Based on this assumption, Su Lu began searching for variables and discovered the biggest one was – two nights ago, Second Brother was working the night shift at the winery; but last night, Second Brother had returned…
Could Second Brother be the real ‘Anchor’? Su Lu found this deeply absurd – he hadn’t even been sleeping while hugging Second Brother! How could it be related to him?
Then was there something that could affect him during sleep without direct contact with Second Brother?
After much thought, Su Lu identified two possibilities: first, Second Brother’s melodious and graceful snoring; second, the smell of Second Brother’s sweaty feet after a long day’s work.
He quickly ruled out the second option, as all three men in their family had sweaty feet. He wasn’t a dog with a sensitive nose who could distinguish whose feet smelled like salted fish and whose like shrimp paste…
But the snoring was different. Their father’s snoring was like constipated grunting – dry and grating. Second Brother’s was unique: low, smooth, without any harsh sounds, melodious and lingering. That wasn’t snoring – it was like a hulusi flute!
The sound was so distinctive, so magical. Ever since arriving here, he had fallen asleep listening to it every night, except for those two nights!
Coincidentally, those were exactly the two nights without sleep-based memorization…
~~
However, for the sake of rigor, Su Lu decided to conduct an experiment.
That evening, he begged Second Brother: “I need to verify something tonight. I’ll have to trouble you to get up later.”
“What trouble? Just wake me when you need.” Su Tai readily agreed.
After completing his pre-sleep review that night, Su Lu returned to their room and gently shook Second Brother awake, whispering: “Don’t fall asleep yet, and especially don’t snore.”
“Don’t worry, I’d rather die than sleep.” Su Tai quickly sat cross-legged, using his index fingers to prop open his eyelids.
Su Lu immediately closed his eyes and began the experiment. But after nearly an hour of effort, he still couldn’t clear his mind and enter the proper state.
Forget sleep-based memorization – he was on the verge of insomnia.
“Brother, you can sleep now.” Su Lu sighed.
“Oh.” Su Tai, who had been desperately fighting sleep, felt reprieved upon hearing this. He immediately lay down, and soon the familiar snoring resumed…
Miraculously, surrounded by those melodious snores, Su Lu quickly calmed down, recalling what he had studied before falling asleep.
~~
The next morning, awakened as usual by the rooster, Su Lu began reviewing without opening his eyes. The content he had studied last night appeared in his mind in complete paragraphs.
The sleep-based memorization method was working again…
Su Lu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Now he was certain – his ‘Anchor’ was indeed Second Brother’s snoring.
Just then Su Tai woke up and saw his younger brother gazing at him with deep affection. Puzzled, he asked: “What are you looking at, Qiu Ge’er?”
“Second Brother, I’ve confirmed it now – without your snoring, I can’t memorize while sleeping.” Su Lu blinked ingratiatingly.
“Ah?” Su Tai’s jaw dropped in surprise, never imagining his snoring had such an effect…
After careful thought, he asked: “Then what will we do when we get married?”
“Second Brother’s considerations…” Su Lu smiled wryly, “are truly long-term.”
“Hahaha, Xia Ge’er’s snoring is that magical?” Su Youcai laughed heartily: “Does it have to be his? What’s wrong with your old man’s snoring?”
“It’s not the right frequency, I don’t feel it.” Su Lu smiled bitterly: “Those two nights when Second Brother was away, Father’s snoring just gave me a headache and made me keep wanting to use the outhouse…”
“Then I’m afraid I can’t help.” Su Youcai leaned on his sons’ shoulders to get out of bed: “You two figure it out.”
“Alright, then I’ll postpone marriage for a couple of years.” Su Tai decided.
“No need, no need.” Su Lu hadn’t expected Second Brother to take it so seriously and quickly waved his hands: “There must be other alternatives. I can’t sleep with you forever, can I?”
“Fine, tell me when you find one.” Su Tai nodded, then resolved: “I’ll sleep at home from now on.”
“Sigh…” Su Lu regretted telling Second Brother – wasn’t this just adding to his burden?
He sternly reminded himself: Su Lu, Su Lu, avoid Pressure Monster behavior!
But for now, he had no time to find alternatives. He needed to focus entirely on getting into the Academy first…
~~
In the following days, Su Lu continued his arduous daily studies.
He strung rows of hemp ropes along the southern wall of his room.
Each morning, Su Lu would hang today’s memorization content on the wall… Banana Leaf Papers with mind maps filled the entire wall.
He would remove one leaf after memorizing a section, not resting until the wall was cleared.
But the Collected Commentaries on the Four Books were extremely difficult to memorize. Su Lu found that relying solely on the Forgetting Curve’s ‘Spaced Repetition’ wasn’t enough, so he reluctantly activated the ‘Feynman Learning Technique’!
According to the ‘Learning Pyramid Theory’, learners using different study methods show significant differences in content retention after two weeks.
Passive learning is far less effective than active learning. For example, mere listening only retains five percent.
Active learning retains over half the content – and if you teach the material to others, you can retain ninety percent! This is the most effective knowledge retention method.
The Feynman Learning Technique builds on this principle, using teaching to deepen understanding and achieve efficient knowledge retention.
But teaching requires understanding first. If you can’t explain something in simple terms, you haven’t truly understood it. Therefore, you should imagine teaching an eight-year-old child, using the simplest language to make the knowledge clear.
The only child around Su Lu was three years old and understood nothing beyond eating.
Among others: Grandmother was hard of hearing, Grandfather was recently irritable. Uncle and younger Uncle had both studied, younger Aunt fell asleep immediately when lectured, and slept quite soundly at that. Aunt was out of the question…
Obviously, the only suitable candidate was Second Brother, this ‘twenty-eight-year-old boy’.
But he’d said he wouldn’t be a Pressure Monster. How could he keep shearing the same sheep?
He reminded himself again: Su Lu, Su Lu, stop targeting Second Brother!
~~
“Today we’re discussing ‘The King looked left and right and spoke of other matters’ from ‘King Hui of Liang Chapter II’.” Su Lu explained to Second Brother:
“Mencius asked King Xuan of Qi: ‘If Your Majesty had a minister who entrusted his wife and children to a friend’s care before going to Chu. Upon returning, he found his wife and children cold and hungry. What should be done with such a friend?’ King Xuan replied directly: ‘Break off relations.'”
“Mencius then asked: ‘If your minister of justice cannot manage his subordinates, what should be done?’ King Xuan said: ‘Dismiss him.'”
“Mencius continued: ‘If a ruler governs his state poorly, what should be done then?’ This time, King Xuan looked around and changed the subject.”
Surprisingly, Su Tai listened fascinated and asked puzzled: “Why didn’t he respond?”
“Because Mencius was talking about him. The previous two questions were just setup for the criticism. He had fallen into Mencius’s trap and couldn’t answer.” Su Lu explained in simple vernacular:
“King Xuan of Qi feared self-criticism like this and was ashamed to learn from those of lower status. Such people cannot accomplish great things. That’s why the great Song scholar Zhao ShunSun said: ‘This dialogue shows that both rulers and ministers, superiors and subordinates, should fulfill their duties diligently and not neglect them, thus ensuring their own safety.'”
“So that’s how it is.” Su Tai finally understood, clapping happily: “This story is great. Mencius makes good points, but I feel something’s odd about it.”
“What seems odd?” Although pressed for time, Su Lu patiently discussed with Second Brother. He genuinely wanted to help Second Brother learn more ‘great principles’… because the Martial Arts Imperial Examination also tested policy essays.
“I need to think carefully.” But Su Tai was quite self-aware: “I’ll ask you again when I figure it out.”
“Good, ask me anytime, Second Brother. I’ll do my best to explain.” Su Lu beamed.
Su Lu was truly happy. Second Brother asking questions meant he had understood.
All his explanations came from Zhu Xi’s commentaries. Being able to make Second Brother understand proved he had thoroughly grasped this section and needn’t worry about forgetting it.
So whenever Second Brother had time, Su Lu would pull him aside to teach. During the first explanation, he inevitably stumbled, and there were parts Second Brother didn’t understand.
These were precisely the weak points in his knowledge. Bringing this valuable feedback back to his studies, he repeated the process until these weaknesses were completely resolved, thus thoroughly mastering the material.
This learning method was extremely efficient, but came at a cost. Besides being very taxing on Second Brother, it was mentally exhausting. The single egg younger Aunt provided daily wasn’t enough nourishment.
Watching Su Lu grow thinner daily, Aunt finally, under Big Brother’s instruction, granted special permission for him to have one egg daily, giving him two eggs total…
Su Tai took every opportunity to go up mountains and down rivers, gathering pine nuts, digging for gastrodia elata, fishing and collecting snails to supplement nutrition. This kept Su Lu from collapsing, though Su Tai himself grew so thin his chin sharpened.
This pained Su Lu greatly. Ah, Su Lu, Su Lu, how will you repay Second Brother?
With family treating him like this, Su Lu had no way out – only by getting into the Academy could he give them proper closure!
~~
Time passed quickly, and winter arrived.
Although the southwest wasn’t severely cold, this place didn’t use stoves in winter!
Days were manageable, but nights studying were unbearable… It was cold enough at night, but they had to crack windows to vent pine torch smoke. The mountain chill seeped into their bones – more than soul-stirring, it was bone-chilling.
The only benefit was there was no chance of dozing off…
Fortunately, the Old Lady made cotton shoes for her grandsons, so at least their feet didn’t freeze. But hands, ears, and nose tips still froze!
Su Lu gave himself the nickname ‘Cangyingzi’ because after writing awhile, he had to rub his hands and move around, otherwise his blood wouldn’t circulate and he’d freeze stiff.
Yet he never found it hard, persistently completing each day’s heavy schedule meticulously without missing a single day.
Gradually, his handwriting improved – at least straight and square, no longer painful to look at.
Another good news: he had finished memorizing two of the ‘Collected Commentaries on the Four Books’ – ‘The Great Learning’ and ‘The Analects’. Next came ‘Mencius’.
The bad news: the ‘Collected Commentaries on Mencius’ alone equaled the other three combined – a full 126,000 characters!
Plus the 18,000-character ‘Doctrine of the Mean Chapter’, totaling 144,000 characters, with much more memorization ahead…