Misty Rain of the Old Times

Chapter 39 Writing
Do I have to learn whatever the young master learns? It's like a partner, a classmate, a buddy. Of course, I also have to take on some of the chores of cleaning and serving after studying...

Chen Xuan muttered in his heart that he really had no clear concept of the companion study boy. It was not because of his age after his body shrank, but because he had never been exposed to any information in this regard.

If this is true, then as a servant, the book boy enjoys the same educational resources as the young master. Aren't you afraid that the book boy will surpass the young master after he finishes his studies?
When this thought appeared in his mind, Chen Xuan suddenly realized that things were not working that way.

Maybe the young master wishes that his servant can study better than himself!
Because the book boy has learned well, he can help him find and fill in the gaps.

The most fundamental reason is that, after all, the book boy is just a servant, his indenture is still in the hands of others, and his life freedom is decided by the other party. So no matter how well you study, your achievements can never exceed those of the young master himself. The upper limit in certain aspects has been locked due to your identity.

To put it bluntly, as a servant, no matter how outstanding you are, you are equivalent to someone else's private property. As the master, does he still worry about the "dazzling" nature of his property?

What's yours is his. No matter how outstanding you are, you can only add more brilliance to his foundation.

As for being excellent enough to break free from the shackles of status, Butler He did say so that day, but can it be taken seriously? It was just a pie in the sky painted by others, which is almost impossible to eat.

Not to mention that Chen Xuan didn't think he was such a favored child. Even if that day really came, so what? He had already patched it up.

If you are good enough, the master won't even mind giving you a push, so almost all your achievements are given by the master. Then you owe even more and can never repay it.

If you think about it carefully, many things have almost been decided from the beginning...

Although Chen Xuan felt that he was overthinking it at the moment, it was true in the long run.

"Hurry up, Xuan, let's start. Next we have to write ten words, ten times for each word. You can't rest until you finish." Gao Jingming urged while Chen Xuan's mind was flashing, and he had already picked up the pen and licked the ink.

Ten words, ten times each? That's easy.

Thinking of this, Chen Xuan sat at his small table and quickly spread out the paper and ground the ink, as these were all ready.

However, the pens, ink, paper and inkstone he used were obviously several grades lower than those used by Gao Jingming. The ink ground from Gao Jingming's ink stick had a faint fragrance, the paper was snow-white, and the brush even had exquisite carvings.

As for Chen Xuan's, the paper was yellowed, the ink had a bit of a bad smell, and the pen holder was just a bare bamboo... Well, as a servant, it was good enough to have it, and I had no right to be picky.

Chen Xuan picked up the pen and licked the ink, then looked in the direction of Gao Jingming. What he would write next depended on his actions.

Pointing to a line of words on the open book, Gao Jingming said, "Ah Xuan, look carefully. Next we are going to write these ten words: 'White clouds surround the green mountains, the water waves on the river are calm'. Their meanings are... Watch me write them, don't make any mistakes."

Gao Jingming's explanations of the ten commonly used characters were not very clear because he had only been studying for a short time, but Chen Xuan found them easily understood.

However, Chen Xuan noticed that there were no punctuation marks in the book, and the whole page was filled with dense text, which made him think of the four words "reading and punctuating".

It's not enough to just recognize the words in the book, you also have to be able to punctuate the sentences, otherwise you won't be able to understand even the basic meaning.

"Forget it, let's forget the past and start over," Chen Xuan felt melancholy. Fortunately, he was still a child in appearance and was almost on the same starting line with this young master. He could just take it slow.

The characters in the book are not the type of letter combinations, nor are they pictograms. They are similar to ancient Chinese characters, variants of bronze inscriptions or oracle bone inscriptions. The strokes are round and traceable, not the horizontal and vertical strokes that Chen Xuan knew. This made it difficult for him to guess based on the Chinese characters he knew. A slight mistake can lead to a huge error, and this is no joke.

Seeing that Chen Xuan was ready, Gao Jingming started writing. He didn't busy himself and seemed to be very loyal.

The maid Xiao Ye beside him wanted to say something but stopped herself from interrupting him. Chen Xuan was concentrating on Gao Jingming and didn't notice him either.

Watch Gao Jingming's actions carefully. This is the beginning of Chen Xuan's literacy education in this world, so he can't be careless.

Then he saw Gao Jingming write the first stroke of the first character on the paper, then write the first stroke again after a short distance, then add the second stroke, and so on, until he had written a complete character. It seems like this is a practice of breaking down characters, so using a brush, ten times for each of the ten characters seems like a lot of work.

"A Xuan, this is the complete order of writing the word 'bai'. You just need to follow me," Gao Jingming reminded Chen Xuan after he finished writing the first word.

Nodding, Chen Xuan said seriously: "Okay, Master, I understand."

"Well, next we write this word ten times, and then start the next word," Gao Jingming smiled, and then wrote seriously without saying anything else.

In a trance, Chen Xuan seemed to have returned to his childhood when he first started to study, but now he had to start all over again.

Putting aside his thoughts, he began to write in order.

But just as he was about to put pen to paper, he was interrupted by Gao Jingming's voice: "A Xuan, you are wrong."

He was distracted and paid attention to Chen Xuan's movements.

I haven't even put pen to paper yet, and this is wrong? Chen Xuan looked at him in confusion.

Gao Jingming pointed at Chen Xuan's right hand, which was holding the pen, and said, "Xuan, you are not doing this right. You cannot put your arm on the table when writing. You should suspend your wrist like me. Remember this. Fortunately, the teacher is not here, otherwise you will be scolded."

Is it writing with suspended wrist? Chen Xuan just now noticed that Gao Jingming had always been writing with suspended wrist. It was a habit he had developed for a long time, but he was unable to react for a while.

Imitating the other person to raise his arm and suspend his wrist, Chen Xuan always felt uncomfortable all over. He didn't know how to start writing and always felt something was wrong.

After hesitating for a moment, he humbly asked, "Master, does it have to be this way? Or is there another way?"

Nodding, Gao Jingming said seriously, "Yes, it must be done this way. The master said... um, what did he say?"

Having said that, he looked at Xiao Ye who was waiting on the side.

The maid Xiao Ye immediately said, "The master said that, firstly, this reflects the scholar's writing style and elegance, and secondly, it prevents the sleeve from sweeping across the ink and staining the paper while writing. Thirdly, after writing for a long time, you can feel the force of the pen tip hitting the paper..."

Originally, such reminders should have been the responsibility of Chen Xuan, the servant, but he had just arrived and knew nothing. Before, Xiao Ye and the others had followed Gao Jingming, so he had to take on this responsibility. From now on, it would be Chen Xuan's own job.

Before Xiao Ye could finish his words, Gao Jingming took over and said, "Yes, that's right. Then, Ah Xuan, think about it, if we put our hands flat when holding the pen, wouldn't it be like holding the hilt of a sword? The sword is a ceremonial instrument. In the future, we will learn the six arts of a gentleman, which will include swordsmanship. Now, holding the pen with the wrist suspended is also a preparation for this. After all, you can't find a support for your arm when holding the sword, right? If you can't even hold a pen properly now, how can you hold the sword tightly in the future? A gentleman is not an instrument. The instrument is the sword. If you can't even hold a sword, how can you call yourself a gentleman?"

Chen Xuan was a little confused when he heard this. Is there so much to pay attention to for a simple matter of holding a pen?

I am ignorant.

He nodded immediately and said, "I see. I will pay attention to it."

As he spoke, he endured the discomfort and started writing with his wrist suspended.

Gao Jingming is the young master. Logically, he doesn't need to pay any attention to Chen Xuan. I guess it's because everyone has a bit of a teacher-like mentality. It probably won't be like this after the novelty wears off.

Gao Jingming seemed to feel quite accomplished after correcting him, and went back to his own business with a happy mood...

(End of this chapter)