Top Scholar

Chapter 63 A Very Unpolished Jade
"Because this child's writing is really... both fragrant and foul." Qian Huai-ren didn't know how to describe it, so he simply asked someone to bring the exam paper and asked the headmaster to take a look at it personally.

Zhu Liu was truly interested this time. He took the paper and glanced at it, only to see the opening statement:
'People's nature is inherent; guiding it will lead to correctness; reason cannot be forced; yielding to it will bring peace!'

"Excellent opening, powerful!" Zhu Liu exclaimed. "Sixteen short characters, each from the Doctrine of the Mean, the Analects, the Chapters and Sentences, and Mencius, are truly inspiring!"

According to the rules of punctuation, a sentence is only considered complete if it contains a period. Therefore, these sixteen characters actually constitute two sentences, and there is no violation of the rules.

"That's the purpose of breaking the deadlock!" Zhu Liu said with a smile to Qian Huai-ren and the others, "I'm already looking forward to a magnificent article."

"Headmaster, please continue reading," Qian Huai-ren said with a smile.

“The people do things in their daily lives without knowing the underlying principles. The sage guides the people with the Way, not because he does not want them to know, but because knowing is not easy, and following the Way makes it easy to achieve.”

Zhu Liu's excitement faded by about 30%, but he still smiled and said, "This topic isn't anything fancy. As long as the meaning is solid, that's enough. Although the wording is a little lacking, it's still excellent."

Let's look at the story again—

"Heaven endows people with their nature, and following this nature is the Way. The people follow their nature, which is their constant way. If you guide them with policies and regulate them with punishments, they will avoid crime but have no sense of shame; if you guide them with virtue and regulate them with propriety, they will have a sense of shame and be able to reform themselves. Is this not the method of guiding the people according to the Way? It is because we understand the difficulty of reasoning. The people differ in their intelligence and foolishness; the sage does not force them with profound principles, but guides them with the constant Way."

"Well..." Zhu Liu's smile was already somewhat forced. He coughed and said, "It has both moral principles and literary talent..."

“Yes, this boy’s literary talent is really not worthy of his moral character.” Qian Huai-ren said with a wry smile: “His prose is barely passable, but his classical prose is simply unbearable to look at.”

"..." When Zhu Liu saw the eight-legged essay section, he completely understood Qian Huai-ren's comment of "both fragrant and stinky." This kid's writing was like a piece of stinky tofu, making you hold your nose but still unable to stop reading!

After reading it, he finally couldn't hold back anymore, slammed the paper on the table, and complained:
"What 'only the most intelligent can do it' means there's no need to force one to know. What 'the wind blows and the grass moves' means the grass doesn't recognize the wind, but rather the wind moves naturally. What 'those who know may not be able to do it, and those who do it may not know everything'? My goodness, what kind of utter nonsense is this!"

The headmaster has been to Beijing for the imperial examinations four times already, so it's inevitable that he'll bring back some of his northern accent...

"Yes, this essay is written so clearly, it's unparalleled in the whole school," Qian Huai-ren said helplessly. "I really doubt this child ever attended elementary school!"

"He never attended elementary school, yet he grasps the principles so skillfully?" Mr. Zhu shook his head and said, "No one can surpass him in his ability to use the teachings of the sages to gain such a profound understanding."

"Moreover, the child's writing structure is particularly beautiful. I read it in one go without realizing it, and I completely believed what he said."

“Yes, it is indeed too white, but it is particularly convincing,” the gentlemen echoed.

Everyone's opinion was surprisingly unanimous: the article was exceptionally good in terms of its meaning, but exceptionally poor in terms of its writing style.

So, unsurprisingly, a '〇' was drawn in blue pen on the header of the exam paper.

"So they ruled that no points were awarded?" Headmaster Zhu looked at the large 'zero'. "Who reviewed this paper?"

"Replying to Headmaster, it is I." The examiner was none other than Mr. Zhu, who had praised Su Lu highly. He said in a deep voice, "According to the academic rules, those who are excellent in both wording and reasoning are considered top-grade and will receive one point; those who are excellent in reasoning but average in wording are considered average and will receive half a point; those who are average in reasoning will not receive any points no matter how excellent their wording is."

Mr. Zhu sighed regretfully, "Although there is no explicit rule, it is not difficult to infer from the second point that those who are reasonable but poor in their arguments will not receive points."

“No problem.” The gentlemen all nodded and said, “Only those with excellent reasoning and mediocre writing deserve half a point, while those with excellent reasoning but poor writing deserve no points.”

“However, the headmaster just said that if one discovers a gem, one should not be too bound by fixed rules,” Qian Huai-ren said. He had served in the county government and was far more adept at flattering superiors than the other teachers.

"Then do you think this child is a gem in the rough?" Zhu Liu asked.

"It should count, but it's a bit too much..." Qian Huai-ren laughed after he finished speaking.

"Indeed, a fine talent and a beautiful jade, perfectly formed by nature. But it's also too natural..." The gentlemen all agreed.

Zhu Liu pondered for a moment, then ordered, "Summon his vegetarian master."

Such an examination could not be conducted anonymously, so to ensure fairness, none of the three scholars participated.

A moment later, Zhang Yanqiu entered, cupped his hands, and said, "Did the headmaster want to see me?"

"Mr. Zhang, please take a look at your disciple's masterpiece first," Zhu Liu said, pointing to the 'stinky tofu' on the table.

"Yes." Zhang Yanqiu picked up the test paper, glanced at the name, and knew what it meant. Then he read it carefully, looked up and said, "Headmaster, I've finished reading."

Seeing that he had no change in expression, Zhu Liu asked with interest, "The article is written like this, which seems to be within Mr. Zhang's expectations."

"No, I am somewhat surprised," Mr. Zhang shook his head and said, "I didn't expect him to improve so quickly. Before, he was even writing prose in vernacular Chinese..."

"What?" the gentlemen asked in surprise. "Brother Mo Lin, didn't you ask your disciple which teacher he had before?"

"Yes, I really want to meet this gentleman and ask him how he can teach the meaning and structure of an article so thoroughly, but doesn't teach students any fancy words."

"Actually, you might not believe it—" Mr. Zhang said with a wry smile, "My disciple had never learned how to write a composition before enrolling. Everything related to composition was taught to him by me on the spot." "Ah?" The teachers exclaimed incredulously, "Brother Mo Lin, you're not joking, are you?"

“That’s right, you can’t teach such moral principles and literary style in two months, not even two years!” Vice Headmaster Qian nodded and said, “As for the writing style, even if you don’t teach it at all, anyone who has attended elementary school for a few years will not have achieved this level of proficiency.”

“But that’s the truth.” Zhang Yanqiu spread his hands and said, “You haven’t seen that disciple. On his first day of school, he didn’t even know what the problem was, and he handed in a blank paper.”

That evening, I gave him a copy of "On Learning" and asked him to study it beforehand. The next day, I gave him another lesson on problem-solving, and after that, he was able to solve problems both directly and indirectly, just like his classmates.

"Really?" The gentlemen couldn't help but gasp, and the temperature in Daonan Hall rose considerably.

As the saying goes, "everything is difficult at the beginning," and writing is no exception; it's about having a strong start, a substantial middle, and a powerful finish. Breaking through the initial topic is like the crown on the phoenix's head—its importance cannot be overstated, but it's also the most challenging part.

As a result, everyone believes that if you can solve the problem well, the article will be good!
Is it really possible for someone to learn something so quickly and do it correctly every time?! Is that really reasonable?
The old gentlemen couldn't help but recall their own past, how each of them had to practice diligently for a year or two before they could even solve a problem.

"How did you teach them?" the teachers asked curiously.

Mr. Zhang frankly stated, "The master leads you through the door, but the learning is up to you. It's mainly because my disciple's talent is too high, and I, as the teacher, dare not take credit for it."

"As for his writing skills, I can only tell you that when he enrolled, he didn't even know what couplet matching was," Mr. Zhang said helplessly. "Now I have him find people to match couplets with every day to make up for the lack of elementary education."

Fortunately, Mr. Zhang was known for his honesty and integrity, which convinced the other gentlemen.

Mr. Zhu couldn't help but say indignantly, "His tutor should really be arrested and given a beating. Isn't this a waste of talent? Such a good child, what has he turned him into..."

~~
Sweet Water, behind the counter.

Su Youcai was watching the proprietress's busy figure, noticing her slender waist accentuated by her apron... He suddenly turned his back and sneezed twice.

He sniffed and thought to himself, "Who's cursing me, Qiu-ge'er?"

~~
In a hole-in-the-wall restaurant near Taiping Wharf.

On the greasy, worn-out table were several small but flavorful side dishes, such as steamed pork with salt and taro chicken.

Li Qiyu sat on the bench with an air of nonchalance, his face full of emotion, and said, "I finally see hope of staying. You have no idea how happy I am."

"When you go home, you can follow in your father's footsteps and become a centurion," Su Dan retorted. "Isn't that more practical than being a pedantic scholar?"

“I can’t become one. I have an older brother who is the legitimate son of the wife…” Li Qiyu said with a depressed expression, “I am the one who was raised by a maid in the legend.”

"Achoo, choke, choke!" After taking a bite of the Sichuan peppercorn-flavored taro chicken, Su Lu sneezed three times in a row, rubbing his nose and saying, "Who's been talking about me?"

~~
In Daonan Hall, it wasn't just one person who was talking about him.

After listening to Zhang Yanqiu's words, Zhu Shanzhang laughed and said, "So, this kid named Su Lu is very talented, but his foundation is too weak. No wonder he almost didn't get in."

“Yes.” Zhang Yanqiu nodded and said, “He only started learning the ‘Three Hundred Thousand’ last August. He crammed for three months at most. It’s already good that he was able to get into the academy.”

"Three months?!" The teachers exclaimed in surprise again. "Everyone else studied for six years, and he got in after only three months?!"

"What do you mean 'not bad'? It's simply amazing!" Mr. Zhu slammed his hand on the table and exclaimed, "I knew this boy was extraordinary from the start! I was right to have such a keen eye!"

“But the teacher gave him a zero,” Zhang Yanqiu said, dissatisfied.

“I admire him, but rules are rules.” Mr. Zhu said helplessly, “If the rules are broken for his sake, it would be unfair to the other fifty-nine students. I can tell what is more important.”

“That’s right. The rules of the academy are paramount, and no one can violate them.” The teachers also shared this view.

“But this will put him in danger later.” Mr. Zhang still wanted to try, so he clasped his hands in a fist and said to Zhu Liu, “Please, Headmaster, consider this boy’s special circumstances and leave a promising talent for the academy.”

“Hehe, that child is more than just a promising talent.” Zhu Liu nodded and said to Mr. Zhang, “I originally called you here to see if we could make an exception for him.”

"Thank you very much, Headmaster." Zhang Yanqiu quickly expressed his gratitude.

"Headmaster..." the teachers exclaimed anxiously. "We can't break the rules!"

"Don't rush," Headmaster Zhu said, raising his hand as if to invite disaster, "but after hearing what Mr. Zhang said, I've changed my mind..."

P.S. Don't worry, it'll be here soon. But anything can happen on the first day of release, so please be patient. It will be released as soon as it's ready...

(End of this chapter)