“Zhu Qin You Xu, He Lu Shi Zhang. Kong Cao Yan Hua, Jin Wei Tao Jiang.”
Clear recitation echoed inside and outside the Diaojiaolou. Before the entire family, Su Lu recited continuously until reaching ‘Moqi Sima, Shangguan Ouyang’ before pausing briefly.
Uncle couldn’t help but nod slightly – this was already four hundred characters. Qiu Ge’er had been picking sorghum all day, yet could memorize this much – truly remarkable.
“Xiahou Zhuge, Wenren Dongfang. Helian Huangfu, Yuchi Gongyang…”
Who would have thought Su Lu was just catching his breath, having passed the most difficult section. What followed were compound surnames that were easier to memorize. After a brief adjustment, he continued reciting straight to the end:
“Mo Ha Qiao Da, Nian Ai Yang Tong. Diwu Yan Fu, end of the Hundred Family Surnames!”
Uncle’s jaw dropped involuntarily – this was a full five hundred sixty-eight characters! Qiu Ge’er had actually memorized them all. “This memory is truly exceptional!”
But it wasn’t over yet! Su Lu reached out to turn the page for Uncle and said solemnly: “Next is the Thousand Character Classic!”
Under the stunned gazes of the entire family, he continued his absorbed recitation:
“…Among swords is the famous Ju Que, among pearls is the renowned Ye Guang. Fruits are the plum and apple, vegetables the mustard and ginger. The sea is salt, the river fresh, scales sink, feathers soar. Dragon Master Fire Emperor, Bird Official Human Sovereign…”
Though the Thousand Character Classic contained twice as many characters as the Hundred Family Surnames, its memorization difficulty was only half.
This was because it not only contained meaningful content with clear organization – moving from nature to humanity, then to principles of conduct – making it highly conducive to understanding and memorization.
Moreover, the author divided it into rhyming sections. For example, from ‘Heaven and Earth, black and yellow’ to ‘Vessels empty, hard to measure,’ the first forty-eight lines all rhymed with ‘ang,’ making it particularly friendly for reading and memorization.
Combined with the distinct rhythm of the ‘two-plus-two’ recitation pattern, memorizing it was both satisfying and efficient, and can be regarded as the model for memorization texts.
To the rhythm of Su Lu’s clear recitation, the Su family members, led by Su Youcai, began happily keeping time.
Aunt didn’t want to encourage this performance, but while she could control her hands, she couldn’t control her neck, which kept rhythmically bobbing along…
Su Lu also became energized by the audience. With his family’s encouragement, his brain grew highly excited, his memory exceptionally clear, and he recited without a single stumble all the way to the end again.
“Ignorant and ill-informed, I am foolish and naive. Words that aid speech: yan, zai, hu, ye!”
The family still hadn’t had their fill, quietly savoring the rhythmic beauty of the Thousand Character Classic.
“Uncle, I’ve finished reciting.” Seeing Uncle still standing there stunned, Su Lu had to cough lightly.
Only then did the Su family members snap out of it, all turning to look at Uncle. Aunt stammered: “Th-this kid isn’t just reciting nonsense, is he? So many characters, how could anyone remember them all?”
“N-no, not a single mistake…” Uncle also stammered.
BANG! Old Master suddenly slammed the table and roared: “Amazing!”
“Great, wonderful!” Aunt and Su Tai were overjoyed, flanking Su Lu and continuously adding food to his bowl from both sides. “Qiu Ge’er is amazing!”
Even the hard-of-hearing grandmother and the too-young-to-understand Jinbao joined in the noisy celebration.
Only Uncle sat silently eating with his head down, as if existing in a different world…
~~
“Qiu Ge’er, you must have memorized these two texts before, right?” After everyone had recovered from their astonishment, Uncle asked again.
“Exactly, that must be the case,” Aunt hastily nodded. “How could Qiu Ge’er possibly be more capable than Chun Ge’er?”
“Even if Qiu Ge’er had memorized them before, remembering them so clearly now is still quite impressive,” Uncle coughed lightly, signaling his wife to stop.
“Not at all. To be clear, Elder Brother, I taught him both articles just last night,” Su Youcai said with a reserved expression. “At the time, Qiu Ge’er struggled with reading them and didn’t even recognize many characters.”
“Well now, it seems this boy truly has talent,” Uncle happily gave a thumbs-up. “There might actually be some hope for him taking the academy entrance exam.”
“Then I must focus on preparing for the exam,” Su Lu immediately seized the opportunity. “There’s so much to learn, and there’s simply not enough time, Uncle.”
“Fine, starting tomorrow you don’t need to do any chores. Just concentrate on studying until year’s end,” Uncle waved his hand generously.
“But there’s so much work around the house,” Aunt naturally objected. “And who’s going to watch the children?”
“We’ll take care of Qiu Ge’er’s chores,” Su Tai, who had been quiet until now, spoke up. “I guarantee nothing will be neglected.”
“Second Brother…” Su Lu started to speak, but Su Tai grinned warmly and squeezed his arm:
“Don’t worry, your brother has plenty of strength. You just focus on studying hard.”
Su Lu nodded firmly – Xia Ge’er was the best brother in the world.
Even little Jinbao piped up in his childish voice: “I’ll be good and won’t need watching.”
With this, Aunt could no longer obstruct, though her mouth remained sharp: “What’s so special about the Thousand Character Classic and Hundred Family Surnames? Chun Ge’er had them memorized by age eight – it’s nothing remarkable.”
“Thank you for your encouragement, Aunt. This child will continue to work hard,” Su Lu replied calmly. Having obtained permission to focus on studying was enough – there was no need to engage in further argument.
“Hmph, piercing ears only when it’s time to wear wedding earrings,” Aunt had no choice but to retreat grumpily.
~~
After dinner, back in their room, Su Youcai finally couldn’t contain himself and burst into laughter, vigorously patting Su Lu’s shoulder:
“All these years listening to your uncle and aunt praise Chun Ge’er, my ears have grown calluses. Today my son finally brought some honor to your father – what a wonderful feeling!”
“How did you manage to memorize so much?” Su Tai asked curiously as he lit the pine oil lamp again.
“Second Brother, I used some techniques,” Su Lu didn’t keep secrets, sharing his methods with his father and brother, hoping they might be helpful.
Unfortunately, just hearing about the various memory methods made Su Tai’s eyelids grow heavy, and he began nodding off.
But Su Youcai recognized the value, understanding how precious these methods were for scholars. After listening, he exclaimed in surprise: “There are this many tricks to memorization? You can even study while walking and sleeping?”
“Yes,” Su Lu nodded. “Of course, this is also because the ‘Three Hundred Characters, Thousand Character Classic, and Hundred Family Surnames’ are particularly easy to memorize. With other texts, the results might not be as good.”
Memory is a process of the brain encoding, storing, and retrieving information. Su Lu had carefully studied various rapid memorization techniques and ultimately discovered that truly effective methods all strengthen these three processes.
“The ‘Three Hundred Characters, Thousand Character Classic, and Hundred Family Surnames’ optimizes information encoding by forming rhyming, catchy sentences to enhance memorization. This method is called the ‘Mnemonic Device Memory Method’—things like the twenty-four solar terms and the periodic table use similar techniques. It significantly reduces the difficulty of rote learning while making recall more durable and less prone to omissions.”
“Where did you learn all this?” Su Youcai asked, perplexed.
“After that heatstroke episode, these methods just appeared in my mind. I tried them while memorizing texts, never expecting they’d actually work…” Su Lu couldn’t explain properly and could only respond vaguely.
“I’ve heard that Jiang Yan, Fan Zhi, and Li Taibai all dreamed of immortals granting them writing brushes. After waking, their literary skills improved dramatically, and they became exceptionally talented.” Su Youcai said delightedly, “Could it be that my son also received an immortal’s brush in the sorghum field and became enlightened overnight?”
“This… your son cannot say for certain.” Su Lu knew his father would fill in the gaps himself. Though the explanation sounded somewhat odd.
“Wait, that doesn’t fit—your handwriting remains artlessly naive and simple, hardly resembling someone possessing a magical brush.” He picked up the stack of papers Su Lu had transcribed the previous night, growing increasingly speechless as he examined them. “Just looking at this penmanship, who would believe you’ve ever attended school?”
“Yes, your son doesn’t know how to write properly—these are just careless scribbles.” Su Lu hurriedly replied with humility, “I beg Father to teach me.”
“And teach you I shall!” Su Youcai pointed at the messy desk and lectured his son: “When children begin school, they first learn cleanliness. The inkstone should be free of accumulated residue, the brush without dried ink. Books on the desk must be neatly arranged, and no reckless punctuation or annotations should deface the text.”
Su Lu couldn’t help but wryly smile—he’d violated every single rule. The inkstone hadn’t been cleaned, the brush remained unwashed, books lay scattered across the desk. To facilitate memorization, he’d even added periods and commas throughout the Thousand Character Classic and Hundred Family Surnames…
“By rights, I should beat your palms until they resemble hoof flowers. But ignorance excuses first offenses—let there be no repeat.” Su Youcai said sternly.
“Yes, your son will remember.” Su Lu replied obediently, promptly cleaning the inkstone, washing the brush, and tidying the desk.
Only then did Su Youcai begin teaching him starting with ink grinding: “When preparing ink, one must wash hands and sit upright. Ink comes alive through water, which must be clean—avoid impurities and heat. Pouring water directly into the inkstone often leads to excess, so first transfer clear water to the ink drop container.”
The so-called ‘ink drop container’ was a small water pot—those with spouts were called ‘water pourers’, while spoutless ones were ‘water containers’. Su Youcai used a chipped porcelain goose-shaped water pourer.
As he dripped water onto the inkstone, Su Youcai instructed: “Three to five drops at a time, adding gradually while grinding. The quality of calligraphy largely depends on the ink’s consistency. Too much grinding makes it dry and sticky; too little causes bleeding. Thus, achieving balanced saturation is crucial.”
Picking up the inkstick, he demonstrated on the inkstone: “Hold it with your left hand, fingers supporting the ink, palm arched hollow. Press firmly but push gently, rotating in circular motions like using compasses, repeating a hundred cycles.”
Pausing briefly, he added: “However, the ink we use is pine soot ink that Xia Ge’er makes himself. Sometimes there’s too much adhesive making the stick hard, other times too little making it crumbly. So don’t count rotations—just watch the trail left on the ink surface; it shouldn’t disappear immediately after the stick passes…”
Hearing his name, Su Tai suddenly opened his eyes and said sheepishly: “I’m too clumsy…”
“Second Brother is incredibly skilled!” Su Lu expressed admiration, giving enthusiastic thumbs-up with both hands and feet. Xia Ge’er was practically ingenious—there seemed nothing he couldn’t do!
“Xia Ge’er is truly skilled. The ink he grinds is dark and glossy, even better than what’s sold in town. The clan school exclusively uses the ink he makes.” Su Youcai also praised, which made Su Tai grin from ear to ear before yawning widely.
“Go to bed now. Sleepiness is contagious.” Su Youcai followed with a yawn of his own. “Don’t forget to wash your feet properly. Last night the room smelled like a dead rat.”
“Alright.” Su Tai obediently stood up, picked up the room’s only basin used for washing face, feet, and clothes, and went to fetch water to wash his feet.