Chapter 44 A New Job (3)
Li Xiaoxiao was so bored that she decided to teach Asheng to write, even though she was only a mediocre teacher.
But where should she begin teaching?
She wrote "At the beginning of life, people are inherently good, and their natures are similar, □□" on the sand. Because Chinese characters were not her native language, she subconsciously associated reading characters with symbols and numbers first, and it took her a while to switch to the Chinese language pattern.
But looking at it this way, it really reminded her of the rules of Chinese characters. She said to Ah Sheng, "Don't think about how to write those few characters. First, learn how to write horizontal, vertical, left-falling, right-falling, and hook characters."
Dots, horizontal strokes, vertical strokes, left-falling strokes, right-falling strokes, and hooks? What does this mean? Ah Sheng looked completely bewildered.
Li Xiaoxiao wrote a few simple strokes on the sand: horizontal, vertical, left-falling, right-falling, and hooked lines.
Li smiled and said, "Basically all characters are composed of these seven strokes. If you learn these seven strokes, it's equivalent to learning how to write all characters."
Ah Sheng's eyes widened: "That's amazing?! If I learn these seven strokes, I can write all the characters?"
Li Xiaoxiao nodded very firmly, because these were her history teacher's exact words, and they couldn't be wrong! Aren't Chinese characters just made up of these few strokes assembled in various ways? It's just that some characters have more strokes and some have fewer.
Li Xiaoxiao explained the sentence Meng Guanqi had taught her, stroke by stroke, to Asheng. After finishing, she said proudly, "Look, aren't these characters made up of these seven strokes?"
Compared to the characters they form, these seven strokes are really too simple. They can all be completed in one stroke. Ah Sheng immediately became interested: "Such simple strokes, then I can learn them today."
Li Xiaoxiao snorted: "Forget it, you'd be lucky if you could learn it in five days. Once you can write these seven strokes fluently from beginning to end and from end to beginning, even if the order is messed up, you'll learn to write very quickly."
Ah Sheng refused to believe it. Could he really learn these seven strokes in five days? He could learn them all in one afternoon!
He thought he had learned it, but when Li Xiaoxiao asked him about one of the strokes the next morning, he was horrified to find that he had forgotten it again.
Today, Meng Guanqi wrote down a new sentence for them: "If they are not taught, their nature will change. The way to teach is to focus on one thing."
Of the twelve characters, Li Xiaoxiao recognized six and didn't recognize the other six, but she spent two hours learning how to write them. Asheng couldn't help but get anxious. He hadn't even learned the first sentence yet, having spent all his time practicing the seven strokes. Now there were twelve more characters. What was he going to do?
He couldn't help but want to start memorizing again, but Li Xiaoxiao held him back, saying, "Behave yourself. You won't learn if you don't build a solid foundation. What are you afraid of with me here? Once you've memorized these seven strokes perfectly, learning characters will be much easier."
Ah Sheng was pinned down so tightly by her that he couldn't move at all. He had no choice but to start writing the strokes again, and he did it for three or four days in a row. He wrote each stroke hundreds or thousands of times until he was about to vomit. Finally, the seven strokes were deeply ingrained in his mind.
Li Xiaoxiao pointed to the character "人" (person) and said to him, "Now do you know where this character comes from?"
Ah Sheng exclaimed excitedly, "I know! It's a stroke plus a dot! It's a person!"
Li Xiaoxiao nodded in satisfaction.
After Ah Sheng learned the strokes, he could memorize characters very quickly, and he could memorize ten characters a day. This boosted his confidence, and he caught up with Li Xiaoxiao's progress in just a few days.
He studied with great enthusiasm, while Li Xiaoxiao studied with utter despair.
She had been working for Meng Guanqi for more than ten days, but Meng Guanqi had not stepped out of the outer courtyard even once.
It's good to study hard, but you need to balance work and rest. He's so young, and he sits in the study for five or six hours every day. Doesn't he get tired of it?
Li Xiaoxiao, a mediocre student, doesn't understand the world of top students.
Every day at dawn, Meng Guanqi would get up and walk around the courtyard with his hands behind his back, reciting and walking for half an hour. At dawn, he would eat breakfast on time. After breakfast, he would walk for a quarter of an hour to digest his food. Then, Magistrate Meng would come out from the inner courtyard and spend half an hour explaining the parts he didn't understand and assigning him the day's homework. After that, he would go to the front office. Meng Guanqi would first digest the knowledge that Magistrate Meng had explained to him, review it carefully, and then start writing his essay.
He writes at least one or two articles every day, and then practices calligraphy in the afternoon. He practices calligraphy for no less than an hour, and sometimes even two hours. He seems to never get tired. He is very focused, so much so that he often doesn't know if anyone is in the room. Sometimes, he won't even look up when Li Xiaoxiao and Asheng are arguing.
Li Xiaoxiao rested her chin on her hand, looking at Meng Guanqi. She'd heard he was working so hard to prepare for the provincial examination in Lin'an Prefecture a year from now. Wasn't there still a year? Why did he act like he was taking the exam the very next day? How could someone so young sit still like that? Wasn't he afraid of getting hemorrhoids…?
Okay, she's overthinking it. A child this young won't get hemorrhoids. She just doesn't understand why he would transfer her to his side if he stays cooped up at home studying all day and never goes out.
She remembered what happened at the Zheng family's house. The next day, Meng Guanqi transferred her to serve him. She thought it was to prevent Lu Weifu from retaliating. But he stayed home reading every day. Lu Weifu couldn't possibly come knocking on his door, could he?
However, more than ten days have passed now, and I wonder how the news about Lu Weifu has spread in Lin'an? After Meng Guanqi told Magistrate Meng about the matter, did Magistrate Meng take any action?
It's a pity that she's confined to this four-cornered cage every day and can't get out, and she doesn't know where to go to gather information.
Meanwhile, in the outer courtyard study, just two walls away from her, Magistrate Meng was listening intently to the news Zhao Jian had gathered: "My lord, the matter has spread throughout Lin'an Prefecture. The Lu family is in complete chaos. Lu Weifu is claiming illness and not coming out, so the news can no longer be contained."
A slight smile appeared on Magistrate Meng's lips: "Didn't anyone find out it was you who did it?"
Zhao Jian said, "No, I was very careful and absolutely did not leave any evidence."
Magistrate Meng asked, "What are the reactions from all sides?"
Zhao Jian said, "At the beginning, Li Jingli led his constables to arrest people who were spreading the news. Several storytellers were arrested in taverns and teahouses. They threatened and bribed them to suppress the matter. As instructed by the master, I wrote dozens of notes and threw them into the prefectural school. Once the news spread in the prefectural school, the young masters of various noble families sent their servants to investigate. This caused a huge uproar throughout Lin'an Prefecture. Li Jingli could not suppress it at all and went to Prefect Song for help, but Prefect Song found out too late. The news had already spread throughout Lin'an, and he could do nothing about it."
Magistrate Meng asked, "What about the Lu family's in-laws?"
Zhao Jian said, "Young Madam Lu was so angry that she went back to her parents' home. The next day, more than a dozen of her family members went to the Lu residence to demand an explanation. I heard that it caused quite a commotion... But in the end, Lu Jingli invited Prefect Song over."
Magistrate Meng could tell from his expression that Prefect Song had definitely managed to appease both sides: "Young Madam Lu's family doesn't dare to offend Prefect Song, so they're just going to accept this loss?"
Zhao Jian lowered his head: "Yes, I carefully inquired around the Lu residence. After Prefect Song left, a corpse was carried out of the Lu family's house that night and thrown into a mass grave. I followed them all the way, and after they left, I went up to take a look..."
Magistrate Meng had already guessed: "Is it Baohe?"
Zhao Jian said in a low voice, "Yes."
Baohe's death can be considered the Lu family's final explanation to Madam Lu. Lu Weifu has managed to get rid of this matter at the lowest possible cost.
Who would care about the death of a servant?
Zhao Jian said, "After I saw Baohe's body, I stayed in Lin'an Prefecture for a few more days. Many storytellers have switched sides, saying that Lu Weifu was tricked by his servants, who used this as a pretext to extort a huge sum of money. They portrayed Lu Weifu as the victim, and after hearing this so many times, quite a few people have actually believed it..."
Magistrate Meng sighed, "I didn't dare to expect to bring him down. It's already quite good that he's lost so much face in Lin'an Prefecture. I just hope he can be more restrained in the future."
But he also knew that he couldn't change his spoiled brat habits. With a group of powerful people behind him cleaning up his messes, Lu Weifu would only feel humiliated and would never learn a real lesson.
As a result, Magistrate Meng dared not send Meng Guanqi to Lin'an Prefecture. Baohe was already dead, and Lu Weifu must have known the truth about the replacement long ago. He had lost face in Lin'an Prefecture, so how could he let it go so easily?
Now that he has offended both the Song and Lu families, he needs to keep a closer eye on his son...
Thinking about it, he couldn't help but walk into the study next door.
Meng Guanqi stood upright, writing an article. The weather was hot, and sweat had accumulated on his forehead and nose, but he didn't care at all, as he was completely immersed in his writing.
Magistrate Meng looked at his son, who was as handsome as a jade tree, and a hint of pride welled up in his eyes. There were very few children of this age who could be as self-disciplined as a chess piece...
Magistrate Meng stood at his desk for a long time. Ah Sheng and Li Xiaoxiao quietly came over to take a look and wanted to pour him tea and get him a chair, but he stopped them.
The two had no choice but to wait outside the study until Meng Guanqi finished writing the article.
Disturbance is not allowed at this time.
Half an hour later, Meng Guanqi finally put down his pen and noticed that Magistrate Meng was standing in the room. He quickly stood up and asked, "Father, when did you arrive?"
Magistrate Meng smiled slightly: "You've been here for a while now, writing so intently. I've come to take a look at your article."
Meng Guanqi blushed slightly, feeling a little embarrassed.
When he gets serious, he tends to drift off and become oblivious to everything else, so he's often unaware of what's happening around him.
He invited Magistrate Meng to sit down, picked up the document, and respectfully handed it to Magistrate Meng.
Magistrate Meng took the article and read it carefully.
Meng Guanqi was a little uneasy. His father had never read his articles for so long before. Was there something wrong with them?
But when he picked up his pen, his thoughts flowed like a spring, and he finished in just over half an hour. He thought he had written very well, but why did his father take so long to read it, and why did his father not show any appreciation on his face?
Magistrate Meng put down his essay, and seeing the man's nervous expression, he smiled gently: "Don't be nervous, there's nothing seriously wrong with your essay—"
If there's no major problem, then it must be a minor one. What exactly is the problem? Meng Guanqi asked, looking eager to learn.
Magistrate Meng said, "It's already quite remarkable that you can write such a beautiful and ornate essay at such a young age. However, the focus of the examination for the Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial-level imperial examination) is different from that of the Xiucai (a successful candidate in the county-level imperial examination). This essay is light and ethereal, and reads beautifully and smoothly. If you encounter an examiner who likes this style, you are very likely to get a high score, but..."
Meng Guanqi's heart skipped a beat; here comes the important part.
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Author's Note: I'll try updating twice a day for a few days to see if that can salvage the situation. At this rate, I might not be on the rankings next week.
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