Notes:
Jin: A Chinese measurement, it is roughly 0.5 kg
Water displacement: Let’s touch up on physics, a quick lesson on Archimedes' principle. Archimedes was a Greek philosopher. The story goes that a king wanted a new crown made entirely of gold. After the smith finished, the king was suspicious that his crown was made of iron and coated with gold. The king did not want to destroy the crown if in fact it were gold, so he asked Archimedes to figure out if it was pure gold or not without destroying the crown. Archimedes pondered this day in and day out until one day while getting into his bath he discovered the principle that bears his name. The tub was full to the rim, and when he sat down in it, he noticed that the more he sank himself into the water, the more water that spilled over the side of the tub. He was supposedly so happy to make this discovery that he ran out into the streets naked shouting "I found it!" What he discovered is that the amount of water displaced by an object depends on the ma.s.s of that object (not the weight). If he knew the ma.s.s of that object, and the volume of fluid it displaces, he could determine its density. Since the densities of iron and gold are different, he did a test. He determined the density of the crown and compared it to the density of pure gold to see if they were the same.
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When Feng Ming raised the issue of an earlier departure with the King of Fan Jia, he was surprised that the King readily agreed, and in a rather cheerful manner.
After a series of discussions over organizing the envoy’s return, the King changed the subject. He had caught word of Feng Ming’s scholarly ways and couldn’t resist witnessing the talent himself.
“News has reached the Palace that Prince has deciphered one of the world’s unsolved mathematical problems. Prince has shocked all by your abilities.”
Feng Ming felt the eyes that had been carefully watching him dig deeper like thorns against his skin. Under all the attention, he forced a smile and waved his hand in dismissal.
“Your Highness flatters me. However, An He should not be credited with such prestige as An He did not solve the problem. In fact it was the Regent King who imparted his knowledge.”
“Oh, it appears that Xi Rei’s Rong Tian embodies the fearlessness of youth as well high intellect. King rong and the King of Li are both well distinguished men, and of high caliber in skills and talents. But who would have thought, that King Rong is well versed in mathematics!”
The King of Li smiled and replied, “Ruo Yan is not deserving of such high praise. It is King Rong whom is truly extraordinary. Ruo Yan has been enlightened by the Regent King’s abilities. Moreover, it was a surprise that the Crowned Prince also embodies scholarly intellect in addition to his attractive appearance. It can be said, they make a formidable pair.”
As Ruo Yan spoke, his eyes traveled in an equivocal and unscrupulous manner along Feng Ming’s body. The un-welcomed attention warranted an angry glare from the Prince.
Whilst the Fan Jia King was not paying attention, Ruo Yan seized the opportunity to toy with the Prince.
He flicked his tongue outwards ever so slightly and motioned a gentle lick. The croquet gesture sent Feng Ming’s reflex flying. His hand shot up to protectively cup the ear that the King had licked earlier. His eyes peeled back in shock.
Feng Ming’s naive reaction caused Ruo Yan to chuckle. The man lifted a cup of wine to his lips, and casually imposed, “Since the Prince is proficient in the art of algorithms and such, Ruo Yan would like to seek guidance in a few difficult problems.”
With Ruo Yan’s persistent treading and provocations, Feng Ming was fuming with rage inside. Playing his cards right, he maintained a completely calm and indifferent face.
A nonchalant smile spread across his lips, “Oh, certainly the outstanding King of Li does not possess problems he cannot resolve. Perhaps the purpose is to challenge An He’s abilities.”
Upon hearing the words exchanged between the two young men, the King of Fan Jia’s interest perked. He had already notice an odd tension between the two when they had first entered his domain. Now they were confronting each other, and what better to do than to sit on the sideline and watch the show.
Ruo Yan clicked his tongue in disapproval.
“How could I be as heartless as to purposely place the Prince in an awkward situation? If Prince is afraid, then I shall refrain from detailing the questions in mind.”
In this way, Feng Ming was going to lose face in front of the King of Fan Jia. He gave Ruo Yan a cold snort, “King Ruo’s question is?”
Inside Feng Ming thought smugly: The Third Princess has promised to return with me to Xi Rei, even if I fail to answer your stupid question it won’t be a chip off my shoulder in any respects!
“Then I shall proceed,” the smile extinguished from the King’s face as he sternly gave the riddle.
“There is a giant boulder, weighing one thousand jins. There is a small child, and his arms are only able to lift ten jins. The question is…how does the child move this rock?”
Fan Jia’s King bellowed a hearty laugh, “This is preposterous, is it joke? How could a child barely out of is diapers s.h.i.+ft such a heavy boulder?”
Feng Ming stood dumbfounded. He had no qualms in solving the question. He was surprised that the people who seem to be quite mathematically advance for their time had not grasped the fundamental laws of physics.
Ruo Yan had antic.i.p.ated his question would stump the Prince, he flashed a smug grin towards the young man’s direction.
It was obvious the King was purposely pus.h.i.+ng all of his b.u.t.tons. Feng Ming was at boiling point and rage had been building inside him. Now tendrils of his rage was spilling out, encouraging him to abandon the fear that Ruo Yan normally incited in him.
Feng Ming furthered the moment of silence, he feigned as if Ruo Yan had deliberately made things difficult for him. His brows knitted together as if he was deep in thought. Just when everyone thought the Prince would surrender and beg the King’s pardon,
Feng Ming suddenly clicked his tongue and shook his head with disappointment. Before solemnly replying, “Why is King Ruo asking such a simple problem? Surely this can’t be the most difficult and baffling unsolved problem in the Country of Li!”
The Prince laughed.
“The solution is easy! All you need is a long st.u.r.dy bamboo pole and a flat stone. The two can be used together as a lever system. The position to where the fulcrum should rest can be calculated. A lever will amplify an input force. A small child can use his body as the counterweight...”
Compared to mathematics, science was Feng Ming’s element. As the men were dining, Feng Ming conveniently used his chopsticks as props to demonstrate the theory. His explanation was clear cut. The two King’s were astounded.”
In actual fact, scholars of Li had only recently made groundbreaking formulas to solve the problem and had not release the news to the academic world. Ruo Yan had intended to use his knowledge against Feng Ming, only to have it completely backfire as the Prince continued to explain the solution in layman terms. He was speechless.
This Crowned Prince was clearly not a useless ‘simpleton’ as humor has it.
There was a mysterious magnetism in the young man’s behavior and appearance that attracted people to him. Unexpectedly, the Prince had the brains to match his seamless looks.
Ruo Yan pondered for a moment, before revealing the next challenge. His sly eyes lit up.
Feng Ming had been monitoring the Ruo Yan and he could tell the man was up to another devious act as he caught the slight change in the King’s eyes. The Prince was no fool. He knew Ruo Yan was going to trouble him with another problem. As a counter measure Feng Ming took a pre emptive strike and stopped the King in his tracks.
“One hears of King Ruo’s adept abilities in the field, An He has heard of an interesting mathematical problem. Would the King would be game to attempt an answer?
Given the situation, the Prince had just responded to the King’s supposedly ‘advance’ question. It would be embarra.s.sing if he declined to answer one from the Prince.
“Please ask, Prince.” Ruo Yan sneered.
“A wealthy King wanted a new crown. He handed a craftsman five jins of pure gold. The craftsman was indeed a master artesian. When the crown was finished, it was worthy of G.o.ds. However, the King suspected the artesian pocketed gold when he was ‘forging’. He summoned his servants to weigh the crown, and indeed the crown weighed five jins. However, the King could not be entirely sure that his newly forge crown is pure gold. In fact he suspects that his crown has been contaminated with other metals. As for the question King Ruo, how would one determine whether the crown is gold or a composite metal formed from gold and silver?”
After the Prince introduced the problem, the two King exchanged bewildered looks.
