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Chapter 116 Wang Ji's Commentary on Li Lizhi!
Before leaving, Empress Zhangsun also went to Li Lizhi's room.

"The weather is getting colder and colder. Do you have enough clothes?" Empress Zhangsun asked.

“Mother, I have enough. Send some to Sizi Fanyin, and also send two thicker sets to Third Sister, as her clothes are thin.”

Li Lizhi specifically mentioned it.

Empress Zhangsun nodded, "Alright, Mother will remember."

If we have San Niang's clothes, we'll definitely arrange clothes for Zhang Er Ya and Zhang Da Lang as well.

I also wanted to give it to Xiao Ran, but Xiao Ran always dressed differently from everyone else.

Xiao Ran used to wear short sleeves, but now he has switched to long sleeves.

Xiao Ran even wore thermal underwear and a sweater.

Anyway, Xiao Ran isn't cold.

Empress Zhangsun also repeatedly looked at the mirror that Xiao Ran had given to Li Lizhi.

Even Empress Zhangsun felt that this was a rare and precious item.

"Mother, take this back and use it!" Li Lizhi gently massaged Empress Zhangsun's shoulders.

"You gave it to your son, would you really give it to your mother?"

Li Lizhi could tell that her mother was teasing her.

"Mother, what are you saying?" Li Lizhi asked, a little embarrassed.

"What do you think? Do you like it?" Empress Zhangsun asked more directly.

Li Lizhi didn't say it; she was indeed embarrassed to say such a thing.

The girl's blush spoke volumes, and Empress Zhangsun naturally knew the answer in her heart.

Empress Zhangsun gave a few instructions before leaving with Li Shimin and the others.

The next day, they specially sent someone to deliver a lot of clothes.

Upon seeing who it was, one knew it was for Li Lizhi and her group.

Li Lizhi left her two younger sisters' clothes behind, and had the two little princesses deliver the two sets of clothes for her third mother.

The little princess was carrying two sets of thick clothes in her arms. Her little arms were wrapped up like plump lotus roots. When she walked, her body leaned slightly forward and swayed with each step, like a little squirrel carrying a pine cone.

Her cheeks were rosy, a thin layer of frost clung to the tip of her nose, and puffs of white breath floated before her eyes. Her eyes, however, shone like stars dipped in snow, staring intently at Third Sister, her voice clear and sweet:

"Third Sister~ This is for you~"

The Buddhist chanting beside her nodded in agreement, her little braid swaying behind her head.

Third Sister was squatting by the chicken coop sweeping up bits of grass when she heard the sound and turned around. She saw two sisters holding something nearby, and she was stunned for a moment before the broom in her hand fell to the ground with a "thud".

Third Sister rubbed her hands together, a hint of panic flashing in her eyes—such thick clothes, with fine stitches, and the fabric was softer than she had ever seen before, how could she dare to accept them casually?

But looking at the little princess's upturned face, her eyes as clear as a mountain stream, without a trace of politeness, only the matter-of-fact attitude of "you should take it if it's given to you," I couldn't help but feel a surge of warmth in my heart, and my eyes quietly welled up with tears.

"It's so beautiful!" It would be a lie to say I don't like it.

The fabric Xiao Ran had previously commissioned couldn't compare to this, and Third Sister was happy for a long time.

These fabrics are not cheap.

Third Sister did not answer immediately.

Zhang Erya said many times that she couldn't just take her two best friends' things; they were too precious.

Before she could say anything more, the little princess shoved the clothes into her arms and leaned forward.

Third Sister instinctively took it, "Sizi, this is too precious, I can't accept it."

"It's not tied~"

"Third Sister, it's cold now, but wearing this will keep you warm," said the little princess of Chengyang beside her.

"I need to ask my elder sister!" Third Sister said.

"Mmm-hmm~" The little princess pulled her third aunt to the living room.

Li Lizhi also took several sets of clothes and went to the living room in advance.

"Third Sister, here, I don't know if it'll suit you, but you can try it on."

Zhang Erya's reaction was similar to that of San Niang; she could tell at a glance that this was not cheap.

"Fifth Sister, this is too precious."

"Second Aunt, you're being too formal. We're friends, it's no big deal." Li Lizhi handed the bag to Zhang Erya.

"We also have Jinniang's. Take a look and we can change it if it's not suitable."

Zhang Jinhe smiled and did not refuse, "Thank you, Fifth Sister."

At this moment, the three little girls also came in.

"Sister!" Third Sister called out, "The beautiful clothes Si Zi gave me!"

"I'll give it a try if I like, and see if it suits me." Li Lizhi smiled.

Zhang Erya didn't say anything more and nodded in agreement.

Refusing now would be just being pretentious.

"Is this for the young master?" Zhang Erya noticed that there were men's clothes inside, which were different from women's clothes.

"No, it belongs to the eldest son. The young master doesn't seem to wear Tang Dynasty clothes."

The others also noticed that Xiao Ran actually had a lot of clothes.

They change it every few days.

Anyway, I'm not someone who lacks clothes.

The weather is cold now, so no one goes out much. Li Lizhi and Princess Yuzhang are teaching Zhang Jinhe to write and reading to Zhang Erya in the living room.

Xiao Ran and the others were quite busy.

Wang Ji enjoyed chatting with Sun Simiao, but later found that Sun Simiao was very busy.

Feeling embarrassed to bother them, they decided to help build the school instead.

The school is very different.

It was built according to Xiao Ran's design.

Xiao Ran's construction was naturally similar to that of more than a thousand years later, complete with blackboards and such.

The tables and chairs are from later times, completely different from those of the Tang Dynasty.

Blackboards aren't difficult to make, and chalk isn't a problem either; you can just burn lime.

The days are like icicles under the eaves, falling one by one, and in the blink of an eye, they have fallen into the depths of winter.

The wind was truly cold, swirling with flakes of snow. When it swept past the old locust tree at the edge of the village, the branches trembled like leaves, whimpering and sobbing, as if someone were crying in the cold wind.

The ridges of the fields were frozen solid, and you could hear the crisp sound of ice shattering underfoot. The ponds in the distance were covered with a thick layer of ice, and the sunlight shining on them was so bright it hurt your eyes.

The icicles hanging from the eaves formed a curtain, the longest reaching down to their knees. Children passing by would always tiptoe to touch them, the chill from their fingertips penetrating half their sleeves. But this coldness couldn't freeze the heat in two other places.

Over by the glass incense burner, the white steam from the chimney during the day, mixed with coal smoke, twisted together and shot upwards in the cold wind, becoming even more lively at night.

The bright red flames licked out of the furnace mouth, illuminating the faces of the craftsmen. Their sleeves were rolled up to their elbows, and their exposed arms were covered in hot sweat, which mixed with coal ash, creating streaks of black and white.

The glass that emerged became increasingly pure, and each time it emerged, Li Kecheng and the others were extremely excited.

Needless to say, the situation at the coal mines is even more complicated.

The men pushing the carts mostly had their shirts open, their backs soaked with sweat, and their breath dissipated as soon as it came out.

The foreman's shouts, the sounds of pulling the rope, and the rumbling of wheels rolling over the frozen ground all blended together, burning even brighter than a furnace fire.

Occasionally, people would stop to rest, squatting in a sheltered spot, munching on some dry rations, breathing out white vapor as they rubbed their frozen, red hands, but their eyes shone brightly. When talking about this winter's dividends, their voices could drown out the howling wind.

It was truly cold; your breath turned to frost, and water froze instantly.

But the heat in these two places is like a spark buried under frozen soil. The stronger the wind, the more intense the fire, making the winter in Kaolao Village warm and cozy, exuding a vigorous energy that is rushing forward.

A school was also built in Kaolao Village.

The classroom has rammed earth walls, and to prevent insufficient light, the windows are quite large.

The tables and chairs are all new.

With the help of the entire village, the quality and speed are naturally excellent.

Once it was built, the villagers asked Xiao Ran to go and take a look.

Li Lizhi, Wang Ji, Zhang Jinhe, and several others accompanied Xiao Ran.

I noticed the difference before.

"This feeling is truly different." Princess Yuzhang was very satisfied with the school.

The schools during the Zhenguan era, whether official, rural, or private, differed greatly from the "new-style school" designed by Xiao Ran.

There was no blackboard, and the teaching model bore the distinct mark of the times, the core of which can be summarized as "taking the classics as the foundation, recitation as the key, and strictness as the guiding principle".

Without a blackboard, writing on the board relies on the board and the wall.

During the Tang Dynasty, there was no dedicated "blackboard." When teachers needed to write or draw while explaining, they would often use the blackboard or whitewashed wall as temporary tools.

"Blackboard writing" involves writing scriptures and sentences on a thin wooden board about one foot square, which students can pass around and copy. It is similar to the prototype of "movable type", but it is not a fixed blackboard.

"White walls" are actually just white walls. Schools with slightly better conditions would whitewash one mud wall, and teachers would write on the wall with charcoal or chalk. After writing, they would erase it and write again. However, because the wall surface was rough and easy to peel off, it could not be used for a long time.

This "temporary writing" method means that "writing" accounts for a much smaller proportion of teaching than "speaking," relying more on teachers' oral instruction and students' memory.

Teaching model: a three-pronged approach of "reciting scriptures + copying + corporal punishment"

The content is based on Confucian classics.
In the early stages of learning, students first learn to read and write using primers such as the "Thousand Character Classic" and "Rapid Learning Manual".

As they grew older, they studied Confucian classics such as the Analects, the Book of Poetry, and the Book of Documents, but they rarely learned practical knowledge such as arithmetic and nature, unless they were in a special arithmetic school, which was only found in official schools and was rare in village schools.

The methods mainly consist of "recitation" and "copying".

The teacher first "explains the scriptures," and then the students recite them aloud together until they can recite them from memory.

Next, students copied the scriptures onto hemp paper or bamboo slips using a brush. Because paper was expensive, many students practiced on a sand tray first, emphasizing that "reading a book a hundred times will reveal its meaning" rather than learning through understanding.

Discipline is maintained through corporal punishment.

In this era, schools had extremely strict discipline requirements. If students could not recite the scriptures, wrote the wrong words, or had improper posture, the teacher would hit their palms with a ruler, make them stand as punishment, or even make them kneel.

The Tang Yulin records that "the doctor was strict and resolute, and all the students were afraid of him."

Xiao Ran didn't want it to be like this; she hoped the classroom would be relaxed and enjoyable.

Children should like their teachers and be their friends, not be afraid of them.

The classroom format is "mixed-age teaching + teacher-student instruction".

There are no grade levels; the students in the school are of varying ages, ranging from seven or eight years old to fifteen or sixteen. Teachers provide guidance according to the students' "levels".

There is no fixed class schedule; class times are arranged by the teacher. Classes are suspended during busy farming seasons and intensively taught during slack seasons. The daily study time is uncertain, often from early morning to afternoon.

This situation is actually suitable for this era.

They were all children from ordinary families, and even though they were young, they still had to help with farm work.

Previously, village schools were mostly thatched huts, where students either sat on the ground or wrote on low desks, a stark contrast to Xiao Ran's design of "tall tables and chairs + large windows".

Xiao Ran's school, with its blackboard, high tables and chairs, and emphasis on practical knowledge, essentially breaks away from the Tang Dynasty's tradition of "respecting the classics and emphasizing memorization," and is closer to "intuitive teaching" and "universal education."

The blackboard made knowledge transfer more efficient, and the standardized desks and chairs facilitated group teaching. This was completely revolutionary during the Zhenguan period, so it's no wonder that Li Lizhi and others found it "novel".

Xiao Ran had prepared the chalk well in advance.

It's just a bit rough and not very aesthetically pleasing compared to later versions.

Xiao Ran's goal is simply to make it usable.

Xiao Ran picked up the chalk. "Fifth Sister, try writing on this."

Li Lizhi took the chalk and examined it carefully. "Young master, what is this?"

"This is chalk made of lime, used for writing on blackboards."

Li Lizhi was very interested and wrote the words "Kaolao Village School" on the blackboard.

"It's so beautiful!" Zhang Jinhe exclaimed sincerely.

Zhang Huaicai and Zhang Mingde had seen Li Lizhi's handwriting before and praised it highly.

Li Lizhi's calligraphy may not be comparable to masters like Yu Shinan, but it's not an exaggeration to say that it represents the pinnacle of calligraphy for ordinary people.

Zhang Erya's handwriting is similar to Zhang Jinhe's, but Zhang Erya herself didn't write much.

Xiao Ran was the same; although he had practiced, he had no talent and his performance was also terrible.

Wang Ji took a few steps closer, squinted at the words on the blackboard, his fingertips unconsciously tapping lightly on the hem of his sleeve. After a long while, he slowly nodded, his tone carrying a hint of approval:

"Fifth Sister's calligraphy already follows a set pattern."

He raised his hand and pointed to the three characters “Kaolao Village”: “The strokes are neat and even, and the beginning and ending of each stroke are well-regulated. There is no delicate air in the writing of ordinary women.”

"Especially the vertical hook of the character '村' (village), the strokes are vigorous, like bamboo shoots breaking through the soil in spring, hiding an upward force, which shows that the calligrapher has worked hard to copy the model."

As he spoke, his gaze shifted to the word "school," and his tone changed slightly, adding a hint of guidance:

"Upon closer inspection, the strokes are a bit too restrained. The final stroke of the character '学' ends too abruptly, lacking the variation of 'heavy as collapsing clouds, light as a cicada's wing'—if it could be extended a bit more, like the composure of an old general withdrawing his troops, the energy would be even stronger."

“And the structure,” Wang Ji gestured lightly between the characters with his fingertips, “your characters are dignified, each one standing upright, but they lack a bit of lively, irregularity.”

"The character '堂' is usually wider at the top and narrower at the bottom, but you wrote the '土' radical too rigidly. If you make the middle vertical stroke slightly to the left and the '口' radical at the bottom slightly to the right, like a person turning sideways to make way, it will appear more lively. A good character is one that hides ingenuity within the rules."

Wang Ji turned to look at Li Lizhi, his eyes filled with the gentle warmth of an elder towards a younger person:
"You have good penmanship, but what you lack is boldness. Copying model texts is about learning the rules, but breaking the rules is about revealing your personality. Once you're more proficient, try making your brushstrokes a little more 'wild,' don't be afraid to go beyond the bounds—only when your characters have your own spirit will they truly come alive."

Li Lizhi's fingers tightened slightly as she held the chalk. When she looked up, her eyes were filled with genuine respect. She bowed slightly and said, "Sir, your words are insightful. I have learned a great deal."

She turned to look at the words on the blackboard, her fingertip lightly touching the stroke of the character "学" (learn), and said softly:
“In the past, when I copied calligraphy, I only thought about the word ‘rules’ and was always afraid of going beyond the rules, which would wear down the vitality of my brushstrokes. The teacher said ‘be bold’ and ‘let your personality show in your writing.’ These words were like breaking through the window paper—it turns out that in addition to being dignified, you should let your brush follow your heart.”

There was not a trace of a princess's arrogance in her tone, only the sincerity of a junior to an elder, like a humble bamboo that listens to the guidance of the wind and is willing to grow upwards in accordance with the guidance.

(End of this chapter)