The full moon illuminated the Chishui River, and Erlang Beach was already quiet, with only this one Diaojiaolou still lit.
Su Lu sat at the table, holding his father’s combination brush, laboriously copying the “Hundred Family Surnames.”
The flickering lamplight cast shadows on Su Lu’s handsome face, which was contorted as if constipated. He had never imagined that writing could be such a difficult task…
He faced two challenges: first, he had only attended a few calligraphy classes during Elementary Learning, and that was from his previous life—he had almost forgotten the proper brush-holding posture. Second, when it came to traditional characters, he could recognize them but not write them, so he had to copy them stroke by stroke, imitating the model without understanding.
However, he believed these difficulties were only temporary. Both brush calligraphy and traditional characters were fundamental skills for scholars in this era, and he refused to believe he couldn’t master them.
There was nothing to say about brush calligraphy—if you’re bad at it, just practice more. As for traditional characters… Su Lu remembered that simplified Chinese characters totaled only around 2,200, most of which were merely radical simplifications. For example, ‘言’ was simplified to ‘讠’, ‘金’ to ‘钅’, ‘丝’ to ‘纟’…
So, only about a thousand characters truly needed to be memorized. The real challenge was overcoming years of writing habits; he had to constantly remind himself not to write in simplified characters.
~~
As for why he was copying by lamplight, consuming oil before sleep? It wasn’t to study longer but to use the “sleep-based memorization method” to reinforce his memory.
Su Lu had specifically researched methods to improve memory and knew that after falling asleep, the brain doesn’t stop working but autonomously performs an important task—consolidating memory. It converts information acquired during the day from short-term, unstable storage into long-term, stable storage.
That’s why sometimes, things you struggled to memorize repeatedly during the day can be recited fluently and remembered vividly after a night’s sleep. This is the contribution your brain makes while you’re asleep.
The sleep-based memorization method fully leverages this characteristic of the brain to enhance memory:
First, the more you repeatedly review something before sleep, the more your brain will prioritize it during sleep. Thus, the hour before sleep is the golden time for memory, equivalent to several hours at other times.
Second, handwriting has a 50% higher retention rate than merely reading or reciting, which is why Su Lu chose to copy texts before bed.
After finishing a round of copying, he would immediately blow out the lamp, get into bed, lie still with his eyes closed, and try to lower his heart rate as much as possible, entering a very relaxed and focused state to silently recite what he had memorized before sleep.
The ideal scenario is that after recalling all the learned knowledge, drowsiness gradually sets in, leading directly to sleep—as long as you fall asleep in this state, the brain will automatically categorize the day’s information, prioritizing the reinforcement of important content and even deleting irrelevant details. It’s simply marvelous!
But at this point, it’s crucial to avoid letting your mind wander. Once any emotion—joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness—is stirred, it can divert the brain’s focus, rendering all previous efforts futile!
Of course, this isn’t easy, as it’s hard to control wandering thoughts before sleep. Su Lu’s trick to avoid this was to find an “anchor” to perform light self-hypnosis.
In his previous life, he had used a life-sized body pillow of a certain “idol king.” Through repeated self-suggestion, whenever he hugged it, his brain would involuntarily recall the content he needed to memorize that night, naturally entering a state of memory consolidation.
Of course, with limited resources here, Su Lu could only try using a “bamboo wife” as a substitute… He hugged the chilly bamboo frame, emptying his mind as much as possible, focusing only on reciting the content he had memorized before sleep, and drifted off while recollecting…
The eastern chamber was pitch black, with only Su Tai’s melodious snoring breaking the silence.
~~
The sky lightened at dawn, and the crowing of roosters woke Su Lu.
Instead of opening his eyes immediately, he groped around, retrieved the bamboo wife that had rolled away, and hugged it again. Then, with eyes closed, he silently recited the content memorized before sleep. Accuracy wasn’t crucial at this stage—the key was to activate the traces of memory in his brain!
He discovered that much of the content had become reflexive, popping into his mind without conscious thought—a clear result of his brain consolidating memories. This proved that last night’s sleep-based memorization method had worked!
After running through it once, his mind was fully awake. He jumped out of bed, returned to the desk, and hurriedly flipped through his books to check where he had forgotten or made mistakes.
He then focused on memorizing the forgotten parts, followed by a complete recitation from start to finish, repeating the process to fill gaps. This constituted a full cycle of the sleep-based memorization method.
A single round of this method far surpassed the effectiveness of rote memorization over one or two days!
Just then, Su Youcai and Su Tai also got up. Seeing Su Lu in the same posture as the night before, Su Youcai exclaimed, “You didn’t stay up all night, did you?”
“No, I just woke up.” Su Lu shook his head and was about to pick up his brush to write from memory again for reinforcement when he noticed the ink on the brush tip had dried and hardened, rendering it unusable.
At that moment, Aunt shouted from the courtyard, “You lazy Buddhas, get up now! Grab a bite and head to the fields!”
The father and sons hurried out of the room, hastily washed their faces, ate a bowl of sorghum porridge in the courtyard, and were then hustled off to work by Aunt as if their lives depended on it.
Today, Uncle and his younger brother joined the harvest team, aiming to finish all the fieldwork in a single day.
Since both of them worked more efficiently than Su Lu and Su Youcai, the father and son’s task became carrying bagged grain to the threshing ground.
On the round trips, Su Lu kept muttering to himself, continuing to recite his “Hundred Family Surnames” and “Thousand Character Classic.” Su Youcai was quite pleased, but the villagers shook their heads upon seeing this. After the father and son passed, they whispered among themselves:
“Has Qiu Ge’er lost his soul too?”
“Yes, mumbling all the time, not even greeting anyone.”
“Is this soul-loss contagious? Youcai hasn’t recovered yet, and now his nephew’s caught it.”
“Has something unclean entered their home?”
“Ah, Youcai, please invite a ritual master to check on Qiu Ge’er. It’s downright eerie…” Finally, an elder of the Su family couldn’t help but raise his voice.
“It’s fine, Sixth Uncle. I’m having him memorize texts,” Su Youcai quickly explained on his behalf. “Memorization requires focus; he can’t afford distractions.”
“What? Making Qiu Ge’er memorize texts? You too—the boy’s exhausted from work, why torment him further?” The crowd immediately felt sorry for Qiu Ge’er. Having watched him grow up, everyone knew this child had an aversion to studying.
“No wonder he doesn’t greet people—he must be utterly miserable inside…” Sixth Uncle sighed. “A perfectly good child, turned into a silent gourd from all this memorizing.”
“He did it voluntarily, I didn’t force him,” Su Youcai explained again.
“Voluntary my foot! You’re trying to fool ghosts,” nobody believed him. They all knew Qiu Ge’er would rather chop firewood and herd cattle than attend school.
Seeing the blame successfully shifted onto himself, Su Youcai smiled bitterly and stopped arguing.
As for Su Lu, no matter what others said, he remained unaffected and continued reciting his texts—he had specifically trained his ability to resist distractions, maintaining focus even in noisy environments.
Su Lu’s method for improving concentration was the ‘Pomodoro Technique.’ Simply put, it meant forcing himself to remain completely focused during one ‘Pomodoro clock’ session, refusing to interrupt his work even if the sky were falling.
The length of a ‘Pomodoro clock’ varied from person to person. For beginners and teenagers, twenty to twenty-five minutes was more suitable. But for adults with higher concentration levels, this duration was often too short and could interrupt their flow state, actually reducing efficiency. Therefore, Su Lu used fifty-minute ‘Pomodoro clocks.’
Actually, the duration wasn’t important—what mattered was repetition and persistence. After persisting for twenty-one days and repeating one hundred ‘Pomodoro clocks,’ the brain would form a habit, making it difficult to be disturbed during focused periods afterward.
~~
When they finished work and returned home for dinner, Aunt had also heard about Su Lu’s unusual behavior that day. She examined him carefully and said:
“Qiu Ge’er, have you lost your soul too? Several neighbors told me you weren’t acting normal today—you didn’t greet anyone you saw.”
“No, I had him memorizing texts,” Su Youcai quickly explained for Su Lu again.
“But that’s no excuse for not greeting people. You might not care, but our Su family can’t afford to lose face like that!” Aunt scolded Su Lu.
“Then I’ll try not to recite in front of others from now on,” Su Lu replied. He didn’t care what others thought of him—even if they praised him to the skies, it wouldn’t make the academy make an exception to admit him. He just didn’t want to make things difficult for his father.
“Ah…” Su Youcai sighed and said to Su Lu, “Did I pressure you by asking you to memorize it in ten days? It’s my fault for being too impatient. Should we change it to twenty days? Memorizing one text in ten days should be manageable, right?”
“No need, I’ve already memorized it,” Su Lu shook his head.
“What?” Su Youcai was astonished for who-knows-which-time that day. “You just studied ‘Hundred Family Surnames’ and ‘Thousand Character Classic’ yesterday, and you’ve memorized them already?”
“Good heavens…” Aunt sneered, even more disbelieving. “Qiu Ge’er, are you boasting? Husband, how many days did our Chun Ge’er take to memorize them back then?”
“Chun Ge’er memorized ‘Hundred Family Surnames’ in three days and ‘Thousand Character Classic’ in another three days!” Uncle said proudly. “That was already the best in our entire clan.”
“Even with Chun Ge’er’s clever mind, it took six days. And you claim you memorized them in one day, Qiu Ge’er?” Aunt mocked. “You’d blow all the cattle away from Erlang Beach with that boasting.”
“I have memorized them,” Su Lu said calmly.
“Then recite them for me,” Aunt challenged him again.
“Sister-in-law, what are you doing?” Younger Aunt immediately protected Su Lu. “The child has been laughed at by others all day outside, and now you’re scolding him again? Can’t you let him eat his meal in peace?”
“Don’t worry, Aunt, I can recite it.” Su Lu gave his younger aunt a grateful smile, then turned to his uncle’s wife with a cold laugh: “But since you wouldn’t know whether I recite it correctly or not, Aunt, what’s the point of wasting this effort?”
“Is it because you can’t actually recite it yourself?” The aunt hadn’t expected him to dare look down on her, and snorted angrily: “Don’t worry, even if I don’t understand, your uncle will. Right?”
“I’ve mostly forgotten…” The uncle felt somewhat guilty. He had attended the village school for several years in his youth and had naturally memorized the “Three Hundred Characters, Thousand Character Classic, and Hundred Family Surnames.” But just like with the “Three Character Classic,” he could now only remember the beginning of the “Hundred Family Surnames” and “Thousand Character Classic,” having forgotten everything that came after.
Moreover, he didn’t want to make his nephew and brother lose too much face, so he said evasively: “Then let Qiu Ge’er recite a few lines.”
“But he boasted that he could recite all of it,” the aunt snorted.
“Wait a moment.” Having said this, Su Lu got up and returned to his room, bringing back that practice booklet. He flipped to the page with the “Hundred Family Surnames” and handed it to his uncle, saying: “Uncle can use this for reference, so you can point out where I make mistakes in my recitation.”
“Well now, this kid’s got some tricks up his sleeve.” The uncle looked Su Lu over with growing interest and said: “I’ll have to see whether you’re really a horse or just a mule.”