Chapter 20: Literacy Is Not Difficult

Chou Dan was wearing the new clothes that Madam Zhang had hurried to finish over the past two days. Slung across his waist was a small satchel she had sewn from new fabric, containing his books, ink, paper, and an inkstone. It felt slightly heavy, but manageable.

Old Man Wang looked at his neatly dressed grandson, a surge of pride rising in his heart. There was not a single child in his Wang family who was subpar; that tutor certainly had a good eye!

To mark the occasion of his enrollment, Old Madam Liu had specially provided extra money so the three of them could take an ox cart into town.

The street where the schools were located was bustling with the morning rush. Students clad in blue robes were hurrying toward their respective academies, their ages varying, their faces filled with the exuberant vitality of youth.

Wang Chengzhi watched with excitement and lowered his voice: "Father, from now on, our Chou Dan will be just like them!"

Old Man Wang smiled reservedly: "We paid three taels of silver; they certainly do look different."

Most of these students were heading to the Ruhai Academy at the street corner, but the Shangshan Academy was at the far end of the street. Unlike the liveliness at the front, this area was quite secluded. After knocking on the door, they were greeted by the same gatekeeper as the day before, who led the grandfather and grandson into the main hall.

Master Zhou was already waiting there.

Old Man Wang gazed at Master Zhou, who wore a square cap, a scholar’s robe, and black-soled boots, and felt a rush of excitement. This was the first time in his life he had ever dealt with a scholar!

He spoke with an agitated tone: "Master Zhou! This is my boy. I have brought him today to begin his apprenticeship."

Master Zhou nodded slightly: "Very well. Let us begin."

He stepped forward to straighten Chou Dan’s collar and cap, then guided him to place his hands in a basin of water to wash them—a gesture signifying the cleansing of hands and heart to discard the trivial and preserve the essence. Afterward, they paid respects to the Great Sage, then to Master Zhou, and presented the six traditional gifts. Finally, Master Zhou picked up a brush dipped in cinnabar and placed a dot between Chou Dan’s brows.

"Without accumulation of small steps, one cannot reach a thousand miles; without accumulation of small streams, one cannot form rivers and seas. Learning is a process of accumulating little by little over time. I hope you will cast aside arrogance and impatience and remain steady and grounded."

At that moment, Wang Xuezhou replied in a resonant voice: "Yes!"

Once the initiation ceremony was complete, Wang Chengzhi and Old Man Wang were led away by the gatekeeper to arrange Wang Xuezhou's bedding, and he successfully stepped into the classroom.

As he entered, he was met with six pairs of eyes fixed directly upon him.

Master Zhou instructed Chou Dan to sit in the last row, in an empty seat by the window. To his right sat a chubby little boy with a runny nose, who peered at him curiously. With a sharp sniff, the boy sucked the snot back up his nose.

Chou Dan found it hard to watch and immediately looked away, casting a glance at the other classmates in the room.

There were six students in total, including himself. They looked to be around his age.

With so few students and varying levels of progress, Master Zhou started from the basics.

"The rest of you, take out your books for review. I will begin with the 'Thousand Character Classic'. Xuezhou, take out your book."

Chou Dan pulled out his book and was stunned at the first glance. Back home, with the exception of Wang Chengzhu and Wang Xuewen, no one was allowed to touch books. Old Man Wang and Old Madam Liu were terrified that others might ruin them, so this was his first time ever seeing one.

It read: "Heaven and Earth are dark and yellow, the universe is vast and desolate, the sun and moon wax and wane, the stars are arrayed in their places..."

No wonder his brother Mao Dan said his head spun just looking at Wang Xuewen's books—who wouldn't get dizzy looking at this? There wasn't a single punctuation mark! It seemed that at this time, a tutor’s ability to parse sentences relied entirely on their own experience. Given that, a good teacher was of utmost importance; he wondered how scholarly this Master Zhou truly was...

"Open to the first page. I will read, and you look at the book and follow along."

"Heaven and Earth are dark and yellow, the universe is vast and desolate."

"The sun and moon wax and wane, the stars are arrayed in their places..."

Master Zhou’s voice was clear and crisp, and he read with a rhythmic cadence, pausing exactly where the sentences ended.

Wang Xuezhou followed along, reciting while committing the characters to memory. Although these were traditional characters, learning them was not difficult for him. After Chou Dan read them a few times, Master Zhou scrambled the order and began explaining the structure of each character, teaching him the strokes and radicals first.

"This character is 'Heaven'. It is composed of two parts: the upper is a horizontal stroke, the lower is..."

Master Zhou explained very carefully, and Chou Dan listened with great focus. Once he had finished with Chou Dan, Master Zhou turned to teach the chubby boy and the student in front of him, who were studying the 'Juvenile Learning and Precious Grove'.

As Master Zhou explained the material, the chubby boy secretly picked at his fingers under the desk. Watching him, Chou Dan couldn't tell how much he had absorbed; he seemed even less diligent than the boy in front of him.

After finishing with those two, it was the turn of the remaining three, who were already studying the 'Analects'. They were slightly older, appeared much more composed, and held Master Zhou in great reverence.

When the lesson concluded, Master Zhou turned to quiz Chou Dan. Not only were his answers fluent, but even when the characters were scrambled, he remembered them clearly. This came as a pleasant surprise to Master Zhou.

The child was learning quite quickly; should he accelerate the pace? He decided to observe him a bit longer.

He turned to quiz the chubby boy, but his mood was clearly less pleasant this time. The boy’s answers were stuttered, and he frequently mixed things up. Without hesitation, the tutor picked up a bamboo rod and struck his palm.

The others saw this scene and immediately stiffened. When the tutor quizzed them, everyone else passed without issue.

At midday, when the class dismissed and the tutor left, the chubby boy wailed: "Why was it me getting beaten again today? You guys have no loyalty at all! What would it have hurt to keep me company?"

The three studying the 'Analects' laughed heartily: "Lü Dasheng! You don't work hard yourself, yet you want to drag us down with you—that won't do! Newcomer, you should be careful of him in the future; don't let him lead you astray."

The chubby boy angrily wiped his nose with his sleeve and shouted at Chou Dan: "Newcomer, don't listen to Zheng Guangyuan's nonsense! I wouldn't lead anyone astray!"

Hearing them call him "newcomer" repeatedly, Chou Dan quickly introduced himself: "Hello everyone, my name is Wang Xuezhou, I am five years old, and my home is in Sanshi Town."

Zheng Guangyuan said with a grin: "I'm Zheng Guangyuan, seven years old. My home is in Zhezhi Lane in the east of the city."

After he finished, the person next to him added: "I'm Xia Qianli, also seven years old, and I'm a neighbor of Zheng Guangyuan."

"I'm Zhao Xing, eight years old, from Xuanhua Town."

The chubby boy snorted: "I'm Lü Dasheng, five years old, from the west of the city."

"I... I'm Qi Xian, six years old, from... Shangying Town." Qi Xian looked very nervous, his speech slightly stuttered.

"What month were you born in?" Lü Dasheng looked at Chou Dan with burning intensity.

"June. And you?"

Lü Dasheng laughed loudly, putting one foot on the low desk: "April! I'm older than you! Finally, I'm not the youngest here anymore. Call me 'Big Brother,' and I'll look after you!"

...How childish.