Top Scholar

Chapter 8 Qiu Ge'er Doesn't Sleep Useless Sleep

The full moon illuminated the Chishui River, and Erlangtan was already quiet, with only this stilted house still lit up.

Su Lu sat at the table, holding his father's mixed-hair brush, and laboriously copied the "Hundred Family Surnames".

The flickering lamplight illuminated Su Lu's handsome face, which looked as if he were constipated. He had never imagined that writing would be such a difficult task...

He encountered two problems. First, he had only taken a few calligraphy classes in elementary school, which was a thing of the past, and he had almost forgotten how to hold a pen. Second, he could read traditional Chinese characters but not write them, so he could only imitate them stroke by stroke.

However, he believed that the difficulties were only temporary. Whether it was calligraphy or traditional characters, these were the most basic skills for scholars in this era, and he did not believe that he could not master them.

There's not much to say about calligraphy; if you're not good at it, just practice more. As for traditional characters... Su Lu remembers there are only about 2,200 simplified Chinese characters, most of which are just simplified radicals. For example, '訁' is simplified to '讠', '釒' to '钅', and '糹' to '纟'...

So there are only about a thousand characters that you really need to memorize. On the contrary, it's the writing habits that have been ingrained for many years that are hard to overcome in a short time. You have to constantly remind yourself not to write the characters in simplified form.

~~
As for why he burned the midnight oil to copy things before bed, it wasn't to study a little longer, but to use the 'sleep memory method' to strengthen his memory.

Su Lu has specifically researched methods to improve memory and knows that after a person falls asleep, the brain does not stop working, but rather autonomously undertakes an important task—consolidating memories. This transforms information acquired during the day from temporary, unstable storage into long-term, stable storage.

So sometimes, things that people can't seem to memorize no matter how hard they try, they can suddenly recite fluently and remember very well the next day after a good night's sleep. This is the contribution the brain makes while you're asleep.

Sleep memory techniques utilize this characteristic of the brain to enhance memory.

First, the more you try to memorize something before bed, the more your brain will focus on it during sleep. Therefore, the hour before bed is the golden time for memorization, equivalent to several hours at other times.

Secondly, handwriting has a 50% higher retention rate than simply reading or looking at books, which is why Su Lu copied books before going to bed.

After copying it once, he immediately blew out the light, went to bed, closed his eyes without moving, and tried to lower his heart rate as much as possible to enter a very relaxed and focused state, silently reciting the content he had memorized before going to sleep.

Ideally, after you've reviewed all the knowledge you've learned, your brain will gradually feel sleepy, and you'll fall asleep immediately. When you fall asleep in this state, your brain will automatically categorize the day's information, prioritizing and reinforcing important content while deleting irrelevant information. It's simply wonderful!

However, it is crucial to avoid overthinking at this time. If any emotion such as joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness is triggered, it may cause the brain to go astray, thus ruining all previous efforts!
Of course, this is not easy, because it is difficult for people to control their wandering thoughts before falling asleep. Su Lu's experience in avoiding wandering thoughts is to find an 'anchor' to engage in light self-hypnosis.

In his past life, he used a life-size body pillow shaped like the character Ahoge. After repeated self-suggestion, whenever he hugged this object, his brain would involuntarily recall what he needed to memorize that night, naturally entering a state of consolidating his memory.

Of course, conditions were limited here, so Su Lu could only try to use a 'bamboo wife' as a substitute... He hugged the cool bamboo basket, trying to clear his mind and only recall what he had memorized before going to sleep, and then fell asleep in his memories...

The east wing was pitch black, with only Su Tai's melodious snoring filling the room.

~~
As dawn broke, the crowing of roosters woke Su Lu.

He didn't open his eyes immediately, but instead reached out and groped around before embracing the bamboo wife that had rolled to the side. Then he closed his eyes and silently recited what he had memorized before falling asleep. At this point, right or wrong didn't matter; the key was to activate the traces of memory in his brain!

He discovered that many of the contents had become conditioned reflexes, popping into his mind without conscious thought—a result of the brain consolidating memories. This shows that last night's sleep-based memory method worked!

After going through it once, his mind was completely clear. He jumped off the bed and sat back down at the table, quickly flipping through the book to check what he had forgotten or what he had memorized incorrectly.
Then, focus on memorizing the parts you've forgotten, and then recite the whole thing again, repeatedly checking for and filling in any gaps. This is a complete sleep memory process.

This method, once done, is far more effective than rote memorization for a day or two!

At this moment, Su Youcai and Su Tai also got up. Seeing that he was in the same position as last night, Su Youcai clicked his tongue and said, "You didn't sleep all night, did you?"

"No, I just got up." Su Lu shook his head. He was about to pick up his pen and write it down again to reinforce his memory, but he found that the ink on the pen tip had dried up and was unusable.

Just then, Auntie called out from the courtyard, "You lazybones, get up quickly, grab a bite to eat, and head up the hill!"

The father and his two sons quickly left the room, hastily wiped their faces, ate a bowl of sorghum porridge in the courtyard, and were then urged by their aunt to go to the fields.

Today, my uncle and younger uncle also joined the autumn harvest team, trying to finish the work in the fields in one day.

They were both better at working than Su Lu and Su Youcai, so the father and son's task became carrying the bagged grain to the drying ground.

On the way there and back, Su Lu kept muttering to himself, continuing to recite his "Hundred Family Surnames" and "Thousand Character Classic." Su Youcai seemed quite pleased, but the villagers shook their heads in disapproval, whispering among themselves after the father and son had passed.

"Has Qiu-ge'er also lost his soul?"

"Yes, it keeps muttering to itself and doesn't greet people when it sees them."

"Is this soul-loss contagious? His horse hasn't even come back to life yet, and his nephew's already caught it." "Did something evil get into his house?"

"Oh, what talent! Please have a Taoist priest take a look at Qiu-ge'er, he's really creepy..." At this moment, an elder of the Su family finally couldn't help but raise his voice.

"It's alright, Sixth Uncle, I had him memorizing his lessons." Su Youcai quickly explained for him, "Memorizing lessons requires concentration; you can't let your mind wander."

"What? Make Qiu-ge recite his lessons? You're really something, the kid's already tired enough from working, why make him suffer more?" Everyone immediately felt sorry for Qiu-ge. They'd all watched him grow up, who didn't know this child hated studying?
"No wonder he doesn't call out to anyone; he must be feeling incredibly depressed..." Uncle Liu sighed, "What a fine child, turned into a silent gourd."

“He did it voluntarily; I didn’t force him,” Su Youcai explained.

“Voluntary shovel work? You’re kidding me.” But no one believed him. They all knew that Qiu-ge would rather chop wood and herd cattle than go to school.

Seeing that the blame had been successfully shifted to him, Su Youcai smiled wryly and stopped arguing.

Looking at Su Lu, no matter what others said, he remained unaffected, continuing to memorize his books—because he had specifically trained his ability to resist distractions, allowing him to maintain focus even in noisy environments.

Su Lu's method for improving focus is the 'Pomodoro Technique,' which simply means forcing yourself to be completely focused during a 'Pomodoro session,' and not letting anything stop you from working, no matter what.

The length of a "Pomodoro" timer varies from person to person. For beginners and teenagers, 20 to 25 minutes is more suitable. However, for adults with high concentration, this time is too short and often interrupts the flow state, which can actually affect efficiency. Therefore, Su Lu uses a 50-minute "Pomodoro" timer.

The length of time isn't important; what matters is repetition and consistency. If you persist for 21 days, repeating the 'Pomodoro Technique' 100 times, your brain will form a habit, making it much harder to be distracted during focused periods.

~~
When Su Lu returned home from work for dinner, his aunt also learned about his unusual behavior that day. She looked him over carefully and said:

"Brother Qiu, are you out of your mind too? Several neighbors told me that you're acting strange today; you don't even greet people."

"No, I made him recite the text," Su Youcai quickly explained again for Su Lu.

"We can't just not call them. You may not care, but our Su family can't afford to lose face!" Auntie scolded Su Lu.

"I'll try my best not to recite in front of others from now on," Su Lu said. He didn't care what others thought of him; even if they praised him to the skies, it wouldn't make the academy admit him. He just didn't want to put his father in a difficult position.

“Sigh…” Su Youcai sighed and said to Su Lu, “I asked you to memorize it in ten days, did that put pressure on you? It’s my fault, I was too eager for quick results. How about we change it to twenty days? Ten days to memorize one article should be enough, right?”

“No need, I’ve already memorized it.” Su Lu shook his head.

"Huh?" Su Youcai exclaimed in astonishment, his jaw dropping for the umpteenth time, "You just learned the 'Hundred Family Surnames' and the 'Thousand Character Classic' last night, and you've already memorized them today?"

"Goodness gracious..." Auntie chuckled, even more disbelieving: "Is Qiu-ge'er bragging? Husband, how many days did Chun-ge'er carry it back then?"

"Back then, Chun-ge'er memorized the 'Hundred Family Surnames' in three days, and he also memorized the 'Thousand Character Classic' in three days!" Uncle said proudly, "That's the best he's ever done in our entire clan."

"Even someone as clever as Chun Ge'er took six days to memorize it, and you, Qiu Ge'er, can memorize it in a day?" Auntie mocked, "You've already blown away all the cattle in Erlangtan."

“I just memorized it,” Su Lu said calmly.

"Then recite it for me," his aunt insisted again.

"What are you doing, sister-in-law?" The younger sister-in-law quickly protected Su Lu, saying, "The child has been laughed at by people all day, and now you're nagging him when he comes back? Don't you want him to eat in peace?"

"Don't worry, Aunt, I can memorize it." Su Lu smiled gratefully at her aunt, then turned to her aunt and sneered, "But even if I memorize it correctly, Aunt won't know. Is it worth the trouble?"

"You can't memorize it yourself, can you?" Auntie didn't expect him to dare to belittle her, and said angrily, "Don't worry, I don't understand, but your uncle can, right?"

"I've forgotten almost everything..." the uncle said guiltily. He had studied at a local school for a few years when he was young, and he had naturally memorized the "Three Character Classic," but just like the "Three Character Classic," he could only remember the beginning of the "Hundred Family Surnames" and the "Thousand Character Classic" now, and had forgotten the rest.

Besides, he didn't want to embarrass his nephew and brother too much, so he laughed it off and said, "Then Qiu-ge'er will just recite a few lines."

"He was just bragging that he'd memorized it all," Auntie snorted.

"Wait a moment." After saying that, Su Lu got up and went back to the house. He took out the calligraphy practice book, turned to the page of "Hundred Family Surnames", and handed it to his uncle, saying, "Uncle, you can use this as a reference to point out where I have made mistakes in my recitation."

"Hey, this kid's got some skills." The uncle looked Su Lu up and down, then said with interest, "I'll see what you're really made of."

P.S. Requesting recommendation votes for the new week!
(End of this chapter)