Chapter 013 Writing Furiously
With the crowing of cocks outside the window, the morning sun gradually rose in the east, and Shen Yichen got up sleepily and put on his clothes. Last night, he really read by candlelight until two or three in the morning, when he was so sleepy that he fell asleep.
In the process of reading, Shen Yichen also made an unexpected discovery, that is, his memory seemed to have improved a lot. Not to mention reaching the legendary photographic memory, but after a few times of consolidation reading, he could remember the contents of the book roughly, and his learning efficiency quite high.
After thinking about the reason, Shen Yichen felt that it might be because his memory was not bad to begin with, and after traveling through time, he gained another memory, which was like two brains superimposed, so he achieved a double effect.
Of course, Shen Yichen has no way of verifying whether this is true or not, but it is always better to have a stronger memory than a weaker one.
After getting dressed and coming out of the room, his mother, Shen, had prepared breakfast for him as usual. Seeing this scene, Shen Yichen felt an indescribable feeling in his heart, which could only be expressed with a line of poetry: "Parents devote all their efforts to their children, how pitiful are the hearts of parents in the world."
Perhaps because of yesterday's topic about Duke Chengguo, Shen didn't say much in the morning. She just gave a few routine instructions and then watched Shen Yichen go out to school.
Walking along the street he walked yesterday, Shen Yichen felt less novelty today. When passing by the Qinhuai River in the old courtyard, he subconsciously took a few more glances. The Qiuyue Boat was still parked there, but the woman in white was no longer on the bow.
"It seems that I have stopped looking for death. I just don't know if living will be harder than dying."
Shen Yichen muttered silently . To him, historical events in the past were just a few paragraphs in a book or a few frames on the screen. But now they have become living people, appearing in his life.
The only thing that hasn't changed is that I can still only be a bystander.
Arriving at the private school of Duke Chengguo's Mansion and walking in the corridor outside the lecture hall, Shen Yichen discovered that Li Da was staring at him with a few followers.
Li Da was very unhappy at the moment. He failed to teach Shen Yichen a lesson yesterday and left a bad impression in front of Sister Qingtong. His mind was full of thoughts about how to get back at Shen Yichen today, so he waited for Shen Yichen to arrive in the corridor early.
I thought that by showing off my fierceness, I could at least give Shen Yichen a warning and scare him psychologically. But I didn't expect Shen Yichen to just glance at me, and then completely ignore us and just walked past...
"Brother Da, didn't Shen Yichen see us?"
Zhang Qi looked at Shen Yichen's back as it disappeared around the corner of the corridor and asked in disbelief.
"He's not blind yet!"
Li Da replied angrily. He didn't expect Shen Yichen to walk over so calmly, making him look like a foil. He didn't say a single harsh word or threat that he had prepared!
"Brother Da, what should we do now? Should we go to the lecture hall and beat that guy up directly?"
Another student couldn't help but say.
"If you want to be expelled from the private school, then go ahead."
Although Li Da was not good at studying, he was not stupid. According to his teacher Li Tingxiu's rules of conduct, if he beat up his classmates in the private school, he would definitely be expelled.
Compared to the real noble families who can inherit the title, the children of officials like Li Da, even if they are the legitimate sons, still have to rely on their own efforts to achieve any success and status in the end.
Now that he was not good enough in learning, he could not take the imperial examination. If he was expelled from the private school of the Duke of Chengguo, and even his connections with military generals were cut off, it would be a loss of the greater for the smaller. Li Da still understood the pros and cons of this.
"Then we can't do anything about this kid?"
"You are so uneducated. There is still a long way to go, don't you understand? Just wait and see!"
Li Da pretended to say something harsh, then walked towards the lecture hall alone.
In fact, he really had no other choice, because Shen Yichen's bloodline was a hurdle that he couldn't get around. As the saying goes, you have to look at the owner before you beat the dog, no matter how unpopular Shen Yichen was, if he touched the Duke's face or bottom line, even his father wouldn't be able to bear the consequences.
In addition, the appearance of Chen Qingtong yesterday made Li Da wonder whether Shen Yichen had any connection with the children of a noble family. Otherwise, why would the only daughter of Marquis Taining help a maid give birth to a child?
Due to various reasons and concerns, unless Shen Yichen admits his mistake now, Li Da can only remain stubborn.
On the other side, as soon as Shen Yichen entered the lecture hall, Zhao Hongjie immediately came up to him and asked nervously, "Li Da was trying to stop you in the corridor early in the morning. Did he do anything to you?"
"You knew he was blocking me, so you didn't think of going over to help? Where's the loyalty you agreed on yesterday?"
Facing Shen Yichen's complaints, Zhao Hongjie blushed and explained, "They don't dare to do anything in the private school, so there's no need for me to intervene."
"Besides, if we split our forces into two groups, we can still ask you for help at a critical moment to stop Li Da's infighting. Don't you think so?"
Hearing such familiar words, Shen Yichen deeply understood what it meant to pay for what you have done.
"That makes sense! You are truly a teachable person!"
"No, my mother said I was smart since I was young."
Zhao Hongjie didn't hear the sarcasm in Shen Yichen's tone at all. On the contrary, he felt a little proud.
The two of them chatted for a while, but it was basically Zhao Hongjie who was talking alone, with Shen Yichen occasionally responding.
After about ten minutes, the noisy classroom suddenly became quiet, and all the students sat up straight. Shen Yichen looked up and found that it was Mr. Li Tingxiu who was standing at the door.
After waiting for the students to be completely quiet, Li Tingxiu strode onto the podium and glanced around with a deep gaze.
"Good, no one is late for morning school today."
After saying this, Li Tingxiu deliberately glanced at Shen Yichen, not sure whether it was a hint or a compliment.
"Because your admission progress and qualifications are different, in the past, the early school has focused on elementary education, but next year's county exam will gradually progress, and the focus in the future will be on the Four Books and Five Classics."
"So today's morning study content is to recite the entire text of The Great Learning."
"Yes, sir."
The students responded in unison, but many of them looked embarrassed. Some of them had just started elementary school and were not very familiar with the Four Books and Five Classics. There were also old-school repeaters like Zhao Hongjie and Li Da, who had studied elementary school for several years and could not guarantee that they could write down the shortest of the Four Books, The Great Learning, in full.
"It's over. I can't even recite the Thousand Character Classic, how can I write the Great Learning? I'm sure I'll get a beating this time."
Zhao Hongjie's tone was three parts sad and seven parts resigned. Every year before the county exam, it was the most difficult period, and he was beaten a lot.
In the past, Shen Yichen was also one of the most difficult ones, but this time he was unusually calm. The full text of "The Great Learning" is more than 2,000 words, which is not a difficult problem for him.
He spread out the manuscript paper and dipped the tip of his pen in ink. The opening sentence of "The Great Learning" appeared word by word under Shen Yichen's pen.
At the same time, Li Tingxiu looked at the students who had already started to dictate, and walked down from the podium to inspect. When he saw students writing neatly and fluently, Li Tingxiu would nod slightly in affirmation, and when he saw students writing sloppily and messily, he would subconsciously frown.
After inspecting all the way, Li Tingxiu came to the desk of Shen Yichen and others, and first saw Li Da's dictation. Except for the beginning of the manuscript, the writing at the end could be described as a ghost painting.
He shifted his gaze to Zhao Hongjie in front of him. This kid's dictation was not much better. There were many typos and omissions. It was completely impossible for him to memorize "The Great Learning".
This situation made Li Tingxiu couldn't help but sigh. No wonder when he came to Chengguogong's private school, even the Duke personally met the teacher. There must be a reason...
Just when Li Tingxiu felt he couldn't bear to look directly at it, he caught a glimpse of Shen Yichen's paper from the corner of his eye, and his pupils suddenly shrank. He was so surprised not because of how accurate or fast Shen Yichen's dictation was, but because of the "Taige style" on the manuscript paper that could be called a template!
Every word on the scroll is upright, respectful, vigorous, and neat, fully demonstrating the spirit of "respecting the law" advocated by the Taige style. Even Li Tingxiu himself believes that his attainments in Taige style calligraphy are not as good as Shen Yichen's now.
What's more important is that the Taige style of calligraphy is so strict and rigorous, without any flaws in the strokes, that it is simply not something that ordinary people can do. Without more than ten or even dozens of years of continuous practice, it is impossible!
Shen Yichen's handwriting used to be very ordinary, with nothing special about it. How did he manage to become such a different person in just a few days?
