Chapter 1: Talking about Life with You: A Brief Discussion on Education
The main text of "The Art of Divination" ends in June 2023.
Although the novel has been finished, my connection with readers has not been interrupted. I have established two fan groups and keep in touch with some readers.
What I didn't expect was that readers' interest in the book, "The Art of Divining Characters," remained undiminished. They asked me to continue writing and asked me all sorts of strange questions in the group chat.
I discussed with them that it was inconvenient to answer in the fan group.
You can write down your questions, and I will answer them in the form of a novel.
Gained everyone's unanimous consent.
This also complies with the regulations of the Tomato website. They gave me the authority to write another 100,000 words.
Therefore, I will write more than 40 chapters at the end of this novel to clear up your doubts and confusions in the form of a novel.
In order to save space and talk more about useful things, the extra chapters will not continue the completed stories. It is just a pure "telling stories through novels" genre.
Let’s start from July 1, 2023, and enter the “Wanshanhong Studio” together.
…
On the morning of July 1st, I just arrived at the studio and a man came in.
The man was tall, with a small mustache. He walked in and said with a smile, "Hello, Mr. Wan."
I nodded and looked at him. I felt that his brow was not bright, so I just smiled slightly and waited for him to speak.
He sat down and said with a smile, "I've heard of your name for a long time, sir. I'd like to ask you for a fortune-telling."
Chunlai was clever and gave the visitor a pen and paper, saying, "Write something."
The visitor wrote the word "all" and handed it to me.
I didn't take it and said, "I see, keep it for yourself. Which aspect do you want to test?"
The visitor gave a bitter smile and said, "Mr. Wan, let me tell you the truth."
I shook my head. "Don't talk about your past. I'll tell you about it myself. Just tell me what you want to ask."
He said: "I want to find a job, but I don't know where to go."
"Where are you now?"
“Gansu.”
I wrote three "all" characters on a piece of paper and explained to him:
"There's no oracle bone script for the character '都', only bronze inscriptions, official script, and simplified Chinese characters. My principle in character divination is to find the character's most primitive form. In other words, what was it like when people invented it?"
The original form of the character "都" you wrote has "者" on the left and "沂" on the right. 都 = 者 + 沂.
Let me analyze the character "者" (zhe) for you. It's a curved wood with a fire character underneath. It represents burning. Next, let's analyze the character "颐" (yi) for you. "颐" (yi) represents a county seat.
From this, I infer that you are engaged in a wood-related business in a certain county, and your business has failed."
The visitor slapped his thigh and said, "Mr. Wan, you are absolutely right. I do run a furniture business in my hometown. I have lost millions in the past few years."
I smiled slightly and said, "You have a very hot temper too."
He almost slid off the sofa and said quickly, "That's right, I just have a bad temper. I want to change places, so where should we go?"
I answered firmly: "Xi'an."
“Why Xi’an?”
"Go back and look up the word 'du'. It has two meanings. One is the place where the ancestral temple is built. In 2019, archaeological discoveries revealed that the ancestral temple of the Western Zhou emperor was in Xi'an.
The second is the word "du", which in ancient times meant burning fire on the city walls to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth.
"When it comes to fortune-telling, everything starts with this word. You must go to a place where a capital was once built, since your hometown is in Gansu. So I recommend Xi'an. Of course, Beijing, Nanjing, Kaifeng, Hangzhou, etc. are also fine."
Although the visitor had some doubts, after listening to my analysis, he nodded and left.
As soon as this woman left, another woman came in. She smiled and said, "Teacher Wan, I want to change my child's name."
I asked, “Why change the name?”
She smiled bitterly: "I heard others say that children are difficult to raise and like to make noise. Changing their names will..."
I burst out laughing and said, "Changing the name won't make much difference. A child's disobedience is only related to their blood type and personality."
The woman still refused and begged, "Give him a nickname, please. I heard you are good at naming."
I took a sip of tea. “That’s not necessary, my friend.”
She said, "Can you help me find a good name for him?"
I couldn't persuade her, so I said, "Write your name."
She wrote "Family Inscription."
I said, "Since you want me to tell you the name, I'll tell you."
She leaned forward.
"Jiaming's five elements combination is wood + metal. You're a strong-willed kid, and you never give in. You appear easygoing, but your mood swings are extreme. You lack patience and tend to act impulsively."
She said, "Mr. Wan, that's exactly what's going on. Do you have any ideas?"
"How old?"
"Seven years old."
I took out a cigarette, took a slow puff, and said, "His mood swings are not his fault, but your responsibility as parents."
"Yeah?"
"That's right. Do you usually like to use the following educational methods? For example, if he performs well, you say [You are great].
If he performs poorly, you yell at him and say, "Why are you like this? You are so stupid."
When the woman heard this, she immediately said, "Mr. Wan, you seem to be there, and that's how I am."
I flicked the ash from my cigarette and said:
This is where your approach is wrong. Please remember what I said - when educating children, you cannot just say "you are great" or "you are too stupid" - in short, you cannot be too general.
When educating children, you must be specific. For example, if they write well, you can't say "You are great!" Instead, you can say, "You wrote these words well, praise them."
For example, if he does something wrong, you can’t say, “How could you be so stupid?” Instead, you should point out that this is not the way to do it.
"Why?"
"Because children are still in the process of developing their understanding of the world, they don't have the same thinking as adults. If you say 'great,' they'll think everything they do is great. Over time, you won't be able to criticize them. If you do, they'll feel deeply wronged.
Similarly, if he makes a mistake and you yell at him, calling him "stupid," he'll think everything about himself is stupid. Over time, he'll become timid and afraid to do anything. He'll be even more timid when he's out in public. Therefore, you need to address the situation objectively so he can understand what's right and what's wrong.
Over time, your child will grow up in a normal environment and have a good upbringing. "Upbringing means raising a child and then teaching him."
The woman listened for a long time before she said, "Mr. Wan, I've benefited a lot from your lecture today. I really didn't have any method to teach my children before."
I said, "Go ahead, don't change the name. Children are malleable. What kind of person they become depends entirely on how you shape them."
The woman counted the money, stood up and bowed.
I said, "Do you wash his butt?"
The woman was shocked: "Boy, you're seven years old and you need to wash your butt?"
I slashed my hand downwards with a decisive movement:
"Yes, you have to cultivate this good habit in him from a young age. No matter if he is a boy or a girl, he must learn to wash his butt every day. As long as you cultivate the habit of washing his butt, he will be particularly clean in the future."
The woman bowed to me again and left.
Then, the next person came in and asked about Feng Shui. He said his business had been up and down, and he had lost money in recent years.
I smiled and said, "Don't worry, tell me slowly."
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