Top Scholar

Chapter 52 Eight-to-One
"Yes." Su Lu calmly explained the contents of his notes.

He has a strong memory and summarizing ability. Although there was a lot of content in the morning class, there were no difficult points. He then referred to his notes and explained it in a way that was almost correct.

"It seems you did listen attentively." Mr. Zhang's expression softened after hearing this. Even a good student who has mastered this knowledge cannot simply repeat what he taught out of thin air.

A student like Su Lu, who is a poor learner, doesn't listen carefully in class, so it's impossible for him to remember so much.

The anger on his face vanished, and he actually bowed to Su Lu, saying, "I misunderstood you."

"Sir, you are too kind to me." Su Lu quickly stepped aside, looking terrified.

"Most people consider it shameful to admit their mistakes to younger generations, but I alone consider it shameful not to admit my mistakes to younger generations." Mr. Zhang said calmly, "A mistake is a mistake, and it won't change because of who it is."

"I have learned a lot from you," Su Lu said, bowing deeply. For the first time, he truly understood what 'gentlemanly conduct' meant.

Mr. Zhang then asked curiously, "Are these really your class notes? What do they all mean?"

“Yes.” Su Lu nodded and explained to the teacher, “For example, the ‘arrow’ means ‘because’ or ‘therefore’. The ellipsis means that this passage comes from the original text of ‘Zhangju’, so only the first character was remembered and the rest was omitted. As for the box, it’s where I didn’t follow the teacher’s instructions and I was about to ask the teacher after class.”

“There are also some abbreviations that only I recognize.” Su Lu pointed to the characters ‘三ㄍㄌ’ and said, “This means ‘Three Principles’.”

He then pointed to the 'entrance' and said, "This is the entrance air."

These symbols are not katakana from the book, but the predecessor of Hanyu Pinyin – 'Hanyu Zhuyin Fuhao', which was used in mainland China until 1958, and has been used in Taiwan ever since.

Because of his age, most of the computer games he played in high school were from Taiwan. Whenever Chinese characters were input, he had to use phonetic symbols, which gave him a lot of headaches.

Fortunately, the Xinhua Dictionary at that time had a pinyin-phonetic transcription table. Su Lu played with it for a long time and eventually memorized the phonetic symbols. Actually, it was quite simple; you just had to treat it as another form of pinyin and match them one by one.

Su Lu was a man of few words but deep thoughts. When he was learning the fanqie method, he had thought about upgrading the phonetic system for Chinese. But the Ming Dynasty didn't learn English, so how could they use that Western script? Therefore, he used this phonetic symbol system.

"You really know these things?" Mr. Zhang was beginning to believe him. He flipped through two pages of his notebook, pointed to the characters 'ㄉㄙ人ㄌㄧ', and asked, "What does this mean?"

“Speaking on behalf of the sage,” Su Lu said after glancing at it.

"And this one?" Mr. Zhang pointed to '口ㄑㄐㄧㄌ，ㄧㄌㄐ口ㄑ' and tried to guess: "Could it be 'tone is righteousness, righteousness is tone'?"

"Sir, you're amazing! You can learn it in no time!" Su Lu quickly flattered.

"What's so great about that? I can still recognize the two 'mouth' characters." Mr. Zhang chuckled, then asked curiously, "Now I'll tell you what you didn't write down, and you can write it down for me right now."

Su Lu quickly took out a pen from his pencil case, licked the nib, and said, "Please speak, sir."

"It requires three things: to understand one's own virtue, to be close to the people of the world, and to reach the ultimate good in all matters," Mr. Zhang said.

Then Su Lu wrote: "ㄑㄧ三ㄉ，ㄇ己之ㄇㄉ，ㄑ天下之ㄇ，ㄓㄕㄌ之几山。"

“I think I understand. You’re using these simplified symbols to replace characters with complex strokes. Aren’t you afraid of getting them mixed up?” Zhang Yanqiu asked curiously.

“Therefore, we should keep those simple characters as anchors,” Su Lu said. “But if the sentence is too long and there are too few simple characters, we will also use simple characters to replace complex characters to prevent confusion.”

“Several mountains, extremely good…” Mr. Zhang nodded and praised, “It is indeed easy to remember this way.”

"Of course, just to be on the safe side, if we have plenty of time after class, we should still get back to normal writing while it's still fresh in our minds," Su Lu said softly.

"Your method is good." Mr. Zhang was not only realistic but also quite perceptive. He asked, "These symbols should be something like the Thirty-Six Letters of the Song Dynasty, right?"

“It should be.” Su Lu nodded. Although he had never been exposed to the ‘thirty-six letters’, the self-explanatory nature of Chinese characters told him that it should be similar to what he thought.

“However, these symbols of yours look much simpler than the ‘thirty-six letters’ or anything like that.” Mr. Zhang, true to his profession as a teacher, said, “When you have time later, could you perhaps organize your phonetic symbols and show them to your teacher?”

"Yes, sir," Su Lu replied in a deep voice. He was just curious to see if the scholars of the Ming Dynasty could accept phonetic symbols.

"It's getting late, go eat." Mr. Zhang finally let him go, saying, "I think you're quite smart. You should study hard, ask more questions, and focus your energy on the right path so you can stay."

"Yes," Su Lu replied, bowing once more.

~~
After Mr. Zhang left the lecture hall, Su Lu also came out one after the other, carrying a bag of dry food.

Su Dan suddenly appeared from her hiding place and asked with concern, "Brother, you didn't get punished, did you?"

"No." Su Lu shook his head and asked, "Have you eaten?"

"No, I've been waiting for you," Su Dan greeted. "Come on, I found a great spot." He then led Su Lu to the small garden at the east end of the study. Taiping Academy was clearly a Su-style building, and naturally, it also had landscaping. In the open space between the buildings, a pavilion had been built and peach trees had been planted.

Spring comes early to Southwest China, and the peach blossoms are already budding, looking especially beautiful against the backdrop of white walls.

"Isn't this much more comfortable than eating in the cafeteria? We can enjoy the scenery while we eat and talk freely." Su Dan sat down in the pavilion, smiled, put down her food bag, opened her pickle jar, and said, "Try my mother's fermented black bean and wheat ear sauce. I've loved this since I was a child."

'Wheat Ear' is not actually wheat; it's a common small, unwanted fish found in rivers. It's not worth fishing for, and they often swarm and disturb the fishing spot, making them a hated fish among anglers.

However, after Su Danniang's preparation, it looked much more tempting. Su Lu picked up a small fish and tasted it; even the meat and bones were infused with the aroma of fermented black beans, making it a very appetizing dish.

After praising his mother's cooking, Su Lu also shared the minced meat and preserved vegetable dish made by his aunt with Su Dan.

"Why does the master want you to stay?" Su Dan asked curiously during the meal.

"Wasn't I last place? The teacher gave me a few words of advice." Su Lu smiled and said, "The teacher is a good teacher, but he was a bit too talkative."

“That’s how all teachers are,” Su Danxin thought, “Your father is the same.” Then she snorted and said, “If they knew you got into the academy in just three months, let’s see who would dare to look down on you.”

"A true hero doesn't dwell on past glories." Su Lu said dismissively, "The most convincing evidence will always be the next exam."

The exam was held in December of last year, so saying "that year" is not wrong.

“We’re afraid we’ll do even worse on the next exam…” Su Dan said with a bitter face. “Didn’t you see that the teacher’s lectures also focus on how to write an essay? It’s obvious that he assumes everyone has already learned how to write an essay based on a given topic.”

"Yes." Su Lu nodded and said, "So you must pay close attention in the craft class this afternoon."

"I'm afraid I won't be able to keep up," Su Dan sighed. "I was the best student in our clan school, far ahead of everyone else. How did I become the worst here?"

"We've just missed learning some material. If we catch up quickly, we'll definitely be able to catch up!" Su Lu encouraged him.

"But the teacher speaks too fast, I can't write it all down at all." Su Dan said with a bitter face, "I wanted to write down what the teacher said this morning, but my hand speed couldn't keep up at all, and it also delayed my listening to the lecture, so I had to give up."

"Let me teach you how to take notes using mind maps," Su Lu said. "The teacher has already approved this method."

"Really? That's great!" Su Dan immediately perked up. His cousin had received learning methods from a deity, so whatever he came up with was bound to be a good one.

Su Dan hurriedly wolfed down the buckwheat cake in his hand, patted his chest, and said with a flattering look, "Brother, please speak."

~~
The afternoon craft class was also taught by Mr. Zhang.

"The imperial examination system, also known as the 'Essay on the Classics,' 'Current Affairs Essay,' 'Four Books Essay,' 'Eight-Legged Essay,' or 'Eight-Legged Essay,' is the most important essay in our dynasty's civil service examinations, which are based on literary skills. You students have come to my academy to learn this art of the imperial examination system." Zhang Yanqiu, seated behind the podium, emphasized slowly, at a pace opposite to his earlier speech:
"Although most of you began writing the eight-legged essay after learning the Four Books in elementary school, there are many different ways of writing in the world. Now that you have entered my school, you must forget what you have learned in the past and start learning the eight-legged essay from scratch."

He paused for a moment, then emphasized, "From now on, everything I say shall prevail. Don't say things like 'So that's how the teacher taught.' Since you trust him, why did you come to the academy to study? Have you remembered everything?"

"Yes, we will remember," Ma Zhaizhang led the group in a loud voice.

“Okay.” Mr. Zhang nodded and continued, “The classics and the Four Books are actually the more appropriate names for the imperial examination essays, so why are they all called the Eight-Legged Essay?”

"Because it has 'two parts in the beginning, two parts in the middle, two parts in the end, and two parts in the conclusion,' making a total of eight parts, this is the most distinctive feature of this type of writing, hence it is commonly referred to as 'eight-legged essay.'"

"However, in practice, it is not a rigid rule. The eight-legged essay is the standard form, and so is the six-legged essay. If necessary, ten-legged essays or even twelve-legged essays are allowed. When writing, one should decide according to the situation and never be inflexible."

"For many years, there have been many who have attacked the eight-legged essay, saying that it is rigid in format, can only be used in the style of sages, cannot express one's true feelings, is too demanding, and cannot show one's talent." Then Mr. Zhang raised his voice and said:
"Remember this: if anyone ever says that again, sever all ties with them immediately, because associating with such fools will make you a fool too!"

The students couldn't help but chuckle, wondering if the teacher was perhaps retaliating against the headmaster and upholding the dignity of the eight-legged essay.
Zhang Yanqiu replied solemnly, "I say this not to defend our literary cause, but because those slanderous remarks are completely biased and disregard the facts!"

"Because the eight-legged essay was a 'merit document' used to select officials through examinations, since it was an examination, there had to be a unified evaluation standard in order to maintain at least a basic level of fairness. After ten years of hard study, would you rather have your future determined by an essay that reflects different opinions or by an eight-legged essay with clearly defined standards of merit?"

"Anyone who isn't a fool would prefer to win clearly and lose fair and square. On this point, the court and every scholar are of one mind, so they require these 'merit documents' to follow a fixed format, forming a conventional literary style similar to regulated verse—this is the eight-legged essay!"

"It can elucidate the essence of the Four Books and Five Classics, and measure the depth of a scholar's learning. It is the fairest and most capable article for distinguishing between superior and inferior works." Mr. Zhang continued proudly:
"Because an excellent eight-legged essay must not only conform to the format, have perfect parallelism, and a well-paced introduction, development, transition, and conclusion, but also conform to the rules of prosody, have rigorous argumentation, clear structure, a distinct theme, profound ideas, and a majestic style! Ladies and gentlemen, only true masters can perform a grand ceremony within that confined space and maneuver skillfully within that limited area!"

"To write such a rigid essay, one must be able to recite the Four Books and Five Classics and the Annotated Chapters and Sentences by heart. This is only the most basic requirement. One must also have a deep understanding of the text, be proficient in phonetics and prosody, and be knowledgeable about the past and present and the major events of the world."

Mr. Zhang concluded emphatically:

"At least in my opinion, among all literary styles, ancient and modern, the eight-legged essay ranks first, followed by regulated verse and the like!"

(End of this chapter)