Top Scholar

Chapter 246 Antidote
Seeing his father fall into self-doubt and self-criticism, Su Lu knew that verbal comfort would not be enough.

As a top-tier instructor with extensive experience in the field, I still need to help him find the root of the problem and see if I can find a suitable solution.

So he told Su Youcai not to prepare for the second game yet, and instead called his older brother to help their father review the first game.

Su Lu first asked Su Youcai to write out yesterday's composition from memory, and when he picked it up, he was shocked.

"This article doesn't reflect Dad's true ability!"

“Indeed, it can’t compare to our usual practice.” Su Man also agreed. “Actually, Second Uncle has made great progress recently. As long as he performs normally, passing the county exam should be no problem.”

"But once I enter the exam room, I can't perform normally..." Su Youcai said with a bitter face.

"Don't rush," Su Lu said in a deep voice, "Let's review the situation first!"

"Okay." Su Youcai then recounted the entire process of yesterday's exam, including his thought process.

After listening, Su Man said helplessly, "Second Uncle's thinking is too divergent, which is why he can write good poems. But the imperial examination is an argumentative essay, which emphasizes logic and requires sticking to one path."

“Yes.” Su Youcai agreed wholeheartedly. “I also know that I’m just dabbling in one thing and doing another, and I can’t get anywhere deep.”

As she spoke, she ran her hands deep into her hair and said, "But I just can't control myself."

"So, in the end, it's all about decision paralysis!" Su Lu slammed his fist on the table and said in a deep voice, "I know why Dad always underperforms—it's because you're sick!"

"I'm sick. What's wrong?" Su Youcai pointed to his nose.

"Indecisiveness!" Su Lu said, enunciating each word clearly: "The greatest harm in warfare comes from hesitation; the calamity of an army arises from doubt!"

"Did Wu Zi say this?" Su Youcai asked.

"Yes." Su Lu nodded, looking intently at his father, and said, "Although our literary battles have no gunpowder, the principles are still the same!"

“Indeed.” Su Man nodded with deep understanding: “If you look ahead and behind and worry about too many things, you will inevitably make mistakes.”

"..." Su Youcai pondered for a moment with a solemn expression, then asked, "Then why don't I hesitate or doubt when I write essays?"

“Since it’s just training, not involving life-or-death situations or successes and failures, it can be written however you like, so Father certainly won’t be put in a difficult position,” Su Lu said in a deep voice.

"But during exams, my father would unconsciously think that the essay was important and needed to be written with utmost care and consideration. This was not wrong in itself, but years of failing exams left him with severe psychological trauma. His mind was full of self-doubt and self-denial, and he would quickly fall into confusion, thus completely losing his ability to make judgments. How could he possibly write an essay then?"

"That's absolutely right!" Su Youcai slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Son, you're absolutely right!"

"So there's no use practicing anymore..." he said, then lowered his head in disappointment.

"Second Uncle, you should ask, is there any hope?" Su Man said helplessly. Second Uncle's psychological trauma is too severe!

"Is there any hope?" Su Youcai asked pitifully, but he didn't hold out much hope. This problem had plagued him for years, and each failure only made it worse; he felt he was beyond saving.

"There's hope! Of course there's hope!" Su Lu said decisively.

"The method is also very simple—Master Zonggao said: 'If you have a cart full of weapons, and you take them out one by one and deal with them, one after another, that is not a way to kill. I only have a small piece of iron, but I can kill!'"

“Indeed. Choosing and choosing makes you so confused, you might as well just go down any path and see what happens!” Su Man agreed.

“I understand the logic, but I just can’t control myself…” Su Youcai said, slapping the back of his hand in frustration. “When I put pen to paper, I always hesitate, thinking that another option might be better. But if I choose another option, I still end up looking at other mountains and thinking they’re higher…”

“This isn’t a problem with my hands,” Su Lu pointed to his head and said, “The problem is here.”

Then he made a startling statement: "Since brain decision-making is chaotic, then let's not use brain decision-making at all!"

The concept of "knowing the brain and controlling thought" already existed in the Song Dynasty...

"Ah, you've lost your brain?" Su Youcai exclaimed in surprise.

“It’s not that you don’t need to use your brain. It’s that you’re given a decision-making process, and you force yourself to follow that process instead of letting your brain think!” Su Lu said.

"Will this work?" Su Youcai and Su Man asked in unison.

"Why not? People can be controlled, and you can control yourself." Su Juanwang said calmly, "Every day at cockcrow, the brain wants to stay asleep, but we can overcome laziness with willpower and get up at the crack of dawn!"

“Whenever we encounter something particularly infuriating, we feel like swearing and hitting people. When we are extremely angry, we even want to kill! But did we do it? No? We didn’t even swear, because a gentleman should ‘restrain himself and return to propriety’! This is how we use discipline to restrain our thoughts.”

"That makes sense." Su Youcai nodded convincingly, then quickly asked, "So what exactly should we do?"

Then Su Lu said loudly:
"We can use the 'Three-Step Method to Defeat the Enemy'!"

"The first step is to prioritize intuition and focus on your first reaction! Difficulty in making choices often stems from over-considering details and ignoring the brain's first reaction based on experience. In fact, the first reaction often aligns with the core need and is superior to the result of repeated deliberation!"

"Note down the first answer that comes to mind, then move directly to the next step—compliance review!"

"Take a hundred breaths to examine this answer, don't consider its advantages and disadvantages, just examine one point—can it be used! As long as it correctly addresses the question, doesn't go off-topic, and can be used to write a compliant article, quickly move on to the final step of 'no turning back'—no modification, no assumptions, no looking back!"

“I understand not looking back, but what do you mean by not making assumptions or modifications?” Su Youcai asked.

“We won’t assume any other possibilities!” Su Lu replied, “Once it’s decided, we will never change it!”

He then offered another suggestion: "If Father really can't control himself, I have a trump card. Just write the very first sentence of the question directly on the answer sheet. A do-or-die approach means no more hesitation!" "That's a great method, absolutely effective!" Su Man exclaimed, deeply inspired. "Anyway, the more Uncle hesitates, the worse his essay gets. It's better to just go all in and forge ahead!"

"Alright." Su Youcai nodded emphatically, then said resolutely, "I'll use this method!"

"Is there anything else you don't understand?" Su Lu asked.

Su Youcai thought for a moment and asked, "What if we find that the 'first option' is unusable in the second step?"

“Go back to the first step, grab onto your first reaction, and repeat that step,” Su Lu replied.

"Then there's no problem." Su Youcai exclaimed, "Son, your method is simple and clear; you can learn it in no time!"

“Alright, Father, practice this ‘Three-Step Method to Defeat the Thief’ for the next two days and get used to writing within this ‘rapid decision-making framework’!” Su Lu said in a deep voice at the end.

"Yes!" Su Youcai nodded emphatically.

From that moment on, he truly began to regard his son as his teacher.

~~
The results were released the next day, and Su Lu didn't let Su Youcai go. The three brothers went to the academy together to check the results for him.

Speaking of which, Luzhou Martial Arts Academy has already started classes, but Su Tai took a month's leave before the new year, saying he wanted to accompany his child to the exam... That's the good thing about martial arts academy: one dares to ask for leave, and the other dares to approve it.

Therefore, after the county examination, Su Tai returned to Luzhou with Su Man and Su Lu.

Su Youcai will certainly have to go back, but whether he goes back as a candidate or a family member depends on his performance.

The three brothers arrived at the academy gate, chatting as they went. Good heavens, the crowds looking at the list were immense; they couldn't possibly squeeze to the front. They had no choice but to wait on the side...

Then, one after another, candidates emerged with red eyes, leaving dejected and distraught. Those who left happily were in the minority.

This is normal. The county-level preliminary examination had the lowest acceptance rate; only 820 people were admitted across both lists combined, meaning a full 2,400 people were eliminated…

The three brothers were waiting when they saw the people from Sheng Shen Zhai, all smiling, squeeze out from the crowd.

Upon seeing Su Lu, they happily surrounded him, addressing him as "Uncle Su" repeatedly...

This feeling of gratitude, known as "Father-in-law," is usually kept in one's heart and never spoken aloud.

"Looks like you did well on the exam," Su Lu said with a smile.

"Not bad, not bad, we didn't embarrass our father-in-law." The classmates said happily, "Seven out of our fourteen students made it into the top ranks, and the other seven are also on the secondary list! Moreover, Zhihong came in second, Qiaofeng came in fourth, and Wanzhou came in tenth!"

"Impressive, congratulations!" Su Lu happily clasped his hands in a fist and said, "From now on, we'll be colleagues."

"Thanks to the top scorer!" The three of them were beaming with joy. Getting into the top ten was actually quite difficult. Although most of the three thousand candidates were just there to make up the numbers, the senior students from Taiping Academy were no pushovers.

Among the others, Su Dan ranked eleventh, Wang Chong thirteenth, Tao Cheng eighteenth, and Ma Qianli twentieth.

Su Lu then asked Li Qiyu and Cheng Wanfan, those two clowns, "Which list are you on?"

"Is there even a question?" Li Qiyu smiled wryly, while Cheng Wanfan said dejectedly, "The second-ranked candidate."

"Keep up the good work," Su Lu patted them on the shoulders. "Let's strive to make it ashore!"

"Yes." The two nodded emphatically.

Because the list only had the exam number and not the name, none of the classmates knew whether Youcai had passed.

There were fewer people around at this point, so they accompanied the Su brothers as they rushed in to find Su Youcai's examination number—'Ju Zi Er Hao'.

Due to the large number of test takers, the test number uses a combination of the Thousand Character Classic and numbers.

"'Number Two,' found—it's here!" With many hands making light work, it wasn't long before Ma Zhaizhang stood in front of the supplementary list and shouted loudly.

"Great! That's wonderful!" The three brothers cheered together, even happier than when Su Lu became the top scholar in the county examination...

Then everyone happily went to the county government office. Accompanying their classmates who were going to participate in the first round, they used half of their floating tickets to exchange for tickets for the next round.

Because of the time constraint, they only accepted tickets, not people, which saved Su Youcai from having to make another trip...

The students at Sheng Shen Zhai chatted and laughed, making a ruckus.

Su Man and Su Tai lagged behind, with the former whispering, "How about that? Our ancestors are amazing, aren't they? Even though Second Uncle failed his exam, they still managed to get out of trouble."

“It works!” Su Tai nodded emphatically.

"So we can't take any risks and tell anyone," Su Man said softly. "The secret is not to be shared with six people; if a third person knows, it won't work."

"Understood." Xia Ge'er nodded resolutely, willing to be an unsung hero...

P.S. I haven't checked the last two chapters yet, I'll do it as soon as possible.

(End of this chapter)