, and changes from morning to evening occur.
What Legalists obey is not the law on paper but the law in their hearts.
Everyone has a balance in their heart, and when Legalists enforce the law, they enforce the law in their hearts. They are not confined to the laws of one dynasty, and sometimes they even act against the law. Different disciples of Legalism have different understandings of the word "law."
"The law in the heart..."
Li Nuo gazed ahead, murmuring these three words, pondering their deeper meaning.
To cultivate "law" is actually to cultivate the "heart". Isn't it true that as long as he feels what he is doing is right, he can completely disregard the written law? And Li Nuo had seen too much of Daxia Law that he could not stand, so in this situation, cultivating the law for him meant breaking the law.
Strictly speaking, Li Nuo was breaking the law every day.
After all, he was not an official, and judging cases was itself a violation of Daxia law.
But for the disciples of Legalism, "the law in the heart" is greater than "the law on paper."
He only had to follow his heart and practice the justice within it, and he would surely one day enter the gates of Legalism.
At this moment, Song Jiaren, who was wiping her long sword in the courtyard, suddenly turned her head to look at Li Nuo.
Just for a moment, she had felt a strange aura emanating from Li Nuo.
But when she looked over, that feeling had disappeared.
A moment later, Li Nuo gradually came to his senses.
The book said that every disciple of Legalism had their own path; being overly fixated on the laws on paper seldom led to great achievements. Li Nuo seemed to grasp this concept, understanding that law was supposed to maintain fairness and justice, but most of the time, it merely served as a tool to protect the interests of the rulers. Reaching the end of the Legalism path, one would inevitably clash with the ruling class, hence the strong among Legalists seldom had good endings.
"Brother Li Nuo, how do you solve this problem?"
The delicate voice of Song Mu'er interrupted Li Nuo's thoughts. Li Nuo casually replied, "Brother is thinking about something, go ask your Sister Jiaren-- Eh, where is your Sister Jiaren?"
Li Nuo glanced around; the wife who had been standing there had suddenly disappeared.
Seeing that his wife was no help, Li Nuo reluctantly took Song Mu'er's booklet. This page had many problems involving simple mixed operations within three digits. Mu'er had completed all the other problems, except the last one.
"There are pheasants and rabbits in a cage together, with twenty-seven heads at the top and seventy-two feet below. How many of each animal are there?"
This was the simple problem of pheasants and rabbits in the same cage, which could be solved by setting up a system of linear equations.
Li Nuo picked up his pen and, while writing, explained, "Let's assume there are 'A' pheasants and 'B' rabbits. According to the problem, 'A' plus 'B' equals twenty-seven, and twice 'A' plus four times 'B' equals seventy-two. If we multiply both sides of the first equation by two, we get twice 'A' plus twice 'B' equals fifty-four. Subtracting the third equation from the second, we get twice 'B' equals eighteen. Therefore, 'B' equals nine, 'A' equals eighteen. That's eighteen pheasants and nine rabbits..."
After finishing, Li Nuo looked at Song Mu'er and asked, "Do you understand?"
Song Mu'er's eyes were clear as she decisively shook her head, "I don't understand."
Li Nuo scratched his head; absorbed in his own thoughts, he had forgotten that Mu'er was only six years old and equations were still beyond her grasp for the moment. He thought it over and said, "Tonight we're going to eat spicy rabbit legs and braised chicken legs. If we use one leg from each chicken and rabbit, how many legs are left in the cage?"
Song Mu'er replied without hesitation, "Subtract twenty-seven from seventy-two, leaving forty-five legs."
Li Nuo continued, "Our family is large, so one leg each is not enough. We'll use another leg from each. How many legs are left in the cage now?"
Song Mu'er responded, "Subtract twenty-seven from forty-five, leaving eighteen legs."
Li Nuo further guided her, "Rabbits have four legs and chickens only have two. All the chicken legs have been made into braised chicken legs, and the rabbits are left with two legs each. So, how many rabbits are there?"
Realizing the answer, Song Mu'er excitedly said, "I know now, half of eighteen is nine, so there are nine rabbits in total. Subtracting nine from twenty-seven equals eighteen. The answer is eighteen chickens, nine rabbits!"
On the roof of the courtyard house, Song Jiaren counted on her fingers and thought with surprise, "So that's how it's calculated..."
When she was Mu'er's age, her family had also hired a Mathematics teacher for her. She faintly remembered there being a problem involving chickens and rabbits in the same cage. She didn't like Mathematics at that time and would always sneak off to practice martial arts. Only now did she realize that the problem she had found so difficult was actually so simple...
If her Mathematics teacher back then had taught her like this, she wouldn't have driven him away in frustration.
Mathematics was much harder for her than practicing martial arts.
That's why, when Li Nuo mentioned her, she immediately jumped to the roof.
Song Jiaren looked down at the figure in the pavilion.
Solving cases, composing poetry, Mathematics.
None of these were her strong suit.
Watching the figure explaining the problem to Mu'er, she felt a quiet envy, "So impressive..."
After Li Nuo finished explaining the problem to Mu'er, he looked around and finally spotted his wife on the roof. Song Jiaren gave him a glance, leaped down from the roof, and landed lightly on the ground.
Li Nuo watched her jump from the roof, two zhang high, her movements as smooth as drifting clouds and flowing water, elegant and unconstrained, landing without making a sound. He admired silently, "So impressive!"
If it had been him jumping from such a height, he wouldn't have died, but he would certainly have broken a couple of legs...