The Farm Girl’s Charismatic Fortune
Chapter 121 - 118: This Is What a Great Scholar Is Generally Like

Chapter 121: Chapter 118: This Is What a Great Scholar Is Generally Like

Master Han brought over his grandson, Han Xiu.

Han Xiu was also seated in the front row, with Princess Kangyi across a table from him.

Ruo Xuan gave Han Xiu a curious look, "This brother is so handsome, with an air of scholarly grace about him!"

Once Han Xiu had seated himself, Master Han then said, "Ruo Xuan, go sit next to the Ninth Son. Your level of scholarship is quite similar, and it will be easier for this old teacher to guide you both."

"Okay!" Ruo Xuan had no issues with where she sat and happily went to sit with Divine Lord Xuanyuan.

Yan Jiaojiao was heartbroken. Could it be that Xuanbao did not feel even the slightest bit of reluctance?

She felt a great deal of reluctance!

Princess Kangyi’s eyes widened, in disbelief at Master Han’s words!

This Xuanbao’s level of scholarship is comparable to that of Ninth Cousin?

How could this be possible?

Ninth Cousin spends every day, every hour, every moment immersed in books, and at such a young age, he has already read extensively!

How could Xuanbao, a commoner, compare with Ninth Cousin?

Has Master Han’s vision become blurred by age?

The only one fit to sit beside Ninth Cousin is herself!

The presumably vision-impaired Master Han continued, "Yan Feng, you sit with Han Xiu."

Yan Feng responded and promptly stood up, walking over to the seat beside Han Xiu to sit down.

Master Han: "Yan Jiaojiao..."

Yan Jiaojiao immediately interrupted Master Han, "Master, I do not wish to sit with Princess Kangyi!"

Upon hearing this, Princess Kangyi became furious, "Yan Jiaojiao, you dimwit, when were you ever worthy to sit with me? I certainly do not want to sit with you!"

Master Han tapped the ruler in his palm, "Yan Jiaojiao, Princess Kangyi, each of you will copy a hundred characters as punishment."

Both: "..."

Princess Kangyi’s eyes reddened with anger. Why should she be forced to copy characters? This was never the case with previous Masters; she could not accept this, "Master, I..."

Master Han cut her off with a cold voice, "Speak another word, and you’ll copy another hundred characters, and for every additional word, another hundred. Princess, what would you like to say? Please, continue!"

Princess Kangyi: "..."

This Master is so wicked!

She would tell the Empress Dowager, her grandmother, to strip him of his position!

Yan Jiaojiao secretly snickered, triumphantly standing up to sit beside Princess Kangyi.

Princess Kangyi glared fiercely at her.

Master Han: "Yan Huan, come sit at the front, behind Yan Jiaojiao."

"Yes!" Fearing the punishment of copying characters, Yan Huan immediately took his seat.

Once all the children were seated, Master Han began the lesson, "Today, we start with the ’Thousand Character Classic’."

"Yan Jiaojiao." Master Han suddenly called her name.

Being called out right at the beginning, Yan Jiaojiao stood up with a gloomy face.

She knew sitting in the front row would bring no good!

Princess Kangyi watched her with smug satisfaction, expecting her to make a fool of herself.

Every time the Master questioned Yan Jiaojiao, this dimwit couldn’t give the correct answer.

"What is the first sentence of the ’Thousand Character Classic’?"

Yan Jiaojiao breathed a huge sigh of relief and crisply said, "The dark expanse is vast and the universe primitive, its vast expanse dark."

Her voice was especially loud.

This was the first time she had answered correctly!

But after answering, she silently prayed in her heart: Please don’t ask me to explain what this line means! Please don’t ask for an explanation!...

Master Han, however, did not trouble her further and nodded, "Not bad, sit down!"

Yan Jiaojiao heaved a great sigh of relief, wiped the non-existent sweat from her forehead, and sat down.

"Princess Kangyi." Master Han continued the roll call.

Princess Kangyi stood up confidently.

She knew the ’Thousand Character Classic’ by heart and was not the least bit worried.

Seeing Master Han calling names one by one, Yan Huan began to rack his brains recalling what the third sentence of the ’Thousand Character Classic’ was.

Why didn’t the Master call his name first?

He only remembered the first two lines of the "Thousand Character Classic", and just so happened to forget the third and fourth lines!

Master Han asked, "What is the meaning of ’The universe so vast and so profound, the world so dark, the earth so brown’?"

Princess Kangyi seriously replied, "The heavens are black, the earth is yellow, the vast universe, boundless and endless."

Master Han nodded, "Correct. What is the original source of the phrases ’The universe so vast and so profound, the world so dark, the earth so brown’?"

Princess Kangyi: "Thousand Character Classic!"

Ruo Xuan: "..."

She’s "so clever"!

"Pfft!" Yan Jiaojiao couldn’t help but laugh out loud. She wasn’t good at studying, but she was quick-witted and couldn’t help making a snide comment, "The first line of the ’Thousand Character Classic’ comes from the ’Thousand Character Classic’—would our teacher ask such a silly question? Even I know the answer definitely isn’t the ’Thousand Character Classic’!"

Princess Kangyi’s face flushed red with embarrassment and anger, and she glared fiercely at Yan Jiaojiao.

Master Han turned to Yan Jiaojiao and said indifferently, "Yan Jiaojiao, your turn to answer, and if you can’t, a hundred large characters."

Yan Jiaojiao: "..."

Is copying characters the only punishment Master Han knows?

She admits her fault, okay?

Ruo Xuan quietly wrote "Book of Changes" and "The Master of Huainan", "The Canon of Supreme Mystery" on a piece of paper.

Taking advantage of the fact that Master Han was turned away and couldn’t see her, she held it up for Yan Jiaojiao to see.

Yan Jiaojiao glanced at it.

"...."

What characters?

She couldn’t recognize all the characters on it!

Xuanbao, could you draw them out next time?

Ruo Xuan: "..."

Her plan had failed!

Princess Kangyi also noticed Ruo Xuan’s little action and immediately shouted, "Teacher, Xuanbao is cheating!"

Ruo Xuan: "..."

Is that how one uses the word ’cheating’?

She’s such a blockhead too!

Master Han looked at Ruo Xuan.

Ruo Xuan honestly said, "Master, I only wrote down the answer, not to remind Jiaojiao. Besides, even if I wanted to, Jiaojiao couldn’t understand what these characters are!"

Master Han: "..."

Such a valid point, he found himself at a loss for words!

Master Han looked at the content Ruo Xuan had written down, and seeing it was all correct, he did not punish her.

He then addressed Yan Jiaojiao, "One hundred large characters."

Yan Jiaojiao: "..."

Excellent, that makes two hundred large characters!

Yan Jiaojiao glared fiercely at Princess Kangyi.

Princess Kangyi finally felt satisfied!

Master Han paid no heed to the underlying tensions among the children.

Many masters initiating students into learning start with the "Thousand Character Classic", but they only teach the students to memorize the text without explaining its meaning, thinking such young children wouldn’t understand or know why.

But Master Han wasn’t a person who pursued knowledge superficially, and as his main responsibility was teaching Xuanyuan Que, he explained every sentence of the "Thousand Character Classic" in great detail.

He would explain the source of each poem; he would elucidate on the origin of each character, why it was written that way; he would also cite all manner of classics, making his teachings extremely vivid and interesting.

In half an hour, it seemed he only taught everyone two lines from the "Thousand Character Classic": "The universe so vast and so profound, the day and night on their bound, the stars in their fixed positions found." But it wasn’t just those two lines that were covered.

The children not only firmly remembered how to write the sixteen characters of "The universe so vast and so profound, the day and night on their bound, the stars in their fixed positions found."

They also learned about the origin of heaven and earth, the story of Nuwa mending the sky, Pangu creating the universe, the variations of the sun and moon, what "full" and "lacking" meant with a full moon called "full" or "gibbous", knew that there was no moon on the first day, which was called "new moon", and that there was also no moon on the last day of the month, called "the dark of the moon"; they understood that "gibbous meant the sun and moon in opposition," as on the fifteenth and first days of the month, the setting sun and rising moon occurred synchronously, and learned the patterns of sun rising and moon setting...

They even learned about the ecliptic, the lunar mansions, the five planets, the four symbols, and the twenty-eight lunar mansions...

Yan Huan, who usually couldn’t sit still as if his seat had needles, listened with rapt attention.

When class was over, the words "The universe so vast and so profound, the day and night on their bound, the stars in their fixed positions found" were deeply etched in the children’s minds, unforgettable even if they tried.

Yan Huan even wanted to follow Master Han and inquire about the Azure Dragon of the East, the Vermilion Bird of the South, the White Tiger of the West, and the Black Tortoise of the North.

Such is the ideal of a great scholar, erudite as if having a five-cart load of books, knowledgeable in both ancient and modern times—it was precisely this way!

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