Xiao Changyi recalled the ’a’ that An Jing had drawn on the palm of his hand just a moment ago and the ’ba’ she was drawing now. Then, he understood, his cold eyes also brightened.
This was indeed much simpler and more convenient than using direct pronunciation and fanqie methods to annotate characters.
Seeing Xiao Changyi’s eyes sparkle, An Jing chuckled and said, "Don’t admire me too much, it’s from the knowledge of that world I originally came from—"
But before she could finish, Xiao Changyi interjected, "The children are all here, some things are better kept in the heart, I understand."
Upon hearing this, An Jing knew that Xiao Changyi was worried the children might overhear and repeat her words. The children were especially innocent now, and it would be troublesome if they repeated this to others.
Apart from her husband, she had no intention of letting anyone else know she was not from this world.
Looking at the four children who were frolicking beside them, An Jing then smiled at Xiao Changyi and said, "I spoke out of turn, I’ll be more careful in the future."
"What about this pinyin project?"
"If you want to do it, go ahead."
"For the sake of our children’s ease of learning characters in the future, of course, I want to do it."
"Mm-hmm." Thinking further, An Jing added, "When I have annotated all the characters, I’ll compile them into a dictionary. So when the children come across characters they don’t know how to read, they can look them up by the radicals and learn how to pronounce them. This way, even without a teacher, they’ll be able to learn on their own."
"Right, not only should the dictionary annotate the pronunciation of characters but also include the meanings of the words. That way, it’ll also be convenient to understand the meaning when looking up the words."
"It’s just..." Suddenly, An Jing felt troubled, "compiling a dictionary will take too much time."
Without waiting for Xiao Changyi to respond, An Jing smiled again: "But for the sake of the children, time should not be a concern; if necessary, we can simply find more people to help with the dictionary."
Xiao Changyi said, "If it turns out well, the old man would certainly take it and promote it throughout Xiyun."
An Jing smiled and said, "Let him take it. If it becomes widespread, it will make it easier for everyone to recognize characters in the future."
Xiao Changyi said, "If it weren’t for the fact that it makes character recognition easier and benefits the country and the people, we could have kept it limited, solely used on certain confidential letters."
An Jing immediately understood and nodded, "Indeed, if I wrote in pinyin as characters, unless I disclosed what the pinyin stands for, no one would know what I had written and simply think I was scribbling. Even if the letters were lost, it wouldn’t lead to any significant loss."
"It’s a long-term plan to promote this, I think my adoptive father would do as you just said, if he sees the dictionary I compile, he will likely promote it within Xiyun Kingdom."
"Then I’ll start annotating the characters tomorrow."
"Tell me how to annotate them, and I’ll help you with it when the time comes."
"Great. I will explain it to you in detail later."
"Should we find a few people to help with the dictionary?"
"If you want to finish faster, then find more; if you’re not in a hurry, find fewer."
"I want to finish it sooner, ideally before the New Year. Let’s find thirty people, thirty scholars, to help us with the meanings of the words. We’ll handle the annotation of the sounds."
"How about we see if Wild Goose Jade is willing to help us? I saw her writing beautifully when I visited her courtyard last time."