The First National Preceptor of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 268

Xu Tian was speechless for a moment, then chuckled softly and pointed to the door, saying, "It's fortunate that Master Su arrived early today. There's a large group of female admirers waiting for Master Su to explain the poems and texts outside, especially the Dieyi girl from Shanglanxuan."

Seeing Xu Tian's behavior, Su Xu shook his head helplessly and then continued teaching.

These days, the teachers have been teaching their students according to the curriculum, but the teachers who teach other subjects are not as proud as Su Xu.

Biyuan

"The students at Beishan Academy are spoiled brats who don't listen in class and play pranks on the teachers after class."

"This was meticulously planned and painstakingly prepared by Master Xu. These people are so arrogant and disrespectful; they have truly let us down."

Xu Tian was also somewhat helpless; dealing with mischievous students was practically part of a teacher's daily work. He could only try to appease the surrounding tutors.

"I will go and see for myself tomorrow."

Everyone was relieved upon hearing this. With Master Xu around, those disobedient students were simply no match for him!

Sure enough, the next day, Xu Tian drove directly to Beishan Academy and immediately said, "Since you are so arrogant, then we will test you..."

Before he could finish speaking, Xie Qing of the Langya Wang clan stepped forward.

"Master Xu is a bit too arrogant. Does he really think that he can play around with us noble children just because he has won the Emperor's favor?"

We are not the children of ordinary people in the Hongwen Academy of the Grand Tutor's Mansion; we studied in our own family's private school before.

We know everything the Master taught us by heart, even the *I Ching*, *Book of Documents*, *Book of Poetry*, *Book of Rites*, *Book of Rites*, *Rites of Zhou*, *Zuo Zhuan*, *Gongyang Zhuan*, and *Guliang Zhuan* of the *Spring and Autumn Annals*, which the Master never taught. We, the Xie family disciples, also have some knowledge of them.

"Do you Xie family members know the meaning of 'the human heart is perilous, the moral heart is subtle, one must be single-minded and single-minded, and a person who is eight years old or below the rank of prince'?"

"It means that the human heart is treacherous and unpredictable, and the heart of righteousness is very subtle. It refers to the fact that in ancient times, children as young as eight years old were proficient in the Zhou rites, from kings and nobles to ordinary people. It means after children entered school..."

The Master said, "The former—'The human heart is perilous, the moral heart is subtle, and the single-mindedness is the essence'—comes from the Four Books. I know nothing else."

Xu Tian asked again, "The rest of you can also answer."

"I only know that after enrolling in school, I will learn how to treat people and observe etiquette, but I don't know the origin of these rules."

Others simply didn't know.

Xu Tian asked a few questions about the Four Books and Five Classics, and the Langya Wang family member answered all of them, proving that she had indeed mastered the Four Books and the Classic of Filial Piety.

Xu Tian could roughly summarize: "Currently, the students of the Langya Wang Clan are the most outstanding."

It's not that the students from other families weren't excellent, but rather that the Xie family had the most solid grasp of the subject matter, having already mastered most of it, and had even finished reading *Elementary Learning*.

"And what about this question? Yi Qiu was the best chess player in the entire country. Can anyone here recite it from memory?"

The student from the Xiao family couldn't answer that simple question, but unexpectedly, as soon as he asked a question about the classics, the student from the Lanling Xiao family immediately jumped out to answer.

Xu Tian was furious: "They've put the cart before the horse! They've completely reversed the order of things! I never imagined that the Xiao family of Lanling would not start with the simplest things, but instead read all the most difficult books. The Xiao family of Lanling has read all the classics! But they haven't read the Four Books or the Classic of Filial Piety."