Top Scholar

Chapter 146 The Master is Back

The gentlemen, true to their word, obediently studied with Su Lu for a whole morning, gaining a deep understanding of the principles and advantages of the phonetic symbols, and finally believed that what he said was true.

It turns out that a mere fifty symbols can completely replace eight hundred and sixty-six fanqie characters!

Moreover, it can more perfectly mark the 2,821 fanqie sounds in the Hongwu Zhengyun!

Now their attitude completely reversed, from 'You absolutely must learn it?' to 'You absolutely must learn it!'

Even if you chase them away, they won't leave!

Because the teachers' biggest headache in their daily teaching is teaching students the fanqie phonetic notation method.

Teaching just over 800 fanqie characters would take a year and a half. And teaching just fanqie characters isn't enough; students also need to be taught 'character decomposition for sound extraction' and 'phonetic combination for pronunciation.' Both of these steps require balancing phonetic and rhyme coordination with accurate tones, which is extremely difficult for beginners. Often, even after learning all three steps, they still can't smoothly complete the pronunciation.

It's absolutely painful to teach and agonizing to learn. Both teachers and students want the other to let them off the hook... But if you don't learn, you can't even read books. So teachers and students can only torture each other until one day the student finally understands and passes the test, or gives up completely.

There is now a method that can shorten the average two years of learning phonetics to just two months for children, and it is simpler and more accurate, without so many things that can only be understood intuitively. How could gentlemen not flock to it?
What's Chinese New Year compared to learning phonetic symbols? Every day will be Chinese New Year from now on!

You Muyou disguised himself as a teacher and mingled among the students, listening to their lessons for a whole morning. Now he was completely at ease. His confidence came not only from the phonetic symbols but also from Su Lu's teaching ability, which far exceeded his expectations!
Su Lu's lectures were well-organized and incredibly clear. Every sentence was so precise that even the most complex concepts became simple and easy to understand when he spoke them, offering sudden enlightenment.

You Muyou even had the illusion that if his teacher had been Su Lu, he would definitely have passed the imperial examination...

Now he was completely relieved and left the county school at noon. He had just eaten a couple of bites of food back at the county office when he received a report that the county magistrate's official boat had been spotted returning from the riverside outpost.

Forgetting to finish his meal, Mr. You quickly ordered the preparation of ceremonial carriages and led his entourage to the dock outside the city gate to welcome Magistrate Lu.

~~
Standing on the deck, Magistrate Lu looked at the approaching Hejiang County and couldn't help but sigh to himself. Although he always wanted to escape from here, this was still the place where he felt most at ease.

During his stay in Luzhou, he had to be careful everywhere he went. Not to mention the prefect, he had to greet everyone with a smile, including the assistant prefect and the clerks in the various departments. He also had to drink with them like a young lady every day, which made his hemorrhoids almost flare up.

Fortunately, Old Ma gave me some ointment, which barely kept me going until the return trip...

The official boat smoothly docked at the pier, the mooring and the placement of the steps were done in one smooth motion, and Chang Sui helped Magistrate Lu to disembark steadily.

Yu Muyou and the county's deputy chief officers were all waiting at the dock, bowing and saying, "Welcome back, Your Excellency!"

"We're finally back." Magistrate Lu also breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Gentlemen, no need for formalities. You've all worked hard these past few days."

"It's not hard work. It's the county magistrate who's working hard in the prefectural city," Magistrate Cao said with a smile.

"It was indeed hard work, but it was worth it!" Magistrate Lu said proudly. "I reported this year's school plan to the Prefect. At first, the Prefect was not happy and thought it was unrealistic."

"How did the county magistrate turn the tide?" Registrar Bao asked, joining in the conversation.

"Hahaha! I have a brilliant plan!" Magistrate Lu laughed, but he didn't tell him how he did it. He only boasted, "In short, in the end, the Prefect allocated two thousand taels of silver to this county to help with education."

He sighed and said, "It took a lot of effort to get these two thousand taels of silver. I had to go to three parties in the county and only got it this morning. I rushed back without stopping!"

Luzhou is more than 100 li away from Hejiang, and it only takes two or three hours to travel down the river by boat...

"Your Excellency has truly worked hard and made great contributions. Please go back to your residence and get some rest!" The assistants hurriedly flattered him.

"Hmm." Magistrate Lu nodded in satisfaction. He hadn't heard such flattery for several days and was starting to miss it.

Sitting in the green sedan chair that had been with him for ten years, with an entourage leading the way and a large retinue of attendants, Magistrate Lu returned to his loyal Hejiang County.

The common people bowed down in awe, and carriages and horses gave way to the side of the road. How could it not be described as awe-inspiring?
~~
Upon returning to the county office, Magistrate Lu went straight to his residence. Attended by his concubine, he removed his cumbersome official robes and changed into casual home clothes. He discarded his heavy official boots and put on light cloud-shaped shoes... The shoes were made of blue satin, with slightly upturned toes like clouds, symbolizing a meteoric rise in rank.

After offering incense to the Guanyin Bodhisattva, the Three Pure Ones, and the Zhenwu Emperor, Magistrate Lu came out of the flower hall to speak with You Muyou.

"Did the classes go smoothly today?" Magistrate Lu asked as soon as he sat down; he had been thinking about it all day.

“It didn’t go well at first.” You Muyou sighed. “The Second Master and Instructor Shui didn’t take their reprimands to heart. Instead of motivating them, they annoyed the teachers.”

Magistrate Lu then sneered, "Let's not even talk about that salted fish surnamed Shui. And that Cao guy doesn't know what's good for him either. I was willing to share some of the pie with him, but he didn't appreciate it! From now on, don't let him participate in anything related to running schools."

"Yes." You Muyou acknowledged and noted it down, then changed the subject, saying, "Fortunately, Su Lu did not disappoint the Master's high expectations. His first lecture was incredibly skillful, and he subdued those old foxes with just a small demonstration. After listening to him for a whole morning, they can't be chased away now."

"Haha, that's good!" Magistrate Lu said happily, "I was worried that the child was too young and wouldn't be able to handle the situation, and that those pedantic gentlemen might kick him off the stage! That's why I wanted to rush back to help him out!"

"Yes, that child is truly remarkable." You Muyou nodded and said softly, "Especially since his family suffered a sudden and drastic change. I was worried for him today, but he remained completely unaffected. He has the air of 'remaining calm even when Mount Tai collapses before him.'" "What drastic change?" Magistrate Lu frowned. Su Lu was now definitely his Achilles' heel.

You Muyou then told Dongweng about Su Youma's arrest and torture, and Su Lu's arrival in the county.

Of course, there were some inside stories that were inconvenient for Su Lu to know: "I have interrogated Wang Xijie. He and the Fourth Master both took money from those wine merchants and wanted to pin the blame on Erlang Wine. Who knew that Su Youma was such a tough guy, he insisted that he didn't drink Erlang Wine that night, and no matter how much he was beaten, he wouldn't change his mind."

"Where is Su Youma now?" Magistrate Lu asked with a dark face.

"The students have already asked them to release the man and arranged for him to receive treatment at the county hospital. Liu Xunke reported back that fortunately, it was just some minor injuries and nothing life-threatening." At this point, You Muyou naturally had to file a complaint against Jiang Dianshi.

"Actually, these things didn't have to happen, but the Fourth Master wanted to take advantage of the Master's absence to wield power, so he created all this trouble... If the students hadn't caught them for forging tickets yesterday, the Fourth Master wouldn't have released them so readily."

"Hmph!" Magistrate Lu slammed his teacup down. "I've only been gone a few days! And that Jiang fellow is already trying to seize power! Just wait and see how I deal with him this time!"

"Yes, it's true. With Master Lu gone for just a few days, we're constantly at his mercy. We really can't be without him for a moment!" Mr. You exclaimed, pulling out the poem "Pleading for Justice from Prison" from his sleeve and handing it to Magistrate Lu.

"Oh, by the way, this poem was written by Su Lu for Dongweng yesterday."

When Magistrate Lu took the poem, his previously dark face finally broke into a smile. He praised, "What a fine poem! I never expected that my student is not only good at writing but also has such great poetic talent."

He read the last two lines, "I wish to borrow a clear mirror to reflect my pure image, so that I may ride the clouds back to my rightful place!" eight times in total. Clearly, as Zhu Zihe had said, they had struck a chord with him...

Reluctantly turning his gaze away, Magistrate Lu sighed, "It's my fault as his teacher. I haven't taken good care of him. I've made my student worry unnecessarily. I'm truly incompetent."

“Shouldn’t you also compose a poem in response to Dong Weng, so that he can feel at ease?” You Muyou suggested with a smile.

"Of course." How could Magistrate Lu let go of this opportunity to create a good story? After racking his brains for a long time, he finally came up with a draft.

At this moment, the attendant had already prepared brush, ink, and Xuan paper. Magistrate Lu picked up the brush and immediately wrote a poem in response:

As the night deepens and the watchtower closes, I am ashamed of my past mistakes and lack of composure.

He was supposed to be a protector wielding a frost-covered sword, but he lost the strategic pass due to a patrol mission.

The desk is empty, filled with yesterday's mistakes; the young scholar alone faces the tears streaming down his face.

I will risk my life, as clear as ice, to ensure my uncle does not return with regret!

"What a fine poem! Dongweng's poem is more difficult than Hongzhi's, yet more elegant!" You Muyou quickly offered his praise, and then explained, "Oh, by the way, Hongzhi is Su Lu's courtesy name."

"Su Lu has a courtesy name?" Magistrate Lu said regretfully, "I originally wanted to bestow a courtesy name upon him last time, but I was too embarrassed to say it in front of Headmaster Zhu. I didn't expect that fellow to beat me to it."

“If the students told Mr. Dong that even the headmaster didn’t get this opportunity, wouldn’t Mr. Dong feel a little better?” You Muyou said with a smile.

"That's good, that's good." Magistrate Lu was much more at ease and said with a smile, "Give him this poem and tell him that I'm back. He doesn't need to worry about his uncle's case. He can just focus on teaching."

“Yes.” You Muyou responded first, then frowned and said, “But Master Dong, this case is not that simple. It’s probably a bit early to make any promises to him.”

"What's wrong?" Magistrate Lu asked, puzzled. "Isn't it enough to prove that the deceased didn't die from drinking? Besides, does it even need proof? Who can die from drinking just a little bit of alcohol? Did they drink arsenic?"

“What you say is true, Master Dong,” You Muyou said softly. “But those wine merchants are no good. As long as Erlang wine continues to be sold in the county, they are very likely to make another move!”

"I know they're deeply entangled with those murderous and thieving bandits on the river. Even if they fail this time, there's no guarantee they won't repeat the He brothers' tragedy next time." Magistrate Lu knew all the scoundrels under his jurisdiction. After a moment's thought, he said in a deep voice:

"Have someone warn Gongsun Xingshou not to target the Su family and Erlangjiu again."

He sighed and said, "You should also talk to the Su family again. It's fine to sell Erlang Wine in Taiping Town. There's no need to insist on bringing it to the county town."

"Yes." You Muyou said softly, "That's what I thought too. I talked to Hongzhi about it yesterday, but that kid seems a bit unconvinced."

"What's there to be dissatisfied about? Even a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake. Let's all take a step back and leave each other alone," Magistrate Lu said dismissively.

"When we meet again, I will personally advise him to focus on his studies and not get involved in these messy family matters."

"Yes, student understands." You Muyou also felt there was nothing wrong with it.

At this moment, the master and servant had no idea that their decision to compromise would nearly turn Hejiang County upside down...

P.S. Simply put, you can enter a prize draw by voting for monthly tickets this month, so please vote enthusiastically!!!
Also, thank you to the new alliance leader 'Chen Jinyan's Ramblings'~~~
(End of this chapter)