After reviewing “The Hundred Family Surnames” and “The Thousand Character Classic,” Su Lu heard Aunt calling for dinner, finally realizing his stomach was growling.
Having studied intensively all morning, he was long empty inside, having completely digested even the sorghum meal.
Lunch was naturally sorghum cakes. Freshly steamed sorghum cakes were soft in texture, edible for both the elderly and children. Dipped in some fermented tofu, they were incredibly fragrant! Su Lu ate three large cakes in a row, making Aunt roll her eyes.
“Full now? Come with me to deliver food.” It was Aunt (younger) who pulled him away from the table.
After Su Lu and Aunt (younger) went downstairs, Aunt took out a small bowl of steaming egg custard from the large pot, adding a few drops of sesame oil.
Old Master had already finished eating and was lying down, leaving only Old Lady and Jinbao at the table, both immediately drooling.
Aunt gave each of them a spoon: “Eat quickly, it’ll get fishy when cold.”
“Does Qiu Ge’er have any?” Old Lady swallowed her saliva and asked, while Jinbao also looked at her mother.
“Yes, I saved some for him in the pot,” Aunt replied casually, since Old Lady was not only hard of hearing but also forgetful.
“Oh.” Old Lady understood this time and began eating the egg custard with Jinbao, taking turns bite by bite.
~~
Meanwhile, Su Lu followed Aunt (younger) through streets and alleys toward the threshing ground.
Aunt (younger) felt around in the food basket and said, “Open your mouth wide, let me see if you have internal heat.”
“…” Su Lu instinctively complied, and Aunt (younger) quickly stuffed a peeled boiled egg into his mouth.
Su Lu’s eyes widened, momentarily unable to close his mouth.
“You’ve been studying hard, this is to nourish you,” Aunt (younger) whispered. “Eat it quickly, don’t let anyone see. It wouldn’t be good if it reached your Aunt’s ears.”
“Ah…” Su Lu nearly choked. With great effort, he managed to chew and swallow the egg, then sighed deeply and said, “Aunt (younger) is so good.”
“Of course,” Aunt (younger) laughed. “I saw egg custard steaming in the pot, probably none for you…”
“Normal,” Su Lu smiled bitterly. With the old and young at home, good things definitely wouldn’t come his way.
“From now on, I’ll give you an egg every day. Study hard, get into the academy, and give your Aunt a good slap in the face,” Aunt (younger) promised further.
“Mm,” Su Lu nodded, since he was planning to take the academy exam anyway.
As they spoke, the two arrived at the threshing ground.
Dust filled the air at the threshing ground. People used wooden shovels to scoop up harvested sorghum and toss it into the air against the wind. Light husks, broken leaves, and dust were blown away by the wind, while the heavier sorghum grains fell to the ground—this was called ‘winnowing.’
But it was difficult to winnow completely in one go, requiring repeated efforts to ensure the sorghum grains were separated.
After winnowing, they still had to sift with a sieve to completely remove impurities before spreading the sorghum on the threshing ground to sun-dry.
Watching his father and brother covered in dust from head to face, with sweat carving muddy streaks on their faces and necks, Su Lu felt a strong unease well up inside him. Suddenly, his minor hardships from practicing calligraphy seemed truly insignificant.
“It’s dirty here, hurry back!” Su Youcai waved to shoo them away. “If you don’t want to suffer like this, get into the academy!”
“Yes, Father!” Su Lu nodded emphatically, taking a deep breath of air mixed with the scents of grain and dust.
~~
After returning home, Su Lu washed his face and went back to his room to begin his afternoon pen control practice.
He meticulously drew one hundred vertical strokes, and his arm was already unbearably sore—clearly, the fatigue from the morning hadn’t subsided. But the power of the mind is formidable; just thinking about how his father and brother were toiling and sweating on the drying ground made it impossible for him to stop.
After earnestly completing the eight hundred strokes for the afternoon, he felt as though his right arm no longer belonged to him.
Realizing this couldn’t go on, Su Lu decided to intensify his muscle training, striving to develop a Qilin Arm as soon as possible.
So he found a blue brick to serve as a dumbbell and performed six sets of ‘dumbbell curls.’ For balance, he did another six sets with his left hand.
Aunt was picking vegetable leaves in the courtyard and, seeing this, curled her lips: “Got nothing better to do? Eating so much without doing any work.”
Her mouth had always been sharp, and since Su Lu insisted on studying, her words had grown even harsher.
Hearing this, Su Lu couldn’t help but sigh inwardly—if only she were mute…
Fortunately, he was mature-minded and wouldn’t let her affect his mood. But if he didn’t retaliate a little, she might think he was an easy target. So he put on a serious expression and said with a laugh: “Aunt, you don’t understand. This is what I call the ‘Brick Lifting Memorization Method’… I suddenly had an epiphany when I dreamed of a bearded man wearing a square scarf and leaning on a bamboo staff, who taught me this technique.”
“Nonsense,” Aunt naturally didn’t believe him.
“If you don’t believe me, think about how many characters I used to know? And then think about now.” As Su Lu spoke, he continued his ‘dumbbell curls,’ lifting the brick to his chest again and again.
“Hiss, that’s true…” Aunt gasped in surprise. She knew better than anyone what Su Lu had been like before.
“See, it looks like I’m just lifting a brick, but actually, I’m using it to memorize texts.” Su Lu said with feigned seriousness: “As long as I maintain this posture, I can remember everything I read and even recite it backwards.”
“Ridiculous…” Aunt’s tone was tinged with doubt.
“See for yourself.” Su Lu then lifted the brick while fluently reciting the 《Shenglv F meng》 he had just learned the previous night:
“The moon veiled in gauze, clouds emerge from the peaks. The night deep and silent, the water clock drips on. Green mountains stand vivid, ripples wrinkle in emerald. Lanterns illuminate the dusk, chess and zither pass the day. Willows comb the wind like jadeite, crabapples blush through the rain like rouge…”
The piece was rhythmic, elegant, and particularly impressive, leaving Aunt stunned and unconsciously craning her neck…
“Believe me now? This is what they call: ‘If you want to memorize well, exercise can’t be spared. If you want to memorize fast, you must lift bricks.'” After reciting a long passage, Su Lu placed the brick on the windowsill and sighed regretfully:
“Ah, it’s a pity you’re illiterate, Aunt. Telling you this is useless.”
With that, he paid no more attention to his dumbfounded aunt, washed his hands, and went inside.
Aunt stopped picking vegetables, first glanced back at the portrait of Su Dongpo hanging in the main hall, then turned to look at the brick, shaking her head and saying: “What rubbish. Only a fool would believe that.”
~
As soon as Su Lu sat down at the table, he put the joke aside and began his third round of memorizing 《Shenglv F meng》.
This time, he used copying to aid his memory—partly to reinforce his retention and partly to master the writing of traditional characters as quickly as possible.
Su Lu had seriously considered creating a simplified-to-traditional character conversion chart to focus on memorizing the simplified characters, but upon reflection, he found this approach flawed. Firstly, he would have to check the chart every time he encountered a character, and secondly, it would reinforce the dichotomy between simplified and traditional characters in his mind. Wasn’t this turning his native language into a foreign one?
Instead, he decided to rely on daily, extensive copying to gradually erase the simplified characters from his mind and achieve a natural replacement. Though this method was slow, it was more reliable. After all, memorization required extensive copying anyway, and it would also help him practice his handwriting—killing three birds with one stone. In fact, it was more efficient and less burdensome than memorizing the conversions separately.
~~
After dinner, Su Youcai continued Su Lu’s lessons.
First came the homework review. Su Youcai took the practice sheets his son handed over to check his progress in brush control for the day.
He saw that Su Lu had not only doubled the assigned task but also avoided the common issue of strokes becoming increasingly erratic or collapsing midway. From the first line to the last, he had drawn each one with great care.
It was clear that Su Lu had been conscientiously controlling the brush tip. Though there were occasional flaws, these were due to the worn-out brush he was using… In fact, Su Youcai had intentionally given Su Lu a worn brush to more clearly expose any weaknesses in his brush control and force him to refine his pressure precision.
Of course, it was undoubtedly frustrating and arduous… but special training ought to feel like special training. Since Su Youcai wasn’t the one suffering, he didn’t mind the hardship.
Still, the unscrupulous old father was quite pleased. From the practice work, he could see that Su Lu had a steady mindset and remarkable perseverance. Describing him as “mature beyond his years” was entirely fitting.
Su Youcai couldn’t help but sigh inwardly: if he had possessed such composure in his youth, why would he have struggled to earn an official rank?
“Damn it, feeling inferior again…” He chuckled wryly to himself, picked up the brush, and drew a set of lines gradually increasing in length, then another set decreasing in length. He instructed Su Lu, “Tomorrow, copy these long and short lines to continue practicing brush control.”
“Yes,” Su Lu nodded, noting the assignment.
~~
Next was the recitation check. Su Youcai joked, “Don’t tell me you’ve finished memorizing it again?”
“Pretty much,” Su Lu replied with a smile. “You were right, Father—Enlightenment of Tonal Prosody is quite easy to memorize.”
“Easy or not, you can’t finish it in one day!” Su Youcai felt a bit flustered, cleared his throat, and said, “Let me test you then. ‘Orchid garden’s spring breeze, fragrance wafts gently—'”
“‘Bamboo pavilion’s autumn moon, shadows scatter unevenly,'” Su Lu answered without hesitation.
“‘Three paths of yellow flowers, frost powders them like makeup—'” Su Youcai continued.
“‘One courtyard of fragrant grass, dew hangs like pearls,'” Su Lu responded instantly.
“‘Speaking of spring sorrows, a pair of purple swallows—'”
“‘Calling back the noon dream, a single yellow oriole,'” Su Lu finished.
“Not bad, kid. Let’s try some harder ones.” Su Youcai fired off about twenty pairs, and Su Lu answered every one correctly. After a moment’s thought, Su Youcai added, “‘Contentment marks the wise—Shu Guang petitioned in old age—'”
“‘Bending the waist brings shame—Tao Qian resigned and wrote of returning,'” Su Lu still couldn’t be stumped.
“‘Much seen and often experienced—how many human sentiments are seen through?'”
“‘Widely learned and broadly remembered—endless endeavors thoroughly pondered…'” Such rhyming couplets were indeed very easy to memorize. As soon as Su Lu heard the first line, the second would automatically pop into his mind without any conscious effort.
Refusing to believe it, Su Youcai tested him on a hundred pairs in one go—and not a single one was wrong.
“Your memory is downright uncanny, kid. I thought you’d need at least two days to memorize it.” He was utterly convinced now. Still, he wanted to test Su Lu’s limits and handed him a thin copy of 《Shigu Duilei》:
“This book is similar to 《Shenglv F meng》—also a five-thousand-character rhyming guide, but it’s organized by character count rather than rhyme categories, making it harder to memorize. Let’s see if you can finish it in one day.”
“…” Su Lu calculated silently. Tomorrow, he wouldn’t need to recite 《Hundred Surnames》 or 《Thousand Character Classic》, only repeat 《Shenglv F meng》 for the fourth time. His review workload was still light. He nodded, “I’ll give it a try.”
“Mhm.” Based on Su Youcai’s understanding of Su Lu, when the boy said this, it basically meant he was confident.
He had Su Lu read through 《Shigu Duilei》 aloud as usual to check for unfamiliar characters, but there were none—he knew every single one…
Su Youcai couldn’t help but sigh inwardly: if all students were like this, how many more years could he add to his life? Of course, the prerequisite was that his pride wouldn’t take too much of a hit…
Thus, the day’s lesson concluded pleasantly.
~~
Meanwhile, in the inner room of the western wing.
“Have you lost your mind?” Uncle stared strangely at Aunt. “What are you doing bringing a broken brick into the room?”
In Aunt’s hands was precisely the brick Su Lu had left on the windowsill. She declared with great seriousness, “You might not believe it, but holding this thing makes you remember everything you read after just one glance.”
“Absolute nonsense.” Uncle was speechless.
“This is a method passed down by your Su family ancestors. Just try holding it—it won’t cost you any flesh. If it works, Chun Ge’er won’t have to struggle so much with his studies…” Aunt insisted, shoving the brick into his hands.
“I won’t hold it!” Uncle refused.
“Will you hold it or not?” Aunt’s almond-shaped eyes widened sharply.
“I refuse! I’d rather die than hold it!” Uncle stood firm. “You foolish woman, you’ve been made a fool of!”
“Fine, don’t hold it then.” Aunt grew angry too, stuffing the brick under the pillow. “When Chun Ge’er returns, I’ll have him try it himself!”