Top Scholar

Chapter 18 But Good Brother

"What if we blacken this room too?" Su Lu asked.

"Foolish!" Su Man admonished him, "A gentleman uses things, a petty person is used by things. Is the house more important or the person?"

"Yes." Su Lu readily accepted the instruction, but still somewhat worried, he said, "The auntie usually keeps this room locked..."

“I’ll talk to my mother.” Su Man waved her hand and pulled a box of books from the bookshelf. “This is the official edition of the Four Books with Commentary, which is used by our academy. My second uncle’s handwritten copy may not be accurate. You should use this version from now on, so you don’t have to suffer the consequences of ‘a broken boat encountering a headwind and adding insult to injury.’”

"What will my elder brother use it for?" Su Lu now knows very well that a set of collated and corrected "Collected Annotations on the Four Books" is worth a lot of money.

"Dream on, I'm just lending it to you." Su Man snorted. This was the only set of official teaching materials he had, and he was hoping to use it to pass the imperial examination.

He then added with concern, "Wash your hands before using it, and don't fold the pages or smear anything while using it. Return it to me in the same form as when I lent it to you."

"Yes, I've got it. Thank you, brother." Su Lu bowed deeply.

"No need to thank me." Su Man still had a sour face and said coldly, "I just don't want you to do too badly on the exam and be embarrassed because of you, even though you'll definitely embarrass me..."

"Yes, I'll try my best to save my brother some face." Su Lu smiled broadly, no longer holding a grudge.

~~
That evening, Su Lu began studying in his elder brother's room. Su Man explained the rest of the "Great Learning" to him in one go.

The Great Learning was originally a chapter in the Book of Rites, but it was extracted and published as a standalone book because it was highly regarded. The entire book contains only 2,200 characters, and even with Zhu Xi's commentary, it is only 8,200 characters, making it the shortest of the Four Books.

The amount of material that Su Lu normally couldn't finish learning in two days was crammed into his head by his older brother in one night, almost making him explode on the spot.

Su Lu had no choice but to skim through it, relying on notes to keep up with what he couldn't remember...

Teaching my older brother one class is more tiring than teaching my father three times. It's true that academic geniuses can't be good teachers.

When Su Lu, who had been thoroughly ravaged, finally emerged from his elder brother's study, it was already past midnight.

As soon as he got back to his room, he lay down and started snoring without stopping for a second, beginning a duet with his father...

~~
It was the fourth watch of the night, in the outer room of the west wing.

The eldest aunt got up early to prepare food and a change of clothes for her son to take to school.

"Mom, I can do it myself." Chun-ge'er was also helpless; his mother still treated him like a child.

"No need, no need, Mother is happy to serve you." Auntie was full of energy, completely different from when she was doing housework.

"Then you don't need to stuff bricks into my bookcase," Chun-ge said, increasingly helplessly at his mother's outrageous behavior. "Are you afraid I'll be blown away by the wind?"

"No, no, this is a magical artifact that your mother went to Guanyin Mountain to get for you." The aunt was afraid that her son would find it disgusting, so she didn't dare to say that the brick was given by Su Lu. She could only boast, "When you can't memorize a book, lift it up, and the old ancestor on our wall will bless you and you'll be able to memorize it in no time."

"..." Su Man was speechless. What was all this about?

But scholars have rich inner lives and strong imaginations... In an instant, Chun Ge'er saw in his mind the image of his mother kneeling devoutly in front of the Guanyin statue, praying for his blessing to pass the imperial examination.

The next scene shows her being tricked by the old monk in the temple into buying a "Dongpo brick" at an inflated price...

In any case, this brick was a token of his mother's love; how could he refuse it?
So Chun Ge nodded and said softly, "Thank you, Mother. I will use it well."

"Good, good, good! My good son is much better than your stinky father!" Auntie was overjoyed.

Upon hearing this, Su Man recalled the scene of her mother being scolded by her father after buying the brick. This made her even more certain of her judgment, so she got up and carried the book box, which was noticeably heavier after being loaded with the brick.

As he bid farewell to his grandparents and left, he glanced at his second uncle's room and whispered to his mother, "It's such a waste that my room is always empty. Let Qiu-ge use it."

“That won’t do! What if he takes it?” Auntie naturally disagreed.

“Mother, listen to me. First, we are family,” Su Man said solemnly. “Second, Qiu-ge is worth it. Third, stop using him as a pawn for my father…”

"Well, you're not just saying that. Alright..." Although the aunt didn't understand what her son meant by the last two sentences, she still nodded and agreed, saying, "I'll do whatever you say."

"Thank you, Mother." Su Man bowed deeply to her aunt, then quickly walked down the stilted house with her book box on her back.

But the brick in the bookcase made a clanging sound when he walked, which made him quite embarrassed...

~~
Youth is wonderful; Su Lu woke up refreshed and full of energy. However, when he tried to recall what he had learned the night before, he found that his memory had not been enhanced.

He assumed it was because he was exhausted from the night before and didn't think much of it. But there was no need to lie down any longer, so he quickly got up to see his good brother off.

However, Chun-ge'er had already returned to the academy, clearly a person who needed little sleep but had plenty of energy. After Su Lu returned to his room, Su Youcai also got up and was flipping through the set of books he had brought, clicking his tongue and saying, "Chun-ge'er is really generous to you. I asked him for it several times, but he wouldn't give it to me."

“My elder brother lent it to me,” Su Lu said. “He said this is the set of materials used in the academy’s exams, so memorizing this is more reliable.”

"Of course." Su Youcai pointed to his handwritten copy and said, "Help me check it and correct any mistakes. Don't let your father mislead your children."

"Alright." Su Lu couldn't help but feel a little worried for his cousins ​​who were taking the exam.

In the morning, he reviewed the two versions of the textbook. Fortunately, the differences were minor, with only a few words different, which Su Lu marked next to them. Seeing that his handwriting was finally starting to look presentable, he felt quite pleased.

But the feeling of pleasure faded when I was memorizing the Great Learning; to be precise, I was stumped by the chapters and sentences of the Great Learning.

In fact, the original text of "The Great Learning" is concise, beautiful, and easy to recite, making it not difficult to memorize. However, Zhu Xi's annotations are trivial and complicated, and also include discussions, which makes it very unfriendly to memorization.

For example, the original text begins with just sixteen characters: 'The way of the Great Learning consists in manifesting one's bright virtue, in loving the people, and in abiding in perfect goodness.'

Zhu Xi annotated a full 223 characters, explaining each word and phrase in turn. For example: 'The Great Learning: The learning of great men. Ming: To illuminate. Mingde: That which man receives from Heaven, whose spirit is clear and bright, thus possessing all principles and responding to all things…'

Then comes a lengthy discussion: "However, constrained by one's temperament and obscured by human desires, one may sometimes be clouded; yet the clarity of one's true nature never ceases. Therefore, scholars should follow the manifestations of this nature to clarify it, thus restoring its original state..."

After explaining and discussing each point, they finally gave a general conclusion. These two hundred-odd words were even harder to memorize than the previous thousand!
It wasn't until Su Lu remembered to use mind maps to organize the original text and sentences that everything became clear, forming a structure that was easy to understand and memorize.

He then wrote the original text on the front of the banana leaf paper, drew a mind map, and wrote Zhu Xi's annotations on the back.

Then, memorizing the chapters and sentences by referring to the mind map becomes much easier and more solid.

Because the human brain does not process information in a linear fashion, but rather in a non-linear, associative way, memorizing information word by word in sequence is tedious and ineffective.

Mind mapping is designed based on this natural way of organizing information in the brain. By using images, keywords, and nodes, it presents information in a way that is closer to human memory mechanisms, which can naturally make the most of the effort.

With the help of such a powerful tool, Su Lu was able to complete his study plan for the day.

That evening, when Su Youcai checked the students' homework, Su Lu recited in one breath, "The essence of goodness lies within and manifests without; therefore, this is said to conclude."

'Surprised Father' was shocked once again. Although Su Youcai was used to his son's good memory, the difficulty of memorizing this collection of annotated chapters was far greater than that of the previous primers!

The section on "Poetry" was particularly complex and difficult to memorize; even his brightest student spent several days trying to memorize it. Su Lu didn't have a photographic memory, so how could he memorize it so quickly and accurately?
Hearing his father's question, Su Lu didn't hold back, picking up a banana leaf and explaining mind mapping to him:
"...Through this tree-like structure and keywords, complex information can be simplified and visualized. These can stimulate our deep memory of information and help us build clear, frameworkd memories."

"It might help students understand, right?" Su Youcai thought to himself after listening.

“Of course.” Su Lu nodded: “This is itself a process of grasping the key and the essence, and understanding the internal connections.”

"My son's method is truly ingenious!" Su Youcai clapped his hands in praise. "Now I believe that my son has truly been enlightened by a celestial being. It's just that your brilliance lies not in your talent, but in your reading."

"Hehe, that would be more practical..." Su Lu could only let him think whatever he wanted.

"After you finish your exams, could you go back to your clan school and teach the children?" Su Youcai asked.

"Of course, no problem, but we'll have to wait until I pass the exam." Su Lu was always eager to teach and had no intention of keeping anything secret, especially since his students were from the same clan. "If I don't pass, they won't listen to anything I say."

“That’s true.” Su Youcai wholeheartedly agreed.

Mind maps were used in the teaching that evening. Su Youcai helped Su Lu review the "Great Learning" again and found that it was indeed amazing; even he himself benefited greatly from it.

"You're never too old to learn, it seems I should go through it all again," he muttered to himself after getting into bed.

"Father is still young. If he works hard, he might pass next time," Su Lu encouraged him.

"Let's talk about it in the future..." Su Youcai said and then fell silent, it was unclear whether he had fallen asleep.

Su Lu turned off the light and went to her older brother's room next door to review before bed. Her aunt hadn't locked the door, proving that her brother's words carried more weight with her than anyone else's.

After finishing his review, he quickly turned off the lights and went back to his room. He did nothing but lie down on the bed, ready to clear his mind and activate his sleep memory for the day.

However, after the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, his mind was still a jumbled mess, and he couldn't calm down at all. Holding the bamboo wife didn't help either...

Later, Su Lu didn't know when she fell asleep, but when she woke up the next day, she found that the sleep memory method had not worked again.

This made him a little uneasy. This method was very important to him, and much of the content was etched into his mind in this way.

If this doesn't work, it might not even wipe out half my power, but it will definitely cause serious problems...

That night, Su Lu was very nervous, but she was able to clear her mind and get into the zone smoothly, and the sleep memory method worked again!
During his daytime break, he couldn't help but wonder what was going on. Could it be that the bamboo wife wasn't the real 'anchor'?
P.S. It's the weekend, still asking for monthly tickets and recommendation votes!!!
(End of this chapter)