15
The Flag-Bearing Youth
With the inexhaustible supply of banana leaf paper, Su Lu’s study progress was finally not delayed.
That evening, Su Youcai wrote a large character “Yong” on paper and finally began formally teaching him calligraphy.
“Though the character ‘Yong’ is simple, it encompasses all the strokes and structure of regular script. Now I will use ‘Yong’ as an example to teach you the proper brush techniques of regular script.” As he spoke, he broke down the character stroke by stroke:
“The dot is like a sideways glance – the brush falls sharply at an angle, moves with full pressure, and retracts when momentum is complete; The horizontal stroke is like reining in a horse – the brush starts against the grain, moves slowly away and returns quickly, never gliding flatly with the grain; The vertical stroke is like drawing a bow – it shouldn’t be too straight, as excessive stiffness makes it rigid and powerless, but must show curvature within straightness…”
After learning the Eight Principles of Yong, Su Lu followed his father’s instructions, first tracing the red characters then copying them, carefully contemplating and repeatedly practicing.
Calligraphy was slow work that couldn’t be rushed. But memorization was urgent work that couldn’t be delayed. If he went too slow, he wouldn’t finish memorizing… It was already September, and he hadn’t even started memorizing the most important Four Books.
The reason was simple – after memorizing the Lesser Four Books, there were no convenient four-character rhyming texts left for memorization.
The Classic of Filial Piety wasn’t too bad, with only about eighteen hundred characters. Its main content consisted of dialogues between Confucius and Zengzi. As everyone knew, Confucius’s words were concise and elegant, making them quite easy to memorize. Su Lu finished it in half a day…
As for whether the content of the Classic of Filial Piety was brainwashing or restricting minds, he didn’t care at all. Transforming himself into an emotionless exam machine was the most basic cultivation for an examinee.
Even if the authorities claimed snow was black and charcoal was white, as long as it would be tested, he would memorize it without complaint or hesitation.
After all, anything useless after the exams wasn’t worth worrying about…
The difficult one was the Elementary Learning. This book consisted entirely of excerpts Zhu Xi had compiled from existing texts. The entire work spanned six volumes with twenty-seven thousand characters, divided into inner and outer chapters. The inner chapters included Establishing Education, Clarifying Human Relationships, Respecting Oneself, and Examining Antiquity, primarily selecting Confucian classics to ‘extract the essence of the Thirteen Classics’.
There were also two outer chapters – Admirable Sayings and Good Deeds – which compiled wise sayings and virtuous actions of exemplary figures throughout history… These two outer chapters alone contained twenty-seven thousand characters, forming the bulk of the entire book.
Fortunately, Elementary Learning was meant for elementary education, so the content wasn’t too profound. Su Lu could mostly understand it, though there were some characters he didn’t recognize and many phrases he couldn’t comprehend, so he still needed to study it thoroughly with his father from beginning to end…
“When a child can eat, teach him to use his right hand. When he can speak, teach boys to respond with ‘wei’ and girls with ‘yu’. Boys’ pouches should be made of leather, girls’ of silk…” Su Youcai instructed him: “Pan, pronounced pu-gan. This sentence comes from the Book of Rites, meaning when a child can feed himself, teach him to use his right hand. When he can speak, teach them to respond, boys using ‘wei’, girls using ‘yu’. Boys’ pouches use leather, girls’ pouches use silk.”
Su Lu’s brush flew across the paper as he quickly recorded what he didn’t understand. It must be said that his writing speed had improved remarkably.
But with this sentence-by-sentence explanation, the pace slowed considerably. The old father could only cover about three thousand characters in one evening, exhausting himself in the process.
“How long will it take to memorize everything at this rate?” Su Lu couldn’t help worrying.
“Count yourself lucky. Originally you’d have to memorize the Collected Commentaries on Elementary Learning too, which has even more characters.” Su Youcai took a sip of honey water to moisten his throat.
“Why aren’t they memorizing it now?” Su Lu asked.
“Because Chen Xuan, who compiled the annotations, was falsely accused by eunuchs and died in prison during the late Chenghua era. The previous emperor issued a decree to all schools nationwide to discontinue using his annotated version. Although our current dynasty has exonerated him, the Ministry of Rites has never petitioned to reinstate Chen Xuan’s annotations,” Su Youcai explained.
“To put it plainly, the imperial examinations don’t test 《Lesser Learning》, so everyone wants to save some effort.”
“That’s the right way to think about it.” Su Lu deeply agreed.
As a result, it took him a full nine days to memorize 《Lesser Learning》 – reciting it even while eating and sleeping – before he finally mastered it.
The most terrifying day was the third day of the ninth month. On this day, Su Lu studied the final chapter of “Elementary Learning: Good Conduct,” completed the seventh (and final) review of 《Hundred Family Surnames》 and 《Thousand Character Classic》, along with the sixth review of “Elementary Learning: Clarifying Human Relationships,” the fifth review of the first chapter of “Elementary School: Admirable Words,” and the fourth review of the first chapter of “Elementary Learning: Good Conduct”!
The sheer volume of content was enough to overwhelm anyone just looking at it, let alone someone trying to memorize it all. That day, he spent a full eight time-periods completing his tasks, reciting until his eyes became glazed…
“Boy, take a break and drink some honey water to restore your spirit.” Su Youcai and Su Tai were so distressed they immediately did everything they could to care for him.
Of course, Father only provided sympathy – the actual care had to come from his brother…
Actually, both of them were exhausted too. The clan school had also entered its exam preparation period. Su Youcai had tight teaching schedules during the day, and still had to tutor his son for long hours after returning home at night. Dark circles appeared under his eyes and his voice grew hoarse, but seeing Su Lu willing to improve and capable of doing so made him happier than anything else, making all the exhaustion worthwhile.
As for Su Tai, the work at the winery was already demanding enough, but he also had to frequently go to the river and mountains to support Su Lu’s studies, becoming so tired that he even lost his double chin.
~~
Before they knew it, the Double Ninth Festival arrived.
This was the major day when the winery added ingredients and began brewing new wine, crucial to everyone’s livelihood – even more important than the Spring Festival.
On this day, all wineries would hold grand Double Ninth Inauguration Rituals, and the Su Family was no exception. All male family members turned out to help, including Su Lu.
However, he had no reason to complain, because even his elder brother Spring Boy had returned from Taiping Academy. According to Aunt’s proud account, his brother would be ascending the platform to offer sacrifices to heaven…
Su Lu would also be on the platform throughout the ceremony, though merely as a background flag-bearer at the side.
Despite being just part of the background, he was called early to the winery to join other flag-bearing youths. They listened to their uncle Su Youpeng, who was in charge of the ritual, instruct them on where to stand and what to chant.
It was actually quite simple – they just needed to hold their flags and stand at intervals. When the ceremony began, they would echo whatever their uncle chanted, essentially serving as a row of human loudspeakers.
After instructing them, Su Youpeng went to attend to other matters. The Su clan youths then gathered in a circle and started chatting…
“I heard Spring Boy and the others each get a cut of pork after they finish,” said a chubby boy indignantly. “Why do we have to wave flags for free?”
“Because they need to make offerings to the gods and perform ceremonial chants,” replied a tall, thin boy who resembled a bamboo pole.
“But we have to chant too!” the chubby boy protested.
“Anyone with a mouth can do your kind of chanting. Spring Boy’s kind requires Academy training,” the tall, thin boy said with a laugh.
“Go for it, go for it.” The chubby boy said enviously, “I’m definitely going to pass this time. Next year I’ll get to share pork too!”
“Lofty ambition.” Several other youths teased him, “But it’d be more reliable to have your mother catch a piglet for you to raise.” Everyone burst into laughter, “Then you could eat pork belly whenever you want, gnaw on trotters whenever you crave them!”
“Hahaha…” That’s how young people are – they can laugh uproariously over a few silly jokes. But this is the vitality unique to youth!
Only Su Lu didn’t laugh, though not because he was pretending to be aloof. After he had suffered heatstroke, the chubby boy had visited him at home… Later, his second brother explained that the chubby boy was Su Lang, a cousin from Seventh Grandfather’s family, and Su Lu’s childhood playmate.
Actually, all these banner-carrying youths were about the same age and from the same clan, so they had all been playmates originally. But the others had continued their studies while Su Lu had returned home early to work, so naturally they grew apart as they got older.
That Su Lang still visited him made it particularly meaningful…
“Qiu Ge’er, I heard from the teacher that you’re also taking the academy exam?” Su Lang moved closer to ask.
“Yes.” Su Lu nodded.
“You just don’t want to be an apprentice, right?” The other youths thought they had seen through everything.
“Yes, I just don’t want to work.” Su Lu nodded.
“That’s what I thought. How many characters do you even know? What makes you think you can pass the academy exam?” The youths laughed mockingly. Thirteen or fourteen-year-old boys love to say the most unpleasant things to prove they’re no longer children.
“What are you talking about?” Su Lang became displeased and scolded them, “If you can’t speak properly, then shut up!”
“Fine, fine, he’ll pass.” The youths said sarcastically, “You’ll pass too, both of you will pass. Satisfied now?”
“Thank you for your auspicious words.” Su Lu maintained a slight smile and held back the angry Su Lang.
With his mental age, he wasn’t going to get angry over a bunch of brats.
Of course, the youths wouldn’t waste too much time on him either. They were all taking the Taiping Academy exam this year, so focusing on memorizing texts was what really mattered.
Seeing this, Su Lu started a Pomodoro clock in his mind and quietly began reviewing today’s lessons.
After studying alone for a while, the youths found it boring and started testing each other, with one person posing questions by quoting the first part of passages while the others competed to complete them. From this perspective, it’s understandable that studying and non-studying children don’t play together.
They were testing content from the academy’s oral examination, which Su Lu was seeing for the first time. Just as his Pomodoro clock ended, he began observing carefully and found it quite challenging indeed…
The youths naturally chose the most difficult questions, focusing exclusively on the Lesser Four Books and Elementary Learning, with questions rarely exceeding four characters. Respondents had to first locate the source from memory, then recite it word for word perfectly, which truly tested both memory and quick thinking.
“Qi San.” Now it was the tall, thin boy’s turn to pose a question, and he was being particularly tricky.
“Qi San? What kind of question is that?” The youths scratched their heads, completely stumped. “Are you pulling our leg?”
“Don’t worry, I’m not joking.” The tall, thin boy shook his head, “There’s only one ‘Qi San’ in all the texts.”
The youths looked at each other blankly before someone said, “Give us a hint – where is it from?”
“Will they give hints during the actual exam?” The tall, thin boy remained uncompromising.
Failed to translate content with standard model. Please boost the chapter to continue.
With a bottomless, inexhaustible supply of Banana Leaf Paper, Su Lu’s studies were finally no longer delayed.
That evening, Su Youcai wrote a large character for ‘Yong’ (永) on a sheet of paper and finally began to formally teach him calligraphy.
“Though the character ‘Yong’ is simple, it encompasses all the strokes and structures of standard script. I will now use the character ‘Yong’ as an example to teach you the brush techniques of regular script.” As he spoke, he deconstructed the character, writing it stroke by stroke.
“The dot is called ‘cè’ (side).” Bring the side of the brush down sharply, spread the bristles as you move the brush, and lift it once the stroke has sufficient momentum.
The horizontal stroke is called ‘lè’ (rein). Touch the paper with the brush tip angled against the direction of the stroke, move slowly, then return swiftly. You must not simply drag the brush flatly across.
“The vertical stroke is called ‘nǔ’ (crossbow).” It should not be too straight. A perfectly straight stroke appears stiff and weak; there must be a curve within the straightness…”
After learning the Eight Principles of Yong, Su Lu followed his father’s instructions, first tracing over red characters and then copying them, carefully pondering and practicing repeatedly.
Calligraphy was a slow art that could not be rushed. Memorization, however, was an urgent task that could not be slowed. If he was slow, he wouldn’t finish memorizing everything… It was already the ninth month, and he hadn’t even started on the most crucial ‘Four Books’.
The reason was simple: after memorizing the ‘Lesser Four Books’, there were no more four-character rhyming texts to facilitate recitation.
The 《Classic of Filial Piety》 was manageable. At only 1,800 characters, its main content was a dialogue between Confucius and Zengzi. As everyone knew, Confucius’s words were concise, elegant, and easy to memorize. Su Lu finished it in half a day…
As for the content of the 《Classic of Filial Piety》, he couldn’t care less whether it was brainwashing or shackling the mind. Turning oneself into a heartless examination machine was the most basic discipline for an exam candidate.
Even if the authorities said snow was black and coal was white, as long as it was on the exam, he would memorize it without a second thought.
It was all useless after the exams anyway, so why bother with this or that…
The difficult one to memorize was the 《Lesser Learning》. This book was entirely composed of excerpts from existing literature compiled by Zhu Xi. The entire work, spanning six volumes and 27,000 characters, was divided into inner and outer sections. The inner section included “Establishing the Teaching,” “Clarifying Relationships,” “Respecting the Self,” and “Studying the Ancients,” primarily featuring selections from Confucian classics, ‘the distilled essence of the Thirteen Classics’.
There were also two outer sections, “Admirable Words” and “Good Deeds,” which compiled the admirable words and good deeds of virtuous men throughout history… These two outer sections alone amounted to 27,000 characters, making up the bulk of the book.
Fortunately, the 《Lesser Learning》 was for elementary education, so its content wasn’t deep. Su Lu could understand most of it, but there were some characters he didn’t recognize and many phrases he couldn’t grasp. Therefore, he still had to go through it from beginning to end with his father…
“When a child can feed himself, teach him to use his right hand. When he can speak, a boy should answer ‘wéi’ and a girl ‘yú’. “A boy’s pouch should be made of leather, a girl’s of silk…” Su Youcai instructed him, “The character ‘pán’ (鞶) is pronounced with the fanqie of ‘pú’ and ‘gān’.” This line is from the 《Book of Rites》. It means that when a young child can eat by himself, you should teach him to use his right hand. Once he can talk, you should teach him how to respond: boys use ‘wéi’, and girls use ‘yú’. The pouch for a boy is made of leather, while a girl’s is made of silk.”
Su Lu’s brush flew across the paper as he quickly jotted down the parts he didn’t understand. It had to be said, the speed of his writing had improved by leaps and bounds.
But this sentence-by-sentence explanation slowed things down. The old father was dead tired after one evening, having only managed to cover about three thousand characters.
“At this rate, how long will it take to memorize everything?” Su Lu couldn’t help but worry.
“You should be content. We used to have to memorize the 《Collected Commentaries on the Lesser Learning》 as well, and that had even more characters,” Su Youcai said, sipping some honey water to soothe his throat.
“Why don’t we have to memorize it now?” Su Lu asked.
“Because Chen Xuan, who wrote the commentaries, was falsely accused by a eunuch and died in prison in the final years of the Chenghua reign. The late emperor issued a decree to all schools in the realm to stop using his commentaries. Although he was exonerated during the current dynasty, the Ministry of Rites has never petitioned to reinstate the use of Chen Xuan’s commentaries,” Su Youcai explained.
“To put it bluntly, the 《Lesser Learning》 isn’t on the imperial examinations, so everyone wants to save themselves some trouble.”
“That’s the right way to think,” Su Lu said in deep agreement.
In the end, it took him a full nine days to conquer the 《Lesser Learning》, and that was with him reciting it while eating and sleeping.
The most terrifying part was on the third day of the ninth month. Su Lu studied the final section of “Good Deeds” from the 《Lesser Learning》, completed his seventh and final review of the 《Hundred Family Surnames》 and the 《Thousand Character Classic》, his sixth review of “Clarifying Relationships” from the 《Lesser Learning》, his fifth review of the first part of “Admirable Words” from the 《Lesser Learning》, and his fourth review of the first part of “Good Deeds” from the 《Lesser Learning》!
Just looking at that much content was enough to make one’s head spin, let alone being the one to memorize it. That day, he spent a full eight shichen reciting before he completed his tasks. By the end, his eyes were glazed over…
“Qiu Ge’er, hurry and take a break. Drink a bowl of honey water to calm your spirit.” Su Youcai and Su Tai were heartbroken to see him like this and quickly did what they could to take care of him.
Of course, Father was only responsible for the heartache; the actual caregiving fell to his older brother…
In truth, both of them were exhausted as well. The clan school had also entered its exam preparation phase. Su Youcai’s teaching duties during the day were demanding, and he still had to spend long hours tutoring his son at night. He was so tired that he had dark circles under his eyes and his voice was hoarse. But seeing Su Lu’s willingness and ability to strive, he was happier than anything and willing to endure any fatigue.
As for Su Tai, the work at the distillery was already hard enough, and he also had to periodically go down to the river and up the mountains to support Su Lu’s studies. He was so tired he had lost his double chin.
~~
In the blink of an eye, it was the Double Ninth Festival.
This was the distillery’s grand day for adding ingredients and starting the new batch of liquor. It concerned everyone’s livelihood, and its importance even surpassed the New Year.
On this day, every distillery would hold a grand Double Ninth Inauguration Ritual. The Su Family was no exception. All the male members of the family turned out in full force, and Su Lu also had to come and help.
He had nothing to complain about, though, because even his eldest cousin, Chun Ge’er, had returned from Taiping Academy. He heard his Aunt proudly say that his cousin was going to go on stage to perform the rites to heaven…
Su Lu would also be on stage for the entire duration, but only as a background piece, holding a flag off to the side.
Although he was just part of the background, he was called to the distillery early to join the other flag-bearing youths. Their clan uncle Su Youpeng, who was in charge of the ceremony, instructed them on where to stand and what to shout later.
It was actually very simple. They just had to stand at intervals holding flags. When the ceremony began, they would just shout whatever their clan uncle shouted, acting as a row of human loudspeakers.
After instructing them, Su Youpeng went off to attend to other matters. The youths of the Su clan gathered in a circle and started chatting…
“I heard Chun Ge’er and the others each get a cut of pork when it’s over,” a chubby boy said indignantly. “Why do we have to hold flags for free?”
“Because they have to offer sacrifices to the gods and sing offerings,” a lanky boy, thin as a bamboo pole, replied.
“But we have to shout too!” the chubby boy retorted, unconvinced.
“Anyone with a mouth can do your kind of shouting. Chun Ge’er’s kind of singing requires going to the Academy,” the lanky boy said with a smile.
“Go for it, go for it,” the chubby boy said with envy. “I’m definitely going to pass the exam this time. Next year, I want a cut of pork too!”
“What a fine ambition,” the other youths teased him. “But it’d be more reliable to have your mom raise a piglet for you.” The group burst into laughter. “Then you can eat pork belly whenever you want and gnaw on pig trotters whenever you please!”
“Hahaha…” This was how young boys were, able to double over with laughter at a few silly jokes. But this was youth, a vitality unique to their age.
Only Su Lu didn’t laugh. It wasn’t that he was pretending to be aloof. It was because after he had suffered from heatstroke, the chubby boy had come to his house to visit him… Later, his second brother told him that the chubby boy was named Su Lang, a clan cousin from his seventh grand-uncle’s family, and also one of Su Lu’s childhood playmates.
In fact, these flag-bearing youths were all around the same age and from the same clan, so they had all been playmates. But the others had continued their schooling while Su Lu had left early to work at home. Naturally, they didn’t play together anymore as they grew up.
That Su Lang still came to visit him under these circumstances made the gesture seem particularly precious…
“Qiu Ge’er, I heard from the teacher that you’re also going to take the academy exam?” Su Lang sidled up to him and asked.
“Yes,” Su Lu nodded.
“You just don’t want to be an apprentice, right?” another youth said, thinking he had seen through everything.
“Yes, I just don’t want to work,” Su Lu nodded.
“I thought so. You barely know any characters, what makes you think you can pass the academy exam?” the youths jeered. Boys of thirteen or fourteen loved to say the most unpleasant things to prove they were no longer children.
“What are you talking about?” Su Lang grew displeased and snapped at the group, “If you don’t know how to talk, then shut your mouths!”
“Fine, fine, he’ll pass,” the youths said sarcastically. “You’ll pass too. Both of you will pass, how’s that?”
“I’ll take that as a good omen,” Su Lu said, maintaining a smile and holding back the indignant Su Lang.
With his mental age, he wasn’t about to get angry over a bunch of little brats.
Of course, the youths wouldn’t waste too much time on him. They were all taking the Taiping Academy exam this year, so cramming their texts was the proper thing to do.
Seeing this, Su Lu also started a Pomodoro clock in his mind and began to silently review the day’s lessons.
After reciting on their own for a while, the boys got bored and started quizzing each other. One person would pose a question by saying the first half of a line, and the others would race to answer with the second half. Looking at them, it was normal that children who studied and those who didn’t couldn’t play together.
They were quizzing each other on the content of the academy’s oral exam, which Su Lu was seeing for the first time. Just as one Pomodoro clock session ended, he began to observe them seriously and realized it was actually quite difficult…
The boys, of course, made it as tricky as possible. Not only did they focus on the 《Lesser Four Books》 and the 《Lesser Learning》, but their questions were rarely more than four characters long. The person answering had to first locate the source in their memory and then recite it without a single mistake. It was a true test of memory and reaction time.
“Its third point,” the lanky boy said when it was his turn to ask a question. His question was as tricky as it gets.
“Its third point? What kind of question is that?” The youths scratched their heads, all of them stumped. “Are you making this up?”
“Don’t worry, I’m not making it up,” the lanky boy said, shaking his head. “There’s only one ‘Its third point’ in all the books.”
The youths looked at each other for a moment. Someone said, “Give us a hint. What section is it in?”
“Will they give you hints during the exam?” the lanky boy said, refusing to yield.
“Forget it, forget it, we can’t answer this one,” the youths said helplessly. “You win this round.”
Just as the youths were about to give up, they heard someone speak up and answer, “Its third point: they detest those who surpass them and delight in those who flatter them. They only enjoy jests and idle talk, giving no thought to the ancient ways. They are jealous when they hear of others’ good deeds and eager to spread news of others’ misdeeds. They are steeped in perversity, which erodes their virtue and righteousness. Though they wear the robes of scholars, how are they different from servants?”
“That’s it, word for word! I’m impressed!” The lanky boy gave a thumbs-up.
“Amazing…” The youths were dumbfounded and dejected, because the one who had answered was none other than Su Lu, the very person they had looked down on.
“Amazing, Qiu Ge’er!” Su Lang, however, threw an arm around Su Lu’s neck, overjoyed. “When a Word-chewer asks a question, you can’t answer it nine times out of ten!”
Su Lu already knew that in the local dialect, a ‘Word-chewer’ was someone with a sharp tongue who loved to make things difficult for others. He smiled and said, “I just happened to have learned it recently, so it’s normal that I could remember it.”
“So that’s how it is.” The youths had a moment of realization, and their dejection lessened.
“That’s right. You all memorized it a long time ago, so it’s normal not to remember it clearly. You’ll recall it with a little review when you get back,” Su Lu encouraged them with a smile.
“Of course!” The youths were the type to be easily coaxed. Once placated, they became happy and started chatting with him one after another.
“Qiu Ge’er, are you that familiar with the ‘Four Books with Chapters and Verses’ too?”
“I haven’t started learning it yet,” Su Lu said truthfully.
“Oh, then you’re done for,” the youths said with a touch of pity. “If you had started working hard two years earlier, you might have had a chance.”
“It’s fine. As long as you all can pass, I’ll just be there to gain some experience,” Su Lu said, his smile as constant as ever, completely unperturbed.