Top Scholar

Chapter 51 Lesson

I don't know what others think, but Su Lu felt that what Headmaster Zhu said made a lot of sense.

There's no such thing as a sudden enlightenment in the imperial examinations; it's all about accumulating knowledge and skills over time. So if you're proven to be just not cut out for it, it's best to let it go and find a job.

Just as the headmaster said at the end, if you don't want to be eliminated, strive to be the best and treat every exam as a life-or-death test!

After the headmaster finished his speech, the teachers in charge of the daily teaching in the three dormitories, as well as the teachers who taught specific subjects, also met with the students.

Then the three monks led the students back to their respective dining halls.

The headmaster of Sheng Shen Zhai was the same stern-looking proctor who had examined Su Lu's calligraphy. He wore a faded white robe, and his hair and beard were somewhat gray; his name was Zhang Yanqiu.

After Mr. Zhang gave a brief self-introduction, he handed each student a sheet of white bamboo paper about 1.2 feet long and asked them to write down the school rules from memory.

Su Lu quickly opened his pencil case, took out the inkstone and the white cloud brush, and arranged them. Without even grinding the ink, he took out the ink box directly from the bottom drawer of his book box, dipped it in the ready-made ink, and began to write.

A few days ago, he discovered that even though he was too busy to write for more than ten days during the Chinese New Year, his handwriting had improved after he picked up the pen again, as if he had suddenly had an epiphany.

Previously, he always focused on the length of a stroke or the position of a radical in a character, neglecting the overall rhythm and structural balance. For example, the "horizontal and vertical strokes" in regular script are not absolutely straight, but rather achieve visual balance through subtle tilts. This was something he struggled to grasp even when he was diligently practicing.

Who would have thought that when he returned after a period of separation, he would break free from the trap of "not seeing the forest for the trees" and immediately understand how to adjust his writing from a holistic perspective, finally grasping the essence of calligraphy.

After finishing reciting the rules of study, Su Lu blew the ink off the white bamboo paper and examined his work with satisfaction.

Suddenly he noticed that Mr. Zhang was standing behind him, so he quickly stood up and said softly, "Sir."

Mr. Zhang pressed down on his shoulder, signaling him not to get up, and said in a low voice, "You got everything right from the dictation, but you still need to practice your handwriting."

"Yes." Su Lu blushed, too embarrassed to tell his teacher that this was his most satisfying performance yet.

Mr. Zhang then walked back and forth in the classroom with his hands behind his back, checking on the students' dictation.

Once he confirmed that there were no problems, he ordered them to post these rules of study on the headboard of their respective beds, to reflect on them daily, and to never break them.

“The rules in the academy are paramount. If you break them, you will be punished with whipping at best, and expelled at worst. No one can save you then,” he earnestly instructed his students.

"Yes, we will keep your teachings in mind," the students replied in unison.

Next, Mr. Zhang explained the course schedule for this year.

"This year, you will all be studying the Four Books and the Eight-Legged Essay. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, there will be four lectures on the Four Books each morning, and essay writing instruction in the afternoon. Homework will be assigned after class, and you must take it seriously." Zhang Yanqiu sighed.
"The headmaster also said, and it's written in the school rules, that the first monthly class will be held on March 15th, two months from now. If you don't get a good score, it will be very difficult for you later. So you can't let your guard down for even a day. You must start studying hard with all your might right now."

"Yes, we will keep your teachings in mind," the students replied in unison.

"Now, we need to choose a head of the dormitory from among you," Zhang Yanqiu continued. "In principle, you should all elect one, but since you are all new here and don't know each other, I will temporarily appoint one—"

As he spoke, he looked at a young man with thick eyebrows, big eyes, a square face, and an upright demeanor, and said, "Student Ma Qianli, would you be willing to temporarily serve as the head of this academy?"

The young man stood up and said in a deep voice, "Sir, it is my great honor to serve this school with my humble efforts!"

"That's settled then." Mr. Zhang then instructed, "Take two classmates with me to collect the books."

"Yes." The boy turned around, glanced around the lecture hall, called over two of his more robust-looking classmates, and followed the teacher.

Su Lu looked at this Ma Zhaizhang and felt that he looked familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere before, but he couldn't remember where.

“He is the eldest grandson of Commander Ma.” Li Qiyu, sitting in front of him, said in a voice barely above a whisper, “We’d better not go against him in the future.”

"Really?!" Su Lu suddenly remembered; wasn't that Squad Leader Ma a veritable mini-Commander Ma? "How did you know?"

“Because my dad is a centurion in the Tucheng Hundred Household Office,” Li Qiyu said. “He just took me to his house to pay my respects during the New Year. That guy is a nice person; he even treated me to kumquat honey syrup.”

"So you're all from official families, my apologies for not recognizing you sooner." Su Dan, who was in the front row, turned around and smiled.

“I’m nothing but a son of an official, but he’s already one, at least in Taiping Town,” Li Qiyu said, pursing his lips.

A short while later, Ma Qianli and two classmates came in from outside with Mr. Zhang, carrying large stacks of book boxes, and distributed them.

When Su Lu received it, he saw that it was a set of the Shu Fan Huayang edition of "Collected Annotations on the Four Books", obviously the set of his elder brother's was from the same source.

"This set of books was given to you by the academy, and this is the only set available for the next three years. If it's damaged or lost, you'll have to buy another one from the library yourself," Mr. Zhang instructed, then said no more.
"Open 'The Great Learning' and I still have some time this morning, so I can talk to you about two passages."

Su Lu hurriedly took out the brand-new "Great Learning" from the book box and opened to the first page.

"The way of the Great Learning lies in manifesting one's bright virtue..." Zhang Yanqiu spoke very quickly, covering several days' worth of material in elementary education in just one hour.

This is, of course, because the students have already memorized the entire Four Books and their commentaries. The reason why the teacher still explains the meaning of the classics sentence by sentence is, firstly, because he is worried that the level of teachers in various elementary schools is uneven and that they teach in all sorts of ways, so he has to standardize the version and take the one taught at the academy as the standard.

Secondly, the focus is different. Elementary education requires students to "understand every word and comprehend every sentence," emphasizing the foundation.

The academy takes a higher stance. Mr. Zhang analyzes the "words of the sages" in the classics, enabling students to grasp the tone of Confucius's admonitions and the debating style of Mencius. In this way, students can learn to put themselves in the shoes of Confucius and Mencius when writing essays, avoiding expressing their opinions from their own perspective.

Because from the very beginning of the essay, the eight-legged essay must adopt a certain tone... that is, speak in the voice of the sages such as Confucius, Mencius, Cheng Yi, and Zhu Xi, which is what is called "speaking on behalf of the sages".

Take the first sentence of the Great Learning as an example, and Mr. Zhang slowly explained: "This sentence clarifies the 'Three Cardinal Guides' of Confucianism, which not only outlines the whole text, but also guides the Four Books."

"Therefore, the core of 'entering the breath' here is to grasp the three points of 'guiding principles, edification, and solemnity,' and to reveal the essence of 'the way of the Great Learning' from the height of 'the words of sages,' showing the teachings of Confucian sages rather than personal opinions. This makes people understand 'why to learn' and 'what to learn'—only in this way can we fit the tone of the sages in 'The Great Learning' and achieve 'the tone is the meaning, and the meaning is the tone.'"

After attending only one class in the morning, Su Lu understood why his elder brother had said that without attending Taiping Academy, one would not be able to pass the imperial examination and become a scholar…

There are so many intricacies involved that it's impossible to understand or learn them without the guidance of a wise teacher.

~~
With little time left in the morning, Mr. Zhang gave a brief two thousand-word lecture, and then the sound of the clapperboard signaling the end of get out of class echoed through the courtyard.

The rules of the academy are paramount, and this applies to teachers as well. Therefore, Mr. Zhang did not extend the class time by even a moment. He immediately closed his book and said in a deep voice, "get out of class dismissed."

Led by Master Ma, the students rose to their feet and respectfully saw their teacher off, saying, "Thank you for your guidance, sir!"

"Go eat. Walk at a leisurely pace, do not run or leap. Do not fight over food, and do not talk while eating." Mr. Zhang did not leave, but instead instructed: "The lunch break is six quarters of an hour. No naps are allowed. When you hear the gong, return to the lecture hall and sit down."

"Yes." The students had no choice but to suppress their urge to rush for food and walked step by step toward the dining hall.

The boys were starving all morning, but they still had to walk slowly as if they were paralyzed, which was really agonizing.

Su Lu and Su Dan don't have to suffer like this, because the cafeteria doesn't serve them food...

However, the academy had a rule that eating was not allowed in the study rooms, so the two of them carried water bottles and food bags and prepared to find a place to eat on campus.

But then Mr. Zhang walked over with a dark expression, carrying a ruler...

"Sir." The two men felt uneasy and quickly bowed.

Mr. Zhang first said to Su in a casual tone, "Go and eat first."

“Yes…” Su Dan didn’t know what Su Lu had done wrong, and he didn’t dare to ask any more questions, so he could only leave first.

"May I ask what advice you may have, sir?" Su Lu was also completely bewildered, wondering what he had done to make the gentleman forget to eat and instead focus on tidying himself up.

"I see you don't even eat at the cafeteria, so your family must be struggling financially," Mr. Zhang asked coldly.

"Yes. My brother and I are both in school, so our family has a heavy financial burden." Su Lu nodded and answered honestly.

"Then why aren't you paying attention in class?!" Mr. Zhang's suppressed anger suddenly erupted, and he slammed the ruler down on Su Lu's desk with a loud crack.

"It's only the first day of school, and you dare to act like this? I don't even want to think about what you'll do next! You're already at the bottom of the class, yet you're still being so ridiculous and lazy. You should just drop out of school and ease the burden on your family!"

“The student wasn’t daydreaming.” Su Lu was completely confused and quickly explained, “My foundation is weak to begin with, and I dared not miss a single word of what the teacher was saying.”

"You're still trying to deny it? I saw it with my own eyes!" Mr. Zhang picked up a homemade paper notebook from his desk, unfolded it, and held it up to Su Lu, demanding, "What kind of scribbling is this? If you had listened carefully in class, would you have been able to draw these?!"

On Su Lu's notebook, not only was the handwriting messy, but there were also many arrows, squares, tree-like lines, and many other strange symbols that no one could recognize.

It's no wonder Mr. Zhang was angry; no one would think he was listening attentively.

"Sir, you've misunderstood," Su Lu quickly explained. "These are the student's class notes."

"Still trying to argue? What kind of notes are these?" Zhang Yanqiu naturally didn't believe him.

"I dare not utter a single falsehood." Su Lu said with a wry smile, "As I just said, my foundation is weak, and the teacher's class is a bit difficult for me. There are many parts that I only vaguely understand. I can only memorize them in a rough way first and then ponder them carefully after class."

“Nonsense, how could you possibly remember what I’ve taught?” Zhang Yanqiu was clearly aware that he taught too fast, but he had to take into account the level of most of his students.

"Yes, so on the one hand, students need to improve their writing speed, which makes their handwriting a bit messy. On the other hand, they also need to simplify their notes, using the fewest characters possible to record the content," Su Lu explained earnestly.

"The class notes are for the students to read themselves. I will reorganize them at noon and then ask the teacher to review them."

"Don't try any tricks," Mr. Zhang snorted. "If it's really as you say, then recite it to me right now, looking at your so-called notes. If you can, it proves you weren't distracted, and I'll apologize. If you can't..."

He tapped the table with the ruler and said, "Just wait to get a beating!"

(End of this chapter)