Top Scholar

Chapter 55 This kid learns everything so fast

After Su Lu finished speaking, everyone in the main room was stunned, with only the fire pit crackling continuously.

"What, are you all hard of hearing too?" the old lady broke the silence.

"Mother, is that about right?" Su Youcai said in shock, "Son, who taught you this ability to speak incoherently?"

"Never mind all that, just tell me if it sounds profound or not?" Su Lu certainly wouldn't tell him that this was the slang of the underworld from later generations.

"Profound, profound." Uncle said, completely convinced, "After listening, I felt unworthy... What do I know? Am I even qualified to get involved in Sweet Water Diary?"

"Indeed!" the proprietress said, rubbing her hands together eagerly. "That's exactly what I told Commander Ma, and it made him afraid to get involved!"

"We should tone it down a bit, otherwise it wouldn't be good if we got kicked out halfway through the conversation," Su Lu reminded her.

"Don't worry, I can't remember that clearly." The proprietress smiled happily, "It's so good to have a son, Mom will buy you something delicious later."

"I want something that won't strain my teeth." Su Lu immediately excused himself, saying, "You guys can discuss it slowly, I need to hurry up and do my homework."

After saying that, he ran back into the house as if his butt was on fire.

"I feel like this kid is wasting his time studying," the uncle said, stroking his chin as he watched his retreating figure. "He's a real genius."

“Brother, you are mistaken. Of all professions, only studying is noble. It would be a waste not to use a smart brain,” Su Youcai quickly corrected.

“Yes, what’s the use of making a big business?” the proprietress said with deep agreement. “A mere commander or a county magistrate can ruin your family and leave you with nothing.”

"I was just joking. Do you think I don't know this?" The uncle chuckled awkwardly, then asked, "How much should we give Commander Ma?"

The proprietress didn't need anyone's help in making a decision on this matter. She had already planned it out and said, "I think 20% is more appropriate. It won't make him feel like 'Sweet Water' is his own business, nor will it make him completely unwilling to contribute."

“That makes sense.” The Su brothers had discussed it privately, and the eldest brother said, “We can’t let you give up all the shares. Let’s each give 10%.”

“No, we’ll each contribute 20% of our respective shares. I’ll contribute 16%, and you can contribute the rest,” the proprietress said, shaking her head.

“We’re getting too much of a bargain this way,” Su Youcai shook his head and said, “It would be fair if we paid more.”

"It's settled then!" The proprietress insisted, "Otherwise, your shares are too small, and I'm afraid you won't put in the effort."

As she spoke, she stared intently at Su Youcai and said, "Second brother, I'm going to stick with you and eldest brother anyway."

"Hey, sister, aren't we family now?" Su Youcai said gently.

The warm firelight made their faces flush red, and cast clear shadows on the wall.

On that wall, there's still a big red "囍" character from my uncle's wedding.

My uncle suddenly realized he shouldn't be here, but should be downstairs...

~~
Su Lu returned to his room, immediately lit an oil lamp, and began to study.

He wasn't lying. Given the current situation, even if he devoted all his energy to studying, he might not be able to stay at the academy. How could he dare to be distracted by anything else?

I need to recapture that "completely oblivious to everything else" mindset I had when I was preparing for the exam last year...

Fortunately, on the first day of school, the teacher assigned not much homework: two calligraphy exercises, plus memorizing the classics and Zhu Xi's commentaries that we had learned that day.

Su Lu finished everything in half an hour, and then quickly took out the book "On Learning" and began to read it eagerly.

As Mr. Zhang stated, this is a set of essay theory works compiled by a Song Dynasty scholar specifically for candidates preparing for the imperial examinations. The book comprises ten volumes, and Su Lu possesses the first volume, "On the Secrets," which details the procedures for breaking down the topic, developing the argument, beginning the discussion, and getting started in the eight-legged essay…

The book also includes dozens of essays by Cheng Wen, but most of them are by Song Dynasty scholars. Only a few were added during the modern re-editing.

Su Lu then carefully read the essay "Breaking the Topic," and found that "breaking" means to unravel or analyze. "Breaking the Topic" means that the essay should clarify the meaning of the topic at the beginning.

The rule for introducing a topic in the eight-legged essay is to use only two sentences. Some essays may seem to use three or four sentences to introduce the topic, but these are mostly long sentences with slight pauses, and in reality, they are still only two sentences.

These two sentences serve to summarize and explain the meaning of the question, but they cannot directly state the meaning of the question.

Incomplete summarization is called "leaking the question," while directly stating the meaning of the question is called "criticizing the question," both of which are considered violations.

The term "leaking the question" is easy to understand. Su Lu understood "criticizing the question" to mean something like, "I'm fat, but you can only say I'm 'prosperous' or 'have high wind resistance.' If you directly say I'm fat, that's an insult..."

Furthermore, one must not "infringe upon superiors or offend inferiors." Referring to the preceding text is called "infringing upon superiors," while offending the following text is called "offending inferiors."

Alright, those are all the rules for solving this problem. Go and solve it, young man!
Not at all! These are just rules, and they have absolutely nothing to do with actually writing down the problem.

Just like knowing the rules of basketball doesn't mean I can play basketball...

~~
However, all the effort paid off; Su Lu had diligently prepared for this part. At least the next afternoon, when the teacher began explaining the problem, he wouldn't be completely clueless...

Mr. Zhang remained seated behind the lectern, and spoke slowly in a tone completely different from that of the morning:
"Solving a problem is like solving a riddle. The two sentences that solve the problem are the riddle's surface, and the solution is the answer." "When solving a problem, the most important thing is to grasp the essence of the problem and capture its spirit, aiming for comprehensiveness and unwavering precision."

The teacher always spoke in a mix of classical and vernacular Chinese, but fortunately, Su Lu had been trained in classical Chinese for some time and was now able to understand what the teacher meant.

The teacher continued, “To solve a problem well, ‘understanding the problem’ is the foundation. The scholar must first clearly understand the essence and core of the problem before he can put pen to paper, and then he can penetrate the core of every sentence and word.”

"There are more than twenty methods for solving problems, including explicit methods, implicit methods, forward methods, reverse methods, direct methods, inverse methods, divergent methods, and opposing methods. As for which one is most suitable, that's something you'll naturally know by heart, and the key to its application lies in your own intuition." Having said that, he explained them one by one:
"For example, direct refutation uses the affirmative form of the proposition to refute it; inverse refutation uses the negative form to prove the proposition's correctness. For example, regarding 'not being resentful when others do not understand it,' discussing 'how to treat it well if one is not resentful' is direct refutation. Discussing 'how to treat it badly if one is resentful' is inverse refutation..."

Su Lu understood this time, thinking to himself, "Isn't this the 'positive and negative comparison argument' I learned in my past life? Could I still use the skills I had for writing essays back in the day?"

“Explicit explanation means to directly clarify the meaning of the topic using clear and straightforward language. Implicit explanation, on the other hand, is to indirectly reveal the meaning of the topic by using allusions, metaphors, or hints to hide the theme behind the text.” The teacher continued.

Upon hearing this, Su Lu exclaimed, "Good heavens, they've used exemplification and analogy again..."

Could it be that the eight-legged essay and the civil service examination essay are from the same school?
However, he had neither the means nor the time to verify this, so he focused intently on listening. He discovered that most of these problem-solving methods could be found in the various argumentation methods used in essay writing.

Even without a direct correspondence, it wasn't difficult for him to understand. He actually understood everything from the entire afternoon's craft class…

It turns out I wasn't completely starting from scratch; my previous education had been supporting me all along!
Su Lu was almost moved to tears.

~~
After class, Mr. Zhang, as he had done the day before, gave the students a question: "Knowing when to stop leads to stability." He asked them to write eight sentences using four different approaches: positive and negative, light and dark.

He then instructed Ma Qianli, the head of the Niu Ma Zhai, to collect the items and deliver them to him, before going to the adjacent side room for lesson preparation.

The students quickly opened their workbooks and began answering the questions diligently.

Su Lu started scratching his head again. Understanding how to solve a problem is far from enough to solve it well.

Things in this world are always easier said than done...

But this time, at least he managed to grit his teeth and give it a shot. After racking his brains, he finally managed to squeeze out something that met the requirements. Don't underestimate these few lines; they represent the utmost effort he put in, and he was the last to hand in his assignment.

Ma Zhaizhang was also good-natured and waited patiently for him. Su Lu apologized and handed the workbook to Ma Qianli's desk.

Those guys from the Cheng family, however, were really eager to get revenge. They were thoroughly humiliated by Su Lu yesterday, and they were determined to get their revenge today!

The three of them had already found out that Su Lu was kept after school yesterday because he submitted a blank paper. The fact that he couldn't even solve such a simple problem showed that he truly knew nothing about composition.

It would be a miracle if he could answer today's obviously more difficult class assignment.

Just as Su Lu turned around and sat back down, Cheng Wanfan, with his pockmarked face, picked up his workbook and said in a pretentious tone, "Seeing how diligently Sun Shan has worked on his work, let's take a look at his masterpiece!"

“You should stop calling Su ‘classmate’ like that,” Ma Zhaizhang said, frowning. “You should address each other as ‘classmate’.”

“Alright, then let’s read Da Su’s masterpiece.” Cheng Wanfan readily agreed.

It was difficult for Ma Zhaizhang to stop them, because the purpose of writing articles in the school was to exchange and evaluate each other. Good articles would even be used as model essays and recited in class.

Of course, Cheng Wanfan was deliberately trying to embarrass Su Lu...

"You!" Su Dan and Li Qiyu slammed their fists on the table and stood up. Forget about rules and regulations, how could they let their brother be humiliated?

Su Lu stopped the two of them and said nonchalantly, "Let them read it. It's written for others to see, and if they laugh at me, it's only because I'm not good enough."

Upon hearing this, Ma Qianli and the other students who were watching the commotion couldn't help but look at Su Lu, thinking to themselves that although this person was not good at studying, he still had some gentlemanly qualities.

The Cheng brothers didn't care about any of that, and Cheng Wanfan began to recite in a drawn-out tone:

"Let's first look at Da Su's correct interpretation: 'Stopping is where one should stop; knowing when to stop is the foundation of a calm mind.'"

Cheng Wantang and Cheng Wanzhou couldn't wait to join in the commotion, saying, "Hahaha, what utter nonsense..."

"Doesn't that make sense?" the classmates asked, puzzled. "The saying comes from Zhu Xi's commentary, which explains 'knowing when to stop leads to stability.' Isn't that a perfectly correct interpretation?"

"It's alright, nothing special..." Even the four roommates, who were also part of the "Seven Sons of Renshe," couldn't agree with Sanwan. They were students who studied and understood principles, not street thugs who turned right and wrong upside down.

The Cheng brothers also realized that Su Lu had done the right thing. Cheng Wanzhou hurriedly said awkwardly, "I didn't hear you clearly just now."

Cheng Wantang coughed and said, "The breakthrough is too easy, next one."

“Reverse it—'Not knowing when to stop is the cause of mental turmoil.'” Cheng Wanfan frowned and recited.

“This is also correct!” The classmates couldn’t help but praise: “Zhu’s commentary says, ‘To overstep one’s bounds and not know when to stop,’ and this is the reason why one’s mind is in turmoil if one does not stop.”

“That’s how bad I am,” said a classmate named Lin Zhihong. He was the top student in the class and the second-highest scorer in the entrance exam… a positive number, of course.

(End of this chapter)