Chapter 76 Chapter 76 A gentleman stays away from the kitchen.
I saw disciples from the Sutra Hall coming out one after another. Some were little kids with pigtails, some were young men with their hair tied up and wearing crowns, and some were old men with flowing beards. Their ages varied, but they were all men, and there was no one wearing hairpins or skirts.
After looking around but not seeing Feng Yun, Aunt Xu pulled a student over and asked, "Sir, have you seen my Yun Lang?"
The man bowed and said, "Old lady, just now in the hall, the Confucian Master was examining the students on the diagrams and latitudes. None of the students in the hall could solve the problem. Later, Brother Yun, who was outside the hall, solved it. Now, the master has asked him to examine him individually. I'm afraid he will be the next student in the hall."
"A student coming to the hall?" Aunt Xu was surprised and happy.
Now, this great scholar of Confucian classics had more than 200 students under his tutelage, and they could not all sit in one classroom. So he adopted the method of teaching in stages. He first selected some students he valued, about 30 of them, and taught them the key points of Confucian classics in person. These students then taught other students, thus passing on the knowledge.
Their child, Yun Lang, was the last in line and had been in school for over three years. Often, he didn't even see the teacher for the whole day.
Now I can finally be considered a student of the imperial court. The so-called student of the imperial court refers to a student who can personally witness the teacher’s lectures and teachings, and receive knowledge face to face. Only those who are appreciated and respected by the teacher can enjoy such treatment.
Xu's heart was so excited that she could be said to be in heaven. She was so excited that she clasped her hands and said:
"In this way, it won't be long before your uncle enters the Chang'an Imperial College, becomes a doctoral student, or even becomes an official!"
Feng Fuzhen did not say a word, thinking in her heart how much money this would cost. The family had already saved money in other areas to support her younger uncle.
The grandfather and grandson waited outside for about an hour before Feng Yun came out. They saw a tall and thin man with his head slightly lowered, his hair tied up with a cloth towel, and a quilted blue cloth Zen robe.
Mrs. Xu immediately went up to him and asked, "My dear Yun Lang, how are you? Has the master allowed you to be a student in the imperial court?"
Feng Yun nodded and said, "Okay, I won't have to wait outside tomorrow and can go into the hall to listen to the lessons."
Hearing this, Aunt Xu kept praying for God’s blessing.
Coincidentally, the Yang family came to see the Jixu sisters off and were giving them instructions on matters related to tomorrow's schooling. Aunt Xu listened and said,
"Even if a girl is enlightened, she can never become a disciple of a great scholar or a doctoral student at the Chang'an Imperial College!"
Feng Yunshun looked over and saw Ji Xu and his sister. After hearing what had happened, he said:
"It doesn't hurt to know a few words."
Feng Fuzhen finally brightened up after hearing this and said, "My uncle said so? Then I want to go and get enlightened too."
Xu's expression changed a little. She said, "You are already thirteen now. You are no longer old enough to be accepted by the library."
Feng Fuzhen was immediately displeased, and Feng Yun said, "If you want to learn, your uncle can teach you at home in his free time."
Mrs. Xu tried to dissuade him, fearing that it would hinder Feng Yun's progress, but Feng Yun still said:
"That's fine. I set aside half an hour every day before going to bed."
Feng Fuzhen was focused on Ji Xu. She saw them driving the ox cart away and felt upset. Her uncle had a bad temper and used to teach the girl by writing on the ground with a straw stick. She was still young at that time and followed them. However, she forgot what she learned the next day and was often scolded by her uncle.
At this moment, Feng Yun only said, "Since I have taught you, you must learn and achieve results."
I couldn't help but feel frightened and said:
"Forget it, this is meaningless."
"Sister, where should I put the desk?"
After returning home from Master Yang's place, Ji Feng was so happy that she could hardly contain herself. She moved a desk by herself, stretched out its four wooden legs, and asked with her bulging belly.
Ji Xu was also happy for them. While tying up the cows, he said:
"Put it behind the east room window. It's bright there."
"Why!"
Ji Feng did as she was told, and Ji Zhu also followed behind, holding a cushion.
The two children were in high spirits and burst out with a lot of energy. Later, Ji Xu joined in and they cleaned up the mess in no time.
Behind the window of the east room, there were two desks side by side, on which were placed pens, inkstones, and books. Ji Xu also took a half bamboo tube and inserted two pear blossoms into it. The arrangement of this corner created quite a reading atmosphere.
As for the futon that Ji Xu bought for herself, she placed it next to the wooden table in the main room, along with the piece of light green fine cloth.
She used a small dustpan to pick up needles, cotton thread, a wooden ruler, spring scissors, a thimble and the like, knelt beside the table, spread out the fine cloth and measured it.
The softness under the knees makes it more comfortable than kneeling directly on the reed mat.
"Sister, what are you going to do with the cloth? I'll help you wind the thread."
As Ji Feng spoke, he came over, hung the thread on Ji Zhu's hands, and then he took the thread ends and started to wind it up.
Ji Xu said, "It's spring plowing time now. When the sun rises at noon, the cotton jackets we wear are no longer wearable. It's time to make us two sets of spring clothes to change into."
"Spring clothes? Or two?"
Ji Feng opened her eyes wide, surprised and happy. Little girls love new clothes.
Ji Xu smiled and said, "Make one of these water-green ones, and use the half piece of lotus-green chicken-crowing cloth left over from last year to make one of these as well. That way, you and Xiaozhu will have something brighter to wear when you go to the library."
"Sister, you are so nice!" Ji Feng said happily.
Ding ding ding…
There were lush vegetation in the courtyard of the library, and a bronze chime hung under the eaves. Calligrapher Yang was striking it with a small wooden hammer. The boys and girls who had been in the courtyard rushed into the hall and knelt down in front of their respective desks.
A row of window panes were propped up with wooden sticks, allowing bright light inside and allowing one to see the swaying pear trees outside. There were five rows of desks, with seven students in each row.
Ji Zhu was short, so Master Yang arranged her to sit in the first row; Ji Feng was taller, so she sat in the middle.
Most of the people inside were sons of wealthy families. Their servants were waiting outside and sitting in a row under the eaves, each guarding their young master's bookcase and whispering to each other.
"Open the scroll of Jijiupian. Today we will learn the line 'The intestines, stomach, abdomen, liver, lungs, and heart are in charge; the spleen, kidneys, and five internal organs are as high as the breasts.'"
Master Yang's voice drifted outside.
Only when the bronze chimes rang again did the children disperse. Some went outside and brought back lunch boxes containing freshly delivered lunch, still warm.
Some of the young masters came from other towns or counties, which were far away, so the children would rush to the kitchen in the southeast corner to use the stove there to heat up the food, and then send it to the hall. After all, the masters didn't have to do it themselves.
"You are Xu Nu's sister, Feng Nu, right? I heard her say the other day that she would send you to the library. Why didn't she hire a little boy to serve her?"
Feng and Zhu were holding food boxes and heading towards the kitchen when they ran into Anai. She was holding a food box and was bringing lunch to Princess Gan. Princess Gan had difficulty walking and was still sitting in the hall.
Seeing that the two did not recognize her, she said, "I am Anai from the Gan family. I am an old acquaintance of your sister. Are you going to heat up the food?
Stop busying yourself, I brought some ready-made food, and our princess can’t finish it anyway, so I’ll share some with you.”
Ji Feng said, "Thank you, Sister Anai. It would be a shame not to eat what you prepared for us. I know how to light the stove, so it's not a big deal."
After saying that, he took Ji Zhu to the kitchen, where a child was already boiling water on the stove.
The water boiled, and he poured some glutinous rice from the bag into the bowl.
This glutinous rice is cooked rice grains that have been exposed to the sun so that it is easy to store when you are out.
Put some dried sunflower seeds and chicken breast on the rice dumplings, then pour the boiling water into the bowl, just enough to cover the rice dumplings. Turn the bowl upside down and let it soak for a while. When the water is absorbed, you can eat it.
The child asked, "Who are you from? You look strange and I can't recognize you."
Ji Feng asked, "I'm from the Ji family in Benguli. You just arrived today. Which family are you from?"
When the stove was empty, she knelt down and added firewood.
Everyone brought their own firewood and placed it outside under the eaves, so everyone could use their own.
The bundle of wood that Ji Xu brought for them was made of good wood chopped into small and thin pieces, which was very convenient for burning in the stove.
"My young mistress and I came from Qu'a County and rented a house in Shengchangli."
The little boy looked to be about ten years old, dressed neatly in a fine cloth shirt and trousers. It seemed that his family was quite wealthy.
"Qu'a County? I heard it's quite far away. Why did you come here to study in the library?" Ji Feng asked.
The small pot on the stove was already boiling with water. She took out a small bottle of lard from her food chest, scraped some with a bamboo stick, melted it in the pot, and used it to fry the cold cakes.
"The nearest library is the one owned by Master Yang. There are no other libraries. There are also some that are farther away. You will see them later." said the little boy.
After hearing this, Ji Feng began to appreciate even more the good intentions of her sister in sending them here for enlightenment.
"What kind of cake is this? It smells so good." The little boy smelled it and stretched his neck to look into the pot.
There was a crackling sound inside, and the pancake was turned over. It was fried golden brown. Ji Feng heard it and said:
"Scallion pork patty."
The little boy swallowed his saliva. His rice noodle soup was ready. He kept looking back as he walked away with it.
After the two boxes of pancakes were fried, Feng and Zhu returned to the hall.
She was wearing a silk jacket and trousers, a gold necklace, and was so fat that her belly was showing. The young man pointed at them and laughed:
"You sisters actually made all this by yourselves? You've all been educated for nothing. Haven't you heard that a gentleman stays away from the kitchen?"
On the table was the hot food brought by his servants, all of which were large amounts of meat.
The fat boy's playmates also laughed, and Ji Feng gritted her teeth in anger. She remembered that her sister had taught them this sentence, but she was not good at remembering such flowery words.
Ji Zhu's angry voice was heard beside him:
"Mencius said: 'To do no harm is the art of benevolence, just as one sees an ox but not a sheep. A gentleman, when he sees an animal alive, cannot bear to see it die; and when he hears its cry, he cannot bear to eat its flesh. For this reason, a gentleman stays away from the kitchen.'
My sister said this speaks of a gentleman’s benevolent heart.”
Ji Feng suddenly remembered what was going on and said:
"Mencius said that a gentleman should stay away from the kitchen because he is kind and cannot bear to kill. Yet you are using a single sentence from that passage to mock us. Who has studied in vain?
I don't think you can be considered gentlemen. At best, you are just infants who need to be waited on by others!"
Everyone blushed as they heard this. They were still in their enlightenment stage, so how could they know the words of Confucius and Mencius? They had only heard a few of them from somewhere.
Especially that fat boy, who has been studying for four or five years and is now eleven years old, is still here without any progress. However, when he heard a young girl who had just entered the library reciting the words of Mencius, he was so embarrassed that he lost his original spirit for a moment.
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