Misty Rain of the Old Times

Chapter 65 Lesson

When Chen Xuan and his companions arrived, there were already thirty-four children in the second hall of Class D, aged six, seven, or eight. They gathered in groups of two or three, either sharing interesting stories from their return home a few days ago, chatting about yesterday's Cuju match, or passing around storybooks and toys...

Gao Jingming's arrival did not attract much attention. It seemed that his identity as the brother-in-law of King Qing was nothing special. Perhaps these children did not know his identity, or even if they knew it, it would not mean anything at their current age.

On the contrary, Chen Xuan's arrival made some people look at him twice. After all, he was a strange face, but they didn't know him. Since class was about to start, no one took the initiative to say hello.

Not knowing where the location was, Chen Xuan could only follow Gao Jingming holding the book basket.

The book basket was a bit big, and Chen Xuan's arms could hardly hold it, but it was not heavy.

After greeting his classmates and arriving at their seats, Gao Jingming pointed to the right and said to Chen Xuan, "Xuan, let's sit here. You will study with me next to me from now on."

Nodding to show that he understood, Chen Xuan put down his book basket and began to prepare the supplies for class. The first class was the first period of elementary education, and at their age the main focus was on learning to read, so the pen, ink, paper and inkstone had to be prepared in advance.

The location is in the middle of the classroom, with a good view. I don’t know if it’s because of special treatment.

The table was a desk about two feet high and five feet long, and the people sitting on it were one-foot-high stools without backrests, so Chen Xuan and the other person didn't feel crowded.

Chen Xuan guessed that this kind of desk was designed to make it easier to suspend the wrist while writing?
It is worth mentioning that Chen Xuan does not have complete textbooks yet and can only borrow Gao Jingming's. It is not that the Gao family is stingy, but they have not had time to prepare them. They need to be purchased at the school. Xiao Cai and the others have already arranged it, and it will take two days to send it out. However, there is no shortage of learning supplies such as pens, ink, paper and inkstone.

Just as he put the books and other things on the table, Chen Xuan turned around and found that Gao Jingming had gone to chat with someone else. He kept pointing at Chen Xuan and was obviously introducing him to his classmates...

Amidst the noise, the school bell rang again, and the children, big and small, returned to their seats and quieted down.

After taking a quick look around, I found that there were only about forty people in this classroom, and about ten of them were obviously study companions.

Then there are obvious differences in their study supplies. Those who are well-dressed, such as Gao Jingming, have pens, ink, paper and inkstones on their desks, and they also have study companions. Those who are slightly worse off have brushes, clear water and slates on their desks, and the worst ones only have a sandbox the size of a chessboard and a wooden stick.

Obviously, due to different family backgrounds, there are differences in the teaching resources that can be enjoyed, and the school cannot make up for this gap.

But this cannot completely determine the future of these children today. It can only be said that the lower limit is different, and the upper limit in the future is hard to say. Through hard work, there is a chance to be on par with or even surpass them.

This is not the Earth where Chen Xuan lives. One person's efforts cannot match the accumulation of three generations of others. This is more concretely reflected in the saying that gold will shine.

Although it's inevitable that those from wealthy families have it much easier than those from poorer families, the chances of those from poorer families making a name for themselves are always higher than on the Earth where Chen Xuan lives...

The bell stopped, and Mr. Yushan turned his wheelchair into the classroom almost on time, and suddenly you could hear a pin drop.

"Greetings from all"

A child's voice, a little weak in the voice, was heard, and then everyone stood up and bowed to Mr. Yushan and said in unison: "Greetings, sir, good morning."

Glancing around, Mr. Yushan nodded and said gently, "Well, good morning, everyone. Please take a seat."

"Mr. Xie"

After the greetings were over and everyone took their seats, Mr. Yushan took out a booklet and said, "Now I'll start calling the names. When you're called, say, 'He Yuanqing.'"

"arrive"

Summer Cloud

"arrive"

"..."

After reading about ten names, the teacher paused and continued: "Zhou Lin"

"arrive"

Twenty-eight names were called out, including Gao Jingming's. The companion students were not included; those who were not formal students were not on the list. To put it bluntly, companion students were merely servants. Accompanying students was a favor, but they often had to perform miscellaneous tasks, so frequent absences were normal.

After Mr. Yushan stopped, a student suddenly spoke up to remind him, "Sir, you haven't called Ren Fang's name yet. He hasn't arrived yet, so the seat is empty."

As soon as these words were spoken, some people whispered about how that guy was going to be in trouble, and they even had a bit of gloating in their eyes, as if they were waiting for their classmates to be punished.

But Mr. Yushan's eyes darkened and he said thoughtfully: "Ren Fang will not come again."

"what?"

The group of children were immediately surprised and couldn't understand why the other party didn't come anymore, as they were studying together a few days ago.

Mr. Yushan said with a hint of sadness, "Someone from his family has come to inform us that Ren Fang went home a few days ago to help his family fetch water and accidentally fell into a well. After being rescued, he caught a cold and had a high fever that wouldn't go away. He passed away yesterday and will never come back."

"how so!"

“It was fine a few days ago.”

"That's right, it's unbelievable..."

After hearing Mr. Yushan's explanation, the group of children were suddenly in an uproar, but some of them had fear in their eyes.

A classmate who I studied with a few days ago suddenly passed away due to illness. This was too much of a shock for a young child.

Sometimes life is extremely tenacious and can create miracles amidst many impossibilities; sometimes life is also very fragile and a slight cold can kill.

Especially in this era, what Chen Xuan considers to be a minor cold is often equated with the gates of hell!

"quiet!"

Mr. Yushan said in a deep voice. After everyone quieted down, he slowed down his tone and said, "Let's stop here and don't mention it again."

Then he seemed to speak with emotion: "My fellow students, life is uncertain and the future is uncertain. You never know what will happen next, so cherish the present, cherish everyone around you, and cherish everything you care about. Perhaps they will leave you in the blink of an eye."

Everyone fell silent. Some were confused, some were frightened, and those who had been waiting to gloat over their classmates' punishment felt a little ashamed.

No one would have thought that after a few days back home, the first lesson after attending school would be the tragic news of separation and death.

Especially those friends who were close to Ren Fang. They had originally made plans to go outings together, to take the imperial examinations together, and to become officials together. However, all of these plans became regrets that could never be fulfilled because of Ren Fang's death.

"Okay, let's start the class. The first word we'll talk about today is water," Mr. Yushan forced the students back to their thoughts.

Then he continued, "Water is the softest, the purest, the most kind... Its softness embraces all things, its purity reflects the sky like a mirror, and its kindness nourishes all things without contention. However, when things reach their extremes, they will turn against themselves..."

He used the word "water" as an introduction and expanded the discussion from shallow to deep, starting from the inclusiveness of water, talking about the nature of water, and then extending to the "character" of water. After that, he changed the subject and began to describe the dangerous nature of water. Its softness can swallow living things when it falls into the water, its clarity can gather torrents and destroy mountains, and its kindness can also cause sudden downpours to flood the fields!

The children were fascinated by what they heard, but due to their different understanding and acceptance abilities, some children were slow to understand and probably didn't get it at all.

But Chen Xuan could tell that his words were warning the children to stay away from waters that seemed harmless but were actually dangerous. To put it more deeply, he wanted them to realize that everything has two sides and not to be deceived by appearances. Many seemingly beautiful things are actually extremely dangerous.

Some of the content may be beyond the scope of these children, but letting them have an impression and understanding first will always be beneficial to their growth.

After an in-depth analysis of all aspects of water, Mr. Yushan began to teach everyone how to write this word. He used a sand table to demonstrate so that people nearby could see it, and those who were a little further away could leave their seats and come forward to watch.

The word "water" alone contains so much content in his lectures, rather than just instilling the word into the students.

For Chen Xuan, it can't be said that he benefited a lot, but the teachings were much more detailed and rich than those of his previous teachers. It was not just a simple "This word is pronounced 'shui', 'shi' means 'shui', the water we usually drink, so write it like this" and that was it...

(End of this chapter)