Top Scholar

Chapter 5 The Hundred-Day Promise
"What? You're going to slaughter a pig?" the old lady exclaimed in surprise.

"Grandma, I said I want to study and take the imperial examination to become a scholar..." Su Lu said helplessly.

“That’s right, pork stew is delicious.” The old lady swallowed and said happily, “If Qiu-ge’er becomes a pork butcher, Grandma will be in for a treat. Grandma loves pork intestines the most.”

“I love eating pig tails…” Jinbao’s mouth was watering.

"Qiu-ge'er, you really should learn to slaughter pigs," the uncle said with amusement. "From childhood to adulthood, how many days of school have you ever attended?"

“Exactly,” Auntie chimed in. “Do you even remember which way the school gate faces?”

"Isn't that because my sister-in-law has been telling Xia-ge'er and Qiu-ge'er since they were little that studying is useless?" the younger sister-in-law said indignantly. "It's useless, yet she still made Chun-ge'er study."

“Chun-ge’er is the right material, but those two aren’t!” Auntie raised an eyebrow upon hearing this and retorted sharply to her sister-in-law, “The little bit of money we save from every penny we have should be spent on steel!”

"..." The aunt was speechless for a moment. Even though she had met Su Lu, she had to admit that Qiu Ge'er couldn't keep up with Chun Ge'er in terms of studying.

“I think I have the talent,” Su Lu said without any sense of inferiority.

"Do you think I don't know what you're thinking? You just don't want to work! You can't even recite the Three Character Classic." The uncle, thinking he had seen through Su Lu, said, "'In teaching children, one must be particular,' do you know what comes after that?"

"Of course I know," Su Lu said in a muffled voice.

"Then carry it on your back," the aunt sneered.

“If you’re going to memorize it, start from the beginning.” Su Youcai, somewhat dissatisfied with his brother and sister-in-law, tried to smooth things over for his son, saying, “I can’t even memorize half of it properly…”

“Explain the meaning of words and phrases in detail, and understand the punctuation.” But then Su Lu recited fluently:
"To be a scholar, one must begin with a beginning."

After elementary school, students proceed to the Four Books.

The Analects consists of twenty chapters.

Disciples, remember these wise words.

Mencius, in seven chapters…

Su Lu recited the entire text in one breath, up to "Master the classics and read the histories," before stopping and asking his dumbfounded uncle and aunt, "Do we need to continue reciting?"

In fact, he dared not continue reciting. Because the next section began "examining the lineage and understanding the beginning and end," and in the version he had studied, there was still "sixteen generations, up to the Chongzhen Emperor"...

"No need, I won't understand even if you recite it." Fortunately, Auntie had already calmed down, and rubbing her temples, she asked Uncle, "Husband, is he reciting it correctly?"

"..." The uncle had actually forgotten the rest of the text long ago. He was judging others by his own standards, which is why he thought Su Lu couldn't memorize it either. He could only nod somewhat awkwardly and say, "More or less."

“Not a single word is different!” Su Youcai said happily.

"Qiu-ge'er is amazing!" Su Tai clapped his hands happily and said, "I can only recite up to 'Xiang Jiuling, who can warm the bed,' and then I can't remember the rest..."

"I don't know a single word." Jin Bao'er clapped her hands vigorously, looking very proud.

"Your kid still has some talent." The uncle was also very happy, and patted Su Lu's head, saying, "Your head feels quite clear."

“Brother, Qiu’er has done a great service for the family, so he should be rewarded.” Su Youcai then seized the opportunity and said, “Let’s grant the child’s wish.”

"Sigh." The eldest uncle nodded and looked at his wife, saying, "Then let's not rush into having him become an apprentice. Let Qiu-ge study for a couple more days?"

"Fine, I won't bow then." Auntie glared at Uncle, finally backing down.

Before Su Lu could even feel happy, she heard her tone shift abruptly: "But whether you're cut out for it or not, it's not up to me, Auntie, or them—"

"Then how do we determine that?" Su Lu asked in a deep voice.

"If you're capable enough to get into Taiping Academy, then I'll admit you're cut out for studying!" Auntie said in a deep voice.

“Sister-in-law, aren’t you making things difficult for him? He’s only studied for a few days, and you want him to take the exam for Taiping Academy? What a joke!” Su Youcai got angry as soon as he heard this.

"You can't even pass the Taiping Academy exam, yet you want to become a Xiucai?" Auntie said proudly, "Not only do you have to pass the exam, but you also have to be among the top students like Chun Ge to have any hope!"

"They only accept students under the age of fourteen. He'll be too old after the New Year!" Su Youcai said helplessly.

"Don't they recruit students at the end of the year? Chun-ge'er passed the exam in the twelfth lunar month of that year," Auntie recalled vividly.

“That’s too short a time. At most, there are only three months left. Even if Qiu Ge’er studies day and night, it’s simply not enough time…” Su Youcai sighed, “Don’t even mention three months, three years wouldn’t be enough.”

"Give him three months. If he can do it, great. If not, he can become an apprentice sooner!" Auntie had already made up her mind.

“Sister-in-law…” Su Youcai’s mouth was full of bitterness. He rationally understood that his sister-in-law was right. Those who could pass the imperial examinations were the best of the best. Ordinary people should realize this as soon as possible and get rid of their burdens.

But this was the first time his son had ever been determined to do something...

"Old man, stop talking." But Su Lu said in a deep voice, "Three months it is!"

He stared intently at his aunt and said resolutely, "I'll prove you wrong by passing the exam!"

"What if you don't pass the exam?" The aunt's pupils contracted, startled by his gaze. She then thought to herself, how could she let a child intimidate her? So she glared back fiercely.

"Whatever you say!" Su Lu and his aunt glared at each other like fighting cocks.

"What do you mean?" Auntie was taken aback. "It means 'You'll be in charge when the time comes,'" Uncle said.

“Alright, you said it yourself!” Aunt nodded emphatically.

~~
Although he managed to gain about a hundred days, Su Lu could only study after the autumn harvest was over.

Back in the field in the afternoon, Su Tai continued to harvest the remaining sorghum. Su Youcai and Su Lu then worked together to thresh the grain.

The two first laid a coarse cloth on the ground, then placed a wooden trough on it. Then Su Lu held the trough, while Su Youcai held a bundle of sorghum and forcefully slammed the ears of sorghum onto the trough.

The bright red sorghum grains fluttered down, most landing in the trough, and quite a few scattering onto the sheet. Su Lu immediately understood what 'Xia Sha' meant; it was indeed very similar.

Amidst the flying dust, Su Youcai, while throwing and smashing the object, asked him:
"Son, didn't you only know up to 'If you raise a child without teaching him, it is the father's fault' in the Three Character Classic? Did you take some magic pill today? How come you're so amazing?"

"After suffering from heatstroke, my mind suddenly became clear. I also felt enlightened and realized that in this world, studying is the only way out," Su Lu said in a muffled voice, covering his mouth and nose.

“Then continue reciting it for me,” Su Youcai said with great interest.

"It won't happen again." Su Lu shook his head.

"Then let's memorize the 'Hundred Family Surnames'?" Su Youcai asked again.

"Zhao, Qian, Sun, Li; Zhou, Wu, Zheng, Wang; Feng, Chen, Chu, Wei; Jiang, Shen, Han, Yang... I won't go on after that," Su Lu replied honestly.

"What about the Thousand Character Classic?" Su Youcai persisted.

"Heaven and earth were dark and yellow, the universe was vast and boundless. The sun and moon waxed and waned... the stars and constellations were arrayed in the sky." Su Lu became increasingly apprehensive.

"It's 'The sun and moon wax and wane, the stars and constellations are arrayed in the sky.'" Su Youcai said speechlessly, "You're going to test me on something as basic as a shovel? These are the most basic things!"

"..." Su Lu was also helpless. In his previous life, elementary school only required students to memorize the "Three Character Classic," not the "Hundred Family Surnames" or the "Thousand Character Classic"...

"Sigh, it's not your fault, kid, it's all your old man's fault." After saying that, Su Youcai apologized to Su Lu, "It's all my fault for being so busy with the imperial examinations in recent years that I neglected to teach you two brothers, and as a result, both of your educations were delayed..."

He stopped what he was doing, wiped his eyes with his sleeve, and muttered, "Oops, I squinted."

Su Lu silently got up and handed him the bamboo tube filled with water. Su Youcai took it, drank a sip, and said with even greater apology:
“Brother Qiu, our ancestor Su Laoquan was able to start working hard at the age of twenty-seven because his family was well-off. With our family’s circumstances, starting over at the age of thirteen is really too late.”

"Father, that's because I haven't learned it before. I'll start working hard to catch up from now on, and I'm sure I can catch up!" Su Lu said earnestly.

What father could resist the urge to learn in his son's eyes?
"Damn it, they're squinting again." Su Youcai looked up at the flock of geese in the sky, sometimes forming a V-shape, sometimes a straight line as they flew south. He couldn't help but sigh.

“Even a feathered beast can read, how could my son be less literate than a bird? Alright, learning is worse than not learning, I will teach you from the beginning.”

As he spoke, he winked at Su Lu, trying to relieve his son's pressure, saying, "Don't take your aunt's words too seriously. Even if you don't get into the academy, as long as you want to learn, your father can still teach you. Your old man may not be good at much else, but he's quite skilled at teaching."

“That’s what I think too,” Su Lu nodded emphatically, grinning, “I’ll give it my all and try to get into the academy. But even if I don’t get in and become an apprentice, I’ll still study hard!”

"That's right!" Su Youcai laughed with satisfaction. "It should be just like what the Three Character Classic says: 'Like carrying firewood, like hanging horns, though the body is weary, the spirit remains steadfast!'"

"Then what should the child learn?" Su Lu pressed.

“‘Three Hundred Thousand,’ ‘Elementary Learning,’ ‘Classic of Filial Piety,’ as well as ‘The Four Books,’ ‘Classic of Ancient Couplets,’ ‘Primer of Prosody’…” Su Youcai recited them as if they were his own treasures.

"So many?" Su Lu exclaimed in surprise.

"Many? These are just the basics." Su Youcai emphasized, "The most important ones are the 'Four Books' and the 'Collected Annotations on the Four Books'. The Taiping Academy's written exam has two types of questions: one is the Four Books in calligraphy; the other is the interpretation of the text, which must be answered using the 'Collected Annotations on the Four Books'."

"What do 'Tie Jing' and 'Mo Yi' mean?" Su Lu accurately extracted the key points.

“Tiejing means covering part of the content of the classics, and the examinee must fill in the blanks word for word to be considered correct,” Su Youcai explained. “Moyi means answering the classics with a pen.”

"I understand." Su Lu nodded. It was just fill-in-the-blank and word explanation.

In his mind, these were all standard easy questions.

"Aren't we going to have a standardized test on the eight-legged essay?" he asked again.

"No exam. Taiping Academy is rigorous in its scholarship. After classes begin, they will start teaching the classics from the beginning to avoid errors. How could they ask candidates to write an essay on a given topic before the classics have even been taught?" Su Youcai answered with certainty. The only requirement the clan had for him was to send at least one member to Taiping Academy every year, so he knew exactly what he was doing.

"That's good." Su Lu breathed a long sigh of relief. Even with his confidence, he knew that it was impossible to learn the eight-legged essay in a short time.

"Can we skip those...basic knowledge and go straight to the Four Books and Five Classics?" he asked his father again.

Even a dog wouldn't glance at anything that's not on the exam...

“That won’t do. Years ago, the academy did use this method for examinations, but we found that the students who entered had a terrible foundation. They didn’t even know how to use parallelism and rhyme; how could they possibly write good essays?” Su Youcai earnestly instructed his son.

“Learning is like building a house. The foundation is buried underground and cannot be seen, but it is crucial. If you do it carelessly, the house will collapse. So later, the academy put an oral exam before the written exam to test these basics.”

"Understood." Su Lu nodded, abandoning the idea of ​​saving time.

But he was still very happy because he felt that his father should be a good teacher, and the academy should also be a good academy.

(End of this chapter)