Chapter 242 Shou Jingwu
Shou Jingwu was older than Zhou Fengyi and passed the imperial examination earlier than him, so when they met, Zhou Fengyi was the first to greet him, "Mr. Jingwu, I am sorry to bother you."
After inviting them into the house and sitting down to drink tea and chat about the Zhou family's recent situation for a while, Zhou Fengyi introduced Runtu to Shou Jingwu, "This is the child of Fuqing, a bamboo craftsman from Dupu Village outside the city. His name is Runtu."
After recounting the story of Runtu learning to write from Zhang, Zhou Fengyi bowed and said, "This child is a little late in learning, but he is a promising student. If you think he is a promising talent, please accept him and teach him well."
Shou Jingwu stroked his long beard gently, and did not despise Runtu for his humble background. According to Zhou Fengyi's words, he asked him to recite a few passages from "Three Character Classic" and "Youxue Qionglin", and then took out paper and pen to watch him write.
Runtu did everything he was told. Shou Jingwu nodded from time to time, looking very satisfied. "Su Laoquan only started studying seriously at the age of 27. You are only 12 years old now, so it's not too late. I will accept you as my student."
"Fuqing already knows the rules of the teacher. He feels that his status is humble and he dares not visit him. So he asked me to bring the tuition fee." After saying that, Zhou Fengyi handed over the four-color gifts and two silver dollars that she had prepared long ago.
Shou Jingwu's tuition was not low. There were four semesters a year: Qingming Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival and New Year's Festival. Each semester was two silver dollars and had to be paid in advance. Not counting the expenses of pens, ink, paper and inkstone, the tuition alone was equivalent to the income of a strong laborer after a year of hard work.
"Yes," Shou Jingwu replied, and asked his second son Shou Pengfei to accept the money and gifts. After a moment's thought, he said to Runtu, "My academy is still in need of a book boy to help with the cleaning. If you are willing to do it, I can halve your tuition in the future, and you don't have to spend money on your writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone."
"Thank you, sir. I'm willing to do it." Runtu was touched. Shou Jingwu looked serious on the surface, but he was a warm-hearted person on the inside. He must have done this because he wanted to lend a hand considering his poor family background.
So Runtu bowed respectfully to Shou Jingwu. He bowed willingly. Shou Jingwu helped him solve a big problem with just a few words. Such a kindness was worth bowing to.
"Well, there is an empty room in our house. You can move in after the first month of the lunar year." Shou Jingwu thought that Runtu's home was too far away and it was inconvenient for him to stay at Zhou's, so he simply helped him find a place to live.
"There is just one thing. When you come to the academy, you must study hard and work hard. If you slack off, I will kick you out. Do you remember?"
"I'll remember that," Runtu responded quickly. He thought people said that for their own good.
Shou Jingwu thought for a moment, then stood up and wrote two words on the paper, "Runtu is a little inelegant after all. Now that you have entered the school, you must have a good name. The "Zhou Li·Chunguan" says: 'Bao Zhang used stars and soil to distinguish the nine states'. Your last name happens to be Zhang, so your name should be Xingjiu! Here, these two words are."
As soon as Zhou Fengyi heard it, he thought the name was a good one. "Brother Jingwu is very knowledgeable. I admire you so much! Runxingjiu, why don't you thank the gentleman for giving you the name?"
"Thank you, sir. From now on, I will call you Xingjiu!" Runtu bowed again quickly. He also felt that Zhang Xingjiu sounded better than Zhang Runtu.
The master-disciple relationship was established, so Shou Jingwu asked Pengfei to take Zhang Xingjiu out, and got him a set of writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstone. He also found the "Three Character Classic" and "Youxue Qionglin" from the academy and lent them to him so that he could study on his own.
"Thank you, Senior Brother." Zhang Xingjiu couldn't help but feel lucky. He had met a good teacher. Who else would take such good care of him? "Come on, I'll take you around." Shou Pengfei was twenty years old this year. He had just passed the county examination and ranked first two years ago. He was later admitted as a scholar. He was now a famous talent in Shaoxing City.
Everyone thought that he would pass the imperial examination soon, but unfortunately Shou Jingwu would not let him go out to take the exam. Whenever the imperial examination came, he would lock him in the upstairs room and have someone deliver his meals to him.
Later, Shou Pengfei tied a hemp rope to the window and door, climbed down the rope, escaped from the building, and went to Beijing, where he won the first place in the imperial examination and was appointed magistrate of Hong'an County in Jilin. Shou Jingwu denounced him for being unfilial and refused to accept the money Shou Pengfei sent him.
Not only that, he also cursed loudly. Not satisfied with that, he wrote a complaint and burned it at the land temple to the God of Land, accusing his son of disobedience. This was mainly because he was too disappointed with the current situation and believed that becoming an official now would be tantamount to colluding with the authorities. That's why he was so angry when he heard that his son had become a county magistrate.
Shou Pengfei brought Zhang Xingjiu to the entrance of the academy, pointed to the four characters "Sanwei Shuwu" above and explained, "Sanwei means 'the taste of classics, the taste of history books, and the taste of philosophy books', or 'the warmth of cloth, the fragrance of vegetable roots, and the long-lasting taste of poetry and books'."
"'Common people' means common people; 'Common people's warmth' means being willing to be common people and not being an official; 'the fragrance of vegetables' means being satisfied with simple meals and not envying or yearning for delicacies from land and sea; 'the taste of poetry and books is long' means earnestly appreciating the profound contents of poetry and books, thus gaining a deep taste."
There was a couplet on the pillars on both sides, which read: "The greatest joy is silent filial piety and brotherly love; the greatest flavor of soup is poetry and books." Shou Pengfei also read it to Zhang Xingjiu and explained the meaning of the couplet to him.
After looking at the entrance, I went in through a black-oiled bamboo door. The third room was the study. There was a plaque hanging in the middle that read: Sanwei Study. Below the plaque was a painting of a very fat sika deer lying under an ancient tree.
The students' desks and chairs are located in different places in the room so as not to interfere with each other.
Shou Pengfei pointed to a rectangular table with drawers by the north wall and said, "This belongs to Xun Ge'er. The table behind him is empty. When you come over after the New Year, you can use it!"
Zhang Xingjiu walked over and saw that there was indeed a word "早" (early) about an inch square engraved on the upper right corner of the desk. Teachers in later generations often used this to persuade students to study hard, but anyone who also engraved the word would be scolded.
After the visit, Zhang Xingjiu followed Zhou Fengyi back to Zhou's house. Ah Zhang was very happy to hear that Zhang Xingjiu had become his classmate, but he was a little confused, "Now that you have changed your name to Xingjiu, should I continue to call you Ah Tu or Ah Jiu?"
"Let's call him A Tu!" Zhang Xingjiu couldn't help sweating. The name A Jiu was too easy to make people think of something wrong, and he didn't want to break his arm.
When Zhang Fuqing heard that the teacher had waived half of his tuition and also gave him writing brushes, ink, paper and inkstone, he was very grateful. He quickly found some bamboo, borrowed a bamboo sword, and made a set of bamboo tools for the teacher overnight, which he asked Zhang Xingjiu to deliver.
Shou Jingwu did not refuse and accepted it after a few compliments.
Unexpectedly, just one day later, Shou Jingwu came politely with gifts to return the favor. This made Zhang Xingjiu respect him even more. In this day and age, how many scholars could give such courtesy to a bamboo craftsman?
He began to look forward to going to Sanwei Bookstore to study as soon as possible.
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(End of this chapter)
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