Top Scholar

Chapter 60: The Man Who Broke the Eight-Legged Essay!
Taiping Academy advocates diligent study, but also emphasizes a balance between work and rest, allowing students time to organize their coursework and visit their families.

According to the school rules, the academy has two types of holidays: "ten-day rest" and "festival holidays". The former means a fixed day off every ten days. The latter means holidays during festivals. In addition to the annual leave which is a full month, the other six festivals, Qingming Festival, Winter Solstice, Double Ninth Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Christmas, and birthdays, are all one day off.

The seventh day of the third lunar month is Qingming Festival. People, young and old, go out to sweep the tombs of their ancestors, then enjoy the spring scenery by planting willows and flying kites.

Su Lu and the other two rarely had a day off, but they ended up holed up in Chun Ge'er's study...

Although Li Qiyu didn't believe that the last-place student could teach him, the second-to-last student, anything, his brother had spoken, so he had to support him! That's why he came to Erlangtan last night.

Seeing Su Dan sitting upright and looking excited, he couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "Is our brother really that good?"

"More than just two moves! My brother is incredibly skilled!" Su Dan exclaimed excitedly. "I've been waiting for him to teach me his secrets since the first day of school!"

"Then he still..." Li Qiyu asked, puzzled.

“My brother just hadn’t learned it before. Once he learns it, those people who laughed at him will be left in the dust!” Su Dan was full of confidence in Su Lu. He had spent every day with him and had personally witnessed Su Lu’s many extraordinary qualities!
"Really?" Li Qiyu's curiosity was piqued, and he looked up at Su Lu, who was writing on a large banana leaf.

He suddenly realized that in less than two months, his brother's calligraphy had improved by leaps and bounds. From initially being stiff and rigid, lacking the spirit of calligraphy, it had become no worse than his own writing...

At this moment, Su Lu stopped writing, turned around, and said to the two in a deep voice, "Now I will teach you how to write an eight-legged essay using the 'essay writing' method!"

~~
When Su Lu first learned how to break down a problem, he found that the problem-solving methods taught by Mr. Zhang were so similar to the various argumentation methods used in the essay writing section.
As his studies deepened, he discovered that the eight-legged essay and the written examination were absolutely of the same ilk—

The key to breaking through the rigid, formulaic approach is the opening argument of the essay section!
The continuation of the topic is the elaboration of the argument!

The lecture begins with the introduction of the argumentative paragraph!

The eight-part essay section, starting from the opening paragraph, with its layered argumentation of "opening paragraph, middle paragraph, later paragraph, and concluding paragraph," is highly functionally compatible with the main body of the essay, which includes paragraphs on "analyzing the problem," "arguing the viewpoint," and "proposing solutions."
In short, the essay writing section of the civil service exam and the eight-legged essay share profound commonalities in their core argumentative logic, hierarchical structure, and functional objectives. The only difference is that the eight-legged essay must be written in classical Chinese, has a more mechanical stylistic format, and has extremely strict requirements for citations.

However, he found that even Mr. Zhang struggled to explain systematically, thoroughly, and effectively each step of the discussion—from breaking down the topic, developing the argument, to initiating the discussion, and so on. As a result, students were often left in a state of half-understanding, struggling to grasp the concepts on their own.

But he can explain essay writing systematically, thoroughly, and effectively. Because he was once a top-rated national civil service exam instructor! A professional with a mastery of scientific and systematic teaching methods!

After nearly two months of research, Su Lu has been able to teach the eight-legged essay using the methods of essay writing, so that students can have a systematic and thorough methodology for writing eight-legged essays!

So, on the day of Qingming Festival, "Teacher Su" gave the two "students" a subversive lesson in deconstructing the eight-legged essay.

He first used the method of "analyzing the topic and establishing the theme" in essay writing to decipher the core of "breaking the topic and developing the theme" in the eight-legged essay.

"When breaking down a question, you must closely adhere to the requirements of the question and clearly identify the core viewpoint!" Su Lu said loudly.

“Specifically, the ‘question stem decomposition method’ can be used to analyze the question. First, circle the core concept… For example, in ‘the people are the foundation of the state’, the ‘people’, the ‘state’, and the ‘foundation’ clearly indicate that the question must be answered by focusing on ‘the fundamental relationship between the people and the state’, so as to avoid missing or going off-topic!”

"When beginning the lecture, one must 'speak on behalf of the sages and establish the core argument of the entire text. This can be referenced in this formula," Su Lu pointed to the wall—the formula that 'main argument' equals 'theme' plus 'sage's perspective'—and continued:
“Take ‘the people are the foundation of the state’ as an example. The theme is ‘the people and the state’. From the perspective of sages, ‘the people’s will determines the rise and fall of the state’, which can ensure that the subsequent arguments do not deviate from this core.”

After listening to the first part, Li Qiyu had no more doubts. Su Lu's explanation was concise yet insightful, instantly dispelling the fog in his mind and untangling the mess in his head.

When Su Lu analyzed the "starting the lecture", Li Qiyu was completely impressed. He listened attentively and didn't dare to utter a sound.

Then Su Lu continued his analysis in a clear, concise, and logical manner:
"Next comes the main body of the eight-legged essay. The first paragraph is the 'first sub-argument,' which starts with 'what it is.'"

"The Chinese stock market is the 'core argument section,' which delves deeper into the 'why' question."

The following section is a "supplementary argumentation section," which expands on "what to do" and "what to pay attention to."

"The conclusion is the end, a summary, a recap!"

"In this way, the 'paragraph argumentation framework' of the eight-legged essay is established. Attention should be paid to the coherence of paragraph transitions—the first paragraph should closely follow the argument presented, and a couplet should be used for a natural transition."

"The middle section, the later section, and the final section need to be progressively connected, using function words such as '盖, 夫, 然则, 故' to reflect the logical relationship..."

"What a brilliant 'the initial stock is about what it is, the middle stock is about why it is, and the later stock is about what it is inevitable'!" After Su Lu finished speaking, Su Dan could finally applaud and said with admiration, "Brother, you've truly revealed the secret! From now on, I can view the eight-legged essay as clearly as reading the lines on my palm!"

"Yeah, brother, I'm totally convinced!" Li Qiyu exaggeratedly knelt down and worshipped Su Lu, saying, "From now on, you're my stock market god!" "Get up, what stock market god? That sounds awful." Su Lu looked at this little rascal helplessly.

"You're the god of the eight-legged essay, brother!" Li Qiyu got up and exaggeratedly gestured with his hands, saying, "You explain it even better than Mr. Zhang. I've been learning the eight-legged essay since I was ten, and it's been four years now, but I still don't understand it as well as I did after listening to your lecture today!"

"Don't be disrespectful to Mr. Zhang." Su Lu coughed lightly; he truly respected Mr. Zhang from the bottom of his heart.

"Now you know I wasn't lying to you, right?" Su Dan glanced at Li Qiyu smugly, knowing that this guy would be thoroughly impressed by Qiu Ge'er.

"You're not lying to me, you're not lying to me! Our brother is truly 'like a cannon hitting a thermos—his skill is off the charts!'" Li Qiyu nodded vigorously, but couldn't help asking curiously, "But brother, why are your articles always... so pure and simple? Are you perhaps playing dumb to surprise us with your brilliant writing during the monthly exam?"

"Am I that abnormal?" Su Lu rolled her eyes at him, then said with a wry smile, "I'm like Zhao Kuo now. I can talk about war on paper and I seem to be able to outdo Lian Po, but when I actually go into battle, I show my ugly side and get utterly defeated by Bai Qi."

"Why is that?" Li Qiyu asked, puzzled.

“Because my brother had never written articles before, or even taken any classes. In fact, he only started learning from the ‘Three Hundred Thousand’ last August…” Su Dan explained for Su Lu.

"Huh?" Li Qiyu's jaw almost dropped off the stilted house. He simply couldn't believe that someone who had only studied for three months could get into Taiping Academy.

But on second thought, it seems reasonable that Su Lu could understand the eight-legged essay to such a thorough extent in less than two months...

"So what did you do before, brother?" Li Qiyu asked.

"Watching children, feeding pigs, herding cattle, and planting crops." Su Lu smiled bitterly and waved his hand, saying, "There's no need to talk about the past anymore; it's useless. We can only look forward."

Since the start of the semester, he has studied diligently without fail, memorizing nearly two hundred contemporary essays. He has also thoroughly mastered all the rules of the eight-legged essay and integrated them into his essay writing for the civil service exam.

But he still couldn't write the eight-legged essay well.

The biggest difference between the eight-legged essay and the civil service examination essay is that the former is a form of classical Chinese writing, and it combines the styles of parallel prose and free prose.

A good eight-legged essay requires excellent reasoning and diction. No matter how correct your reasoning or how strong your argument, you still need elegant and simple diction, smooth and coherent writing, alternating tones and rhymes, and a powerful and resonant tone when read aloud.

The excellent model essays that Su Lu recited were all delivered in a high-pitched and impassioned tone. This is how the rhythm and cadence of sentences create a harmonious aesthetic.

Mr. Zhang said that masters of the eight-legged essay were all experts in poetry and music, and were very good at "borrowing tunes" from ci and qu titles and even music to make the text more musical and increase the appeal of the article, thus making them stand out from the crowd.

But as Mr. Zhang said, all these aspects related to literature require painstaking effort and need to be cultivated little by little from a young age through writing poems, composing lyrics, and studying classical Chinese literature under the influence of teachers and elders.

And these are precisely what Su Lu lacked. His cramming for the academy in three months was a shortcut, omitting these crucial but often overlooked foundational steps. Now it's time for him to pay the price…

Su Dan and Li Qiyu, on the other hand, did not have this problem, as they had both received a complete elementary education from a young age. Although Su Dan had not studied the eight-legged essay before, she was proficient in both antithetical couplets and poetry, lacking only a systematic and thorough methodology for writing the eight-legged essay... that is, the aspect of 'reason'.

Previously, they were weak in reasoning but strong in rhetoric. Su Lu helped them fill in the gaps in their abilities, so naturally they were no longer weak in either area.

Su Lu's reasoning was strong but his rhetoric was weak, and he couldn't improve his writing skills overnight, which is why he lamented the fate of Zhao Kuo...

"Brother, how can we help you?" Li Qiyu asked with concern.

"Help me catch up on my elementary school lessons," Su Lu said with a wry smile. "Adan accompanies me to and from school every day for lessons."

“Then I’ll teach you how to write poetry.” Li Qiyu patted his chest and said, “Brother, you don’t know this, but back in my hometown, I’m known as ‘Little Li Bai of Tucheng’!”

His father was the head of the Tucheng Hundred Household Office.

"Okay, thanks." Su Lu replied casually, not really relying on this unreliable guy. After all, he already had a son in his own family who claimed to have been misled by poetry and literature throughout his life.

"However, improving one's writing skills is a slow process, so you need to be patient, brother," Su Dan reminded Su Lu.

“I know.” Su Lu nodded. He had already thought it through. He smiled bitterly and said, “But I don’t have much time left. If I can’t improve within a few months, then I’ll have to give up.”

(End of this chapter)