As the weather turned cold in winter, Wang Xichen stopped allowing his two daughters to help in the clinic.

Jingyi is weak, so Zhenyi has to take care of Jingyi – this is Wang Xichen’s instruction, but Zhenyi knows in her heart that her father knows that she has been busy studying the signs of the lunar eclipse recently, so he asked her to stay at home.

The Big Snow season this year lived up to its name. From the first to the third season, there were four or five snowfalls of varying sizes in half a month.

Throughout the winter, Zhenyi was busy in the study almost every day, reading books, organizing manuscripts, drawing diagrams, and recording ideas, while Jingyi and Juzi stayed quietly in front of the small stove, reading books and warming themselves by the fire, and roasting some sweet potatoes.

Orange likes to eat sweet potatoes, but not too much, otherwise when the cat goes to the toilet, it will not be able to produce perfect poop with the right softness and hardness.

Luo Ge’er often came to the study to eat sweet potatoes, and Jingyi would read poems or stories to him.

When the New Year was approaching, Shuyi went back to her parents’ home to give New Year gifts. The three-year-old Shanjie, wearing a fluffy goose yellow vest, swayed her little body, and giggled as she played in the snow with Jingyi and Luoger in the snow outside the Jifang Book House.

Shuyi was standing in the Defeng Pavilion. She saw that Jingyi was wearing a fur coat that Zhenyi had worn before, so she called Jingyi over and leaned over to ask softly, “It’s almost the end of the year. Big sister, can you ask someone to make a new fur coat for Jing’er? What color does Jing’er like to wear?”

Jingyi shook her head: “Big sister, there is no need to do more. There are many fur coats at home.”

Shuyi wanted to persuade her again, but she heard her little sister say seriously: “Sister always says, in summer, a blanket keeps you cool, in winter, a coat keeps you warm. You don’t need to be extravagant in food, but you can be comfortable in your body! Big sister, clothes are enough to keep you warm!”

Shuyi didn’t want to let her little sister feel wronged, but she was surprised and touched to hear such frank words. She looked inside the study and poked Jingyi’s forehead: “You, are you also like her, what should I do?”

In the eyes of onlookers, Zhen Yi is now almost as good as “crazy”.

Apart from taking care of the family and Jingyi, Zhenyi spent all her time dealing with academics.

During these two years, Zhenyi met many like-minded people. Some of them were from the mathematics society, some were introduced by Qian Yuling’s letters, and among them were two women, but they were much older than Zhenyi. Zhenyi and these people often exchanged letters on mathematics, and people often wrote to Zhenyi to ask for help with difficult problems.

At the end of the year, Qian Yuling returned to Jinling. The Qian family has always been keen on socializing. Qian Yuling often held poetry and tea parties at home, and both men and women were invited. Zhenyi accidentally met several literati who had some knowledge of astronomy, and she couldn’t help feeling very happy.

A person’s views will always be limited. Zhenyi is not afraid to express them, even though she knows that some of her ideas are not mature. However, only communication can create a broader horizon. Covering your eyes, ears, and mouth, with nowhere to see, nowhere to hear, and nowhere to speak, is the most terrifying thing.

Zhenyi often went to the Qian family in the rain and snow. Wang Xichen saw it and sometimes thought that if Jinniang were still alive, she would be so worried that she would not be able to sleep or eat.

Zhenyi had no intention of getting married, but there were always people who came to propose marriage, but none of them could satisfy Wang Xichen. Sometimes he wondered if this was also God’s will. Maybe he could keep his daughter by his side longer, and maybe the three of them could avoid the sharp edge of the rules of this world.

After going through so much, he no longer aspires to become rich and famous, nor does he have the intention or ability to remarry and have children. He just wants to live a simple and peaceful life with his two daughters… Now this kind of life is good enough.

Looking at Zhenyi who was busy pursuing her hobbies, Wang Xichen sometimes even thought that it was better to be a girl. The study of astronomy and calendar was not encouraged by the court… and girls who could not enter officialdom were destined to have many limitations, few paths, and a weak voice, so they would not be targeted with ulterior motives because of this hobby.

Wang Xichen didn’t know much about astronomy, and had no idea how far Zhenyi had come, so in some ways, his ideas were inevitably simple.

This year was the 58th year of Emperor Qianlong’s reign. The Western Kingdom of Great Britain sent an envoy across the ocean to celebrate the birthday of the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty and to initiate an equal exchange between empires.

But the Qing emperor, who was over eighty years old, could not look down upon the barbarian countries – the Celestial Empire was so noble, but outside of the barbarians, all were foreigners and our slaves.

This exchange was destined to be unpleasant and the political twists and turns involved were something Zhenyi could not possibly understand. However, as the diplomatic mission led by George Macartney entered the Qing Dynasty, some Western manuscripts were circulated, and several of the discussions related to astronomy flowed into Jinling. Zhenyi saw them and regarded them as treasures.

It is not difficult to see from one of the essays that the theory of the earth’s roundness has long been a recognized fact in the West, but Zhenyi was disappointed to find that many people around her, including her uncle, still could not believe that the “earth” under their feet was round.

This atmosphere of ignorance and lagging behind others made Zhenyi feel nameless and anxious. But this backwardness was not natural. On the contrary, as early as the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhang Heng supported the theory of the round earth in his book “Annotations to the Hun Tian Yi”. However, after the baptism of successive dynasties, this theory was still not accepted by most people.

This is not unrelated to the previous dynasty’s move to ban the circulation of astronomical calendars among the people.

As a scholar, Wang Xirui had also heard of the theory of the earth being round, but he couldn’t help wondering: “If the ground under our feet is a sphere, and the whole body is round, then why don’t the lower part of people fall off?”

Zhenyi told her uncle firmly that no matter where a person is, there is the sky above their heads and the ground under their feet, there is no difference. In the vast universe, there is no distinction between up and down, and there is no place that is the center.

This explanation seemed natural to Orange. The earth is round. Is this hard to understand? Cats understand it.

But Wang Xirui was almost dumbfounded, feeling helpless.

Zhenyi realized that if she wanted the theory of the spherical earth to be more widely accepted, she would need clearer and more intuitive arguments.

In March of the following year, Zhenyi finally got the chance to prove herself.

On March 15th, the lanterns along the Qinhuai River are as bright as day, and many women bring their children along the river to fly kites to pray for blessings.

It was the joyous season of spring and also the day of the full moon. On the pleasure boats on the river, singing girls danced, scholars recited poems, and the sound of stringed instruments and musical instruments painted a picture of a bustling night scene.

Qian Yuling chartered a pleasure boat and invited members of the poetry club and friends to go on a night cruise to Qinhuai to enjoy the moon.

However, screams were heard suddenly from both sides of the river, and soon the sounds of stringed instruments became chaotic. Tourists on the various pleasure boats came out of the cabins to look, raised their heads to the sky, and immediately their faces showed expressions of fear.

“——The moon is eclipsed by the heavenly dog!!”

Someone hastily moved the pleasure boats to the shore, and the riverbank was in chaos. The pleasure boats were jostling each other, and pedestrians were running to tell each other. Some people even went to the government office in groups.

In the eyes of the world, whenever the moon is eclipsed by the heavenly dog, there will be disaster, and the right thing to do is to report it to the authorities.

In the streets and alleys, the sounds of gongs and pots were almost deafening, but the full moon seemed to be becoming more and more incomplete due to being “gnawed by the heavenly dog”, and some children were frightened and started crying.

Jingyi, who was weak, went to bed early and was awakened by Jing. Chun’er was so frightened that her face turned pale, but she did not forget to comfort Jingyi. Unexpectedly, Jingyi showed a look of surprise and ran barefoot to the courtyard, saying to Chun’er: “It’s a lunar eclipse, I heard it from my sister!”

Orange, whose ears hurt from the noise and who hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep, looked at Jingyi who was going to watch the lunar eclipse, and followed her with his tail wagging in satisfaction.

Chun Er was terrified and ran to stop them: “Second Miss, I can’t see the Heavenly Dog!”

On the Qinhuai River, the pleasure boat where Qian Yuling and others were located was surrounded and squeezed by several boats. It could not move for a while. Many literati were anxious and turned around, but they heard someone among their companions loudly comforting them: “Ms. Wang’s historian told everyone not to panic. This is just a sign of a lunar eclipse. There is no celestial dog. The moon will be full again soon!”

“The lady historian also said that the reason for this strange phenomenon is related to the roundness of the earth!”

“Madam, please come in. She has a way to prove this statement!”

Those present were not unlearned, and they had basic knowledge and some were familiar with astronomy. After hearing this, they all rushed into the cabin. (End of this chapter)