When Zhou Wenli entered the house, he was carrying a packet of pastries.
He was thirteen years old this year, and his frame had already begun to fill out. Wearing a slightly worn blue-green long robe, he looked much more refined and scholarly than the other boys his age in the village.
Madam Ma circled her son, looking him over with a heart full of concern.
“Why have you gotten so thin again? Is the food at the school no good?”
Zhou Wenli smiled helplessly.
“Mother, you said the exact same thing the last time I came home.”
“How can it be the same? You spend all your time studying in the county town. It must be exhausting for your mind!”
As she spoke, Madam Ma took her son’s bundle from him.
Old Madam Feng also beckoned to him with a broad smile.
“Wenli, come here and let your Grandma have a good look at you.”
Zhou Wenli bowed respectfully.
“Grandpa, Grandma.”
He then greeted Zhou Shoushan and Madam Liu before finally noticing Zhou Xiaozhou standing by the doorway.
“Xiaozhou?”
Zhou Wenli was a little surprised.
The last time he had come home, this little younger cousin hadn’t been nearly as tall as he was now.
“Brother Wenli!”
Zhou Xiaozhou ran over with a big smile.
“You’re home!”
Zhou Wenli crouched down, opened the packet of pastries, and took out a piece of osmanthus cake to give him.
“I brought this for you.”
Zhou Xiaozhou’s eyes lit up.
“Thank you, Brother!”
He accepted the cake but didn’t rush to eat it.
Zhou Wenli smiled. “What? Afraid it won’t taste good?”
“No.”
Xiaozhou answered seriously.
“I want to take it back and share it with my sisters.”
Zhou Wenli was taken aback for a moment before breaking into a smile.
“Then you can have all of these.”
He handed over the remaining pieces of cake as well.
Madam Ma saw this and felt a little pained.
“You won’t even eat them yourself, yet you’re giving him so many?”
Zhou Wenli smiled.
“Mother, I’ve already eaten some.”
The family chatted and laughed as they went inside.
Madam Ma busied herself serving her son eggs, then urged Madam Liu to prepare a couple more dishes.
Zhou Shoushan said nothing. Instead, he turned and went to the kitchen to fetch a piece of salted fish.
“Wenli rarely comes home. Let’s steam this for dinner tonight.”
Zhou Wenli hurriedly thanked him.
“Thank you, Second Uncle.”
Madam Ma’s face brightened again.
She looked at her son, growing more pleased with him the longer she gazed.
“Wenli, didn’t Teacher praise your writing a while ago? Hurry and tell your Grandpa and Grandma about it.”
Zhou Wenli looked a little embarrassed.
“Teacher only said I’d improved compared to my previous work.”
“That’s still praise!”
Madam Ma beamed.
“Our family will be counting on you from now on.”
Zhou Laogen was delighted to hear this.
“Wenli, you must study diligently and stay humble. Don’t let success go to your head.”
“Your grandson will remember.”
Zhou Xiaozhou sat nearby, still chewing on his osmanthus cake.
He thought his older cousin was a pretty nice person.
He was polite and didn’t put on airs like some scholars.
But then Madam Ma suddenly changed the subject and turned to look at him.
“Speaking of which, Xiaozhou has started attending the xuetang too.”
Zhou Wenli looked surprised.
“Really?”
“Of course.”
Madam Ma smiled.
“He’s only four and a half and has been attending for just a few days, yet he already says Teacher praised him for being clever. Everyone in the village knows now that our Zhou family has two young scholars.”
It sounded like a compliment.
But when she said “two young scholars,” there was something slightly unnatural in her tone.
Zhou Wenli looked at Xiaozhou.
“Do you like studying, Xiaozhou?”
“I do!”
Xiaozhou nodded.
“It’s just that writing characters is really hard.”
Zhou Wenli laughed.
“When I first started at the school, I couldn’t write well either.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
He held out his hand.
“If there’s anything you don’t understand, you can ask me from now on.”
Zhou Xiaozhou perked up.
“Thank you, Brother!”
Madam Ma frowned.
“Wenli, you already have more than enough schoolwork of your own. How would you have time to teach him?”
Zhou Wenli was taken aback.
“Mother, I only meant I’d teach him once in a while.”
“Even once in a while takes up your time.”
Madam Ma placed a piece of meat in his bowl.
“You’ll be sitting for the exams next year. You can’t afford to let anything distract you.”
The room fell somewhat quiet.
Zhou Xiaozhou blinked.
He finally understood.
His Eldest Aunt was worried that if his older cousin taught him, it would interfere with his own studies.
He could understand that.
After all, the family had spent so much money on his older cousin’s education. Naturally, they were all hoping he’d make something of himself.
Still, understanding the reason didn’t stop Xiaozhou from feeling a little uncomfortable at being treated like a troublesome little child.
“Brother Wenli, you should focus on your studies.”
Xiaozhou smiled.
“I have Teacher to teach me, and Second Sister helps me too.”
Zhou Wenli glanced at him.
“Qingzhu knows how to read and write?”
Zhou Qingzhu had been sitting in a corner. Hearing this, she hurriedly nodded.
“I know a little.”
Zhou Wenli didn’t think much of it.
“That’s good. Knowing how to read and write is always useful.”
Madam Ma was about to say something else, but Zhou Laogen had already spoken.
“All right. Let’s eat.”
After the meal, Zhou Wenli returned to his room to put away his belongings.
Madam Ma followed him inside.
“Wenli, listen to your Mother. Just because Xiaozhou is young doesn’t mean you should give in to him in everything.”
Zhou Wenli frowned.
“Mother, what are you talking about?”
“You don’t know? Everyone in the village has been praising how clever he is lately.”
Madam Ma lowered her voice.
“Some people are even saying he might accomplish more than you someday.”
Zhou Wenli’s hand paused as he put away his books.
He had been studying since childhood, and the people in the clan had always praised him whenever they saw him.
Now, all of a sudden, there was a four-and-a-half-year-old younger cousin whom everyone wanted to compare him with.
It was only natural that he would feel something about it.
But when he remembered how Xiaozhou had held the osmanthus cake and earnestly thanked him earlier, he couldn’t help finding the whole thing rather amusing.
“Mother, Xiaozhou has only been studying for a few days.”
“That’s exactly why you can’t let your guard down!”
After saying that, Madam Ma left.
Zhou Wenli stood beside the table and let out a long sigh after a while.
He was just about to take out a book to review his lessons when he heard a soft knock at the door.
“Brother Wenli.”
It was Zhou Xiaozhou.
“Can I come in?”
Zhou Wenli opened the door.
The little boy outside was clutching a book and looking up at him expectantly.
“Brother, there’s a character I just can’t seem to write properly.”
Zhou Xiaozhou raised the book.
“Could you teach me?”
Looking at the book his younger cousin was holding up in front of him, Zhou Wenli couldn’t help smiling.
“Come in.”
Xiaozhou happily stepped over the threshold.
He placed the book on the table, then took out a sheet of paper from his book bag. It was covered in his own handwriting.
“Brother, look.”
Zhou Wenli lowered his head and nearly burst out laughing.
The characters on the paper were crooked and uneven, their strokes going every which way.
A few were fairly neat, but the rest were barely recognizable.
“You wrote these?”
“Mm-hmm.”
Zhou Xiaozhou looked a little embarrassed.
“Teacher said I can’t hold my brush steadily.”
Zhou Wenli didn’t rush to comment. Instead, he told Xiaozhou to sit properly, then picked up a writing brush and wrote a character for him.
The brush moved across the paper with steady, controlled strokes, each movement precise from beginning to end.
Zhou Xiaozhou’s eyes lit up.
“Brother, your writing is so pretty!”
Zhou Wenli smiled.
“I’ve been practicing for several years. Of course I’m more skilled than you.”
He handed the brush to him.
“Give it a try.”
Zhou Xiaozhou gripped the brush carefully and copied the character.
The result was still a little crooked.
Unwilling to give up, he tried again.
Seeing that Xiaozhou was getting impatient, Zhou Wenli placed a hand on the paper to stop him.
“Don’t rush.”
“When I was your age, I couldn’t even hold a brush properly.”
Zhou Xiaozhou looked up.
“But Brother writes so well now.”
“That’s why you need to practice little by little.”
Zhou Wenli patiently taught him.
First, sit properly. Then, hold the brush correctly. Only after that should he begin writing.
Zhou Xiaozhou followed his instructions, and sure enough, his writing was a little smoother than before.
After finishing a character, he studied it for a long time.
“Brother, how long will it take before I can write as well as you?”
Zhou Wenli thought for a moment.
“If you practice diligently every day, you should be about as good as me in a few years.”
“A few years?”
Zhou Xiaozhou’s little face fell.
“Won’t I be all grown up by then?”
Zhou Wenli finally burst out laughing.
“Studying is a lifelong pursuit.”
He pointed at the book on the table.
“You recognize a few characters now, and you already think you know how to study?”
Zhou Xiaozhou shook his head.
“No.”
“Good.”
Zhou Wenli took out an essay he had written recently.
“Have a look at this.”
The paper was covered in densely written characters.
Zhou Xiaozhou carefully read a few lines.
He recognized most of the characters individually, but when they were put together, he could only understand the general meaning.
Zhou Wenli wasn’t surprised by this.
“This is an essay Teacher assigned us.”
“Besides learning to recognize characters, you also have to study the classics, understand their meaning, and learn how to compose essays. When you take the imperial examinations in the future, you won’t pass just because you’re good at memorizing books.”
Zhou Xiaozhou listened attentively.
In his previous life, he had read plenty of books and knew that learning had never been simply a matter of comparing who could memorize things faster.
But seeing his older cousin’s essay with his own eyes made him truly realize that what he was learning now was only the most basic knowledge.
“Brother, how long did it take you to write this essay?”
“I revised it for three days.”
“Three days?”
“Mm.”
Zhou Wenli smiled bitterly.
“Teacher still said there were several parts that weren’t good enough and told me to come home and revise them again.”
Zhou Xiaozhou was stunned.
So his older cousin got criticized by Teacher too.
He thought about it for a moment, then suddenly said with a serious expression:
“Brother, you work so hard.”
Zhou Wenli froze.
In the past, the only thing his family ever told him was that he was destined to pursue an official career.
Some praised his promising future, while others reminded him not to disappoint the hopes the entire family had placed in him.
Very few people ever asked whether he was tired.
And now, a little boy who was only four and a half had actually told him how hard he worked.
A strange feeling stirred in Zhou Wenli’s heart, one he couldn’t quite put into words.
He reached out and gently ruffled Xiaozhou’s hair.
“You have it just as hard.”
“If you want to study, you’ll have to endure some hardship.”
“I’m not afraid!”
Zhou Xiaozhou answered loudly.
Zhou Wenli laughed at his enthusiasm.
“Then write two more characters from today’s assignment.”
Xiaozhou’s face immediately fell.
“More writing?”
“Weren’t you the one who said you weren’t afraid of hardship?”
Zhou Wenli raised an eyebrow.
Xiaozhou gritted his teeth.
“I’ll do it!”
He returned to his seat, picked up the writing brush, and began practicing again with great concentration.