As a famous figure in the history of physics, Little Niu's birthday has a special twist in the 21st century.
Because if you check, you'll find he has two birthdays:
January 4, 1643, and December 25, 1642.
This situation is due to calendar issues, and actually, both birthdays are accurate.
However, December 25 uses the Julian calendar, and January 4 uses the Gregorian calendar.
The so-called Julian calendar was a calendar issued by the ancient Roman dictator Julius Caesar in 46 BC—that's the one that got kicked by some bat spirit.
The Julian calendar is a solar calendar, taking the Earth's orbit around the Sun as the year, known as the tropical year.
But people familiar with geography know that the tropical year is not a whole number in days; it's 365.2422 days.
The Julian calendar sets a year as 365 days, slightly less than a tropical year, and introduces a leap year every four years, with leap years having 366 days.
On average, this adds up to 365.25 days per year, which is 0.0078 days more than a tropical year.
According to simple arithmetic multiplication, the Julian calendar accumulates an extra 3 days every 400 years, leading to a 10-day discrepancy after over 1500 years.
So in 1582, Pope Gregory issued a command:
That year, you skip 10 days; the day after October 4, 1582, was not October 5, but October 15.
He also changed the method for determining leap years: any year divisible by 4 is a leap year, but century years must be divisible by 400 to be leap years.
This way, the average year is 365.2425 days, only 26 seconds more than the tropical year, resulting in a 1-day error every 3000 years.
This new calendar is called the Gregorian calendar, which is the modern calendar we use today.
The Gregorian calendar was implemented in 1582, but the United Kingdom, not being a Catholic country, did not follow the Pope's command, and thus delayed adopting the Gregorian calendar until 1752.
That means when Little Niu was just born, the UK was still using the Julian calendar.
Hence, in English literature, Newton's birthday is usually cited as December 25, 1642, according to the Julian calendar.
Moreover, many countries adopted the Gregorian calendar later than the UK, such as Russia, which didn't switch from the Julian calendar until 1919.
For example, the October Revolution in Russia historically occurred on November 7, 1917, but why is it named October?
Because at that time, Russia was still using the Julian calendar, making that date October 25, 1917, in the Julian calendar.
However, after other countries switched to the Gregorian calendar, the Eastern Orthodox Church in countries like Russia persisted with the Julian calendar.
So, there's an interesting thing that happens in these countries:
They actually celebrate Christmas on January 7 in the Gregorian calendar. (Those interested can look it up; the author once embarrassed himself over this issue...)
Born on Christmas, bullied in his youth, and always a devout believer.
Hence, during the years when Mr. Niu was alive, he firmly believed himself to be one of the few chosen by God, with the duty and obligation to restore the altered scriptures to their original state.
Mr. Niu wrote roughly one point six to seven million words in various studies throughout his life, about 84% of which were theological works, so he was inherently a great theologian, studying physics to better prove the existence of God—Old Niu's theological journey was even regarded as a separate subject in later academic circles, with a considerable citation index.
However, due to Old Niu's beliefs differing slightly from current doctrine, Little Niu still being a youthful version with no say.
So he dared not reveal his inner thoughts to the public, pretending to be an ordinary theology-loving student and quietly enduring.
But unexpectedly today...
His hidden secret coincided with what a foreigner said about 'this child'?
This foreign culture's definition of 'this kind of person' was undoubtedly a potent stimulant for Little Niu!
It's like using phosphor to imitate ghost fire for someone with scientific knowledge, it would be exposed in minutes, but for the superstitious, it's 'sorcery.'
Hence, unprecedentedly, Little Niu's look at Xu Yun changed...
He even patted Xu Yun on the shoulder, which was rare, and in his excitement, his wig nearly shook off.
If Newton's fondness for Xu Yun was a progress bar, it should've jumped up by 20% with a whoosh.
In a great mood, Newton couldn't resist touching the bronze base again and then turned to Xu Yun, saying:
"Fat Fish, let me show you around."
Xu Yun, naturally, did not decline:
"Then I'll trouble you, Mr. Newton."
Thus, under Little Niu's guidance, they left the room for the first time.
In 1665, the UK had yet to undergo the industrial revolution; coal hadn't started becoming a common fuel, and the infamous "smog" had not yet appeared.
Therefore, the main source of domestic fog was due to the warmer North Atlantic waters meeting the cooler waters around the British Isles, creating sea fog and land fog as large amounts of warm air from the sea met cooler air masses over the islands.
This natural fog, while still thick, didn't bring a sense of hopeless suffocation, nor did it come with blood, tears, and sin.
Plus, the weather today was decent, so at a glance, the countryside atmosphere of the 17th century was quite strong.
Of course, the 'scent of life' was equally strong—a particular odor emanated from Little Niu.
After all, body odor isn't something that stays away just because you're a physicist.
According to records from Michael White's compilation of Old Niu's manuscripts, Mr. Niu used to bathe about once every month and a half in public baths in London when studying, the rest being baptism during mass.
The current Lincolnshire lacked such bathing facilities found in London, hence the unique smell on Little Niu.
Perhaps due to Xu Yun aligning with his heart in his description of 'this child,' at this moment, Little Niu's attitude was quite enthusiastic compared to before.
He pointed north of the house, taking the initiative to introduce:
"Fat Fish, in that direction is the only windmill in Woolsop; each family grinds their flour there to make bread."
"But it's best to queue early if you want to grind flour, or you'll have a group of grannies watching you, and some of those village women are quite talkative—especially with your Eastern appearance, which is so... exotic."
Hearing these words from Newton, a previously composed Xu Yun suddenly had mental images of a crowd of grannies pointing and gossiping about him:
"Look at him, Mrs. Lennon, his appearance is even more peculiar than Benjamin next door."
"Auntie George, stop your foolish groundhog behavior, it's very impolite!"
"Oh my dear God, you don't fancy this lad, do you? Uncle Henry would go crazy if he saw this!"
Thinking of this, Xu Yun immediately broke out in a sweat:
Goodness, the village grannies are truly the unsolvable entities across time and space...
Then Little Niu introduced some of the less noticeable spots before giving Xu Yun a firm pat on the shoulder:
"Fat Fish, come with me."
Xu Yun then refocused and obediently followed Little Niu a few steps to a low storage room.
There, Little Niu retrieved an old key from his person, rough in appearance with a touch of decaying rust—modern pin tumbler locks wouldn't be invented by Linus Yale Jr. until 1860, so earlier locks lacked craftsmanship.
Then Little Niu turned the lock a few times, pushed open the wooden door, and took out two axes.
Seeing Little Niu with the vibe of a Liangshan Hero, Xu Yun couldn't help but grow curious:
"Mr. Newton, are we going to...?"
"Chop some wood, and then take you to meet my uncle. We'll be having lunch there, don't worry; my cousins are lovely."
"Oh, uncle's place..."
Xu Yun instinctively nodded, but the next second, something dawned on him, and his eyes widened to an impressive thirty-one Li Ronghaos:
"Wait, cousins?"
....